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July 31, 2006

It's a Different Perspective

"It doesn't bother me. Obviously, me being a devout Catholic, it's a conflict of interest. Then again, God supported David when he killed Goliath,"

...through a Marine sniper's scope.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:43 PM

Whilst Trying to Figure Out Why the Camry is Eternally Cranky

...I came across this little gem. It made me laugh.

3/31/03: My brakes were squealing like Ned Beatty in Deliverance.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:07 PM | Comments (7)

We're Not Talking Pugs in Pearls

...or a ripe peach at a fruit stand.

HEIRESS PICKS OUT ASIAN BABY
CASEY Johnson, the 26-year-old Band-Aid heiress who has everything money can buy, is planning to adopt a baby girl from Kazakhstan.

The 5-foot-2 blonde told September's Vanityy in her Beverly Hills house. "I got a crib, and a changing table, and I got a car seat, and a stroller," she said, and an item she couldn't resist: "The cutest leopard baby bikini. Oh my gosh. She is going to be dressed to kill."

Yup. Short of an Easy-Bake Oven, that about covers everything you need to play the 'Mommy Game'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:19 PM | Comments (6)

Nitrogen in Your Tires

...Marty Mailhot, manager of the Tire Warehouse in Topsham, said the idea is catching on with consumers, who are purchasing nitrogen for tires for cars, trucks, motor homes and lawn tractors. He has even tried it on footballs and inflatable tubes pulled behind boats.

He has a retort for those who pooh-pooh the notion of paying for nitrogen when there’s plenty of free air for the taking.

“I say, ’Why are you drinking that bottled water when there’s a pond out back?”’ he said.

I'd give it a second thought since there's no danger of looking like the Hindenburg. And since I really am terrible about checking the tires in any case.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:43 PM | Comments (17)

I Think I Can Do One Better

...than Michelle Malkin in her post today...

"When do terrorists warn civilians?"

...about the leaflets the IDF is dropping to warn Lebanese civilians in Hizbollah target zones. We were watching a FoxNews live report from the scene of the destroyed building in Qana. Their reporter was horrified by the children's bodies being pulled from the rubble and speaking to everyone on site. That included the fellow who (we believe) owned it. He was brokenhearted by the destruction of family, friends and his home, but he was really pissed that the zero dark thirty...

PHONE CALL WHICH WOKE HIM UP AND WARNED HIM TO GET OUT OF THE BUILDING

...didn't give him enough time to get his stuff out. major dad and I looked at each other in utter and complete astonishment.

"The Israelis CALLED this guy to WARN HIM?!!"

(We can only figure he wanted his 'stuff' more than getting the people out safely first.)
I've been scouring Fox and the web all morning for the clip (It was on just as the Israelis were announcing a news conference about the Hizbollah rock barrage taped coming from that site.) and haven't found it yet, BUT I HAVE found numerous instances recounted online where a phone call's been answered to hear 'a voice in broken Arabic' telling them to "get out NOW".

I don't think Hitler was jingling anyone in the U.K. in 1944 either. It's a helluva a way to run a war and still take it in the chops as 'disproportionately forceful murderers'. Hat's off to the IDF.

Now finish the bastards.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:15 PM | Comments (3)

Another Bubble Set to Burst That Bears Watching

...and they don't handle setbacks as well as we do, physically or emotionally. It's fascinating stuff.

China's economy is out of control
China is growing so fast -- using cheap money to build steel mills, highways and textile factories it doesn't need – that the coming crash grows uglier by the day.

...In the second quarter, China's gross domestic product grew by an extraordinary 11.3%. That's a significant speed-up from 9.9% growth in 2005, 10.1% growth in 2004 and 10% growth in 2003.

That's a problem, because an economy can have too much growth. In China, it has led to massive overinvestment in manufacturing assets in sectors already suffering from oversupply. Investment in fixed assets -- everything from steel mills to cement plants to oil refineries to highways -- grew by 30% in the first half of 2006.

Although the reported profits of China's largest industrial enterprises climbed 28% in the first half of 2006 over the same period in 2005, companies in some sectors have seen profits squeezed, sometimes to the vanishing point. According to government numbers, 80% of the profits in the Chinese economy went to companies in the oil, power, coal and nonferrous metals sectors. The other 30 sectors of the economy shared just 20% of corporate profits.

The iron and steel sector is the current poster child for the problem -- and a worrying sign of things to come in other sectors. Profits in the sector dropped by 20% in the first half of the year. The problem is overcapacity. Too many steel companies have added too much capacity, driving down the price they can charge for their product.

...Higher prices pull more money into real estate, of course. In the first six months of 2006, real estate investment climbed 24.2% over the same period in 2005. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 1.41 billion square meters of housing were built from January through June 2006, up 21% from 2006. And as the boom ages, prices soar and excesses multiply. Units in the Tomson Riviera luxury apartment complex in Shanghai, for example, are priced at as much as $20 million. (I love the complex's slogan: "dedicated to the elites." How things have changed in Communist China.)

But then it gets you wondering, "so...what does happen if China comes apart at the economic seams?" Would a cataclysmic social restructuring in quite possibly a horrendous and bloody manner erupt at some point? I mean, you don't get to vote throw the bastards in Beijing out every four years.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:44 PM | Comments (8)

Quotes of the Day

On Beirut...

We're not helping one bit, risking the lives of American Marines serving over there, trying to keep peace, when they've got a bunch of jackasses who want to kill each other. I'd get out of there and let them shoot. - Senator Bary Goldwater

...and the Marines...

You would think that over a period of 23 years that the United States military, the memory of the barracks bombing would have faded. It hasn't.

When Secretary Rice talks about perhaps a peacekeeping force, the first question in a U.S. officer's mind is, does that mean us? No one in the military wants a replay of 1983.
-MARK PERRY

...in 1983.

From an OUTSTANDING CNN Presents: "Marine Barracks Bombing". (If you can't find it re-scheduled, the transcript's here. )

As soon as we suffer casualties, we will cut and run.
We are a paper tiger.
-ADMIRAL JAMES LYONS, U.S. NAVY (RET.)

Oh yeah, we do. And the whole Islamic world knows it. They're counting on it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:24 PM

Hans Brix Is In Town, I Guess

Evidently the Security Council is threatening to write a letter telling the Iranians how angry they are...

(thanks to Bill at INDC Journal for the pic...)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:40 AM | Comments (2)

Mel, Mel, Mel.

You are just such a douchebag.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:34 AM | Comments (10)

A New Quagmire! Just In Time For Fall!

Now it's the fault of those darn Joooos:

The Israeli bombs that slammed into the Lebanese village of Qana yesterday did more than kill three dozen children and a score of adults. They struck at the core of U.S. foreign policy in the region and illustrated in heart-breaking images the enormous risks for Washington in the current Middle East crisis.

With each new scene of carnage in southern Lebanon, outrage in the Arab world and Europe has intensified against Israel and its prime sponsor, raising the prospect of a backlash resulting in a new Middle East quagmire for the United States, according to regional specialists, diplomats and former U.S. officials.

The Arab Street! They're outraged!

Well, la-dee-frikkin'-da. They attack civilians, rather, they target civilians, and then they hide their brave fighters amongst their own women and children or amongst UN nannies. Which means that some of those folks are going to get killed when the fighters are attacked. Horrible, horrific, sad. But unavoidable if you are going to fight and destroy Hezbollucks.

I'm really somewhat puzzled by this concern about "striking up anti-US resentment" in the region. As if the people in the ME were, prior to 2000, all founding members in good standing of the "We Love America So Much Society."

"What the conflict has exposed in a really clear way is how linked all these issues in the region are to each other," said Mara Rudman, a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton White House now at the liberal Center for American Progress. "The worst-case scenario . . . is a much more radicalized Islamic fundamentalist Middle East and much more isolated Israel and a much more isolated United States and fewer people to talk with."

Haass, the former Bush aide who leads the Council on Foreign Relations, laughed at the president's public optimism. "An opportunity?" Haass said with an incredulous tone. "Lord, spare me. I don't laugh a lot. That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. If this is an opportunity, what's Iraq? A once-in-a-lifetime chance?"

In the long run, he and others warn, the situation could cement the perception that the United States is so pro-Israel that a new generation of Arab youth will grow up perceiving Americans as enemies.

What these folks have failed to realize is that 'talk' accomplishes nothing here. Nothing, except give the Islamists time to grow and infiltrate, to wear down a little more the spine of the West. They want to rule us. They want to destroy us and our precious way of life.

I was sitting in church yesterday, sort of in the middle of the sanctuary, and I was looking at the backs of all the folks in front of me. As it was rather warm outside a lot of the young ladies were wearing off-the-shoulder tops or tops held up with little straps; nothing tarty, mind you, but just normal summertime clothes. And I thought "These kids would be lambasted (at best) as whores and disgraces to the honor of their families were we under Sharia; hell, a few of these girls might even be killed by their brothers."

Depressing times.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:11 AM | Comments (3)

July 29, 2006

And He Shall Be Known By His Persian Name

..."Salamadamadingdong", which translates to

"Maynard Krebs"

Iranian President "Salamadamadingdong" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday.

Keeping the culture pure.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:12 AM | Comments (8)

July 28, 2006

Zeppelin discovered!

Graf Zeppelin, that is.

Poland's navy said today that it identified a sunken ship in the Baltic Sea as almost certainly being Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin — a find that promises to shed light on a 59-year-old mystery surrounding the ship's fate.

Backround on the ship here.
Cool stuff!

Posted by Crusader at 08:27 AM | Comments (9)

July 27, 2006

A Refreshing Reality Check

Not about this horrible news...

Tour de France winner failed drug test in race
Team to dismiss Landis if excessive level of testosterone confirmed

...but about his mother's reaction to it.

Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn’t blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but “if it’s something worse than that, then he doesn’t deserve to win.”

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:10 PM | Comments (9)

Required Reading

While Islamic groups in Britain openly brag about how they are going to subdue the country by violent means or call for beheading those insulting Islam, Bryan Cork, 49, of Carlisle, Cumbria, in the Lake District, was sentenced to six months in jail for standing outside a mosque shouting, “Proud to be British,” and “Go back to where you came from.” One British court ruled that even use of the word “immigrant” as an insult could amount to proof of racial hostility.

...from the Brussels Journal. It's a litany of lessons to be heeded in this age of "fl*p charts", "bl*ckout", "hate crime", "where does it end?" PC/sensitivity madness here. Europe ~ even Australia (!) ~ is already surrendering to the dark side of legislated social behaviours. Religious extremists are now 'entitled', vice ridiculed and condemned.

Swill Salute: the BlogFaddah

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:23 AM | Comments (2)

Speakin of the Religion of Pieces and Sensibilities

...I don't think now is the time to dump this guy ~ an ARABIC speaking Sergeant ~ regardless of who he spends his off time with.

Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguist
A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.

Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

...The policy is becoming "a very effective weapon of vengeance in the armed forces" said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based watchdog organization that counseled Copas and is working to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:23 AM | Comments (25)

By All Means, Speak Softly

Groups Urge Sensitivity in Hezbollah Probe
Leaders of the country's Muslim, Middle Eastern and South Asian communities are urging the FBI to use sensitivity if it investigates possible activities by the Islamic militant group Hezbollah on U.S. soil.

Twenty-five groups, including the Islamic Society of North America and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, urged FBI Director Robert Mueller in a letter Wednesday to issue instructions to field offices and agents to avoid unwarranted profiling and respect the legal protections of people they may question.

"We want the FBI, obviously, to protect our nation from those who do us harm, but we want them to focus on actual credible evidence of wrongdoing and not target people based on their ethnicity or religion or based on First Amendment political expression," said Farhana Khera, head of Muslim Advocates, the lead drafter of the letter. "We want to avert any kind of raw fishing expedition-type initiative."

...as long as you USE a big, f*ckin' stick (I mean a BIG one.).

And as long as "sensitivity" doesn't mean not asking enough of the right questions because you might hurt someone's feelings or offend their religion of pieces sensibilities.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:15 AM | Comments (2)

He Gave Courage, Honor and Commitment

...a leg to stand on.

Carl M. Brashear, the first black U.S. Navy diver, died Tuesday. Brashear, 75, was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2000 film "Men of Honor."

He died at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth of respiratory and heart failure, the medical center said.
Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. He was the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee, the result of a leg injury he sustained during a salvage operation.

An incredible man. God speed, Master Chief Petty Officer.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:57 AM | Comments (3)

July 26, 2006

What Is It With Chicago?

Foie gras and now...WAL-MART.

Brushing aside warnings from Wal-Mart that it might take its business elsewhere, the City Council approved an ordinance Wednesday that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage."

...The ordinance passed 35-14 after three hours of impassioned debate.

The measure requires mega-retailers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet to pay workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. The current minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum is $5.15.

Hell, I'd wear a smiley blue vest for that ~ or Home Depot orange, because it affects them, too. But it sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Besides being hugely discriminatory, the chains're competitive because they pay entry level wages. The catch being if you stick around long enough, you have the potential to actually make a living. No, you're not buying a Ferrari, but it IS a living. This was pushed through by a coalition of churches and rights groups, but there were other voices that aren't going to be heard. One of them was the bishop of an Apostolic Church of God* who was worried about the new jobs that are going to never open. Or the old ones that completely disappear because of this; Jobs that folks who aren't so well off and want to work need desperately. But that extra $3 for two minimum wage earners adds up to another body at minimum wage. How are the big boxes going to make up the additional cost? I'd lay money on letting somebody go.

We'll see if this survives the court challenges that are coming. There are other 'living wage' laws in other cities and no one's folded up their tent. But I haven't seen any figures on what the impact was on the communities' employment figures, their retail expenditures or what it cost in lost tax revenue from a smaller number of workers.

*corrected ~ see complete story below

UPDATE: The full AP Report notes :

Other cities with living-wage laws include Santa Fe and Albuquerque in New Mexico; San Francisco; and Washington.

...The first Wal-Mart in Chicago itself is set to open in September, and the Bentonville, Ark.-based company has more than 40 other stores within 50 miles of the city.

Wal-Mart said that its average hourly wage is almost $11 an hour in the Chicago area and that the lowest wage that will be paid at the new West Side store will be $7.25 an hour.

The AP article with the background info here.

"I think it's immoral to pass laws that will rob people of jobs. I think there's something wrong with that," said Bishop Arthur Brazier of the Apostolic Church of God on the city's South Side.

Lisa Cox is transferring from a Wal-Mart store in the Chicago suburbs to the new West Side store just five minutes from her home.

"Now I can just walk down the street to work," said Cox, 40, who during her eight years working at Wal-Mart has advanced from a $7.25-an-hour cashier to a $13.40-an-hour customer service supervisor.

Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce president Jerry Roper warned that the business community will push back if the measure passes.

"We will go back to the business community after Wednesday ... and make sure they know which aldermen voted to kick thousands of jobs ... for Chicagoans and millions of dollars of tax revenues that could be helping our schools out of Chicago," Roper said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:59 PM | Comments (5)

This Would Be My Kinda Luck

...if it included a deadly Indian attack immediately afterward.

Sometime around 1610, archaeologists figure, a thirsty colonist in Jamestown set his brass pistol on the side of a well as he pulled up some water and accidentally knocked the weapon in.

D'oh! Great stuff hauled up from the bottom of a well.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:52 PM

A Little Success'll Do Wonders

...for the soul. Bad guys killed and captured, IED material and weapons snagged and three hostages rescued. All in a day's work.

Marines from Regimental Combat Team 5’s, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, and soldiers from 2nd and 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, rescued three Iraqi hostages in an intelligence-driven operation July 23.

The three were personal assistants and bodyguards to Dr. Rafa Hayid Chiad Al-Isaw, an Iraqi government official in Baghdad.

...The three were held captive by al-Qaeda insurgents in a spiderhole complex for 27 days. The hostages were beaten with electrical cords, bitten and threatened with their lives at gunpoint by their captors. They were treated by Coalition Forces medical personnel.

The three were taken hostage by al-Qaeda insurgents west of Zaidon, a rural area south of Fallujah. They were rescued near Fuhaylat, southwest of Fallujah.

Also recovered nearby was a significant weapons cache, including a fully-assembled suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. Marines also recovered IEDs and IED-making material, mortar tubes and round, artillery rounds, machine guns, bulk explosives, anti-tank mines, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, AK-47 assault rifles, small-arms ammunition and video cameras.

BITTEN? (I know the answer, but I have to ask...what kind of whack monkeys are these religion of pieces a$$holes anyway?)
Sierra Hotel and a big OO-RAH! Keep roundin' 'em up, Jarheads.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:25 PM | Comments (5)

"Get Yer Paws..."

"...offa my property." And the Ohio Supreme Court agreed.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that a Cincinnati suburb cannot take private property by eminent domain for a $125 million project of offices, shops and restaurants.

The case was the first challenge of property rights laws to reach a state high court since the U.S. Supreme Court last summer allowed municipalities to seize homes for use by a private developer.

The case involves the city of Norwood, which used its power of eminent domain to seize properties holding out against private development in an area considered to be deteriorating.

The court found that economic development isn't a sufficient reason under the state constitution to justify taking homes.

Let's keep clarifying those state constitutions and local laws, folks. It's the only way to beat these people ~ they either legislate to protect private property or vote them out and elect someone who will.

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

The Lord Works In Mysterious Ways

Well, mysterious to us at least because we're such self-centered morons. Well, ok, I'm a self-centered moron; I won't presume to speak for the rest of you. Anyhow, I have to say in general that I tend not to put a lot of stock in these sightings of Saints or Visions of the Virgin Mary that gather headlines from time to time; I'm not questioning the people's faith that claim to see these visions, mind you, but rather it's just not the way I picture the Big Guy to work and I'm really not comfortable with this mystical vision stuff, but of course your mileage may vary.

But there are times when I read something that makes me think the Big Guy is dropping us a little hint. I mean, what are the odds that in the week when Israel is fighting Hezbollucks that some guy digging in muck with a backhoe would uncover a 1100 year old manuscript of Psalms buried there, and further that

The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

How cool is that?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:10 AM | Comments (7)

"Apparently Deliberate"

So Kofi is "deeply distressed" by the deaths of four UN "observers":

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply distressed" by the "apparently deliberate" strike.

"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," he said in a statement.

"Furthermore, General Alain Pelligrini, the U.N. force commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular U.N. position from attack."

Well, certainly in my lifetime the UN has caused as much harm to Israel as Hezbollucks has, what with all the sanctions they've put forth and with the UN providing a forum for anti-semitic forces through out the world to have their disgusting positions legitimized. Look, I'm sorry that these guys were killed, but the UN has done nothing to endear itself to Israel, and these Powder-Blue Helmeted Rape Brigades can not expect to go traipsing about in the midst of war zones (and let's not forget that these UN observers have been in southern Lebanon for years, and they have been effective at stopping what, exactly?) and not catch the occasional round.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:34 AM | Comments (7)

July 25, 2006

An Adventure at Sea

Lucky land lubber John at Castle Argghhh! He gets to go sailing in (and for) a most worthy cause. She's

DD-574 ~ the U.S.S John Rodgers...

...and they're bringing her home.

Fair winds, following seas and we'll work on being dockside in Mobile when ya get here.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:40 PM

July 13, 2006

"They fired the first harpoon at her yesterday and today EOD set off bombs. It only took an hour but she's been taking hits all yesterday from the other ships....she just wouldn't sink."

..She wasn't designed to sink. She was designed to fight, to stay afloat, and carry her crew through the perils of enemy hostilities. How confusing the last moments must have been for this great lady to have the guns of those she held so dear fire the fatal blows that would carry her to the depths of darkness. May she rest in peace, and may all those who served upon her feel her presence with each misty spray of ocean breeze.
Farewell USS BELLEAU WOOD (LHA-3).

Indeed.

I'm sorry we're so late in our farewell, brave lady.

Adieu, peaceful dreams and our thanks.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:59 AM | Comments (3)

Do The Electric Tilt!

The world famous head tilt of concern has returned:

"Drive Electric or my left implant gets it!"

"But did car companies really want electric cars to succeed? The success of electric vehicles would have threatened the status quo and core business models of two of the world's biggest industries -- oil and automobile. It is more expedient for these companies to give lip service to hydrogen in an attempt to appear "green." But hydrogen is a technology that experts [Gosh! Math is hard!] say is decades away. "

It's a conspiracy! Why can't we all just get along and live bio-pure lives?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:43 AM | Comments (10)

Sad day.

When a life is lost, and a piece of history is gone.

HICKORY - Witnesses: Plane was trying to take off but went off runway, burned The pilot of a single-engine Korean War-era fighter jet died Monday when the airplane skidded off a runway at Hickory Regional Airport, crashed and exploded.

Close friends and the pilot's pastor identified him as Wyatt Fuller, a vintage-airplane buff who was headed to an air show in Oshkosh, Wis., when the crash happened. He was piloting a 1954 F-86 Sabre made in Canada.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived on the scene late Monday afternoon to start investigating the accident, the only fatality that Hickory officials can recall at the small airport.

Officials said they didn't know what caused the crash.

..........Snip.........

His F-86 Sabre was one of a handful still flyable, Terry said. More than 5,500 Sabres were built in the United States and Canada.

Fuller had long admired the jet, an Air Force one-seater similar to those flown in the Korean War, when he found one for sale on the Internet, according to a story in the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.

He bought it in 2003 and thought it would take a few months to get it flying. It took 1 1/2 years to restore in Mojave, Calif., where it had been stored.

The plane, built by Canadair, originally had been flown in the Royal Canadian Air Force and then was owned by a flight testing company.

For a while, it was assigned to Col. James Kasler, a decorated American pilot in Korea and Vietnam, where he was a POW for seven years after his plane was shot down in 1966.

"That's one of the reasons we worked so hard and went to the lengths we did," Fuller told the Augusta newspaper. "We felt like we owed it to the public and owed it to him.

"The plane was meant to fly; it's what it was built for."

Jim Carr, who flies with the Civil Air Patrol and who kept his airplane next to Fuller's at the Hickory airport, said Fuller had to make an emergency landing in the Sabre jet at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama this spring.

Carr said the plane's right landing gear failed to fully extend and that Fuller landed the plane on the nose and left main wheels, then set down the right side on the underwing fuel tank and slid on the fuel tank until the plane came to a stop.

He said Fuller had spent the past couple of months taking apart the plane and cleaning it to prepare for the Oshkosh air show.

Carr said that amid his tinkering, Fuller was friendly and liked to talk with kids interested in aviation. "I could bring a young cadet (teenage Civil Air Patrol student) to his hangar and he would stop what he was doing and show them."

Fuller, a former airline pilot who also made a name for himself as a motorcycle designer for Harley-Davidson, had a generous nature, said Ruffin Snow, pastor of Tri-City Baptist Church in Conover, where Fuller had been a member for a decade.

Snow spent much of the afternoon with members of Fuller's family. He said Fuller has three children.

"He did a flyover this past November for our Veterans Day service at the church," Snow said. "We had a ceremony with a 21-gun salute and then here came Wyatt and he did a barrel roll or whatever you call it, and it was so thrilling. He did all that just out of the goodness of his heart."

God Speed.

Posted by Crusader at 10:06 AM | Comments (5)

Another Sign the Apocalypse is Upon Us

My unnamed, senior military sources have informed me that THIS (pictured below) time honored feature of innumerable presentations, lectures, brainstorming sessions and office jokes is no longer to be referred to as ~ regardless of the fact that the sheets of paper contained herein do, indeed, "flip" from one side of the easel to the other ~ a

"FLIP CHART"...

...since that is also slang for residents of the Philippine Islands. Someone might mistake the chart for a racial slur. So "FLIP" chart is right out.

No word on what the new, politically correct chart has been dubbed. I would offer:
"Butt-kissing Idiots' Turpitude Enhances Madness Exponentially CHART"

Or it's military acronym:

BITE ME

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:16 AM | Comments (20)

We'll Teach Carnival How To "List" A Ship!

Those cruise line pikers could only get her to go 15 degrees. This is how real seamen list a ship:

The Cougar Ace began listing in the turbulent Pacific Ocean late Sunday night, when the crew sent out an SOS.

On Monday, a Coast Guard plane dropped three life rafts, but roiling waters shoved the rafts underneath the dipping port side of the 654-foot ship. Racing against an increasingly tilting ship, rescuers tossed an additional raft along the higher starboard side, but it was a 150-foot drop to the water and beyond the crew's reach.

The Cougar Ace had been carrying nearly 5,000 cars from Japan to Canada when it began taking on water Sunday night.

5000 cars. Insane.

And soon very, very wet.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:07 AM | Comments (1)

July 24, 2006

My Kind of Town

...Chicago ain't.

"We have children getting killed by gang leaders and dope dealers," an angry Mayor Richard M. Daley said earlier this year. "We have real issues here in this city. And we're dealing with foie gras? Let's get some priorities."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:27 PM | Comments (6)

Now THAT'S A Celebrity Named 'Catie'

...I'd love to meet.

The 94-year-old Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel spent $38 million on a facelift, refurbishing its soaring lobby with 21-foot-high Italian marble columns, gilded ceilings and Waterford crystal chandeliers.

Yet the most popular upgrade didn't have anything to do with French antiques or the ornate arches in Peacock Alley, an entrance hall lined with eight-foot mirrors and Renaissance friezes.

No -- the most exciting thing to happen here lately was that the "Grande Dame of Boston" got a dog.

Catie Copley, a 68-pound black Lab, now greets guests with a heartfelt wag and a curious nose. The hound came to the hotel as a gimmick in 2004 to showcase the renovation and has breathed life into the once stuffy 5,000-square-foot lobby

...In Boston, some guests call three months in advance to book a walk with the pooch, dubbed a "canine ambassador" by the hotel. Tour guides on Boston's Duck Tours talk about Catie in the same breath as Trinity Church's architecture when describing Copley Square.

..."It's a down-home, welcoming feeling," said New Yorker Curtis McKinney, 44, who comes to Boston once a month for business and now stays exclusively at the Copley Plaza. "We started coming here basically to see her."

Wabs have that effect on people.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:51 PM | Comments (1)

The Carnival of the Recipes

...is up!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:39 PM

What's with this?

Why is this a big deal? Am I missing something? These kids are the ones who are more likely to be killed by one of the Hiz folks, but they are not allowed to express their feelings about the conflict? It is not as though the are the ones pulling the trigger.

Bingley Update: Looks like Crusader and I were working on the same post at the same time...here's my edition:

I guess I slept through the latest 'scandal' to strike the Zionsphere:

In the public relations battle brewing on-line, there is a new eye to the center of the storm surrounding the war with Hizbullah - a series of photos showing Israeli children writing messages on shells meant for targets in Lebanon.

Questions over the photos' authenticity have been put to rest by authorities that were present during the incident, which occurred on July 17 near the northern border. The mostly local children had been brought to see the shells by their parents. Although it remains unclear who encouraged them to write the messages, their colorful scribbles, including a Star of David, hearts, and "From Israel, with Love," have appeared in dozens of blogs, or on-line journals, and on-line photo hosting sites.

Sorry, I have no problem with this. Those poor kids have grown up never knowing if some crazy-assed jihadist is going to blow up their school or their bus, and some bastards who don't blink when PLO or Hamas let their kids dress up as suicide bombers for parades get their panties twisted over this? Go Israel!

An official close to Israel's public relations campaign said that there was "no way" to spin the incident in a positive light. "Some people are simply irresponsible," said the official.

I see it as very positive, a people fighting back. Go Israel!

Posted by Crusader at 12:50 PM | Comments (5)

Mynd you, Angry Nuns on Bikes

...kan be pretty nasti.

Two Dutch nuns, wearing habits and riding bikes, chased a suspected thief through Amsterdam, police said Monday.

On Saturday evening, one of the sisters believed she recognized a man walking past their chapel in southern Amsterdam as a thief who snatched hundreds of dollars in cash from the building two weeks earlier...

..."The nuns then grabbed their bikes and gave chase. They tried to grab him, but he managed to escape into a residential neighborhood and they lost him," Van der Veen said. Police hunted for the man in the neighborhood but could not find him.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)

What Would Bangla-Cola Do

...if there were no Citgo to go to. We'd be pretty well f*cked, that's what. Up to and including all the local military installations, whose gasoline vendor is...you guessed it.

Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, has urged the Bush administration to adopt specific "contingency plans" for a potential disruption to oil supplies from Venezuela.

In a letter sent to Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, last Friday, a copy of which has been obtained by the Financial Times, Mr Lugar warned the US that it needed to "abandon" reliance on a "passive approach" to energy diplomacy.

Mr Lugar's warning follows the release last month of an investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the US was ill-prepared for an oil embargo by Venezuela, the world's fifth largest ex­porter. President Hugo Chávez, whose government has been emboldened by a torrent of oil revenues, has several times warned that he would "cut off" oil supplies to the US if Washington persisted in allegedly plotting his overthrow.

The predominant supply of petrol locally is from Tom Thumb, owned by Kroger which pumps...Citgo gas.
Or doesn't.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:25 AM | Comments (1)

Here in the Sunshine State, You Can Be Mindin' Your Own Business One Minute

...and the next? You're gator bait.

A 16-year-old Deland boy said he was bitten by an alligator while dangling his feet in the St. John's River.

Cory Workman told authorities he was skipping rocks while waiting for friends early Sunday.

"Alligators are ambush predators," said Kat Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Throwing rocks and sticks sounds like fish to them."
>
The alligator chomped down on Workman's left ankle and dragged the teen into the water. Workman punched the animal to no avail, and then remembered a technique he saw on a wildlife television program.

Workman shoved his thumb into one of the alligator's eye sockets and the gator released its grip.

UPDATE: Seems they've nabbed a toothy devil and will be checking his smile to see if he's the culprit.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:46 AM | Comments (6)

For the Plastic Turkey Crowd

...you have to admit the Bush team has no problem showing up where the action is.

Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into the country in heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas on Monday as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon to launch diplomatic efforts aimed at ending 13 days of warfare.

Rice arrived in Beirut in the afternoon and was to meet with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora during the previously unannounced stopover before she heads to Israel, Saniora's office said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:34 AM

"This Would Not Have Happened..."

Says Big John Kerry

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass., who was in town with his Magic Hat Sunday to help Gov. Jennifer Granholm campaign for her re-election bid, took time to take a jab at the Bush administration for its lack of leadership in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

"If I was president, this wouldn't have happened," said Kerry during a noon stop at Ignorant John's bar and grill in Detroit's Casshole Corridor.

Bush has been so concentrated on the war in Iraq that other Middle East tension arose as a result, he said.

"The president has been so absent on diplomacy when it comes to issues affecting the Middle East," Kerry said. "We're going to have a lot of ground to ketchup I mean make up (in 2008) because of it."

"If I ran the Circus Big Jerkus we'd have developed a plan, a very good, nuanced plan that would avoid all this fighting and falafel destruction and lead to real, strong jobs being created; we can do better," he said.

Er, shut yer pie hole there, Johnny.

But wait:

"This is about American security and Bush has failed. He has made it so much worse because of his lack of reality in going into Iraq.…We have to destroy Hezbollah," he said.

Are you saying something violent? Have you been corrupted by the Zionist Protocolians? Did you clear that last statement with Theresa?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:30 AM | Comments (2)

July 23, 2006

For Susanna and Miss Emily

...it's never too late to celebrate Mardi Gras in a classy and refined manner, while collecting your beads without embarrassing your family at some later date.

That's how one does it in the South. Pearls are for reserved for church, debutante balls, the odd Cotillion and tea with the senior Mrs. Bush. ("Laissez les bons temps rouler" is a state of grace, not of mind.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:17 PM | Comments (10)

July 21, 2006

Made Me Teary Eyed and Sniffley

...John at Powerline did.

...But an American citizen is a member of a nation that, most of the time, has the power to vindicate its citizens' rights. And, for those now being evacuated, their citizenship means that they are entitled to the protection of the United States Marine Corps. Is that a high privilege? It is indeed.

OO-rah.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:01 PM

Why is It Such A Surprise That One Guy With Wire Cutters

...can ruin your entire day?

...As the air force received 60 percent of the military budget, army training was cut to the bone and the armored corps was significantly reduced.

Reservists forgot what the inside of a main battle tank looked like. Army supplies dwindled way past the danger point as military intelligence dismissed the prospect of a conventional war against Israel.

Over the last two years, the Ground Forces Command has been administering the Digital Army Program, a nearly $1 billion effort to link ground forces assets to ensure situational awareness as well as coordination with the air force and navy.

Today, Israel's advanced technology has been unable to detect, let alone stop Hizbullah assaults. Military sources said Hizbullah quickly developed methods to penetrate Israel's C4I [command, control, communications, computers and intelligence] border system, based on advanced sensors and heavy air surveillance.

Hizbullah, the sources said, learned how to disable cameras and exploit blind spots to cut through the border fence and attack Israeli military positions. They said this was how a small Hizbullah force attacked an Israeli border post on July 12 and abducted two soldiers.

In the words of that famous philospher:

"The more they over think the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."
-Scottie, Star Trek III

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:45 PM | Comments (6)

While The UN Meets Over The Crisis Of Armed Civilians...

So I'm sure that they will be upset about this:

MOSCOW - Russia has struck a deal worth more than $1 billion to supply fighter jets and helicopters to Venezuela, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday.

“The contract was concluded ... for the delivery of 30 Su-30 fighter aircraft and the delivery of the same number of helicopters,” state-owned Rossiya television showed Ivanov saying.

Right?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:20 PM | Comments (4)

What the Hiz folks are shooting at Israel.

Ball bearings in the warheads. Fun stuff.

Posted by Crusader at 02:27 PM | Comments (15)

Children...CHILDREN!!!

One more word and it's a time out for both of you!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)

Speaking of Cheeseheads

...apparently a fair amount of them want a particular Cheese Whiz "Churchilled".

Wis. Lawmakers Want Univ. Instructor Fired
More than 60 state lawmakers are urging the University of Wisconsin-Madison to fire an instructor who has argued that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A letter sent Thursday and signed by 52 Assembly representatives and nine state senators condemns a decision to let Kevin Barrett teach an introductory class on Islam this fall.

UW-Madison Provost Pat Farrell launched a review after Barrett spoke last month on a talk show about his views that the terrorist attacks were the result of a government conspiracy to spark war in the Middle East. After the review, Farrell said Barrett was a qualified instructor who can present his views as one perspective on the attacks.

"I still have every expectation this will be a very positive educational experience for our students," Farrell said Thursday. "Some are upset about Mr. Barrett's viewpoints on 9/11 and don't want to pay much attention to what makes for a quality educational experience."

Sounds like a gouda idea.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:17 AM | Comments (3)

More reasons...

to keep driving my paid-for 20mpg BMW. I'm using less energy over the life of the vehicle.

Posted by Crusader at 10:15 AM | Comments (14)

A Moment of Greasy Silence, Please

The Philly Cheesesteak King has passed. Their American success story is great.

Harry Olivieri, who with his brother Pat was credited with inventing the Philly cheesesteak in 1933, had died. He was 90.

PLUS
...?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:50 AM | Comments (3)

One Missile Can Ruin Your Whole Commute

And I ain't talking Beirut.

NEW YORK (WCBS-AM) -- A motor vehicle incident involving a tractor-trailer and a flat-bed truck had closed Interstate Highway 95 Southbound in The Bronx. Cars are now rollling again.

The New York City Police Department has confirmed that one of the vehicles was carrying "inert ordinance." WCBS reporter Sean Adams has gotten confirmation from the New York City Fire Department that the cargo of the flat-bed was a Tomahawk missile. It is important to emphasize that the missile was not armed.

Talk about some serious road-rage potential...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:27 AM | Comments (1)

Congrats Bill!

Please go wish him well on his nuptials!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:48 AM

Go Tiger!

Kick Open butt.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:35 AM

July 20, 2006

The Only Word for This Is

...DEE-LISH-ious!

EXILED Islamist preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed tried but failed to join the naval evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon's capital Beirut, it was reported today.

Bakri attempted to join evacuees boarding a Royal Navy vessel on Wednesday, but was rebuffed "at the harbour gates by sharp-eyed officials", The Sun said in a front page "exclusive".
A Ministry of Defence spokesman in London could not confirm the report, but said: "Our understanding is that's not true, and we've told The Sun that".

Bombs and dangerous stuff just SUCKS when it's coming at YOU, doesn't it?

Omar Bakri Mohammed attempts to whistle "Rule Britannia" to prove he is not THAT 'Omar Bakri Mohammed'. Saavy Royal Navy Tars are not fooled and he is forced to walk a cedar plank back to Lebanon. ©TPI

Argh!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:17 PM | Comments (4)

Lieber Angela...

Since you Germans have some experience, I hear, on dealing with these Zionists, not that anything bad ever happened to them, mind you, perhaps your country and mine can work out some sort of a solution?

A German government official said on Thursday that letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks her to help solve the Palestinian problem and deal with Zionism. “There’s nothing about the nuclear issue (in the letter),” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the extreme sensitivity of the issue for the German government. “It’s all related to Germany and how we have to find a solution to the Palestinian problems and Zionism and so on. It’s rather weird,” The official, who has seen the letter, said.

...“It’s not negative like Ahmadinejad’s letter to Bush. He is not criticizing Germany,” he said. “It’s basically about how we have to work together and solve the problems of the world together.”

Oh I bet he'd like to "work together" on some of those pesky problems.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:25 PM | Comments (4)

ABC NEWS

...is reporting that the Israelis bombed a bunker earlier that was supposed to have contained Hezbollah's leader. No word yet on whether the strike was a complete success or not, may he rest in pieces.

UPDATE: Ah. The JP has more on the elimination efforts.

And you know...honestly? It doesn't bother me one whit ~ the thought of these f*ckers looking up at the sky in terror and foreboding or shreiking at the weird noise from the closet at night. I really can sleep soundly knowing that ~ just for once ~ it's guys like us in the shadows.

UPDATE: Hmmm... It's been over 21 hours since I posted this and mighty quiet. Anyone heard from the fat little sheikh himself yet? Captain Ed offers a little gem about why verifying the casualties is a smidge difficult:

UPDATE II: One of the reasons given for the lack of confirmation at this point explains a lot about the war itself:

Hizbullah has a headquarters compound in Bourj al-Barajneh that is off limits to the Lebanese police and army, so security officials could not confirm the strike.

Got that? The Lebanese police and army are not allowed to enter onto its own land. That's not much of an excuse for a state, especially given that the land is in the capital city of Lebanon.

And people are questioning Israel's show of force?

UPDATE: Rats.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:44 PM | Comments (1)

"The Marines were just so sweet"

At least someone appreciates what's being done for them:

"Everyone was pushing and shoving, women were crying, saying, 'Here's my passport, here's my children, take my children, just take them, take them,'" Esseily said. "It was absolutely horrendous."

The Esseilys barely got through.

"My husband had the baby on top of his shoulders, to show that we had a baby," Monika Esseily recalled.

"It was hot, it was humid, and we just kind of squeezed in. I squeezed in with one of my children at the gate, and I said, 'Listen, my family's on the other side,' so they had to bring them in."

Then, suddenly, things got much easier. "Right when we passed the second one, we were met with the Marines," Esseily said.

"The Marines were just so sweet, they said, 'Here, I'll take your bags ... you're going to be on board pretty soon, you'll have food, you'll have a place to sleep, you'll have a shower.'"

"They were just so wonderful and so sweet," she said. "All of my emotions and all my anxiety -- I just lost it there."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:53 PM | Comments (5)

A good read on.....

Proportional Response. When will we finally deal with these vermin?

Posted by Crusader at 10:10 AM | Comments (1)

"Marines to the Rescue"

OO-RAH!!

U.S. Marines landed in Lebanon Thursday to help evacuate Americans onto a Navy ship bound for Cyprus as Israeli warplanes continued to bomb targets in Beirut and Israeli ground troops fought Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon.

This headline's been seen before and Marines have spent quite a bit of time there, unfortunately. And THIS sounds hugely risky...

No plans have been made yet for the several hundred Americans in southern Lebanon, where fighting has been fiercest and Israeli troops entered Tuesday.

Harty said the State Department will move them when it's "safe and prudent ... we're always going to err on the side of caution," she said.

A senior defense official told CNN on Wednesday that the military is considering using teams of Marines aboard helicopters to extract Americans who are stuck in remote parts of Lebanon. The official stressed that nothing has been decided.

Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, told CNN that one reason he is moving the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Lebanon is to give him the ability to get Americans out of other parts of Lebanon, if necessary.

God speed, Jarheads.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:00 AM

Even The BBC Doesn't Read The BBC

There's this mildy interesting story in the BBC today:

Tut's gem hints at space impact

In 1996 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Italian mineralogist Vincenzo de Michele spotted an unusual yellow-green gem in the middle of one of Tutankhamun's necklaces. The jewel was tested and found to be glass, but intriguingly it is older than the earliest Egyptian civilisation.

Working with Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat, they traced its origins to unexplained chunks of glass found scattered in the sand in a remote region of the Sahara Desert.

But the glass is itself a scientific enigma. How did it get to be there and who or what made it?

...An Austrian astrochemist Christian Koeberl had established that the glass had been formed at a temperature so hot that there could be only one known cause: a meteorite impacting with Earth. And yet there were no signs of an impact crater, even in satellite images.

The article than talks about how they think it was made by an 'air-burst' sort of meteorite. All fine and good.

But then I looked at the 'related' story links in the sidebar and I saw this:

Huge impact crater found in Egypt 06 Mar 06 | Science/Nature

Huge impact crater found in Egypt

The crater dwarfs the next largest known Saharan crater

A giant crater made by a meteorite impact millions of years ago has been discovered in Egypt's western desert.
Boston University experts found the 31km (19 mile) wide crater while studying satellite images of the area.

It is more than twice the size of the next largest Saharan impact depression and more than 25 times the size of Arizona's famous Meteor Crater.

The American team that found it says its sheer size may have helped it escape detection all these years.

...The heat from this impact may be responsible for the extensive field of "Desert Glass", yellow-green silica glass fragments found on the desert surface between the giant dunes of the Great Sand Sea in southwestern Egypt.

How much do the editors at the Beeb get paid? Remember, folks: they're the professionals. Do not attempt to be a "journalist" at home, and most certainly do not attempt it in your pajamas.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:10 AM | Comments (15)

Just One of Those Things

...that're funny at midnight or there 'bouts: adjacent headlines on CNBC just now.

Investigators Inspect Ship That Tilted
House Fails to Override Stem Cell Veto

Investigators for a ship that tilted a house?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:34 AM

July 19, 2006

Bingley Inked OR

...'A Walk on the Wild Side Runs Amok'. His henna tattoo looks like it says: "土包子" (pronounced roughly "tou bao dz"). Thank God for John, who translates it to:

a pork bun made out of dirt

Sweet Jesus. That would have been tragic.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:55 PM | Comments (4)

Thank You for the Hezbollah View

+

=

It would be more fun if Helen Thomas realized he was layin' a hurt on her.
And then shut up for a while.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:25 PM | Comments (13)

Wednesday Wonderings

Even if my ship stayed upright, I don't know that I'd want to watch THIS...

...the first evening of my dream cruise.

Someone at Carnival/Princess is smokin' dope.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:45 PM | Comments (13)

Well, Hot Doodle Damn!

My favoritest Congresswoman might be on her way to not jumping any more turnstiles.

As election results poured in, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Democratic challenger Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. appeared headed for a runoff in the 4th District race.

With 90 percent of the vote counted, McKinney had 47 percent of the vote to Johnson’s 45 percent.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:44 AM | Comments (2)

Afghan Towns Recaptured

Looks like the Coalition and Afghan Army forces have recaptured those towns we talked about below:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan and coalition soldiers reclaimed the second of two southern towns Wednesday that had been overrun in recent days by the Taliban, Afghan and U.S. officials said. A purported Taliban statement threatened "severe" action in coming days.

Hundreds of ground forces battled Taliban fighters before entering the Helmand provincial town of Garmser, which had been captured by insurgents on Sunday, said Gen. Rahmatullah Roufi, the Afghan army commander in the country's south.

"Our troops launched an attack on Garmser and thank God we captured it," Roufi told The Associated Press. He declined to provide details.

Good.

I also like the sound of this:

"The Taliban appears to be bullying their way around some of the smaller towns in remote areas but they have no capability to lay claim to any piece of ground," Fitzpatrick said.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:13 AM | Comments (3)

A Note to the Americans Snarling in Lebanon

I know it's scarier than dogsh*t BUT...There are 25 THOUSAND of you there. Chill the f*ck out and give it time to work. Logistics are a bitch thousands of miles from home in a WAR zone and, like it or not, you are the juiciest plum on the target tree. Ships big enough to haul substantial numbers and ships needed to protect those numbers don't levitate where you want them in the blink of an eye. And while Hezbollah might briefly think a ferry full of Frenchmen or Greeks is tempting for the odd shot or two, the thought of a helicopter or boatload of Americans in flames brings a glaze to their eyes and drool to their chins. Other folks want out, too and some are being told "you're pretty much on your own", so quit pissing and moaning to the ABC camera crews. Use your heads, give it a chance to work, be where you're supposed to be so someone can reach you, help those who are worse off than yourselves and be ready to leave when the flag goes up.

It's not Kansas, people.

It's the Middle East.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM | Comments (46)

A Gritty, Hard-Boiled Tribute

From the 'Fly.

I never met a morning I liked. That's why I preferred to sneak up on them slowly after midnight, easing my way to closing time and going home with the baker's trucks. I figured that way, the day already started right, so I had a leg up on whatever happened after sunrise.

Read the whole thing. It is a thing of beauty.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:26 AM | Comments (1)

I'm Still Not Quite Sure

...that I didn't write this.

Damn, I wish the president would swear more. When his private conversation with Tony Blair was picked up yesterday on an open microphone, I was heartened, not shocked. "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over," Bush said. Lebanon is in flames. Iraq is in chaos. Iran is enriching. Isn't this a time for swearing?

Shouldn't we hope that when he's in private, Bush is throwing around the barnyard epithets? I don't think anyone would have been comforted if his aside to Tony Blair had been about weight lifting or the soufflé they had for lunch. Tony, did you see what Jacques was wearing?

Everyone has fixated on the word "shit," with cable commentators and news anchors expressing "concern" about the language "controversy." (For language purists, of course, the real problem is the apparent misuse of the word irony.) According to some, the single dirty word is more proof that Bush is a dumb cowboy, but Bush's unguarded remarks actually make the opposite case. They show that he understands the awkward steps of diplomacy and that, while he may be frustrated, he's remarkably cool and multilateral for the supposed simple fellow from Midland. (The reaction has actually been fairly mild. If this were a Democratic president, the forces of moral rectitude would be swarming: What about the children?)

Wish I had, 'cause it sounds like what I was thinking.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:20 AM | Comments (1)

Insta Schminsta!

Our beloved Susanna has got that most fashionable of links...a Manolo-lanche!

Woo-Hoo! Congratulations!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:31 AM | Comments (8)

July 18, 2006

Another Stupid Amendment Defeated

At least something good has come out of this Congress:

The House on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, ending for another year a congressional debate that supporters of the ban hope will still reverberate in this fall's election.

The 236-187 vote for the proposal to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman was 47 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment. It followed six weeks after the Senate also decisively defeated the amendment, a top priority of social conservatives.

Good to know this is one of the most pressing issues facing the nation these days.

Retards.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:11 PM | Comments (10)

Of The "25 Safest Places To Live" In The US

13 are in New Jersey.

Would you break into a house in Tony Soprano's neighborhood?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:38 PM | Comments (2)

Power Troubles In NY

ConEd is asking all buildings to cut their power usage by 25%. It's going to be close to 100 here today.

Yippee.

At least I don't have to go into the subway.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:52 AM | Comments (20)

Later Tonight ~ 1969

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:59 AM | Comments (5)

Don't You Just Hate It When They're So Gracious in Defeat?

Even YEARS later? Rev. Jesse adroitly fans the conspiracy flames in an misleading article about "piety" and "true faith". (?)

...Poppycock. Democrats didn't lose Florida in 2000 and the 2000 election because of the lack of a high faith profile. Al Gore won the popular vote nationally and the popular vote of the majority who cast ballots in Florida on Election Day. He lost Florida because the fix was in, because the Voting Rights Act was not enforced -- and because Republicans turned the recount into an alley fight while Gore played by rules. Then a transparently partisan majority in the Supreme Court violated its own principles and shamed itself by ordering an end to a fair count, worried Bush might lose. This wasn't about faith; it was about will.

Similarly, Democrats didn't lose Ohio in 2004 and the 2004 election because of the lack of a high faith profile. They lost because the fix was in, and because once again, Republicans had a partisan zealot -- Ken Blackwell -- as secretary of state. Once again he abused the powers of his office in choosing voting machines and election schemes. Once again, a majority of people set out to vote for Bush's opponent.

How can Bush be SO stupid, yet so diabolically CLEVER? So hamfisted and awkward in everyday LIFE, yet so omnipotent and transcendent that he covers the ENTIRE COUNTRY at will with his foul, loathsome mantle, thwarting the Constitution and twisting the most sacred of our institutions ~ from half blind, half addled geriatric voters in SOUTH Florida to disenfranchised busloads in East St. Louis to the very bench where Supreme Court Justices sit ~ like a Machiavellian puppetmaster of unimaginable scale and scope? If you flush at midnight, does Bush hear it in D.C.? DOES he? Yes. And never doubt he could cause said commode to pour forth it's contents in reverse, should the whim strike him. Or to stop you from reaching the polling place in time to cast your Democratic vote. Such...is his power. Rev. Jesse's "fix" is HIM...

Wild how this stuff starts resurrecting when campaign time rolls around. And thank you RCP for the morning gut-buster.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:50 AM | Comments (2)

The Taliban Has Captured Some Towns In Afghanistan?

This is the headline on CNN:

The U.S.-led military confirms that the Taliban has captured two southern Afghan towns, and vows "decisive action" to reclaim them, The Associated Press reports.

What the hell is up with that?

Update: They've added a story:

Scores of Taliban militants chased police out of two southern Helmand districts near the Pakistani border.

"The Taliban extremists have taken control of the areas of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi, however, coalition forces do have them under observation," military spokesman Col. Tom Collins told reporters in Kabul.

"Decisive operations will begin soon," he added without saying when.

I would hope.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:18 AM | Comments (2)

July 17, 2006

That's Why God and GM

...invented "the parking brake".

A police dog that was left in a pickup with the engine running apparently knocked the vehicle into gear and ran down a woman who was walking to her mailbox.

Because this

...doesn't have THIS ...for this.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:40 PM | Comments (7)

Guess They Have to "Grill" Us

...since Zarqawi couldn't make it.

UN rights panel focuses on US record
US officials on Monday faced their second grilling in two months by United Nations human rights experts on alleged violations of international law in the fight against terrorism.

The 18-member UN human rights committee, which oversees countries' compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, made it clear that it did not accept US arguments that the covenant did not apply to US actions abroad.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)

Attention FoxNews and AP-IPSO Pollees!!

(Or ANY other polltakers in the near future.) When queried about "would the Democrats do a better job on the economy than the current administration", please refer to these numbers before stepping blindly into the abyss:

Output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose by a bigger-than-expected 0.8 percent in June and capacity use also topped expectations...

...Capacity use rose to 82.4 percent, the highest rate since 82.5 percent in June 2000, the Fed reported on Monday.

Industrial production rose at an annual rate of 6.6 percent in the second quarter, the largest quarterly rise since a 7.7 percent climb in the fourth quarter of 1999.

...Manufacturing output in June rose at 0.7 percent on gains in automotive production, while mining output jumped 1.2 percent and utilities output climbed 0.7 percent.

Manufacturing capacity use was 81.1 percent, the highest since May 2000.

Knowledge is power, children and the answer to the question is "No".

Wake UP.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:25 AM | Comments (2)

Continuing Our "Much Loved Classics" (Goats, etc.) Theme...

...GUESS what handsome devil has a birthday today?

GAH-rrrowllll.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:59 AM | Comments (12)

Even in a Democracy, the Religion of Pieces

...keeps killing it's women.

How to Avoid Honor Killing in Turkey? Honor Suicide
For Derya, a waiflike girl of 17, the order to kill herself came from an uncle and was delivered in a text message to her cellphone. “You have blackened our name,” it read. “Kill yourself and clean our shame or we will kill you first.”

Derya said her crime was to fall for a boy she had met at school last spring. She knew the risks: her aunt had been killed by her grandfather for seeing a boy. But after being cloistered and veiled for most of her life, she said, she felt free for the first time and wanted to express her independence.

When news of the love affair spread to her family, she said, her mother warned her that her father would kill her. But she refused to listen. Then came the threatening text messages, sent by her brothers and uncles, sometimes 15 a day. Derya said they were the equivalent of a death sentence.

...Every few weeks in Batman and the surrounding area in southeast Anatolia, which is poor, rural and deeply influenced by conservative Islam, a young woman tries to take her life. Others have been stoned to death, strangled, shot or buried alive. Their offenses ranged from stealing a glance at a boy to wearing a short skirt, wanting to go to the movies, being raped by a stranger or relative or having consensual sex.

Hoping to join the European Union, Turkey has tightened the punishment for attacks on women and girls who have had such experiences. But the violence has continued, if by different means: parents are trying to spare their sons from the harsh punishments associated with killing their sisters by pressing the daughters to take their own lives instead.

“Families of disgraced girls are choosing between sacrificing a son to a life in prison by designating him to kill his sister or forcing their daughters to kill themselves,” said Yilmaz Akinci, who works for a rural development group. “Rather than losing two children, most opt for the latter option.”

How about losing NO children? How about coming out of the f*ckin' STONE AGE? How about American feminists standing up for these world sisters? Or do you only have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if you're a Radcliffe/Barnard grad, Quinnipiac speaker, Newsweek columnist or witty playwright who uses the "V"-word in your title?
Phyllis Chesler:

...Western feminism's failure to confront the problems raised by Islam, Chesler believes, is a result of the creation of a hierarchy of sins, "an intellectual culture in which racism trumps gender concerns". The example she cites as the embodiment of wrongheaded priorities is "gay and lesbian movement activists rooting for the Palestinians who, meanwhile, are very busy persecuting homosexuals, who in turn are fleeing to Israel for political asylum".

The result, she argues, is that "instead of telling the truth about Islam and demanding that the Muslim world observes certain standards, you have westerners beating their breasts and saying, 'We can't judge you, we can't expose you, we can't challenge you.' And here in the west you have a dangerous misuse of western concepts such as religious tolerance and cultural sensitivity so that one kind of hate speech is seen as something that must be rigorously protected. That means, principally, lies about America and lies about Jews."

Of course, she's also been labeled an Islamophobe. Islamic women speaking up, fighting the good fight that holds true, life threatening DANGER for those very thoughts, need back-up. Need to know they're protected. Need a chance to get the word out and a massive condemnation of the basic, deep rooted inhumanity of fundamentalist Islam. You shouldn't have to kill yourself ~ or worry that you should kill yourself so your baby brother doesn't have to go to jail for your murder ~ because you want to wear jeans. (Although I suppose it IS progress after a sort that he could actually GO to jail...God, that's a S-O-R-R-Y excuse for a culture.)

They
make
me
SICK. Go ahead and label.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:38 AM | Comments (11)

The Arab League is Not in League

...with Hizbollah. (How amazing is that?)

...But the group did not throw its support behind Hezbollah. Squabbles over the legitimacy of the rebel group's attacks on Israel — including the capture of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the 4-day battle — caused dissention in the ranks, delegates said.

The Saudi foreign minister appeared to be leading a camp of ministers criticizing the guerrilla group's actions, calling them "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

"These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi al-Faisal told his counterparts.

Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, delegates said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

EVEN the Palestinian Authority! Mon dieu! Of course, the usual suspects (From the NYT: "The countries supporting Syria included Yemen, Algeria and Lebanon.") are PI$$ED...

...Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem lashed back al-Faisal, asking "How can we come here to discuss the burning situation in Lebanon while others are making statements criticizing the resistance?"

...while the Lebanese draft proposal does nothing to separate the Lebanese govenment from Hizbollah in the eyes of the world.

Earlier, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh presented his fellow Arab League members with a draft resolution condemning Israel's military offensive and supporting Lebanon's "right to resist occupation by all legitimate means" — language frequently used by Hezbollah to justify its guerrillas' presence in south Lebanon.

If Lebanon was serious about resisting occupation, they would have thrown Hizbollah out when they sent the Syrians home a year ago. Instead of bravely "resisting" this Israeli smack down by sitting on their thumbs and complaining, they should take advantage of Israeli cajones and join in the housecleaning. Hizbollah building schools and clinics will never, EVER replace the tourist dollars and booming economy a stable, Islamo-fascist free Lebanon was on the cusp of enjoying.

“Who’s benefiting?” asked a senior official of one of the Arab countries critical of Hezbollah who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “Definitely not the Arabs or the peace process. But definitely the Iranians are.”

There may be no material proof of Iran’s involvement in the conflict, the senior official added, but all indications point to an Iranian role.

Arab leaders have long been wary fof Iran. But with Iran exercising increased influence in Iraq and stirring the emotions of Arab and Muslim masses frustrated about the occupation of Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and America’s role in the region, fear of Iranian influence has increased.

“You have Hezbollah, a Shiite minority, controlled by Iran, working, and the Iranians are embarrassing the hell out of the Arab governments,” said Riad Kahwaji, managing director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai. “The peace process has collapsed, the Palestinians are being killed and nothing is being done for them. And here comes Hezbollah, which is actually scoring hits against Israel.”

A little light should go on when you have both the U.N. and FRANCE calling for a cease-fire in your name. (Bernard Kalb just pointed out that the U.N. has never brokered anything that worked in the Middle East. The ONLY brokered peace plans that have EVER worked in the region are Israel/Egypt and Israel/Jordan ~ AMERICAN brokered deals. Remembering watching King Hussein flying his L-1011 at 1000 feet over Jerusalem and dipping his wings to Yitzhak Rabin still brings tears to my eyes. )

Paraphrasing Bob Livingston, just overheard on the telly:

"These Arab nations are going to have to realize this started with Leon Klinghoffer 30 years ago. And those same kooky people, who could throw a poor, crippled man off a ship, are now close to running things...They need to get a handle on it, or it's a catastrophe for the entire region."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:56 AM

11,000 Rockets

That's what the Israelis are facing. And they store them in houses, so when the IDF takes out the depots there are 'civilian' causualties for the MSM to boo-hoo over.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:31 AM | Comments (1)

On the Lighter Side ~ It Seems a Goat

...can be your best friend.

Looking to Prevent a Fire? Hire a Goat

When it comes to preventing brush fires, a charming brown-and-cream goat named Tim Buck might give Smokey Bear a run for his money.

With fire season under way, residents of a San Diego neighborhood devastated by the 2003 Cedar Fire have commissioned Tim and 350 of his friends to eat their way through chaparral encroaching on newly rebuilt homes.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:01 AM | Comments (4)

Quote For Today

From Dubya

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A microphone picked up an unaware President Bush saying on Monday Syria should press Hezbollah to "stop doing this shit" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:39 AM | Comments (3)

Ground Troops Into Lebanon

Now it gets uglier:

Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah bases on the border, a government spokesman said Monday. Israel's six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah following the capture of two Israeli soldiers earlier had been an aerial campaign.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the deployment of international forces to stop the bombardment of Israel and to persuade the Jewish state to stop attacks on Hezbollah, while the European Union said it was considering the deployment of a peacekeeping force.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also arrived in Syria for talks with the government on the crisis. Syria and Iran have applauded Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, which triggered the offensive.

I hope the Israelis smash these guys into nothing.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:35 AM | Comments (3)

July 16, 2006

Quote of the Day

The Israeli Ambassador to the United States on O'Reilly just now:

"When other countries ~ Russia ~ preach to us about disproportionate force, I say you're damn right we use disproportionate force!"

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:15 PM | Comments (15)

Reality Wrapped in a Fable

...from Bob Schieffer this morning.

...The frog agreed and the trip went fine until they got to the middle of the river and the scorpion stung the frog. As they were sinking, the frog asked in his dying breath, "why would you do that?"

To which the scorpion replied, "because it is the Middle East."

It is worth noting that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip did not kidnap that Israeli soldier and provoke all this because the Israelis were invading Gaza. No, all this happened in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal, which was what the Palestinians wanted, but this is the Middle East. Why fundamentalists in Gaza and Lebanon chose to provoke this war makes no sense.

Israel had every right to respond and did. But this is the Middle East. So, the response may have made it worse by giving moderate Arabs in the region an excuse to distance themselves from Israel.

There was a time when America spent a lot of its diplomatic effort on the Middle East and sometimes, it had real impact. Jimmy Carter's Camp David accords, after all, removed Egypt as the main threat to Israel.

But in recent years, we have stepped back. Why? Hard to say. Except this is the Middle East.

And the "Call It What It Is/What They ARE" award of the day goes to David Brooks...

Why is this Middle East crisis different from all other Middle East crises? Because in all other Middle East crises, Israel’s main rivals were the P.L.O., Egypt, Iraq and Syria, but in this crisis the main rivals are the jihadists in Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and, most important, Iran. In all other crises the nutjobs were on the fringes, but now the nutjobs in Hamas and Hezbollah are in governments and lead factions of major parties.

... Now there is a debate over how Israel should respond to this situation. Some say Israel should temper its response so Arab moderates can corral the extremists, which would be great advice if the moderates had any record of ever doing that or any capacity to do so in the near future. Others say Israel simply must degrade the capabilities of its fanatical opponents.

But this is a secondary issue. The core issue is that just as Israel has been trying to pull back to more sensible borders, its enemies have gone completely berserk. Through some combination of fecklessness and passivity, the Arab world has ceded control of this vital flashpoint to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bashar al-Assad. It has ceded its own destiny to people who do not believe in freedom, democracy, tolerance or any of the values civilized people hold dear.

And what’s the world’s response? Israel is overreacting.

Can't argue with words like "berserk" and "NUTJOBS" ~ succinct descriptions. How refreshing.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:26 PM | Comments (2)

July 15, 2006

Overheard on FOX News Just Now

During an interview with women who are American University students now trapped in Beirut:

"Where are the Marines? We wanna go home."

We're pretty sure they're already close enough to help.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:09 PM | Comments (1)

Reagan And Beirut

There's an interesting discussion going on at Volokh which echoes what we were talking about in the comments below:

Why Did Reagan Coddle Iran (and Hezbollah)?

I've always been puzzled why Reagan didn't try to punish Iran for taking American hostages. And then barely reacted when Hezbollah killed over 200 marines, and tortured CIA station chief Buckley to death. And then tried to sell weapons to Iran. Near as I can tell, it's because the Reagan Administration had one huge priority, and that was to defeat Communism. (Although we did back Saddam for a while against Iran.) Fanatical muslims, Administration officials hoped, were potential allies of the U.S. against godless Communism, just as they turned out to be in Afghanistan. Is this a reasonable summary? Any commentors with expertise on this?

You can't really blame the Reaganites too much, as they did indeed defeat Communism. But they also seem to have sowed the seeds of WWIII, by allowing and sometimes encouraging fanatical anti-Western Sunni and Shiite Islamicism to flourish, just as Roosevelt and Truman laid the groundwork for the Cold War by cooperating with Stalin to defeat Hitler--and being way too naive about their putative "ally."

What are your thoughts, folks?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:34 AM | Comments (6)

July 14, 2006

BREAKING NEWS

Fox is reporting that Israel has hit the Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. They believe the head bubba was in the building, but can't confirm it. There're also reports that that's where the attacks against Israel are being co-ordinated, but that doesn't make any sense to me. There's no reason they'd be running things from such an obvious, vunerable place.

MSNBC is reporting that Hezbollah TV says the Hezbollah HQ has been destroyed, but Sheik Hassan Nasrallah made it out in one piece*. That's a pity. No links yet.

*AP has that story.

All the network news stations are non-stop with this.

There are 2-4 casualties from the most recent Katyusha rocket barrages into Israel. The 2 that hit Haifa have been confirmed to be a new, juiced up Iranian version.
UPDATE: No decision out of the State Dept. yet, but the Iwo Jima is standing by in case they throw the 'evacuate Americans' flag. They'll use the Marines and their helicopters to ferry folks off shore to the ship**.

The head of Hezbollah is on al-Jazeera now, addressing the Lebanese people. "Israeli agression against Muslims"..."Oh dear people, defiant mujahadeen...you are a people of dignity, honor and defiance...we have two options. We're not just Hezbollah and not just resistance..."
UPDATE 1p.m.CST: The Sheik has also threatened Israel that they won't stop at Haifa now ~ they will target it and then move their attacks into the heart of central Israel. MSNBB has more on that.

Speaking in an audiotape aired on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television, Nasrallah addressed himself to Israelis, saying: "You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war."

**Military officials are discussing contingency plans for what appears now to be the inevitable evacuation of U.S. citizens.

One official says that the most likely plan would be to use the assets from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based out of Camp Lejeune. The 24th MEU is currently in the Red Sea near Jordan, conducting bilateral and unilateral training exercises.

The most likely candidate from the MEU would be the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima. It resembles a small aircraft carrier, complete with helicopters and light attack aircraft.

One official says that the military is working on the assumption that they would have to evacuate nearly 25,000 people.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:13 PM | Comments (8)

Aw, Jeez

::sniff::

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:40 PM | Comments (2)

Bingley in Beirut

Whoops! Sorry! Typo. Wrong "B" guy. Well. Same thing, really.

CELEBRITY chef Anthony Bourdain was stranded in war-ravaged Beirut yesterday after Israeli forces bombed the city's international airport and blockaded all of Lebanon's ports.

The best-selling author of "Kitchen Confidential" flew to Beirut on Sunday with a camera crew from his Travel Channel series, "No Reservations," to do a show on the local cuisine. But after the thunderous assault on the city in response to Islamic extremist group Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, Bourdain and his crew holed up at the Moevenpick Hotel while they waited for evacuation instructions from the State Department.

"Our network, our friends and our families just want us out of here as soon as possible," Bourdain told Page Six yesterday afternoon, as Israeli shells exploded in the distance. "We're not getting a show out of this . . . I just wanna hang out and drink at the bar. The mojitos here are great.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:35 AM | Comments (22)

In the Words of the Grail Knight, "If You Must Choose...

...choose wisely..."

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. - The Complete Series (1993)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:09 AM

You Might Want to Rethink This Gift Package, Guys

Western Incentives for Iran Released
The world powers are prepared to provide Iran with advanced technology and possibly even nuclear research reactors if it agrees to suspend uranium enrichment under a package of incentives revealed in full for the first time Thursday.

The package - put together by the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - was given to the Iranians on June 6 and some details were leaked at the time.

But the full proposal showed a broader range of economic, political and energy incentives. They include promoting Tehran's membership in the World Trade Organization, and the possible lifting of U.S. and European restrictions on the export of civilian aircraft and telecommunications equipment.

Under the incentives, the six powers are prepared to help Iran build state-of-the-art light water nuclear power reactors and to give legally binding guarantees that nuclear fuel will be provided for these civilian reactors meant to produce energy.

It's über generous, but I see beard boy's sticky fingerprints all over a Lebanese map...

Minutes before the fire Hizbullah's al-Manar showed a new rocket which they said will hit "the strongholds of the Zionist enemy."

"Need some more rockets?"

UPDATE: Yup. We'll take 'em.

Hezbollah retaliated by raining more than 100 Katyusha* rockets into northern Israel, hitting big population centres such as Nahariya and Haifa, a city of 250,000 people that is 30 kilometres (18 miles) inside Israel.

The SURPRISE in this report? Knock me over with a feather:

But Saudi Arabia broke ranks with the Muslim world, indirectly blaming the crisis on the “irresponsible actions” of Hezbollah.

And after letting Hezbollah run the southern half of the country for the past 20 years, Lebanese leaders are finally waking up:

Lebanese critics as well as allies of Hezbollah insist that the Israeli response was disproportionate. But at the same time, in meetings Thursday, Lebanese officials began to lay the groundwork for an extension of government control to southern Lebanon. Hezbollah largely controls southern Lebanon, where it has built up a network of schools, hospitals and charities.

"To declare war and to make military action must be a decision made by the state and not by a party," said Nabil de Freige, a parliament member. He belongs to the bloc headed by Saad Hariri, whose father, Rafiq, a former prime minister and wealthy businessman, was assassinated in 2005, setting off a sequence of events that forced the Syrian withdrawal. "It's a very simple equation: You have to be a state."

After a cabinet meeting Thursday, the government said it had a right and duty to extend its control over all Lebanese territory. Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said the statement marked a step toward the government reasserting itself.

Here's hoping you still have a country left to extend control over.

UPDATE: I firmly and wholeheartedly believe that Iran is the puppetmaster behind this entire crisis ~ what do they care about Hizbollah, other than there are enough of them to cause some damage and take the hits? While searching for reports of massive groups of Iranian "tourists" headed to/in Syria (Bingley gets me careening off on these tangents, curse him), I found a strangely prescient paragraph concerning the Iran/Syria relationship:

Ahmadinejad's January 2006 visit to Damascus left little doubt that Syria and Iran remain united more united than ever and committed to sponsoring rejectionist forces in the Middle East. The Iranian president met not only with Assad and Nasrallah, but also with the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP-GC.[16] At a joint press conference, the two presidents vowed to fight the plots of "world arrogance and Zionism" in Lebanon and called for "continued resistance" to Israeli "occupation of the holy Islamic lands."[17]

Syria has clearly drawn some strength from Iranian solidarity. Fearful that Syria's alignment with Tehran will create a powerful "Shiite crescent" in the region, the Saudis and Egyptians have been trying to mediate between Damascus and the West. However, so long as Assad is unwilling or unable to make the kind of compromises that would facilitate a rapprochement (e.g. full cooperation with the investigation into Hariri's death), he cannot really make use of this leverage. For better or for worse, he is committed to the "special relationship." With all signs pointing to a prolonged standoff between Tehran and the West over the nuclear issue, some analysts suggest that Syria, as the low-hanging fruit of the duo, will bear the brunt of Western retaliation.

Who's yer buddy, who's yer pal, Bashar?

*Lebanese Katyusha:

In Lebanon the several versions of the Katyusha rockets were used by the Palestinian militias during their attacks on Israel and during the Lebanon War the rockets were used by almost al parties: the PLO, Lebanese Forces, the Lebanese Army, PSP and after 1984 by the Amal Movement as well. But of course the most well known militia which used the Katyusha rocket is without any doubt the Hizbullah. At this moment the Hizbullah has several thousands Katyusha rockets and Fahr-3(the Iranian Katyusha model, with a range of 45 kilometres), along the border with Israel ready to fire if Israel launched a large scale offensive against Lebanon.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:48 AM | Comments (12)

July 13, 2006

Dear Mr. al-Mashhadani,

Please allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your brilliant piece of intelligence analysis. Both Secretary Rumsfeld and myself are deeply impressed by your keen ability to piece together seemingly divergent pieces of information and get to the key issues at hand. Of course, we know that the usual chorus of robotic, unthinking defenders will rise up and attack your good name and deeds, but please rest assured that Secretary Rumsfeld and myself place very great stock in both your analysis

"These acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a Jew and the son of a Jew."

and the obvious conclusions that we can draw from it, and we shall act upon it immediately.

Firstly, we have determined the location of the three living Jews still in Iraq. Please be assured that we are even now moving to spirit them out of the country tonight so they can cause no more harm.

Secondly, the above being accomplished and, as you say, since the acts of terror are not (indeed, can not be) the work of Iraqis, we are, effective immediately, removing all Coalition personnel from any and all security duties, including, of course, providing protection for any and all members of the Iraqi Parliament, protecting infrastructure, patrolling streets, so on and so on; heck, we will probably pull all of them completely out of the country. We share your confidence that, having removed the aforementioned 3 Jews (who in fact are, as you said, a Jew and the son of a Jew, plus a cousin of theirs who was visiting from Pittsburgh; dang, you're good) the Iraqis will return to their peaceful ways, and the streets and markets will be happy places once again, especially with visionaries such as yourself for the people to look up to.

Anyhow, thanks again,

Kisses,

Condi

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:48 PM | Comments (2)

Zidane Dependz On Zee Eyez Of Zee Beholder

Our boy sure does get around! But how is he viewed around the world? Well...

If you were German, you saw this:

If you are French, you swear that this is what happened:

The Italians had a different view:

The Americans saw:

Meanwhile in Hong Kong:

I'll give the last word to Susanna, who quotes Leno as saying

"That was the closest any Frenchman in uniform has come to actual combat in 40 years."

Heh.

(These gifs were all sent to me in an email; I have no idea who made them, but I salute you!)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:55 PM | Comments (8)

BREAKING NEWS

UPDATE and bump: 4:00 p.m. CST ~ Israel has pasted the airport a second time for good measure.

Israel attacked Beirut's airport for a second time Thursday, with helicopter gunships unleashing missiles that set fuel tanks ablaze at Lebanon's only international air facility, Lebanese security officials said.

...while in New York:

The United States cast the first U.N. Security Council veto in nearly two years Thursday, blocking an Arab-backed resolution that would have demanded Israel halt its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

...and then, in Iraq, it appears the Jooz are to blame for the mayhem in the markets, the beheadings ~ all the stuff we thought the insurgents were doing. Says who, you ask? Why no less than the speaker of Parliament.

The speaker of parliament Thursday accused "Jews" of financing acts of violence in Iraq in order to discredit Islamists who control the parliament and government so they can install their "agents" in power.

Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani hinted that the Americans and Israelis did not want to see officials of Sunni and Shiite parties running Iraq because "this is not their agenda."

"They will say that we brought you in a democratic way to the government but you are sectarian people. One of you is killing the other and you don't deserve to become leaders because you are war lords," al-Mashhadani told reporters after a parliament meeting.

Al-Mashhadani is a member of the Sunni Muslim Iraqi Accordance Front while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member of the Shiite Dawa party.

"Some people say, `We saw you beheading, kidnappings and killing. In the end we even started kidnapping women who are our honor,'" al-Mashhadani said. "These acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a Jew and the son of a Jew."

These people are whack jobs. That ALSO means Zarqawi was an ISRAELI AGENT!! Now that's twisted ~ he shoulda though this out a little before he shot off his yap. But since they don't seem to be real on top of 'reason' as a general rule, I can't see them wasting time on 'connect the dots'.

********EARLIER TODAY*********

The AP is reporting Israel is not ruling out ground operations in Lebanon.

Great. At least the German Chancellor pointed out in this morning's rush to crack on the Israelis that Hezzbollah and Hamas...

"The attacks did not start from the Israeli side, but from Hezbollah's side," she said.

...brought that sh*t on themselves.

Merkel appealed for restraint from both sides in the Mideast. But she suggested they do not share equal blame, repeatedly noting that the violence began with the kidnapping.

"I think that one needs to be careful to make a distinction between the root causes and the consequences of something," she said.

She's about the only one, though.
As far as Lebanon's Sgt. Schulz act?

Hezbollah fighters operate with almost total autonomy in southern Lebanon, and the government has no control over their actions. But Lebanon has long resisted international pressure to disarm the group.

UPDATE: Cheerful Hezbollah campaign videos. (The feed's hurky-jerky, but you'll get the idea.) The music's pretty snappy ~ makes you want to dance...unless you're actually watching what's on the screen ~ beatific mullahs accepting guns and offering them to the sky in perverted thanks, artillery pieces firing...the Lebanese flag with it's famed cedar sideways...
A Swill Salute to Harry's Place.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:22 PM | Comments (5)

C'mon, Barbaro, Big Guy

FIGHT.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:04 PM | Comments (1)

Jessica Lunsford's Murderer

...catches yet another break. The jury pool's 'tainted', so there'll be a change of venue.

Jury selection and possibly the trial of the man accused of slaying 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford will be moved outside the 5th Judicial Circuit, a judge ruled this morning.

With jurors dropping rapidly from the jury pool this morning, Judge Ric Howard said seating a jury was simply too difficult.

Oh, I'll bet it was.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:59 PM

A Better Acronym Might Be "EW" or "OO"

..as in "Another EU 'OOps'! EW, they stink."

For four years, the European Commission has been busy digging itself out of the hole it stumbled into in 2002, when three of its merger prohibitions were overturned in court.

This humiliating string of defeats dealt a severe blow to the reputation and confidence of the competition regulator, but also sparked sweeping internal reforms. Brussels introduced new checks and balances into its merger review procedures, abandoned some of the more adventurous theories it previously used in merger cases and beefed up its team of economists.

...On Thursday, however, that confidence was shattered by yet another ruling from the European Court of First Instance.

This time, the EU's second-highest court took aim not at a Commission merger prohibition but at the decision to clear the merger of Sony and BMG in July 2004. It was the first time a Commission merger clearance was annulled.

To make matters worse, the Sony/BMG deal had been the first big test case for the Commission's new enlightened approach.

Get it together, kids.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:06 PM | Comments (1)

Dr. Death: *ussy Boy

Well, now we know the answer to the question we posed a few months ago: would "Dr." Kevorkian practiced what he practiced. Shockingly, the answer is "no."

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Jack Kevorkian, whose failing health may deny him a chance to be paroled, said he still believes in assisted suicide but would not choose it for himself.

"Remember that I did not advocate assisted suicide," Kevorkian, 78, said in a written response to questions from The Detroit News published Thursday.

No, you just killed people.

Murderous, chicken hearted bastard.

* To protect THS's delicate sensibilities I am refraining from using the 'P' word.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:45 PM | Comments (10)

It's a Big Day in Iraq

...that I have a feeling will get lost in the world sauce. And that'd be a shame.

Iraq witnessed a historic event today with the transfer of security responsibility in Muthanna Province from the Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) to the Provincial Governor and civilian-controlled Iraqi Security Forces. The handover represents a milestone in the successful development of Iraq’s capability to govern and protect itself as a sovereign and democratic nation. Muthanna is the first of Iraq’s 18 provinces to be designated for such a transition.

Via a Centcom Press Release.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:28 PM

South Korea Sounds Like

...they 'bout had 'nuff.

North Korea storms out of meeting with South
...Tension between the two Koreas erupted at bilateral ministerial talks in the South Korean city of Pusan, where the Pyongyang's delegation parried complaints about the missile tests and focused instead on economic cooperation and requests for aid.

"The South side will pay a price before the nation for causing the collapse of the ministerial talks and bringing a collapse of North-South relations that is unforeseeable now," the North Koreans said in a statement before leaving for the airport, a day before the meeting was due to end.

The North Koreans demanded that the South stop joint military drills with the United States due next year, saying it was ready to protect South Korea with its 1.2-million-strong armed forces.

That provoked an unusually biting reply from South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok that echoed the rhetoric of the years before Seoul's determined policy of rapprochement.

"Who in the South asked you to protect our safety?" Lee told Kwon on Tuesday, according to a South Korean official. "It would help our safety for the North not to fire missiles or develop a nuclear program."

The South said the North could also forget about any more aid until it returns to separate talks on its nuclear weapons.

That's gonna hit them right in the empty rice bowl.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:22 PM | Comments (3)

How To Make A Divine Breakfast

Say you've got the Virgin Mary Toast and you want a complete breakfast. What to do? Well, now you can top it off with a Fried Allah Egg:

ALMATY (Reuters) - A chicken in a Kazakh village has laid an egg with the word "Allah" inscribed on its shell, state media reported Thursday.

"Our mosque confirmed that it says 'Allah' in Arabic," Bites Amantayeva, a farmer from the village of Stepnoi in eastern Kazakhstan, told state news agency Kazinform.

"We'll keep this egg and we don't think it'll go bad."

I'd trust a farmer named "Bites Aman", wouldn't you?

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

There Seems to Be a Lot of This Going Around

The Syndrome is alive and well. From Central America...

A former Guatemalan dictator said a Spanish judge's order for his arrest was unfounded and insisted that as president he was not aware of any atrocities committed by military officials during the country's civil war.

...to a collective "who, us?" in Lebanon

...Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz also demanded that Lebanese army forces be deployed along the border, saying Israel would not allow Hezbollah guerrillas to reoccupy its positions there. Lebanon has long refused to do this, saying that it is not in business of protecting Israel's northern border.

The Lebanese government said Wednesday that it had not known of the Hezbollah operation, did not condone it and bore no responsibility for it. The Lebanese Cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah ministers, urged the U.N. Security Council to intervene.

These little countries are amazing. Their governments are so pervasive, they can have the secret police at your door in 5 minutes for flushing at the wrong time. But 200,000 people dead? An Islamic terrorist group controlling the southern half of the country? I mean, honestly ~ how're you supposed to keep up with all that? It's like saying Ken Lay should've known.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:18 AM

The Malaise BoysPersons Are Back

So it seems the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a new ad titled "America Needs a New Direction." I don't have speakers on my computer, so I couldn't hear the stirring score or the inspired words of doom and gloom; I could only watch the horror show. It opens with lovely scenes of flag-draped caskets of our soldiers and a grave of a soldier in the sand with his gun stuck in the ground topped by his helmet. Nice. And then there are the obligatory scenes of Katrina and Abramoff (never mind the inconvenient fact that he gave money to Democrats as well), with Bush's and Rove's photos everywhere. This is followed by the scariest part of all: photos of Pelosi. Shudder. Anyhow, it all builds up to a crescendo of 'America Needs A New Direction' which ends with...a picture of Bill Clinton striking an almost Nixon-like pose. WTF? That's their idea of a 'new direction'?

Amazing.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:48 AM | Comments (2)

Answers To The Stupid Huff Questions

Thanks to Emily and Ken for finding this great site that schmacks those idjits about.

Hehehe.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:35 AM

July 12, 2006

When Clowns Attack

So they're having problems with nasty clowns out in Seattle, it seems:

For several nights last month, a group of thugs with black hooded sweat shirts pulled tight over their heads, including at least one in "angry" clown makeup, terrorized visitors to Pierce County's Fort Steilacoom Park, police say.

The group cried "woo, woo, Juggalo" as they assaulted park visitors with a machete and fists. They stole cellphones, cash and wallets and even threatened to cut their victims' heads off, according to court documents.

So far, two men and a woman have been charged with robbery and assault for their alleged roles in the string of attacks, said Pierce County deputy prosecutor Phil Sorensen. Prosecutors say the suspects claim to be "Juggalos," a subculture that has developed among the fan base of the rap/metal group Insane Clown Posse.

Angry clowns? Insane Clowns? Psshaw. Mere shadows and pale caricatures of the one true Evil Clown in this world...

Bow down and worship!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:41 PM | Comments (10)

Breaking News!

Babalublog has exclusive film of who killed Castro...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:19 PM

Good Grief

UNESCO has postponed a decision on a Polish request to change the official name of the Auschwitz concentration camp after members of the World Heritage Committee could not agree on the issue, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

The Polish government wants to change the official name of the notorious death camp where an estimated 1.5 million people were killed during World War II from "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to the "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau."

The Poles say the change is necessary to show future generations that Poland had no role in establishing or running the camp.

I never thought the Poles ran it to begin with. Is that a common mistake? To be honest, I never even connect it with Poland physically ~ it's all wrapped up as 'Nazi Germany' in my mind. (major dad's been to a concentration camp in Latvia. Who knew? Those busy, hateful bastards made sure they spread their evil far and wide.) Don't they teach Polish children how they suffered under Hitler's boot?

I guess I'm confused about the confusion.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:45 PM | Comments (3)

Ho, Boy...

Get ready to rumble.

IDF issuing callup orders for reservists
The IDF began calling up reservists on Wednesday afternoon following Hizbullah attacks on IDF forces along the northern border.

Earlier, Israel rejected a cease-fire request made by the Lebanese government via the UN after IDF troops entered its territory to rescue two soldiers captured by Hizbullah earlier Wednesday.

A very high ranking military officer said that if the soldiers were not returned in good condition, Israel would turn Lebanon back 20 years by striking its vital infrastructure.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:52 AM

Another One of Life's Hard Lessons Learned

You don't do NUTHin' without asking the old ball 'n chain first...or the first old ball 'n chain.

Man Is Fined Buffalo and Pig for Bigamy
An indigenous man in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island was fined a buffalo and a pig for breaking a tribal custom by secretly marrying a second wife, a tribal court official said Wednesday.

..."Indigenous custom doesn't normally punish men who marry a second time, but in this case, he did not get the permission of the first wife," Majimbun said. "The case was handled based on customary laws."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:44 AM | Comments (1)

Clinton Still Doesn't Ultimately Get It

On a couple of fronts, really. He was in Aspen yesterday (I'm sure he got there by horseback, to protect the environment and all) dispensing advice:

ASPEN — Democrats should perform well in November if they focus on issues like climate change, former president Bill Clinton told an Aspen Ideas Festival audience Friday.

Oh yeah, that will really bring them out to the polls. I'm reminded of a line from Lucifer's Hammer (I think) where a character says (and this is a rough paraphrase) that "no one ever manned a barricade to the rallying cry of "Clean water and cheap electricity!" I hope the Democrats do stress this though, because Clinton is right when he says

“Historically, we should win,” Clinton said. “We might well win one or more houses.”

I think people are a little fatigued at having the same party in nominal control of the House for awhile. Frankly, given how this supposedly "Republican" Congress has spent its way around town I'm not sure one can really tell which party is in control, but it seems to me that the surest way to guarantee that it won't be the Democrats is for them to start lecturing everyone about the environment in that prissy, high-minded, scornful style that the Democrats do better than anyone. And why do they do it better? Because they actually believe it. Listen to their speeches, read their editorials and blogs, pay close attention to their tone, and you'll easily see that in their heart of hearts, while they may in fact want the 'best' for America it is a 'best' that is strictly defined by them and they do not trust you to decide for yourself what may, in fact, be the best for your particular situation. They openly despise the values and aspirations of the 'common man' that they claim to champion...and then claim that there must be some 'vast right-wing conspiracy' to deny them justice when, shockingly, the 'common man' chooses not to give power to people who despise their lifestyle and values.

But I think Clinton is mostly right with this:

The Republican strategy is weak, he said.

“Let’s forget about global warming and talk about flag burning and gay marriage,” Clinton said. “I don’t know how long you can milk that old cow.”

Democrats, he said, need to focus on their differences with the GOP and on promoting what they stand for. One of those things should be fighting climate change, he said.

Flag Burning and Gay Marriage is the stupidest platform in the world, yet it's one that the idiotic Republican leadership, goaded along by a mostly unfriendly press, seems to keep focusing on. Well, second stupidest, as I would still have to give the nod to climate change, but just barely. Unfortunately, the Democrats are much more interested in focusing on their differences with eachother than on concentrating on the vulnerable fools on the other side of the aisle.

On foreign affairs, while he does believe we need to stay in Iraq, he still can not resist his urge to be Good Cop:

He said he has a deep belief in keeping channels of communication open, even to groups that support terrorist activities, like Hamas in the Middle East.

“I’d still talk to them if they wanted to talk,” he said. “The more you talk, the fewer people will die. There is an inherent benefit to that ... every single death is just another scar you have to claw through before you can make a deal.”

This shows me that he just does not understand how things have changed since his time in office. Well, maybe 'changed' is the wrong word; how about 'clarified'? These 'people', these murderous, raping, beheading, misogynistic barbarians, will talk and talk and defer and delay until the goats come home...and then send in suicide bombers and slit throats. They have openly declared time and again that they want us all to live under sharia or dead, and they have acted and continue to act in a manner which is completely consistent and keeping with those goals. There is no 'talking', there are no 'deals'. If you are willing to take them at their word when you have some global conference, why are you not willing to take them at their word when they say you are an infidel who must die?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:25 AM | Comments (5)

July 11, 2006

Quote of the Day

"You send a real powerful signal when you know the citizen has a good potential of being armed and doesn't have to back off anymore"...

That 'ud be Florida he's a talking about there, pardner.

Florida's crime rate dropped for the 14th straight year in 2005 to its lowest mark since 1971 because of tougher laws, increased financial support from the Legislature and law-abiding citizens with guns, Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday.

"This report shows that staying tough on crime works," said Bush. "Law abiding citizens that have guns for protection actually probably are part of the reason we have a lower crime rate."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:04 PM | Comments (2)

WhoopWhoop! Alert! Alert! Novak Speaks

On Brit Hume at 6 EST TOM (Weds.) night*.

Let us pray ~
Oh Lord, let this be the end of Thy servant Novak's role in Plame Gate. Let the shining light of illumination and the New York Times cometh down upon your humble correspondants, that they might clear Thine air about Thy Cavernous Mouth Wilson of Jericho Joe and we pray you claspeth his jaw of an ass locketh'd. Let us heareth not the caterwaulings and gnashing of teeth that so often accompanies Clarity's clarion call ~ the Oracle of Truth. Let not the insouciance of Thy leftist servants defile and defame those who speaketh from Justice's alabaster halls, nor maketh filthy fodder for Thy Kosites. Forgiveth them, oh Lord, for they know not what they babble and Thou showeth us what Thou hast done to Babel once already, yeah verily. And, oh Lord, if thy bounty which is endless, and Thy mercy, which is eternal, spring forth in flurry and flow from Thy bosom to encompass Thy liquid sphere, we pray that Thou shalt ~ lending Thy glory and strength to smite and vanquish their unholy foes ~ granteth Thy lowly servants, Thy Yankees, the Almighty League pennant.
In Thy name we pray, amen.

UPDATE: Via Drudge*:

BOB NOVAK, My Leak Case Testimony: 'I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in 'Who's Who in America'... MORE Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue... MORE... My primary source has not come forward to identify himself... Bill Harlow, the CIA public information officer who was my CIA source for the column confirming Mrs. Wilson's identity. I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in 'Who's Who in America'... I answered questions using the names of Rove, Harlow and my primary source... I considered his wife's role in initiating Wilson's mission, later confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to be a previously undisclosed part of an important news story. I reported it on that basis.

How peculiar ~ "I read a book" isn't showing up as breaking news on any of the major web sites. I thought this 'outing' was a big deal.

UPDATE: The Gateway Pundit has the "Who's Who" entry and it sure looks like it says "Valerie Elise PLAME" to me. So if her name's right there...what 'leaked'? MSNBC is still calling it a 'leak'.

...In his latest syndicated column released Wednesday, columnist Robert Novak revealed his side of the story in the Plame affair, saying Rove was a confirming source for Novak’s story outing the CIA officer, underscoring Rove’s role in a leak President Bush once promised to punish.

The shame is the gazillion dollars spent on this a$$hole and his wife. In a lighter vein, Charles Johnson at LGF puts a positive spin on things.

"Those tiny popping sounds you hear are thousands of moonbat heads exploding."

Novak himself.

In my sworn testimony, I said what I have contended in my columns and on television: Joe Wilson's wife's role in instituting her husband's mission was revealed to me in the middle of a long interview with an official who I have previously said was not a political gunslinger. After the federal investigation was announced, he told me through a third party that the disclosure was inadvertent on his part.

Following my interview with the primary source, I sought out the second administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation. I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in "Who's Who in America."

I considered his wife's role in initiating Wilson's mission, later confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to be a previously undisclosed part of an important news story. I reported it on that basis.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:56 PM | Comments (3)

Ladies and Germs! We Have

...a winner.

...“Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean,” Guigli wrote.

“The judges were impressed by his appalling powers of invention,” said Scott Rice, a professor in SJSU's Department of English and Comparative Literature.

John Kerry did better, but that was years ago.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:01 PM | Comments (5)

Grin And Barrett

Ann Althouse has the video of the latest lecturer hired by the University of Wisconsin. He's been hired to teach an introductory class on Islam to freshman. Given the way things are in today's world, that seems like a good idea. So, of course, he's going to spend one full week of class on why and how the destruction of the WTC was actually done by the US Government.

Go read her post and watch the tape, but especially read all the comments. It's simply amazing.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:00 PM | Comments (1)

Progress in Fallujah

...is slow but steady in terms of us rebuilding that snake pit.

Clean water should flow to 80 percent of Fallujah's homes this fall, and by summer's end a planned wireless network will provide phone service and Internet access to thousands, a technological leap unimaginable just months ago.

But mounds of rubble litter the city, electricity is available only four hours a day, and an estimated 50,000 people still have not returned 18 months after Fallujah was destroyed in an American assault to wrest control from insurgents.

...Officials are eagerly looking forward to the completion of a multimillion-dollar water treatment project they say will deliver clean water to 80 percent of Fallujah's homes.

I'll lay money the a$$holes try to blow it up.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:42 PM | Comments (2)

Bombings In India

Absolute bastards

MUMBAI, India - Seven bomb explosions rocked rail stations and trains in India’s financial hub Tuesday, killing 135 people and injuring 300, officials said. India’s major cities were put on high alert after the blasts.

As Confederate Yankee correctly notes

A major terrorist attack on a democracy's financial hub...must be those damn Methodists again.

Hot Air has got some of the latest info and links.

Let's assume that the terrorists were muslim, shall we? I know, I'm really going out on a limb here. So that gives us major attacks in New York, London, Madrid, Bali, now Mumbai plus all the CarBQs in France.

When are we going to dispense with this Religion of Peace crap?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:49 PM | Comments (8)

Oh, Come ON!

What a red herring. We all know, even if she showed up...

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D) failed to appear at two televised debates over the weekend, fueling criticism from two opponents who are challenging the controversial incumbent in a July 18 primary in the Georgia's 4th District.

...she wouldn't be THERE.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:37 AM | Comments (5)

Even to the Resident Druid

...this makes great good sense.

Court: Illinois U. Must Reinstate Group
A federal appeals court ruled Monday that an Illinois university must reinstate a student group that had its status revoked over its requirement that members pledge to adhere to Christian beliefs.

The ruling reverses a lower court decision that denied the group a preliminary injunction re-establishing its status while the lawsuit proceeds.

The Christian Legal Society sued Southern Illinois University in 2005 after the school revoked the group's registered status, meaning it no longer could use the university's facilities or name and was ineligible for school funding. The group claimed the university's decision violated its First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.

Not a Christian? Don't join. How hard is that? A little quick Googling revealed there's a "Muslim Student Association" and that said "Muslim Students Association (MSA) is a registered student organization at the University of Illinois..."

If it's okay enough for them, what's the problem with Christian legal beagles?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:59 AM | Comments (6)

The 'Glum' Rush

...is overstated.

Within the last 20 minutes, investors have received confirmation that a growing economy during the first half of the year has resulted in large tax collections from corporations, allowing the White House to trim its budget deficit estimates by 30% to $296 bln.

UPDATE: Now THERE'S a headline:

Budget Deficit Drops $296B Under Estimate

Seems W spread the good news his ownself.

President Bush touted new deficit figures Tuesday showing considerable improvement upon earlier administration predictions, trumpeting it as validation of his tax cuts.

Bush himself announced the deficit -- a task that has in the past been left to lower-ranking administration officials. The figures show that the deficit for the budget year ending Sept. 30 will be $296 billion -- much better than the $423 billion that Bush predicted in February and a slight improvement over 2005.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:34 AM | Comments (2)

Words

...escape me. Have I no heart, no compassion? Or is it that I just can't stand other people's children.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:43 AM | Comments (30)

Hooray For Judge Hogan!

He ruled that the raid on "Freezer Bill" Jefferson's office was legit:

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Monday upheld the FBI's unprecedented raid of a congressional office, saying that barring searches of lawmakers' offices would turn Capitol Hill into "a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime."

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejected requests from lawmakers and Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office.

The overnight search was part of a 17-month bribery investigation of Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat.

In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments by Jefferson and a bipartisan group of House leaders that the raid violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials.

Hogan acknowledged the "unprecedented" nature of the case. But he said the lawmakers' "sweeping" theory of legislative privilege "would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime."

I love that line: "a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime." Sadly, that is in fact be what Washington is, but heck, no reason to ensconce that in law, now is there?

Enjoy this judge's brilliance, because with rulings like this:

A member of Congress is bound by the same laws as ordinary citizens, said the judge, who had approved the FBI's request to conduct the overnight search of Jefferson's office.

There's not a snowball's chance in hell that his name will ever be approved in the Senate to move higher up the judicial foodchain.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California also said Congress will continue to work* with the Justice Department on procedures for searches.

Gosh, ol' Goggle Eyes, that's awfully big of you. You mean like how I get to 'work' with the Police Department when they want to search my house? Hmmmm? Nope, didn't think so.

Still, "This particular search could have been conducted in a manner that fully protected the ability of the prosecutors to obtain the evidence needed to do their job while preserving constitutional principles," she said.

Such as the principle of "I can hit cops because I'm a Congressperson who wasn't wearing their pin" principle; one of my personal favorites.

*As a service to our readship, we hereby provide the Congressional Dictionary's definition of "work" as used in the above-referenced sentence:

The raid on Jefferson's office angered members of Congress, some of whom threatened to retaliate by tinkering (i.e. "work") with the FBI and Justice Department budgets.

Bingley in '09!

*

(h/t to Insta)
*ths/campaign strategist edit

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:39 AM

July 10, 2006

I Thought They Already WERE

...POD People?

Scientologists Spreading Into Plant City, Beyond

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:25 AM | Comments (2)

The Headline Makes It Sound Like the Minutemen Were Rumbling

...when the report implies it was the counter-demonstrators.

Officer Hurt, Several Arrested During Anti-Immigration Rally
...Counter-protesters stood along the sidewalks shouting as anti-immigration demonstrators, including members of the Minuteman civilian border patrol group, marched along Hollywood Boulevard. The Minutemen, many of them carrying American flags, had a permit to march.

Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist was among the marchers.

Angry counter protesters, some wearing bandannas to cover their faces, yelled at the Minutemen and called them racists.

They also tried to join the march, but since they did not have a permit, police stopped them, sometimes forcefully.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:15 AM | Comments (6)

British Biscuits

...made by Kraft? Reminds me of one of my favoritest songs:

When Biscuits Go Wrong
...I thought to run a biscuit shop
You had to be a biscuit purist
And that such a man could never run
a biscuit fraud on tourists.
And then O! Tragedy of Tragedies!
My tears came down in streams.
Coz what I thought were Mango Biscuits
Nothing more than custard creams.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:59 AM | Comments (5)

What Is It About The Name "Times"?

Yet another newspaper feels obliged to compromise important programs:

A PROGRAMME of covert action against nuclear and missile traffic to North Korea and Iran is to be intensified after last week’s missile tests by the North Korean regime. Intelligence agencies, navies and air forces from at least 13 nations are quietly co-operating in a “secret war” against Pyongyang and Tehran.

It has so far involved interceptions of North Korean ships at sea, US agents prowling the waterfronts in Taiwan, multinational naval and air surveillance missions out of Singapore, investigators poring over the books of dubious banks in the former Portuguese colony of Macau and a fleet of planes and ships eavesdropping on the “hermit kingdom” in the waters north of Japan.

Few details filter out from western officials about the programme, which has operated since 2003, or about the American financial sanctions that accompany it.

Yes, few details, so you feel obligated to reveal what you can to help out your bud L'il Kim, right?

In a telling example of the programme’s success, two Bush administration officials indicated last year that it had blocked North Korea from obtaining equipment used to make missile propellant.

It seems the ones doing the telling are you.

The Media. Remember, they're on the other side. Well, that may not be fair. They live in such a la-la land that they don't recognize that there is another side.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:20 AM | Comments (1)

Zidane Uses Ze Head

Ouch.

I'd love to know what the Italian said to him...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:17 AM | Comments (5)

July 09, 2006

Oh ~ And WHAT Kind of Candy A$$ED "World Championship"

...ends on a penalty kick?

Poofs.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:56 PM | Comments (15)

I Know It's Sunday ~ Peace, Love, Happiness

I was about sick of the Rock, Paper, Scissors bunch, when along comes the Episcopalians to make me forget all about it.

Slavery Reparations Gaining Momentum
Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum.

Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.

...The most recent victories for reparations advocates came in June, when the Moravian Church and the Episcopal Church both apologized for owning slaves and promised to battle current racism. The Episcopalians also launched a national, yearslong probe into church slavery links and into whether the church should compensate black members. A white church member, Katrina Browne, also screened a documentary focusing on white culpability at the denomination's national assembly.

The Episcopalians debated slavery and reparations for years before reaching an agreement, said Jayne Oasin, social justice officer for the denomination, who will oversee its work on the issue.

Historically, slavery was an uncomfortable topic for the church. Some Episcopal bishops owned slaves - and the Bible was used to justify the practice, Oasin said.

This is getting RIDICULOUS. A 'reconciliation' like South AFRICA? HELLO? Nelson Mandela is ALIVE ~ the people who perpetuated that abomination are ALIVE. The 'new' South Africa is only 14 years old. Unless my math is suspect, we're 150 years removed from SLAVERY. As for injustice, that's a human condition that needs to constantly be addressed and remedied. Robert Byrd can answer for his hood. I don't have to and neither does anyone I know.

Color me 'no'. HELL NO.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:38 PM | Comments (9)

A HUGELY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

...to ancient a$$ That 1 Guy, from all your friends at the Swilling and all your fans......in Pensacola.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:25 PM | Comments (2)

I Know It's Infantile

And I really should be beyond such things; but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I found the fact that my shopping cart today at Whole Foods pulled continually to the right to be most gratifying.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:28 PM | Comments (12)

July 08, 2006

I Sometimes Find Myself Reacting This Way

...when I come across a special treasure in Target's mark down bins.

Fight Erupts at Shoe Sale; Customer Shot
...Shooting guns into the air is a not-uncommon method for dealing with emotional situations in Turkey, including weddings, soccer games, demonstrations and deals on shoes that are almost too good to be true.

"Whoopee! A size NINE!!"
'Target' being the operative word.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:25 AM | Comments (6)

Get

...OUT.

Houston tells evacuees to find a job or get out

In the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, Katrina evacuee Samuel Smith sits on a donated futon and watches a borrowed television in a subsidized apartment the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided for six months. The unemployed truck driver just started looking for work.

That would infuriate U.S. Rep. John Culberson, a Houston Republican who wants what he calls "deadbeat" evacuees from New Orleans out of his city.

"Time has long since passed for the able-bodied people from Louisiana to either find a job, return to somewhere in Louisiana or become Houstonians," said Culberson, whose district neighbors the city's southwest pocket where many of 150,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees settled in Houston.

"You have to make an effort not to have a job in Houston," he said.

Labor analysts tend to agree.

...The WorkSource building -- like the attitude of Houstonians -- is much different than in the weeks after busloads of Louisiana residents were brought to the city. Gone is a table near the front door where evacuees could collect information on assistance programs, and the office no longer has a backlog of sympathetic employers eager to hire refugees.

"The attitude has shifted," said Rod Snyder, manager of WorkSource's southwest office.

WorkSource reports the agency has placed about half of the 24,000 refugees who sought work through their programs and training. Most of the other half abandoned the training or lost touch. Asked if there was any reason why a person who wanted a job in Houston couldn't find one, Ron Rodriguez, director of operations for WorkSource, said, "No."

Dropping off a few applications at photo labs in the past year doesn't constitute getting "to a point where things weren't happening."

A Zogby Poll of Katrina evacuees surveyed in Houston found:
85% of them were unemployed

69% of them employed before Katrina

60% of them looking for work

25% had applied for 10 or more jobs

58% want to stay in Houston

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:45 AM

Searching for Answers Saturday

Is it really global 'warming'...

Newly Identified Plesiosaur Swam in Cold Polar Waters

Scientists have identified a new species of ancient aquatic reptile that swam the seas when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth.

Dubbed Umoonasaurus, the creature lived in waters off the coast of what is now Australia 115 million years ago, when the continent was located much closer to Antarctica than it is now.

...or global 'GLIDING' ~ the ongoing refrain from "I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet"? Australian waters that were once polar are now balmy and NOT because of carbon fuels or the ozone depletion. Balmy because ALL of Australia left the area. Get my drift?

Pretty inconvenient if true...

I'm sure I'm not the only psuedo-scientist to have noticed, but I AM the only one clever enough to mention it. So it's MY theory ~

GLOBAL GLIDING

~ MINE.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:13 AM | Comments (7)

July 07, 2006

A "Double-Egg" WHAT?!!

...In The Sunday Times last weekend you could find Jeremy Clarkson fulminating about America’s authoritarianism and its taste for double-egg burgers. (He may have been on to something about the first but I’ve lived in the States a while now and never seen a double-egg burger. More’s the pity.)

Neither have I. Sounds revolting.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:31 AM | Comments (15)

Trying to Get Factoids Out

...before the counter-clockwise spin starts. The June jobs report came in weaker than forecast ~ a good thing from a Fed standpoint. Buried in the report were a couple figures that will probably be lost when the 'Chimpy McHitler struggling economy' caterwaulings commence.

...the jobless rate stayed at a five-year low of 4.6 percent.

...the average hourly work week climbed back to match a 3- year high struck in April.

...The 3.9 percent year-over-year gain in average hourly earnings was the largest in five years, the Labor Department said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:14 AM | Comments (1)

Holland Tunnel Plot

This is really not surprising:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel in an effort to flood the Wall Street financial district has been uncovered by the FBI, with a suspect arrested in Lebanon, New York's Daily News reported on Friday.

The newspaper, quoting unidentified counterterrorism sources, said the investigation involved what officials considered a "serious plot" to detonate enough explosives inside the landmark tunnel to destroy it and send devastating floodwaters through lower Manhattan.

There was a lot more security at the Tunnel this morning, as it is a pretty obvious target, and it's closure would be a huge pain. But I guess no one bothered to tell Muhammed that Wall Street is above sea level; maybe he figured that when combined with global warmiing and melting ice caps his cunning plan could not fail...

THS UPdate: What's THIS I read?

Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., said, "This is one instance where intelligence was on top of its game and discovered the plot when it was just in the talking phase."

The FBI was monitoring chat rooms! Listening in! EAVESdropping.

Is M-O-N-I-T-O-R-I-N-G okay now in Chuckie's eyes?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:02 AM | Comments (5)

Just Keep Rounding Them Up

It's a good thing.

Iraqi forces backed by U.S. aircraft battled militants in a Shiite stronghold of eastern Baghdad early Friday, killing or wounding more than 30 fighters and capturing an extremist leader who was the target of the raid, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

...U.S. officials did not identify the insurgent leader but residents of the Shiite neighborhood said he was Abu Diraa, a commander in the Mahdi militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The U.S. statement said the militant leader was involved "in the transfer of weapons from Syria into Iraq" in an effort to break away "from his current insurgent organization." The statement did not mention any U.S. role in the raid, but residents said they could hear American aircraft providing cover.

In a statement Thursday, the U.S. said Iraqi and U.S. forces also arrested Adnan al-Unaybi, commander of a Mahdi militia force south of Baghdad. The statement said he was arrested north of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:57 AM

Rule Britannia

We remember. And we will always support you.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:36 AM | Comments (6)

July 06, 2006

Tiny Bubbles

...in the line...

A North Korean missile launched on Wednesday was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii, a Japanese newspaper reported on Friday.

Make me feel happy...make me feel fine.

UPDATE: "L'Estrange"-d, indeed.

Australia will significantly curtail its diplomatic ties with North Korea over a series of brazen missile tests that have drawn widespread international condemnation, local media reported Friday.

Australia is one of a handful of countries that maintains limited diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

According to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday, the head of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Michael L'Estrange, said departmental dealings with North Korean officials will be canceled.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:14 PM | Comments (5)

The New Sony PSP Ad

Seen the latest headline at The Grauniad? "Sony ad casues white riot" Hehehe; at least I make spelling errors for free for crimney's sake!*

anyhow, here's the ad:

new billboard advert for Sony's white PSP has caused consternation across the US videogaming community. The ad shows a white model dressed entirely in white threateningly grasping the face of a black model. Next to them are the words, "PlayStation Portable. White is coming".

It seems to me pretty stupidly racist, frankly, and I'm certainly not one who is keen to toss that term around lightly. I think that the latex gloves that the White Beast is wearing so she doesn't even come in contact with the black girl/boy (I honestly can't tell) is an especially nice touch, as is the way the necktie thingy forms a Madonna-esque cross with WB's bra support. Yech.

Of course, since this is the Grauniad they have to end with a paragraph like this:

Importantly perhaps, the ads are for the European release of the white PSP and are appearing on billboards in Amsterdam rather than in the US where racial tension remains a fraught issue.

Ah yes, those cultured, prejudice-free Europeans.

Where they still have ad agencies that would produce this sort of crap.

*And I correct 'em too: "criminey's" d'oh!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:41 PM | Comments (8)

BREAKING NEWS

CNN's reporting Calderon has won the Mexican election.

The ruling party's Felipe Calderon won the official count in Mexico's disputed presidential race by just under 0.6 percent Thursday, the culmination of a come-from-behind campaign for a recently obscure technocrat.

Natch, the other fellow wants to rumble.

But his leftist rival earlier declared victory and said he'd fight the election in court.

Calderon was already reaching out to other parties to build a "unity government," while his rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, blamed fraud for his narrow loss in the vote count and called on his supporters to fill Mexico City's main square Saturday in a show of force.

Mark in Mexico has more on Obrador's posturing.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:40 PM

Mammoth Blondes and Really Hairy Brunettes

And no, I'm not talking about at the Wal-Mart this weekend.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:15 PM | Comments (4)

BREAKING NEWS

Bingley can hit the beach again and quit whining. His gin's gonna cost him more, though.

New Jersey Budget Deal Reached
New Jersey leaders agreed on a state budget Thursday following a six-day government shutdown that shuttered casinos and threw more than 80,000 people out of work, a high-ranking Statehouse official said.

"They'll be announcing the final elements later this afternoon," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the governor will announce the deal.

...The deal includes a sales tax increase that would raise $1.1 billion a year, a different high-ranking Statehouse official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Half of the new money would be used to lower property taxes this year, and all of it would go for that purpose next year, the official said.

UPDATE: Well, hey. No sooner do I post this than whammo ~ the GOP talking points arrive. Florida ROCKS and New Jersey SUCKS...

...or so they say.

July 6, 2006

Dear Concerned Republican,

As you may know, the state of New Jersey is in the midst of a budget crisis that has led to a total government shutdown. This crisis in New Jersey underscores the significance of every state's fiscal policies and the potential harm those policies can have on us all when they are mismanaged, regardless of geographic location or status as a "red" or "blue" state. A major contrast exists between Florida's approach to money management and New Jersey's, and this has been made so very clear by the events of the past few days.

In a nutshell, the Democrat-led Legislature and Democrat Governor are facing a $4.5 billion deficit and are locked in a stalemate over whether or not to increase the state sales tax from 6% to 7% to pay for this deficit, essentially holding the people of New Jersey hostage to their infighting. To date, over 45,000 state employees have been furloughed, while many others are working without pay.

To illustrate the disruption, the lockdown of one industry alone has resulted in a loss of approximately $1.3 million in tax revenue a day, dollars that are specifically earmarked for senior citizens and people with disabilities. Moreover, New Jersey enjoys a brisk tourism industry, and the closing of state parks and beaches will have an unknown but certainly adverse effect on the state's bottom line. To put it in perspective, tourism is Florida's largest industry-can you imagine the consequences should our state take such a financial hit?

A Tale of Two States:

Florida~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~New Jersey

No Income Tax~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Up to 6.4% Income Tax
6% Sales Tax~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Raising Sales Tax rate to 7%
Hurricane Preparedness and~~~~~~~~~~~~~NO Sales Tax Holidays
Back-to-School Tax Holidays
$6.4 Billion in RESERVES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~$4.5 Billion in DEFICIT

How can two states be so far apart in their economic health? The answer is simple: Governor Bush and Florida's Republican-led Legislature have embraced conservative fiscal management policies, worked to return tax dollars to the people, and focused on growing jobs and diversifying the economy. We have passed sales tax holidays to help families shop for back-to-school items and hurricane preparedness items. As Governor Bush has said, "When it comes to taxes, less is really more," so our Republican leadership has been able to cut $15 billion in taxes since 1999. During that time, state revenues have grown by 51%, the state has consistently been a leader in the number of new jobs created and, just as importantly, our financial reserves have increased by approximately 530%.

Ultimately, Florida and New Jersey couldn't be further apart, and the picture couldn't be clearer: Republican fiscal policies in Florida have been enormously successful, while big government, tax-and-spend Democrats have ground the state of New Jersey to a halt. The stakes are high and the choices are clear: continue sound Republican fiscal leadership or bring in New Jersey-style Democrat policies that lead to big government and higher taxes...while obviously failing to solve any critical problems.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:03 PM | Comments (24)

Sullivaning Christians

From what I understand 'christianism' is his word to refer to folks who profess christianity but in his opinion act like islamists, and this is declared by him to be "Christianism, Symbolized"

As the congregation of the World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church looked on and its pastor, Apostle Alton R. Williams, presided, a brown shroud much like a burqa was pulled away to reveal a giant statue of the Lady, but with the Ten Commandments under one arm and "Jehovah" inscribed on her crown.

And in place of a torch, she held aloft a large gold cross, as if to ward off the pawnshops, the car dealerships and the discount furniture outlets at the busy corner of Kirby Parkway and Winchester that is her home. A single tear graced her cheek.

...In "The Meaning of the Statue of Liberation Through Christ: Reconnecting Patriotism With Christianity," he explains that the teardrop on his Lady is God's response to what he calls the nation's ills, including legalized abortion, a lack of prayer in schools and the country's "promotion of expressions of New Age, Wicca, secularism and humanism." In another book, he said Hurricane Katrina was retribution for New Orleans's embrace of sin.

So these are the crimes, the evil acts that place these folks in the same league as the jihadis? No, gentle reader, there are some even worse:

The pastor is not shy. His church has bought full-page advertisements in The Commercial Appeal, the Memphis daily, condemning homosexuality. At the World Overcomers' previous location, neighbors complained that trees were felled unnecessarily; Mr. Williams said it had to be done so that people could see the church from the road.

My god, not only did the pastor condemn homosexuality, but he also cut down trees.

That certainly makes him the moral equivalent of these nice fellows whose picture I also found on Sully's blog:

At least in his mind, it seems: people who speak against homosexuality, decry abortion, and yes even say stupid things about hurricanes and God while at the same time "[their] church gives millions to the needy" are no different from people who speak against homosexuality, decry abortion, and yes even say stupid things about hurricanes and God while at the same time chopping the heads off of workers and blowing up car bombs in mosques and markets.

I can see a little bit of a difference; can you?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:35 PM | Comments (16)

Well, Who's to Know?

"Every Mohammed is a terrorist now?" Khan asked.

Western Union makes it hard. I can't say I blame them.

...Western Union's caution is perhaps understandable. Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta sent money from two Western Union agencies in Maryland before boarding a plane he helped crash into New York's World Trade Center.

...The Emirates government has cooperated with the U.S. Treasury in tightening oversight after a 2004 U.S. investigation found that Emirates banks handled most of the $400,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks.

I think his complaint should be with his Muslim brethren. They never seem to grasp that concept.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:42 AM | Comments (1)

BREAKING NEWS ~ A Reversal of Fortune

Supreme Court Rejects Tobacco Damages
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a $145 billion verdict, the largest ever by an American jury, against tobacco companies for injuring smokers.

The justices approved an appellate court ruling that it had been a mistake to certify a class-action lawsuit representing an estimated 300,000 to 700,000 ill Floridians that resulted in the huge jury award for punitive damages in 2000.

About time. No one forces that cigarette to your lips. Hmmm...wonder if some of our local lawyers are gonna have to move out of their big houses?

More: The FSC ruled the judgement "excessive".

Nah. Those legal fees are paid already.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:26 AM

Gird Yer Loins, Ye Scum Ridden Florida Weevil Shaggers.

...Nationwide Insurance be comin' ta call and mean t'be plundering yer treasure!

Nationwide Asks To Raise Rates 70%
The Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida announced Wednesday that it plans to seek state approval to raise property insurance rates by an average of 71.4 percent.

The move makes Nationwide the latest big property insurer to insist that higher premiums are necessary for it to operate profitably in the hurricane-prone state.

Arghhhh.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:36 AM | Comments (11)

I Could Care Less What the Reviews Say ~ It's T Minus One and Counting for

...pirates.

Yo ho.

UPDATE: Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawled out of the bung hole. Ne'er ye mind that t'gallant, bilge rat! Take holda this 'ere quiz, afore I keel haul yer land lubberish backside against shivery timbers.

Arrrgghhh.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:40 AM | Comments (15)

Google's Robots

The funny thing about automatic data robots is that they really don't get...context. I was reading this article about some Marines on trial for rape in the Philippines

MANILA (Reuters) - A Filipino woman who accuses four U.S. Marines of rape said she was too drunk to remember how she ended up in a van with one of the men on top of her, breaking down three times during her court testimony on Thursday.

The Marines, being detained by the U.S. embassy in Manila, deny the charges filed in December, saying only one of them had sex with the woman and that it was consensual. One of the sailors has said the woman was being manipulated to incriminate them.

Of course, the first thing that jumped out at me was the editorial brilliance of Reuters where they refer to Marines as "sailors." Remember, folks: Reuters are professionals, unlike us folks in our pajamas.

The next thing that caught my eye was this ad placed right next to the article by Google's keyword-based robot:

Philippines - Free to Join. 1000's of pictures of Beautiful Philippine Singles www.AsianPeopleMeet.com Manila Philippines - Build your Philippines Vacation More Choices, Flexibility & Savings www.Expedia.com

Yes, a story about alleged rape would certainly entice me to look up some "Beautiful Philippine Singles."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:08 AM | Comments (1)

Yippee! We're Closed!

Enlighten NJ has a good roundup of where NJ stands in the budget shutdown mess

Budget negotiations remain deadlocked. Governor Jon Corzine and Democrats in the state Assembly have agreed state spending should be increased by about 9.2 percent, but can’t agree on who or what to tax for an additional $1.7 billion or so. It’s all pretty hazy now, but one thing is for sure, millions are being lost in private sector wages, business income and taxes. All this has something to do with putting the state’s economy and budget on a more fiscally sound footing.

And he has an elegant solution to the problem:

There’s a simple answer to New Jersey’s budget stand-off. There’s no need to shut New Jersey government, especially when you learn state workers will be paid retroactively whether on not they work for the days the government is shut down.

Just because New Jersey’s legislature passes a budget authorization bill it doesn’t mean the Governor has to spend every last dime approved. It simply lays out the maximum the Governor is authorized to spend. So why not pass last year’s budget and allow state government to keep chugging along?

What a crock the bit that state workers will get retroactive pay for time they didn't work during the shutdown. I'm sure the legislators are making sure that they get paid for all the work they didn't do to avoid this mess, as well.

I'm sorry, but no one should get paid for when they're not working (aside from usual vacations, of course). And every elected 'representative' should not get one more dime; indeed, they should be fined an amount equivalent to the amount of the tax revenues that the State has lost due to their inability to pass a budget in a timely fashion.

The one bright spot in this is that if anyone had any ideas of Corzine moving back onto the national government stage, this should effectively kill that. I mean, my god, if a traditional big-money Democrat, elected Governor in a Democratic state with a Democratically-controlled legislature can't even get his budget passed than the man is worthless on the national level.

Of course, that means we are stuck with him for the next four years...which gives me time for my run.

Vote Bingley for Governor in '09!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:55 AM | Comments (10)

July 05, 2006

Kiss The European Airlines Goodbye

The Luddites in the EU Parliament have outdone themselves with this brilliant legislation:

AIR passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday.

MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. The charge would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights.

This is going to kill tourism in Europe, and kill many people who will now drive from place to place instead of flying.

The MEPs said that the scheme should cover all flights arriving at or departing from EU airports rather than just intra-EU flights, as had been proposed by BA. But the scheme is likely to be limited to flights within Europe in the early years to avoid legal challenges from the United States and other countries. MEPs also accepted the proposal for a separate environmental tax to cover the impact of nitrogen oxides and condensation trails emitted by aircraft.

I would like a tax on the greenhouse gasses emitted by various politicians around the world: everytime on of them opens their mouth to talk they get charged $1.

We'll make billions.

God, it's stunning how far they want to regulate, and tax, natch, everything.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:55 PM | Comments (11)

Good News, Indeed

Security forces seized runaway al-Qaida leader in Yemen, Jamal Badawi, who had escaped from Sanaa's main prison with 22 other members of the terrorist group.

The opposition Yemen's Children League Party quoted security sources in the southeastern province of Hadramout as saying security forces captured Badawi in the area five days ago before he was transferred to Sanaa amid strict security measures.

The party said on its Web site Wednesday that the official authorities are keeping silent about the operation for security reasons.

...There was no information about a possible intelligence contribution by the United States in tracing Badawi, the main convict in the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden in October 2000.

Let's try to hang on to him this time, shall we?

A Swill Salute to the Counterterrorism Blog for being the bearer of great news.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:58 PM | Comments (4)

Presentator Naakt op Wimbledon

Binksley cavortsa na shortsa fishy chowder! Oopan unda ooveren heeska goin. Klik door voor de foto's!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:35 PM | Comments (7)

On a Clear Day

...she would have seen that love, ageless and evergreen, still only matters to people who need people. 'Soupahstah' Bahbrah matters only to Bahbrah and no one's paying $800 for the privilege of indulging her. I think she and the Dixie Chicks should hook up ~ maybe they can salvage a tour.

BARBRA Streisand may be starting to wish her last "farewell tour" six years ago truly was her swan song.

Sales for her upcoming gigs, which begin in October, have been disappointing, according to a top music industry source, who says fans are resisting ticket prices as high as $800, not including service fees. "Some cities [like] Detroit, where they wanted to do two days, are less than 3,000 sold," the source tells Page Six.

The slow ticket sales are said to be a concern for Michael Cohl and Live Nation, the promoters who paid nearly $80 million for Streisand's 20 shows with opening act Il Divo. The tour kicks off Oct. 4 in Philadelphia, continues in New York on Oct. 9, then rolls into Washington, Detroit, Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta, Atlantic City, Chicago, San Jose, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. But with promoters facing the possibility of losing $15 million or more on the deal, they're now said to be mulling offers to book Streisand in Indian casinos.

UPDATE: About those tickets...

THE dynamics of Streisand's upcoming bye-bye, ta-ta, latest, newest, most recent, final forever farewell this year tour:

Il Divo opens for 10 songs. La Diva Herself then comes on to do 12 songs. Then eight songs together. One duet will be, again, the old "Somewhere," which she somehow gave to mankind in her 2000 after-this-I'm-outta-here-for-good-and-always tour as well as her 1994 this-is-the-last-time-you'll-ever-have-a-chance-to-pay-this-extravagant-price-per-ticket-to-see-me-in-the-flesh tour. Figures "Somewhere" is the theme for where she'll work on her next into-the-sunset schlep.

After I announced she's charging $750 a ticket, this gimme-the-money operation then quickly announced that it's for a charity deal. Now trickling out is that the donation might get phrased as "designated proceeds" - whatever that means. Benefit-type events usually mention how much is tax-deductible. Can she be copping the tax credit when she donates "designated proceeds"? Can those millions she'll make off this latest in her serial farewell tours slide through the taxman without her personally paying big-time?

By the way, souvenirs she'll hawk this time around include leftovers from the previous farewell tours. They'll be labeled "vintage collectibles."

By the way No. 2: Those $750 tickets are not the Triple-A Superbest. Seats for $1,000 and up include - ready? - a $40 souvenir program.

People who love people are not necessarily the people who brainstormed this tour.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:22 PM | Comments (8)

This Artikul

...maed mie ies kros.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:57 PM | Comments (8)

Not ONLY Would This Jack Up Their Flag

...what would happen to "The Sword in the Stone"? (Which is NOT Excaliber, so don't even get me started.)

His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries.

But the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.

Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.

Who needs a Jihad when these PC weenies just up and change their history/tradition/sacred symbols to suit Muslim sensibilities on their own?

A Swill Salute to The Gateway Pundit for this horrifying development.

UPDATE: One more good reason to willingly roll over for the IslamoFascists?

Radical Islamic militia fighters in Somalia shot and killed two people who were watching a banned World Cup soccer broadcast, a radio station reported Wednesday.

The hard-line Muslim fighters, who have banned watching television, opened fire after a crowd of teenagers defied their orders to leave a hall where a businessman was showing Tuesday's Germany-Italy match on satellite television, according to Shabelle Radio, an independent local station. It said the businessman and a teenage girl were killed.

No more TV to rot your brain.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:07 PM | Comments (8)

The Iraq War Has It's First Medal of Honor

And it's been awarded posthumously. God, I hate that. I want them all home in one piece, bless their hearts.

In the early days of the Iraq war, on the last day of his life, Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith showed valor that no U.S. soldier has matched in Iraq.

...It was April 4, 2003. A company of Iraqi Republican Guards attacked Smith and other soldiers as they built holding areas for prisoners of war.

Smith's medal citation said he organized a two-platoon defensive wall, braved hostile fire to attack with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons and evacuated three wounded soldiers from their disabled armored personnel carrier. Still under fire, he mounted a damaged armored personnel carrier and fired its .50 caliber machine gun into the Iraqi ranks.

In helping defeat the Iraqi attack, Smith killed as many as 50 Iraqis and allowed the extraction of numerous wounded soldiers before being killed himself, the citation said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:30 AM | Comments (7)

So Far, No Carrot or Stick in Evidence

The Japanese wasted no time ~

Japan, considered the country most vulnerable to a North Korean missile attack, reacted swiftly on Wednesday. Abe Shinzo, chief cabinet secretary, held an emergency press conference at 6am local time at which he lodged "a stern protest" and expressed regret at the tests, saying Japan would respond accordingly.

After an emergency Cabinet meeting in the morning, Tokyo imposed a number of sanctions in response to the tests. It banned a North Korea trading boat from entering its waters for six months and cancelled all chartered flights between the two countries. It also barred all North Korea officials from entering Japan.

Tokyo is also likely to press for a UN Security Council resolution against Pyongyang on the grounds that the tests violate international agreements, including the so-called Pyongyang Declaration signed with Japan in 2002.

It may also take unilateral action, including imposing economic sanctions, Japanese officials said. Preparatory legislation for sanctions against Pyongyang have already been passed.

...as a matter of fact, they were ahead of the curve. The Russians are upset (for the moment), too...

The Russian foreign ministry also condemned the launches and the Interfax news agency quoted a Russian general saying that as many as 10 missiles were launched, with two falling into Russian waters.

South Korean students have momentarily stopped throwing anti-American Molotov cocktails...

But if Kim Jong-il's irascible regime was hoping to force the Bush administration, in particular, to give into its demands to drop financial sanctions and to negotiate on its own terms, it is almost certain to have gravely failed.

Not only has Pyongyang incensed Washington and Tokyo, both of whom have threatened a strong response including new sanctions, it has managed to alienate its usually appeasing brother in Seoul, which vowed to cut off shipments of rice and fertiliser.

...because they might just need us after all and the Chinese have just been shown to be IMpotent vice omNIpotent.

Furthermore, it has embarrassed its biggest supporter and chief benefactor, Beijing. The tests have called into question China's authority as the chair of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and its influence over Pyongyang.

"This has proven that China can't really do anything to restrain North Korea's behaviour," said a senior government official in Seoul.

What to do with a mad dog who bites every hand that feeds it? I would lay dollars to donuts that there are Chinese and Russian teams working on the Elvis problem right now. (If they're not in Pyong Yang already.)
Others may find the flubbed test comforting and argue their lack of missile accuity gives us breathing room...

Missile experts on Wednesday declared Pyongyang's first long-range missile test a failure after the Taepodong-2 crashed within a minute of being launched, and said this should give both North Korea's neighbours and the US cause for comfort.

...but you learn from your mistakes and, when you can launch up to ten at one shot, there can be a heck of a learning curve.

But Mr Wolfsthal of CSIS [Centre for Strategic and International Studies] warned that every new test would teach North Korea scientists a lesson and would give them the opportunity to improve.

He was also surprised by the extent of the testing, as North Korea launched the Taepodong-2 along with five short-range Nodong or Scud missiles from two sites, suggesting Pyongyang was trying to confound US efforts to gather intelligence from the launch.

"They have also demonstrated that they are not restricted to performing one test at a time but can carry out co-ordinated missile launches. In a war situation, that would be something that would concern us," Mr Wolfsthal said.

Damn. There goes my post title. In Europe, NATO and the EU are mad...

In an unusually swift and strongly worded response, NATO said North Korea's development and use of ballistic missiles "pose a serious threat to the region and to the international community at large. We regret and condemn this launch."

...enough for strong words. But not mad enough to give up groveling.

NATO and the EU urged North Korea to return to six-nation talks involving South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States. The 25-nation EU has said it stands ready to offer North Korea more aid if needed to help seal a deal on disarmament on the Korean peninsula.

The Chamberlain Syndrome is alive and well.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:55 AM | Comments (9)

BREAKING NEWS

Ken Lay is dead. Of a heart attack. (The AP report/obit still manages to get a last swipe in at Bush.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:43 AM | Comments (3)

Up To Seven Missiles Launched

We need to stop this guy, and soon:

North Korea remained defiant. A North Korea foreign ministry official told Japanese journalists in Pyongyang that the regime there has an undeniable right to test missiles.

“The missile launch is an issue that is entirely within our sovereignty. No one has the right to dispute it,” Ri Pyong Dok, a researcher on Japanese affairs at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said on footage aired by TBS. “On the missile launch, we are not bound by any agreement.”

Well, we do have a right and an obligation to dispute it. I'm so disgusted by this attitude of "who are you to deny them nuclear weapons since the US has used them." The logic is breathtaking, really: we dropped nukes on Japan to crush a murderous regime and end the bloodiest war the world has so far seen, and we haven't used them since. Therefore we have no right to object when murderous regimes led by unstable nutjobs/religions want to develop nukes; in fact, we have an obligation to supply them with the technology needed.

I mean, that's basically what the left is saying, isn't it?

Thankfully we can count on the BBC to bring in dear Madeleine Albright for some words of wisdom:

I hold no brief for Kim Jong-il but the mistake has been that we have not had negotiations with him in the last five years and this is an example of a failed policy. But I think what has to happen now is that we obviously have to be in very close consultation with other members of the six-party talks and our allies.

And I think one has to consider whether there should be action within the United Nations and to show a united front among those in the region and other members of the Security Council.

No, Mads, an "example of a failed policy" is your giving Kim oil and building nuclear reactors for him, as a 'reward' for being a good little boy, dontcha think?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:45 AM | Comments (1)

July 04, 2006

There's Apparently Been a Third Missile Launch Attempt

...that they're reporting was the long range one.

North Korea has fired a long-range missile, but it failed in flight. Two non-guided, medium-range Scud-style missiles were also fired, North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed Tuesday.

Japanese public broadcasting channel NHK first reported the missile launches. The two Scud missiles landed in the Sea of Japan, the first about 600 kilometers from mainland Japan, NHK said.

UPDATE: NOW it's been updated to four missiles. Somebody needs to lay a hurt on Elvis.

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

When In the Course of Human Events

A reprise of last year's Fourth of July post, as I could never find anything more profound to say than what's on that piece of paper.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

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

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

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

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

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Fourth of July!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:03 AM | Comments (2)

July 03, 2006

Close Election In Mexico

A Mexican Standoff Runoff:

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Two leading candidates have claimed victory in Mexico's presidential vote, even as the country's top election official deemed the result too close to call.

...With only 52 percent of the vote counted so far, news agencies quoted conservative Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party as having 38 percent of the vote.

Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the coalition, led by the Democratic Revolution party, has nearly 36 percent.

Both candidates, reached via cell phone over the weekend while they were in Rumson, NJ, attending to their lawn-care business, expressed confidence in their ultimate victory.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:37 AM | Comments (1)

What If The Government Shut Down...

...And nobody noticed?

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City's casinos were ordered to close Wednesday, the latest casualty of a state government shutdown that entered its second day Sunday after the Legislature failed to adopt a budget by its July 1 deadline...Corzine shut down nonessential government services Saturday after the Legislature failed to adopt a budget by its July 1 deadline, leaving the state without the means to spend money. Budget talks became heated this year as Corzine, a Democrat, proposed increasing the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to help overcome a $4.5 billion budget deficit.

It seems to me that if they are arguing over 1% or 2% of the budget that if they just keep the government closed for a week, which is over 2% of the fiscal year, that should solve everything.

Aw heck, keep Trenton closed for a month.

Please!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:57 AM

July 01, 2006

Saturday Night, 567 Premium Cable Channels

...and NOTHING to watch but the Firecracker 400. I have hours of listening to Darrell Waltrip ahead of me. On a lighter note, their salute to America's military was inspiring and hilarious. They had all the Homestead Air Force Base boys out there for the pre-race, National Anthem ceremony. I'm here to report they didn't let me and major dad down. In their honor, I'd like to repost a classic.

Squad ~ Hand Salute!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:09 PM | Comments (12)