The Coalition of the Swilling

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July 31, 2005

Comments Are Back

Woo-Hoo! Thanks so much for your patience and kind words of advice! Extra-Swill thanks to Ken, Kathy, Wunder and most especially Bill!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:52 AM | Comments (5)

July 30, 2005

That About Covers It

"He was saying to them: 'How do I know when I come out, that you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared'."

The only thing I can see fit to add is "Jesus, Lord Jesus, I hope they got them all." It's what the Brits do with them now that matters most.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:42 AM | Comments (3)

July 29, 2005

Oh, HOT Damn!

Iknewit, Iknewit, Iknewit!!!
Presenting:
Moi (in this dimension or any other)

Possessing a rare combination of wisdom and humility, while serenely dominating your environment you selflessly use your powers to care for others.

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.

Yup. That would be me*. And I promise never to change.
Thanks to Diptera ex tenebris (Nightfly) for this complete and timely validation of
my wisdom, compassion and incredible hair.

*ASNIDE ASIDE: I did notice in Dipt's comments that
a certain wussy boy ( ) also scored a Galadriel.
Pffft and bwahahahaha!!
'Nuff said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:47 PM | Comments (2)

Go Good Guys, GO!!

New arrests in failed London bombings
Italy says one alleged bomber held; two others reportedly caught in London

LONDON - A suspected plotter in the failed July 21 London bombings was arrested in Rome Friday, Italy said in an announcement that came shortly after London police arrested three men in the case, two of whom also were suspected plotters, according to British media reports.

In Rome, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said that Somali-born Osman Hussain, a naturalized British citizen, was picked up by Italian police. He is suspected of being one of at least four plotters in the botched July 21 attacks.

In London, police said they made three arrests in two raids in the Notting Hill area during their search for suspects in the July 21 attacks, but they would not confirm reports that alleged plotters were among those arrested.

But one police source told Reuters the arrests were “potentially very significant.”

Keep roundin' 'em up, ya'll!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:47 PM

It's Gonna Be a Long, Hot Summer

First: The hair ~ it wasn't Bigfoot, barefoot or even 'my left foot'; it was four hooves.

Bison, not Bigfoot, stomped through Canada
DNA test of hair sample shows it came from bison, not Sasquatch

Second: The other hair ~ it wasn't Natalee Holloway's. There goes any chance of Greta Van Sustern reporting like, real news.

FBI: Hair found in Aruba is not Holloway’s
Focus on pond and landfill in search for missing American teen

Just at it's bleakest moment, someone thinks to send a little humor our way:

Question: What is a sonofabitch, exactly?

Yup. That would be the guy. And we all know at least one...

Thank God.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:36 PM | Comments (3)

Cawring Hans Brix Redux

Bring a bag lunch with you. It could be a long one, for once.

6-way North Korea talks to hit record 5th day
Despite prolonged meetings, few signs of progress in nuclear discussions

BEIJING - The top U.S. envoy pledged Friday to keep at nuclear talks with North Korea as long as necessary, meeting again with the North’s delegate as negotiations stretched into the longest round since the six-nation process began...

...Despite the apparent impasse at the talks after a record fourth day — the previous rounds never exceeded three days — he said Friday’s meetings “were not lower than my expectation...”

... as he oozed nothing but encouragement.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:48 AM

Another Part Of Being A "Host" Country, I Guess

I guess the flights to Bangkok will be empty:

A German company is looking to cash in on an expected boom in the sex trade during next year's soccer World Cup with a 60-room brothel a walk away from Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

Well, on second thought, maybe not, as it doesn't specify that the ladies here will be teens from the interior.

One thing puzzles me though:

"This is no flash rip-off joint where clients are taken for a ride," a spokesman for the Artemis GmbH investment company behind the project, told the newspaper.

Funny, I thought that "...taking clients for a ride" was the point of such a place.

Real JeffS comments:

Named after the virgin huntress of Greek mythology, the "Artemis" complex is due to open for business in September with whirlpool, sauna, cinema, buffet restaurant and a staff of 100 prostitutes, mass circulation daily Bild reported.

Well, I wonder if anyone is going to live-blog this particular Olympic event?

Excellent query, my friend. The world will be watching JeffS; oh yes, we will.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:48 AM

Swill Friend peteb...

...takes a Northern Ireland-ish look at what the IRA said yesterday and what people heard.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:33 AM

Word of the Day

crabwise \KRAB-wyze\ adjective

1 : sideways
2 : in a sidling or cautiously indirect manner

Would it were going that well...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:13 AM

Comments Whacked

THIS IS A BUMP
'cause they still are, even tho there's lotsa new SwillStuff to read. And please email Bingster or moi~ swilling*at*beegewelborn.com ~ with anything you would have posted. We'll be putting those in the extended sections. And...
Would SOMEBODY PLEASE help Bingley???
(see double update below) I'm whining and begging here, Swillers.
UPDATE: Mr. Summers has kindly demonstrated that, at least, the trackback feature is functional. Bless your little pointy head, sir!

I have no idea why you get the "Where'd you learn how to type?" message when you try and comment. I'm even getting it. The Cialis Holdem Scum must have hacked us. Argh. I'll fix it when I can. If you have pithy comment email them to me and I'll post them.

Sorry.

[insert head tilt here]

*Update: Well, it turns out it was the Cialis Holdem Scum. They were pounding Hosting Matters, who sensibly turned off comments on a number of blogs to keep the servers alive. Once (If) I manage to get Blacklist installed tonight we'll be up and running again.

**Update - ah, this is ticking me off. I have no idea how to upload this. anybody have any idea/experience on uploading blacklist? email me please! thanks

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:08 AM | Comments (2)

An Opinion From the Folks Who...

...would actually die, if the 'fixes' don't work.

Discovery commander surprised by debris problem
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Shuttle Discovery commander Eileen Collins said on Friday she was surprised the flying debris problem that brought down Columbia in 2003 re-emerged on their flight and said shuttles should not return to space until it was fixed.

She and astronaut Andy Thomas said in press interviews from space they were not worried about damage the debris may have caused Discovery, saying the orbiter looked "very clean" despite a few nicks to its protective tile.

"What I'd like to say is this is something that has to be fixed," Collins said. "I don't think we should fly again unless we do something to prevent this from happening again."

Yeah ~ what she says. And good on her.
An NASA sage (who shall remain nameless) once pointed out that an airline averaging 7 dead people for every 50 flights probably wouldn't last long.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:06 AM

The Idea of a Nurturing T-Rex...

...just gives me the willies. Maybe it's that smile of hers. The beady eyeballs. The 5-7 tons called 'Mom'.

Tiny embryos linked to giant dinosaurs
Oldest such fossils hold surprises for paleontologists
The oldest fossilized dinosaur embryos ever found reveal how the creatures grew from tiny hatchlings to become such giant land beasts.

The embryos, including one that was ready to hatch before being frozen in time, had no teeth. That is further evidence that at least some dinosaurs must have tended their young, scientists said Thursday.

Yeah, let's start with the cuddly ones. It's gonna take a while to get used to the idea.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:52 AM

Goin' Down in Flames...

...NOT.

Economy kept growing solidly in 2nd qtr
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew solidly at a 3.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the government reported on Friday, just slightly below the first quarter's pace and with room to grow as stocks of unsold goods fell for the first time in two years.

While second-quarter growth eased from a 3.8 percent rate in the first three months of the year, it nonetheless marked the ninth straight quarter in which gross domestic product or GDP increased at a rate exceeding 3 percent, Commerce Department figures showed.

Not bad for a chimp and his minions. Now if I could just get hurricanes to quit blowing away the shops and tourists who buy my work, everything would be peachy.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:42 AM

And Then the Guy With the Hockey Mask Jumps Through the Window...

In a move worthy of a Freddie/Jason/Chucky horror sequel, CNOOC seems intent on proving they're "not dead yet".

CNOOC considers raising Unocal bid
CNOOC executives are weighing whether the Chinese energy company will this weekend launch a potential knock-out bid of up to $20bn for Unocal, the US energy group, or accept defeat from US rival Chevron.

While people close to the situation warned that a decision had not yet been taken and was too close to call, they said it was still possible CNOOC would increase its $18.5bn bid for Unocal in spite of pressure in Washington and Unocal support of Chevron.

It is understood the state-controlled group has drafted plans to increase its $67-a-share cash bid to more than $70 a share, valuing Unocal at about $19.3bn - about $2bn above Chevron's proposal.

One person familiar with the matter said CNOOC was considering going as high as $72 a share to compensate Unocal's shareholders for the 51-day delay to the completion of its bid imposed this week by the US Congress.

I'm assuming we'll hear from Mr. Schoenfeld shortly, urging the board to bite if this hits the table.

CNOOC has been considering a pledge to sell all of Unocal's US assets to help defuse criticism in Washington. But an attempt by CNOOC to win over Unocal's board with a "knock-out" offer could backfire by offering critics more evidence the bid is being heavily subsidised by Beijing.

Beijing's paying for this? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:26 AM

July 28, 2005

An Energy Sleight of Hand

As Swillers know, I am for restricted drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The 100 mile mark off my beautiful Panhandle and the rest of the state seems eminently reasonable. We all drive our chariots to and fro and, while no one wants to watch the oil rigs on the horizon during a beach visit, the out of sight/out of mind proposal allows Florida to contribute to lessening our foreign energy dependence and makes a bit of spare change for the state in fees. Win-win, as I see it. But because of the state's elected officials' general intransigence as far as compromise goes ~ coupled with entirely too much weight given to our Governor's status as 'First Brother' ~ a certain complacency has crept in. This news must have come as a shock. I'd like to say it surprised the hell out of me, but it didn't...

Jul. 26--Florida's congressional delegation is protesting a White House plan to open the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's coast to oil drilling and allow Louisiana and Alabama to reap the financial benefits.

The plan would allow those states to lease drilling rights in federal waters south of Florida's coast near the Panhandle and receive royalties from the leases. A congressional conference committee is expected to finish the final draft of the plan today and have it ready for a full vote this week.

The White House proposal would continue to prohibit oil and gas drilling 100 miles out from Florida shores -- but would allow drilling along a diagonal path beyond that, extending from Louisiana and Alabama due south from Pensacola to Fort Walton Beach in the western Panhandle.

While our representatives have been slumbering in a Jeb-George LoveFest induced coma, the rest of the world has seen a need that has to be met and we have resources to help alleviate some of the burden. It would have been far wiser, as I've written time and again, to lay the ground rules down in a compromise that let them drill far off shore, rather than get totally screwed in the end. Well, thank you Senators Nelson and (pfft) Martinez, all our Congressional lesser lights and the tourist board morons screaming about tarballs on the beach. It's looking like we're gonna get those oil rigs 100 miles out anyway, lose how many thousands of miles of sovereignty that we'll never get back, with nary a dime for the effort. Better the devil you know, than the one you have no control over. And they're still sputtering the same tune, in the face of this.

But Florida senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez vowed to oppose the measure if it emerges as part of the energy bill this week. They believe they can derail the plan if the powerful coalition of coastal states remains together, and Nelson has threatened to mount a filibuster to derail it if the provision is included in the final bill.

WHAT coalition, when Washington is waving billions of dollars and extended territory at your neighbors? I think the 'united Florida delegation' is gonna hear a collective 'see ya!' Brain dead, I swear to God. Haven't they ever heard 'be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it?' Welcome to La La Land.

UPDATE: Comment notes via email, as those are still non-functioning, in the extended version.

Mr. Bingely, could you explain more of what you mean by "losing more of our sovereignty" ? I used to work for a marine survey company and worked quite extensively in plotting out pipelines that were within the three mile state limit. All other lines outside that three miles were in federal waters, and then into international, as it were, but in the Gulf, all that was primarily discussed was state and federal. I dont see how that will ever change, or how it could possibly have anything to do with making one entity's sovereignty more important than another. The state/federal distinctions have more to do with regulating oil company restrictions than who gets the benefit of the profit.

I could be totally wrong though. Its been a few years since I worked that job.

The diagonal drilling is no surprise to me, as much of it has to do with avoiding the Flower Gardens, and approaching deposits from an angle that will utilize less surface area (if my understanding is correct) Its been sometime since I looked at ageological/topographical map of the Gulf, but thats how it plays out in my mind at least.

Hope the hacker gets wiped.

Sharon Ferguson
tributaries

My answer:

Hey Sharon,

THS here and I'm the guilty party that wrote the post, being the Florida resident. What I meant 'sovereignty'-wise was the gerry mandering of state 'borders/waters' the article talked about. I'd always been under the impression, as you stated in your note, that it was federal past the 3 mile limit. This article says that, once past the (FL talking points) 100 mile limit offshore from Pensacola (my home port), for purposes of state drilling right leases and (most importantly) the payment of royalties to the state, 101 miles due south of the panhandle effectively becomes Alabama. That's what I was referring to, along with the 'allowing LA and AL to reap the financial benefits'. Did I make any sense there? Hope so.

And what a cool job you had! Did you get out to the rigs? I know that's what the huge brouhaha is here on the FL Gulfcoast. We've all been to AL beaches and the oil rigs line the horizen. Just looks damn awful, plus they're so close in, God forbid something happens, there's goo on the beaches real quick. So I'm sure that's where that '100 miles' comes from that FL chants like a mantra. They have the opportunity to do it the right way, far offshore and with any environmental restrictions they could come up with, but instead have gone to a 'take no prisoners, pump no oil' approach. It seems to have bitten them this time. And that's a shame because we really could have had our cake and eaten it too. Now it's going to be a nightmare and an unresolvable one, if those knuckleheads don't get off the no drilling pony.

Anyways, Bingster just heard from hosting matters that they disabled the comments on several blogs because of spammers and the like, so hopefully we'll be up and running. Would you mind terribly if I posted your email/my reply in the comments when we have a chance? I'd hate for anyone to miss out on your experience. Just let me know. And thanks hugely for the email.
Here's to McCabe's Aztecs hunting down the spammers.
Later gator!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:58 AM

July 27, 2005

BushieChimpMcHitler...

...is destroying this country economically and everybody knows it....don't they?

Business activity expands in June, July
Price pressures eased or were flat across most of country, Fed reports

WASHINGTON - U.S. business activity continued to grow in June and early July, and overall price pressures eased or were flat in most places despite higher energy and building costs, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Ignore that man in the corner!!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:22 PM

More Than I EVER...

...wanted to know.

Rudy rakes in the cash

...Some are grumbling that the former mayor of New York City is rumored to have received what has been called a “staggering sum” of “something in the region of” more than $85,000 for speaking to the British Local Government Association’s annual conference...

...The speech was well-received, however — although it was interrupted. “He had to leave the podium mid-speech because, he said, a brush with prostate cancer sometimes left him caught short,” according to the London Times’ account taken from the Local Government Chronicle. “Was this the most expensive pee in local government history, LGC wonders.”

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:09 PM | Comments (1)

I...

...AM the winner. And Bingley is the loser we all know him to be.
Ah-hahahahaha! Ah-hahahahaha!

Diptera ex tenebris once again displays his remarkable good taste and exquisite sense of humor. I thank him and the academy.

And Bingley lost. Bingley's a loser. Bingley. Didn't. Win.

UPDATE:

los·er/'lü-z&r/noun
1 : one that loses especially consistently
2 : one who is incompetent or unable to succeed; also : something doomed to fail or disappoint; see: Bingley

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:25 AM | Comments (5)

Buuhwhahahaha!

Walmart corporate headquarters blinked.

Wal-Mart lifts News Journal ban

Wal-Mart will allow the Pensacola News Journal to be sold at area stores, rescinding a ban imposed because of a newspaper column that a local manager considered derogatory to the retailer...

..."We did make an error in judgment by removing the papers from our stores," Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Sharon Weber said in an e-mail from company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. "They should be available in our stores by the end of the week."...

...In a column published Sunday, (News Journal executive editor Randy) Hammer wrote that he, too, sometimes disagrees with O'Brien but defended the columnist's right to express an opinion.

Hammer said that in a conversation with (Pensacola district manager Bob) Hart, the Wal-Mart manager had said he'd be willing to talk about lifting the ban if the newspaper fired O'Brien.

"I might understand it if Wal-Mart said I ought to fire Mark because what he said wasn't accurate," Hammer wrote. "But that isn't the case."

I wonder how happy the big guys are with Mr. Hart's little display of petulance.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:12 AM

Word of the Day

baleful \BAIL-ful\ adjective

1 : deadly or pernicious in influence
2 : foreboding or threatening evil

The "bale" of "baleful" comes from the Old English "bealu" ("evil"), and the "bane" of the similar-looking "baneful" comes from the Old English "bana" ("slayer, murderer"). "Baleful" and "baneful" are alike in meaning as well as appearance, and they are sometimes used in quite similar contexts — but they usually differ in emphasis. "Baleful" typically describes what threatens or portends evil (e.g., "a baleful look," "baleful predictions"). "Baneful" applies typically to what causes evil or destruction (e.g., "a baneful secret," "the baneful bite of the serpent"). Both words are used to modify terms like "influence," "effect," and "result," and in such uses there is little that distinguishes them.

I'm gonna use this six times today, starting with Ebola.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:02 AM | Comments (3)

Ghetto Stylin'

You do have to wonder what Miami City officials were smoking when they came up with this brilliant idea:

Miami city leaders are apologizing for a news release that invited summer campers to a ''Ghetto Style Talent Show'' and ''Watermelon Eating Contest.'' The release said that children participating in the summer camp who "know the meaning of ghetto style" would have a chance to "prove just how ghetto they are.''

And far be it from me to get in a Scripture-Quoting Contest with the esteemed Rev. Carl Johnson, but I just don't seem to recall this part:

"Watermelon, back in the days, was a good food for African Americans, according to the Bible, but at the same time, it had an attachment with slavery and bondage ties," the Rev. Carl Johnson said.

Idjits.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:58 AM | Comments (4)

July 26, 2005

Not Just NO...

...but F@CK NO!

Iraq constitution may erode women's rights
Draft proposal would limit rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A part of Iraq's draft constitution obtained by The Associated Press gives Islam a major role in Iraqi civil law, raising concerns that women could lose rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance...

...Most worrying for women's groups has been the section on civil rights, which some believe would significantly roll back women's rights under a 1959 civil law enacted by a secular regime...

Somebody needs to nip that sh$t in the bud right NOW. And I wanna hear all my feminist, Hillary idolizing sisters' voices raised against this. Like now, NOW.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:00 PM | Comments (4)

McCabe Really, REALLY Means It...

...when he says...
"Comment Spammers and their families will be tracked down and
sacrificed to the pagan gods according to ancient Aztec rites."
It's the cornerstone of his whole-earth-anti-spam policy. Let's review.
"Do NOT spam Bill."
Very good.
(But I think it's time we put a call in to 'Save the Children'...)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:17 PM | Comments (1)

Better Late Than Never, I Guess

MSNBC has just heard about PA's Lt. Gov. practising consolation therapy.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:44 AM

July 25, 2005

I Hope McCabe's Alibi Is Good

Spammer murdered:

Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.

Of course, I would have expected Bill to use some type of dull katana...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:32 PM | Comments (7)

Vegetable Mystery Tour

Jane's going on tour:

Fonda said her anti-war tour in March will use a bus that runs on "vegetable oil."

Funny; I thought she was just a nut.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:08 PM | Comments (4)

July 24, 2005

Show Us The Money

Unocal urged to consider higher bid NEW YORK (Reuters) - A shareholder in oil and gas producer Unocal Corp. urged on Sunday the company's board to consider a higher takeover offer from China's CNOOC Ltd. than one it backed from Chevron Corp. .

Peter Schoenfeld, chief executive of P. Schoenfeld Asset Management which holds over 1 million Unocal shares, said the company would be liable to stockholders for any lost premium on the deal if it refused to seek a higher offer.

Schoenfeld is claiming damages would be "several billion dollars." I guess he hasn't read this NYT's piece yet. Chevron's dollars are a sure thing. Getting his mitts on Cnooc's could be problematic.

So that is the China question: Is it an opportunity or a threat? If nothing else, the Cnooc bid for Unocal has shown how unsettled American thinking is on China and how deep the anxieties run, both in matters of national security and trade.

It is easy to dismiss Washington as a hot-air factory, but the scope of the outcry in Congress is significant. Resolutions and legislative proposals, all critical of Cnooc's takeover bid, have piled up in the House and Senate, from Republicans and Democrats. A resolution presented last month by Representative Richard W. Pombo, a California Republican, declared that permitting the Chinese company to buy Unocal would "threaten to impair the national security of the United States." It passed, 398 to 15.

Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, has drafted three pieces of anti-Cnooc legislation that range from calling for a six-month Congressional inquiry into the bid to a bill that would prohibit the deal. Mr. Dorgan objects to the Chinese move on fair-trade grounds. The Chinese government, he says, would not allow an American company to buy a Chinese oil company. "So why on earth should they be able to buy an American oil company?" Mr. Dorgan said.

Well, why should they?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:58 PM | Comments (8)

Ouch.

A Sunday Times Comment piece by Michael Portillo. He manages to ding on everyone from Cheri Blair to Edward Heath and Bill Clinton, and it's marvelous.

We all just sat back and let Londonistan rise against us
For all our stoicism we Londoners had hoped that July 7 would be a one-off. A kind of fatalism led us to expect that our city would take its turn to be attacked after New York, Washington, Istanbul and Madrid, but we harboured an unfounded expectation that once it had happened, it would be over...

...We can no longer tolerate mealy-mouthed attitudes from people in authority. Ken Livingstone should heartily regret sharing a platform with Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who once said that suicide bombings in Palestine were a legitimate form of self-defence...

...During the Clinton presidency, as American forces went to the rescue of Muslims in Bosnia and as the president toiled alongside Ehud Barak, Israel’s prime minister, to bring peace to Palestine, Al-Qaeda escalated its attacks on the United States, bombing its embassies in east Africa and attacking the warship USS Cole. Clinton’s response — firing a few cruise missiles into supposed terrorist camps — was feeble...

...Long before George W Bush became president a policy of turning the other cheek was met by a sharp intensification of the terrorist onslaught on America, culminating in the September 11 attacks...

...During the long period in which the Iraq policy destroyed trust in Blair, Gordon Brown kept his head down and his hands clean. It seemed clever at the time, but less so now. Brown has supplied no evidence that he is the man to lead us at a moment of national peril. Blair retains that monopoly.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:12 PM | Comments (2)

In Good Company

Mr. Summers' favorite boy gets his picture in the paper.

That is, at first, Livingstone blamed the bombers. Then, he blamed everyone but the bombers.

In response, the Daily Telegraph ran Livingstone's mug next to those of Islamic radicals Sheik Omar Bakri Mohamed and Anjem Choudary under the heading "The men who blame Britain."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:51 AM | Comments (2)

Italy Moves Towards Tougher Security Measures

Italy approves new anti-terror measures ...and said it wanted to create a supreme prosecutor for anti-terrorist investigations...

...The measures also make it a crime for the first time to train people in the preparation or use of explosives. Police will be able to detain terrorism suspects for 24 hours without charge rather than 12 hours as now.

Must be an Italian thing ~ a supreme prosecutor? Smacks of Saturday morning cartoons to my ear, but at least they're doing something.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:27 AM | Comments (3)

It's In The PA Paper, So It MUST Be True...Right?

Lord, I hope not. I don't see how anyone could be that offensive. And if it is, there are no words to describe the outrage.

Lt. gov. crashed Marine's funeral, kin say
The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war.

GTFO. I still can't believe it.
Swill Salute to Michelle Malkin.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:15 AM | Comments (7)

July 23, 2005

"Truth is the First Civilian Casualty"

A Newsweek 'Web Exclusive'

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died since 2003. But killings by U.S. troops are not nearly as common as the war’s critics would like us to believe.

...But how often, really? The answer: not very often, in fact. And not nearly often enough to make the 150,000 U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq the leading scourge of Iraq's civilians. That dishonor goes, hands down, to the insurgents. Even one incident is bad, of course, and there have been many. But civilian killings by U.S. troops are not nearly as common as the critics of the war in Iraq would like us to believe. It has become an article of faith among them that American troops have been slaughtering Iraqi civilians indiscriminately, and that one of the consequences of the war has been an unconscionable loss of life among the civilian population. It just isn't true.

READ it. Then email Newsweek to ask why they didn't have the cajones to put this in all their print editions. This way they can say, "look at us - we've told the other side of the story!" 'Web exclusive', indeed. Everyone who buys the print edition has a right to read this.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:08 PM | Comments (6)

Not A Bomber Afterall. Damn.

Thanks to Tim Worstall for the heads up in the comments below that the guy shot in the Tube turns out not to have been a bomber. As I commented over there

Oh gosh, Tim, the worst possible outcome, as I feared too. But unless clearly shown otherwise I won't subscribe to the suggestion that "the police" as an entity are racist, which is the implication of yours and Nosemonkey's statements. This guy was shot because the police thought he had a bomb and was going to blow up. Under an incredibly stressful situation they had to make a snap judgement, and it appears to have been horribly wrong. I fear for, and honor, and respect, the next poor officer who is forced to make such a decision, and I truly pray that the firestorm of negative and scathing press and political posturing and outright whoring that will surely result from this awful, awful incident will not cause that next officer to hesitate too long when there really is a suicide bomber standing on the platform next to you over there or me here in New York.

I just hope the political folks in Scotland Yard are made of sterner stuff than politicians here, because the political/media fallout from this is going to be huge.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:26 PM | Comments (7)

Bombings In Egypt

So, they've set off car bombs at a crowded resort in Egypt, killing mostly...muslims, just as in Iraq the terrorists kill mostly muslims. I'm sure that there are those who still maintain with a straight face (foam-flecked though it may be)that this is all the US's fault (or those pesky Zionists, natch) in spite of the mounting death toll of muslims killed by muslims. It seems to me more and more that this is what we're involved in:

Polarizing the Islamic world between the umma and the regimes allied with the United States would help achieve bin Laden's primary goal: furthering the cause of Islamic revolution within the Muslim world itself, in the Arab lands especially and in Saudi Arabia above all. He had no intention of defeating America. War with the United States was not a goal in and of itself but rather an instrument designed to help his brand of extremist Islam survive and flourish among the believers. Americans, in short, have been drawn into somebody else's civil war.

Religious/ideological civil wars are horribly, insanely violent. Look at all the blood shed in christianity's civil wars of the 16th and 18th centuries. Look at all the blood shed in communism. Imagine if they had had IEDs and 767s. And now we are in the midst of one in Islam. Well, sadly, we're not yet in the midst because the 'moderate' forces in islam have not yet begun to fight back against the orthodox forces. I assume they will. I hope they will, otherwise the world, and especially the West, is in for a whole lot more death and destruction for the foreseeable future. Certainly a civil war in Islam will be bloody, bloodier than what we have seen so far, but if the moderates fail without a fight do we want a world caliphate? I take them at their word; their goal is a Taliban-style government everywhere. And that can not be allowed anywhere.
So, here we are, while large elements of our society are wracked by violent conflict. Now, mind you, I don't think we're simply pawns on someone else's chessboard. We needed to fight back, but we need to make sure that the more-modern forces in Islam triumph. How do we do that? Well, certainly we continue to attract as many of the radical elements as we can onto the field of battle where we kill them, plain and simple. Don't kid yourselves, the governments of the countries surrounding Iraq love what we are doing there, because the siren-song of US troops calls irresistably to the uncontrollable youth elements in their societies and they are extremely happy that we are culling that huge revolutionary potential for them. We need to encourage and help the development of more secular nations in the Middle East, and we don't do that by having Congressmen muse about nuking Mecca, for criminy's sake; that only strengthens the hand of the 13th century orthodox.

We also need to change some of our attitudes on the home front. As Perry de Havilland makes clear, we have met the quagmire, and it is us:

For decades the supporters of multiculturalism have used tax money and government regulations to actively discourage assimilation of immigrants into the broader society, preferring to see communities develop which favour 'identity politics' better suited and more amenable to their own collectivist world views. And now we are paying the price for that. We will not be able to defend ourselves physically or preserve our liberal society unless we stop tolerating intolerance, and that includes not just fundamentalist Islam but also the anti-western bigotry of the multiculturalists.

While this is most clear in Europe we certainly have seen a lot of this going on here in the US as well, and it needs to stop. People from all customs and backrounds are welcome here if they agree to abide by our laws and customs. This can not be negotiable.

Many folks (myself included) have observed that what the Islamic world needed was it's own version of the Protestant Reformation; well, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for...

Bah. That's too much disjointed babbling for a Saturday morning. Damn you Florida Cracker for say I had "thoughts"!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:36 AM | Comments (5)

Now THIS Is Irony

Kerry seeks release of Roberts' documents
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Sen. John Kerry urged the White House on Friday to release "in their entirety" all documents and memos from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' tenure in two Republican administrations.

"We cannot do our duty if either Judge Roberts or the Bush administration hides elements of his professional record," said the Massachusetts senator who was his party's presidential candidate last year.

I find his lack of faith disturbing. "Hides elements", indeed. As I recall, we were supposed to elect Senator Kerry PRESIDENT without seeing any of his 'professional record'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:12 AM | Comments (4)

July 22, 2005

When You Need To Travel Indognito...

...grab yourself one of these for Fang.

Are you sick of people looking at your breed of dog in fear because politicians and the media are saying things like;

"We want to breed these dogs out of existence,"
"They are killing machines on a leash."
"These breeds don't belong in our community"

Well worry no longer, Attachchi will be making disguises for all the so called 'dangerous breeds'. Now you can go to the park with your kids and your dog (like you have been doing for years), without the worry of people thinking you are a bad parent. All our Invisible Breed Products™ are currently FREE to to responsible dog owners.
Ultra Poodle Disguise Kit for Dobermans™

Kit includes;

- 'Tibet' fake fur pieces (4 ankle pieces, one body piece, head piece and tail attachment)
- Safe suit fitting method statement and instructions.
- High Quality duct tape
- Under harness
- Black face paint (safe for dogs)

And you get...

this...

Other kits available.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:33 PM | Comments (4)

(The) Donald Does D.C.

Oh. My. Gawd. The Senate International Security Subcommittee was holding hearings on a proposed U.N. renovation in the 1.5 BILLION DOLLAR neighborhood and someone had the bright idea to ask New Yawk's most famous developer his opinion. Man, does he deliver on your tax dollars at work! This transcript is, bar none, one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life. I can hear the man speaking in my head and, as an ex-pat of the TriState Area, I know who and what he's talking about. I am going to pull out some howlers to pique your interest, like this...

It's going to be a disaster. And if you know your New York City landlords, and some of you do, there is no worse human being on Earth, okay?

...in the section below, but read the whole thing when you've got the time, youse guys. And yeah. I'm tawkin' ta you. Tanks to the Blogfaddah and RadioBlogger for da Swill tip.
UPDATE: Your tax dollars at work. This is why they asked The Donald to speak:

...is the U.N.'s plan to undertake a complete renovation of its headquarters at Turtle Bay, at a cost of $1.2 billion, 22% of which would be shouldered by American taxpayers. The renovations - set to begin in 2007 and expected to take five years - would be financed by America in the form of a $1.2 billion, 30-year loan at 5.54% interest offered last fall by the Bush administration.

Well NavyFed sure hasn't done that for ME lately...

...I'm very impressed with Mr. Bernam, but Mr. Bernam, it's not his business. Mr. Bernam is in a different business. And the man he hired, who has done some work, I guess, has just been on the payroll for two days, so perhaps he'll be a great genius, and he'll bring down the cost to what it should be, which I think is about $700 million dollars, tops,...

...I was very impressed with Mr. Bernam, but again, you have to deal in New York City construction, to see what tough people are all about, to see what tough contractors are all about. And if you haven't done it, they...you're not going to...you're going to go to school, and they're just going to take you lunch, and you're just not going to even know what happened. So this project, at $1.2 billion, will cost, in my opinion, $3 billion dollars. In my own opinion, however, in my real opinion, it should cost approximately $700 million dollars...

...They are going to have more fun with these folks from the United Nations, when it comes to signing that lease. And the United Nations, their heads will be spinning. Assuming there's honesty, their heads will be spinning...

...But in your great wisdom, you folks have said asbestos is a horrible material, so it has to be removed...

...The old Delmonico Hotel. And I had people living in the building when I did a major, $100 million dollar job. It's a $200 million dollar building. So the concept of moving to another location, and getting everybody out of this building, is absolutely asinine, and will cost you so much money, you're not even going to believe it. And then, you're going to have to move in...

...But the number of $44 million dollars for an architect, is one of the great numbers in the history...In fact, I think this man is a genius, whoever he may be, wherever he may be in Italy. I think he's a great genius. I would like to meet him. He is, without question, the richest architect in the world. And I listened, as one person said, I think they only got $500,000. Another person said, I think they got a million, and then changed their mind, and it was $7.8 million. And then I listened to Senator Sessions, who actually did his homework, said they got paid $27 million dollars, because you were able to check the books. So they got paid $27 million dollars. They haven't done anything. They don't even have plans. Nobody even knows what they're building, and they got paid $27 million dollars...

...I'm building all the roads...Mayor Daley made me build roads around the building. I had no choice, otherwise, if you know Mayor Daley, you're not going to build the building. He's a great mayor, but he made me do that. So all of this is $600 million dollars, and they're spending $1.2 billion...

...When they'd spent $27 million dollars, and terminated the architect, there's big trouble. Because I don't think they have a new architect...The worst thing you can do, and you said you were in the home building business for a while...the worst thing you can do, as you know, is start a job without complete plans and specs. Because the sub-contractors will eat your lunch, right? So, it's one of those things. So they don't even have an architect. They spent $27 million dollars, and they don't have an architect...

... But the fact is that the United Nations building, with all of its buildings, with its parking, should be completed, and I mean completed at a cost of $700 million dollars. And it's my opinion that it will not be completed for less than three to three and a half billion dollars...

...The fact is, that I can take those same firms, and tell them the way I want it built, and those same firms will come up with prices that are half the price that they're coming up with. They're being told what to do by people that don't know what they're doing. So if I take Turner Construction, which is fine, or if I take a couple of others...and by the way.. When I say fine, fine, but Rolls-Royce. They spend money. But if I take a couple of those firms, and if I show them the right way to do it, and if I lead them down the right way, which is really what a good developer does, that number they're coming up with, will be cut in half. So, that's it. Congratulations. You've got yourself a mess on your hands...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:23 PM

Surprises Abound!

From the LA Times Opinion page:

Is Islam to blame?

Despite claims of moderate Muslims, a literal reading of the Koran offers cover for acts of terrorism.

How's that for a headline? Irshad Manji writes a powerful column.

Which is why I don't understand how moderate Muslim leaders can reject, flat-out, the notion that religion may also play a part in these bombings. What makes them so sure that Islam is an innocent bystander?

What makes them sound so sure is literalism. That's the trouble with Islam today. We Muslims, including moderates living here in the West, are routinely raised to believe that the Koran is the final and therefore perfect manifesto of God's will, untouched and immutable.

This is a supremacy complex. It's dangerous because it inhibits moderates from asking hard questions about what happens when faith becomes dogma. To avoid the discomfort, we sanitize.

And so it was, one week after the first wave of bombings. A high-profile gathering of 22 clerics and scholars at the London Cultural Center produced a statement, later echoed by a meeting of 500 Muslim leaders. It contained this line: "The Koran clearly declares that killing an innocent person [is] tantamount to killing all mankind." I wish. In fact, the full verse reads, "Whoever kills a human being, except as punishment for murder or other villainy in the land, shall be regarded as having killed all humankind." Militant Muslims easily deploy the clause beginning with "except" to justify their rampages.

One needs to ask how dangerous a column this is for Irshad Manji. I hope there's no horrible price to pay for such honesty.
UPDATE: This would seem to be one of the clerics referred to.

Attacks on UK will continue, radical cleric says

LONDON (Reuters) - Militant Islamists will continue to attack Britain until the government pulls its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the country's most outspoken Islamic clerics said on Friday...

...Bakri said he would like Britain to become an Islamic state but feared he would be deported before his dream was realized*.

"I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world," he said.

*Why, in God's name, isn't he already gone?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:26 PM | Comments (4)

Jamie Rubin...

...surprises me. Pleasantly, I might add. He's quoted in Thomas Friedman's NYT piece today.

We also need to spotlight the "excuse makers," the former State Department spokesman James Rubin said. After every major terrorist incident, the excuse makers come out to tell us why imperialism, Zionism, colonialism or Iraq explains why the terrorists acted. These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed. When you live in an open society like London, where anyone with a grievance can publish an article, run for office or start a political movement, the notion that blowing up a busload of innocent civilians in response to Iraq is somehow "understandable" is outrageous*. "It erases the distinction between legitimate dissent and terrorism," Mr. Rubin said, "and an open society needs to maintain a clear wall between them."

Indeed.
*emphasis mine

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:17 PM | Comments (2)

Oh Please, Buy Yourself a Ticket

'Raging Grannies' want to enlist, go to Iraq

Um, sure they do.

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A group of anti-war senior citizens calling themselves the "Tucson Raging Grannies" say they want to enlist in the U.S. Army and go to Iraq so that their children and grandchildren can come home.

Five members of the group -- which is associated with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom -- are due in court Monday to face trespassing charges after trying to enlist at a military recruitment center last week.

The group has protested every week for the last three years outside the recruitment center.

EVERY WEEK for three years?? Morons. The spokewoman for Tucson area Army recruiters had some sound advice...

...people who disagree with the war should be contacting their legislators instead of bothering recruiters.

"They need to direct their frustrations at people who have the power to change things*," Hutchinson said. "Recruiters don't make policy and they can't change policy. They have a job to do and they are following orders."

*Well, yes that's true. But you don't get to be in the paper or on CNN that way, either.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:59 PM | Comments (6)

One Down

Calif. man gets death sentence for killing girl

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A judge Friday formally sentenced to death the man who kidnapped and murdered 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in a case that led to the expansion of abduction alerts on electronic billboards along state freeways...

...Avila snatched the kicking and screaming girl* as she played outside her Stanton home. Her nude body was found the next day about 50 miles away, left on the ground as if it had been posed. Authorities said she had been sexually assaulted and suffocated.

*The injustice of it all is that he gets to go quietly.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:08 PM | Comments (2)

Japanese Theaters and Crappy Photography ~ Part Deux

I've always hated this movie.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:25 PM | Comments (9)

I Really Really Hope That This Guy Was Wearing A Bomb

Otherwise it'll be a big big mess for the cops.

Look, I'm not questioning or second guessing what little we know of the situation; if the guy is going to blow up then you shoot him as rapidly as you can to make sure he doesn't. There's no way I'd want to be in the position of having to give the 'shoot to kill' order. It's a no-win situation.

update: Tim Worstall has some running comments on this, as well.

I hope to hell for all our sakes that he was indeed a bomber. If they’ve gunned down some poor schlep in error this will just increase the hatred.

I agree, Tim, but what frankly worries me more than "increase(d) hatred" is how hamstrung the police will become if this was an error.

*BUMP Update 2: To show how crazy things are, and how unreliable "eyewitnesses" can be, look at these two descriptions just a few sentences apart from the same BBC article:

"He was quite large, big built, quite a sort of chubby guy."

"I saw the guy. He had a beard, he was thin, Asian-looking."

"They shot him twice in the front."

"The policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand, he held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him."

All these "eyewitnesses" are describing the same incident, they all claim to have been a few feet away, yet they are completely different.

THS UPDATE: Sky News is reporting that the police had indeed been tailing this guy as a bombing suspect, but that, after he'd taken off and been shot, there were no explosives found on him. Now, I could say this is bad. On the other hand, who would want to be responsible if he'd been wired and you only politely asked him to stop? Sounds like a sh%t sandwich all around.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:40 AM | Comments (12)

Good For Him!

"Lt. Dan" has a fine charity rolling.

When actor Gary Sinise talks about Operation Iraqi Children, the humanitarian organization he cofounded 16 months ago to provide basic supplies to schools in the war-ravaged country, he does not peddle sob stories. He does not proselytize, or inflate with self-satisfaction the way celebrities usually do when they wax about giving back. He describes his project in modest terms, as if it were as simple and obvious as shutting off the lights when you leave a room. "We're just about giving some pencils to some kids," says Sinise, 50, star of "CSI: New York" and an Oscar nominee for "Forrest Gump." "That's it."...

...OIC, which now operates out of a central warehouse in Kansas City, Mo., is proudly supportive of U.S. troops....

Wow.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:20 AM | Comments (5)

Whoa !! Had Me a Radio Free Europe Flashback There

On Wednesday the US Congress passed an amendment that allows the administration to broadcast television and radio programmes into Venezuela.

The amendment, introduced by Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, is aimed at offsetting the perceived "anti-American" influence of Telesur, a nascent satellite television channel that is majority funded by the Chávez government.

It is unclear whether the Bush administration has firm plans to beam into Venezuela a stream of what the amendment describes as an "objective and comprehensive" news. It has triggered a sharp reaction. "This is just another desperate attack by the imperialists,*" said Mr Chávez. Telesur, whose creation was funded by Cuba, Argentina and Uruguay, bills itself as a Latin American alternative to the "US-centric" programming of such commercial channels as CNN.

Chavez says he'll be using jamming equipment like his close buddy in Cuba does.
Time to break out the .
*Yup. That's us.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:50 AM | Comments (10)

You Can Take The Byrd Out Of The Klan...

But you can never really take the Klan out of the Byrd, now can you? Can you imagine the hue and cry if a feller with an (R) next to his name said this:

Mr. Byrd embraced the same judicial philosophy as the president in his memoir, "Child of the Appalachian Coalfields," released earlier this summer. In the book, he repeatedly blamed "liberal judges" and "activist judges" for many of the nation's problems.

"One's life is probably in no greater danger in the jungles of deepest Africa than in the jungles of America's large cities," he writes. "In my judgment, much of the problem has been brought about by the mollycoddling of criminals by some of the liberal judges who have been placed on the nation's courts in recent years."

Pop Quiz: Who's up for re-election next year?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:25 AM | Comments (4)

Japanese Movie Theaters...

...sell such cool sh$t in the lobby.

(Late-night-three-glasses-o'wine photos are so glary. My apologies.)
I got this at a double feature in downtown Iwakuni. The movie(s) had Japanese subtitles running down the right hand side of the frame, in a gaudy yellow print and we were all royally grateful they weren't dubbed. The other film showing was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and yes. I have that poster, too, but I didn't care much for that gruesome flick. I'm not sure if I should blame Kate Capshaw's incessant caterwauling or the hearts being ripped out. No matter. I adore "The Search For Spock", with it's mystic themes. Damn. So many good lines. The Scotty quote mentioned in the post below and these two (which, while actually spoken in the prior movie, are pivotal in this one):

"These needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one."

And Spock, gasping his last breath in a hyper-radioactive environment after sacrificing himself to save the ship, makes sure to say...

"Jim. I have been...and always will be...your friend."

And at the very end...

"Jim. Your name is...Jim"

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:28 AM | Comments (22)

July 21, 2005

"I Do Not Consent To Being Searched"

You knew it would happen. The NYPD come up with a reasonable plan to enhance safety on the subway system, and the lefty wackoids are up in arms.

Reacting to the NYPD's announcement Thursday afternoon that police would randomly—but routinely—search the bags of commuters, one concerned New Yorker quickly created a way for civil libertarians to make their views black-and-white.

In a few outraged moments, local immigrant rights activist Tony Lu designed t-shirts bearing the text, "i do not consent to being searched."

Well, guess what, asshole? 50 people in London did not consent to getting blown up. The fact that police are going out of their way to hamstring themselves so that your precious "profiling" does not occur bugs the hell out of me, frankly. I wish they'd search everybody, but at the very least it would be nice if they concentrated on those most likely to commit the crimes, i.e. young islamic males of middle eastern ethnicity. Sorry folks, but those are the facts. With the exception of Oklahoma City every major terrorist act of the past, what, 30 years has been committed by either a middle eastern muslim or, in the case of Bali, an asian muslim. Sorry, but I think that that should allow the police to watch them a little more carefully.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:28 PM | Comments (2)

A Lovely Scotty Tribute

From Hank Stuever at the WaPo.

The real tribute to James "Scotty" Doohan, 39 light-years after he first saved the USS Enterprise's heinie (and did it many times over), is that it's now almost impossible to have a boyfriend or husband who can't do a somewhat reasonable impression of Doohan's famously stressed-out burr: "We've got nuh powrrrr, Cap'n!" Or "She cannuh take much moor."

Men say these things when copy machines are jammed. They say it about an overstuffed Diaper Genie, or a '91 Honda with an expired inspection sticker. The world is full of chief engineers, and oh, the things they could do, if they only had a wee more dilithium and a little more time. Ask your man right now to do some chore: He'll do it, but maybe not without some Scottytalk...

How true can you get? I loved it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:19 PM | Comments (5)

John Howard...

...ROCKS !!

"Now I don't know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I've cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder. "

Oh yeah ~ what the MAN said!
Swill Salute to the Blogfaddah.
UPDATE: And video vault god Trey Jackson has the tape, for all to relish.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:47 PM | Comments (2)

I was thinking about Roe v Wade on the ride in today (with the whole SCOTUS nomination deal)..

then Dale over at QandO goes and posts this. I am really getting sick of the whole abortion debate. They really do need to overturn Roe, and let the states debate and duke it out. A few states would possibly outlaw them, but then you could still just cross state lines to get one if you so wanted. But at least the people would be able to decide, not the folks in black robes. It would have some real interesting effects on the make up of the parties, I would think. But I am just tired of it being an issue. Get the Feds out of it, and let the states decide. Same with gay marriage.

Posted by Crusader at 02:01 PM | Comments (12)

Too Much Government

Oh well CRAP. Another career choice harpooned by bureaucracy. The lead-in for our Fox10 News at 9...

If you're gonna take your clothes off for a living...

...you better have a permit.

...crushed every hope I ever had of breaking these chains that bind me. I was willing to leave my sash on again, too.
BASTARDS !!
sniff

UPDATE: Just overheard on Powerlunch on CNBC; an interview with Charles Gordon, CFO of Eli Lilly, discussing the company's future prospects.

"Cialis is doing great! It's the number one ED treatment in France...blahblahblah...
I think we can keep it up!"

And here I thought that was the idea the whole time...
Take it away, Bingley!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:55 PM | Comments (4)

Word of the Day

smarmy \SMAR-mee\ adjective

1 : revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness
2 : of low sleazy taste¹ or quality

¹See "Bingley"

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:28 PM | Comments (3)

Let Me See If I Understand

1) Rene has a husband in El Salvador.
2) Rene lives with her boyfriend in Houston.
3) Rene's boyfriend cheats on her.
4) Rene cuts off his John Thomas* with a kitchen knife.

Relationships can be so complicated sometimes...

*The name has been changed to protect the delicate sensibilities of a certain blogger.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:36 PM | Comments (4)

London Updates

Andrew is keeping us updated.

(Thanks Emily!)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:25 AM | Comments (6)

The Devil's Foyer

Unbelieveable reporting by Michael Yon in Mosul. Go read it; all of it.

As the Blogfaddah says: "Really, this is war reporting of a caliber not often seen these days."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:32 AM

Beauty, Eh?

Arthur Chrenkoff discusses a story from The Great White North, though I suppose one can't use that melanin-challenged description any more, either:

Canadian Miss Universe Natalie Glebova was forced to take off her official sash at a local festival celebrating Thailand when Toronto authorities invoked a law against sexual stereotyping.

The winner of the international beauty competition held in Bangkok in May, Glebova was to open the festival last weekend sporting her official beauty queen's regalia.

However, city employees invoked a regulation against activities which degrade men and women through sexual stereotypes or exploit their bodies to attract attention.

Amazing, really, that they pass and enforce laws likes this but have the cojones (or whatever the equivalent is for beavers-oops, more 'sexual stereotyping'!) to attack the US for being so eeeevuul?

Blech. What do I know. I'm just a stupid redstate guy with a bluestate address.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:43 AM | Comments (3)

July 20, 2005

Save Yourself The Commission Expenses...

...I'll betcha any Average Joe could tell you, or make a damn fine start of it.

Muslims Demand Inquiry in London Bombings
Britain's Muslim leaders demanded a judicial inquiry Wednesday into what motivated the four "homegrown" suicide bombers who targeted London, as Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed an international conference on rooting out Islamic extremism.

Especially since you know that somewhere in the excuses list would be the 'you brought dat sh$t on yo self' line.

"The scale of disenchantment amongst Muslim youth is very clear to see," said Inayat Bungalwala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "Various factors are at play: underachievement in education; a high rate of unemployment; discrimination in the workplace; social exclusion, and also the government's own policies, especially in Iraq."

And there it is ~ right on cue. How pathetic. And how dare they? Instead of looking inward at their twisted, repressive society ~ one which makes no effort to mesh with either the real world or their adopted homelands ~ they demand answers from the very people their hatred has victimized. The same Brits whose generous nature has allowed these newcomers to maintain the insular communities that spawn such monsters. Muslim leaders are looking to divert attention from the ugly truths surrounding them and the perversion that is the Islam they teach. Opposition to war is ever so easily manipulated into something else ~ a smokescreen, and canny mullahs will take advantage of every navel gazing bleeding heart. Liberals will be all too quick to take up the clarion call as it suits their purposes and, as time grows distant from the shock of the subway horror, the noise will drown out the truth. If they let it. All the while pudgy faced, well fed Islamic lads will keep trucking off to Pakistan for summer learn-to-kill camps.

Before British society turns its gaze on itself as a root cause of such evil, British society needs to point a lazer beam into Leeds and cauterize the festering wound there. British society should be the ones demanding answers from Muslim leaders, and not the other way around.

UPDATE: Well, well, well. Check out Drudge.

BRITON NAMED AS BOMB PLANNER; MET WITH BIN LADEN
Wed Jul 20 2005 20:20:53 ET

Terror investigators hunting the London bombing mastermind are to question a suspected Al Qaeda planner held in Pakistan.

British-born Haroon Rashid Aswad was seized at a religious school with a suicide bomb belt, explosives and GBP 13,000 in cash.

As I said, who should be demanding the answers here?

UPDATE II: Norm Geras at normblog has something to say concerning navel gazers in today's Guardian. And does he ever say it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:05 PM | Comments (5)

One Skinny Old Bald Guy Speaks His Mind...

...Walmart looses theirs and the sh$t hits the fan. This column*, dated June 18th, by Pensacola News Journal columnist Mark O'Brien has the world of Walton all up in arms...

Wal-Mart mentality keeps us pinching pennies rather than building a future

...resulting in a corporate case of taking your ball and going home. The day it appeared, the News Journal disappeared from newspaper racks at local Walmarts. Now, in a 40 miles radius of our humble hurricane shelter, there are at least 11 Supercenters. 9 of those are within reach of a population of about 430,000 people and Wally World is in the process of building yet another just 5 miles from the one closest to us. Right down the road. Their miserable brand of market domination is pretty secure here it seems, so the petty panties-in-a-wad reaction was completely uncalled for, but completely in keeping with the paranoid behaviour that is Walmart's SOP. The kicker is, O'Brien didn't say anything that wasn't true.

*reproduced in the extended section, as it seems to have mysteriously blipped off the PNJ's site as well.

Wal-Mart mentality keeps us pinching pennies rather than building a future
Mark O'Brien

Here we are strutting around in the year 2005, so proud of ourselves, sure that we're brilliant folks doing the right thing because we're positively modern.

Except that maybe we're not.

People thought they were brilliant 30 years ago when they scoffed at buying more land for U.S. 98 or planning for traffic growth in Santa Rosa County.

They thought they were thoroughly modern, although we now know they wasted a great chance to provide better transportation.

And what about the tourism promoters who congratulated themselves 55 years ago for offering land free of property taxes to entice people to build homes on Pensacola Beach?

Today, you can buy a 110-foot lot on Sabine Bay for $1.3 million and pay the government only a $410 per year lease, as the newspaper ad proclaims.

If it were anywhere else in Escambia County, a $1.3 million lot would pay $24,382 per year toward government services.

What were people thinking 30 or 55 years ago?

Yes, hindsight is 20-20, and people did have some good reasons for these decisions that had unintended results.

But Pensacola must work smarter and harder now, or someday our children will say, "What were they thinking in 2005? Was everybody on crack back then?"

Surely, we can be more than the Wal-Mart kind of town we're becoming -- cheap and comfy on the surface, lots of unhappiness and hidden costs underneath.

I like Wal-Mart prices the same as the next shopper, but there's a downside, too.

Many Wal-Mart employees lack the fringe benefits and insurance that make the difference between existence and a good quality of life. Yet, we customers pay a surcharge from a different pocket -- subsidizing health care for Wal-Mart employees who can't afford it.

Case in point: The New York Times found more than 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees in Georgia's health-care program, costing taxpayers nearly $10 million a year; 31 percent of patients at one North Carolina hospital were Wal-Mart employees on Medicaid.

Pensacola has a strong whiff of Wal-Mart thinking about it, with the emphasis on short-term results rather than investing in more permanent assets.

Sure, our cost of living -- at least until Hurricane Ivan -- was relatively low.

But too many of our schools are failing. Drainage and roads remain inadequate, and Ivan has been both the best and the worst thing to hit the local economy.

The Times report was quoted in a new book, "The World Is Flat," by Thomas Friedman, who reminds us that Pensacola no longer is competing with just Mobile and Fort Walton Beach for jobs, residents and services.

Engineers in China, computer specialists in Japan, call center employees in India -- they have the skills to match Americans, and they will do it for less money.

Where does Pensacola fit in this global economy? Will we be just another big discount store with lots of grumbling employees, or do we dare to do more?

To do more, Friedman says, a community needs "strategic optimists," people with more dreams than memories.

As he put it, we need, "the generation that wakes up each morning and not only imagines that things can be better, but also acts on that imagination every day."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:12 PM | Comments (1)

"Beam Me Up, God-dy"

Scotty has died.

*Update: Everyone post their favorite Scottyisms.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:05 PM | Comments (12)

No Unocal For China

They've decided to stick with Chevron, who's apparently sweetened their bid. Alrighty, then.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:08 AM | Comments (1)

More On China

They bear watching.

Pentagon warns of military threat from China
China could pose a future military threat to other Asian countries but its current ability to project power beyond its periphery was "limited", the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

In its long-awaited annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon concluded that China was increasing its efforts to prepare for a conflict over Taiwan, including taking longer-term measures to defend itself from other countries who could get involved in a conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.

Of course, the report has been subject to some 'PC' tweaking...

The report has been the subject of intense bureaucratic infighting as anti-China concerns mount on Capitol Hill. The State Department and National Security Council opposed an initial Pentagon draft, which they believed painted an overly antagonistic picture by signalling that China could emerge as a "strategic rival" to the US.

The 'well, duh' quote?

The report also criticised China for the level of secrecy it maintains about its military strategy and expenditures.

"The outside world has little knowledge of Chinese motivations and decision-making and of key capabilities supporting PLA modernisation."

As for our going to bat for Taiwan...

Raising alarms for the US navy, the report concluded that China was developing the capability to slow, or even deter, US efforts to defend Taiwan in the case of a conflict.

"The US intelligence community also believes China will consider a sea-denial strategy to attempt to hold at risk US naval forces, including aircraft carriers and logistic forces, approaching the Taiwan Strait," it said.

Oh go ahead, what the hell. Sell them an oil company.
UPDATE: The Chinese have answered and they're pissed.

The assessment was a flagrant mischaracterisation of China's peaceful defence policy and reasonable military development, the ministry said in a statement. "This report ignores fact in order to do everything it can to disseminate the 'China threat theory'. It crudely interferes in China's internal affairs and is a provocation against China's relations with other countries."

Blah blah blah. Right.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:05 AM | Comments (3)

I'd Be Horribly Remiss...

...if I didn't ask for good thoughts and prayers from all for those in Hurricane Emily's path. We've been on the receiving end too many times and had nothing but support, from family, friends ~ even folks we've never met ~ not to wish the best to someone else facing a nasty storm with a name. Not to mention our having the benefit of building codes and technology. The part of Mexico she's aiming for is awfully rural and I'm sure the comforts of those advantages are sorely lacking. Hang in there, amigos.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:51 AM

July 19, 2005

Tonight's Viewing

Why is it, when I so look forward to these few enough evenings alone, ~ the remotes and all they control are mine, mine alone and I am a chick flick Goddess basking in freedom to choose, with no Law and Order reruns allowed ~ that I freeze when the time comes to actually make a choice? Pffft. Alrighty, last night was a wash-out. Watched my one and only ever episode of Nanny 911 (what a hoot and there's no way those children were real...right?) and reveled in the peace and quiet. Tonight, after a smattering of news shows for SCOTUS reaction (Best quote there goes to Jonathon Turley, regarding the search for a young nominee "They would have nominated a stem cell, if they could have." Bwahahaha. Anyway...) I aim to plug in a cherished old favorite Captain Horatio Hornblower. Gregory Peck. Lordy, Lordy, Lordy Lords of the Admiralty! After that, should my eyes still function, it's if I can figure out where Ebola spirited my copy to. Oh yeah. Glass o' red callin'.
UPDATE: Can't find it and it's too late to start it anyway. No worries. There are far worse things to sleep on than heroic images of Gregory Peck. Hotcha!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:58 PM | Comments (2)

Oh God...

...have your speakers on at their bestest settings and hanky ready. I'm blubbering like a baby, bless their hearts.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:48 PM | Comments (2)

Of Mice (The Perdido Key Beach Mice, That Is)...

...(The Mouse) and men.

Rodents to Get Beach Property

A new home on Perdido Key could cost thousands of dollars extra, all to accommodate a rodent...
...Right now the mouse has free reign over the Gulf Islands National Seashore, the Perdido Key State Park and Alabama's Gulf State Park.
But the U-S Fish and Wildlife service thinks the mouse should be able to commute between the parks, without encountering manmade developments...
...The fee would be 1 hundred 98 thousand dollars per acre and would only apply to the footprint of the building.
So... a 3 thousand square foot house would pay about 13 thousand 600 dollars extra.

And (since you knew, just knew there had to be one) the 'WTF did he just say ??' quote:

Keith Wilkins/Neighborhood and Env. Services: "Instead of saying well 198 is too much but 98,000 is fine we can't do that. We've got to say the species needs land acquisition or it doesn't need land acquisition or it needs less land acquisition but still some."

Holy crap. I'm moving.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:15 PM | Comments (3)

As Someone* Pithily Points Out In the Comments...

..."Her superior, elevated morality didn't stop her little ego fromm accepting that White House invitation did it?"

(*Insolublog)

I guess not, since Indra Nooyi had dinner with the Bushes last night. It's a damn shame there's no integrity in dissent anymore. These types foam at the mouth all over the world, but will wipe the spit off their faces faster than you can say 'middle finger' for a placecard at a White House table.

I hope she sat on her hands. Shameless cow.

Swill Salute to Powerline and Charmaine Yoest

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:26 PM

Have You Tried Those New Tostitos Gold?

I knocked back a bag while reading this. Damn, they're good!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:52 PM | Comments (6)

Ah, That Neutral Press

Check out this photo and the caption.

Jeesh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 04:08 PM | Comments (5)

"The Catholic Church Is The Whore of Babylon..."

God, I've always loved that quote*. Almost drove off the US 17 in a laughing fit when I heard it read during an NPR broadcast of Whad'Ya Know. It was the gem contained in an author read excerpt (a most distinquished lady of letters, Mary Lee Settle) from her biography of her West Virginia grandmother. It also arrived at an opportune moment in my life, pondering the mysteries of 'Christian'. We were all baptized Roman Catholic, but have never 'practised' as such. Consequently, we've all wandered off to different degrees/expressions of 'faith', as it were. Granted I am the tree hugging mystic Druid of the bunch, but, for convenience sake, I've always just said 'Catholic' when asked.
But you know, I was never asked until I moved south of the Mason-Dixon line. Where 'Catholic' was as common as a nickel in your change in the Northeast and California (and where, hell, NO ONE would be rude enough to ask one's religion as part of an introduction), in the South that answer became something viewed with suspicion and barely contained contempt by 'Christians' and pretty much used as an excuse for the most miserable exhibits of ill-manners I've ever had the misfortune to endure. And that honestly bugs the sh$t out of me. To this day. Especially when it's tacitly endorsed by Southern governmental agencies. Witness this gem, in Sunday's (And how appropriate is that?) local fish wrap:

Christian adoption agency rejects Catholic couples because 'faiths are in conflict'

JACKSON, Miss. -- A Christian adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency's ``Statement of Faith.''

Bethany Christian Services stated the policy in a letter to a Jackson couple this month, and another Mississippi couple said they were rejected for the same reason last year.

``It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith,'' Bethany's state director Karen Stewart wrote. ``Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant's time, money and emotional energy.''

The Statement of Faith that has caused the ruckus?

...all Bethany staff and adoptive applicants personally agree with the faith statement, which describes belief in the Christian Church and the Scripture. It does not refer to any specific branches of Christianity.

``As the Savior, Jesus takes away the sins of the world,'' the statement says in part. ``Jesus is the one in whom we are called to put our hope, our only hope for forgiveness of sin and for reconciliation with God and with one another.''

I'm confused. Sounds alot like what I remember, even when it was in Latin, from those knee-numbing days of my youth.

Sandy Steadman said she was hurt and disappointed that Bethany received funds from the Choose Life car license plates. ``I know of a lot of Catholics who get those tags,'' she said.

She added: ``If it's OK to accept our money, it should be OK to open your home to us as a family.''

I know this is a long one, but, like I said, it bugs the sh$t out of me, the pretentious, holier-than-thou twits. Sometimes I think Jackson or Jalalabad ~ what's the difference?

*

I didn't hear her walk onto the porch. Like many heavy women, Addie had silent feet. I did not know she was close to me until she spoke. "The Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon in the Book of Revelation," she said to wake me up. She wanted to talk. She said she thought I ought to know about the Catholics, in case.

Addie: A Memoir: Mary Lee Settle, University of South Carolina Press, 1998

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:00 PM | Comments (16)

Your Groan For Today

Two little potatoes are standing on the street corner. One is a prostitute.

How can you tell which one is the prostitute?

It's the one with the little sticker that says...

I - DA - HO

Thank you. Thank you very much.

A warm Swill Salute to the vegas redhead.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:51 AM | Comments (14)

Ken out of town...

and this occurs.

Posted by Crusader at 11:12 AM | Comments (14)

July 18, 2005

Um, Isn't It Their Job?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I really don't get what the hoopla is about this:

FBI agents monitored Web sites calling for protests against the 2004 political conventions in New York and Boston on behalf of the bureau's counterterrorism unit, according to FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Well, ok, I admit I do know what this is about, as the next sentences explain it perfectly:

The American Civil Liberties Union pointed to the documents as evidence that the Bush administration has reacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by blurring the distinction between terrorism and political protest. FBI officials defended the involvement of counterterrorism agents in providing security for the Republican and Democratic conventions as an administrative convenience.

Bushy McChimphitler! Look, the FBI is supposed to share information amongst its various sections so that there's a better chance we don't miss the next batch of flight students from a 'friendly' nation. And it is many in Academe and the MSM that have "reacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by blurring the distinction between terrorism and political protest" by promoting the argument that the blood of those who died is to be found on the hands of Team America, as opposed to on the hands of the people who carried out the attacks.

"It's increasingly clear that the government is involved in political surveillance of organizations that are involved in nothing more than lawful First Amendment activities," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "It raises very serious questions about whether the FBI is back to its old tricks."

What, is the Director a transvestite?

A Sept. 4, 2003, document addressed to the FBI counterterrorism unit described plans by a group calling itself RNC Not Welcome to "disrupt" the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. It also described Internet postings from an umbrella organization known as United for Peace and Justice, which was coordinating worldwide protests against the convention.

"It's one thing to monitor protests and protest organizers, but quite another thing to refer them to your counterterrorism unit," said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice.

No, it's not, shit-for-brains. I want the FBI to look at the information on the organizers and the protestors. I want them to refer that information to the Counter-terrorism Unit with the question "Is this something we should worry about?" And when the C-T Unit comes back with the answer "No", I want them to to say "OK", and move along to the next project...which is exactly what happened. Quit wasting government resouorces with your attention-whoring.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:21 PM | Comments (3)

One way...

to fix a problem, I suppose.

Posted by Crusader at 11:04 AM | Comments (4)

Whew.

Long, long weekend of drinking and partying. I need a week off now...we had a wedding to go to on Friday, and a friend came in from Brazil for it on Thursday, so it was non-stop from Thursday night through yesterday afternoon.

I'm getting old...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:07 AM | Comments (4)

July 15, 2005

Since we seem to be talking China here...

this seems interesting.

Posted by Crusader at 01:26 PM | Comments (3)

Appeals Court Puts Bush Tribunal Policy ...

...back in the driver's seat.

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court put the Bush administration's military commissions for terrorist suspects back on track Friday, saying a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison who once was Osama bin-Laden's driver can stand trial...

..."Congress authorized the military commission that will try Hamdan," said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The protections of the 1949 Geneva Convention do not apply to al-Qaida and its members, so Hamdan does not have a right to enforce its provisions in court, the appeals judges said.

The driver is saying he just needed the job.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:14 PM | Comments (3)

The Bottom Line...

Unocal's shareholders are set to vote August 10 on whether to accept the 18.5-billion-dollar cash bid from CNOOC, or a stock-and-cash offer from Chevron that is worth about 1.5 billion dollars less.

...before anything else.

Gheit said it was unlikely that Unocal would reject CNOOC's offer out of hand. Institutional investors holding Unocal stock "aren't going to give up nine percent or 10 percent to be more patriotic", he said.

The Unocal board had already accepted the Chevron offer before the Chinese state firm entered the fray in late June...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:48 AM | Comments (1)

July 14, 2005

I'm Waiting For The Protest Marches In Europe

The US is prepared to use nuclear weapons against China if it is attacked by Beijing during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Pentagon general said on Thursday.

“If the Chinese draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on Taiwan's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Townsend.

Man, Europe is going to go bat-shit, and rightly so. This is completely unacceptable rhetoric from such a senior official, or even a junior one, for god's sake.

Oh wait, I got the quotation wrong:

China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on Thursday.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

I'm sure the French will continue to hold joint invasion practices with them; after all, it's really Chimpy McBushhitler who is the warmonger.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:38 PM | Comments (8)

What Is Your Battle Cry?

From Michele is a tool that will come up with the perfect battle cry for each of us...

(mine, as befits the battlelust-besodded fool that I am, is not PG rated...)

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Skulking out of the fields, brandishing a burning branch, cometh Mr. Bingley! And he gives a gutteral roar: "I'm going to fuck you so hard, you will drink poison and piss honey!!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:59 PM | Comments (14)

I'd Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me...

Than have to have a frontal lobotomy...

It really is amazing, and frankly somewhat sickening, that this 'procedure' was done on some 50,000 people in the US alone.

Other doctors used a more primitive version than Moniz, punching an ice pick into the brain above the eye socket and blindly manipulating it to sever nerve fibers.

Nice, huh?

The truly shocking thing is that the inventor of this "miracle breakthrough" (whose name was not Mengele, btw), a Portuguese neurologist named Egas Moniz, was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1949. Un-farking believeable.

"First, do no harm" my ass.

Ah, hell. You knew I'd have to print these:

I'D RATHER HAVE A BOTTLE IN FRONT OF ME (Randy Hanzlick)

Jimmy and I were brothers.
We went down different paths.
Jimmy always listened to my mother,
And me, I never like to take a bath.

As we grew and tumbled through adulthood
The pressure caused emotional drain.
So now I'm slowly dying in the bottle
and Jimmy has to live with half a brain.

Yes, me, I've got a bottle in front of me,
And Jimmy has a frontal lobotomy.
Just different ways to kill the pain the same.

But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than have to have a frontal lobotomy.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane.

Jimmy let his troubles drive him crazy.
He never tried to drown it in a drink.
I know that drinking makes my thinking hazy,
But at least I still have brains enough to think.

Jimmy's got a brain that isn't stable.
He doesn't have the sense to say his name.
I'm sorry that his doctor was unable
To remove the proper portion of his brain.

Yes, me, I've got a bottle in front of me,
And Jimmy has a frontal lobotomy.
Just different ways to kill the pain the same.

But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than have to have a frontal lobotomy.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane.

Funny how the world works.
People can be real jerks.
Some prefer the tension over booze.

Either way it ends the same.
Hard to beat the living game.
Might as well enjoy it while you lose.

When I need a drink I start to shiver
And Jimmy always viewed it with concern.
But I'd rather have cirrhosis of the liver
Than an intellect that's second to a fern.

I wonder if old Jimmy's gonna hear it
When I tell him that his logic wasn't sound.
They'll dose him up on lots of evil spirits
When they take him to the psychiatric grounds.

Yes, me, I've got a bottle in front of me,
And Jimmy has a frontal lobotomy.
Just different ways to kill the pain the same.

But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than have to have a frontal lobotomy.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:19 PM | Comments (7)

One of These Things Is Not Like The Other

and
Give up? Survey says:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co. , the top U.S. carrier by market value, on Thursday said quarterly earnings rose 41 percent as fare hikes boosted revenue and hedges eased the impact of record oil prices...

..."This is now the 57th quarter of profitability since 1991, a pretty strong story," said Rick Applegate, president of First Commonwealth Financial Advisors. "They are doing what they can do keep their unit costs down as much as possible with careful growth."

I mean, I gotta ask you. Is this any way to run an airline?
You betcha.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:09 AM

The UNOCAL Deal Seems Hugely Unwise...

...and I've thought so from the first word of it. Letting them buy a tchotchke retailer is one thing, but something so closely tied to the moving parts of this country and it's defense is naivety at it's most dangerous. Everyone doesn't have a right to scoop up U.S. assets. Last time the Chinese said 'trust us, it's okay', they had barefoot folks in quilted coats massed on the Yangtse. They haven't changed. Should they make a move on Taiwan, I think we'll find the flow of oil dissipating the second our warships set sail.

Congress is finally talking. I hope they spike the whole deal.

"The simple fact is that energy is a strategic commodity," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Hunter, R-Calif., said Unocal's holdings _ from drilling rights to exploratory capabilities in Asia and elsewhere _ "represent strategic assets that affect U.S. national security."

CNOOC Ltd., a Hong Kong subsidiary of state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., has offered to pay $18.2 billion for Unocal. That is about $2 billion more than a proposal from Chevron Corp.

The House hearing into the Unocal deal turned into a broad attack on China. Both lawmakers and witnesses dismissed CNOOC's claims that its pursuit of Unocal was simply a commercial business deal, rather than part of a government strategy to gain control of more global oil and natural gas assets.

To accept that it is simply a commercial deal "is extraordinarily naive," former CIA Director James Woolsey told lawmakers. He said CNOOC is 70 percent owned by the Chinese government and its top executive was appointed by the Communist Party.

Indeed.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:39 AM | Comments (9)

Overheard on TNT's British Open Coverage

"Well, Peter, what do you think of complaints that the grass is too tall on the 17th?"

"They're crybabies."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:49 AM | Comments (2)

Having Never Actually Read The Label...

...on a Coke bottle and, assuming from personal experience that one else really has, it follows that this is another huge change-my-diapers-and-save-me-from-myself waste of time.

Soft drinks 'should carry health warnings'

A US consumer group has called for cigarette-style health warnings on soft drinks, to alert people to the harmful effects of too many sugary beverages...

...In a petition to the US Food and Drug Administration, the CSPI said people--especially young people--needed warning about the risks of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay associated with excessive consumption of sugary drinks.

Suggested warnings included: "To help protect your waistline and your teeth, consider switching to diet sodas or water."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:18 AM

July 13, 2005

Would He Be Britain's...

...Ted Rall?

From the Times U.K. Cartoon Gallery.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:17 PM | Comments (9)

Say Again?

Peculiar brand of tap-dancing while hair-splitting here:

...On Sunday afternoon he went to a shop in Nottingham to buy cigarettes and was first called "Taliban" by the youths and then set upon.

Nottinghamshire police described the incident as racially aggravated, not as Islamophobic, angering Muslim groups and surprising some senior officers.

But I'm pretty sure your average Brit could give a hoot-mon if Muslim groups are angry.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:41 PM | Comments (2)

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy

Islamic cleric gets life for inciting war
Virginia-based scholar says he 'will not admit guilt'
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A prominent U.S.-based Islamic scholar who exhorted his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison...

...But he was accused of telling a group of young Muslim men just days after the attack that an apocalyptic battle between Muslims and nonbelievers was at hand and that Muslims were obligated to engage in holy war. He told the group that defense of the Taliban was a requirement and that U.S. troops were a legitimate target, according to court testimony.

I notice he didn't hotfoot his own little butt over there to throw bombs.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:15 PM | Comments (3)

Damn That Bushchimphitler...Again!!!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday slashed its forecast for the fiscal 2005 budget deficit by nearly $100 billion after the government raked in unexpectedly large tax revenues in recent months.

And...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in May to $55.3 billion as exports set another new record and a short-lived drop in oil prices kept imports from reaching a new high, a government report showed on Wednesday.

Sucks to be rollin' right along.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:40 PM | Comments (5)

This Certainly Isn't Helpful

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has had to address reports that the bombing suspects had been rounded up and released last year. So where'd this 'news' come from to begin with? The French.

The claims were made by France's Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in a news conference.

"It seems that part of this team had been subject to partial arrest ... in Spring 2004," Mr Sarkozy said.

Not so fast, says a bemused Home Secretary.

"It's completely and utterly untrue," he said.

"I have not even discussed the situation with Mr Sarkozy," he said.

"I find it amazing he had made this statement to journalists. I do not know where he had got this from.

"He is simply wrong in making this assertion."

What's up with that?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:33 PM | Comments (7)

Another Pop Quiz

Since Tim has a quiz up, I thought I'd add my own:

You're an ordinary Iraqi muslim trying to go about your life. The greatest threat to your life comes from...

A) Global Warming
B) US soldiers
C) The Air Supply Reunion Tour
D) Other Muslims

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:02 PM | Comments (1)

He Ain't Heavy...

AS ZIMBABWE COLLAPSES, AFRICAN LEADERS LOOK THE OTHER WAY

God bless Bono. He has done more to put Africa back on the map than all the usual advocates -- African heads of state, the Congressional Black Caucus and international aid organizations -- combined.

Isn't that one of the saddest lead-in sentences you've ever read? Cynthia Tucker's column today addresses Africa ~ specifically the ruin that is Zimbabwe ~ with refreshing frankness. I don't understand the Cong. Black Caucus or, for that matter, the leading lady liberal lights of the left, who refuse to speak out against these most heinous of injustices (i.e. Mugabe, the Taliban, etc.) because it would undermine their 'we're all black brothers' or anti-war stance. Where's the moral authority in that? Wrong is wrong is wrong. Ms. Tucker speaks to the hypocritical nature of it:

Indeed, if Mugabe were a white colonial oppressor, black African heads of state would be demanding international intervention, and American civil rights activists would be burning him in effigy. Instead, Mugabe's most ardent defenders are African heads of state. When G-8 leaders -- joined by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a native of Ghana -- asked African leaders to condemn Mugabe's relocations, they refused.

I'm sure we're expected to dump another hundred billion bucks into the black holes of their countries' coffers before they'll reconsider.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:43 AM

The Real Pleasures Of Life

Lileks has a wonderful Bleat up today on life, and taking the time to enjoy and appreciate it.

Because I’m young and stupid and the wrong things matter?

Not today. Today my daughter ran to me with open arms when I picked her up from school, and my dog barked when we both came home. Today was an ordinary day in the middle of an ordinary summer, and I have every reason to expect tomorrow will be the same. You don’t think that’s what happiness will be - you imagine the awards banquent, the press notices, the flattering faces in a Manhattan claque - but that’s the shape it takes. You can even chose an ordinary noisy moment – child leaping through the sprinkler while you stand over the grill making burgers, listening to some stranger on the radio name you the 10th best guest on the Hewitt show (tied with JPod!) and shouting SHUSH as Jasper runs for the gate because he’s heard your wife’s car pull up. That’s as good as it gets. You didn’t know how happy you were? Maybe you weren’t paying attention. So pay it.

Go read all of it. Yeah, I'm feeling sappy. Tough.

UPDATE: As Ken points out in the comments, I'm brutishly flaunting my joy in life. Heh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:45 AM | Comments (2)

Name One Thing...

Tim Blair has a good post up about Hollywood's 'selective' memory when it comes to Fidel Castro:

Cathy Seipp’s actress friend Leah asks a bunch of Hollywood types why they’re so hot for Castro:

“Name one pro-Castro movie that’s come out of Hollywood,” Gelbart demanded.

“Comandante!” Leah snapped back, referring to Oliver Stone’s recent paean to Castro.

“OK, that’s one ...” Gelbart said.

“Motorcycle Diaries!” Leah immediately added. Gelbart was beginning to look exasperated at that point, so she shut up. “But there’s also Havana,” she whispered to me, “by Robert Redford, another lyrical poem to Castro.”

Don’t these people even watch their own movies?

All I can think of when I read this is the scene from Life of Brian...

REG:Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?!

XERXES:The aqueduct?

REG:What?

XERXES:The aqueduct.

REG:Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that.Uh, that's true. Yeah.

COMMANDO #3:And the sanitation.

LORETTA:Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?

REG:Yeah. All right. I'll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done.

MATTHIAS:And the roads.

REG:Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying, don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads--

COMMANDO:Irrigation.

XERXES:Medicine.

COMMANDOS:Huh? Heh? Huh...

COMMANDO #2:Education.

COMMANDOS:Ohh...

REG:Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.

COMMANDO #1:And the wine.

COMMANDOS:Oh, yes. Yeah...

FRANCIS:Yeah. Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.

COMMANDO:Public baths.

LORETTA:And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.

FRANCIS:Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it. They're the only ones who could in a place like this.

COMMANDOS:Hehh, heh. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.

REG:All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

XERXES:Brought peace.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:22 AM | Comments (1)

July 12, 2005

Those're Some Serious Plátano Chips

Panama Canal expansion may force toll rise

Tolls on the Panama Canal may have to increase nearly four-fold to fund the canal's planned expansion – a move that could reduce the waterway's competitiveness against alternatives...

...It currently costs a container ship capable of carrying 4,200 twenty-foot containers about$170,000 for each transit of the six-lock canal...

...Under the worst financing conditions and if less traffic than expected used the canal, the report says, tolls might have to rise by 272 per cent to nearly four times the present level. They are more likely to rise 128 per cent to a level more than twice the current toll, however.

Bet it's not looking like such a great deal to the Panamanians now. Supertankers have blossomed immensely in size, to the point that some current ones are too large and draft too deep to pass through the Canal at all. One disasterous slip by a Canal pilot and a lock could be taken out. They're just squeaking through as it is.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:49 PM | Comments (9)

Word of the Day

turophile \TOOR-uh-fyle\ noun

: a connoisseur of cheese : a cheese fancier

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:10 PM | Comments (18)

Drudge Is Reporting

EXPLOSIVES FOUND IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Holy shit. No link yet. I'm looking.
UPDATE: Okay, it seems as if they evacuated as a precaution.

The Serjeant At Arms Office said the alert had been a "precautionary measure related to an incident elsewhere in Westminster".

This has to be excrutiating, bless their hearts.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:55 PM

This Lays It Out There Nicely

In all the breaking news surrounding the bombings in London and our own brand of wet and wild down here, this admission seems to have escaped notice. If these words don't scare the beejeebus out of the 'word terrorist is a barrier' crowd, there is no hope, nor any understanding for it and we need to carry on without them. Protecting their right to be clueless.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — The man on trial in the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh (search) admitted his guilt in court Tuesday, declaring he acted out of religious conviction and would do it again if given the chance.

Mohammed Bouyeri (search) also turned to Van Gogh's mother, Anneke, in court and told her: "I don't feel your pain."

"I can't feel for you because I think you're a nonbeliever," he said...

"...I did it out of conviction," Bouyeri said. "If I ever get free, I would do it again."

This is what we're dealing with. There should be no more understanding anything. We understand PERFECTLY. The world needs to respond.

We don't feel your pain, because your beliefs are are a twisted sham. You are monsters and we will crush you. To defend and remain ever free, we will do it again. And again. Until the black stain of your unholy existence is wiped clean from this world.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:17 PM | Comments (7)

Karl Rove Has a Lot of 'Splainin' to Do...

...as I'm sure he's responsible for this too.
(UPDATE: As Emily seems intent on a Mexican vacation, we have redacted the forecast tracking map until our lives are again in jeopardy.)
Meet Emily. You probably thought it was the Dennis graphic below and no wonder. It's like identical.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:54 PM | Comments (2)

July 11, 2005

They Are Now Refered To As "People Whose Mom's Did Not Buy Them Puppies"

Were you shocked and stunned when the BBC refered to the bastards who murdered 50+ folks in London as 'terrorists'? Well, don't despair! Because in the cold, hard, safe light of socialist reflection the editors of the Beeb have gone back and changed what they wrote. Yes, no longer must those poor dirt-eating bastards suffer under the cruel weight of oprobrium brought about by the cavalier slinging of such a hateful term, no, indeed. For let us not forget that, as the BBC's guidelines state

"the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding" and its use should be "avoided"

You see, it's all about understanding. Oh sure, it's awfully inconvenient to some folks that their child or spouse got blown up, but, really, since I'm sure that some of them might work (worked - ed.) for zionists; hell, some of those folks who got blown up might even have been zionists, or even jews, for gosh sakes. I mean, everyone knows they had it coming. When you act, in the immortal words of Tim Robbins in Team America, "all corporationally," well, then we really know where the blame lies, don't we?

And remember:

The BBC's guidelines state that its credibility is undermined by the "careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments"

Goodness, we can't have that.

I feel sick.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:08 PM | Comments (7)

Japanese Racism?

Are you a racist if you simply look down on everybody*?

*blondes excluded, of course.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 04:22 PM | Comments (8)

Terrorists? Pshaw!

The EU is concentrating on the important things:

"The EU's objective is to substantially reduce the number of people in Europe affected by noise by 2012," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement.

Funny, that's Osama's objective, too.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:21 PM | Comments (3)

July 10, 2005

We...

...have seen the LIGHTS! They're on and we're astounded. I think all our experiences hurricane wise, colored by Bertha (07/96 CAT2) and Fran (09/96 CAT3) in N.C., were forever altered by the beast that that was Ivan. This was also our first experience with the western edge of a hurricane (we have always been beaten up non-stop in the northeastern quadrant) and, while it had it's moments, compared to what's been our norm? We were lovin' life. FEMA contractors fix up a bitchin' roof ~ proof positive our neighbor's complete coverage and our two smaller spots still intact, after 100+ mph winds. Our local utilities learned from Ivan, replaced and upgraded their equipment and we had power late into the storm, have power/cable now and never lost the water, cell phones or landline. Outstanding job all around and one feels ever more confident moving into a pretty active season with a bullseye on one's derriere. Ya know, since there's already a new Tropical Depression on it's way and, if it gets a name, it will be 'Emily'.

Should we be worried...???

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:08 PM | Comments (19)

The Squid Terrorist...

...stops by, while making his rounds of the neighborhood.

We got a full report of who lost what. Great to have a salty bosun's mate next door.

Kudos again to Gulf Power, Southern Bell and People's Water Co. for keeping the lights on. This is aMAZzing!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:40 PM | Comments (11)

Oh My Gosh

This is so macabre. I just switched to the Weather Channel, just as the radar was on. There's the swirl of the first part of the eye wall and they've got their damn goofy music. Lalalala. What a hoot. I think Jim Cantore did this. He's always wanted to be at the dead center and got his wish on us. Pffft! He must pay me back for causing me distress with sexual favors.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:29 PM | Comments (2)

Damn

It's getting close to crunch time and we're still ground zero. They're even saying 'Perdido Key', which just SUCKs, since we're 6 miles as the SUV drives from there.

On the upside, I'd like to thank FEMA for the tarp jobs they did. On the downside, I hate being one of the folks they practised on. Our neighbors across the street still have theirs so I'm hoping our smaller patches hold up as well. Cingular is still full signal, something they WEREN'T as ATT, we still have water and (Bless your little pointy heads Gulf Power!!) juice in both their lines and Southern Bell's. Rock on!

UPDATE: Ol' John Ed Thompson, the weatherman for Fox10 Mobile
has to be the best crisis weather guy I've ever seen. We listened to him during Ivan and his delivery was straightforwrd and honest. I adore him. He's just said that Dennis has taken a slight jog to the east and (for the moment) they're thinking landfall in an hour or so a little east of Pensacola Beach and then Gulf Breeze. Now we're 10 miles WEST of dowtown, so I think that might be better for us, marginally. So of course it won't happen. There's an hour to go yet. The other good news is the central pressure is up 9 mb's to 939, so it may poop out a mph or so yet. That also is a lovely thought.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:22 PM | Comments (1)

Forget It

They won't come in.

Scottie Blogging, brought to you live...
You saw it here, folks.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:16 PM | Comments (3)

Pics

Gusts are whistling, trees are bending, rain's a drivin' and the house is starting to creak a bit. Our visitor has picked up speed, praise JEsus, so won't be able to get any stronger if he keeps this up. The Squid Terrorist has run a power line off his big honkin' generator under the garage, so when the lights go out, we'll still have the fridge. We WILL be boarding up the inside of the front door, and have sandbags inside and out to strenthen the door and try to keep the driving rain out from under it. I was a soaked towel wringing fool during Ivan. Now, I have to go get Major Dad, who's on the porch. Ebola's asleep. What a surprise. Power's been burping, so this might be our last 'wish you were here' update for a while. Love you guys!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:54 PM | Comments (2)

Blech

His ugly old eye is already on our short range radar.
We've got the place as fortified as humanly possible, all things considered. And there's a blessing in that the worst winds are in a tight little band, so whoever gets clobbered will catch it good, but it won't be the massive swath Ivan cut.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:18 AM | Comments (6)

July 09, 2005

Blue Skies Shining at Me

Nothin' but blue skies...

...do I see. It's great while it lasts and I'll take it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:18 PM | Comments (3)

Birmingham, England

They're evacuating the center of the city.

Wow, stay tuned folks.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:14 PM | Comments (6)

BAStard!!

The graffiti says:

Pelican Soup Taste Good

PAY THE RANSOM

Okay, you heartless cretin. TAG!!

You're

IT !

Explain THAT when the CNN crews come through the neighborhood.
Heh.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:12 PM | Comments (4)

Hey, The Soviets Had Purges Too

Heh.

"Reality based". Snort.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:12 AM | Comments (4)

I Was Gonna Fisk This Guy

Wunder Kraut had a post up the other day about an article that one James Carroll of the Boston Globe wrote on July 5th. Typical damp washcloth stuff, really, tying together how evul Bushy McChimphitler and crew are now with the sordid past of the US and showing how it's really part of our national character:

But what about today? In assessing post-celebration realities of the national moment, it may help to recall that America has never been an innocent nation, which is seen in its having constantly sought to appear as one. Indeed, the planting of the flag in self-affirming virtue is how the hallowed standard comes most readily under fire. The most poignant honoring of the flag of which I know is the US Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, the magnificent bronze rendering of the famous Joe Rosenthal photograph of five weary leathernecks and a Navy medic raising the flag on Iwo Jima. That statue, not the Mussolini-like showcase of plinths, pillars, wreaths, and fountains that now despoils the Mall, should be the nation's memorial to World War II.

Neat, huh? "We are all New Yorkers" becomes "We are all fascists."

He also shows that he is quite the erudite fellow by casually tossing in phrases like "...how high-flown American ideals square with the quotidian reality of what the nation is becoming." I know I want to sleep with him now.

But I just got too disgusted to really shred him the new one he deserves, and in the course of following the links on this story I came across a comment on Wizbang that's one of the funniest things I've ever read:

My father fought in the pacific in WWII. He went to college in the fall of 1941. He was paying his own way through college, so happily signed up for a neat course that didn't cost anything but gave him college credits. The course was to teach you to fly. On December 7, my father realized why the US government would be willing to pick up part of his college tuition.

He served 22 months in the pacific flaying off carriers and islands (e.g. Bouganville). After those 22 months, he returned as a lt. commander and taught new pilots at Pennsacola. He doesn't talk much about his experience, but he did relate this story to me once.

He was flying over Raboul and no zeros were coming up to play. So while puttering around, he came across a scene of 3 Japanese soldiers herding some cows. Being a 20 year old kid from the country in a high performance fighter with a bunch of 0.50 caliber machine guns, he did the natural thing. He swooped down to shoot up the herd and the soldiers. The herd was coming up to a bridge, got a bit tangled up when they stampeded and apparently my Dad did a number on them.

When he started back, he remembered that he had gun cameras that took a picture when his guns fired. It was supposed to allow them to know after he returned if he had hit what he was shooting at. Since he had expended ammunition, they would routinely develop the film and see a picture of a bunch of cows looking back. That might not go over so well with his superiors.

So my Dad landed and filled out his after action report. He used phrases like "interdicted enemy supply lines" and "pressed the attack against ground fire" (the soldiers had fired their rifles at his plane traveling several hundred miles per hour over their head). It apparently all sounded very impressive. Then they took a look at the film. They could match what he had reported to the film, but the words took on a very different meaning when viewed in conjunction with the film.
The end of the story is he didn't get into trouble with his bosses. But the next day when he went to get into his plane, he found his ground crew had painted twenty udders on his plane to indicate he had become an 'ace' against cows.

So Mr. Carroll left off the part about WWII pacific veterans not being treating animals ethically.
Posted by: yetanotherjohn at July 6, 2005 06:49 PM

Friends, that spirit is what our great land is all about, and as long as we have folks like yetanotherjohn's pop and his ground crew this land of ours will maintain its virtue and be the beacon of hope for the world.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:53 AM | Comments (4)

July 08, 2005

Dateline Pensacola

Stores are laid in.

And we firmly endorse 3/4 inch plywood. "Home sweet home" was added post Ivan, but we really mean it.

The squid terrorist's best side.
Actually, if there was ever a better neighbor in the world (excepting his ugly anti-Flamingo tendencies, but I won't quibble during a time of crisis), you'd be hard pressed to convince me. He and his gorgeous wife are the kindest, most giving individuals it's ever been my honor and good fortune to meet. (Plus, he's hell-on-wheels the best fixit/do anything tool guy, where me and Major Dad are all thumbs.) ST Jr., all of one year old, is the most overindulged, unspoiled baby I've ever been through disasters with. We adore them all.

Now, we're all pooped. There isn't an ounce of gas, bag of ice or roll of toilet paper left for 50 miles, but we're snug as bugs and in awfully good company. Plus, there's always the entertainment value. The kids on our right side scored plywood this afternoon and are busily hacking it to size with an electric chainsaw. Rock on, dudes. They didn't know you have to have a drillbit to make the hole the concrete screws go in. We hooked them up with Ivan left over 1 X 4's to frame the plywood to their windows and the ST found an ancient drill he could afford to have them break. They are humming right along now. Shit, we were all young once, n'est pas?

Hokey doke, that's it for tonight from everybody's favorite target. Supposed to be pretty for the better part of the morning, so maybe I'll get some more shots before the power schmutzes out. Later gators. {:^)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:38 PM | Comments (25)

Ken, I Wasn't Chasing Them

Honest.

Cute little devils that they are, though...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:41 PM | Comments (17)

Keep These Folks In Your Prayers

This can get real ugly. CAT 4, 135 mph already and "expected to strengthen."

Anyone in the path get out now if you can, and for those of you whom Uncle Sam wants to attend meetings in the path...for God's sake do all you can to be safe.

Update:

RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT DATA INDICATE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE
INCREASED TO NEAR 150 MPH...240 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. DENNIS
IS A STRONG CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME
WEAKENING IS FORECAST AS DENNIS MOVES OVER CUBA...BUT IS EXPECTED
TO REMAIN A MAJOR HURRICANE AS IT EMERGES OVER THE STRAITS OF
FLORIDA AND THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO TONIGHT.

Get out of his way.

Now.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:29 AM | Comments (12)

Whither Now?

Following the lead of Nightfly, the ever clear-sighted Mark Steyn weighs in. Read all of it, but especially the summation:

This is the beginning of a long existential struggle, for Britain and the West. It's hard not to be moved by the sight of Londoners calmly going about their business as usual in the face of terrorism. But, if the governing class goes about business as usual, that's not a stiff upper lip but a death wish.

These are serious times, and we have a long struggle ahead, and there will be many bumps in the road. We must reaffirm our resolve and seriously crack down on these groups. Now.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:01 AM | Comments (2)

July 07, 2005

Yet Another Swilling First

How they seem to pile higher and deeper. It's a burden, really, fame and all that. We are Numero Uno, FIRST PAGE, first entry on Google. As our swath continues it's inexorable slice and dice toward Media Domination (and a Fox News analyst job), please tuck your tushie and join us at the Swill, should you be one of the millions searching for bushy mcchimphitler. Bellissimo!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:49 PM | Comments (18)

Spot on!

An excellent op-ed in the Disturber today (our local bird cage liner)by Bill Ward, below for those who do not wish to register...

Posted on Thu, Jul. 07, 2005

The other legacy of slavery
Some blacks are thankful ancestors left Africa -- even as slaves in chains

From Bill Ward, a historical researcher and writer living in Salisbury:

Before Wachovia Bank Chairman and CEO Ken Thompson and his Bank of America counterpart Ken Lewis do too much hand wringing about their companies' past ties to slavery, they should set aside "white guilt" and consider the issue from a historical perspective. If they don't, they'll be fair game for every race-baiting extortionist that comes along.

The morally reprehensible practice of slavery existed for thousands of years among every ethnic and racial group. Slavery still exists in the Middle East and Africa.

Slaves constituted an estimated three-quarters of West African exports in the 18th century. In 1807 more slaves were in Africa than in the Americas. Without African chiefs' willingness to sell fellow Africans, the slave trade wouldn't have flourished in the Western hemisphere.

How has slavery affected the millions of blacks who live and work in this country today?

Keith Richburg was a Washington Post correspondent and bureau chief in Africa for three years. In his book, "Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa," he describes what he witnessed there: the descent of Somalia into a warlord domain; the mass butchery of Tutsis by rival Hutus in Rwanda; the murderous rampages of bewigged young men in Liberia; the AIDS pandemic across the continent; the rampant crime and violence in South Africa.

Tracing his ancestors' journey from Africa to a slave auction in Charleston, S.C., Richburg concluded: "Thank God my ancestor got out, because, now, I am not one of them [present-day Africans]. ...[T]hank God I am an American."

Slave ownership in this country was not a white-only business. The 1830 U.S. Census showed that 3,775 free Negroes owned 12,760 slaves. In North Carolina 69 free Negroes were slave owners. Two black residents of Colleton District, S. C., Justus Angel and Mistress L. Horry, each owned 84 slaves, placing them in the ranks of slave magnates -- those who owned 50 or more slaves. In 1860, one of the wealthiest men in South Carolina (top 10 percent) was William Ellison, a freed slave who owned 63 slaves.

No one can offer a view of slavery better than one who has been a slave, such as Booker T. Washington. In "Up From Slavery," he wrote:

"I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race. No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government.... [W]hen we rid ourselves of prejudice, or racial feeling, and look facts in the face, we must acknowledge that, notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of American slavery, are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than ... an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe."

Black Americans' struggle for recognition and prosperity has not been easy. Those who work for corporate giants such as Wachovia and Bank of America stand as proud examples of the merits of education and diligent effort.

Those who prefer to present blacks as perpetual victims and whites as their victimizers should heed H. L. Mencken: "The more noisy Negro leaders, by depicting all whites as ... enemies to their race, have done it a great disservice. Large numbers of whites who were formerly very friendly to it, and willing to go to great lengths to help it, are now resentful and suspicious."

Corporate leaders owe themselves and their stockholders a strong defense against intimidation by fast-buck operators seeking deep pockets under the guise of make-believe justice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For The Record offers commentaries from various sources. The views are the writer's, and not necessarily those of the Observer editorial board. Contact Bill Ward at wardwriters@bellsouth.net.

Posted by Crusader at 07:08 PM | Comments (1)

Show Your Appreciation Of All Things British

Emily, as always, is brilliant.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:05 PM | Comments (5)

From An Elderly British Gentleman On The Street

"No, I'm not going to change anything. That's the point, isn't it? If you let it change your life you let these evil, cowardly, despicable people win."

You do indeed, dear sir. You do indeed.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:43 PM | Comments (1)

Amazing how things digress these days...

even on the places you would not expect it to. Jeeze, can't even enjoy my hobby without the weenies screwing it up...

Posted by Crusader at 03:13 PM | Comments (1)

Rudy Can't Fail

Turns out Rudy Giuliani was in London this morning:

"I was right near Liverpool (St) station when the first bombing took place, so I could hear the sirens and then kept hearing reports of different bombing, in different parts of the city.

"As we were walking through and driving through the streets of the city, it was remarkable how the people of London responded calmly and bravely."

He said the hearts of New Yorkers would go out to Londoners.

"We feel a tremendous empathy with them. I think every New Yorker would join me in saying we feel we very much understand what you are going through," he said.

"This is a difficult time, but the people of London have responded in the exactly right way, with bravery and by moving forward.

"The emergency services people appear to have responded as if they have been very, very well trained and as if they were expecting attacks, they seem to be prepared for it.

"In a strange way a lot of our response to September 11 was modelling ourselves as much as we could on the people of London during the Second World War and the incredible way they withstood the attacks during the battle of Britain."

Quite a refreshing change from the Galloways of the world.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:32 PM | Comments (7)

George Galloway, As Expected

Tim Russo has Gorgeous George's recation to the murders today in London:

George Galloway says: "We argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings."

It really is beyond words, except for these: He's on the other side.

(hat tip to the Blogfaddah)

Update: More from George -

We urge the government to remove people in this country from harms way, as the Spanish government acted to remove its people from harm, by ending the occupation of Iraq and by turning its full attention to the development of a real solution to the wider conflicts in the Middle East.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:35 AM | Comments (25)

Why I Don't Have Wi-Fi

This would be happening all the time (not the prosecution, but the snooping/stealing). There are too many computer geek kids in my neighborhood.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:39 AM

Kidnapped Ambassador Killed

I'm getting word that Al-Qaeda is claiming they have executed the Egyptian diplomat they kidnapped in Iraq.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:27 AM | Comments (4)

A Governor's Son, An American

(Pataki) added that graduates from Yale have a lot of options, but not all are as rewarding as being a Marine. “I wanted something more exceptional; something that would make the most out of me.”

Thank you, Teddy Pataki, and God Bless.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:42 AM | Comments (4)

Our Prayers Are With Our English Friends

Reports are coming in that suicide bombers may have been involved. Sadly, it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. We must redouble our efforts to hunt down and exterminate these scum and those that support them.

Bastards. Are they still 'minute men', you fat piece of shit Michael Moore?

Update: Wunder Kraut has some good thoughts on this.

UpdateUpdate: And for gosh sakes go read Nightfly.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:15 AM | Comments (7)

July 06, 2005

A Study In Contrasting Styles

The Big Guy took a tumble today, as he is wont to do when peddling along.

Bush falls off bike after colliding with officer
President suffers minor scrapes in incident at G-8 summit

GLENEAGLES, Scotland - President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday...

...The president was concerned about the officer's condition and talked with him for some time after the collision, McClellan said. The president also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital*.

Remember now, the other guy who wanted that job tended to be a bit 'klutzy', too. But I don't recall him being gracious...or concerned.

When Sen. John F. Kerry fell - or was toppled by a Secret Service agent - from his perch on a snowboard recently, the would-be president clarified events with rare grace:

"I don't fall down," he said. "That son-of-a-bitch ran into me*." Or "knocked me over," depending on which version you read.

Two things to take away from this. First, Red State types look wiser every day. Secondly, it proves that old childhood adage:
"Weasels Wobble But They Don't Fall Down."

*all emphasis (and quiet snickering) mine.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:50 PM | Comments (6)

Sniffle...

One of five children born into a military family in Fort Bragg, N.C., Duncan moved frequently when he was growing up. The high school dropout often felt lonely and displaced, particularly after his parents’ divorce in 1979, the Times reported.

Rape at gunpoint
It was these feelings that prompted him to victimize others: by the time he was 16, Duncan estimated he had raped 13 younger boys, some at gunpoint, it said.

“It was an outlet for my feelings [of] rejections. One from my mother and one from my father,” Duncan wrote in a personal history cited by the Times. He said he didn’t feel wanted at home and at school, he was bullied by peers because of his constant moves.

Oh, I'll bet it was all that awful stuff that 'prompted' him to 'victimize' small boys. Sure glad we never had it so rough ~ hate to think what would've happened. Heh.
So he's all pitiful about moving and then some REAL name calling started...

Duncan was deemed a sexual psychopath at 17, after he was arrested for the rape and torture of a 14-year-old boy in 1980.

...SEXUAL PSYCHOPATH. That's a name. And what happened?

As an alternative to prison, Duncan underwent treatment at the Sex Offender Program and Western State Hospital in Washington state, where he lived during his teenage years. Twenty-two months later, he was kicked out of the program for sneaking off the campus and having rape fantasies, the Times said. A judge then reinstated his 20-year prison sentence in March 1982 and Duncan served 14 years in prison.

So, therapy, prison and halfway programs haven't helped but he's out anyway, with them all knowing what he is and what he does. Now there is dead family who didn't deserve any of this and a little girl traumatized beyond all believing. I'm sorry he had to move alot, but hundreds of military brats move every day and they manage to cope.

Psycho schmycho, it's quite simple really.

He's a monster and he needs to die.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:30 PM | Comments (5)

Sorry About The Slow Loading Times Folks

But we are getting pounded by trackback spam today. I've deleted 30 or so, and they really clog things up.

Bastards.

PS - Anyone who even thinks about click through to some of those sites and encourage the turds will be gleefully emasculated.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:50 PM | Comments (8)

Why Are Some Citizens...

...so much more important than others? My heart breaks for her mother and family. I know I would be foaming at the mouth at the thought that someone could hurt the most precious thing in my life.

But now comes word that Senator Richard Shelby (AL) (in a FoxNews video) has spoken to Sec. Rice, the FBI Director and now the Sec. of the Navy (Fox says it has a copy of the letter), to ask for a deep diving team and ship to head on out to Aruba. Isn't it enough that the Dutch government has F-16's streaking over the island, flying 'grid patterns'? Color me a cynic, but if her name was Tameka, it wouldn't matter how much her mother ran her mouth. There wouldn't be camera ONE around to cover it, less mind a Senator actively soliciting Federal help. (Though it does pay off handsomely in TV appearances for him.) I want to think that oh, say...Senator Nelson would do the same for me...or Tameka. But I think not.

Ask poor little Sasha Groene. She wandered through a convenience store, arms folded, staring into customers' faces, her expression beseeching somebody, anybody, to recognise her and save her from the monster reading a paper by the front door. No one did. When was the last time you saw her pretty little face on TV? About 5 weeks ago. Was Greta Van Sustern traipsing the Idaho forests, interviewing Big Foots and Wookies, keeping us breathlessly up to date on every little international non-event? Never. That little girl and her brother dropped off the face of MSM as fast as Uncle Pussy off the stern with concrete overshoes in the Sopranos. (SO much off the radar that, when she was found, people went "oh, WHAT little girl?") Thank God for an alert waitress, hours later, in damn near her home town.
The Navy sure doesn't get mobilized to look for anyone in my neighborhood either, less mind taking a Caribbean cruise. If the squid terrorist next door was a little late getting home from grouper fishing in the Gulf, the Coast Guard and volunteers would do their damndest for days, but eventually call the search off. The last time I saw the Navy called out to search for a citizen, his name was JFK, Jr.

The White House "situation room" was alerted. Federal transportation officials swung into action, and sophisticated military equipment was brought to the waters off Martha's Vineyard. Several Clinton administration cabinet members, including the secretary of defense, were rousted from their beds.

"The same amount of effort would have been expended for an average citizen*," said Capt. Sandy Troeber of the Air Force's rescue coordination center in Virginia. "Every life is as important as the next."

*Right. Only as long as you're a well off pretty blonde/brunette college student or 'American Royalty' citizen. I got a sinking feeling me and Tameka are on our own, while the squid terrorist would be backstroking beachward by his lone self.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:49 AM | Comments (6)

Pensacola, Full Steam Ahead

In honor of Bingley BASTARD's incredibly callous sense of humor and appalling lack of empathy, not to mention good taste, I have put together a short
Photo Essay.
Once you've seen it, realizing how cruel the Dennis graphic below really is, I shall be covered with good wishes and love, whilst he will be shunned for the cretinous schmuck he is.
Now.
I have blue tarp to duct tape.
Thank you for your support.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM | Comments (13)

Ken Finds Some Ward Goodness I Missed

You've got to hand it to Ward; he's got a set of brass ones (handsomely crafted by native craftsmen from indigenous materials, natch). Ken's got the scoop on his latest venture. As each day goes by Ward is turning into Al Sharpton in buckskin (although, in his defense, Rev. Al actually is of minority extraction).

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:03 AM | Comments (2)

Sis, Better Set An Extra Place For Supper...

'cos Dennis is coming to town.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:48 AM | Comments (1)

July 05, 2005

This...

6 attackers die in raid on Hindu shrine in India
Security forces end standoff with gunbattle

AYODHYA, India - A suicide bomber blew up a security fence Tuesday and gunmen used the breach to storm a Hindu shrine complex at the center of Hindu-Muslim strife, setting off a two-hour gunbattle that left all six attackers dead, police said.

An attacker in a jeep blew himself up, with the blast tearing a hole in iron railings surrounding the shrine and allowing the other five attackers to get within 50 yards of the temple’s inner sanctum, police said.

...DOESN'T HAPPEN with the Baptists, Catholics, Wiccans and Brownsville Revival types 'round here and, trust me, they like each other about that much. If they believe your lack of their brand of worship will be sending you to nasty netherworlds of individual description, they will pray and preach and 'tch-tch' you there. Truly devout people of any religion 'of peace' do not ignite explosive bandilleros, spray bullets around (ending with the obligatory police shoot out and scenes of carnage) and have anybody-can-be-an-ayatollah issuing proclamations portending/inciting doom, with reward promises of a carnal nature in the hereafter. If you need to get laid to make Heaven worth getting there, you have a whole 'nuther set of problems. And we shouldn't be kissing your Neanderthal patootie. Overseas or here.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:42 PM | Comments (3)

Yo! M. Diddy! How's It Hangin' Girlfriend?

I want to barf:

Martha Stewart says in a new interview that her nickname in prison was M. Diddy

Heh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:39 PM | Comments (1)

Judging By The Picture...

...whatever he's protesting against...

...I'm for.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:35 PM | Comments (7)

Time For A Pop Quiz From Uncle Granola!

Ready? Here we go:

What's more dangerous to a marine reserve*: A - old fishing nets or B - a ship full of researchers?

*No, "The MPs" is not an acceptable answer.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:18 PM | Comments (1)

Speaking of Creative Complaints...

...this one, whilst not a hoax, rings with insincere poetry.

In the Louisiana case, Johnson said she suffered physical and psychological harm when she discovered the object in a take-out salad from an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson in June 2004.

Her lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses the restaurant of unsanitary food preparation and improper training of employees, as well as "failure to prevent the inclusion of a human fingertip in a salad to go."

So, if she'd eaten said salad while dining in the restaurant proper, it wouldn't have been so bad?
There's a moral to the story here, but I can't put my finger on it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:05 PM | Comments (3)

Mark Steyn on "Live8"

I really don't need to say anything else, do I?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:53 PM | Comments (2)

Oh Yeah, That'll Make a Difference

First GM, now McDonald's. Clueless, completely clueless.

Mickey D's wants to make workers 'phat'?
Report says McDonald's had asked Tommy Hilfiger, P. Diddy, among others, for a 'uniform' makeover...

..."We're looking at how do we make our uniforms more appealing, more desirable*," Bill Lamar, chief marketing officer for McDonald's (Research) USA, was quoted in the report as saying.

Okay, Lucy, lemme 'splain this one. More. Time. It's a PRODUCT and CUSTOMER SERVICE/lack there of issue. Both of those need to be "more appealing, more desirable", before some sweaty teenager at the register's polo shirt. AND I could give a rat's ass what your uniforms look like, when the doofusses enrobed in them stack a BigMac with the two hamburger patties in one layer and the cheese in the other. Routinely.
Yeah, Micky D's. Welcome to my world.
*emph. mine

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:01 PM | Comments (3)

Not Only Didn't We Ratify Kyoto

But NASA, those Chimpy McHitler Rovearian Pawns, with the Deep Impact probe have "ruin(ed) the natural balance of forces in the universe" and thus owe one Marini Bai

damages totaling 8.7 billion rubles ($300 million) - the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost - for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope."

Funny how quickly some former soviet citizens have discovered lawyers, eh?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:11 AM | Comments (5)

Sophisticated French Diplomacy

Gosh, I must admit, us cowboys do have a lot to learn about suave, sophisticated discourse from Messr Chirac:

(Jacques Chirac), chatting to the German and Russian leaders in a Russian cafe, said: "The only thing [the British] have ever given European farming is mad cow." Then, like generations of French people before him, he also poked fun at British cuisine.

"You can't trust people who cook as badly as that," he said. "After Finland, it's the country with the worst food."

See what happens when you let old Europe sit around a table and have a few glasses of wine?

Mr Putin and Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, laughed. Mr Chirac then recalled how George Robertson, the former Nato secretary general and a former defence secretary in Tony Blair's Cabinet, had once made him try an "unappetising" Scottish dish, apparently meaning haggis.

"That's where our problems with Nato come from," he said.

Mr Schröder and Mr Putin laughed again.

Somehow I don't see Blair or Bushy McChimphitler acting in the same fashion.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:11 AM | Comments (7)

July 04, 2005

Survey Says: “eight in 10 Americans of all ages...say patriotism is in.”

Well! I would hope so!

“That [patriotism] appears so long after the period of frenzied flag-waving following 9/11 suggests that it is settling in as a fixture of American perceptions,” according to Roper Reports...

...The poll also found that, African Americans and Hispanics are among those most inclined to have patriotic feelings. The survey found “virtually no difference between blacks’ views and those of the nation as a whole.”

Eighty percent of black Americans and 78 percent of Hispanics strongly identify themselves as patriotic, as well as 81 percent of white Americans, the poll found.

Some 87 percent of baby boomers — the bloc of Americans demographers generally consider born between 1946 and 1964 — said patriotism is a central identifying fact of their lives. Seventy-eight percent of Generation Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, felt the same way.

I think that's kinda the whole idea of "We, the People".

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)

When In the Course of Human Events

It took a little work. And a lot of courage.

Lucky for us they were able to work it out. And what an unearthly result.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the
positions indicated:

[Column 1]
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

[Column 2]
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

[Column 3]
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

[Column 4]
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

[Column 5]
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

[Column 6]
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Happy Fourth of July, Americans!
A place like nowhere else on earth.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:08 AM | Comments (3)

July 03, 2005

Not So Fast

Wise words from a subordinate at the Second Battle of Trenton.

That he would “bag the old fox” in the morning was the confident forecast of Cornwallis.

“If Washington is the General I take him to be, his army will not be found there in the morning,”was the cautious rejoinder of Sir William Erskine, Baronet, Colonel and aide-de-camp to the King.

It wasn't.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:33 PM | Comments (5)

142 Years Ago Today

Pickett's Charge.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:10 PM

230 Years Ago Today

This guy
took command of the Continental Army.
Lucky stroke for us, huh?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:04 PM

July 02, 2005

Another Fine New Jersey Public Servant

Concentrating on the people's business as always.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said Friday that several unidentified Senate Republicans had placed a hold on a proposed resolution declaring support for Miller and Cooper.

``Cowards!'' Lautenberg said of the Republicans. ``Under the rules, they have a right to refuse to reveal who they are. Sound familiar?''

Lautenberg's resolution is co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) It says no purpose is served by imprisoning Miller and Cooper and that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.

Anything to get your name in the paper.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:29 PM | Comments (3)

Don't Cry For Me, Argentina

Just let me buy a comfortable pair of pants without being heckled and ridiculed. This was so appalling, it's all I could do not to scream. Now I know it's a foreign country and I know I could stand to lose a few kilos my own self, but what this article describes is institutionalized, nationalized child abuse. You have serious problems when you have to legislate access to a size M.

LA PLATA, Argentina (Reuters) - Argentine girls struggling to stay slim troll street stores for low-slung jeans and midriff sweaters often dreading the cruelest of words from salespeople at the door: "Don't come in, we don't have your size."

But now officials are telling retailers and the fashion industry to sell larger sizes to armies of teens in this thin-obsessed country, which suffers the second highest rate of anorexia and bulimia in the world after Japan.

This week, the province of Buenos Aires, home to one-third of Argentina's 37 million people, gave stores 180 days to offer six sizes for adolescents and make them uniform for the industry in what is known at the "Sizes Law."

There's more...

Currently one in every 10 Argentine adolescent girls suffers from an eating disorder and Bello believes they can lower this rate with help from the fashion industry.

Sales staff say that even anorexic girls have few problems finding clothes in adult stores, where woman sizes are so small that teens can shop.

"Logically, I shouldn't have found sizes for me in adult stores, but I had no problem," said Paula Giraut, a 22-year-old student in treatment for anorexia who dropped to 88 lbs.

One. In. TEN. One out of every ten little girls is sticking her finger down her throat or just starving to death. Twenty two years old and eighty eight pounds? Should they live to see their 30's, there will be a myriad of health problems cropping up because of the horrific strain on their bodies when they were young. One of the saddest quotes was from a mom.

"Last weekend, I asked a saleswoman if my 16-year-old could try a larger size and she refused, saying my daughter would rip it," said mother Silvia Lannoo.

Dang. Mentally scarred for life would seem to be a fact of life.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:27 AM | Comments (12)

July 01, 2005

I Never Bought a Copy of 'We Are The World'...

...so whuddo I know anyway. But this sounds about right...

To Hell with Live 8 (And I mean that.)
A Notso Slacker Friday

This just in: I’m an idiot, I know, but I just figured out that Live 8 is not raising any money for famine relief or malaria cures or AIDS treatment in Africa. It is just designed to “pressure” G8 countries into doing what’s right. Thing is, guys, the G8 doesn’t, (and shouldn’t) care what Madonna, Elton John, U2, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, R.E.M., Coldplay, Bjork, Sting, Dido, Justin Timberlake, Green Day, Snoop Dogg, P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Celine Dion, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill think about anything, particularly if they won’t put their own riches where their big mouths are*. (Ditto Pitt, George Clooney, Will Smith, Natalie Portman and Salma Hayek.)

Normally I rank Mr. Alterman's 'blogcolumn' right up there with dental work (evinced by the rest of the page), but he nailed it in this rant, bless his little-liberal-pointy head. I particularly loved this eloquent passage:

They won’t even allow charities to canvass the audience. Turns out the concert is NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING but moral vanity, and the exploitation of starving, sick Africans, by pampered, rich as**oles and their self-interested corporate sponsors rather than their potential salvation. This is really unspeakably shameful.

Not that any of this is news, but seeing an opinion like that on the big screen is. Warmed the cockles of my heart, by W.
*emph. mine

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:34 PM | Comments (6)

10 Great All-Americans

Yummies, that is. It's a pretty fair list:

1) New England clam chowder
2) Pastrami (New York)
3) Shoofly pie (Pennsylvania)(...apple pan-dowdy, makes your eyes light up, tummy say 'howdy'! and no, that's not part of the article.)
4) Smithfield ham (Virginia)
5) Po-boys (Louisiana)
6) Fajitas (Texas)
7) Chicago hot dogs (Illinois)
8) Chile verde (New Mexico)
9) San Francisco sourdough (California)
10) Olympia oysters (Washington)

(I do have a problem with Chicago hot dogs. HUH? New YAWK ring a bell?? Nathan's? Hebrew National? YANKEE frickin FRANKS???)
The obvious, GLARing, you're a 'Communist piece of shit for forgetting' omission (duh, Duh, DUH)???

Roast Gobbler, plastic or otherwise.
You don't get that no place but here. God bless America!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:38 AM | Comments (14)

Well, There's One Stepping Down

Supreme Court Justice O'Connor retiring
First female member of court; key swing vote on abortion, death penalty
WASHINGTON - Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said Friday she is retiring. President Bush later announced he would speak about O'Connor's retirement at 11:15 a.m. ET.

Let the games begin.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:01 AM | Comments (5)

Counter Tenors Unite!

This sure seems like discrimination to me:

Singing soprano is for girls only in Texas' elite All-State Choir, eliminating a 17-year-old boy's chance to audition for a statewide honor and raising questions about gender discrimination.

As someone who sings countertenor, I can vouch that the ladies don't like it when I sing alto or soprano...divas don't like another voice in the fray (especially one that's on pitch!).

Now here's some beautiful logic for you:

Taylor said the policy doesn't amount to discrimination because Rawls can try out for any of the more traditional male parts.

By the same line of reasoning Rosa Parks wasn't descriminated against becuase there were other seats on the bus she could have sat in. I love it.

Now, normally in a situation like this you would expect the lawsuits to be flying, but to the family's eternal credit his mother said

"We just don't think that would be the right thing to do."

I hope he keeps singing countertenor. It has a lovely tone and there's a lot of fun found in watchng the audience's reaction when they hear a man singing so high.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:51 AM | Comments (5)

Bully!

"We do not admire a man of timid peace."

--Theodore Roosevelt

Swill Salute to Sgt. Grit

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:26 AM

Word of the Day

bunkum \BUNG-kum\ noun

: insincere or foolish talk : nonsense

... in the case of "bunkum," you could almost say it was an act of Congress that brought the word into being. Back in 1820 Felix Walker, who represented Buncombe County, North Carolina, in the U.S. House of Representatives, was determined that his voice be heard on his constituents' behalf, even though the matter up for debate was irrelevant to Walker's district and he had little to contribute. To the exasperation of his colleagues, Walker insisted on delivering a long and wearisome "speech for Buncombe." His persistent — if insignificant — harangue made "buncombe" (later respelled "bunkum") a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and later for any kind of nonsense.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:51 AM | Comments (1)

I Sure Hope They Don't Forget...

...what they were working on over the long weekend.

Congress works to blunt court decision

DeLay calls Supreme Court ruling on seizing private property ‘horrible’

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers are trying to blunt a Supreme Court decision that says local governments can seize people's homes to make way for shopping malls and other private development...

...The House on Thursday approved by a 231-189 vote a bid by conservative Scott Garrett, R-N.J., to bar federal transportation funds from being used to make improvements on lands seized via eminent domain for private development.

Legislation in the works also would ban the use of federal funds for any project getting the go-ahead using the Kelo v. City of New London (Conn.) decision.

Not everyone's behind it. What a surprise.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California says she is opposed to any legislation that would withhold federal dollars "for the enforcement of any decision of the Supreme Court, no matter how opposed I am to that decision."

Here's hoping the 'ooh, something shiney' principle doesn't apply. And that California voters remember what 'Miss Liberty' Pelosi said about their property rights when it comes to re-electing her.

And if your state is NOT on this list, you need to start letter writing and agitating.

At least eight states — Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, South Carolina and Washington — already forbid the use of eminent domain for economic development unless it is to eliminate blight. Other states either expressly allow private property to be taken for private economic purposes or have not spoken clearly to the question.

I like the 'haven't spoken clearly' bit. Voters need to speak loud and clear then, so the good old boys get the message. But quickly, 'cause don't think for 2 seconds your City Hall isn't already planning some sleight of hand land grabs before the shock wears off and the community wakes up.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:32 AM | Comments (5)

Should Your Fourth of July Skies Be Cloudy...

...may I suggest a film?
It's one of my all time favorites.
Now, 'it's hot as hell in Phila-del-phi-a'! 'Someone oughta open up a window' and
'for God's sake John, sit down!'
You'll be glad you did.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:58 AM | Comments (8)

Scotties Patrol the Perimeter

Help Barney and Miss Beazley keep the Whitehouse Lawn free of wussies, wombats, moonbats and old bats who poop on the lawn.

That's it kids. Tear 'em up!

Swill Salute to Florida Cracker. Heh.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:20 AM