The Coalition of the Swilling

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August 31, 2005

Wow....

these are just plain spooky. Plus as THS and I were talking about yesterday, the place is going Escape from New York, too. Pray for the poor souls that were unable to evacuate, and are still in what is left of the city, as it is going to get worse before it gets better for them.

Posted by Crusader at 11:01 PM

To find the cheapest gas (other than Taco Bell)...

check here, In times like this, you have to know where to go.

Posted by Crusader at 10:10 PM

Am I Hearing Bob Livingston Right?

That the governor of Louisiana has NOT declared Martial Law in New Orleans?

UPDATE: Well I'll be damned. The mayor JUST DID, at 7:32 local time TONIGHT. WTF was his first CLUE he had a problem???

7:32 P.M. - N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin declares Martial law in the city and directs the city's 1,500-person police force to do "whatever it takes" to gain back control of the city. He will also enlist the aid of troops.

7:12 P.M. - (AP) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray says he's not taking any criticism from people stranded in New Orleans personally.

Nagin says he understands the city's residents are frustrated, hot, angry and in a state of shock.

But Nagin insists he wants everyone out of the Superdome by tomorrow (Thursday) because they have been stretched to the breaking point and he can't stand to see them in that condition any longer.

7:11 P.M. Governor Blanco on looting: We will do what it takes to bring law and order to our area. This is not a place for that behavior. I'm furious. It's intolerable.

Instead of bitching about the ACoE's to everyone and their mother, maybe he ought to have been watching the freaking news. And she's 'furious'? That's the best she can do? She's the sorriest excuse for a state executive officer I've ever seen outside New Jersey.

She's furious. Oh, that's rich.
UPDATE: They're both seriously negligent, incredibly stupid and totally incompetent.

Managers at a nursing home were prepared to cope with the power outages and had enough food for days, but then the looting began. The home's bus driver was forced to surrender the vehicle to carjackers.

Bands of people drove by the nursing home, shouting to residents, "Get out!" Eighty residents, most of them in wheelchairs, were being evacuated to other nursing homes in the state.

"We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's executive director. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."

To allow it to deteriorate to this level before acting...damn!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:10 PM

This is not the sort of retro I like...

as our gas orices here have jumped $.50 today, and appear to be going higher Thursday. I filled up the Mitsu after lunch today for $2.69, and there was not another soul at the station (this being around 2:30), but at 6:30 the same station was up to $2.99, and there were line like I have not seen since Gerry Ford was the prez. And one station I went by to top of the CAGs Honda was already sold out. And we are in Concord, North Cackalackie, no where near the Gulf.

Personally, I would love to see the gas tax reduced to only that part which actually is spent on road maint ( meaning it would almost be eliminated, as so much of it is diverted to socialist programs of little/no benefit to those who actually pay it) and the EPA/Feds to mandate that ALL states use the Same 3 ( or 4, as there are some higher octane grades out there) grades of gas, so that we could maximize what refining capacity that we have. Vehicles these days run much cleaner, and people don't drive the older cars near as much, so I just don't see evidence that it would be the end of the world for the environment. It's about time that the enviro-whackos get pushed back a bit to some sane middle ground.
Now I know that both thses things will happen when but I can still dream, I suppose.

Posted by Crusader at 09:35 PM | Comments (1)

Hurray For Texas

This is how americans help each other out, by gum:

5:10 P.M. - AUSTIN, TX (AP): Texas public schools will enroll children of Hurricane Katrina refugees sheltered within each district.

The Texas Education Agency has been directed to provide all needed support for districts having to absorb children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. TEA has said the refugee children can qualify as "homeless" and may enroll without proof of residence.

Also, normal immunization requirements for attending school or child-care facilities in Texas will be temporarily waived for children displaced by the hurricane. Schools are allowed to waive the 22-to-one teacher-student requirement.

Districts with an influx of 50 or more students can get an immediate funding increase, rather than waiting until the end of the school year.

Austin schools are working to ensure the students get backpacks, school supplies and clothes.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:19 PM | Comments (2)

Prescience is a Bitch

During a strong hurricane, the city could be inundated with water blocking all streets in and out for days, leaving people stranded without electricity and access to clean drinking water. Many also could die because the city has few buildings that could withstand the sustained 96- to 100-mph winds and 6- to 8-ft. storm surges of a Category 2 hurricane. Moving to higher elevations would be just as dangerous as staying on low ground. Had Camille, a Category 5 storm, made landfall at New Orleans, instead of losing her punch before arriving, her winds would have blown twice as hard and her storm surge would have been three times as high.

Yet knowing all this, area residents have made their potential problem worse. "Over the past 30 years, the coastal region impacted by Camille has changed dramatically. Coastal erosion combined with soaring commercial and residential development in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have all combined to significantly increase the vulnerability of the area," says Sandy Ward Eslinger, of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal Services Center in Charleston, S.C.

Popular Science. September 11...2001.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:17 PM

Get Your Gas Now

And use it in the most expeditious, conservative fashion possible. News has been showing lines in Atlanta (UPDATE: One station $5.57/gal)and fisticuffs in northern Mississippi. All in the face of almost $1 jump in gallon prices since this morning. Here in Pensacola, we've been a Third World country since Ivan, but it doesn't make it any easier to bear. Took Ebola 1 1/2 hours today to top off. He was going to be late for a sales appointment an hour away because of it, so he was planning on asking the clients if, once he got there, he could get gas to get home.

Also, purchase any public transportation passes you might use in your commute. You can bet those prices will be skyrocketing.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:00 PM | Comments (1)

TCS Says "Bite Me, Bob"

Katrina has nothing to do with global warming. Nothing. It has everything to do with the immense forces of nature that have been unleashed many, many times before and the inability of humans, even the most brilliant engineers, to tame these forces.

Giant hurricanes are rare, but they are not new. And they are not increasing. To the contrary. Just go to the website of the National Hurricane Center and check out a table that lists hurricanes by category and decade. The peak for major hurricanes (categories 3,4,5) came in the decades of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, when such storms averaged 9 per decade. In the 1960s, there were 6 such storms; in the 1970s, 4; in the 1980s, 5; in the 1990s, 5; and for 2001-04, there were 3. Category 4 and 5 storms were also more prevalent in the past than they are now. As for Category 5 storms, there have been only three since the 1850s: in the decades of the 1930s, 1960s and 1990s.

But that doesn't stop an enviro-predator like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from writing on the Huffingtonpost website: "Now we are all learning what it's like to reap the whirlwind of fossil fuel dependence which Barbour and his cronies have encouraged. Our destructive addiction has given us a catastrophic war in the Middle East and - now -- Katrina is giving our nation a glimpse of the climate chaos we are bequeathing our children."

From another guy who lived and loved in New Orleans. Baby Bobby Kennedy is the Cindy Sheehan of the Katrina story. I'm waiting for him to include the Israelis in his Barbour bashing blitherings.
A Swill Salute to Mark in Mexico for finding this gem.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:55 PM | Comments (1)

How Horribly Ironic

I was Googling for the City's elected officials and the address for the Mayor's office showed up.

Mayor's Office - 1300 Perdido St # 2E10, New Orleans, 70112

The English translation for 'Perdido' is 'lost'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:36 PM

'Hundreds" And Rising

1:20 P.M. - (AP) Mayor Ray Nagin says at least hundreds of people are dead -- maybe thousands -- in New Orleans. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and others dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."

2:20 P.M. - From Weezie Porter: WWL-TV Sales account executive. I evacuated with my family to Nashville. The people we are staying with have a relative in the Chateau Living Center in Kenner 716 Village Road. Their phone is working from time to time 504-464=0604. They report that all of the nurses have left, Only a few aides left there that have been working since Friday. They were supposed to be evacuated by bus but they did not show up. No medications have been given since Sunday,. 4 patients have died.

Plaquemines Parish pictures.

Other pictures

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:15 PM | Comments (4)

On a Lighter Note

Brits can be thieves, too.

Not very F---ing funny, eh what?

British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly-named village.

While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of F---ing are failing to see the funny side, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Only one kind of crimimal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border -- cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humour and a screwdriver.

But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.

"We will not stand for the F---ing signs being removed," the officer told the broadsheet.

"It may be very amusing for you British, but F---ing is simply F---ing to us. What is this big F---ing joke? It is puerile."

Local guide Andreas Behmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with F---ing.

"The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg," he explained.

"Every American seems to care only about 'The Sound of Music' (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler's birthplace in Braunau.

"But for the British, it's all about F---ing."

Guesthouse boss Augustina Lindlbauer described the village's breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas.

"Yet still there is this obsession with F---ing," she said.

"Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F---ing postcards."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:39 PM

We'll Stand Alone

As THS refers to below, the silence is deafening...and disheartening. After the bombings in Bali, bloggers in the US poured out their support for the Aussies. After the bombings in London, we all stood and screamed out our support for our British brothers and sisters. And after Katrina, an informal and very unscientific survey of a variety of pro-Coalition sites in both the UK and Australia shows a complete lack of any similar support, let alone a friggin mention of sympathy, for the folks in her path. Nothing.

And that makes me very sad.

Look, I'm not looking for a handout, I'm not looking for pledges of material goods from someone, but my God folks, we're abandoning a major american city, abandoning a major american city and one of our major ports is inoperable, and not one of these these supposed allies can say "our thoughts are with you and let us know what we can do."

And the next time they need aid, we will be there to provide it, like the good faithful puppy that keeps coming to lick your hand no matter how often you kick it, because that's the way we are, and I hope that never changes.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:34 PM | Comments (17)

Observation of the Day

Mary Landrieu, whom I've always thought of as a vapid sort of Senate chair filler, is truly the only competent sounding individual in the entire New Orleans/LA political hierarchy. The mayor's whining, the ACoE is tap dancing, the governor can't stop crying, the other Senator stands by until called on to babble. Ms. Landrieu stands up there and bluntly makes her points. Corrects previous information, gives no nonsense answers and sounds like the only man on the platform. Wowsahs. I'm impressed and humbly adjust my attitude. Considering the general gaggle of incompetent twits running the show so far, they are lucky to have her.

Amazing who steps up when the chips are down.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:31 PM | Comments (3)

Air Force One...

...just doing a fly over on the way home to D.C. I know the President and First Lady's heart will be breaking. But I want them to know what the sight of that blue and white plane overhead after Ivan did for us.

"There's Air Force One! The President's here!"

We were hot, beat-up and miserable. But that seeing plane, dang. You felt like the outside world knew we needed them. I hope it does that for some of those folks.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:42 PM

CNN Is Reporting

The Superdome crowd is being bused to the AstroDome in Houston. That's the plan, anyway.

316 Miles.
Tens of thousands of people.

And the freeway overpasses surrounding the downtown area are filled with people heading for the Superdome, in sight of it, but who can't get to it because of the water. And when the buses make it to the Superdome, getting the folks out is still up in the air. Right now they talking ferrying them out from the Dome to the buses.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:29 AM | Comments (2)

We'll Be Busy Here

Four Navy amphibious ships were to leave Norfolk, Va., over the next few days for deployment on the Gulf Coast. The Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida will be a base for the relief effort.

And that's a good thing, helping your neighbors.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:15 AM | Comments (2)

The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army's Hood said the effort will be long and expensive. "Our position is we stay until all the needs are met, and that will be a long time," he said. "Our typical philosophy is, let's go in, do the work, stay as long as needed and then figure out how to pay for it, and so far the American public has never let us down."

I know we won't. The blogosphere has a 1 September fundraiser organized, but don't even wait that one day more. Please. Whatever you can do, wherever your heart leads you to send it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:07 AM

Today, years ago, at different times....

two people who have truly bleesed my life were born. One, sixty years ago, with his music. The other, thirteen years ago, just with his (older picture) being here. Happy Birthday Van and Crusader II.

Poor CAG, we'll prolly be on the XBOX most of today, too.

Posted by Crusader at 09:00 AM | Comments (2)

FoxNews Just Spoke to Senator Shelby...

..."After the tsunami, the United States mobilized immediately to help. It's been a couple of days now and the international and corporate silence is deafening. Have you heard anything?"

Senator Shelby: "In the international community they worry more about what America can do for them..."
UPDATE: Yeah. What he said.

The Silence is Deafening by Neil Cavuto

Maybe I missed it, but I have a question: Where's the global relief effort for us today?

New Orleans is under water. Mississippi is a disaster. Scores are dead. Homes are destroyed. Businesses are shut down.

When this kind of stuff happens to other folks, we're there. When this kind of stuff happens to us, who's here?

I know we're a rich country. But I think it a bit rich so few call to wish us well in this country. Perhaps some have and perhaps I've missed it.

Still, others never miss a chance to bash us if we've done something wrong or done nothing at all.

All I know is a lot of poor folks here got hit here. Would it kill the same foreigners we've helped there, to offer support here?

I don't expect a telethon. But how about a call on a telephone?

Maybe some countries have offered rescue personnel. I just haven't seen them. I'll keep looking. I'll keep waiting. I'll keep wondering.

All I know is for now, the silence is deafening. And the water in New Orleans isn't the only thing that stinks.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:31 AM | Comments (12)

August 30, 2005

What An Asshole

Only word for it. I knew it wouldn't take long for the left to blame the storm on the Republicans. What's amazing is how little time it took. I left the following comment.

What a despicable piece of opportunistic tripe. For someone who has experienced tragedy in their own life to take such advantage of the unholy suffering of hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans only to make a cheap (and hotly disputed) point defies all boundaries of taste, compassion and humanity. All your vast and mighty resources might be better spent assisting in places the average American, one of not so lofty privilege and place, would give their eyetooth at this moment to be able to help. My neighbor is on his way from our own Ivan ravaged hometown to help restore Biloxi's airport. You, sir, are doing what precisely? One shouldn't quote Pat Robertson's hateful words when one's own come so close to channeling them. You disgrace yourself. For shame.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:56 PM | Comments (5)

Levee Breach Can't be Closed

They expect 12-15 feet of water in parts of NOLA.

CNN is reportng carjackings near the Superdome.

Chaos.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:12 PM | Comments (4)

When the Witch of September Comes Early.

I wish I could second DaveJ's optimism regarding New Orleans, but I can't. And everyone of my aquaintance knows I am the perpetual ray of sunshine in the midst of any disaster. When Ivan hit here, for example, there was destruction of a magnitude I've never imagined being a part of. But there were plenty of things still standing. Plenty of foundations to build on. Plenty of roofs torn up, but fixable. The views of New Orleans don't hold that same 'we'll go from here' promise. When a wall comes down, a roof flies off or, God forbid, your house is wiped from it's slab, you can put up a new one. Your neighbor may well still have his house, his roof, something standing around you. Even in Grand Lagoon, the complete devastation held out hope. But miles and miles of houses underwater. Damn. A roof goes, you put it back on. Your house floods to the eaves, it has to come completely down. Your roof goes, your neighbor still has his. Your house floods to the eaves, so does your neighbor's. And his neighbor's, and so on, for miles. All those roofs peeking above the waters are houses that may as well have been flattened. They are just as gone, even though standing. All those MILES of houses.

The looters in the city will shortly be turning that city into an island of savages. The city administration has said to every resident 'get out'. EVERY resident. Well, they can't. And shortly, as you try on your new Nikes, you'll realize that the 46 inch TV you just stole can't be eaten. But your neighbor hit the Robert's supermarket. He has food and something to drink. And you'll be going to get it. God Almighty, I can't imagine it. Two weeks to get just the water out. Before anything can even start go in. The human toll will be beyond imagining.

Essential to the human condition is hope. I know that. I know there's hope that New Orleans will rise from this. The skyscrapers still stand. The new stuff. But the Bywater, the Marigny and the little ratty parts of the city I love are irrevocably tied to those ramshackle houses; now, those roofs lined up like stepping stones across a brook. You can rebuild...something there. But you can't replace it. Or the people who opened their arms to us.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:27 PM | Comments (6)

Sun Herald

Two reporters from the SunHerald blog Katrina and the aftermath they've found.

Dancing With Katrina

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:51 PM

Katrina

The bands overhead Sunday night. We were done boarding up.


If one could say there was an advantage to Ivan, it was this ~ our electrical grids were completely replaced. New ways of stringing wire ~ taut to hold the poles upright ~ replaced the old 'leave it loose so it can swing'. We had power the entire storm, even with gusts well over 100mph. Ebola's apartment and swaths of town are still out. The downtown flooded and the beaches washed over. Our FEMA blue roof held yet again. Milagro upon Milagro.

We are so hugely lucky.

Cullen darlin', our hearts go out to you and all our best, best wishes for the happiest of news. Let us know. Rob, check in when you can. You have friends here who want to see your name in the posts.

To our magical Cresent City, beautiful Biloxi, gracious Gulfport and all our Gulf Coast family, bless your hearts. Help is on the way. Hang in there.
UPDATE: While I can get online, let me first thanks Bingster for posting this, but please, please let me add my fervent appeal for your donations to go to the Salvation Army. We have unfortunately gotten to see all the aid agencies in action. The Salvation Army has impressed us tremendously with their selflessness and dedication to people's immediate needs and their continuing ones. They were literally a Godsend after Ivan and stuck around through thick and thin for months afterwards. For everybody. Feeding people, clothing them, sheltering them, holding hands, getting answers. If you need it, they're there if there's anyway on earth possible for them to be.

And you know who else? The little church groups. They were fantastic. If your congregation is part of a larger group that has disaster teams they fund, they did one helluva job here and that's a wonderful later place for your donations. They get their hands dirty, tarping roofs and getting supplies out, once the areas open to other relief. Wonderful, wonderful people, bless their hearts.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:21 PM | Comments (9)

We Can't Undo The Disaster From Katrina

But we can help. Please give generously to the Salvation Army*.

*THS says give your money to The Salvation Army. They are the first people on the scene and they help everybody everywhere without all the bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo of the Red Cross. And she speaks from experience.

These are Americans in need, friends.

Your relatives.

My relatives.

Update: Look at today's Times-Picayune:
page A1/2
page 4/5
page 6/7
page 8
page 12/13
page 14
page 15
page 16/17
page 18
looters on page a19
page a20

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:21 AM | Comments (13)

August 29, 2005

I'm Back

Had a wonderful weekend with Crusader and family, and it seems Sis actually dodged a hurricane this time.

'triffic.

Looting in NOLA. Nice.

I hope the cops shoot to kill.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:43 PM | Comments (10)

August 27, 2005

Sir Rob of Apple Lane, Crabbeton

Hope you're all ready to go, good friend. Looks like the ball's moving to your court and we're thinking of you.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:38 AM | Comments (8)

August 26, 2005

Note to Kraut and Cullen

It's looking like you should get whatever you need at the mall NOW.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:41 PM | Comments (6)

A Snapshot of Our Lives This Past Year

Besides the obvious inference, these are the actual screws we use to attach the 1 by 4's that frame our plywood shutters to the masonry. They're called Tapcons (Even come with their own carbide tipped drill bit!). We've gotten new ones for each storm so far, but Ebola has just assured me we can re-use the ones from Dennis. One less thing to buy this weekend.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:33 AM | Comments (8)

Is This Not Poetry?

...Joan Baez, now 64, has descended from the mists to sing songs at Cindy Sheehan's Crawford ditch in Texas. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, respectively 62 and 61, have decided to cap their careers with a new song called "Sweet Neo-Con" ("It's liberty for all . . . unless you are against us, then it's prison without trial.") The ghost of Tom Hayden showed up on Bill O'Reilly this week to announce, with the confidence of experience, that "an exit strategy is an art form all in itself."...

The mists? The ghost? Oh, ya gotta love it. Daniel Henniger expounds* on themes touched by George Will yesterday.
UPDATE: Saints forgive me, but I couldn't resist adding this when I found it.

CINDY SHEEHAN: America has been killing people, like my sister over here said, since we first stepped on this continent. And we have been responsible for death and destruction.

It's OK for Israel to occupy Palestine, but it's — Yeah, and it's OK for Iraq to occupy -- I mean, for the United States to occupy Iraq, but it's not OK for Syria to be in Lebanon. They're a bunch of f---ing hypocrites. And we need to... We just need to rise up.

Was there ever a more articulate advocate? A vociferous voice?
A bigger, blithering idiot? And this is the stuff that galvanizes the Democratic Party? Ye gods and little fishes.

Someone send a camera on down here. I'll string a sentence together.
Oh, you betcha.

*Reproduced in 'continue reading' for non-WSJOp subscribers

WONDER LAND

Ghost Busters

A quest majority replaces Vietnam's "silent majority."

BY DANIEL HENNINGER

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is an aphorism of uncertain truth everyone seems to have etched into their minds. Who can forget? From the sound of the "antiwar" tom-toms thumping across the land, forgetting the past is the one thing America doesn't have to worry about. We routinely open the sepulchers of memory, and just now it is the "ghost of Vietnam" that is strolling among us.
Gary Hart, a former Democratic senator from Colorado who ran for president twice and worked on the McGovern campaign, published an op-ed in the Washington Post this week in which he exhorted someone in his party to actively oppose Mr. Bush on the war--to "jump on the hot stove" of Iraq, notwithstanding the Democrats' searing experience with Vietnam.

Chuck Hagel, a senator from Nebraska and current presidential marathoner, is beating his singular path to the nomination by explicitly saying that as in Vietnam, we are "bogged down" in Iraq and "need to be out." Also on the yellow brick road to the presidency, Democratic senator Russ Feingold has called for withdrawal from Iraq by Dec 31, 2006

Maybe Santayana was misquoted. Maybe what he meant to say is those who remember history are condemned to repeat it. And repeat it, and repeat it.

Joan Baez, now 64, has descended from the mists to sing songs at Cindy Sheehan's Crawford ditch in Texas. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, respectively 62 and 61, have decided to cap their careers with a new song called "Sweet Neo-Con" ("It's liberty for all . . . unless you are against us, then it's prison without trial.") The ghost of Tom Hayden showed up on Bill O'Reilly this week to announce, with the confidence of experience, that "an exit strategy is an art form all in itself." And indeed some polls have dropped the war's support below 50%.

Here's a truer saying: It's déjà vu all over again.

Any politician aspiring to the presidency who gets the call wrong on the Iraq war may find himself in the ditch George McGovern dug for his party in 1972--with 37.5% of the vote. Perhaps the reason Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden aren't jumping in front of Cindy's parade is that as a matter of species survival they're required to keep an ear to the ground. And you know what, the times really have changed since Vietnam.
Richard Nixon, amid a similar low ebb of popularity with Vietnam, gave a famous speech in 1969. This was the year after the Tet offensive, which caused Walter Cronkite's famous Hagel-like throwing in of the towel. In that speech Nixon described a "great silent majority" in America. The idea, of course, was that the daily media attention commanded by the antiwar movement was missing a class of Americans who sat home seething at the behavior of the protesters.

Today, because of the Internet, no one has to seethe in silence, as wired activists in both parties proved in 2004's high-tech election, and now. But it may be that the current infatuation with anti-Bush, anti-Iraq sentiment is again missing a political current flowing beneath the surface of the news, just as the media missed the silent majority 40 years ago and the values voters in the 2004 election.

I would call this faction the Quiet Majority. These people are organized and they are pro-active. But they pass beneath our politics unnoticed because they're about something deeper than TV face-time. There is a large number of groups that have organized in the past three years solely to support the American troops in Iraq.

• Bill Robie recently drove three hours from Atlanta to Camp Lejeune, N.C., to help Jim Hake's Spirit of America--which has nearly 14,000 supporters--load school supplies bound for Iraq. "Groups like SoA, Home for Our Troops, Operation Homefront, Fisher House and others don't get much attention," he wrote me a few days ago, "yet they represent the true character of our nation."

• John Folsom is a Marine Reserve colonel from Nebraska, now in Iraq. Two years ago he "passed the hat" among colleagues and raised money to create Wounded Warriors, which supports military hospitals by buying laptops for bedridden soldiers, TVs and overhead projectors for medical staff. His support base is small. "It's almost like a family," he told me.

• Soldiers' Angels was started in 2003 by Patti Patton-Bader, the mother of a sergeant in Iraq then. It now has 45,000 members. Its executive director, Don MacKay, says: "Our members come from across the political spectrum. But there is one opinion they all share: Our soldiers deserve every ounce of support we can muster."

The message boards some of these groups maintain make clear that troops are aware, in detail, of antiwar activity. Again, this isn't Vietnam. They have news access. If the Democratic left does levitate another antiwar movement, it won't be the unanswered opposition of the Vietnam years. The counter-opposition will draw numbers from these pro-troop groups. They, too, are Internet-linked. They are better informed than most people, they are committed, and they are articulate. And they have stories to tell.

Does this add up to millions of pro-Iraq voters? Who knows? But the quiet, mostly nonpartisan, pro-G.I. activism of these people has put them closer to the reality of the war--its pain, its losses, its successes and kinships. My guess is their kind of support is what the troops on the front want most now, rather than having to sit along the Euphrates River wondering if Chuck Hagel, Russ Feingold and the Rolling Stones are going to pull the rug from under them over the next two years.
Mr. Henninger is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page. His column appears Fridays in the Journal and on OpinionJournal.com.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:11 AM | Comments (5)

Divine Intervention?

Saving the beer from Europe's floods
A German monastery, famous for its brew, is safe for now

WELTENBURG, Germany - This was no ordinary day, even for a Benedictine Abbey that has survived 1,400 years, including damage in the Napoleonic wars...

...Overnight, there the raging waters of the Danube River were rising by the hour. By noon, the rushing water had already flooded the ground floor kitchen and dining rooms used by the monks...

...Father Thomas knew a massive flood could destroy its famous church, full of Baroque masterpieces, and even worse, the jewel that attracts many of the Abbey’s half million visitors a year: its beer...

...Throughout the afternoon the tide kept rising, so dozens of firemen and forklifts were quickly called in to fortify a makeshift flood wall with sandbags. Despite the efforts, the Danube kept rising...

And prayers answered.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:39 AM | Comments (4)

August 25, 2005

Boneheads

You live on a frickin' island. An island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You're so far out you can't even make a map of the U.S.. They give you a little 'Hawaii' box, for God's sake! Things have to go thousands of miles BY BOAT to get to you. That costs more money than a freight train to Topeka or a semi to Sioux City. And why it cost us lots of money if we want to fly to your island (ISLAND!!) to spend our money. So STFU. Ride a bike, paddle an outrigger. Because you're going to be the first ones screaming when no one can afford to send your dumba$$es any oil.

Hawaii sets caps on wholesale gas prices
Some analysts warn move may spur supply problems
HONOLULU - In an effort to gain some control over what motorists pay at the pump, Hawaii on Wednesday became the first state in the U.S. to set caps on the wholesale price of gasoline.

The 2004 law authorizing the caps was intended to force Hawaii's two refiners, Chevron Corp. and Tesoro Corp., to set their wholesale prices closer to mainland rates. Proponents of the law said the refiners were taking advantage of the small, isolated market to charge exorbitant prices.

(And from the prices I see in the background of the photo AND in the text, I know people in California would be happier than dog schnoodles to pay $2.76 a gallon. So STFU and quit being stupid.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:33 PM | Comments (12)

Major Dad Knows I Do the Best I Can

The 152 year old Labradork is a difficult proposition. Poor MacDaddy ~ 11 1/2 people years, congestive heart failure, old man skin, 6 hairs left on his body and Cushings syndrome ~ subjected to the ultimate indignity. His skin is now so fragile that he's rubbed a raw spot on his jelly belly. We've gotten it coated for the past few days with spray-on bandage and it's started to heal. Ergo, started to itch, so he's started to lick, which started to tear it up again ~ the whole Rube Goldberg thing. So I cleaned him up, sprayed the liquid bandage/made sure it was dry one last time...then slapped an ultra-thin maxi pad on the sore and yanked a pair of what looks to be a pair of black puppy SpeeDos up over it (to hold it in place and protect him from himself). But they're not SpeeDos. I lied to him. It's a pair of girly puppy underdrawers designed for when they're in heat.

Poor Schmacks. An Always Thin Ultra Maxi Pad and a pair of 'Bitches Britches'. Don't worry, Houndie.
We'll all be there someday.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:43 PM | Comments (14)

Not Only Does the Man Know Baseball...

...he sets a pretty scene as well!

...Many warmhearted and mildly attentive Americans say the president should have invited Sheehan to his kitchen table in Crawford for a cup of coffee and a serving of that low-calorie staple of democratic sentimentality -- "dialogue." Well...

-- it is difficult to imagine how the dialogue would get going.

He: "Cream and sugar?"

She: "Yes, please, filth-spewer."

It's a dee-LISH-ous read.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:15 PM | Comments (3)

This Is Great

Until your partner runs off to Florida with your kid. Then you're screwed.

California court affirms gay parenting
...In California, the landmark decisions - which granted full parenthood to former partners despite the absence of legal adoption or, in two of the cases, a biological connection - have made the terrain a little clearer and solidified the direction in which many courts are moving: conferring the rights and responsibilities of parenthood based on intent and psychology rather than biology, adoption, or marriage.

But as the decisions have been lauded and decried across the country, they've also underlined the vastly different patchwork of how states handle the often-murky relationships at the nexus of reproductive technology and shifting family structures...

...At least nine states officially allow second-parent adoption - often sought by gay couples - and several confer visitation rights or have ordered child support from nonbiological or nonadoptive parents.

But the California cases are the first in which such individuals have been declared full legal parents, with the rights of, say, inheritance or social-security benefits.

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

They Were All Glassy Eyed...

...literally!!

Scientist finds secret Renaissance ingredient
Tiny pieces of glass shown to give paintings special glow

...Using an electron microscope, Barbara Berrie, senior conservation scientist at the National Gallery of Art, discovered one of their secrets: tiny bits of glass the artists mixed with their pigments.

“By looking beyond the limits of their usual practice and transforming materials from other trades to their painting, the great artists of the Renaissance created a palette that gave them an immediate and lasting reputation as brilliant colorists,” Berrie said.

Ain't science great? I love it when someone finds stuff like this.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:01 PM | Comments (2)

T. H. Sister, 'Woman of Mystery'...

...has the con.

Stand by.

*Ed. Note* THS forgets that tho ole Bingley is on the road again, I still have access from work and home.

UPDATE: Get back to work, you little PUKE !!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:52 AM | Comments (11)

Hurricane Katrina and I are Off

To North Cackalacky and Crusaderville for a long weekend. Hopefully THS will not make too much of a mess whilst I'm gone...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:52 AM | Comments (2)

August 24, 2005

Hey Major Dad

I just shot an 84. And I was playing off of a 22 handicap.

Do you have any6 idea how much moiney I made?

And How pissed off some people are at me?\\

Oh, and I guess I drank too much at dinner.

yippee!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:38 PM | Comments (6)

FAT Is the Problem...

...a FAT HEAD, that is. Puts a whole new spin on "you can't handle the truth!"

Doctor in trouble for calling patient obese
N.H. woman filed complaint; state attorney general asked to investigate
ROCHESTER, N.H. - As doctors warn more patients that they should lose weight, the advice has backfired on one doctor with a woman filing a complaint with the state saying he was hurtful, not helpful.

Dr. Terry Bennett says he tells obese patients their weight is bad for their health and their love lives, but the lecture drove one patient to complain to the state.

“I told a fat woman she was obese,” Bennett says. “I tried to get her attention. I told her, 'You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.'"

And good for Dr. Bennett!

Bennett rejected that office’s proposal that he attend a medical education course and acknowledge that he made a mistake.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:26 PM | Comments (11)

It's Looking Like...

...the Bush Administration has f@cked this one up royally.

Iraq secularists denounce "Islamist" constitution
Secular Iraqis said on Wednesday a proposed new constitution left no room for doubt about the Islamist path the country was heading down two years after a U.S.-led invasion was supposed to produce greater freedoms.

The document presented to parliament on Monday is suffused with the language of political Islam in defining the state, and assigns a primary role to Islam as a source for legislation.

"The draft aborts the democratic process Iraqis hoped for and is a big victory for political Islam," said writer Adel Abdel-Amir. "Islamic law, not the people, has become the source of authority."..

...Language guaranteeing "rights and freedoms" is subordinate to the primary position given to Islam, opponents say....

...The prominent women's rights campaigner denounced wording that grants each religious sect the right to run its own family courts -- apparently doing away with previous civil codes -- as an open door to further Islamicise the legal system...

...Souhail said the United States, a crucial backstage player keen for a deal that meets U.S.-backed deadlines, had let the Shi'ite Islamists and Kurds in government do as they wish.

"We have received news that we were not backed by our friends including the Americans. They left the Islamists to come to an agreement with the Kurds," she said.

Getting a draft of any f@cking thing signed by an arbitrary date is more important than ensuring a free and open society, huh? Where are all the big mouths of the opinion press or the feminist v-word agenda on this one? I'm just a wee voice in the wilderness here, but, as an American, I sure as hell don't want to be responsible for creating the new Iran. Or condemning my vibrant, educated, free Iraqi sisters to the despicable black hole that is Sharia. And that's what's happening, because the Bush Administration wants to be seen as 'hands off' ~ as long as a 'deadline' is met. "DEAD", indeed.
Oh, that's one hell of a promise kept, Mr. President.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:07 AM | Comments (9)

Baghdad Bob Has Been Found

He's in Peru:

"The plane did not crash. It did not fall. The plane made an emergency landing," said TANS spokesman Jorge Belevan, adding that it did not appear the crash was caused by a technical failure.

Uh-huh

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:12 AM | Comments (2)

Now, That's Research!

Boozy Brits most likely to reach for the bottle
Britons are drinking more, while alcohol consumption among health-conscious French and Germans is falling as consumers increasingly turn to non-alcoholic drinks, according to new research...

...Volume sales of wine increased by an impressive 23 per cent between 1999 and 2004...

...Under the new alcohol licensing regime, from November 24 any business without a licence will not be allowed to serve alcohol. Licensed premises will also be able to apply to extend their opening hours beyond 11pm. The government claims – alongside the Portman Group, an organisation representing the UK drinks industry - that 24-hour opening will help to combat binge drinking.

In my youth, booze was available 24 hours a day, in a manner of speaking. Even as our customary haunts boarded for the night, we'd already pooled our resources and bought as many cases of Michelob as our pennies would permit. After a double check that one or two were safely on ice in the truck, the caravan headed out to the cornfields. We got pretty efficient.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:56 AM

Cullen, Tell Them to Get The Heads Squared Away.

You could have guests by this weekend. Busloads of them. Courtesy of the 'Hurricane Katrina' travel service.
UPDATE: She's already costing you money. Oil's up over $66/barrel today.

Stoking bullish sentiment, the AccuWeather forecasters said that a new tropical depression formed over the Atlantic and was expected to reach the Gulf of Mexico later this week. Oil companies have shut down facilities in the Gulf as precaution against storm damage.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: You have GOT to be sh*ttin' me. Who put that sudden turn to the NNW in there in the last hour?!!? I have NO ROOF YET!!!
AGAIN with an UPDATE: Looks like old girl is headed to Appalachiacola, not PensaCOLA, which is a very good thing. Now, I would never wish it on someone else (even though I sure as hell don't want it here) but they shouldn't get hit too badly, thank goodness. The track up the west side of the peninsula will keep the east side of the storm over land (with much less time on the water all around) than when the track that was pointing at us. This allows for a whole lot less development than we were looking at if it came fully out into the Gulf. Now, they're gonna get way wet, but I think we can all be a smidge more optimistic. Woo hoo!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:28 AM | Comments (17)

August 23, 2005

Watching World News Tonight, It Suddenly Struck Me

You know. The difference between (Pat Robertson's hateful dumba$$ aside.)

us:
Sister Mary Michael protests the Da Vinci Code film.

...and

them:
Salman Rushdie

No one's dropped a fatwa on Dan Brown. No one's gonna.
Us and them.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:19 PM | Comments (7)

"I Did NOT, Suh!"

‘Mockingbird’ actor Peters dies at 78 He also played Admiral Cartwright in ‘Star Trek’ films
LOS ANGELES - Actor Brock Peters, best known for his heartbreaking performance as the black man falsely accused of rape in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” died Tuesday at his home after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

One of the most powerful, charismatic and classy actors I've ever seen. Tom Robinson makes me cry every time I see the movie.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:20 PM

Why Does This Picture...

...remind me of 'The Hunt For Red October'?

I can hear a certain sexy, manly, dee-lish-us someone in a Russian sub saying in a Scottish brogue...

"Let them s(h)ing..."

Gah-RRROOwwwwllllllll.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:46 PM | Comments (10)

Marines Who Run the Bombing Ranges at MCAS Yuma...

...find corpses all the time. The coyotes who get the illegals over the border then tell them to head for the 'lights in the night'. The numbers are staggering.

But the incursion is relentless. Since Oct. 1, Border Patrol agents have caught more than 500,000 "undocumented aliens" in the agency's Tucson and Yuma sectors, which include all of Arizona and a 16-mile stretch of California's border. No one knows how many got through.

Those lights are, depending upon where you cross unfortunately, either the beacons on the range towers or the superstructures on base.

The problem stems from federal border policies dating to the late 1990s. First, the government moved to stop illegal immigration in California and Texas. Next, Border Patrol agents clamped down in urban areas along the nation's 1,951-mile border with Mexico.

As a result, smugglers and their human clients have been funneled to a deadly passageway - Arizona's remote desert.

If you luck out and head toward MCAS Yuma, you might actually make it to civilization. There're farm houses and little oasises on the way in where you can steal something to eat or, at least, livestock troughs to drink out of. But if you head out and chase automated range beacons, you're led deeper and deeper into either the desert or the Chocolate Mountains, and further from any hope of ever seeing another human being. Or getting out alive. It's as desolate out there as any of those TV shots of Afghanistan. And there's no way to know which light to choose, or that there even is a choice. A life or death choice. The Marines who go out to change the range beacons might only come to that particular section of range once a month. Less, if it hasn't been used in a while ~ they'll do routine access/tower maintenance. The base SAR (Search and Rescue) crew has stories to tell about who and what they've found. They'll point spots out when you're in the Huey with them in the Chocolates. (As I was lucky enough to be.) The SAR crew will call in location reports of illegals on the move, but they're in no position and have no authority to apprehend them. All they can do is call it in and hope they're caught before the environment gets them. Both groups have told me that the bodies they find often look like Egyptian mummies. It's unforgiving out there.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:48 AM | Comments (5)

Paging Julie Andrews

Yet another crazy nun gets in trouble with her Mother Superior:

A Belgian nun's acrobatic and indecorous dancing with a missionary during the Catholic World Youth Day in Germany over the weekend earned her a reprimand from her mother superior, a Belgian paper said on Tuesday.

Daily Het Laatste Nieuws showed pictures of a dancing Johanne Vertommen being held up in the air by the missionary, and then clinging to him with her legs wrapped around his body.

How do we solve a problem like...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:22 AM | Comments (4)

August 22, 2005

Bingley Thinks the V-Word Is Funny. I Do Not.

Oh, and I got funny for ya pal, right HERE.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:44 PM | Comments (20)

So Help Me...Allah?

Man, you had to know this was coming...

Debate Brews Over Use of Koran in Court
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Traditionally, witnesses taking the stand in court are sworn in by placing their hand on the Bible (search).

But when Muslims in Guilford County, N.C., tried to donate copies of the Koran (search) for courtroom use, judges turned them down.

I find it especially offensive when the Bible/Koran/Torah/Tipitaka/Old Laws used to swear by is held by a person in Seminole costume. A person can only take so much.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:09 PM | Comments (7)

Looking For The Perfect Gift For The Little Woman?

How about an 8'x 4 1/2' abstract painting of a Feminine Naughty Bit*?

I didn't think so.

*Edited for the tender dispositions of some of our faint-hearted contributors.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:53 PM | Comments (51)

If You've Got the Time...

...I've got a fascinating read for you.

...Nor did he brag about his vast accomplishments. More than 600 patents to his credit. A fortune amassed. Powerful foes toppled.

As death approached, he believed his place in history had been secured, thanks to his most spectacular inventions: machine vision and the bar code scanner, technology that has dramatically altered the way in which we live.

“He was a simple man,” said his Houston oncologist, Dr. Giora Mavligit. “A mensch.”

But to his many detractors, Lemelson was something else.

They claim Lemelson’s patents were in fact worthless. Lemelson, they say, was one of the great frauds of the 20th century.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:50 PM | Comments (8)

The Forgotten Ruined Man

Completely lost amid the press hoopla over the sentencing of scumbag Eric Rudolph is any mention of the man the press and the FBI villified: Richard Jewell

Funny how the press doesn't want to mention him.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:53 PM | Comments (2)

Shocking Police Brutality

My God man, it's not like they were trying to steal tvs or other electronics. No, this was a gift from a benevolent Deity to His people:

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Hundreds of looters battled police all weekend at the site of a beer train wreck in violence that left one woman dead, South African police said on Monday as they kept a heavy guard on the remaining alcohol.

The train carrying 180,000 crates of beer from South African Breweries derailed on Friday night near Waterval Boven, 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Johannesburg, Superintendent Izak van Zyl said.

By Saturday morning, police were battling up to 200 people from the nearby township trying to make off with crates of beer.

Modern manna, my friends.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:30 AM | Comments (8)

The 'Six Feet Under' Series Finale

They laid the series to rest.
And did it just right. It made up for the two unspeakably tedious and grinding seasons I missed. When I threw my hands up and said 'I can't watch this crap anymore'...because they were tedious and grinding. Another one of those 'oh, give it a rest, would you' disintegrations of something that had once been a pleasure and a Sunday evening staple.
But they ended it very, very well and I'm glad we took the time to watch.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:42 AM | Comments (17)

Lighten Up, Francis

The trouble started, Mr. Rivers said, when a group of Norwegian soldiers on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo came upon the song in 2002 and decided to make a rock video of it.

The video is a tour de force. (Clever of moi, huh?) Turns out the song was written by an American to protest the 'nonchalance' of U.S. involvement in the Balkans. Who knew? I thought it was brilliant commentary on UN/NATO ineptitude. No matter. The Serbs have a problem with it, since it calls them 'bad guys'.

"Such things only help the Serbian side to prove that there is no security in Kosovo, no respect for human rights and no multiethnicity," Agence France-Presse quoted the adviser, Slobodan Samardzic, as saying.

"The president was very shocked to learn about this," said Vuk Jeremic, the senior foreign policy adviser to President Boris Tadic of Serbia. Mr. Tadic was especially upset because the soldiers came from Norway, a country with a strong record for peace initiatives and conflict resolution, Mr. Jeremic said in an interview.

The video showed that four years after the collapse of Slobodan Milosevic's autocratic government in Serbia, the nation's image abroad is still sullied. "This is what boys from Norway think about Serbs," he said.

Not to let the insensitive Norwegian bastards off alone, they find a poor national Guardsman who caused trouble too.

The Norwegians' video is not the only case of cultural insensitivity by NATO troops in Kosovo. In July, Express, a Kosovo Albanian newspaper, republished an interview by an American soldier with his hometown newspaper. In it the soldier, Sgt. Robbie Nelson, from the 635th Armor unit of the Kansas National Guard, compared local farming methods to turn-of-19th-century America. The article caused some amusement and some anger.

Sigh. For the record, all these indicted Serbian War Criminals seem to indicate pretty conclusively that they were, in fact, the bad guys. So, fl@ck 'em. And according to this 2004 Serbian government veggie .pdf, what they are touting as progress would seem to bolster the Sgt.'s assessment of the state of Serbian agriculture. So, again, fl@ck 'em. Let's all make luscious summer tomato sammiches and watch the video. (I think that one hunky Norwegian looks like the lead singer for A-HA...gah-rrrowllll!)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:17 AM | Comments (6)

August 21, 2005

Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd

His skin was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen,
Who never thereafter were heard of again,
Did Sweeney, Sweeney Todd....

...The Demon Barber of

Fleet

Street

And yaHOO buddy, Mrs. Lovett's (Patti Lupone!! WOO hoo! Bingley and I saw her in Evita) back on Broadway! One of my favorite Bingley/THS adventures was seeing the original, front row balcony ~ my hiding my eyes and him hooting as Sweeney (Len Cariou) slit another throat in the barber's chair. I always got them open in time to see the body slip down the chute to Mrs. Lovett's (The INCOMPARABLE Angela Lansbury) meat grinder.
UPDATE: Hmmm, not sure what to think about this...

Producers may be taking the hint. The 2005-6 Broadway season has exactly one commercial musical revival planned. And it is not a splashy enterprise: "Sweeney Todd," Stephen Sondheim's dark classic about a murderous barber. A slimmed-down, acclaimed British production starring Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris - both Broadway stars but not exactly bankable names - it features a cast of nine actors who all double as musicians, a creative choice that has the additional advantage of lowering the show's weekly running costs.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:16 PM | Comments (9)

Morons

Morons.

San Francisco Shuns Retired USS Iowa

The USS Iowa joined in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf. It carried President Franklin Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders, and four decades later, suffered one of the nation's most deadly military accidents.

Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South Pacific...

...Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped secure $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home.

But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things...

If I remember correctly, the Iowa is a big part of the reason San Franciscans still speak English (Or whatever language that is they speak on the Planet SF.), instead of Japanese.

...Officials in Stockton couldn't be happier. They've offered a dock on the river, a 90,000-square-foot waterfront building and a parking area, and hope to attract at least 125,000 annual visitors...

...San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the nation's face, said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of Commerce.

"We're lucky our men and women have sacrificed their lives ... to protect our freedom," Wilhoit said. "Wherever you stand on the war in Iraq ... you shouldn't make a decision based on philosophy."

What he said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:47 AM | Comments (9)

It's Carnival Time

Joisey, that is.

Update: I fixed the link. I am a moron. Carry on.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:24 AM

Nothin' Like a Sunday Treat

We were charged when we found out our neighborhood has one. I love that dorky music.

Old-fashioned ice cream trucks in demand

Booming business sees growing number of new vendors

ABOARD TRUCK NO. 95 - As music-box tunes tinkle from the white van rolling down Greentree Place in sweltering heat, a man rushes forward, digging into his pocket and scanning the photographic menu.

"I haven't been to an ice cream truck in 40 years. I have no idea what I want," says the white-haired man from Massillon. Moments later, he plops a dollar bill on the counter, remembering his childhood favorite.

"How about a Creamsicle?"

Nope. Chocolate Eclair Bar for me, please.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:22 AM | Comments (12)

August 20, 2005

Keep Small Children Away

'cos there's a big spider on my house.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:35 PM | Comments (6)

August 19, 2005

The Things You See In The East River

I looked over the side of the boat today and saw this:

That, my friends, I believe is a condom filled with cocaine that is floating around in NY harbor tonight. Somebody's gonna be upset.

Blech

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:23 PM | Comments (9)

Signs in Crawford

Powerline has them. Oh and I'll bet you won't see them anywhere on the news.

The photo below depicts a sign posted by the neighbord nearest to the roadside crosses. The neighbor does not agree with the anti-Bush protesters.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:02 PM | Comments (4)

Let the Games Begin

Jury finds Merck at fault in man's death
ANGLETON, Texas (Reuters) - A jury in the first civil trial against Merck & Co.'s popular painkiller Vioxx on Friday found the pharmaceutical company liable for the 2001 death of a Texas man, awarding his widow a total of more than $250 million..

Ho boy.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:29 PM

Predicting a Bittersweet Homecoming...

...as noted in a dismal little Der Spiegel article.

WANTED: PIOUS PEOPLE

When the German Pope Returns Home, He'll Find an Unchristian Land
When Pope Benedict XVI lands in Cologne for World Youth Day, he will be arriving in a country that has become foreign to him. The churches are empty, the politicians are non-believers and the people in the east are complete strangers to God. And now organizers of the biggest religious festival of the post-war era plan to turn it into a launching pad for a new religious awareness...

...The German pope's first trip abroad is essentially a homecoming to a strange land, a country in which more people enter training programs to become orthopaedic shoemakers and equestrian managers than to join the Catholic clergy; a country in which just eight percent of the population in a city like Magdeburg, in the former East Germany, has been baptized...

...Most Germans have developed their own private concept of faith. For them, the Big Bang has replaced the myth of creation, while catastrophic climate change is their new apocalypse. And depending on where they are in life, they enjoy small servings of ecstasy in the form of sex & drugs & rock 'n' roll or a concert subscription for two. At best, they pray on Wednesdays and Sundays, when the lottery numbers are announced. Internet chat forums are the new confessional, and everyone has his own homemade answer to the question of spirituality: a little Jesus, a big dose of career and, when in doubt, a deep gaze into their children's eyes. Indeed, many Germans are likely to view the World Youth Day with the indifference reserved for a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:04 PM | Comments (1)

"Who Speaks For Casey Sheehan?"

Casey Sheehan's deeds were heroic. By laying down his life for this nation, he delivered the kind of message that is written in blood, that lives forever. Why on Earth would a loving mother choose to refocus the nation's attention onto her words and away from his deeds?

And what was Casey Sheehan's message? It had nothing to do with President Bush. It didn't even have to do with the war, necessarily. It said something much simpler: "I love my country."

Please read the whole thing.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:50 PM | Comments (4)

I'd Say So

"When you have the situation that we have in Arizona — where, by some estimates, over 4,000 illegals attempt to cross every night — this is not just a crisis, it's a full-scale invasion," Rep. J.D. Hayworth (search), R-Ariz., told FOX News on Friday.

What else would you call it?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:07 PM | Comments (6)

Rough Weather in Wisconsin

What an awful mess. Oh, I feel for them, dang! Having been through our meesly little tornado here, I need a valium and three quaaludes everytime there's a thunderstorm, less mind when the Alert Radio starts blaring. (As Bingley can tell you, there are nights around here when it stays on.) But it seems there's always a bright spot somewhere in the midst of destruction...

Lenny Peaslee, executive chef at the Stoughton Country Club, said the twister tore the roof off as about 40 people took refuge in the basement.

"We were ... hiding behind the bar," he said. "We had beer, anyway."

Why am I never with that person on days like this?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:12 PM | Comments (4)

Australians Say 'Sod Off' to Anti-G'Day Mates

‘G'day mate’ OK again in Australia
‘Mate’ ban in parliament is lifted, ridiculed as ‘pomposity gone mad’
CANBERRA, Australia - A ban by Australia’s Parliament House on the term “mate,” a popular colloquialism and symbol of egalitarianism, has been overturned following a barrage of protest.

Security guards at Parliament House in Canberra had been directed on Thursday to refer to people as sir and ma’am. The ban was imposed after the head of a government department complained about being called mate, local media reported.

But a parliamentary circular issued on Friday removed the directive warning staff not to use “mate” when dealing with the public or members of parliament, instead suggesting they use their judgment on when a more formal approach is required.

They're a few tinnies short of a slab, I'd say. "Pomposity gone mad'? Like kangaroos in the top paddock.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:25 PM | Comments (11)

August 18, 2005

My Favorite Building In NY

Can't really put my finger on why it appeals to me, though.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:18 PM | Comments (8)

What Is This Ship Doing?

I think it's a bulk vessel, my guess is carrying cocoa or some other agricultural product and they have had to fumigate the hold. The hatches that you see are now lifted and opened to air the ship out.

Any other ideas?
(UPDATE: Read why Bingley is "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs"!)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:14 PM | Comments (6)

Zipping By Governor's Island At 35 Knots

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:12 PM

A Worthy Road Trip

If you've got some time on your hands, someone to watch the dogs and don't mind the gas prices, you might want to join up. If you can't, ask our left Coast Swillers to honk and wave for you when they go by.

Supporters of U.S. Involvement in Iraq Plan Caravans to Texas
The anti-war protest by a Vacaville mother outside the president's Texas ranch is galvanizing some who support the country's continued involvement in Iraq. One of those is a serviceman's mother who feels now more than ever the country must stand strong behind the troops.

Roseville resident Deborah Johns' son William is a Marine stationed in Iraq. She sympathizes with Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protester who lost her son to enemy fire 16 months ago. However, Johns believes a pull-out now would negate what troops are fighting for in Iraq. She takes exception to Sheehan's protest and plans to do something about it.

"It absolutely mushroomed, but that's our liberal media," said Johns. "They continue to like to hear the negative and not the positive that's going on." Johns is organizing what could be hundreds of others to participate in a caravan leaving San Francisco on Monday. The caravan is destined for Crawford, Texas, in a gesture of support for President George W. Bush.

A Swill Salute to a commentor at our bud The Gateway Pundit, who's also pleased to report the "Cindy Hour" in ST. Louis was a BUST-OLA. Pity, that.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:42 PM | Comments (3)

FLASH !! This Just In...

Gentle, Grieving Mother Sheehan Channels Daily Kos

No film at 11. If there's a God.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:50 AM | Comments (2)

Help Wanted ~ No Experience Necessary. The Unconscious...

...need not apply.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — A former personal assistant to Carlos Santana (search) has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the rock star and his company, claiming he was fired after his consciousness was "calibrated" and determined to be too low.

The lawsuit by Bruce Kuhlman (search), 59, charges that Santana's wife, Deborah, brought in a man known as "Dr. Dan" so employees could grow closer to God and become better workers. The lawsuit alleges that "spiritual calibration" (search) allowed a person to develop a deeper level of consciousness.

"In Deborah's view, the higher a person calibrated with Dr. Dan, the better employee they were because they were more 'spiritually evolved'," the lawsuit filed in Marin Superior Court said.

Man! I just can't catch a break.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:32 AM | Comments (1)

The Shameful PC-USA Leadership

I really wish that I could point out errors in this column by Lileks, but sadly I can't. The leadership of my church, strike that, rather the leadership of my denomination (the leadership of my church is much more sensible), is chock full of leftist touchy-feelies, and stuff like this is the result:

The Presbyterian Church (USA) -- not the members, but the learned elders -- has announced it will use its stock holdings to target Israel for being mean to the Palestinians.

But they're not anti-Semites. Heavens, nay. Don't you dare question their philosemitism! No, they looked at the entire world, including countries that lop off your skull if you convert to Presbyterianism, and what did they choose as the object of their ire? A country the size of a potato chip hanging on the edge of a region noted for despotism and barbarity. By some peculiar coincidence, it happens to be full of Jews.

The General Assembly passes every year resolutions that are far to the left of the individual congregations on various matters, and the local Presbyteries vote them down. It's caused a lot of dissention and wasted time, and it's sad. I guess the only people who have the time to belong to the General Assembly are lefty idealists; the rest of us have to work for a living.

Update: But I do have to disagree with Lileks on one point. I don't think that the PC-USA leadership is consciously anti-semitic; sadly their toeing of the lefty line puts them in the same camp, however.

Thanks to the Blogfaddah for the pointer.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:36 AM | Comments (5)

Sacre Fromage Bleu, Homme de Chauve-Souris!

Été avec hors des vacances est comme Paris sans fois gras!*

With unemployment hovering at 10 percent, a growing number of French can no longer afford a traditional August getaway -- a summer ritual that symbolizes the good life a la francaise.

"Holidays have gotten very expensive, and more and more employed people who used to go find that they can't anymore," said Jean Froidure, a tourism expert at the University of Toulouse. He called the trend "very worrisome."

"The vacation is a potent symbol in French society, a visible sign of a certain social standing," Froidure said. "Not going on vacation can cause people to lose confidence not only in their own future, but also in French society in general."

The French don't start to navel gaze until plans for their seven weeks off a year get impacted? That could explain a lot.

* "Holy blue cheese, Batman! Summer without vacation is like Paris without fatty distended goose liver!"

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:26 AM | Comments (3)

Fairy Tales Can Come True

It can happen to you...and me, if we're lucky.

"There's been a big speculative bubble" in oil prices, insisted Tim Evans, an analyst with IFR Energy Services in New York. The bubble has been predicated on the idea that demand is still growing and supplies are tight.

Fact is, he said on CNBC's "Power Lunch," "there really is no shortage of oil" and won't be until the fall of 2006. The U.S. inventory of crude oil is 10% bigger than a year ago. Refineries are producing 2 million more barrels a day of products than a year ago.

So, oil prices, he opined, are "exploring the top of the trading range," which is a nice way of saying oil is near a top. And he thinks a big blow-off is coming and may be just starting. How low will oil prices fall?

As low as $30 a barrel is a possibility, Evans said. He wasn't kidding.

Why does my Magic 8 ball keep saying if oil/gas prices start on their way downward to palatable levels, that building new refineries will suddenly vanish from the collective consciousness?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:57 AM

Sometimes Winning Hearts and Minds...

...can ask the impossible of our troops. And they get the job done.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Alpha Company's motto is "Speed. Shock. Power. Violence. Attack." But it also might read "People skills" or "Interpersonal relations."

Those are the tactics that the company's commander, Capt. Ike Sallee, uses to keep the peace in the southern Baghdad neighborhoods that Alpha Company patrols...

...Then Sallee's men took a photo of Hussain. And they took some photos of themselves posing with the Iraqi commandos. One of the commandos offered to hold the hand of Sallee's driver, a custom among Iraqi men.

"I'm not holding his hand," the soldier said.

"C'mon," Sallee said. "He's hot. He's hot."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:46 AM

HAH !! Read...

...and weep. All things that buzz are belong to us.

Well, to Bingley anyway.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:55 AM | Comments (10)

August 17, 2005

Having It Both Ways...

...and I'm not talking Bingley and David Hasselhoff. No, I'm talking about the ability of the moonbat population to twist anything. In a codicil to my post below on self delusion, I will add this snippet from another site that shall remain nameless. I found it on a Technoratic webstat ping related to my other recent post ~ the one from Newsweek about President Bush's visits with the family members of servicemen killed in Iraq. The one about his empathy and kindness. The one we were all astounded and quite pleasantly surprised to find, as Newsweek isn't exactly known for articles of that tenor. Another site that linked to it thought differently and I was blown away by the vituperative sample I saw. It started with some babble about 'Rush' and went straight into (I cleaned it up a smidge)...

My first reaction to this is, "say what?" What a f**king paranoid f**k he is. Delusional too. First of all, there is no "coordinated left." We don't have a Rove-type figure working for our side who releases forged documents to established journalists in order to ruin their career and force them into early retirement. Either Rush is stupid or just plain mean.

Secondly, if he really wants to talk about fabricated stories, let's take a look at a recent Newsweek article put out in the nick of time to give Bush's image a much needed dose of humanity. Too bad the whole article rings false. Are we really supposed to believe Bush cries for fallen soldiers? Give me a break. The bastard is on a FIVE WEEK VACATION during a time of war! Or struggle. Or whatever the thought police are calling it this week.

...a scatalogical reference to the article and then the moonbat, hateful coup d' grace.

Come on Newsweek, give me a story I can actually believe, like Jenna Bush discovering the cure for cancer.

Dang. I mean DANG!
UPDATE: She makes these rabid animals seem so small, bless her heart.

‘Honor me in this way’

Marine’s mother tells mourners he would want the war in Iraq supported

WEST CHESTER, Ohio - The mother of a Marine killed in Iraq urged mourners Wednesday not to let their anger and sadness turn them against the U.S. fight in Iraq.

“Honor me in this way,” Kathy Dyer said during a memorial service for Lance Cpl. Christopher J. Dyer, 19, of the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale.

At the funeral at Tri-County Baptist Church, Kathy Dyer delivered what she believed would have been her son’s own message: “It has been with the greatest pride I have served ... fighting to preserve freedom.”

Thank you for your son Christopher, Mrs. Dyer. Thank you for your Marine.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:42 PM | Comments (5)

Because BingleyMan.XXX Asked Me To

...and for no other reason.
If you have the stomach for it, click through. He says this is for Sharon...
(Or was it Ken?)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:36 PM | Comments (9)

No, No And Flock (of Seagulls) NO!

Joe ScrewYourBorough, debonair TV personality, ex Congressman re-elected with 79% of the vote in 2000, only to bugger out a couple months later to 'spend time with his children', erstwhile partner-for-face-value-only in one of the most successful LIBERAL law firms in the country while having practised law for a whopping four years before going politico and wanna-be-rocknroller-like-Keanu-Reeves is NOW thinkin' about...

...bein' a Senator.

Scarborough for Senate? Republicans press ex-congressman to face Harris
Republican Party leaders are courting Joe Scarborough to replace U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris in the 2006 Senate race against Bill Nelson.

Scarborough, a cable TV talk-show host and former U.S. representative, has met with senior party officials who are encouraging him to challenge Harris, said Collier Merrill, a Pensacola businessman active in the Republican Party, on Tuesday.

I notice nowhere in this puff piece does it mention his time looking pretty on pretentious billboards with Fred Levin and company.

In that event, we know who would be representing the people. That's right! The Levin law firm! Their new billboard on Highway 98 shows 15 feet of smiles flashed by Mike Papantonio, Fred Levin and our very own former U.S. representative: Joe Scarborough. They say they're "for the people."

I vastly prefer Katharine Harris's badly put on make-up to ScrewYourBorough's put on face.
But they're both losers.
I wanna vote JEB.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:56 PM | Comments (3)

I Knew It All Along

My picture's on the way:

Forget waxed chests and rock-hard abs. A new survey finds ladies like their men scruffy, a wee bit chubby - and definitely not a metrosexual.

Chick Magnet, that's me:

Playgirl asked 2,000 of its readers what they find sexy in a man and the answers were surprising:

42% said they thought love handles were kind of sexy

Check

and 47% approved of chest hair.

Er, Ill have to borrow Ken's Ronco Chest Toupee...

Rich playboys need not apply - only 4% of women said the size of a man's wallet mattered. Metrosexuals are also out: 73% want a guy who is "rough around the edges."

That's me!

New York matchmaker Janis Spindel, a self-described specialist at setting up "highly successful, well-educated, attractive professionals," confirmed the survey's findings. "It's scary, but women don't care [about looks]," she said. "Men are very superficial and very shallow."

Not surprisingly Janis is still single.

Hmmm, maybe this one:

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:58 PM | Comments (11)

Gaza

There's an awful lot of emotion ~ anger, suffering, hopes and dreams, realized and not ~ in that word. We're watching it play out across the news channels, talk shows, newspapers and blogs, and everyone's got an opinion on why and what happens now. Zipping around this morning, I came across one of Stephen Green's late night ramblings and it reminded me of something Major Dad had pointed out in Sunday's Pravda. I haven't seen these points anywhere in the rancorous back and forth, so I thought I'd do a little digging to see if this was an aberration. It's not. And they're not. These immutable numbers may well be the underpinnings of what makes the Gaza dream untenable*.

Why 'Greater Israel' Never Came to Be
By ETHAN BRONNER
FOR those who long considered it folly to settle a handful of Jews among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the decision to remove them starting this week seems an acceptance of the obvious. What possible future could the settlers have had? How could their presence have done the state of Israel any good?

But for those, like Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who created and nurtured the settlements, the move to dismantle them is something very different. It is an admission not of error but of failure. Their cherished goal - the resettlement of the full biblical land of Israel by contemporary Jews - is not to be. The reason: not enough of them came...

...The failure has two main sources. First, contrary to the expectations of the early Zionists, as Ambassador Mekel noted, most of the world's Jews have not joined their brethren to live in Israel. Of the world's 13 million to 14 million Jews, a minority - 5.26 million - make their home in Israel, and immigration has largely dried up. Last year, a record low 21,000 Jews immigrated to Israel.

Of course, Israel is a remarkably successful state, a democracy with a high standard of living and many proud accomplishments. Yet the misery that Zionists expected Jews elsewhere to suffer has not materialized. More than half a century after the establishment of the Jewish state, more Jews live in the United States than in Israel.

UPDATE: The Gateway Pundit has some heart breaking pictures.

The second explanation for the shift in settlement policy is that the Palestinian population has grown far more rapidly - and Palestinians have proved far more willing to fight - than many on the Israeli right had anticipated. On Thursday, the newspaper Haaretz reported that the proportion of Jews in the combined population of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza had dropped below 50 percent for the first time. This means, many Israelis argue, that unless they yield territory, they will have to choose a Jewish state or a democratic one; they will not be able to have both.

Stephen notes...

The luxury Israel doesn't have is: Space. Israel has 20,330 square miles of land – the entire country is smaller than New Jersey. And by giving up Gaza, Israel just gave up land the size of two largish cities.

...which makes perfect sense until you learn that Israel barely has the population of 'two largish cities' (6,199,008 ~ July 2002 est.), while New Jersey has a quarter again MORE people, with no borders to police and nobody blowing themselves up on city buses on a regular basis. There is a very concerned hierarchy in Israel worried about a diminishing Jewish demographic¹.

If the non-Jewish population continues to outpace Jewish population growth, Israel could become an underdeveloped Third World country by 2020, a population expert predicts.
That’s the warning being sounded by University of Haifa's professor Arnon Sofer. He says there is now a demographic balance in the number of Jews and non-Jews in the region from the Jordan River to the coast and running the length of Israel from north to south.

"Today, there are 5 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews. The latter figure is composed of 4.5 million Arabs and the remainder non-Jewish immigrants, mainly from the former Soviet Union, and foreign workers," he told the Jerusalem Post.

By the year 2020, he forecasts about 6.4 million Jews, based on population growth and an average 50,000 Jewish immigrants a year. He expects the Arab population to reach around 8.5 million, in addition to 1 million non-Jews of other origins.

They simply don't have the assets to defend their...assets. The depth of the Palestinian determination was a nasty shock...

(NYT)A senior Israeli official who spent years closely associated with Likud leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said that Israelis long had little respect for Palestinians as fighters, but that had changed.

"The fact that hundreds of them are willing to blow themselves up is significant," he said. "We didn't give them any credit before. In spite of our being the strongest military power in the Middle East, we lost 1,200 people over the last four years. It finally sank in to Sharon and the rest of the leadership that these people were not giving up."

...and the years of continual violence have taken their toll not only on the every day Israeli, but on the front line defense forces that protect them.

(NYT)Mr. Rabin himself said that he decided to negotiate a withdrawal with the Palestinians when he realized how unpopular military service in Gaza had become.

"He said privately - I heard him say it - that military reservists don't want to serve in the occupied territories and while they are not formally refusing they are finding excuses to stay away," Yoel Esteron, managing editor of Yediot Aharonot, recalled. "That put a real burden on the army and it meant we couldn't stay there forever."

And there have to be more heartrending decisions to come, for numbers themselves don't lie. When all the rhetoric clears, you're left with ugly choices the numbers force you into. What to give up, what to hold fast to, what to keep Israel Israel? American Jews are not giving up life in New York or Chicago, or anywhere, to move to Tel Aviv.

"Yet the misery that Zionists expected Jews elsewhere to suffer has not materialized".

And thank God it has not! But that has left a state founded ~ and still dependant ~ on immigration in a desperate, desperate way. I hope to God there's an answer for it in there somewhere. No one doubts the courage and tenacity of the Israelis and their indomitable national sense of self. The anguish on the faces of the Gaza settlers, however, may be nothing compared to what's to come, if there's no reversal in the numbers. As much as the state, the dream itself has betrayed them, by it's very unsustainability. By the numbers.

* Main Entry: un·ten·a·ble
Pronunciation: -'te-n&-b&l
Function: adjective
1 : not able to be defended
2 : not able to be occupied

¹Israel's Population Bomb in Reverse, Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com,
Saturday, Oct. 19, 2002

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:41 PM

Pffft

Convicted Bali bombers get sentence reductions
Militant cleric gets four and a half months off in honor of independence day
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A militant cleric and 17 others convicted in the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali have received sentence reductions of several months to mark Indonesia’s independence day, wardens said Wednesday.

Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of the al-Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, was originally given a 30-month prison sentence for his role in the bombings, which killed many Australian tourists.

On Wednesday he was given a 4½-month sentence reduction, said Dedi Sutardi, the chief warden at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta, which means he could be released from prison in June 2006.

Of course, a 30 month sentence for the crime is a joke to begin with, so what's a couple months less in the big scheme of things?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:17 AM

Another American Success Story

And I'm not just talking about the grill...

Foreman linked up with Salton in 1995 to promote the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine -- a redesigned product that had been on the market without his name.

He didn't expect much out of it other than 20 free grills for his various houses and one for his mother.

But within four years, 10 million grills had been sold and Salton paid Foreman $127.5 million and $10 million in stock to use his name for its product's duration.

From this to this
is like the American dream, huh?

Foreman, who won an Olympic gold medal in 1968 and was named the heavyweight champion in 1973, has long been a pitchman. Shortly after losing his heavyweight title to Muhammad Ali in 1974, he went to work swaying people to eat at McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Foreman's marketing power shouldn't be underestimated, industry experts said.

"People have positive associations with George Foreman," said Edward Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "Part of the value of having a good, positive brand image, like George Foreman does, is you can take that brand and you can put it on new products."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:19 AM | Comments (3)

I Predict Increased Fooooornication

Liberty University is now Sodom State:

Capri pants and flip-flops will be fine in class but shorts will remain forbidden as school starts next week at Liberty University, the college founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

The end is nigh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:16 AM | Comments (17)

Round Up The 85 Year Old White Grannies

Because, I mean, when 350 bombs go off we wouldn't want to profile anyone, now would we?

Jamayetul Mujahedin, an Islamic militant group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in leaflets distributed around many of the blast sites.

Update: Dang, the grannies were busy overnight:

A pair of car bombs exploded Wednesday morning at a bus station in central Baghdad, killing at least 43 people and wounding 88, Iraqi police said.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:52 AM | Comments (1)

August 16, 2005

Herr Summers Declares 'Doitch Day' at Die Schwillink

Sounds fun to us and how lovely to drag you all down to our level! As we routinely break into weird TOWACA patter of languages real and imagined, I thought I would suggest the favorite of my resources for German days.

Simply a wonderful language supplement, even for der alter Lustmolch*, like Herr Summers. Get one and eins, zwei, g'suffa!

From an Amazon Review:

Until I read this book, I thought I knew every nasty thing you could possibly say in German. I was quickly proven wrong. This is a great reference for dirty words and insults you can't find in even some medium-sized German-English dictionaries. It is assumed that you have a basic knowledge of pronunciations and other mechanics of the German language, so I'd recommend it to someone with at least a year of formal instruction under his/her belt. Other than that, watch what you say and to whom you say it; your Oma would turn green at the mere mention of some of these words, but the boys in the Biergarten probably wouldn't mind too much. (However, there is an adequate effort made at pointing out some of the worst words and phrases.) The illustrations put the book over the top; they're relevant to the chapter in question, in a somewhat literal and very amusing way. A great read, and the best money you'll ever spend in learning German!

*Okay, okay; 'lusty old salamander'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:17 PM | Comments (5)

"You Bourgeois Bloodsucker,...

...you would be well advised to behave with discretion!"

Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.
Insults courtesy of the hardwork and enviable talent of Geoff Davis (and his NK-News), evil capitalist genius.

Calif. man catalogs N. Korea’s rhetoric
Web site devoted to satirizing official news agency's over-the-top writing
WASHINGTON - Few can denounce the ”imperialist ogre” or “kingpin of evil” as well as the writers at North Korea’s official news agency, and a California graphic artist is now cataloging their rhetorical masterpieces on a Web site.

Launched in May, www.nk-news.net boasts of having nearly every KCNA article since December 1996 -- “over 50 megabytes of hard-core Stalinist propaganda ... each article written in the unique and indelible style of the KCNA.”

Readers can get a taste of that KCNA style from recommended key word searches, such as “burning hatred,” which turns up 18 articles. The targets of that hot wrath include Japan, Yankees, ”U.S. imperialist ogres” and “class enemies.”

“Human scum” yields 25 KCNA reports applying that epithet to President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and diplomat John Bolton. Rumsfeld also keeps company with Japanese officials in the “political dwarf” category.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:34 PM | Comments (6)

Oh Yeah, I BET They Do It Carefully...

To paraphrase that idiot Crodile Hunter 'Danger, Danger, Danger!'

Crocodile blood may yield powerful new drugs
Tests show reptile's immune system prevents life-threatening infections

SYDNEY - Scientists in Australia’s tropical north are collecting blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antibiotic for humans, after tests showed that the reptile’s immune system kills the HIV virus.

The crocodile’s immune system is much more powerful than that of humans, preventing life-threatening infections after savage territorial fights which often leave the animals with gaping wounds and missing limbs.

“They tear limbs off each other and despite the fact that they live in this environment with all these microbes, they heal up very rapidly and normally almost always without infection,”...

Ah, reminds me of my younger days in the $500 pair o'jeans eco-system. I could wrangle for a free brewski with the best of them. A strong immune system is vital in the ongoing battle for dive domination.

...For the past 10 days Britton and Merchant have been carefully collecting blood from wild and captive crocodiles, both saltwater and freshwater species. After capturing a crocodile and strapping its powerful jaws closed the scientists extract blood from a large vein behind the head.

For reptiles here in Pensacola, we leave that to the nurse at the Escambia County Sheriff's department.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:01 PM | Comments (4)

If Kids Fail The Test, Make The Test Easier

Here's a shocking headline:

Report: High school exit exams pressuring limited-English students

According to the story

Huge numbers of students who don't speak or read English well may be denied a high school diploma based on graduation tests that do not fairly measure their skills, a study suggests.

Er, it seems to me that if they "don't speak or read English well" then the test is measuring their skills quite fairly, no?

Graduation tests in math, reading and other subjects have become an increasingly common way for states to gauge whether students have earned a diploma -- even though the content of the exams typically covers material learned through grades nine or 10, not grade 12.

Well maybe that's because education is a cumulative process and what comes later builds on and requires what came before ("Gosh, I am sorry about forgetting the anesthesia, Mr. Bingley; You see, they covered that in the 1st year of Med School, and I only really needed to pay attention in my 3rd year to pass the Boards.").

Some students may fail a math test, for example, because they lacked the English skills to understand the framing of a question, the report found. English learners also may not get enough time to learn the material covered on a graduation test because they spend a larger portion of their week learning English.

Sooo, I'm thinking they should learn English sooner, no? And friggin' "bilingual classes" ain't the place to do it.

Overall, states with exit exams are in dilemma -- they've been challenged to hold all children to the same standards, but in doing so, they may withhold diplomas from many kids with limited English. Almost all states with exit exams implicitly require students to know English to graduate, but high schools often find immigrant students are just getting started.

What is the dilemma? They damn well better hold all kids to the same standards. Screw "implicitly" (which, as an aside, would make one hell of a bumper sticker); they should explicitly require students to know English to graduate.

Otherwise the only thing our 'modern' education system will have created is an entire generation of welfare recipients.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:20 PM | Comments (3)

The Swilling Charges Past 18,000 Visitors.

Take THAT, oh ye who boasteth painfully upon thy readership.

In recognition of the honor of being vistor No. 18K,
we award Sir Rob of Appleton Lane, Crabbeshire
a jelly donut.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:45 AM | Comments (7)

The Travesty in This Picture?

On the right's an appealing 16 year old.

With 4 ~ count 'em! ~ FOUR pairs of $500 (yes, fivehunnertdollah) jeans in her arms.
Even if she buys a pair, there is something just so wrong with that.
Or am I jealous? Is it just me?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:11 AM | Comments (25)

Stunned Fans? STUNNED?

As in shocked? No sir, I don't see it.

Victoria Beckham — once known as Posh Spice — has stunned fans with an overseas interview in which she apparently admitted that she’s never read a single book. The confession — to the Spanish mag Chic — is particularly peculiar, because Beckham supposedly is the author of a book — while her hubby, soccer star David Beckham, is the supposed author of two..

Now, if you mean stunned as in BRAIN DEAD, then I'll go along with it. And by the way, Bingley, I see there'll be no more tête-à-têtes with your special friend. Pity, that.

Eva Longoria has been told to stop discussing vibrators. After the “Desperate Housewives” star confessed in an interview that she enjoys the devices, she says she’s received “truckloads” of them from Bingley, but adds that her bosses at ABC have told her to avoid the topic in future interviews.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:04 AM | Comments (4)

Some Religious Humor

First a Catholic Joke:

A Catholic man is struck by a bus on a busy street. He is lying near death on the sidewalk as a crowd gathers. "A Priest, Somebody get me a Priest!" the man gasps.

Minutes drag on and no one steps out of the crowd.

A policeman checks the crowd and finally yells, "A PRIEST, PLEASE! Isn't there a priest in this crowd to give this man his last rites?"

Finally, out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least 80 years of age.

"Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Christian. But for 50 years now I'm living behind the Catholic Church on First Avenue, and every night I'm overhearing their services. I can recall a lot of it, and maybe I can be of some comfort to this poor man." The policeman agrees, and clears the crowd so the man can get through to where the injured man lay.

The old Jewish man kneels down, leans over the prostrate man and says in a solemn voice:

"B-4.... I-19.... N-38.... G-54.... O-72...."

And a Protestant Joke:

A Protestant was shipwrecked, alone, on a tropical island. Finally, after many years of solitude a passing ship noticed him and sent a boat to pick him up. As they were coming away from the island one of the crew turned to the man and said "What are those three buildings?"

"Well," said the man, "the one on the left is my house. And the one in the center is my church."

"And the one on the right is the church I used to belong to."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:57 AM | Comments (2)

August 15, 2005

Y'Know, Major Dad Misses Those Days, Too

We were young, so in love, exhausted, raising Ebola. Things were ever so much...simpler then.

... I used to go shopping every day and prepare fresh meals. Our favourites were steak and kidney, tripe and onions, cow heel and beef and potted hoof. My husband never cooked, although he did do the washing-up when he could. My mother-in-law lived with us and she would look after the children when we went out dancing.

Wait...WAIT!!...Stop the music, stop the music. Major Dad never 'washed up' a freakin' dish in his life!! Cow heel and hoof? Hoof and mouth? I hate that stuff!


And I'll never cook it again, NEVER, do you hear me? Do YOU???
BuuWHA HAhahahaha! You can't make me.
If you are so foolish as to try, I shall LAUGH at you and say,
"Potted hoof again, my A$$!!"
NEVER again, verstehen sie?
Ne. Ver.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:52 PM | Comments (7)

Oo-RAH!

We're all family.

Father of fallen Marine attends homecoming
CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) -- John Prazynski stood in the sea of welcome home signs and wondered why he was there.

Prazynski's son, Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, wasn't going to be among the 900 Marines from the 3rd Battalion who arrived home Sunday. Taylor Prazynski, 20, was killed May 9 from an insurgent mortar shell...

...As late as last week, Prazynski was thinking about staying home so as not to turn a happy occasion somber for the other Marines and their families. But Taylor Prazynski's company commander had called and told him that he should be there...

...A woman whose son is in Lima Company ran up to him.

"They're here," she said. "They're here."

He followed her into the middle of the crowd where a half-dozen Marines were hugging family members. He waited, and then someone told the Marines who he was. One after another, they stepped forward to embrace him.

"Your son lifted us," said Taylor Prazynski's squad leader, Sgt. Craig Corsi. "He was an awesome, awesome Marine."

Prazynski's soft voice faded with emotion.

"I appreciate you guys, and what you did."

But who are we going to see on the news tonight?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:29 PM | Comments (5)

The Power of Positive Thought...

...and perpetual martyrdom. Woe, woe is me...

(Brian Williams) I asked the president a blunt question about his legacy and any regrets he may have that impeachment will always play a prominent role in how his presidency is remembered.

Clinton: It probably would, because — but to be fair, you said you're being blunt with me. People in your business like that very much. And they like what Ken Starr did because they thought it made good ink. And they didn't do a very good job of reporting for years all the innocent people he persecuted and indicted because they wouldn't lie...

Williams: And yet...

Clinton: ...and the assault on the American Constitution that he waged...

Williams: This was...

Clinton: ...or that I was acquitted. And that the charges that the House sent to the Senate were false. So I did a bad thing. I made a bad personal mistake. I paid a big price for it. But I was acquitted because the charges were false.

Give it a rest, Bubba. You've been doing yourself (and the U.S.!) great credit since leaving office. Let's focus on that.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:31 PM | Comments (5)

A Public Service Announcement

For those of you who might have comtemplated catching a snippet of the last PGA rounds on CBS this morning, I say:

Good FREAKIN' Luck!

The commercials outnumber the golf shots 10 to 1. (Of course if old PinchFaceSquintEyes wins, that could prove to be a good and merciful thing.)
UPDATE: Spared that, at least. Mickelson takes it by one on 18.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:29 AM | Comments (5)

Word of the Day

captious \KAP-shuss\ adjective

1 : marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections
2 : calculated to confuse, entrap, or entangle in argument

This submission arrived in timely fashion. Recent confused examples that spring to mind? (I can't believe I'm waxing nostalgic about those incessant 'Aruba' stories...)
UPDATE: The final shot on Sunday's NBC evening news of said captious newsmaker had her holding a white cross with 'Casey' scrawled on it. She was bobbing it up and down like a campaign sign, waving it at the throng passing by, a huge smile plastered on her face the whole time. There is something desperately, desperately wrong with her. Macabre*.
UPDATE REDUX: Although I don't recommend anyone look for it, as NBC seems to have sanitized the end of Kelly O'Donnell's report from last night. If anyone out there had the same horrified "WTF is she doing?!" reaction that Major Dad and I shared, please don't hesitate to let us know.
I FOUND IT: A still at any rate. The TV cameras have started rolling, as you can tell. The cross in her hand has her son's name on it.

If you suspect that "captious" is a relative of "capture" and "captivate," you're right. All of those words are related to the Latin verb "capere," which means "to take." "Captious" actually comes from "captio," a Latin offspring of "capere," which literally means "a taking" but which was also used to mean "a deception" or "a sophistic argument." Arguments labeled "captious" are likely to capture you in a figurative sense; they often entrap through subtly deceptive reasoning or trifling points. A captious individual is one who you might also dub "hypercritical," the sort of carping, censorious critic only too ready to point out minor faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.

*From my friends at Merriam Webster ~ all of the below synonyms apply.

Synonyms appalling, atrocious, awful, dreadful, frightful, ghastly, grisly, gruesome, hideous, horrendous, horrid, horrifying, lurid, macabre, monstrous, nightmarish, shocking, terrible

Related Words bloodcurdling, dire, direful, fearful, fearsome, forbidding, formidable, frightening, hair-raising, terrifying; abhorrent, deplorable, disagreeable, disgusting, distasteful, loathsome, nauseating, obnoxious, offensive, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, sickening; abominable, evil, foul, heinous, noxious, odious, unspeakable, vile

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:34 AM | Comments (4)

August 14, 2005

Now, That's a Deal!

For all the decades of self flagellation the Germans have gone (and are still) going through, the Japanese seem to have recovered nicely. I've always wondered how that could be. They live with sanitized versions of their history; relegating abominations like the Rape of Nanking, the Mengele-ization of Bataan Death March survivors and forced Korean 'war brides' to the dusty bin of 'who, me?' in their collective national pysche. If you were ever near Peace Park in Hiroshima on a certain anniversiary (and gaijins are solemnly warned to stay away during that period), you would hear no mention of Japan's part in the war. Only the horrible devastion reigned on them by the United States. It's quite a contrast to Pearl Harbor, site of the sneak (yes, i did say sneak) attack that started the whole brouhaha. The Japanese empire has a hefty part to play in the display, with nary a derogatory word. Quite a contrast. There seems to be a nationwide selective memory episode in Japan that endures in their consciousness, aided and abetted by their government. Now, part and parcel of a disfunctional family is the enabler. As far as 'enablers' go, the U.S. Government has done pretty well for the Japanese. As part of that deal with the Devil, we ~ American taxpayers, most far removed from those dark days ~ get to foot the bill.

Decades After Abuses by the Japanese, Guam Hopes the U.S. Will Make Amends
MERIZO, Guam, Aug. 11 - In July 1944, American warships were bobbing on the Pacific horizon when a squad of Japanese soldiers swept through this old Spanish fishing port. Jogging down sandy alleys and bursting into stucco homes, they rounded up 30 villagers, all known for their ties to the United States.

"They didn't want any leaders to be around when the military landed," Ignacio Cruz said as he recalled the roundup he watched as a 17-year-old. "Then, they machine-gunned them, they grenaded them, and if they found them surviving, they bayoneted them."...

...Often overshadowed by the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan's occupation of this American island started Dec. 10 and continued until American soldiers returned to Guam on July 21, 1944, a date celebrated as Liberation Day.

With 83 Congressional sponsors supporting the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, a House bill introduced in April, momentum for compensation is building.

A 1951 treaty between the United States and Japan absolved Japan of future individual American war claims, which means American taxpayers would be asked to pay for abuses committed by Japanese soldiers on American nationals on American territory.

The bill was introduced by Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo, a Democrat, who is Guam's nonvoting representative in Congress.

Compensation for the Guamanians would be roughly comparable to the compensation paid to Japanese-Americans who were interned in the United States during the war.

Under that program, each claimant was paid $20,000. Over the program's 10-year span, 82,250 Japanese-Americans were paid a total of $1.65 billion.

I'm confused how we're responsible for redressing the wrongs visited upon a people by the Japanese Imperial Army. Okay, not confused. Pissed. But the Guamanians are far better off than the Bataan survivors. They had government lawyers at their hospital beds with releases for them to sign, exonerating the Japanese Army, the Japanese govenment and had to promise never to seek compensation. Sign or lose all your GI benefits. Like I said, pissed.
UPDATE: Japan sorta says 'sorry'. The rest of Asia's not buying it. (So how do we get to?)
MORE STUFF: We're linking to Outside the Beltway. Good reads over there today.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:14 PM | Comments (21)

There Have been An Awful Lot of Tears...

...comforting others since 9/11, bless his heart. He's made time to meet more people privately, give more hugs and heartfelt wishes, than any President ever I'm sure, wartime or not. To a one ~ even in Cindy Sheehan's original version ~ they come away speaking of his compassion and amazing focus on them and their loved one. "Tell me about them", he asks. And they do.

'I'm So Sorry'
In emotional private meetings with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush offers solace—and seeks some of his own.
Aug. 22, 2005 issue - The grieving room was arranged like a doctor's office. The families and loved ones of 33 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan were summoned to a large waiting area at Fort Bragg, N.C. For three hours, they were rotated through five private rooms, where they met with President George W. Bush, accompanied by two Secret Service men and a photographer. Because the walls were thin, the families awaiting their turn could hear the crying inside.

President Bush was wearing "a huge smile," but his eyes were red and he looked drained by the time he got to the last widow, Crystal Owen, a third-grade schoolteacher who had lost her husband in Iraq. "Tell me about Mike," he said immediately. "I don't want my husband's death to be in vain," she told him. The president apologized repeatedly for her husband's death. When Owen began to cry, Bush grabbed her hands. "Don't worry, don't worry," he said, though his choking voice suggested that he had worries of his own. The president and the widow hugged. "It felt like he could have been my dad," Owen recalled to NEWSWEEK. "It was like we were old friends. It almost makes me sad. In a way, I wish he weren't the president, just so I could talk to him all the time."...

...Before Bush left the meeting, he paused in the middle of the room and said to the families, "I will never feel the same level of pain and loss you do. I didn't lose anyone close to me, a member of my family or someone that I love. But I want you to know that I didn't go into this lightly. This was a decision that I struggle with every day."

As he spoke, Ascione could see the grief rising through the president's body. His shoulder slumped and his face turned ashen. He began to cry and his voice choked. He paused, tried to regain his composure and looked around the room. "I am sorry, I'm so sorry," he said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:04 PM | Comments (2)

This could develop in a most interesting fashion.

DUI law ruled unconstitutional

Va. presumes guilt if blood-alcohol level is 0.08, a judge says
McLEAN -- A Fairfax County judge has ruled that key components of Virginia's drunken-driving laws are unconstitutional, citing an obscure, decades-old U.S. Supreme Court decision that could prompt similar challenges nationwide.

Virginia's law is unconstitutional because it presumes that an individual with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is intoxicated, denying a defendant's right to a presumption of innocence, Judge Ian O'Flaherty ruled in dismissing charges against at least two alleged drunken drivers last month.

As a district judge, O'Flaherty's rulings do not establish any formal precedent, but word of the constitutional argument is spreading quickly among the defense bar. Every state has similar presumptions about intoxication at a 0.08 blood-alcohol level, so defense lawyers across the nation are likely to make similar arguments.

In the interest of bolstering the NCAA's abusive nickname case, I'd like to point out that the judge's name is O'Flaherty and the successful defense lawyer's is Magee. Now, come to whatever conclusions you'd like about the stereotype reinforced when a drunk driving case is left up to the Irish. I think justice came down on the right side.

A boisterous Swill Salute to Swill regular No Brainer for this encouraging piece of news.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:58 PM | Comments (5)

Jersey Carnival Is Up

Go check and see what's happening at your exit.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:47 PM | Comments (1)

Kyoto Disaster Drives Kiwi Kwazy

That's the only excuse I can think of for this rather sordid affair:

NZ bachelor on rabbit sex charge
13 August 2005
By LES KENNEDY
Sydney Morning Herald

SYDNEY: A man faced an Australian court yesterday charged with having sexual relations with a rabbit and the sadistic killing of 17 other rabbits whose carcasses were found dumped in a lane.

Brendan Francis McMahon, 36, North Sydney, appeared briefly before Central Local Court Magistrate Allan Moore yesterday charged with having allegedly committed the offences over the past three weeks.

McMahon, a New Zealand born finance company director, sat quietly in the dock during the hearing at which he was represented by barrister Doug Marr.

No plea was entered to a total of 21 charges laid by polcie against McMahon, a business partner with Jason Meares, the former brother-in-law of James Packer.

McMahon, who's company website claims he is a former Bachelor of the Year winner, was arrested by detectives at a house in Tamarama early yesterday.

Now, ignoring the grammar foibles of the SMH (whose, not who's and I'm not sure how many arrests the polcie make per year), I mean, couldn't he find any hobbits in NZ? He had to go to Australia and abuse bunnies?

Must be a Carter fan.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 04:36 PM | Comments (5)

August 13, 2005

Sorry I'm Late ~ Happy Anniversiary Evening...

...Bingley (BASTARD!) and my sweet sister, NJSue.

(Of course, he has more hair than Bingley, but you get the idea...)
(Actually, Bingley's not that much taller than NJSue. He's more 'nosehair to eyeball' size...but you get the idea.)
(Actually, he's more nosehair than anything, but ~ bless her heart and we thank her ~ she sticks around anyway.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:37 AM | Comments (6)

What's Not to Like?

Walken for President in 2008. Keep it clean, right? Damn! If nothing else, the guy makes for compelling campaign photos.

I mean who doesn't know the Godfather gets things done? The competition? A thoughtful photo essay follows...

Well, kissing babies and constituency butt may count in a Senate race, but photogenic opportunity it's not. Skepticism has it's place......aw hell, I don't believe in campaign finance either. But people are more comfortable with a true person of faith than some Tommy/Johnny-come-lately. Of course, you can't discount the economics of it all, for the fact is that the trade deficit is no Mickey Mouse affair and can suck the blood out of a sustained recovery.
Then there's oil. Oil's slick. Oil is the greasy spoon in '08. Enough, not enough, where will we be? Along with the housing bubble, double inflation and
too much government.
So who? So, who's left?
Left. Um, no. She picks on the disabled and the head spinning thing scares children. And Major Dad.
Someone cuddly and not too bright? Or bright
and not too cuddly.
Decisions, decisions, so many decisions. Thank goodness we've a little time yet, with good friends to rely on and a system
we can believe in. Can't wait to blog it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:24 AM | Comments (5)

August 12, 2005

This Is Getting Revolting

"Cindy Sheehan has become the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, leader of the Hip Hop Caucus, an activist group. "She's tired, fed up and she's not going to take it anymore, and so now we stand with her."

Um, or NOT. And when she explained away the dust-up with her in-laws concerning her camp out and 15 minutes of fame thusly...

"When they voted for the man who my husband and I consider killed our son, that was the thing that was the last straw,"...

...I wondered if that was really what her husband thought, since...

Casey's father, Patrick, of Vacaville, was not mentioned. He has acknowledged that he and his wife are separated, but he has avoided the spotlight that surrounds his wife's high-profile protest.

Regardless of his feelings for her, I think he owes it to his son's memory to say where he stands. He didn't ask for this three ring circus, but it's in his lap now with her using his name. Speak your piece either way, Dad.

At least the article mentions that "demonstrators there are facing increased antagonism from locals and opposition from some military families." I guess that makes it more well-balanced than most. Via Tim Blair, a difference of opinion from someone who met the President at the same time Mrs. Sheehan did.

As for me personally, I think she's a grief stricken mother whose anguish has taken on a life of it own. She has a right to speak and believe whatever she wishes. (As I also know mine well might, God forbid anything ever happened to my son.) What I can't abide are comments like the first one above, hitching their wagons to tragedy for face time on TV.
UPDATE: Mohammed at Iraq The Model attempts to answer Cindy Sheehan's questions. I think he succeeds brilliantly, but I'm afraid such a poignant message is wasted on the media creature her grief has become. These are the last few paragraphs. Click through and read the whole, beautiful tribute.

But I am not leaving this land because the bad guys are not going to leave us or you to live in peace. They are the same ones who flew the planes to kill your people in New York.
I ask you in the name of God or whatever you believe in; do not waste your son's blood.
We here have decided to avenge humanity, you and all the women who lost their loved ones.
Take a look at our enemy Cindy, look closely at the hooded man holding the sword and if you think he's right then I will back off and support your call.

We live in pain and grief everyday, every hour, every minute; all the horrors of the powers of darkness have been directed at us and I don't know exactly when am I going to feel safe again, maybe in a year, maybe two or even ten; I frankly don't know but I don't want to lose hope and faith.

We are in need for every hand that can offer some help. Please pray for us, I know that God listens to mothers' prayers and I call all the women on earth to pray with you for peace in this world.

Your son sacrificed his life for a very noble cause…No, he sacrificed himself for the most precious value in this existence; that is freedom.

His blood didn't go in vain; your son and our brethren are drawing a great example of selflessness.
God bless his free soul and God bless the souls of his comrades who are fighting evil.
God bless the souls of Iraqis who suffered and died for the sake of freedom.
God bless all the freedom lovers on earth.

A Swill Salute to Mike's America.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:47 PM | Comments (5)

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Part....

I'm not a big tv fan, so I missed this episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". And a good thing too:

Five orphaned siblings who moved into a new dream home on the hit ABC television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" are suing the network, the company that built the house and the couple who took them in after their parents died.

The children range in age from 15 to 22. They claim that after "Extreme Makeover" built a new nine-bedroom mansion for them to live in with Phil and Loki Leomiti, the Leomitis engaged in "an orchestrated campaign" to drive them away by insulting them and treating them poorly.

It seems that these kids have decided that they wanted the house for themselves, even though

ABC said in a statement that "It is important to note that the episode was about the rebuilding of the Leomiti family's existing home to accommodate the inclusion of the five Higgins siblings, whom the Leomitis had invited into their lives following the death of their parents."

Crazy. I'll have to see if I can find more info on this story.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:48 PM | Comments (2)

This Is Awful...

...and it hits little towns hard.

Death toll for part-time troops in Iraq soars

Summer months prove deadly for Reserves and National Guard
The National Guard and Reserve suffered more combat deaths in Iraq during the first 10 days of August — at least 32, according to a Pentagon count — than in any full month of the entire war.

Stupid suggestions, even as you discount them, don't help.

There is little evidence to suggest that part-time troops are being specifically targeted by the insurgents, since the Guard and Reserve troops are mostly indistinguishable from — and interchangeable with — regular active-duty troops.

The reason that reserve units are kept together (and hometowns pay a heavy price when terrible things happen) is hard lessons learned during conflicts where reserve units were called up, but their personnel used as individual replacements in units already in country. Both units' cohesion and combat readiness suffered horribly. And people died because of it. Then there's Korea, where the toll on reservists makes Iraq pale in comparison.

Korea was the first example of reservists paying the price for an extreme military drawdown. The parallels to the 90's are inescapable. But if today's drilling reservists are 'shortchanged', as the article quotes:

Some see it differently. Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst with the Brookings Institution think tank, said Thursday that while the performance of reservists has been generally excellent, some are shortchanged on training prior to arriving in Iraq.

“If we really believe that military personnel need months of intensive training before being at their best — as logic suggests and other evidence would seem to prove — it is hard to believe that most reservists in Iraq are really as strong as active-duty troops, especially when they first arrive in country,” O’Hanlon said.

...imagine how the Army INACTIVE reserves felt when they got bundled off to Korea...first.

Unlike World War II, the Army did not strip men from organized units as replacements or fillers for other units. They needed time to build up to a wartime footing, as did the active Army. There was also a hesitancy to commit them to Korea when the Korean conflict might only be the start of a global communist attack. This meant that the Inactive Reserves, those who had neither been drilling nor been given drill pay, were sent to Korea first.

There was considerable bitterness among the Inactive Reserves about the inequity of this situation. These were the same men who had won World War II, who had somehow managed to survive Kasserine Pass, Anzio, Peleliu, the Huertgen Forest, Guam and Okinawa, and who had come home to start new lives and new families. They had already saved the world once, now they were being asked to go save a part of the world most had never heard about before June 25, 1950. Not only were they being sent to war before their fellow soldiers in ORC units, there were still millions of men available for military service going about their normal lives.

The National Guard found it's way there, too, but without as much emphasis on unit integrity.

The mobilization of the Army National Guard for Korean War service occurred in 19 separate increments, with units reporting for active duty between Aug. 14, 1950, and Feb. 15, 1952. It included eight infantry divisions, three regimental combat teams, and 714 company-sized units.

The 138,600 personnel federalized with their units represented about one third of the Army National Guard's total strength. Many guardsmen went to Korea not with their units, but as individual replacements for units already in theater.

The worst part is, they got to stick around...

The sweeping back-and-forth drama of the first year's fighting in Korea was over, and the two National Guard divisions found themselves in a different kind of combat environment. As formal peace talks began in November 1951, U.N. and communist forces had settled themselves on either side of the 38th parallel. The National Guard divisions joined in a static warfare of entrenched positions and frequent combat patrols, punctuated by small-unit actions initiated by both sides.

Combat operations intensified once again in the spring of 1953, as both sides jockeyed for territory before a final border settlement. Both the 40th and 45th Infantry Divisions were still occupying their positions when the signing of an armistice at Panmunjon finally ended the fighting on July 27, 1953.

By this time, Army guardsmen who had arrived in South Korea during 1951 and early 1952 had returned home, their term of active federal service completed. But most National Guard units, now filled with draftees and enlistees, remained on active duty. Some stayed in Korea for several years, helping to monitor the fragile peace, but by 1955 almost all of the units federalized for the Korean War had been returned to state control.

In 1990, the Marine Corps addressed the importance of keeping reserve units intact:

Since the Korean Conflict the readiness of the Selected Marine Corps Reserve units has greatly improved. They have been formed into a division, wing, and force service support team; their equipment has been modernized; and they frequently train with their active duty counterparts. These improvements have increased the capability of both components to fight side by side in combat. Mobilization plans bring Reserve units to their station of initial assignment intact, but leave the decision of maintaining unit integrity up to the gaining commander in order to allow for flexibility.

The human dimension of war must always be a central concern to those
who plan the employment of any unit, as war is a clash between opposing human wills. The will to prevail is fostered by cohesive, well-led units. An important characteristic of most Reserve units is their cohesiveness. Continuity and shared regional origin encourage strong personal relation-ships amongst Reserve unit members which helps them develop the trust and confidence needed to fight effectively and deal with the psychological stress of combat.

RECOMMENDATION: The Marine Corps should provide guidance in its
mobilization plans which encourages commanders to weigh the combat
payoff of cohesiveness when making decisions on whether to maintain the unit integrity of Reserve units.

CONCLUSION: As the Marine Corps faces a reduction of its Active forces, the role of Reserve units as a partner in the defense of our national security becomes even more important. The most effective use of these units should be sought.

EMPLOYMENT OF THE SELECTED MARINE CORPS RESERVE
FORCES AS UNITS: A NEEDED COMMITMENT
OUTLINE

Thesis statement: The Marine Corps should incorporate guidance into its mobilization plans which emphasizes the importance of employing Selected Marine Corps Reserve forces as units in order to gain their most effective use in future wars.

Your heart bleeds at the pictures of the funerals and can't fathom the anguish the families have to endure. But on the other hand, they endure it together. They were all their boys and girls. They belonged to the community. And if they hadn't all known each other so well, known what the guy next to them would do and fight like a madman for their brother, there might well be more dead. That's why they keep them together. A terrorist bomb doesn't discriminate between children at a birthday party, men at a mosque or ask whether a truckload of Marines are reservists or active duty. It's on the news every night. Someone sets it off and it just kills.

Daniel Henniger wrote about the service for the Ohio Marines today. He begins with...

BROOK PARK, Ohio--Over the weekend of Aug. 6, a steady line of cars and motorcycles pulled off Smith Road here to visit the fence that stands in front of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Center. The small brick building beyond the fence is the headquarters for Third Battalion, 25th Regiment--"the 325th." The fence had become a spontaneous memorial tribute to 19 Marines from the 325th, most of them from Ohio, who were killed near the Euphrates River in western Iraq last week. Across the weekend, planes were landing with the returning bodies at Hopkins Airport in Cleveland.

The politics of the Iraq war wasn't much on view amid the memorial fence's American flags, flowers, football jerseys, photographs, poems and Marine memorabilia. But someone had decided to put down on the ground an article published just three weeks ago in the News-Herald, a nearby newspaper. "All I can ask," wrote Marine Cpl. Jacob Arnett, who is still on duty in Iraq, "is that the American people be given more than the bombings and daily death toll, because we are giving much more than that for Iraq."

His beautiful piece finishes with...

In recent years, the outward expression of tragic sorrow in America has manifest itself as tears and inconsolable grief. We have become a people of extreme sentiment. But not that night in Brook Park. The grief at this too localized loss for Ohio was real enough, especially for the families, but the theme at the IX Center, and at the Marines' memorial fence, had two parts: pride and, most of all, gratitude. Both the memorial-fence poets and some of the speakers in the big hall drew a straight line between the Marines' service and sacrifice in Iraq and the way we are able to live back home. "For more than 200 years," said Brook Park Mayor Mark J. Elliott, "Americans have put their lives on the line to protect our freedom." Someone said the Pledge of Allegiance, which in this version was "under God." They listened to some other speeches by public figures, played "Taps" and walked out.

I don't think what I saw in Brook Park adds up to a people who are for or against this war. But I do think it reflects a deeper understanding at home than is evident in our politics, of what those 19 Marines were doing in Iraq.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:35 PM

Lebanon Nabs the Pudgy Trouble Maker

Cleric Bakri arrested in Beirut ...He was held in the capital Beirut after giving a TV interview in which he said he would only return to Britain as a visitor but not as a persona non grata.

And WTF does that statement mean? Anyway, unless they charge him, he's only in the hoosegow for 48 hours.

He said that he had been living in England since 1986 and added that he had been subjected to harassment in Britain.

Oh, I'll bet. The old 'why is everybody always pickin' on me' defense. If the Lebanese have to let him go and the Brits let him back in ~ or better yet, snatch him up ~ I sure hope he's subject to more than just harassment.
UPDATE: Looks like old Omar might have itinerary troubles.

Britain bars radical Muslim cleric's reentry
Plans deportation of 10 others in wake of tough new anti-terror laws
LONDON - Britain on Friday barred radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri from returning to the country that was his home for the past 20 years, saying his presence was no longer “conducive to the public good.” The decision came as the country’s top legal official defended plans to deport another radical Muslim cleric and nine other foreigners suspected of posing a threat to national security.

What a pity.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:34 AM | Comments (4)

Subway Searches, Racial Smirches

My favorite Dragon Lady (Dorothy Rabinowitz) had a column yesterday that dovetails ever so sweetly with one I found today by Charles Krauthammer. Ms. Rabinowitz notes about the ACLU and bag searching...

Taking affront at government security measures in wartime is, of course, a choice available only to a free people, as is the right to cavil ceaselessly about the alleged erosion of our liberties, the dark night of oppression settling on us daily, as the NYCLU has so conspicuously done these last years--though not without echoing choruses from its parent organization, the ACLU, and various crank outposts of the libertarian movement...

...Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared an ironclad ban on anything smacking of profiling with an eye to any particular ethnicity or race. If we have learned anything, the mayor recently declared, "it's that you can't predict what a terrorist looks like."

To which Howard Safir, former police commissioner in the Giuliani administration, retorted on a "Hardball" interview, "We know what the 19 hijackers looked like on 9/11"--and also, he went on to note, what the London train bombers looked like, what those who bombed the Cole looked like, and more. The current mayor's posture on profiling was, he declared, an exercise in public relations that could never work.

Mr. Krauthammer looks back at the repressions visited on the American public during other wartimes:

Civil libertarians go crazy when you make this argument. Beware the slippery slope, they warn. You start with a snoop in a library, and you end up with Big Brother in your living room.

The problem with this argument is that it is refuted by American history. There is no slippery slope, only a shifting line between liberty and security that responds to existential threats.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln went so far as to suspend habeas corpus. When the war ended, America returned to its previous openness. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt interned an entire ethnic group. His policies were soon rescinded (later apologized for) and shortly afterward America embarked on a period of unprecedented expansion of civil rights. Similarly, the Vietnam-era abuses of presidential power were later exposed and undone by Congress.

Our history is clear. We have not slid inexorably toward police power. We have fluctuated between more and less openness depending on need and threat. And after the Sept. 11 mass murders, America awoke to the need for a limited and temporary shrinkage of civil liberties to prevent more such atrocities.

I'm as leery as the next person about a 'camera in the bathroom' (My TOWACAs are my business, thank you.), but also an eternal optimist that something as abominable as the Japanese internment could never happen again. We, as a people, would never allow it. (We're also alot more informed than the folks in the 40's were ~ there are pens and paper standing at the ready to report anything and everything at any time; hence we'd know now that it was also a convenient land grab of some of the most fertile farmland in California, not just xenophobic security measures.) But the fact of the matter is that the enemy has a pretty distinctive face, and we are conditioned to not upset the hijackers or question evil when we sense it. Rather, we question our senses first.

(Ms. Rabinowitz) Among other lessons of 9/11, we have learned the cost of squeamishness that prevented closer scrutiny of young Arab men entering the country even when their behavior raised suspicions. In an exceptionally powerful series airing on the National Geographic Channel on Aug. 21 and 22, titled "Inside 9/11," an airline ticket-taker recalls being stunned by the strange look on the face of customer Mohamed Atta--particularly the unsettling fury the man exuded. Still, he could not bring himself to raise any alarm: indeed, when he heard later that the plane Atta was on had been one of those that crashed in the terror attacks, the agent felt terrible. Terrible because he had been suspicious of the passenger and thought he could be a terrorist and now the poor man was dead. It was a while before the ticket agent grasped that the man he suspected was, in fact, hijacker-in-chief and pilot of the plane.

They are here as our guests. Your reaction if someone over for dinner afterward proceeded to savage your family verbally, loud enough for his friends to hear and then spray paint your home? You'd dial 911, beat him soundly (well, at least seriously consider it) and throw him out. But if you knew the kind of person he was before you issued the invitation, shame on you.

(Mr. Krauthammer) Britain is just now waking up, post-7/7. Well, at least its prime minister is. His dramatic announcement that Britain will curtail its pathological openness to those who would destroy it -- by outlawing the fostering of hatred and incitement of violence and expelling those engaged in such offenses -- was not universally welcomed.

His own wife made a speech a week after the second London attacks loftily warning against restricting civil liberties. "It is all too easy to respond in a way that undermines commitment to our most deeply held values and convictions and cheapens our right to call ourselves a civilized nation," declared Cherie Blair. You need only read Tony Blair's 12-point program to appreciate how absurd was his wife's defense of Britain's pre-7/7 civil liberties status quo.

For example, point 3: "Anyone who has participated in terrorism, or has anything to do with it anywhere, will be automatically refused asylum in our country." What sane country grants asylum to terrorists in the first place?

Look in the mirror. The absolute howler is the EU convention that says you can't send them back if they face persecution, torture, blahblahblah. That's true and noble in intent for someone fighting for democracy, women's rights in Iran or Afghanistan, or the Dalai Lama. But for those cheerful Londonstan clerics, there's a reason they had to leave in the first place. And that reason should have kept them out. And who wouldn't be happier fomenting hate from a cushy London flat than a cave in Tora Bora?

(Mr. Krauthammer) Blair's proposals are progress, albeit from a very low baseline -- so low a baseline that the mere announcement of his intent to crack down had immediate effect. Within three days, the notorious Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born cleric who has been openly preaching jihad for 19 years, skipped the country and absconded to Beirut.

Not only had Bakri been allowed to run free the whole time, but he had collected more than 300,000 pounds in welfare, plus a 31,000-pound gift from the infidel taxpayers: a Ford Galaxy (because of a childhood leg injury)...

And then there's just that whole damn inconvenience thing.

(Mr. Krauthammer) Before departing Britain, Bakri complained that it would be unfair to have him deported from the country he reviled: "I have wives, children, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law. It would be hard on my family if I was deported."

Wives , no less. Point 10 of Blair's plan would establish a commission to try to get immigrants to adopt more of the local mores.

Hey pal. Lucky you didn't immigrate here. Even natural born American citizens go to jail for that crap. I see the Kuwaiti and Saudi flight students down here all the time and they piss me off royally, but not why you'd think. It's because, at 98 degrees and 100% humidity, they're in their little short sleeves and short shorts while their wives are swathed from head to frickin toe in heavy cloth. I just want to slap those girls and scream

"WAKE the f@ck UP! How can you be at the Winn Dixie, the Wal-Mart and the mall with the rest of us, you're stewing alive, he's dressed like David Hasselhoff and you can still be so blind! Watching our life go by you, HOW does that HAPPEN?!"

God, that pisses me off.
Maybe I'll stop being polite. Maybe I'll touch her sleeve next time and say "You don't have to dress like this unless you want to. Here in the United States you don't have to do anything a certain way unless you want to. Your husband's living like an American. Why aren't you worthy of that, too?"

Or maybe not. I don't want anyone calling the local gendarme. Intervention like that probably qualifies as a hate crime.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:18 AM | Comments (11)

August 11, 2005

Hello MOTO

Jason's post on Wolf Blitzer/Clueless News Network (at IraqNow) has given Major Dad and myself a good deal of merriment since we found it. A slice to savor:

That's right. The explosion flipped a 31-ton APC.

And what is Wolf Blitzer's argument? That the military didn't provide good vehicles in the Al Anbar Province. And that -- and I quote verbatim, -- "an up-armored Humvee would have stood a better chance."

Do the math. If the explosion flipped vehicle weight 31 tons (plus another ton and a half or so of marines and gear), then what are the survivability chances of a 4-ton uparmored Humvee?

I'll tell you:

Anything left of the Humvee would have been parked in Syria, dumbass.

Aw, Jesus, ya gotta love it! Anyway, being the Jarhead he is, Major Dad's been reading me pithy selections from the comments section. Last night, one in particular caught our fancy, especially since I spend the day listening to my GSM Motorola buzzing the 'puter speakers as signals come in. A regular Chatty Frickin' Cathy at all hours of the day. Now I see Michael Totten at The Blogfaddah has a cell phone thing going, so I thought I'd share the little gem we'd read. (I'd give him a link, but he commented annonymously):

For warfare against cellphone based threats, we have 3 choices. The first, is to do nothing, and let our men die. The second, fly over with the EA6B Prowler and radiate enough electromagnetic energy that the all civilian radios will be burned out. The third, do something similar with a microwave radiation source on a vehicle. The third, use the cell phone technology to our advantage: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome as Gunny Highway would say. Cell phones and the towers communicate to know which cell phone is in which cell. Put your cell phone next to your AM radio and every minute or so, you'll hear "clicka clicka clicka" and that is the phone and the cell tower exchanging communications and ID numbers. So, if the enemy is using cell phones, our forces should put up a "spoof" cell phone tower, and send out the message "all cell phones register now". This is done by your cell phone company anyway. Hackers do it also to steal phone numbers in the US. Then, have an automated dialer call every number that is there, at 3am. If you hear a boom, the bomb went off. And it might have gone off on the enemy's workbench. heh heh heh.....

Being neither rocket scientist nor engineer, I have no idea if this is feasible, but damn! it sounds like a good idea. I love the sound of BOOM !! in the morning!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:12 PM | Comments (1)

Some Records...

...were never meant to be broken.

Irene broke records Sunday as the earliest ninth named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Normally, only two named storms have formed by this time in the season.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:44 PM | Comments (1)

Well, I Guess We Know Bill Clinton Doesn't Work At Los Alamos

At least that's what I got from this headline:

Two Los Alamos Lab Workers Inhale Fumes

Seriously, Does Homer work there?

The nuclear weapons lab also is investigating a case in which an employee failed to follow procedures and allowed low levels of a radioactive material to contaminate locations he visited in two other states.

Geesh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:54 AM

August 10, 2005

Dang! This Was a Great Column...

..."As late as 1975, the United States graduated more engineering and scientific PhDs than Europe and more than three times as many as all of Asia", humminah, humminah, humminah, "In 2001 China graduated 220,000 engineers, against about 60,000 for the United States..", humminah, humminah, humminah. Now Ebola ~ like the majority of his cousins ~ got screwed by his dumb ass, minimum wage college advisors (They all seem to be on the six year plan) or the world might have had one more computer scientist. (I did say might, mind you. A little effort on his part would have helped, tortured geniuses being so yesterday.) What struck me was the total collapse of mathematics and science as career choices. I can't imagine it's 'too hard' for talented, creative kids. I mean, Apollo 13 got home with slide rulers. (Hell, the back-to-school calculater Wal-Mart sells for $14.95 could fix the Space Shuttle foam flaking if anyone knew how to use the functions in the proper sequence.) But it was the very last paragraph, and one sentence in particular, that made the eyebrows rise...

What's crucial is sustaining our technological vitality. Despite the pay, America seems to have ample scientists and engineers. But half or more of new scientific and engineering PhDs are immigrants; we need to remain open to foreign-born talent. We need to maintain spectacular rewards for companies that succeed in commercializing new products and technologies. The prospect of a big payoff compensates for mediocre pay and fuels ambition. Finally, we must scour the world for good ideas. No country ever had a monopoly on new knowledge, and none ever will.

That is as sad as anything I've ever read. I'm no rocket scientist, but I've always had faith in the American ability to make the better mousetrap.
Or get the guys home.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:30 PM | Comments (3)

This May Be True...

Airlines Face Growing Fuel Shortage Risk
WASHINGTON -- Lost luggage, bad weather and now ... no fuel?

While fliers haven't yet had to add that problem to the list of headaches associated with air travel, it may not be far away. Airports in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada recently came within a few days _ and at times within hours _ of running out of jet fuel.

...but in Pensacola, running out of gasoline is getting to be a regular thang.

Drivers fuming over lagging fuel supply Gasoline shortages persist as Dennis - then Emily - hamper delivery ...After the stress of not having enough fuel before and after the storm, residents and store managers Wednesday said they were fed up.

Gasoline stations still selling fuel had limited supplies. Some were left with only regular fuel, while others had only premium grades.

Heather Kimbrell, 24, of Pensacola didn't learn about the shortage until a client who ran out of fuel called her office to cancel their business appointment. Then she needed gas for herself.

"This is ridiculous," she said Wednesday as she left an empty BP station at North Ninth Avenue and Cervantes Street. "This is the third place I've been to."

Now, mind you, that article was written on the 21st of July. The 25th of July, when I had to trek to the airport to pick-up Major Dad, every single gas station had yellow bags over their pumps.
Every. Single. One.

It is now the 10th of August, damn near three weeks later and guess what? Last night, at the third gas station he went to, Ebola found a pump full of mid-grade gas ~ everything else was gone. Needless to say, he filled the Little White Mazda of Death to the brim. Now, I feel for the rest of you, but we're living the life of fuel shortages and long lines already, and this freakin' storm season hasn't really fired up yet. Drudge can have a cow about FEMA paying for funerals all he wants. Honestly, we could give a rat's ass. We've been playing this 'find the station with no yellow pump baggies' game since Ivan (count it people ~ ELEVEN MONTHS ~ that makes it almost a year) and you still don't dare let your tank go below half full. Because you can blow that half looking for the fill-up. So we're screwed, for God knows how long.

Welcome to The Third World, FL.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:44 PM | Comments (3)

Jeb Jumps In

'It's ridiculous'
Gov. Bush criticizes NCAA ban on FSU's nickname
..."I think it's offensive to native Americans ... the Seminole Indian tribe who support the traditions of FSU," Bush said on his way into a Cabinet meeting. "I think they insult those people by telling them, 'No, no, you're not smart enough to understand this. You should be feeling really horrible about this.' It's ridiculous."

Meanwhile, attorney Barry Richard, who successfully led the legal challenge on behalf of Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential recount in Florida, has agreed to represent the school in its case against the NCAA, Florida State President T.K. Wetherell said Wednesday.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:40 PM | Comments (1)

Why Is It They Always Want to Be a 'Minister'...

... after they kill five people?

To town's dismay, school shooter to be released
Former loophole in justice system allows gunman, now 21, to be freed

JONESBORO, Ark. - Seven years after taking part in a schoolyard ambush where four students and a teacher were killed, Mitchell Johnson will walk out of a federal detention center Thursday.

His impending release has this northeast Arkansas town on edge, and many still question the fairness of releasing Johnson on his 21st birthday because of a now-closed loophole in the law...

...Woodard has said that her son will not return to Arkansas when he is released from prison in Memphis, Tenn. She said he wants to become a minister and hinted he will move at least a day's drive from Jonesboro and enroll in college.

I vote he lives in a mud hut, does nothing but good deeds for the rest of his life and has to depend on the kindness of strangers for sustenance, even if means he eats roots and bark. He got his break being able to walk out of prison at 21. It won't make up for what he did, but he doesn't rate a cushy college stint followed by a speaking tour and church stipend, either. And that could well happen.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)

Note to the St. Pauli Girl:

Cover that SH$T UP !!

Beer maids cover up? Dirndl if we will

Bavarians are hot under the collar over a European Union directive that beer garden barmaids cover up, supposedly to protect them from the sun.

Brewery owners, politicians and some of the women themselves have condemned the legislation as absurd, claiming the "tan ban", as it has been nicknamed, will destroy a centuries-old tradition.

Bavarian barmaids typically dress in a costume known as a dirndl - a dress and apron with a tight, low-cut top and a short white blouse. Under the EU's Optical Radiation Directive, employers of staff who work outdoors must ensure they cover up against the risk of sunburn. Bavarian bar keepers have been told that the dirndl will have to be replaced.

I'll bet the French are behind this. Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the bad news...
UPDATE: Author of said "Optical Radiation Directive" identified by secret EU government source in Novak column. (You can keep reading, but you have to promise not to tell Joe Wilson...)

This secret source told Novak
this guy wrote it.

Oh yes. The truth will out. And let the games begin.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM | Comments (2)

'Benan Nicosia Sevan Days Now' Redux

(Or is it 'reflux'?) The U.N. needs a good scrubbing and Bolton might just be the guy.

Sevan complains that he has been denied access to U.N. and other documents vital to his defense. Rosett endorses this -- but argues it is par for the course. The Volcker committee has regularly denied vital documents to Sevan, reporters, investigating committees from the Congress and other interested parties.

Nor is this secrecy wholly innocent. Both Rosett and the New York Sun's U.N.-watcher, Benny Avni, seem to think that Volcker will concentrate blame on a small number of U.N. officials, exonerate Annan of anything more serious than carelessness, and publish these findings on the eve of the September meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. These conclusions would likely then get overlooked amid the hoopla of major speeches by world leaders -- notably the new Iranian president outlining his vision of an Islamist Middle East which is expected to be a highly controversial rerun of Yasser Arafat's gun-toting address in the 1970s -- and be pushed down the U.N.'s capacious memory hole.

Annan would then be able to change the subject to the reform of the U.N. He might even get the support of Bolton and the Bush administration to push reforms through. After which the elder statesman would make a graceful exit as the author of a revived and reformed world body.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:37 AM

You Are in My Power

Microsoft says "whoops!" again...

Microsoft warns users of 'critical' security flaws
SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft Corp. warned users of its Windows operating system on Tuesday of three newly found "critical" security flaws in its software, including one that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer.

The world's largest software maker issued patches to fix the problems as part of its monthly security bulletin. The problems affect the Windows operating system and Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser...

(Cue: Bingley 'get a MAC' chorus...)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:20 AM | Comments (10)

August 09, 2005

What I'm Drinking Tonight

1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Michael Shiraz

I'm rather disappointed by this wine. I like shiraz that are full of cassis and plummy, chewy fruit, and all the write-ups that I saw on this wine said it was full of such.

Well, it ain't. I mean, were it a $12 bottle I'd have nothing to complain about, as it does have a nice full body and some nice leathery and cedar flavors, but the tons-o-fruit just ain't there, and it has a touch more tannins than I usually expect in a shiraz; it actually drinks more like a cab. At $25 it ain't a keeper.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:14 PM | Comments (3)

The Ship We Passed Yesterday

M/V Tancred

151 feet tall, 640 feet long, 105 feet wide.

Carries 6000 cars.

Look at the guy (as Jimmy Durante would say) above the big "W"...

Humans build cool stuff.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:49 PM | Comments (1)

Gazillionaire Goons

Rogers reinstated; Selig is furious
Ranger to serve less than 20-game suspension for shoving cameramen

NEW YORK - Kenny Rogers was reinstated Tuesday when an arbitrator ruled that commissioner Bud Selig overstepped his authority by suspending the Texas pitcher for 20 games and fining him $50,000 for shoving two cameramen...

...“There is a standard of behavior that is expected of our players, which was breached in this case. The arbitrator’s decision diminishes that standard and is contrary to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. In my opinion, the decision is seriously ill-conceived,” he said.

Selig finally grows a pair and he gets overruled anyway. I was confused by one part of the Commissar's statement, though. What exactly IS the 'Standard of Behaviour' expected of your players? There's been some damn sorry examples in the news lately and not a peep out of Bud. And another thing...

How many of you with kids out there have a child who gives a rat's ass about Major League Baseball? I mean, a fan. A kid that'll watch the ESPN Sunday night game with you, knows who's on the team and not just go to the ballpark to keep Dad/Mom happy? None of Ebola or his friends care for it even though they all played ball; a couple at the college level. So I ask you guys. What's happened to loving baseball?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:32 PM | Comments (6)

Make No Mistake ~ I DESPISE These Guys...

...on every other day of the year. But THIS time, I'm rootin' for them to win 100%.

Florida State to sue NCAA over mascot-nickname rule
TALLAHASSEE - The NCAA can forget about Florida State University changing its "Seminoles" nickname any time soon.

Stung by an NCAA decision Friday to ban schools using Native American names and symbols from hosting championship events, Florida State President T.K. Wetherell said he will sue the organization for an "outrageous and insulting" decision.

"This university will forever be associated with the "unconquered" spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida," said Wetherell, who played football for the Seminoles 40 years ago...

...Friday's decision comes after the Seminole Tribe of Florida's governing council unanimously approved in mid-June a resolution in support of Florida State's "Seminoles" nickname.

"It is unconscionable that the Seminole Tribe of Florida has been ignored," Wetherell said in a four-paragraph statement released by the university.

"That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole people as culturally 'hostile and abusive' is both outrageous and insulting," Wetherell said. "I intend to pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this unacceptable decision is overturned."

(Maybe Lisa's Illini should join in a class action. Victory loves company, n'est pas?)

UPDATE: Scathing commentary from Michael Ventre at MSNBC.

If you’re offended, you’re offended. That’s the result of your own sensibilities, your own cultural, social, racial and ethnic filters. It’s preposterous for me to tell somebody that they’re overreacting to a perceived insult, and to get over it.

I just know this: Each person chooses to be offended.

I happen to be an Italian American. My favorite movie is “The Godfather” and I love “Goodfellas” and “The Sopranos” as well. I recognize that the characters and storylines in those productions represent a tiny, albeit well-chronicled and somewhat romanticized, criminal element within the Italian-American population. I feel that if someone out there watches “The Godfather” and comes to the conclusion that all Italians are in the mafia, then that person is an idiot and I don’t care what they think anyway.

In those aforementioned cases and others like them, I choose not to be offended.

Indeed.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:06 AM | Comments (11)

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet? That's Our Justin!

Gatlin blazes to world title
HELSINKI, Finland -- Pensacola's Justin Gatlin didn't just win the 100 meters at the world track and field championships, he dominated it like no other sprinter in the meet's history.

The 23-year-old Olympic champion and Woodham High School graduate bolted away from the overmatched competition Sunday to win in 9.88 seconds, 17-hundredths of a second ahead of runner-up Michael Frater of Jamaica. The margin of victory was the largest in the 10 world championships.

We're awful proud of you!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:52 AM

August 08, 2005

Hmmm, 15 Years Ago Today?

I was an active duty Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, the NCOIC of COM/NAV in VMA(AW)242, and we were on a Marine Aircraft Group-70 det. to Fallon, NV. MAG-70 was a huge innovation at the time ~ Marine Aviation's component of the RDF (Rapid Deployment Force). The concept was simple ~ have certain elements of both ground and air tagged to be able to move a complete Marine Expeditionary Force into any situation anywhere as rapidly as possible, should the flag go up. We'd be first on the beach, the tip of the spear, as it were. Our squadron of A-6's was the attack element of the MAG and we were in Fallon to test how all the Marine Air parts ~ aircraft, supply, maintenance, support ~ came together. Everyone'd been out in the ville 'til the wee hours of the morning, so it was a bleary-eyed bunch wandering in at 0730. We woke up real fast.

At the maintenance meeting all the shop heads were there, but also quite a few of the big dogs. That was unusual. The XO spoke with deadly earnestness and we were riveted. Kuwait had been invaded and our 'war game' was now for real. Everyone was to be sent to the barracks, gear completely packed up and then back to the flightline by 0815 to get the planes launched and the squadron packed up. The aircraft would be leaving by 1000 for the return to El Toro and the maintenance troops would be on their heels with the first C-141's inbound. Myself and a small crew were remaining behind to repair a bird that had had an engine fire days before. It had to be in the air and on it's way home before twilight, since it wouldn't have been checked out in time for a safe night launch. All the assets had to get home to El Toro.

From 0900 on, it was the most amazing, magnificent, impressive and memorable day of my Marine Corps career. The second the word was passed that the flag had gone up, men and machinery fell into an otherworldly synch that defies description. The no-nonsense beauty of C-130's landing every 15 minutes like clockwork, picking up embark boxes or getting gassed up on their way to somewhere else to pick up somebody else. I had no idea there were that many C-130's in the whole Marine Corps! The F-18's taking off for home in glittering sections. Our Intruders lumbering down the long runway in the late Nevada morning, their wing tips almost brushing the ground with the weight of fuel and ordnance, wheels in the well delayed by the lack of lift in the shimmering heat. The Airforce KC-10's and C-141's touching down, only to turn around and take off again on their own priorities. An amazing symphony of confidence and competence. And I've never been so proud to be a part of something in my life.

Like the song says, "Ah, yes, I remember it well."
Thank you Trey.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:11 PM | Comments (5)

You Can Say A Lot Of Things About Pamela And Tommy Lee

But you simply can not say

"They're the Liz Taylor and Richard Burton of our era," Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx tells the magazine.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:58 PM | Comments (4)

A Talent For Stating the Blatantly Obvious...

...helps when writing headlines.

Oil-For-Food Chief Accused of Kickbacks

I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

NEW YORK (AP) - Investigators probing claims of wrongdoing in the Iraq oil-for-food program accused its former chief, Benon Sevan, of corruption for taking illegal kickbacks and recommended his immunity be lifted for prosecution.

The investigators said a former U.N. procurement officer sought a bribe and should have his immunity lifted as well. Alexander Yakovlev also was accused of collecting nearly $1 million in kickbacks outside the oil-for-food program...

...Though both men have quit, diplomatic immunity would cover their actions when they were employed. Volcker's recommendation that Annan waive that immunity was a strong indication of his conviction about the claims against them.

Sevan, a Cypriot citizen believed to be in Nicosia, was being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

He quit FRIDAY and is in Nicosia ALREADY?! (And that would be where, you ask? 'The Cypriot capital' for $5, Alex.) Good luck dragging him back to face the musical 'Grease'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:31 PM | Comments (3)

Would It Were Couched in Different Terms...

On the face of it, this announcement sounds pretty foreboding...

Mr Larijani was appointed by the new fundamentalist president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to replace Hassan Rowhani, according to a senior Iranian official.

"Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has appointed Mr Larijani as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and hence the head of the negotiating team," the official told the FT. "Mr [Hassan] Rowhani is not the secretary and head of the negotiating team anymore."

Mr Rowhani has led negotiations on Iran's nuclear policies with the EU since 2003, and is viewed as a moderate conservative by analysts. His departure may mark the beginning of a more hardline approach to Iran's nuclear stance.

I've got a bad feeling about this. When you add Gateway Pundit's reports on Iranian unrest to the mix, this whole thing could get very nasty quickly.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:59 AM | Comments (2)

Goin' Clean 'N Green

There's a lot of painless ideas in this Newsweek article that JeffS and I have held sway on before, but they never suffer for repeating. (It's especially timely, considering my post below AND the fact that I just found new GE lamp flourescent that puts out the equivalent lumens of a 75W bulb for 20W actually power. The price has come down amazingly, they last forever and save a bundle in the meantime ~ wonderful if your kids are like Ebola, who's never met a lightswitch he couldn't leave on.)

No More Electric Bills

Well, not quite. But 'zero-energy homes' keep them low.
...Almost unknown outside California, ZEH communities are the leading edge of technologies that might someday create houses that produce as much energy as they consume. Premier Gardens, which opened last summer, is one of a half-dozen subdivisions in California where every home cuts power consumption by at least 50 percent, mostly by using low-power appliances and solar panels. Several more are under construction this year, including the first ZEH community for seniors.

Now, I'm not advocating you run out and spend the $25 grand to go off the grid, so don't even get started, but you can swap out to flourescents on lamps that get used alot, keep the A/C almost off during the day (Hell, turn it off completely and open a window occasionally! You'd be shocked at the folks here who have never let a single breath of fresh air into their house.), stuff like that. As for us, I'd love solar panels here and am sure they'd work gangbusters. But if I thought plywooding the windows was a pain the a$$ a couple times a year, I can't imagine what having to pull those suckers off the roof before a storm would be like. I think we'll pass.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:13 AM | Comments (18)

I Remember Even/Odd Gas Fill-Up Days...

...of the late 70's and I do NOT want to put up with that BS again. But unless the BANANA Principle (Build Absolutely Nothing Absolutely Near Anything) goes the way of the dinosaur real soon, we may just wig ourselves into lining up for a tankful (if we're lucky) on the day corresponding to the even/odd last digit of our license plate.

Oil scales new peak

..."Crude might have gone too far too quickly, but I don't see us pulling back straight away," a London trader said.

Prices charged higher as a steep drop in U.S. gasoline stocks and nearly daily refinery problems raised doubts about fuel supplies in the world's biggest consumer.

Although there is only about one month left in the traditional summer demand period, dealers said a late price rally could not be ruled out.

A severe hurricane season could knock out further U.S. supply. "People dare not price in the surpluses they see," said Deborah White, senior energy analyst at SG Commodities in Paris.

U.S. refineries have been hit by more than half a dozen unplanned outages in the past few weeks as plants show the strain of trying to keep up with two years of unexpectedly strong demand growth after a decade of underinvestment.

Adding to an already long list of refinery trip-ups, ConocoPhillips and U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp. shut units late last week.

We need more refineries, before more oil. And we need them, like, a decade ago.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:19 AM | Comments (3)

Many's the Time I Thought to Myself...

..."Oh Peter, just shut-up". But we've watched you from the day you sat in Frank Reynolds' chair. And we never again watched anyone else. The Major Dad household will miss you immensely.
Immensely.
And Peter? Thank you.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:42 AM | Comments (9)

August 07, 2005

He Seems to Have a Thing For 'Carl' 's...

New Jersey's governor in waiting ~ the dapper dancer John Corzine ~ seems to have stepped in it yet again. Last time, you'll remember, it was his 'too good to be true' $470K loan to ex-girlfriend Carla Katz. This time, it's Carl Icahn:

Report: Corzine invested $7M with casino operator

TRENTON, N.J. -- Just over a month before he jumped into the governor's race, U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine sank $7 million into a firm owned and controlled by one of the state's casino operators.

The investment with Icahn Partners LP, a hedge fund headed by Carl Icahn, earned Corzine up to $100,000 by the end of last year, according to the Democrat's Senate financial disclosure statement.

In a shocking (momentary) break from their endless pillorying of Judge Roberts and small children, the NY Times has seen fit to weigh with:

There's Something About New Jersey
Elected officials have a right to keep their personal lives private. But there's something about New Jersey that seems to impel politicians to mix their love lives with the taxpayers' business...

...Political opponents say Mr. Corzine should disclose any other loans, gifts or financial dealings between himself and Ms. Katz, and they are absolutely right. The fact that Mr. Corzine isn't willing to comply is disturbing. The state of New Jersey has a right to demand assurances that the next governor is not going to turn his private life into a public conflict of interest somewhere down the line.

Jeez, who's side are they on anyway?
But back to business: Hello, John. My name is Carlotta Hugging.
(It reallyreallyreally is! Really, dammit.)
Can you spare a dime?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:42 PM | Comments (5)

Video BY Marines, FOR Marines...

...and those who enjoy watching our magnificent troops. Okay, okay, so that's ALL our awesome Swillers, lucky us!!
So speakers up and oooo-RAH!!

Presenting India 3/1, in action in Fallujah.

A Swill Salute to our bud the Gateway Pundit and to Open Fire for hosting it.

(F@*k yeah!!)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:36 PM | Comments (1)

Happy Birthday Major Dad!

from your pal Mecha-Streisand.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:57 AM | Comments (2)

August 06, 2005

Backyard Bambis

Don't get so excited Ken.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:50 PM | Comments (2)

Would Butter Help?

Tree rats are so weird. I mean, what kind of a beast eats pine cones like corn-on-the-cob?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:47 PM | Comments (2)

Memo To Self:

Don't try to take flash pictures through a screen window.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:43 PM | Comments (3)

Damn. It's True Then

I had seen posts of his email on other blogs, but I held out hope that it was just a rumor. But, alas, it is true: Arthur Chrenkoff will be ending his blog soon. A sad day for many people. His "good News From Iraq" series has been an important channel for information to counter the endless drumbeat of negativism from the MSM, and it will be sorely missed.

Oh sure, I'm glad he's gotten a new job where he can act all corporationy and, y'know, pay for food and rent 'n stuff, but doesn't he fully realize the implications of this? I mean, where will poor moonbats Josh Narins and Chan go now? Arthur, do it for the children!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:23 AM | Comments (1)

August 05, 2005

A Helpful Reminder From The AP About Robert Novak

When you report the story about him saying he's sorry for his temper tantrum on CNN, make sure to include a 2 year old picture of Novak with Karl Rove to remind everyone what this is all really about:

In this photograph taken in June 2003, Karl Rove, senior advisor to President Bush and Robert Novak are pictured together at a party marking the 40th anniversary of Novak's newspaper column at the Army Navy Club in Washington DC. Novak was suspended indefinitely by CNN after he swore and walked off the set during a debate with Democratic operative James Carville. The exchange came on CNNs 'Inside Edition' during a discussion of Florida's Senate campaign. (AP Photo/Lauren Shay)

Repeat after me: There is no bias in the media.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:38 PM | Comments (2)

Don't Drink Italian Spring Water...

If you're subject to random drug tests:

The rivers of Italy are flowing with cocaine, say scientists who have adopted a new approach to measuring the extent of drug misuse. The biggest river, the Po, carries the equivalent of about 4kg (8lb 13oz) of the drug a day...Cocaine users among the five million people who live in the Po River basin in northern Italy consume the drug and excrete its metabolic by-product, benzoylecgonine (BE). This goes from sewers into the river. So a team led by Dr Ettore Zuccato, of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, estimated the use of cocaine by testing the waters of the Po for BE, and for any cocaine that had passed through the body unaltered or reached the sewers in other ways.

This is river pollution! It must be stopped! Now, I know that very important celebrities like Alec Baldwin are very concerned about the environment. I'm sure he will lobby for very harsh punishments for cocaine use to protect our precious rivers...won't he?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:32 PM | Comments (2)

Hahahahaha!!!!!

Great minds post alike.

THS adds:

Jinx, JINX, Bingley!!
I guess this makes all the college world

a Banana Slug.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:12 PM | Comments (11)

What Losers. Pathetic Losers

I am so sick of this sh$t.

NCAA bans use of Indian mascots

Prohibition only applies to postseason, not to individual schools

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA banned the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams during its postseason tournaments, but will not prohibit them otherwise.

The NCAA’s executive committee decided this week the organization did not have the authority to bar Indian mascots by individual schools, committee chairman Walter Harrison said Friday.

Nicknames or mascots deemed “hostile or abusive” would not be allowed by teams on their uniforms or other clothing beginning with any NCAA tournament after Feb. 1, said Harrison, the University of Hartford’s president.

For God's sake, they don't use DRUNKEN Indians; they're all chiefs and warriors and kewl-a$$ kinda manly guys. Unlike a certain other offensive mascot being discriminated against by NOT being banned.
(But the post-season is only a dream for them anyway. AND the fact that Major Dad would...um...glower at me, if I taunted him about them a second time.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:05 PM | Comments (2)

The Florida State Seminals?

I guess, since you can't have Injun I mean Indian dammit Native 'Merkun names in the NCAA post-season anymore:

The NCAA banned the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams during its postseason tournaments, but will not prohibit them otherwise...

Nicknames or mascots deemed "hostile or abusive" would not be allowed by teams on their uniforms or other clothing beginning with any NCAA tournament after Feb. 1, said Harrison, the University of Hartford's president.

Ah yes, the mighty Hartford Hawks (nothing hostile about a hawk, now is there?). Am I suprised that prominent on their homepage is a link for "Menopause: The Musical"?

No, I am not.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:59 PM

Once Hidden in Shame, Vietnam Medals Shine

As they should!

Four decades after divisive war, veterans reclaim honors — and pride

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Still in his Army greens, William Tallerdy barely had both feet back on American soil when a man came up to him, demanding to know if he was returning from Vietnam. Then, right there in the airport, the heckler punched the veteran in the face.

Tallerdy exploded. The police and his relatives had to restrain him.

Soon after, he threw out his war ribbons. That was 1967.

“I was always proud of my military service,” said Tallerdy, who is now 57 and lives in Cheyenne, Wyo. “It was just that people made me feel like scum.”

Bless his heart! I would be hard pressed to name the greater injustice; the way their Government waged war or the way their fellow countrymen treated them on their return. John Kerry/Jane Fonda and their wannabes of the world have alot to answer for. And be ashamed of.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:48 AM

Happy Birthday Crusader!!!!!!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:40 AM | Comments (4)

More Frightening Econmic News

Jobs growth unexpectedly strong in July
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth picked up last month as employers added 207,000 workers to their payrolls, a healthy gain that outstripped Wall Street expectations, a government report showed on Friday...

...A net upward revision of 42,000 to the combined job count for May and June contributed to the report's solid tenor. U.S. employers added 166,000 workers in June and 126,000 in May.

The pickup in job growth last month pushed this year's average monthly payroll gain to 191,000, a pace economists see as strong enough to slowly tighten the labor market.

This isn't supposed to be happening, as I recall.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:18 AM

Check the Bill When It Comes to Your Rights

Well, that's jacked up! Talk about a Rube Goldberg way of getting ripped off:

RALEIGH, N.C. - An original copy of the Bill of Rights that was given to North Carolina by George Washington back in 1789 was returned to the state Thursday...

...The stolen document was sold by the Union soldier in 1866 to an Ohio buyer, whose family sold it to Connecticut antiques dealer Wayne Pratt in 2000 for $200,000.

In March 2003, an FBI agent posing as a museum buyer pretended to purchase the paper from Pratt and his investor, Robert V. Matthews, for $5 million. Instead, the agent presented a seizure warrant signed by the judge in the case.

Pratt relinquished his ownership claim to the document and has agreed to donate the document to North Carolina. Matthews continues to claim partial ownership of the paper, which has been valued at up to $40 million.

U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle last year awarded the document to North Carolina, but in January, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., told the judge to reconsider.

Boyle determined the document should return to the possession of the person or entity who owned it before the government's sting operation. He ruled Thursday that Pratt had the clearest right to possession, but had relinquished the claim to North Carolina.

"It's just thievery; it's absolute thievery," said Matthews' attorney, Mike Stratton of New Haven, Conn. "Bob Matthews paid real money, $200,000, to buy a document that's been in private hands for 140 years."

How can you get caught in a sting operation for something you bought legally three years before? If Norf Cackelackey was so desperate to have it back, why didn't they track it down and buy/steal it back sometime in the preceding century and a half? So they 'sting' this guy, pressure him to 'give it up', he 'gives it up', an appeals judge says reconsider, so the district judge says okay, it really was his but it's not now 'cause he 'gave it up'? I'm with the lawyer for $200K, Alex. Remember when that guy found the Declaration of Independence hidden behind the old print? Norman Lear eventually bought it for over $8 million. If I were him, I'd be checkin' the bushes for the Feds.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:19 AM | Comments (1)

August 04, 2005

Daddy, Where Do Babies Come From?

If you don't know, the New York Times will find out.

NY TIMES INVESTIGATES ADOPTION RECORDS OF SUPREME COURT NOMINEE'S CHILDREN

**Exclusive**

The NEW YORK TIMES is looking into the adoption records of the children of Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The TIMES has investigative reporter Glen Justice hot on the case to investigate the status of adoption records of Judge Roberts’ two young children, Josie age 5 and Jack age 4, a top source reveals.

Judge Roberts and his wife Jane adopted the children when they each were infants.

Both children were adopted from Latin America.

What a sorry a$$ waste of outhouse paper they've become.

Notice the little guy cuts a handsomer slice of rug than the Guv wanna be below.
I'll bet his girlfriends are less expensive, too.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has posted a NYT response to an email on of her readers sent. It calls the Drudge Report overwrought, among other things. But then, to my ear, they slip up and I've highlighted the offending and offensive passage below:

In the case of Judge Roberts's family, our reporters made initial inquiries about the adoptions, as they did about many other aspects of his background. They did so with great care, understanding the sensitivity of the issue. We did not order up an investigation of the adoptions. We have not pursued the issue after the initial inquiries, which detected nothing irregular about the adoptions.

What low lifes. A child is not an aspect of someone's background.
UPDATE: Talk about crawling up someone's intestinal tract! I shall summarize.
This is almost everything you might, or might not, want to know about Judge Roberts. (AND what the Times wants you to know, whether you want to know it or not.)
It's about everyone else who wants to know about Judge Roberts. (Holy crap, Batman! He zips his pants from bottom to top! E. Ver. Y. Day.)
It's about who has what to say about Judge Roberts... (Ted Kennedy hints it's sink or swim time and he's the resident expert on submersibles.)
...before they even talk to...you guessed it...Judge Roberts. (Boxer Babs says, "And I would have a very difficult time - an impossible time, frankly - voting for someone who doesn't respect the privacy of half the population." Of course, the two halves of the population his children represent are fair game, privacy wise...there are two Americas, as far as the Democratic Party remembers.)

I'm sure by first light tomorrow there'll be six more links added. Hopefully one of them will be to an apology for the Times' craven classlessness. Ya think?
Pffft.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:42 PM | Comments (11)

Corzine Pays His Girlfriends Well

Not that this might be any potential conflict, you know, but shouldn't people be a little concerned about this:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jon S. Corzine loaned the president of New Jersey's largest state workers union $470,000 when the two were romantically involved about three years ago, then forgave the debt late last year, according to two published reports.

Hmmm. Anybody want to hazard a guess about who the union will be supporting in the election? Oh golly! Look:

The CWA endorsed Corzine's Senate candidacy five years ago and recently announced its support for him in the governor's race, one of only two in the nation this year.

The stench from NJ ain't from the landfills.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:28 AM | Comments (3)

Fiddlin' While Rome Explodes

There are actually times when I agree with the ACLU, but this is not one of them:

The New York Civil Liberties Union will file suit against the city Thursday to keep police from searching the bags of passengers entering the subway, organization lawyers said.

The suit, which will be filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, will claim that the two-week old policy violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and prohibitions against unlawful searches and seizures, while doing almost nothing to shield the city from terrorism.

What is unlawful about this? You are asked to show the contents of your back. If you choose not to, you don't ride. Why is this any more onerous then requireing, say, a ticket to ride?

It argues that the measure also allows the possibility for racial profiling, even though officers are ordered to randomly screen passengers.

I wish to hell they would be allowed to profile. How many 70 year old women of Danish descent have set off bombs recently?

"While concerns about terrorism of course justify -- indeed, require -- aggressive police tactics, those concerns cannot justify the Police Department's unprecedented policy of subjecting millions of innocent people to suspicionless searches," states the suit, a partial copy of which was provided to Newsday.

Can anyone possibly imagine what 'aggressive poplice tactics' the ACLU would endorse if they are against random searches of friggin' bags?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:34 AM | Comments (1)

Word of the Day

chivy \CHIV-ee\ verb

1 : to tease or annoy with persistent petty attacks
*2 : to move or obtain by small maneuvers

Example sentence:
As she told Brendan about her bad day, Megan chivied the last olive out of the jar and plopped it into her dry martini.

Now that is a sentence!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:40 AM | Comments (3)

August 03, 2005

Buttheads Butt Heads 'Bout Butts

No butts behind wheel? N.J. moves on smokers
Many smokers angry over push to ban drivers from lighting up

God bless the Garden State and all who live there. How do you put up with this stuff?

TRENTON, N.J. - Ashtrays have been disappearing in cars like fins on Cadillacs, and so could smoking while driving in New Jersey, under a measure introduced in the Legislature.

Although the measure faces long odds, it still has smokers incensed and arguing it’s a Big Brother intrusion that threatens to take away one of the few places they can enjoy their habit.

“The day a politician wants to tell me I can’t smoke in my car, that’s the day he takes over my lease payments,” said John Cito, a financial planner from Hackensack with a taste for $20 cigars.

New Jersey Assemblyman John McKeon, D-Essex sponsored this well-intentioned, weasel-reasoned piece of legislation. Let your representative know where you stand, via email...or smoke signal. You are going so left coast, dudes.

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

Gives 'Bobbie Sox' a Whole New Meaning

UPDATE: And these are the kinda guys they're so worried about offending.

Fighting words in an anxious London

Prominent British Islamic militants praise attacks, call bombings justified
LONDON - As London braces for another feared attack, two prominent British Islamic militants say British civilians are fair targets.

“We don’t live in peace with you anymore,” said Abu Uzair in an interview on BBC Newsnight.

Abu Uzair and Abu Izzadeen — both British citizens — justified and even praised the attacks, which killed 52 people. “What I would say about those who do suicide operations or martyrdom operations — ‘suicide’ is a phrase coined by the media, they’re completely praise-worthy,” said Abu Izzadeen.

Has everyone gone mad?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just when you think you've heard every over the edge, moonbat, politically correct, non-racial profiling BS-on-crack idea, damned if something doesn't come along that'll just drop that old jaw back on the deck. Excuse me as I scoop mine back into place.

Police to raid in socks

POLICE have been told they must show respect by taking their SHOES OFF before raiding the homes of Muslim terror suspects.

It was one of 18 rules laid down in new guidelines for officers in Luton — a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism.

"Sock it to them ... cops must remove shoes according to memo"

Great googley moogley! I mean, DAMN!
A Swill Salute to The Moderate Voice. (Although I almost wish I hadn't heard...)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:09 PM | Comments (7)

Wilbon On Weenies

The baseball kind.

Denials, even eloquent ones, aren't good enough, not after the Rafael Palmeiro revelation. Blaming Jose Canseco doesn't work because even a dope like him now has more credibility than some of the people he has been outing as steroid users.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:28 PM | Comments (2)

The 'Cajones Grandes Award of the Day'

Good on 'im!

Unprecedented Shuttle Repair a Success

...Astronaut Stephen Robinson said both pieces came out easily. He did not have to use a makeshift hacksaw put together in orbit that he brought along just in case.

"That came out very easily, probably even less force," Robinson said of the second piece. "I don't see any more gap filler. ... I'm doing my own inspection here. It is a very nice orbital belly."...

...It was the first time an astronaut has ventured beneath the ship.

Get home in one piece, ya'll. That's all we want.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:40 AM | Comments (1)

Semper Fi, My Brothers

14 Marines, interpreter killed in western Iraq
Deadly incident comes after Marine sniper teams ambushed in same town

21 gallant souls in a little more than 24 hours.
Bless you and thank you. May God hold your families close to Him and comfort their breaking hearts.
Now. We need to turn them loose to level that dunghole.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:15 AM | Comments (3)

No Little Light Shall Shine

This doesn't bode well for an open society.

American journalist shot dead in Iraq

An American journalist has been found shot dead in Basra four days after he wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times criticising the spread of Shi'ite Islamist fundamentalism in the southern Iraqi city. Witnesses said Steven Vincent and a translator were kidnapped by gunmen shortly after leaving a hotel on Tuesday evening. His body was found later that night...

The New York Times opinion piece criticised the failure of British forces to clamp down on what Vincent described as a city that was "increasingly coming under the control of Shi'ite religious groups, from the relatively mainstream ... to the bellicose followers of the rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr". The article also focused on the Basra police force, quoting a police lieutenant as saying a few officers were perpetrating many of what he said were hundreds of assassinations of mostly former members of Saddam's Baath party each month. Iraqi Arab Sunni leaders have accused the Iraqi government of sanctioning Shi'ite hit squads that work alongside security and police forces...

UPDATE: A bittersweet paragraph from Mr. Vincent's last blog post, via Smash.
His words do him such honor.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:41 AM | Comments (2)

A Note to the DNC and RNC

A year later, but better late than never. Now, let's see who reports about these conclusions...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund ("ACVR Legislative Fund") today released the most comprehensive and authoritative review of the facts surrounding allegations of vote fraud, intimidation and suppression made during the 2004 presidential election. The ACVR Legislative Fund report, "Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election," finds that while Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of voter intimidation and suppression, neither party has a clean record on the issue. The report finds that paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression activities than were their Republican counterparts during the 2004 presidential election. Examples include paid Democrat operatives charged with slashing tires on GOP get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee and an Ohio court order stopping Democrat operatives from calling voters telling them the wrong date for the election and faulty polling place information...

...In addition to common-sense recommendations such as required government issued photo ID at the polls, accurate statewide voter registration databases and a zero-tolerance policy against vote fraud and intimidation, ACVR Legislative Fund identifies five cities as election fraud "hot spots" which require additional immediate attention prior to the 2006 elections. These cities were identified based on the findings of the report and the cities' documented history of fraud and intimidation.

1. Philadelphia, Pa.

2. Milwaukee, Wis.

3. Seattle, Wash.

4. St. Louis/East St. Louis, Mo./Ill.

5. Cleveland, Ohio

Well, knock me over with a feather. Where was Jimmay Cawtah and his mon-i-touring committee, makin' sure we don' act like a third world country?
UPDATE: Captain Ed has more on the 'bi-partisan or not' nature of the group issuing the report.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:41 AM | Comments (7)

Talk About Hedging Your Bets...

...in Cincinnati, Ohio. If the Democratic candidate had a strong showing, it would send a signal to the GOP. If the Democratic candidate won, it would...um...send a signal to the...oh, you get the picture. So, what happened. The short of it? He lost anyway, by 4 percentage points or 3500 votes out of a little over 112,000. Judging by this MSNBCdotcom article, you'd be forgiven for getting confused about who'd won, as Ms. Schmidt's name (oh yeah, she won) gets mentioned six times, while Mr. Hackett's is noted equally, albeit in paragraph form, including a handsome recitation of his Iraq war service (a Marine, bless his heart), his feisty anti-Bush rhetoric, along with a bold paragraph headline quoting him calling Mr. Bush a 'chicken hawk'. Snappy, that.

Now, the Democratic party line:

Democrats had viewed the race as a bellwether for 2006, saying even a strong showing by Hackett in such a heavily GOP district would be a good sign for them in the midterm elections.

...rings a bit thin with me. They should have royally kicked some GOP bootie, viewed through the MSM prism of a wounded duck president who can't bump his approval numbers above 45%, coupled with a supposedly hugely unpopular war and a struggling economy. I mean, we've all seen it on the news, right? Oh, and add John Bolton, Judge Roberts, Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, the shuttle, blah, blah, blah, Karl Rove and the president's own good health. (Oh! And the Boy Scouts.) If there was ever a party primed for a thrashing by it's own missteps, by George W., it's the Republicans. Stick a fork in them, they're done.
But in spite of that, little Miss Republican Schmidt wins the thing anyway?
To quote Buffy St. Marie; "Little wheel spin and spin, and the big wheel turn 'round, 'round..."
Let's see what Dr. Dean has to say. I'll bet he mouths 'mandate' for five, Alex.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:13 AM

August 02, 2005

Ken Skewers Air America

Now, if it had been Emily, would she be the Skewerdess?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:17 PM | Comments (2)

CSA

Like me, I'm sure many of you have been looking for that special metaphor to describe the horrid state of affairs here in Bushy McChimphitler Ville. I mean, Theocracy is so 90s, and, while I admit Gulag does have a certain romantic flair about it, it just seems to fall short somehow. No, what we need is something more historically sweeping, yet still closely tied to the 'Merkun psyche.

Fear not, gentle surfers, for your prayers (sorry, your desires) have been answered: CSA: The Confederate States of America has arrived (or will soon, I reckon).

Beginning with the British and French forces joining the battle with the Confederacy, thus assuring the defeat of the North at Gettysburg and ensuing battles, the South takes the battle northward and form one country out of the two. Lincoln attempts escape to Canada but is captured in blackface. This moment is captured in the clip of a silent film that might have been.

Through the use of other fabricated movie segments, old government information films, television commercials, newsbreaks, along with actual stock footage from our own history, a provocative and humorous story is told of a country, which, in many ways, frighteningly follows a parallel with our own.

After victory, President Davis brings slavery back to the northern states by offering a tax rebate to businesses and households who will buy and own them. Liberals move to Canada. The nation chooses an expansionist policy and conquers Mexico and South America. As world war looms, the CSA takes a non-aggressive stance toward the Third Reich and their move toward racial purity (although not condoning their wasting of possible slave stock by the Final Solution) and makes a preemptive strike on Japan on December 7, 1941.

Kennedy is assassinated soon after being elected, as it appears he will not only emancipate but also give women the vote. A growing black terrorist base stems from Canada and a Cold War breaks out...complete with the Cotton Curtain being built between the two countries.

Through it all, including a contemporary run for the presidency, we follow a political dynasty, the Fauntroy family, who lead the country through its triumphs and tragedies.

We arrive to a today that, in many ways, we recognize. Although a nation that is content and prosperous, there is a tremendous divide within and suspicious eye without. Current politicians refer to us as two countries and perhaps, other than geographically, there is no difference between Red and Blue or North and South states. We have always struggled as to whether we are the United or Confederate States of America.

Why yes, we have always struggled, haven't we? Why, just the other day I woke up and said "Tommy, where's my supper?" before I remembered, silly me, that over 600,000 Americans had died in the Civil War 140 years ago to end slavery. But I can be so silly-brained sometimes. Red State/Blue State, Yankee/Reb, Hitler/Gandhi, Redneck/Suave Urbanite...what's the difference? La-la-la.

ARGH! These idiots drive me absolutely insane.

(hat tip pugnus mentim)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:29 PM | Comments (4)

A Global Jihad Primer

From The Christian Science Monitor, all the FAQ's answered. Some answers are obvious...

What do the militants want?

For Islamist militants, the long-term objective is an Islamic superstate, or caliphate. Narrower objectives include the end of the state of Israel and toppling secular Middle Eastern regimes like Egypt's. It is an article of faith that the US and all secular Western states stand in their way, and weakening those states is seen as positive for all their objectives.

Some horrific to contemplate...

What Is their ideal society?

They want a society that applies the Koran literally and adheres to the social practices that prevailed at the time of the prophet Muhammad. It would not be democratic in any modern sense, though there are provisions for shura, or consultation - generally interpreted to mean the leader should take advice from trusted community members. In their interpretation of Islam, women and men have defined roles, and women generally have fewer rights.

Their views stem from the Salafi movement within Islam's Sunni sect, the religion's largest. For a Salafi adherent, interpretation of the Koran stops 1,300 years ago, with Muhammad, his companions, and the three generations that followed them.

How do you drag someone out of the stone ages mentally and culturally? The mind warping power of 'religion' is snicker material when watching the train wreck that is Tom Cruise, but multiply that power times a billion Islamics, divide by the unstable element within every society, multiply that by the blood thirsty encouragement of Koranic verses twisted in the mouths of radical imams, then all dumped into the context of 7th century life...I am hard pressed to see how you begin to deal with it. But you don't let these enclaves fester in your center out of political correctness while you decide. As per my post below; when faced with the choice of a free society and a chance to come into the world as it is now, regression seems the most viable option in Islam. How sad is that? And how terrifying for the rest of us.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:20 PM

This Article Speaks the Truth

New diet aid—the power of suggestion?
Study suggests people can be persuaded certain foods make them sick

WASHINGTON - It might be possible to talk a dieter into hating strawberry ice cream, but it may be impossible to help people lose their cravings for more popular snacks such as chocolate chip cookies, researchers said Monday.

A study on the power of suggestion found that people could be falsely persuaded that they had once become sick eating strawberry ice cream as children -- and they later said they would avoid this food*.

*Amazingly this very thing happened to me, circa 1979, having imbibed three pitchers of Kamikazees, a novel taste treat to me at the time. Arriving safely home, I found myself waking up first in a snow bank, then prone on the lavatory floor. I suffered there for about the next three days. I'm persuaded I'd become sick from the evil effects of said imbibery. (The veriest whiff of it has me teetering on the edge of nausea to this day.) I haven't touched that noxious and vile elixer since. I avoid it. Persuasion therapy works.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:04 PM | Comments (11)

How Much Viagra Does Barry Bonds Need?

So Barry Bonds says he won't be back this season "because of his injured right knee."

Bullshit.

He's sitting at home drinking a lot of water and trying to flush all the drugs out of his system so that he doesn't fail his pee test. I'm sure his handlers are checking his pee once a week to see how the levels of steroids are in his blood, and if they don't drop enough he'll come up with an 'injury' for next year too, until he can get the levels down low enough. All he cares about is the Hall of Fame and his records, and he knows that if he's caught then all that is gone. Sure, there's a lot of smoke around him, but he knows that as long as they can never find the fire then he's golden.

Makes you cry when you think about the days when all the players were hopped up on were hot dogs and beer.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:47 AM | Comments (4)

August 01, 2005

Go Dog, Go!

Dog beats most people in swim race
Golden retriever 'Jake' first non-human in annual competition

SAN FRANCISCO - One of the swimmers in this weekend’s Alcatraz Invitational swim has dog paddled his way into the record book.

Jake is a 65-pound golden retriever and the only non-human in the tenth annual 1.2 mile swim from the infamous prison island to the San Francisco shore. The four-year-old pooch swam across the cold, choppy water in just under 42 minutes, finishing 72nd out of the more than 500 swimmers. Organizers say it was the first known crossing by a dog.

I hope he got a Milkbone.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:03 PM | Comments (4)

There's No Spanish in Baseball!

Well, in a Massachusett's Little League game, anyway.

Ump's language ban incites protest

Little Leaguers told to stop speaking Spanish on field
METHUEN, Mass. (AP) -- Coaches on a Little League team filed a protest with the league after an umpire ordered the players to stop speaking Spanish during a state tournament game this week.

Coaches said the order demoralized the Methuen players and cost the team the game.

Call me cranky, but there is an advantage to calling out instructions in a language other than English. And maybe the Spanish speakers were demoralizing the other team. Granted, it could have been handled better, but hey. Excrement happens. It does need to be addressed officially now, but I'll lay ya dollars to donuts it won't.

"All I could hear was, 'We cannot allow this,"' Mosher said. "At this point I was baffled why we could only speak English."

Um, let me take a shot at this. Because we're in America schmaybe?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:13 PM | Comments (2)

No Wonder He Needs Viagra

Since he's been using weenie-shrinking pills to hit all those home runs:

Rafael Palmeiro, who last month became the fourth member of baseball's 3,000-hit, 500-home run club, will be suspended for violating baseball's drug-testing plan.

Of course, maybe someone spiked his pee:

In a prepared statement, Palmeiro said he could not explain how the steroids got into his body. "I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period," he said. "Ultimately, although I never intentionally put a banned substance into my body, the independent arbitrator ruled that I had to be suspended under the terms of the program."

Blech. Drug-using atheletes should be banned forever.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:59 PM | Comments (4)

Have Ford Executives...

...been living in a cave or something? What morons thought this was a good idea to begin with?

Ford splits with Eminem: report
Paper says Ford initially happy when rap star wanted new Ford for video, but lyrics raised concerns.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ford Motor Co. is ending a newly formed relationship with rapper Eminem, according to a published report.

The Detroit News reported that the split comes because of concerns of Ford executives over the title and lyrics of the artist's newest song. The three-word title includes a vulgarity.

A vulgarity?! From the mouth Slim Shady kisses his mother with?!
GTFO!!
And here I was all set to buy me a Ford because they were gonna sign Eminem as a spokesman.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:41 AM | Comments (3)

The Iranians Will Have a Certain Glow...

Why don't I have a warm fuzzy about this?

Iran Poised to Restart Nuclear Activities

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian technicians will break U.N. seals on the Isfahan nuclear plant on Monday, allowing uranium processing to resume, a spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council said.

Officials from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency will supervise the removal of the seals, the first step toward restarting central Iran's Isfahan Nuclear Conversion Facility, said Ali Agha Mohammadi, spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, according to a report from the official IRNA news agency.

Maybe because the U.N.'s supervising? With the 'Oil For Food' payola exposed, those integrity-challenged U.N. types are gonna need a new revenue stream.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:22 AM

'Pathetic'. Now There's a Good Word...

We French are pathetic losers, says ad chief

The President of one of the world's biggest advertising agencies has issued a damning state-of-the-nation assessment that describes France as being in steep decline and his countrymen as "narrowed and stunted".

Maurice Lévy, the head of the media giant Publicis, whose company owns Saatchi and Saatchi and has offices in 100 countries across six continents, said France had failed to get the 2012 Olympics because the world now saw it as a nation of perdants - "losers".

For good measure, he described the 35-hour week as "absurd" and the wails of complaint that followed Paris's loss of the Games to London as "pathetic"....

..."What I wrote was hard, but true. France is not in a crisis, it's worse than that. A crisis is usually sudden and short, while we are in an endemic situation," he said. "I've just had enough and wanted to say what I felt."

In the article, Mr Lévy said the French had only themselves to blame for losing the Olympics, and that the country needed a wake-up call. "We have narrowed and stunted ourselves and we paint ourselves as losers, and no one wants to be among the losers. It's time we opened our eyes wide, took an icy shower and looked reality in the face: we are in decline, going down a slippery slope.

I wonder if anyone in France actually read this.

Swill Salute to Captain Ed.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:54 AM | Comments (2)

If You Think The 'Pat Twins' (Buchanon & Robertson)...

...are hateful blowhards extraordinaire and can think of a few others you'd like to add, well then! This is the list for you.

Right Wing News emailed more than 200 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a list of whom they considered to be their "Least Favorite People On The Right." Representatives from the following 47 blogs responded...

...Without further ado, here are the right-of-center bloggers' least favorite people on the right with the number of votes beside of each selection in parentheses:

18) Tom Tancredo (4)
18) Ralph Reed (4)
18) Newt Gingrich (4)
18) Lincoln Chafee (4)
18) James Dobson (4)
18) George Pataki (4)
18) Arnold Schwarzenegger (4)
14) Tom DeLay (5)
14) Rush Limbaugh (5)
14) George Voinovich (5)
14) Chuck Hagel (5)
13) Andrew Sullivan (6)
11) Tucker Carlson (7)
11) Bob Novak (7)
9) Sean Hannity (8)
9) Rick Santorum (8)
8) Arlen Specter (10)
7) Jerry Falwell (15.5)
6) Bill O'Reilly (16)
5) Michael Savage (17)
4) Pat Robertson (19.5)
3) Ann Coulter (20)
2) John McCain (21)
1) Pat Buchanan (28)

Anybody they miss? Feel free to wax on, wax off. It's a shame nobody thought to ask us.

Swill Salute to The Pink Flamingo Bar and Grill.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:37 AM | Comments (4)

Cold Comfort to the Small Bakeries...

...or, say like, Prince spaghetti for that matter, who went through hard times and/or lost their businesses because of this nonsense.

Atkins Nutritionals files for bankruptcy
Company has been hurt by waning popularity of its namesake diet

You'd have to pry the crust of artisanal bread from my cold, dead fingers before I'd ever give it up.

UPDATE: Bwahahahaha! What a hoot!

Low-Cash Diet

Free ketchup, mustard packets dominate new Atkins weight-loss program.

Aug. 2 - Two days after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Atkins Nutritionals Inc. said today that although its low-carb diet had lost its luster, the company was introducing what it called "a low-cash diet guaranteed to melt those pounds away."...

...Showing a newly reconfigured Atkins food period, Pankow said that dieters on the new low-cash weight-loss program would eat mainly free ketchup and mustard packets foraged from fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and Burger King.

"And at the end of the first week, to celebrate you have a packet of relish for dessert," Pankow added.

Oh yeah, baby.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:50 AM | Comments (3)

Home of the Free, Land of the Brand

World turning its back on Brand America

The US is increasingly viewed as a "culture-free zone" inhabited by arrogant and unfriendly people, according to study of 25 countries' brand reputations.

Now that I'd have to agree with that and I live here. And I've been overseas enough to see the damage done (as it happened, in some instances) by American tourists, who act as if the world was put out there to entertain/cater to them.

... a group of business leaders dedicated to improving the US's image overseas, said help from the private sector was needed to repair Brand America.

"Right now the US government is not a credible messenger," said Mr Reinhard, chairman of DDB Worldwide, the advertising group. "We must work to build bridges of understanding and co-operation and respect through business-to-business activities."

Such initiatives could include lobbying for less stringent visa requirements for foreign students entering the US, increased cultural exchanges between US businesses and their foreign counterparts, and courses in diplomacy and foreign languages at business schools.

Well, considering that the visas which let the 9/11 monsters in were student, I think 'stringent' should stay 'stringent' and is not at all a bad thing. Cultural exchanges are all very well, as are biz school language courses. But they can't make up for a basic lack of manners and civility, wrapped in blissful ignorance, that permeates our society here. If you're a rude, know-it-all boor in Poughkeepsie, you're going to be one in Paris or Prague. And what a delightful ambassador for your native land, leaving such a vivid impression on the poor minion who answers your room service call, offers well meant instruction when you're doing something impossibly rude in their culture or tries to give you directions.

An Aussie exchange officer in our squadron once told me that they could tell who to steer clear of when the tourists came off the ferry in Sydney. Hawaiian shirts, straw hats, clutched guidebooks, dumpy shorts and white socks with sandals all scream 'warning, warning, warning!' And the Australians speaka dee Anglais! God forbid they're dropped in a truly foreign port. I've seen their like from Hiroshima to Chichén Itzá; even running interference when they were haranguing natives for directions or whatever, not having a clue how truly appalling their behavior is. Sadly though, they probably wouldn't care if they knew because it's all about "do you know what these tickets cost me??!"

Sometimes these goobers do the right thing, however inadvertently. Take the well-to-do couple we knew in Norf Cackelackey. They'd finally turned over the restaurant and marina to their kids, then were off on their dream three week tour of South America. We'd seen them the day before they left and then saw one of the kids a week later. "Hear from your folks? How's the world tour going?", we asked. "Oh, they're home. Only gone three days." We were astounded and worried, as they were in their mid-60's. "What happened?! Everyone okay?" 'Fine' was the answer, but...

"Daddy said he just couldn't stand it anymore -no one spoke English! So they came home."

Yeah, it was like a foreign country or something.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:22 AM | Comments (7)

Al Gore TV

I can assure you I won't be watching. It sounds like a bit of a jumbled mess.

Based on material previewed on its Web site, Current at first glance seems like a hipper, more irreverent version of traditional television newsmagazines.

Most of its programming will be in "pods," roughly two to seven minutes long, covering topics like jobs, technology, spirituality and current events.

I dunno. "Al Gore" and "Hip" just really don't mesh. Maybe I'll submit a film on Tipper and censorship...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:09 AM | Comments (3)