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October 31, 2006
Incivility In Charlottesville
This video came out today of some rude moron confronting Sen. Allen in Charlottesville. Allah links to the site where this "Real Man" that JFK talked about today gives us his side of the story:
My name is Mike Stark. I am a law student at the University of Virginia, a marine, and a citizen journalist. Earlier today at a public event, I was attempting to ask Senator Allen a question about his sealed divorce record and his arrest in the 1970s, both of which are in the public domain. His people assaulted me, put me in a headlock, and wrestled me to the ground. Video footage is available here, from an NBC affiliate.I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions.
I wasn't aware that the 'constitutional right to petition his government' included rushing up to someone in a crowded hallway and screaming in their face. I guess my invite to join Volokh just went out the window...damn.
Evidently this lower-case 'm' Marine was asking Allen if he spit on his exwife. Now that's the kind of kinky info we need to know! What with the peepee-smoking composing exploits of his opponent things are really geting interesting down in the Old Dominion!
This idiot was lucky he wasn't shoved through a plate glass window for his stunt.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:32 PM | Comments (1)
They're Taking The Hobbits...
...To Isengard!
I was forced to do this by my daughter. I'm told this is all the rage amongst the 13-yr old set.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:24 PM | Comments (5)
Tonight's Sound Bite
On ABC World News Tonight, the very first story was the horse's ass and the very last quote was a Democratic congressman*:
"I guess Kerry wasn't content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too."Now, commenters on Jake Tapper's blog are thanking him for "helping Republicans make this incredible non-story into one", so I guess it's stinging.
UPDATE: Whoopee! THE link. (*And I updated the quote to reflect it precisely.)
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:21 PM
"Dirty Republican GOP Playbook Trick!"
If your stomach is strong enough, or if you just need to have your hair dried by a gale-force blast of outraged hubristic blowhardity, mosey on over to the oh-so-appropriately-named-in-this-case HotAir and be amazed.
You see, quoting JFK verbatim is a Dirty Republican GOP Playbook Trick!
Anyone would know that a veteran like JFK (who first rose to national prominence by testifying to Congress about how his fellow soldiers in Vietnam were murderers and rapists) would never speak ill of the troops.
Dirty Republican GOP Playbook Trick!
JFK will not apologize for being wrong! That would be like apologizing to a Secret Service agent for running into him while skiing! The Agent must apologize!
Dirty Republican GOP Playbook Trick!
And our treat, you farce of a human.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:06 PM | Comments (2)
Moqtada, Moqtada ~ He's Our Man!
If he can't manipulate al-Maliki like a little girl, NO one can!
The signs of the militias are everywhere at the Sholeh police station.Posters celebrating Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi Army militia, dot the building's walls. The police chief sometimes remarks that Shiite militias should wipe out all Sunnis. Visitors to this violent neighborhood in the Iraqi capital whisper that nearly all the police officers have split loyalties.
And then one rainy night this month, the Sholeh police set up an ambush and killed Army Cpl. Kenny F. Stanton Jr., a 20-year-old budding journalist, his unit said. At the time, Stanton and other members of the unit had been trailing a group of Sholeh police escorting known Mahdi Army members.
"How can we expect ordinary Iraqis to trust the police when we don't even trust them not to kill our own men?" asked Capt. Alexander Shaw...
No American should have to ask that question.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:12 PM | Comments (2)
John Kerry
...speaks.
..."Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs - "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps.
That's all I'll offer on the subject, since other friends have his horse's a$$ on a platter already.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:32 PM | Comments (4)
We've Had 103 Troops Killed So Far This Month
So I BET they were happier than dogsh*t to get these orders.
U.S. Obeys Order to Abandon Checkpoints
U.S. troops on Tuesday abandoned checkpoints around the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the latest in a series of moves by the Iraqi leader to assert his authority with the U.S. administration....U.S. forces disappeared from the checkpoints within hours of the order to remove the around-the-clock barriers by 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), setting off celebrations among civilians and armed men gathered on the edge of the sprawling slum that is under the control of the Mahdi Army militia run by radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Iraqi troops loaded coils of barbed wire and red traffic cones onto pickup trucks, while small groups of men and children danced in circles chanting slogans praising al-Sadr, who earlier Tuesday had ordered the area closed to the Iraqi government until U.S. troops lifted what he called their "siege" of the neighborhood.
...Al-Maliki's order underscored the his government's reliance of Shiite support and sensitivity to their concerns.
Damn. I mean DAMN.
Why don't we just declare the fat little f*ck 'Shah' and get the misery over with?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:46 AM | Comments (4)
I Hate to Be an Alarmist
...but HOLY CRAP!!
Lego Says It's Running Out of Toys
Children hoping to get Lego toys for Christmas may be in for a disappointment.The Danish toy maker is having a hard time keeping up with demand for its popular plastic building blocks as toy stores stack their inventories for the Christmas season, a company official said Tuesday.
When Crusader hears this, he'll be curled up in the fetal position so fast it'll make your Lego X-Wing fighter spin.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:37 AM | Comments (9)
Oh
YEAH.
The MOST wonderful day of the year is HERE.
I'd like to recommend a site. She's a web friend who's the most marvelous photographer...of haunted places.
So be safe out there. And have a GHOUL old time.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:38 AM
The Red Light District
Chapter One: Smile for the Camera.
The systems work like this: Cameras are usually triggered by road sensors when a car encroaches on an intersection after the light has turned red. A camera snaps a picture of the license tag and sometimes photographs the driver, too. That information is then usually forwarded to the local police department to interpret, and a citation is issued. Some systems use short video "clips" instead of a photograph....That's work that used to tie up traffic enforcers. But freeing up police officers is hardly the only allure to towns and cities. Many (but not all) have found the traffic cameras to be lucrative as well.
Perhaps the most dramatic example is the District of Columbia's cash cow. The district likes to boast that it has reduced red-light violations at 49 intersections by two-thirds since the program started in 1999 -- but it's also raked in more than $37 million in revenue from tickets, mostly from nonresidents. (Running a red light there is a $75 fine.)
Counting D.C.'s automated speed-enforcement program, the local government has amassed some $130 million from the electronic monitoring programs, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. That group has praised the results of the red-light cameras but has been wary of D.C.'s motives.
...The picture is muddier than you might think. According to a comprehensive, 2005 study sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, red-light cameras indeed reduced total "T-bone" crashes by 25%. But because drivers at camera-equipped intersections seem to slam on the brakes so they won't get a ticket, total rear-end crashes increased 15%, and injury rear-end crashes jumped 24%.
...That doesn't mean the city is going any easier on drivers, however.
In July, the city [San Diego] also passed an ordinance allowing citations to be issued after a "grace period" of just one-tenth of a second after a traffic signal turns red (instead of the previous 0.6 seconds), which will boost the number of tickets and the dollars coming into city coffers.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:57 AM | Comments (2)
October 30, 2006
Just to Show Off in This Joyous Holiday Season
My New Orleans paintings ~ church and graveyards ~ below the fold.
St. Louis Cathedral Jackson Square
The Weeping Girl St. Louis No. 1
St. Louis No. 1
(Sorry about my cockeyed picture taking.)
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:04 PM | Comments (6)
Eliot Spitzer: Fortunate Son
With thanks to Insta, here's candidate for NY Governor Spitzer's stand on housing in NY State:
New York State's housing crisis threatens to strangle our potential for economic growth and crush the dreams of many families. New York State consistently ranks among the five worst states in the nation on housing affordability, with more than 1.6 million households spending more than 35 percent of their income on housing. We are in this situation because, over the past decade, our leaders in Albany have failed to make affordable housing a priority.Starting on Day One of the Spitzer administration, we will begin work to develop a comprehensive plan to increase the supply of affordable and quality rental housing and expand homeownership opportunities throughout the state.
...Finally, we should partner with local communities to encourage reform of zoning laws and permitting and approval processes to allow for higher densities of residential housing and make it easier for sites to become buildable.
Via the Taxprof, it seems that Eliot certainly has found affordable housing:
Interesting article in the Sunday New York Daily News: Empire of the Son, by Douglas Feiden:Spitzer has lived rent-free with his family at 985 Fifth Ave. for 13 years. The 25-story tower off 79th St. has just two apartments per floor and terraces that look down at the Metropolitan Museum of Art....Thanks to his dad's generosity, Spitzer, his wife and three daughters have lived in a home graced with at least three bedrooms, four baths, a balcony, library and sweeping vistas of Central Park....Vetted by lawyers and accountants, the living arrangement is both lawful and proper, said Darren Dopp, Spitzer's communications director: The father pays an annual gift tax on the present he gives his son. "These and other financial matters are handled by professionals who ensure that everything is done in strict accordance with city, state and federal law," Dopp said. The market value of the gift is reported annually on real estate tax filings and on Bernard Spitzer's tax returns. But citing privacy, Dopp declined to disclose the apartment's rent, the gift's value or the amount of the gift tax paid. Three real estate brokers familiar with the building say that a spread of comparable size could lease for $16,000 to $20,000 a month. That puts the gift's current value at an estimated $192,000 to $240,000 a year.
I wonder if he's willing to share that arrangement with other citizens of NY if he wins? At the very least, since he's in favor of "higher densities" in residential housing, I'm sure he'll subdivide his free apartment so that a few disadvantaged families can move in, no? What better way to "partner with local communities"?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:31 PM | Comments (6)
The MOST
...wonderful time of the year. My ever present desk companion (on the left) and his new friend (for whose company he thanks Kcruella with all his heart)
agree.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:37 AM | Comments (6)
Rest Easy, Paris
A young woman lies near death after being caught by a "yoot" Bus-B-Q. Parsing the report at Powerline,
Meanwhile, the French government says it will step up "transport security." Maybe they intend to follow our example and ban liquids and gels on buses.
That would be typically French ~ the failure to notice that our ban of flammables 'on' the bus means carried by passengers 'ON' the inside.
Not spread like a Dijon honey Bus-B-Q glaze 'on' the outside.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:10 AM
Surrender In Virdhimmia
Via Michelle Malkin comes this story concerning the College of William and Mary:
WILLIAMSBURG -- Officials at the College of William and Mary have removed a 2-foot-high gold cross from a campus chapel they say is increasingly used for nonreligious events."In order to make the Wren Chapel less of a faith-specific space, and to make it more welcoming to students, faculty, staff and visitors of all faiths, the cross has been removed from the altar area," read a recent e-mail to Wren Building employees.
The e-mail came from Melissa Engimann, assistant director for historic campus, according to The Flat Hat college newspaper Web site.
The chapel is in the Sir Christopher Wren Building, which was finished in 1699 and is used for some of the school's biggest ceremonies. Incoming freshmen take the honor pledge in the chapel during orientation, and seniors march through it on their way to commencement.
Of course, don't you dare question the motives of the Administrators:
(William and Mary President Gene R. Nichol) "Let me be clear. I have not banished the cross from the Wren Chapel. The chapel, as you know, is used for religious ceremonies by members of all faiths. The cross will remain in the chapel and be displayed on the altar at appropriate religious services."But the chapel is also used frequently for college events that are secular in nature -- and should be open to students and staff of all beliefs. "
So is he saying that before there were guards at the door that stopped jews from entering when the cross was there?
And anyway, how far had they sunk before this that all that is left is a 2 foot cross?
As Michelle says "How about leaving the cross where it stands and telling students to grow up and demonstrate real tolerance?"
Amen to that.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:38 AM | Comments (4)
Green Tax
Here's a shock: The wise and all-knowing lefty UK Ministers have decided that the best way to fight perceived climate change is via a tax
HARD-WORKING families face crippling new bills as the Government fights global warming with a raft of stinging taxes.But critics accused ministers of forcing the public to pay for their failure to react earlier to the crisis.
Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth said last night: “We don’t need a programme of green taxes: We need a green programme, full stop.
“This is just a list of taxes when what we need is a system of mutually reinforcing carrots and sticks.”
He was speaking after it was revealed that Environment Secretary David Miliband had already drawn up sweeping green tax plans which he has put to Gordon Brown.
He wrote to the Chancellor: “As our understanding of climate change increases, it is clear more needs to be done.”
Funny, it seems to me that as our understanding grows the less we actually understand about the globe's weather.
I especially liked this bit:
The green proposals are revealed as leaked documents show people living in crime-free areas are to be penalised with a giant hike in council tax.
That's equality in action, friends: if the thugs don't steal from you then the government has to, or you're deprived of your constitutional right to be pillaged.
Oh, and prepare for massive snowstorms in the UK:
Mr Brown has recruited ex-US vice-president Al Gore as his green guru. He will advise the Chancellor on international environmental issues.
You can't say you haven't been warned, Mr. Brown.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:05 AM | Comments (2)
October 27, 2006
Oh, Bingley Went to Scotland and Did He Lie
A revolution is afoot at one of Scotland's most venerable kilt-makers: Among traditional tartans there are hip versions in denim, camouflage, leather and, for the adventurous, see-through pink plastic.
So where'd ya hide that wee, duty frae number, little man? I knew it couldna been all aboot 'the castle'. Whilst there be reams a' foine advice aboot dealin' wi' the odd looks ye get, once in a wee while moit ye nae ken the tender feelin's a' yer bride? An' moind the sensibilities a' the general public wot's got ta luck at ye?
A warm Swill salute to marc for exposing this travesty.
UPDATE: Of course, there are worse things, fashionwise.
A MOBILE phone thief who wore an offensive T-shirt in court escaped a contempt rap yesterday.Christopher Davidson, 18, was sent from the dock for wearing the top containing the phrase:
"Read this while I check out your t*ts."
Via Fark
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:28 PM | Comments (4)
"Old Men Forget"
And I did, too, until reminded by Dave's post about St. Crispin's Day. And I have to share why I have such fondness for Branagh's "Henry the Fifth". It's not all the magnificence of a truly magnificent film.
In all of Orange County, it was only playing at a little art house theatre in Laguna Beach. I was desperate to see it and major dad thought we could hit their Saturday matinee with Ebola and be pretty safe. Getting there just as the theatre opened, we found seats we could isolate ourselves in and still see. We warned everyone who went to sit near us that "we've got a third-grader with us." Almost to a one they all said "thanks for letting us know" and would move a row or two away. Except for one guy who, bless his heart, said "Really? That's okay ~ I'd be curious to know what he thinks of it." And he plopped down right in front of us.
This is no exaggeration ~ through the whole long thing, the one and ONLY time Ebola opened his mouth was as the French nobles were staging on the hill above the field. The English were done with "St. Crispin's Day" speeches and scurrying through the cold and damp to their positions behind the barricades. As they stared at each other, Ebola whispered, "Mommy?"
"What honey?" I whispered back.
"Who are the bad guys?" he asked.
"The clean ones."
"Okay."
And that was it.
Magical.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:02 PM | Comments (7)
Crusader Sends Word of What's Shaping Up to Be
...an epic Naval battle.
What has a better ring to it?The USS America and the "America-class" of aircraft carriers? Or the USS Gerald R. Ford and the "Ford-class"?
..."We just find it appalling that the name of the country has been pushed aside in favor of living politicians," said Walt Waite, the association's vice president. "The name of the country belongs on a carrier well before individuals and politicians especially living ones. What better way to start the new class than the America?"
My country? 'Tis. I agree.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:37 PM | Comments (11)
Oh, That Camille Paglia
She's a pistol. Selected gems...
...Since when does the Democratic Party use any gay issue in this coldblooded way as a token on the chessboard? You'd expect this stuff from right-wing ideologues, not progressives....I kept hearing on the radio the stentorian voices of Democratic women politicians saying that Foley was "preying on children." When will this stop? This blurring of the line between teenagers and children -- who should be vigilantly protected by any society....The Foley scandal exploded without any proof of a documented sex act -- unlike the case of the late congressman Gerry Studds, who had sex with a page and who was literally applauded by fellow Democrats when they refused to vote for his censure.
...And with the Democrats' record of sex scandals, what the hell were they thinking of?
Put your feet up and set a spell.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:57 AM | Comments (2)
October 26, 2006
Ask The Aussie Imam
Iowahawk helpfully gets us answers to today's pressing questions.
(Thanks to AllahPundit for the spiritual pointer)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:20 PM | Comments (1)
I Think Maybe the Michael J. Fox Campaign Spots
...weren't such a great idea. She was up in the polls by 9 points a week ago.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:15 PM
Hey
Works...
...Fifty or so other Republican candidates have also been made targets in a sophisticated “Google bombing” campaign intended to game the search engine’s ranking algorithms.
...for me. But then, Google's been a manipulated tool for a long time round these parts.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:54 AM
This Should Make For Some Interesting Clinical Trials
I'm not sure I see a downside to this newest 'malady':
LONDON - Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.Research into sexsomnia — making sexual advances towards another person while asleep — has been hampered as sufferers are so embarrassed by the problem they tend not to own up to it, while doctors do not ask about it.
As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships.
I'm not sure what the 'difficulties' are that it leads to; it seems to me it should make a lot of husbands and wives happier: he gets what he wants and she still gets to sleep.
Meanwhile Trajanovic is devising a procedure for diagnosing sexsomnia in legal cases where sufferers have been accused of sexual assault.
A pity the name "Twinkie Defense" is already taken...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:26 AM | Comments (10)
Cabs in the City Are Expensive
And getting more so. What a surprise.
A New York minute just got a lot more expensive.That's because the Taxi and Limousine Commission yesterday doubled the cost of being stuck in traffic in a cab.
Riders now pay 20 cents a minute for "wait time" - a price that hasn't changed in 16 years - but yesterday, officials voted unanimously to raise the rate to 40 cents a minute at a meeting in TLC headquarters.
Adding insult to injury, the wait-time rate will now click in when a cab starts going less than 12 miles per hour. Currently, the rate takes effect at under 6 mph.
What WAS the surprise ~ coming from Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus' mouth, in the city of the WTC gaping-hole-in-the-ground ~ was this statement:
In addition to the fare hike, the eight-member board also approved:
...*A controversial move eliminating the requirement that cabbies demonstrate they are legal U.S. residents.They now will only have to produce their original Social Security card and a valid driver's license.
"We don't have any business asking people if they are a citizen or not," Daus said.
People who confuse 'legal' with 'citizen' have no business being in such a position. They might confuse other important stuff, wouldn't you think?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:06 AM
"With Friends Like This..."
Maliki gives the old trusim life for the 21st century.
Does Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have the political spine to deal with Iraq's No. 1 problem — the Shi'ite militias? There's a growing suspicion in Baghdad that he does not. Having promised, for the umpteenth time, to crack down on the sectarian death squads wreaking havoc on the Iraqi capital, the prime minister promptly turned around and castigated U.S. forces for doing precisely that. The Iraqi leader claimed that a predawn raid Wednesday on a militia stronghold by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers had been conducted without his approval, and said such attacks would not be repeated....For the beleaguered residents of Baghdad, this has become a familiar Green Zone farce. Beholden to the very militias he has vowed to crush, the increasingly hamstrung prime minister has forced U.S. troops guarding the city to don kid gloves when dealing with the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to the radical Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been blamed for much of the sectarian violence that kills an average of 100 Iraqis a day. And there is palpable frustration among U.S. soldiers patrolling the streets of Baghdad that every time they strike against the Mahdi Army, they are publicly scolded by the Iraqi prime minister. "Every time he does one of these about-turns, he makes the Madhi Army stronger and the government weaker," says a Western diplomat in Baghdad. "And of course, it drives the [Americans] up the wall."
It's not as if the kids gloves are on the other guys at the same time. I've said it before and I'll say it 'til the
George? Don? Hey, White House/Pentagon ~ to quote the old Pink Floyd song "Is there anybody IN there?"
Anybody on our side?
UPDATE: Hahahaha! THIS guy must have read my post the other day!
KILL MUQTADA NOW
...We should've killed him in 2003, when he first embarked upon his murder campaign. But our leaders were afraid of provoking riots.Back then, the tumult might've lasted a week. Now we'll face a serious uprising. So be it. When you put off paying war's price, you pay compound interest in blood.
We must kill - not capture - Muqtada, then kill every gunman who comes out in the streets to avenge him.
Our policy of all-carrots-no-sticks has failed miserably. We delivered Iraq to zealots, gangsters and terrorists. Now our only hope is to prove that we mean business - that the era of peace, love and wasting American lives is over.
And after we've killed Muqtada and destroyed his Mahdi Army, we need to go after the Sunni insurgents. If we can't leave a democracy behind, we should at least leave the corpses of our enemies.
The holier-than-thou response to this proposal is predictable: "We can't kill our way out of this situation!" Well, boo-hoo. Friendly persuasion and billions of dollars haven't done the job. Give therapeutic violence a chance.
Our soldiers and Marines are dying to protect a government whose members are scrambling to ally themselves with sectarian militias and insurgent factions. President Bush needs to face reality. The Maliki government is a failure.
There's still a chance, if a slight one, that we can achieve a few of our goals in Iraq - if we let our troops make war, not love. But if our own leaders are unwilling to fight, it's time to leave and let Iraqis fight each other.
Our president owes Iraq's treacherous prime minister nothing. Get tough, or get out.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:13 AM | Comments (8)
Dealing With Addiction
When it's a family member, it can tear your heart out.
"Then, late one night after I'd put the dogs out, Lady wouldn't come in," Laura Mirsch says. "She finally staggered over to me from the cattails. She looked up at me, leaned her head over and opened her mouth like she was going to throw up, and out plopped this disgusting toad."It turned out the toads were toxic -- and, if licked, the fluids on their skin provided a hallucinogenic effect.
But sometimes...
"We couldn't keep our dog's addiction a secret any longer," Laura Mirsch says. "The neighbors all knew that Lady was a drug addict, and soon the other dogs weren't allowed to play with her."In the end, Lady seems to have found a way to manage her problem.
"She seems to have outgrown the wild toad-obsessed years of her youth," Mirsch says, "and now only sucks on weekends."
...miracles happen.
If only there was a way to reach Bingley. He still pretty much sucks all the time...
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:58 AM
While She Might Be a Flamin' New Yawk Liberal
Cindy Adams is definately ALL red, white and blue.
It rained Thursday the day I arrived. Rained as I'm flying back. Rained every day I was in this town. It's no wonder London Bridge finally fell down. The damn thing was probably mildewed.LET it be known prices aren't all that's up in Great Britain. Anti-Americanism is, too. Still tilting at the Colonies, one local journalist, whose nose and various other parts are stuffed up, reported: "Even with 300 million people, it's still not enough for America to rule the world as each of them obviously thinks they should."
And with the greatest respect: Up yours, pal.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:28 AM
Of Course It Was
...taken out of context. He'd say something like that, but in a whole string of other hateful shiite they forgot to quote.
...A spokesman for Sheik Taj Aldin al Hilali said the cleric’s comments in a sermon last month had been taken out of context in a report in The Australian newspaper. But the spokesman, Keysar Trad, didn’t challenge the accuracy of the translation.“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden, or in the park, or in the backyard without cover, and the cats come to eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat’s,” The Australian quoted Hilali as saying.
“The uncovered meat is the problem,” he was quoted as saying. “If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred,” he said, referring to the head covering worn by some Muslim women.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:57 AM
New Jersey And You: Perfect Together...Sort Of
Well, the NJ Supremes have ruled on Gay Marriage. EnlightenNJ has a link to the opinion. I must warn you that in keeping with current rules of lawyerly liberal jargonese it runs to 90 freakin' pages. Dredd Scott is under 30 paragraphs; Marbury v. Madison has a few more paragraph, but most of them are single sentences. What does such excess verbiage that our modern Solons bestow upon us actually get us?
Not much, I'm afraid, in the specific, but quite a lot in the general, as clearly shown here and here at the always worth reading in full Volokh Conspiracy. So go read them already. The Slippery Slope is now officially confirmed as a key part of the activist agenda; indeed, it's the key to the whole process.
As far as the whole issue of gay marriage goes, I'm for strong marriage. What do I mean by that? Well, a committed relationship that is not easily entered into nor is it easy to get out of. Marriage is hard, but divorce should be harder. It is in society's best interest that people be encouraged to form such long-lasting unions, and that encouragement takes the form of various tax benefits as well as estate issues, health benefits and survivor benefits. I would much prefer that a committed gay couple be allowed to legally marry and gain such benefits than to allow an unmarried hetero couple that has merely been cohabitating, for however many years and offspring, to access such benefits when they are unwilling to make any sort of a legal and binding vow to one another. I am not, however, in favor of allowing gay couples to adopt children (if they actually have them, obviously, that's a different story), as that to me is like allowing baseball players to score touchdowns: as talented and gifted as you may be you're playing the wrong game, folks. I feel that a child's best interests are served by a father and a mother, warts and all.
Your mileage may vary.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:51 AM | Comments (19)
October 25, 2006
Amazon Makes A Profit...Sort Of
Amazon announced their 'profits' for the quarter yesterday, and they're pretty poor, frankly
Selling everything from books and computers to diamonds and lawnmowers, Amazon said net income in the quarter fell to $19 million, or 5 cents per share, from $30 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales rose 24 percent to $2.31 billion.Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 3 cents per share on sales of $2.25 billion, based on Reuters Estimates.
Amazon has been seen as focusing on revenue growth at the expense of profits amid intense competition. In the process, it has alienated many investors who wonder when investments in technology and a costly free shipping program will pay off.
I mean, my goodness, if I generated $2.31 billion of revenue and could only squeeze $19 million profit out of it I think I'd need to find a new business model. It reminds me of the old joke we always laugh about when one of our competitors undercuts us to make a sale to one of our clients, and does the business for what we know is in effect a loss: "Oh, they'll make it up on the volume."
That ranks up there with "The check is in the mail" and "I'll respect you in the morning" as phrases that should cause reasonable people to grab their wallets and run for the hills.
But since I'm not a stockholder, who am I to turn down their free shipping offer? So last night I got the three books I'd ordered last week: America Alone by Mark Steyn, Londonistan by Melanie Phillips, and The Politically Incorrect Guide To Islam by Robert Spencer.
Last night I poured myself a nice glass of port and settled in for some enjoyable reading, only to be interupted by daughter who wanted to watch Victoria And Albert...again. So there went the night. It is a good production, though, and I certainly can't complain when she wants to watch stuff like that. She wanted to watch Seven Samurai last week, and she actually liked it. I love this girl!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:42 AM | Comments (3)
October 24, 2006
It's the Real Thing
A quarrel that has surfaced this week between Venezuelan workers and the local subsidiary of soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola Femsa might, at first sight, appear to be nothing more than a routine labour dispute.But, at least according to some economists, it just may be a taste of what is to come under President Hugo Chávez's recipe for "21st-century socialism".
Since Monday, hundreds of unemployed ex-contractors have blocked delivery trucks from distributing the soft drink around Venezuela in demand of what they allege is $2.8m worth of severance arrears owed to more than 10,000 former workers. Coca-Cola alleges that the protest action is "illegal".
The former Coca-Cola employees, however, are being actively encouraged in their protest by a government-backed commission from the Venezuelan legislature, which is controlled 100 per cent by government allies.
"The company should be expropriated," said Iris Valera, a pro-government deputy who is supporting the labourers, adding that Coca-Cola's four plants should be converted to produce a homespun Venezuelan brand soft drink.
Great idea.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:19 PM | Comments (2)
This Date in History
...in living color.
Black:
...The UN came into existence on 24 October 1945, after the Charter had been ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council — Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States — and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.
Blue:
...the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, in 1901...Anna Edson Taylor, after emerging from her barrel, said, "Nobody ought ever do that again," then lapsed into incoherency for several days(she recovered).
1648 - The treaties for the Peace of Westphalia were signed, ending the Thirty Years War, ultimately destroying the Holy Roman Empire, and ushering in the modern European state system.
Walt Disney testifies to the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
Red:
President Kennedy's announcement to world heads of state regarding the US 'Naval Quarantine' of Cuba (24 Oct-20 Nov 1962) to prevent further Soviet arms shipments of offensive weapons and development of further missile bases
Gil Perez was a Spanish soldier of the Filipino Guardia Civil who allegedly suddenly appeared in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City on October 24, 1593. He was wearing the uniform of the guards of Malacanang Palace in the Philippines, and claimed he had no idea how he had arrived in Mexico.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:00 AM | Comments (3)
Talking Out of Both Sides
...of the same mouth.
I mean, it really LOOKS like the same mouth, huh? How whack is that? Now, I'd post on the interview that accompanies this picture but, with the riveting calibre of the grilling Eleanor Clift subjects Nancy Pelosi to...
CLIFT: You’re presented as a wealthy woman from San Francisco when you’re really this middle-class kid from Baltimore …PELOSI: Little Italy—downtown …
...well ~ unlike CNN ~ we won't be a party to the bloodshed.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:06 AM | Comments (5)
China: For Kim, "Solly" Seems To Be The Hardest Word
So now the Chinese are saying that Lil Kim is not a font of contrition after all:
BEIJING - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not apologize for his regime’s nuclear test when a special envoy from China’s president visited Pyongyang last week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.South Korean news reports said last week that Kim had expressed regret for the Oct. 9 test during a visit by State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who delivered a personal message and a gift from Chinese President Hu Jintao.
“These reports are certainly not accurate,” ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular press briefing. “We haven’t heard any information that Kim Jong Il apologized for the test.”
After the UN's "very angry" letter to Kim has achieved its predicted results of, er, nothing
you can see the Chinese are sweating dumplings over Kim flooding their border with refugees.
In a sign China took Kim’s threat seriously, Liu also warned against expanding the sanctions.“All parties should not willfully interpret or expand the sanctions,” he said.
China, which has traditionally opposed sanctions and advocated dialogue, supported the U.N. Security Council action against North Korea and condemned the North’s test in unusually forceful language.
But Beijing also fears any sanctions that could squeeze impoverished North Korea so tightly that it collapses, causing instability on its borders and a potential wave of refugees.
So the Chinese are scurrying to build a nice big fence on their border with NoKo. I have to say, though, given what we've heard about the conditions there, what with all the starvation that already exists, how could conditions for the citizens really get any worse? Sure, if the military starts feeling the squeeze then you could see a barracks coup, but the poor people are in such a horrid condition because of this guy. Oops, I mean because of Bushcheneyhalliburton, obviously.
"My gweat pwan is woking bwillyantry!"
Update: It seems Capt. Ed is thinking along these lines as well:
Keep an eye on Pyongyang. The DPRK Army tried twice to remove Kim, and if they get hungry enough, they may try it again.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:00 AM
Thank You, Robert Fisk
Never thought I'd say that, but thanks to the Fiskmeister I now know the next movie for the Netflix queue.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:49 AM
October 23, 2006
De-"H"-ification.
major dad came home with a gem this afternoon. From NPR's Morning Edition, Robert Krulwich reports on more Scotch-Irish oppression from the government.
"We want our 'H'!
And who the hell are YOU ?!"
Listen up. The story's great.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:28 PM
Hunting High
...and low, á la Français.
On a routine call, three unwitting police officers fell into a trap. A car darted out to block their path, and dozens of hooded youths surged out of the darkness to attack them with stones, bats and tear gas before fleeing. One officer was hospitalized....In France, a high school teacher received death threats, forcing him into hiding, after he wrote a newspaper editorial in September saying Muslim fundamentalists are trying to muzzle Europe's democratic liberties.
...Michel Thooris, head of the small Action Police union, claims that the new violence is taking on an Islamic fundamentalist tinge.
"Many youths, many arsonists, many vandals behind the violence do it to cries of 'Allah Akbar' (God is Great) when our police cars are stoned," he said in an interview.
Larger, more mainstream police unions sharply disagree that the suburban unrest has any religious basis. However, they do say that some youth gangs no longer seem content to throw stones or torch cars and instead appear determined to hurt police officers — or worse.
"First, it was a rock here or there. Then it was rocks by the dozen. Now, they're leading operations of an almost military sort to trap us," said Loic Lecouplier, a police union official in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris. "These are acts of war."
Not an encouraging assessment, given the national mettle of France in wartime.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)
Question of the Day
...on Fox and Friends. A congressman asked :
"Why should American troops risk their lives to protect embedded CNN reporters?"
Well, that's a toughie, by George. I think the answer is always simply:
"Because they would. That's the kinda kids they are."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:12 AM
Another Mea Culpa Buried
...at the bottom of the column.
CORRECTION: We said official Army photos appear at the end of Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers." A Marine points out "Army" is not generic and the Iwo Jima photos were taken by Marines, just as they took the island!
Duh, DUH and DOUBLE DUH.
All through the reviews of the movie it's "the soldiers". No. It's not.
Mo-rons.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:57 AM | Comments (9)
Nowadays, When You Think About Something
...THIS cool...
Thieves lead to discovery of Egypt tombs
Curse protected 4,200 year old graves of royal dentists
...The thieves launched their own dig one summer night two months ago but were apprehended, Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters.That led archaeologists to the three tombs, one of which included an inscription warning that anyone who violated the sanctity of the grave would be eaten by a crocodile and a snake, Hawass said.
A towering, painted profile of the chief dentist stares down at passers-by from the wall opposite the inscription.
...one also has to think of the Taliban and if fundamentalist Islam had Egypt by the throat.
They would be setting the charges the second the tomb door was found, if they'd allowed anyone to go looking at all.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:59 AM | Comments (1)
The Rotten State Of State
Sis yelled at me this morning because I said that all the folks at the State Department are scum.
US State Department mouthpiece Alberto Fernandez issued a statement tonight saying he's sorry for condemning American "arrogance and stupidity" in Iraq:"Upon reading the transcript of my appearance on Al-Jazeera, I realized that I seriously misspoke by using the phrase 'there has been arrogance and stupidity' by the U.S. in Iraq," said Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. "This represents neither my views nor those of the State Department," Fernandez added. "I apologize."Okay. But like I said, it was where and how he chose to criticize Iraq policy--in Arabic on the terrorist propaganda network, al Jazeera, right after a terrorist spokesman called on jihadis to bring America to its knees.
And I will admit to a lapse of judgement. Why, I seriously misspoke by using the phrase "all the folks at the State Department are scum."
Blech.
The problem with State is they forget who they work for. Much like ensconced Academics who lose touch with the real world and grow to despise their students, the analysts and career 'diplomats' at State feel that it is they and they alone who have the special insights and should set US foreign policy, regardless of what the elected officials, let alone those mindless sheep of us who elected them, feel or desire. The arrogance of these people towards US citizens is palpable, and treasonous. Statements like this are giving aid and comfort to our enemies. It's that simple. I'm sorry if I'm not displaying sufficient nuance here. State's job is to advise the elected officials and to promote a positive view of the US around the world; you don't do this by saying we're stupid and arrogant and thereby weakening US policy. If you disagree with current US policy...tough. Write reports showing the errors and try to bring about a change in a manner which is not harmful to our country.
Don't become poster boys on terrorist networks.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:47 AM | Comments (4)
Oh The Erie Was A' Risin' And The Gin Was Gettin' Low
Great news via Publius Pundit
Panama’s great referendum on expanding the mighty Panama Canal, to accomodate two times’ as much ship traffic, is taking place today. 1.7 million Panamanians are registered to vote on the $5.3 billion upgrade, essentially a bond project to be financed with crossing fees. Local muni-bond initiative as is, it will affect billions of people around the world. Some 70% of Panamanians are polled to favor it ahead of the vote.
And once again the polling data was wrong, as nearly 80% voted for the project. Thanks you, citizens of PAnama. This is great news for world trade. When this project is completed transit times and rates will fall, which will mean lower prices for consumers and more trade.
I can tell you from personal experience that the Canal currently is clogging up; my business is affected all the time by delays at the Canal entrance. Now, this will also lead to environmental fights at our ports as well, as the larger ships that can come through the canal will need similarly expanded port facilities on US east coast, and especially Gulf, ports, which means we will have to do some, gasp, dredging.
And you know how much the left hates muckraking.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:04 AM | Comments (1)
October 22, 2006
TWO Years Old
Her father. With a pair of scissors.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:02 PM | Comments (3)
"Curdled Cat Piss" Goes the Way
...of the dinosaur.
...Lately, though, you may have noticed if you’re a Miracle Whip person, that your sandwiches don’t quite taste the same, and your coleslaw doesn’t hold up overnight.That’s because the old standby you used and loved for decades is no longer the same product. They’ve changed the recipe! If you look on the label, you see the first ingredient is now water, not soybean oil as in the past. Since products (at least in the US) are labeled with ingredients in order of the amount, that means there is now more water than anything else.
Don't let yer label hit you in the a$$, pretender. SEE ya.
A Swill salute to the Blogfaddah for the tip confirming everything we already knew.
Previous "Cat Piss" Statistical Research.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:11 PM | Comments (1)
RE: World Series Game 2
If anyone has the remotest clue what eminem and his friends sang(rapped?) in the rousing musical interlude provided by the programming introduction, could they email me?
On second thought...never mind.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:01 PM
::GASP:: Thank GOD
...I'd already stocked up!
Oh, the humanity...
There is no more brave...
...or noble bird.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:00 PM | Comments (3)
George Bush Made Me Do It
Even thought it WAS legal...and NO ONE's personal data was compromised...and maybe terrorists really DIDN'T already know about it...I was just so durned mad at the mean way Bush and his guys talk about my newspaper. So in an emotional, proactive, "gotcha" fit of pique, I printed it anyway. 'Cause I can.
Since the job of public editor requires me to probe and question the published work and wisdom of Times journalists, there’s a special responsibility for me to acknowledge my own flawed assessments.My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s decision to publish its June 23 article on a once-secret banking-data surveillance program. After pondering for several months, I have decided I was off base. There were reasons to publish the controversial article, but they were slightly outweighed by two factors to which I gave too little emphasis. While it’s a close call now, as it was then, I don’t think the article should have been published.
Those two factors are really what bring me to this corrective commentary: the apparent legality of the program in the United States, and the absence of any evidence that anyone’s private data had actually been misused. I had mentioned both as being part of “the most substantial argument against running the story,” but that reference was relegated to the bottom of my column.
...What kept me from seeing these matters more clearly earlier in what admittedly was a close call? I fear I allowed the vicious criticism of The Times by the Bush administration to trigger my instinctive affinity for the underdog and enduring faith in a free press — two traits that I warned readers about in my first column.
So...sorry. My bad. I said I was flawed in my judgement, blahblahblah. You can read all about it if you can find the thing buried at the end of an article on the Op-Ed page.
And I forgot to tell the nimrods who send out our daily email edition to put a link to it on there, too.
But, like I said, sorry.
(And all those cranky Minnesotans can just quit being mean, too. And Malkin's just a poopoo-head.)
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:48 PM | Comments (1)
BASTARDS!!
The pumpkin MURDERING HEATHENS!
Boston sets Halloween ‘Jack-o’-lantern’ record
Beantown lights 29,000 pumpkins, but nearby town vows to out do ’em
All for a 'record' ~ a RECORD! How morally bankrupt is that? And now? Oooooh, the puncturing pumpkin pretenders in the next burg over are compelled to "out do 'em".
Violence begets violence. Have we learned nothing (asks the plaintive voice from the wilderness....)??
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:06 PM | Comments (1)
¡Sí, Se Puede!
The drug lords at war in central Mexico are no longer content with simply killing their enemies. They are putting their severed heads on public display.In Michoacan, the home state of President-elect Felipe Calderon, 17 heads have turned up this year, many with bloodstained notes like the one found in the highlands town of Tepalcatepec in August: "See. Hear. Shut Up. If you want to stay alive."
Jeez, who needs Baghdad insurgents? Or a fence?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:18 AM | Comments (1)
October 21, 2006
A FLORIDA Voter's Alert
Proposed Constitutional Amendment No.8I didn't even know it was on the ballot. Dave? Any gobbledeegook involved here we should watch for? 'Cause it sounds good on it's face to me. My only concern is the implementation date ~ lets all those cases right now off the hook and to be sorted out in court, but I guess that's the price you pay.
Ballot Title:EMINENT DOMAIN
Ballot Summary:Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to prohibit the transfer of private property taken by eminent domain to a natural person or private entity; providing that the Legislature may by general law passed by a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature permit exceptions allowing the transfer of such private property; and providing that this prohibition on the transfer of private property taken by eminent domain is applicable if the petitionof taking that initiated the condemnation proceeding was filed on or after January 2, 2007.
Full Text:ARTICLE XMISCELLANEOUSSECTION
6. Eminent domain.—
(a) No private property shall be taken except for a public purpose and with full compensation therefor paid to each owner or secured by deposit in the registry of the court and available to the owner.
(b) Provision may be made by law for the taking of easements, by like proceedings, for the drainage of the land of one person over or through the land of another.
(c) Private property taken by eminent domain pursuant to a petition to initiate condemnation proceedings filed on or after January 2, 2007, may not be conveyed to a natural person or private entity except as provided by general law passed by a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:55 PM | Comments (8)
One Last Bit of Perspective on the CNN "Story"
I'm not sure how many of you clicked through Bingley's link to the pitiful excuse of an excuse. If you survived the initial shock and disgust, but had neither the patience nor the stomach to wade throught the comments, buried therein was a gem. A Cpl Barrett from Portland OR vented, thought about it...and came back to vent again.. After the understandable anger at spending tours in Iraq and wondering where the US media was. When our kids desperately need support and the American people needs to hear their stories. He noted:
Why do you think, for example, that they don't show the video of the Crocodile Hunter's death? It is because there is a point where enough is enough. I don't know why I should support a station that graphically shows my brothers in arms dying.
Bless his heart. BLESS. HIS. HEART.
A stingray accident versus our life's blood.
It doesn't get more upside down than that.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:50 PM | Comments (2)
The End of Florida
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM
What Mohammad Said
...She passed the man a coin and walked off, quietly completing the most mundane of daily tasks while wearing a garment -- the full-face veil, or niqab -- that has caused a raging debate about how well Britain's nearly 2 million Muslims are integrating into society....After she walked away, the vendor, Mohammad Dehbourzorgi, a Muslim who moved to Britain 22 years ago, sounded almost contemptuous. He said he agreed with Jack Straw, a top official in Prime Minister Tony Blair's government and leader of the House of Commons, who started the controversy this month by complaining that veils create distance between individuals and cultures.
‘Try to be English’
"Jack Straw has a point," said Dehbourzorgi, who was wearing blue jeans. "If you come to England, then try to be English."
Or American or French or wherever your travels land you. (The upside is, the WaPo actually quoted this guy. I would have thought that would work against their normal bias.) If you still want to kill your sister to cover something you did, not let her learn to read, drive a car or feel that the Koran says you should help kill the Pope ~ stay in Pakistan or Afghanistan or Wherevistan that Stone Age crap flies. The only 'Stan' I want in the States ends with '- Laurel & Oliver Hardy'.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:28 AM
Jaw DROPPING, Gob SCHMACKING Ignorance
"Dunkin' Donuts just don't have much flavor," said Evans, who grew up in Alabama. "These are just more moist. You can fold them up and stuff a whole one in your mouth."
By GOD, what was I thinking? I love to EAT Dunkin' Donuts Chocolate Creme Filled. Bite after lucious bite. Yum yum! Some last 5 or six bites, 'cause I cain't stand for them to be gone.
And ALL this time, I coulda been stuffin' WHOLE Krispy Greasy Kremes into my gaping maw.
You know, the stuff these Southerners keep to themselves would just fill a hog farm retention pond, I swear.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:15 AM | Comments (16)
October 20, 2006
Someone Needs to Take That Fat Little Sh*t Out
Bill Roggio says so, too, but nicer.
We have been tippy toeing around this ee-ville SOB for far too long. Everytime we're within a hair's breadth of wiping his smug mug off posters for good, he scuttles back to his lair like Shelob (Update :Exhibit A) and we get to start all over again. Malaki needs to be told take care of it NOW, or know that we will. And then we HAVE to. No Fallujah Cotton-Eyed Joe, so he can rearm. And no deals. Dear God, let this be the "new direction" the administration takes.
The kids on the ground are the ones paying for diplomacy where none is warranted.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:18 PM | Comments (10)
Read It
...and decide for yourself. There are quite a few elements that ring true for me. But I also know families are the fiercest advocates for the accused.
I think the truth is somewhere in between.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:52 AM | Comments (6)
Searching for Answers Friday
Is it any wonder that the "meaning of is" hangover from the Clinton is still...hanging around, with prominent Clinton faces in prominent places? Take Dollnna Shalala, president of that bastion of integrity ~ the University of Miami. Oh, boy she's sticking to her guns. "The buck stops here" and a ripsnorting
``But we will not throw any student under the bus for instant restoration of our image or our reputation. I will not hang them in a public square. I will not eliminate their participation at the university. I will not take away their scholarships. . ."
Of course her wealth of experience with miscreants at the highest levels leaves her BLIND to the fact that while SHE might not throw her players under the bus, HER PLAYERS wouldn't hesitate to throw a body, given a LITERAL bus rumbling down Beach Boulevard.
Saturday's brawl was the third major on-field incident in Miami's past seven games.The Hurricanes took part in a nasty fight with LSU at the end of December's Peach Bowl that left two Miami players, guard Andrew Bain and receiver Khalil Jones, unconscious.
That was followed Sept. 16 with a near-melee with Louisville players after the Hurricanes stomped on their host's cardinal logo at midfield following warm-ups.
That's the problem. They're goons. They have always been indulged GOONS. The contrast is pretty graphic, too, given...
FIU dismissed two players for good and suspended 16 indefinitely, and when Shalala was asked about the gulf between punishments, she said, ``There is no gulf. All of us did essentially the same thing, and that is suspending players and setting a standard in which they fully understand what the standard is.''
Oh, sweet, SWEET baby Jesus. Just Photoshop Bill or HIllary's head on her stumpy body.
Coker defended the one-game suspension for cornerback Brandon Meriweather, seen stomping on FIU players in video.
Oh, of course he did. Toney private school U of M (and their apologists) will be missing suspended players for?
The game against the ALWAYS DANGEROUS DUKE.
Don't worry fans. Most everybody'll be back for GA Tech the week after that.
Hey! It's scheduling! Dolla Shalala isn't like Karl Rove or anything. It just worked out that way.
While I'm piling on... How can a PROFESSIONAL baseball player ~ in a TEAM sport, a LEAGUE PENNANT series and a SHOT at the WORLD SERIES ~ "not be speaking" to his manager?
La Russa explained that he didn’t say anything to Rolen because “the last time I talked to him, it was a worthless exercise.”La Russa added: “He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t believe it. He didn’t understand it.”
Tony La Russa has had to watch film to see if Scott Rolen's shoulder is well enough to be scheduled in the line up.
Did he play baseball at Miami?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:39 AM | Comments (7)
October 19, 2006
Well, As They Say
..."the Grasso's always greener on the other side". Better luck next time to YOU, Dick.
Former New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso will have to repay "tens of millions of dollars" to the Big Board after a court rejected his motion to dismiss certain claims, the New York Attorney General's office said on Thursday....New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued Grasso in 2004 for return of some of the $187.5 million in salary, bonuses and retirement compensation plans he received....
Judge Ramos denied Grasso's bid to seek damages from the NYSE over losing his job in 2003, concluding that Grasso had resigned and was not fired as he had claimed.
...Grasso, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, sought $48 million in compensation, plus interest, that he said was still due him.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:05 PM | Comments (4)
Not Just "NO"
...but "HELL NO", "F@CK NO", "NO WAY" and "NO HOW".
Army Corps proposes easing Gulf wetlands rule
Anger greets plan to let developers skip permits to speed Katrina recoveryFederal wetlands regulators have dropped a bombshell on environmentalists with a little-publicized proposal to relax restrictions on filling in certain wetlands along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast to speed recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
“It’s unethical, illegal, immoral, unsustainable and they’re simply doing it to make the fat cats richer faster,” said Derrick Evans, executive director of a Gulfport, Miss., community group that plans to fight the proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps’ proposal would allow property owners and developers to skirt the conventional "regional general permit" process for any projects that fill up to 5 acres of “low-quality” wetlands in the six southernmost Mississippi counties. Especially galling to environmentalists: The new process would also eliminate the requirement for public notice of such projects.
Oh, please. 'Speed recovery'? How about "speeding significant bucks to undeserving pockets"? Perhaps everyone's forgotten what they were fixing to FIX prior to Katrina and why?
The Corps recommendations for projects to restore some wetlands and slow wetland losses in November 2004 is the most recent of numerous sets of proposals offered over the past four decades since a rapid rate of coastal wetlands loss was first documented. It is now estimated that more than 1.2 million acres of wetlands, an area approximatelythesize of Delaware, has been converted to open water since the 1930s. The remaining wetlands cover about 3.5 million acres, an area slightly larger than Connecticut. .... If the Corps’ program is implemented, it estimates that net wetland losses would be reduced to 170,000 acres by 2050. These estimates do not appear to account for major hurricane events. These losses have been caused by a combination of human activities and natural factors that have been frequently documented in many studies by the Corps and others. Proposals to respond to these losses have centered on rebuilding the region’s coastal wetlands in ways that could reduce the ecological, economic, and social costs. One cost receiving far more attention in the wake of the hurricanes is the diminished role that the remaining wetlands can play in reducing the impact of hurricanes by absorbing storm surges and thereby decreasing flood elevations and wave energy.Or...?
General Robert Flowers, the head of the Corps of Engineers until last year, is concerned by the loss of a 'natural storm protection', along Louisiana's coast. 'With that loss of wetlands ... we had to build hurricane protection. I think a longer-term solution that replenishes Louisiana's wetlands will better serve us.'There's a lovely map here of the Biloxi Basin which illustrates the point made here about tidal surges.
Now, I'm sure the Corps is receiving some sincere pressure from all things dollar related and sure as hell wouldn't want to be the generalissimo in charge. But let me make one thing PERfectly clear, because it's going to be presented 'as if'.
There ISN'T going to be any 'rebuilding' of the quaint little seaside villages/gorgeous Ante-Bellum Biloxi's we knew and loved. That's over and those are gone for good.
Biloxi, Gulfport and the other coastal cities/burgs from here west are bought up by condo and gaming developers. Not 'going to be' ~ ARE. You should see all the prospectii for 'Villa Gulfo Magnificos' type speculators on the web, travel and real esate magizines.
The Corps isn't getting pushed to do this so Granny Beauregarde Gautier can get her 1800's house rebuilt on the slab or pilings that's left of it. Oh no.
This is so the wheeler dealers of the world can take their share of the waterfront at firesale prices and build it just as cheap as pie because no one's going to be allowed to watch. And then sell it back to folks in Michigan for whatever the market will bear. You'll be sitting on Beach Boulevard in Biloxi ~ once rightly famous for it's stunning view (above) ~ and not even know there's a drop of water on the other side of that tower in front of you.
Less mind have a place right smack in town where you can get your toes sandy.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:25 PM | Comments (2)
Joke Of The Day, Part 2
CNN has responded to critics of their latest jihadi propaganda
Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can.
Just like they did when they covered up for Saddam so they could keep their 'access'.
Their pompous self-importance makes me sick.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:02 PM | Comments (8)
Best Joke Ever
I am humbled by its brilliance.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:05 PM | Comments (2)
I Beginning to Believe One Shouldn't Leave the Beach
...without a RAY GUN.
A Lighthouse Point man is in critical condition this morning, a day after authorities say a stingray jumped onto his boat and stabbed him in the chest, leaving a foot-long barb stuck in him.Eighty-one-year-old James Bertakis was boating with his grown granddaughter and her friend yesterday afternoon when the rare attack occurred.
...Authorities say Bertakis suffered a closed chest wound, collapsed lung and may have to undergo open-heart surgery.
Firefighters say the roughly five-foot wide, 30 pound stingray died on the boat.
Good Lord! I'm even keeping an eye on the drain in the shower. I mean, you just never know.
UPDATE: I'm frightened. Judging by the anecdotal evidence pouring in from Swillers across the country (See the comments...if you DARE!), I am going to have to change my mind and BELIEVE that...there is more to this fish story than meets the eye.
I am going to become...a
TRUTH Rayer
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:00 PM | Comments (4)
According to Census Bureau Statistics, There Is NO ONE
...named Mister Bingley in the United States.
Soooo...
Who the f*ck IS this obnoxious, mysterious stranger....?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:20 AM | Comments (5)
CNN Shills For The Jihadis
I'm not even going to link to it, but here is what the bastards at CNN say as their top story:
Almost 2,800 Americans have been killed so far in Iraq and one of the most dangerous insurgent opponents is the sniper. CNN has obtained graphic video from the Islamic Army of Iraq, one of the most active insurgent organizations in Iraq, showing its sniper teams targeting U.S. troops. The Islamist Army says it wants talks with the United States and some Islamist Internet postings call for a P.R. campaign aimed at influencing the American public. The video is disturbing to watch but CNN believes the story, shocking as it is, needs to be told.
You disgusting bastards.
What "story needs to be told", you pusillanimous turds? The story of how murdering islamists can sneak up and take potshots at US soldiers because the soldiers are decent kids operating under civilized rules of engagement and the islamists live only to kill? The 'story' of how you will show US soldiers getting shot but not mention the ethnicity or religion of terror suspects and rioters?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:50 AM | Comments (9)
October 18, 2006
Hahahaha!
Don't take your passwords to the graveNo sh*t.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:38 PM | Comments (8)
After a Loud SNORT of Derision
...I have come to the conclusion we're doomed. First ::roll eyes:: of the morning...
In the wake of the Miami-FIU brawl, the NCAA says it would consider helping schools and conferences develop a standard policy to curb on-field violence.
..."The NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference have principles of sportsmanship to which the University of Miami is committed," Miami athletic director Paul Dee said. "It is important for us to use opportunities such as these to re-emphasize this commitment to sportsmanship."
"I think it's more in how they look at power and intimidation, and a lot of young people look at that as a physical thing," Stratten said. "You see that from guys who grow up in that kind of environment."
So because they grew up as thugs and can handle a ball, we must let convicts be convicts? And I don't see ANYTHING U of M is committed to other than the almighty $halala dolla.
Then there was this.
A judge has ruled not to interfere with a decision on whether cult leader and convicted killer Yahweh Ben Yahweh's parole should be terminated because he has advanced cancer....Yahweh, who is linked to nearly two dozen gruesome killings in the 1980s, said he wants to die with dignity at home in the Miami area, according to a motion filed earlier this month.
Oy.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:46 AM | Comments (6)
"Brilliant!"
Aishah Azmi, the Muslim teaching assistant suspended for her sack cloth, says everything's brilliant, so what's the problem?
...Ms Azmi told the BBC her veil had not caused problems with the children, with whom she had a "brilliant relationship"...."If people think it is a problem, what about blind children? They can't see anything but they have a brilliant education, so I don't think my wearing the veil affects the children at all."
Jeez, when I watched her BBC interview, "brilliant" wasn't the first word that sprang to mind.
What I think IS important and amazing ~ considering all the PC suck-up the British authorities/elected lot have been doing ~ is the torrent of emotion and free speech this seems to have unleashed. I mean, WOW. You wouldn't have heard THIS a week ago. (Everyone was still beating up Jack Straw.)
Veils harm equal rights - Harman
Wearing a full face veil harms women's participation in society and effectively bars them from becoming an MP, minister Harriet Harman has said.
Ms Harman, who is standing for Labour's deputy leadership, said: "How can you stand as an MP when men's faces are on posters, and voters can't see yours?""If you want equality, you have to be in society, not hidden away from it," she told the New Stateman magazine."The veil is an obstacle to women's participation on equal terms."
The constitutional affiars minister was speaking the week after Jack Straw sparked controversy when he said he would prefer Muslim women not to wear veils which cover the face.
Race equality boss Trevor Phillips said the comments were "completely right".
Mr Phillips, who heads the Commission for Racial Equality, said Mr Straw had the right to ask a woman to remove her veil at constituency meetings, and the woman had the right to refuse.
..."This is not a matter of public policy, it's a question of social etiquette and manners," Mr Phillips said.
It's wonderful. But it's all too easy to pick on a symbol like the veil ~ on a woman who might believe in her freedom wholeheartedly but is forced by Londonistan family members to wear it. Those belligerent, misogynists are the ones who need to be hammered, not the feminine symbol of their vile, ignorant and oppressive culture.
It's easy to pick on girls, isn't it? And they're the aces at it. But if society at large can pressure (or legislate, in some instances) these cave dwellers to allow their women to move freely, perhaps the revolution will come from within.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:23 AM
I Didn't Know
But it's wonderful.
Christmas at Arlington
Every December since 1992, volunteers have laid wreaths donated by the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, at the headstones of over 5,000 of America's honored dead.
Morrill Worcester initially brought 4,000 surplus wreaths from the holiday decoration company he owns to adorn gravesites at Arlington in 1992. Every year since then he has set aside several thousand wreaths especially for that purpose, driving to Arlington in December with a trailer full of decorations and dozens of volunteers to distribute them throughout the cemetery. As Mr. Worcester told an Air Force reporter in 2005:We couldn't do anything in this country if it wasn't for the people who gave their lives to protect us. It's a great honor to be able to come here and pay our respects.In 2006, Mr. Worcester hopes to expand the Arlington Wreath Project into Wreaths Across America, an effort to place memorial wreaths at more than 230 State and National Cemeteries and Veterans Monuments across the United States.That first year, there were just a few of us, and it took us five or six hours to get them placed. This year, we had extra help and got done in about an hour.
The 2006 wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington (and other sites) will take place on December 14. Persons interested in participating in this event should contact Wayne Hanson at (703) 971-4148. Those who cannot attend in person may participate by observing a moment of silence at noon hour on December 14 "to reflect on the sacrifices made and freely given by those who will not be home for the holidays."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:49 AM | Comments (3)
And a Quick Market Update
DOW's at TWELVE THOUSAND and change
So far today's 'crippled economy' news?
Core CPI rose just 0.2% for third straight month, lending further support for the Fed to again forgo a rate hike at next week's two-day FOMC meetingHousing Starts unexpectedly rose 6% to highest level since June but Building Permits fell 6% to five-year low
JP Morgan, IBM, Intel top expectations, Yahoo! matches forecasts, Motorola misses by a penny
Oil prices down 0.4% at $58.70/bbl ahead of weekly inventories report
Now back to Mark Foley.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:39 AM
"In This Galaxy...
Bush Sets Defense As Space Priority
U.S. Says Shift Is Not A Step Toward Arms; Experts Say It Could Be
President Bush has signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to U.S. interests."The document, the first full revision of overall space policy in 10 years, emphasizes security issues, encourages private enterprise in space, and characterizes the role of U.S. space diplomacy largely in terms of persuading other nations to support U.S. policy.
"Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power," the policy asserts in its introduction.
Essential it is.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:30 AM
Brussels Seeks to Ban E.U.Tube
As Voltaire might have said "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death my right to regulate it"
"The European Commission proposal would require websites and mobile phone services that feature video images to conform to standards laid down in Brussels."
Or was that quote from Jefferson? I get so confused...
UPDATE: Rally 'round the Tube!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:25 AM
First Harry Reid
Now Hillary is making 'corrections' to her life story:
Years after alternative media pointed out the virtual impossibility, Sen. Hillary Clinton finally has admitted she was not named for the famous conqueror of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary.The New York Times, which repeated the claim as fact in a story just one week ago, reported Sen. Clinton's campaign issued a correction yesterday.
For more than a decade, Sen. Clinton's informal biography repeated the story, and it was recounted in former President Bill Clinton's 2004 autobiography, "My Life."
..."It had two l's, which is how she thought she was supposed to spell Hillary," she said. "So when I was born, she called me Hillary, and she always told me it's because of Sir Edmund Hillary."
In 1947, Sir Edmund was an unknown beekeeper, but Clinton had explained her mother read about him in a publication while pregnant and liked the name.
Sir Hillary did not climb Everest until 1953, when Ms. Hillary was 6.
"In point of fact," Hillary Clinton said, "I would like to state clearly for the record that my mother named me for Tenzig Norgay."
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:50 AM | Comments (1)
October 17, 2006
But a "Peacetime Footing" Is Cheaper!
Ask any 'Rumsfeld doctrine'/neocon analyst.
The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan failed to follow through as it should have after ousting the government in 2001, said the NATO commander in the country.The mistake — adopting "a peacetime approach" too early — set the stage for this year's deadly Taliban resurgence, British Gen. David Richards told Pentagon reporters Tuesday.
He said the international community has six months to correct the problem before losing Afghan support.
"The Taliban were defeated. .... And it looked all pretty hunky-dory," Richard said of the environment at the end of 2001. "We thought it was all done ... and didn't treat it as aggressively as ... with the benefit of hindsight, we should have done."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:31 PM | Comments (1)
Let Me Get This "Breaking News" Straight
From a banner on the Fox Buzztracker:
Breaking News >> Judge Tosses Conviction of Late Enron Founder Ken Lay Citing His Death
So, he's only a crook as long as he's alive?
Nobody's got anything else yet. All Wesley all the time so far.
UPDATE: Got it.
A federal judge Tuesday vacated the conviction of Enron founder Kenneth Lay who died in July, wiping out a jury's verdict that he committed fraud and conspiracy in the months before his company's collapse.Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases on May 25. Enron's collapse in 2001 wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.
Because he wasn't alive to contest the verdicts. Sheesh. It's been a good week...
...for toads in general.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:20 PM | Comments (3)
Oops!
Why does this make me think of a Monty Python sketch:
Pablo Picasso's "dream" painting has turned into a $139 million nightmare for Steve Wynn.In an accident witnessed by a group that included Barbara Walters and screenwriters Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi, Wynn accidentally poked a hole in Picasso's 74-year-old painting, "Le Reve," French for "The Dream."
A day earlier, Wynn had finalized a record $139 million deal for the painting of Picasso's mistress, Wynn told The New Yorker magazine
The accident occurred as a gesturing Wynn, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that affects peripheral vision, struck the painting with his right elbow, leaving a hole the size of a silver dollar in the left forearm of Marie-Theresa Walter, Picasso's 21-year-old mistress.
"Oh shit, look what I've done," Wynn said, according to Ephron, who gave her account in a blog published on Monday.
Wynn paid $48.4 million for the Picasso in 1997 and had agreed to sell it to art collector Steven Cohen. The $139 million would have been $4 million higher than the previous high for a work of art, according to The New Yorker.
Hahahahahahahahahaha!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 04:14 PM | Comments (6)
Protecting the Vunerable From Harm
You would have thought that meant the American public.
SICKENING VICTIM ACT FOOLED JUDGEIT WAS all just an act. Lynne Stewart, a former lawyer who specialized in spreading terror and hate around the world, lumbered into a courtroom looking sick, crestfallen and oh, so sorry.
She bounced out of the bleak room hours later like she'd just won the lottery. And, well, she had.
...A clearly admiring Judge John Koeltl sentenced her to just two years and four months in prison.
"I can do that standing on my head!" Stewart crowed after court.
They always seem to forget that if it were up to the animal they collaborated with, they most likely wouldn't have a head.
What a traitorous toad.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:53 PM | Comments (7)
Bad Enough to Be Accused of Stealing as a State Representative
...but stealing from LABOR UNIONS?! That's a really, really B-A-D idea.
Brian M. McLaughlin, 54, is accused in an indictment of stealing money from several organizations in which he held official positions, according to a statement from federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He and his associates are accused of stealing from labor unions, the state of New York and not-for-profit groups....He also is a seven-term Democratic state assemblyman.
A warm Swill salute to the Gateway Pundit for what might be a short-lived story.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:59 PM | Comments (2)
But I Didn't Know Until Today
...it was Barzini fossil fuels Al Gore's hot air PHYTOplankton all along...
Sea creatures affect global climate
Scientists say phytoplankton generate 63 trillion watts of power a year
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)
"But You Separate Yourself From Society"
"Were you interviewed face to face by a male governor of the school for this job? It's a simple question...To assess your suitability for this job? And you did not wear the veil for that interview?"
Taking the veil to school
Wow.
Swill salute to Davo in the comments at Tim's.
UPDATE and BUMP: You'll never guess who just used the word "separate"...
British Prime Minister Tony Blair stepped into the debate over the integration of Muslims into British society on Tuesday, calling the full veil worn by some Muslim women "a mark of separation".Controversy has erupted in Britain over the wearing of the veil with some leaders of Britain's 1.8 million Muslims accusing the government of stirring up Islamophobia.
...Asked if a woman who wore the veil could make a full contribution to British society, Blair said: "It is a mark of separation and that's why it makes other people from outside the community feel uncomfortable."
"No one wants to say that people don't have the right to do it, that's to take it too far, but I think we do need to confront this issue about how we integrate people properly with our society and all the evidence is when people do integrate more they achieve more as well.
...Blair called for a debate on how the Muslim community integrates into British society and on how Islam comes to terms with the modern world.
His government has begun to question whether Britain's traditional policy of promoting a multicultural society -- where different communities live side by side without having a single British identity imposed on them -- has backfired by contributing toward the isolation of some communities.
..."What is happening, especially in the last few months, has been a barrage of demonization of the Muslim community to such an extent that the community is now scared and the whole community feels vulnerable," MCB General Secretary Muhammad Abdul Bari told BBC Radio.
"Scared" and "vunerable" like the way the British feel about "bombs in the subway", "on buses" and "airplanes"? THAT kind of "scared"?
You can thank your freakin' neighbors for that, Abdul.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:27 AM | Comments (4)
Heck, Let Chavez Have The Seat
While I think Guatemala is a better choice, of course
Fierce US critic Venezuela and US-backed Guatemala fought a bitter battle for Latin America's open seat on the UN Security Council, forcing voting into a second day under pitched lobbying by the United States. Guatemala led in all but one of the 10 rounds of voting, which was a tie, but Caracas held on to enough support to deny Guatemala the two-thirds majority of votes cast in a particular round needed to win.
The sheer entertainment value of having Venezuela on the Security Council is worth whatever disruption they might cause. Let's face it, the Council is useless anyway, and I want the list posted of every nation that voted for Venezuela as this farce continues to show everyone how even the members of the UN regard it as a joke.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:52 AM
October 16, 2006
O'Reilly Takes Apart a Professor
...for being in that "1/4 of the population".
...JIM FETZER, BELIEVES BUSH ORCHESTRATED 9/11: Well, you are wrong, Bill, because you haven't studied the case. We've created an organization consisting of experts and scholars, pilots, aeronautical engineers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers, physicists. We've been examining what the government's been telling us. And, frankly, Bill, it's a fantasy.None of the major claims made by the government can be sustained. We've been looking at this from every point of view. The government has a story it wants to sell us? We're not buying it.
O'REILLY: OK, you don't have to buy anything. You're American. You want to be a nut? You can be a nut. And you are a nut, because in order for any conspiracy of this magnitude to take place, thousands of Americans would have to buy into it, would have to know about it, and would have to keep their mouth shut about it. That's never going to happen. You're like the guys who think that the space aliens kidnapped Elvis or something like that; that's where you are, in my opinion.
So your opinion is that Bush murdered everybody on 9/11 to seize control and make him the dictator of America, or whatever the crazy thing is. And my opinion is, you're nuts.
major dad adds,
"Making George Bush the world's greatest actor when they told him in the schoolroom and the most malevolent, ee-ville GENIUS the world has ever seen. Ever. EVER."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:16 PM | Comments (4)
There Was a Hurricane Blowing During "The Brawl" This Weekend
Blustering hot air and typical classless Miami bullsh*t.
From the BROADCAST booth.
Comments made by TV analyst and former Miami player Lamar Thomas during a sideline-clearing brawl involving the Hurricanes and Florida International will be edited out before the game is replayed later this week.Thomas may also lose his job with Comcast Sports SouthEast, a regional cable network available in 5.5 million homes.
...“Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” Thomas said as the brawl raged out of control. “You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don’t come into the OB playing that stuff. You’re across the ocean over there. You’re across the city. You can’t come over to our place talking noise like that. You’ll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing.”
Miami and Florida International have campuses 9 miles apart in Miami-Dade County. It was the first meeting between the two programs, and the Hurricanes went on to win 35-0.
As the fight slowed, Thomas’ comments continued.
“I say, why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don’t come into the OB, baby,” Thomas said. “We’ve had a down couple years but you don’t come in here talking smack. Not in our house.”
major dad said "it's astonishing!" I said no, it's not. "It's Miami." And he agreed. There weren't t-shirts in the 80's for the Notre Dame-Miami game that said...
Catholics versus the Convicts
...for nothing. And Donna Shalala says Coker's job is safe.
THAT'S astonishing.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:42 PM | Comments (2)
JEEZ!! Who DID Dirty Harry Reid Piss Off
...at the AP?!
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use.Questioned about the campaign expenditures by The Associated Press, Reid's office said Monday he was personally reimbursing his campaign for $3,300 in donations he had directed to the staff holiday fund at his residence.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:05 PM | Comments (1)
I Love This Drudge Link
Buffalo Still Fixing Power Lines After Snow BlastReally? I didn't know they had opposable thumbs.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:04 PM
“Draconian, Inhumane and Ludicrous.”
That's what her supporters are saying about the government wanting to put convicted terrorism enabler Lynne Stewart away for thirty years. I dunno ~ I sure don't see it that way. Dumped in a spider hole until Ahmadinejad’s Iman of the Twelfth of Never comes back and THEN some isn't long enough for my thinking.
But it's neither here nor there now.
Civil rights lawyer jailed on terror charges
Attorney helped sheik who wanted to blow up New York City landmarksCivil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced Monday to 28 months in prison on a terrorism charge for helping a client, a blind sheik who plotted to blow up New York City landmarks, communicate with his followers.
Stewart, 67, could have faced up to 30 years in prison.
She smiled as the judge announced his decision to send her to prison for less than 2½ years.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:57 PM | Comments (4)
It's Always Great
...when the Aussies have your back.
...Japan has taken one of the hardest lines against the North. Last Friday, the Cabinet approved closing ports to North Korean ships and banning trade with the North.On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that his country may impose more sanctions depending on how other countries respond to the U.N. measures.
Australia announced that it would go beyond the U.N. resolution by banning the North's ships from entering its ports except in dire emergencies.
"I think that will help Australia make a quite clear contribution to the United Nations sanctions regime," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
Oh, I think so Mr. Downer. Mates? You rock.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:25 AM
Can I Hear That Chorus From Kumbaya
A VIDEO last week showed the Taliban’s military commander Mullah Dadullah beheading eight men accused of spying for British and US forces in Aghanistan....MOHAMMED Dadullah Akhund is the perfect image of a Mad Mullah terror leader. Black beard, black turban, and one leg missing.
When he is not being filmed cutting the heads off victims he is seen embracing suicide bombers before sending them to their deaths.
One person's religious fundamentalist is another person's terrorist. Stop the ugly stereotypes and embrace our differences. We need to reach out more and identify the root causes.
Understand the anger and disenfranchisement that drives regular, friendly chaps to bad hair, goats and anti-social behaviour.
(Pffft. "Mullah Dadullah" ~ sh*t. Who names these guys?)
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:14 AM | Comments (2)
I Suppose This Is Chimpy's Fault Too
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- More than 90 Sri Lankan sailors were killed Monday afternoon when an explosives-laden truck rammed into their convoy, Defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told CNN."These men were all unarmed. This is a deliberate barbaric terrorist attack," he said.
...Witnesses said bodies were strewn across the scene of the incident. A navy official accused Tamil Tiger rebels of carrying out the suicide attack.
The latest attack comes as foreign mediators struggle to keep alive the four-year old Norwegian-brokered cease-fire which has unraveled amid clashes that have killed at least 1,000 combatants and more than 100 civilians since July.
Maybe we can send Jimmeh over for some dialogue.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:31 AM
October 15, 2006
I Feel Better Already
Red wine may help prevent stroke damage
A couple glasses a day could protect the brain, mouse studies suggestRed wine might work to protect the brain from damage after a stroke and drinking a couple of glasses a day might provide that protection ahead of time, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
In an effort to better understand how red wine works, the scientists from Johns Hopkins University fed mice a moderate dose of a compound found in red grape skins and seeds before inducing stroke-like damage.
They discovered that the animals suffered less brain damage than similarly damaged mice who were not treated with the compound, which is called resveratrol.
What's good for Stuart Little's okay by me.
Hmmmm....
That's weird. Same dentist?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
Once Again, a Suzette Find
....leaves me speechless.
...Hubert Hoffman was earlier arrested by the police in a routine check at a railway station in the Polish capital of Warsaw.He complained to the arresting officers that President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, was responsible for turning Poland back to a Communist style dictatorship. He was reprimanded to show more respect for the country's rulers.
Hoffman replied with a loud fart and was immediately arrested. He was charged for "contempt for the office of the head of state."
(How does she do it?)
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 PM | Comments (2)
"60 Minutes" Tonight?
They did a fantastic job. Kudos to Ed Bradley and the crew. As much for their report as for the people they interviewed. The 'second stripper' was a revelation. Well spoken, completely together ~ wow. I hadn't visualized that. (I had the strippers I've met through the years who've been married to Marines I worked with in my head. As in "stripper" ~ BINGO! "Candy" comes to mind.)
Nifong needs to go down like a BIG DOG and those three kids need to file a wrongful prosecution lawsuit of biblical proportions.
Like I said in my earlier post ~ Nifong is toast if Ed Bradley and co. are working for the defense. The tragedy of it all is the three young lives ruined needlessly.
UPDATE: A link is available now.
"This woman has destroyed everything I worked for in my life. She's put it on hold. She's destroyed two other families and she's brought shame on a great university. And, worst of all she's split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn't happen and a lie that should have never been told," says David Evans.
You know, whatever her motivations, I wouldn't put it all on the accuser. She can shriek herself blue in the face from the Duke Bell Tower and that's her right, lies or not. No. It's up to the District Attorney whether the case goes forward on the evidence. When there IS no evidence, there is no case. "60 Minutes" shouldn't have to come to Durham to make a case that's been made in the press (and blogs) almost since the very beginning. Every revelation has been one more confirmation of exoneration. And yet it continues. The astonishing thing in the interviews was the fact that at least one of the young men had NEVER been questioned by either the Durham police or a representative of the DA's office. NO. ONE. Hey! I watch "The Closer" ~ the cops crawl all over you like a fly on roadkill.
Or they're supposed to.
La Shawn Barber's on the story, as ever. And WOW is all I can say about this dissection of the case.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:05 PM | Comments (6)
That First, Cool Fall Afternoon
...with football on the telly and leaves skittering across the yard triggers an instinctive reaction.
"Must Bake COOkies"
So I did. Herewith:
Butterscotch Chippy Oatmeal COOkies
...à la ths.
In the bowl ~
1 C butter (I use Land o' Lakes baking/spreadable butter w/ canola ~ better cholesterol wise)
1/4C granulated sugar
3/4C dark brown sugar, packed
1- 3 oz. box instant butterscotch pudding
In the sifter:
1 1/4 C flour
1 t baking soda
The rest:
2 eggs ( in a further smack at cholesterol, I've been using Eggbeaters)
3C oatmeal (I use Old Fashioned, not quick)
12 oz. bag Semi Sweet chips
5 oz. (half a bag) Butterscotch chips
Oven to 375° Makes 36 BIG ol' COOkies.
Cream sugars, pudding and butter until smooth and creamy, then beat in eggs until smooth.
Beat in flour/baking soda, then lower the mixer speed and work oatmeal in one cup at a time.
(Make sure you stop to scrape bowl well after each step.)
Then work in chips and scrape, scrape, scrape so they're evenly through.
Pop bowl in fridge while you do a quick clean-up.
As you can tell...
...we pour a healthy sized cookie in this house. More oatmeal for your heart that way. These are tablespoons we're working with and I start checking cookies this size at 12 minutes.
Because of the pudding they are going to look browner than, say, a chocolate chip as they bake.
(These average about 15 minutes or so and come out a toffee color.) Let them rest at least a minute or so on the cookie sheet, then move off to the cooling rack.
Then you'll need to keep a SHARP eye out for...
COOkie Pirates.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:05 PM | Comments (5)
October 14, 2006
Aw, Man
Navy SEAL falls on grenade to save comrades
Monsoor was only the second member of force to be killed in IraqA Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret.
“He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it,” said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. “He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs’ lives, and we owe him.”
...Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.
Bless his brave heart. Damn.
A Swill thank you to GALA for the heads-up on this.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:12 PM | Comments (2)
Dear Arizona
Vote for Prop 204. You'll take a lot of shit for it like we did here in the Sunshine State, but you'll never know how glad you'll be to have passed it. What you WON'T have is...
25 MILLION GALLONS of PIG POOPIE
...heading down stream in ONE poop swoop like we had in Norf Cacklelackey.
And that's worth every bit of print poop you take for passing it.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:20 AM
Shameless Exploitation for My Own Purposes
Alert P.E.T.A. if you must.
Ozzie and Beau in a fang-free Hallmark moment.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM | Comments (2)
October 13, 2006
"What Are You, Retarded?"
South Park beats down the 9-11 Conspiracy idiots.
(h/t to Allah)
ths UPDATE: Truthers strike back!
Well anyways like I said, I think this will get more people wanting to look at these "silly" conspiracy theories only to find themselves having themselves having restless nights researching controlled demolitons.
Yeah, I can see that happening: "You know, if Cartman thinks there's something to this, maybe I should do some research."
Just go READ
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:08 PM | Comments (7)
Kolbe Canyon
Feds probe trip that Kolbe made with pages
NBC exclusive: Congressman alleged to have been inappropriate in '96Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News.
...NBC also interviewed the two former pages, who are now in their late 20s. One of them said that Kolbe was a gentleman and never acted in an improper fashion. He recalled that the pair spent time in Kolbe's house at one point — and briefly were alone with him on the trip — and that Kolbe always acted professionally and decently.
The other would not comment on Kolbe's behavior during the trip or characterize it in any way.
"I don't want to get into the details," he said. "I just don't want to get into this... because I might possibly be considered for a job in the administration."
However, the former page — who is the one to whom Kolbe allegedly paid special attention — said he had a "blast" on the trip and did not report anything improper to his parents or any House officials after the trip. He said he has a favorable impression of the page program to this day and likes Kolbe.
Round One.
Now, there's no sign of Foley or Dirty Harry on MSNBC.com's home page, so I'm wondering how long before this makes front and center. ( World News Tonight had a piece on how conservative Christians are leaving the GOP in droves because they're "too close to homosexuals". )
UPDATE: Got the link.
Arguments among Christian conservatives — primarily that many of the gay men caught up in the Mark Foley scandal prove that Republicans have been too tolerant — threaten to tear the party apart."It's time for what we call a 'Come to Jesus Meeting,'" said Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. "Homosexuality is a dysfunctional lifestyle, and it must be addressed."
"Has the social agenda of the GOP been stalled by homosexual members and/or staffers?" Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council wrote in an e-mail to activists. "Does the party want to represent values voters or Mark Foley and friends?"
Synchronize your watches...6:22 p.m. CST in 3...2...now.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:22 PM
Oh My God
I'm DYING here!
“If I can get an elephant led by a mariachi band into this country, I think Osama bin Laden could get across with all the weapons of mass destruction he could get into this country,” Bhakta said.
The mariachi band was not immediately available for comment.
A warm Swill Salute to Professor Reynolds.
UPDATE: And trust Florida Cracker to serve up the video.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:01 PM | Comments (3)
Ogle a Few Good Men
...for a good cause. It's Marine Force Recon calender time. Oooooh-RAH !!
In my own smug way, I'd point out they missed one...
...but he's my favoritest calender Jarhead...
...and we'll just leave it at that.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:45 PM | Comments (3)
Searching for Answers Friday
In Democratic minds, why is it 'no holds barred' to dig up and claw through a Republican candidate's personal ancient history...
...Democratic candidate Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on GOP Rep. John E. Sweeney in Upstate New York to explain a drunken driving arrest 30 years ago and a more recent car accident.
...or embellish associations...
...Top targets are Republican incumbents who have been bruised by the Abramoff scandal. In California, for instance, Democrats are assailing Rep. John T. Doolittle for supporting "forced abortions and sex slavery" in the Northern Mariana Islands, which were represented by Abramoff.
...with no sense of scale or shame...
...In most cases, these attacks are akin to a "Hail Mary" football pass because the chances of success are so low. An example is in Nevada, where Democrats are trying to oust GOP Rep. Jon Porter from a seat that would be very hard to flip under normal circumstances. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) -- facing his own controversy over a big profit on a land deal -- has twice raised questions about Porter's divorce. The Democratic candidate in that race, Tessa Hafen, is a former Reid aide.
...but not okay to dig up and claw through possible terrorist conversations between here and overseas?
Judge Rules Against Wiretaps...The eavesdropping program, revealed in news reports in December 2005, allows the NSA to intercept telephone calls and e-mails between the United States and overseas without court approval in cases in which the government suspects one party of having links to terrorism.
...Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and other leading Democrats hailed the ruling as a welcome check on the Bush administration. The decision shows that "no one is above the law," Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said.
I'm wondering if Mr. Reid was in the room when Kerry said that. It probably flew right over his head if he was.
Sen. Harry Reid asks if anyone "felt a breeze just then?"
- photo 2006©TPI
UPDATE: Well, I'll be jiggered.
Clinton 'Pardon Brokerage' Targeted
Judicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, filed a formal request with the U.S. Department of Justice, calling for a criminal investigation into the reported activities of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and her brother, Anthony D. Rodham; former President Clinton, and Vonna Jo Gregory, former owner of the carnival company United Shows International.Recently released court documents provided new details concerning a scheme involving Anthony Rodham, who allegedly received $107,000 in fraudulent loans from United Shows International as compensation for securing a presidential pardon for Gregory in 2000 from then-President Clinton.
Of course, this won't make MSNBC.com, so whoopee doo for Babalu! Or we'd a missed it.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:35 AM | Comments (5)
We Missed Posting This Yesterday
...but others carried the flag so beautifully. Sailors of the USS Cole we lost that awful day six years ago are remembered. They all look so young. (A warm Swill Salute to Brian.)
For our part, I think I'll link to our post of June 8th this year ~ her 10th birthday and the day the USS Cole took to the seas again. I'm sure many of the folks who know her from the bombing would love to hear the story of her namesake, Darrell S. Cole, USMC (1920-1945). Remember the story, Swillers?
He was the bad a$$ bugler.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:43 AM | Comments (2)
Maybe South Korean Students'll Change the Sign
...now.
Revisting a post from one year ago.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:23 AM | Comments (4)
Trust Me, the Outcome Would Have Been Far Different Had It Been
...BINGLEY half nekked in the street.
Court upholds woman’s right for topless protest
Florida resident believe nudity laws are applied unfairly to womenAn appeals court has ruled that women can demonstrate topless as part of a legitimate political protest, striking down the arrest of a woman who has repeatedly flouted laws banning women from publicly going bare breasted.
...Book was arrested by Daytona Beach police and fined $253 during Bike Week in March 2004. The city said she violated an ordinance banning public nudity that was passed in 2002 to curb indecency at special events.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:36 AM | Comments (8)
October 12, 2006
Since I Was Up Anyway
...being completely unbiased (and considering my earlier excoriation of Newsweek today) I thought I'd give the MSM ~ ohhhhh, let's say MSNBC.com ~ one last chance to put "Harry" instead of "Foley" somewhere ~ anywhere ~ on their home page. (And I will admit to monitoring the situation the whole live-long day. In the interest of fairness. And the fact that I don't want to be accused of being a stalker. Or text messenger. Or anything unseemly. Ick.)
Okay. So. There I was, after reading Hugh Hewitt's incredible round-up, but thinking his tagline ~ "The Harry Reid story looks very, very bad for the Democrats' number one senator." ~ was only wishful thinking, because you can't LOOK "bad" if no one's "LOOKING". Bravo for Mr. Hewitt that he found CNN on the story because my favorite fishin' hole had nuffin' on Reid (Screen shot of the MSNBC home page at 2137 CST.) but had at least four Foley related links, along with the obligatory "the economy SUCKS" headlines.
As much as I'd like to believe that this is a well informed electorate and that if there's any dirt in Washington, we'll see it fly by in our media...::sigh::... I don't listen to conservative talk radio, we've been watching World News Tonight since 1981 (Fox News makes my teeth gnash), I get the NYT every Sunday, our local fishwrap every day and NPR is the only station programmed in that very fancy car stereo. But I have my online rounds to make and flags go up when something's one place...and not in another. An agenda, perhaps? I start to wonder and I pick it apart ~ go looking for more. Sometimes finding less and THAT'S a story, too. But your average Joe just knows what he's fed from the MSM trough ~ "If something was happening, we woulda heard about it..." No, Joe. Not anymore you wouldn't.
When Newsweek sounds like Paul Begala on Crossfire or Kos on any given day, hey! Whaddaya do?
No, seriously! Whaddaya do? We're all singing to the choir here, pretty much.
So how do you/we/us get Harry Reid...to Joe?
UPDATE: Joe won't be reading about Reid on MSNBC so far this morning. 0740 CST 13 Oct ~ one Foley, one Abramoff, one Overseer of Pages and no Harry. At all.
More Dirty Harry Ditties at Michelle Malkin's.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:02 PM
Okay ~ Everyone Needs to Look for Kcruella Tonight
She's at the Mets play-off game.
I think the term is "nosebleed".
UPDATE: Holy CRAP! 13 innings?!? Man, is she gonna be cranky tomorrow.
(And probably the whole city sleep deprived city, ya think?)
But they won, so woo hoo Mets.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:56 PM | Comments (1)
Not Only is God Green
...he HATES George Bush and will direct his people to vote him and his silly a$$ed Rethuglicans O.U.T. OUT. (And then make them roast in the burny fires of hell, blahblahblah, but that's later.)
Jesus loves green, this I know!
'Cause Bill Moyers told me so.
A new holy war is growing within the conservative evangelical community, with implications for both the global environment and American politics. For years liberal Christians and others have made protection of the environment a moral commitment. Now a number of conservative evangelicals are joining the fight, arguing that man's stewardship of the planet is a biblical imperative and calling for action to stop global warming.
But they are being met head-on by opposition from their traditional evangelical brethren who adamantly support the Bush administration in downplaying the threat of global warming and other environmental perils. The political stakes are high: Three out of every four white evangelical voters chose George W. Bush in 2004. "Is God Green?" explores how a serious split among conservative evangelicals over the environment and global warming could reshape American politics.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:18 PM | Comments (3)
Dollars, Cents and Shari'ah
Stuff you just might not know.
Islamic-Safe Finance Grows in the West
When Caribou Coffee went public last year, sharp-eyed investors noticed some unusual promises in its prospectus. Caribou, the nation's second-largest coffeehouse chain, said it would never sell pork or porn. It wouldn't charge or receive interest, either.By following financial rules that are part of the Islamic code called Shariah, Caribou is among a small but growing list of Western businesses looking to make themselves as attractive as possible to Muslim investors. Some, like Caribou, are motivated by principle, while others see Muslim investors as an attractive new source of money.
...Dow Jones has created an Islamic investing index. A Texas company issued almost $166 million in Shariah-compliant bonds to finance natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. And the German state of Saxony-Anhalt issued a floating-rate 100-million euro note -- managed by Citigroup -- that followed Shariah rules.
Assets invested at two Shariah-compliant funds run by Saturna Capital in Bellingham, Wash. have swelled nearly 10-fold, since 2002 from $34 million in 2002 to $331 million now -- though that's still tiny by mutual fund standards. The funds invest only in companies that are Shariah-compliant.
...Eric Meyer, who runs a Connecticut-based hedge fund called Shariah Capital, says Western banks and financial institutions need to have Shariah-compliant products or risk losing market share.
"There is a younger generation of Muslims who grew up during the last 20 to 30 years that have a reawakened sense of nationalism and religious pride that motivates them to invest according to their faith," he said.
But in Western finance, it takes some creativity to avoid earning or paying interest.
To borrow money, Shariah-compliant companies often pledge the lender a share of the profits from an asset instead of interest. Investors who need to earn a shorter-term return can contract to buy, say, $100 of copper today, and simultaneously pledge to sell copper in 90 days for, say, $103.
Caribou Coffee Company Inc., for instance, has a revolving line of credit. But instead of paying interest, it sells assets and then pays to lease them back.
Harry Reid should work for them.
It's a frickin' amazing shell game. Subterfuge and sleight of hand, all in the name of religion. I would imagine it's also remarkably hard to keep track of assets and cash flow, since one doesn't actually own anything ~ Ali bin Bomber says "What funds? I own nothing." Acbar ack ShneikAtac says "And I sent him nothing."
I'm gonna give that a whirl April 15th.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:16 PM | Comments (3)
DA Nifong Has Himself Some BIG Problems
...if Ed Bradley and "60 Minutes" are working for the defense.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:51 PM
Check Out Newsweek's "Gaggle"
(I think they should name it 'GARgle', since that's what they need after writing these DNC love letters)
It's their 'political blog', as they call it. There's this big long list o' whoo-ya contributors down the left hand (how appropriate) side. Impressive but they coulda just put Kos's name there and saved space.
Like, here we are on October 12th and, outside of a sh*tty little note about the Army paying enlistment bonuses, it's all Foley/Rove/Hastert/Rove/Reynolds/Rove/Abramoff/Rove/blahblahblah, all the time.
Harry Reid, anybody? That's so THIS week. But, as a wise sage noted...
"Unless we can work a child-predator angle in, I think we’re pumping a dry well. Did Reid sign the deed at a coke party in the page dormitory in DC? No? Then we’re SOL."
With Newsweek's 'bloggers', I think we'd be SOL even if he had.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:15 PM | Comments (1)
"Give That Air Sand BACK!!"
"But IPound Sand takes on a whole new meaning around here.breathelive at the BEACH!"
A sand fight is brewing on Pensacola Beach.Pensacola Beach leaseholders accumulating sand on their lots may be asked to return it soon, at their own cost.
The Santa Rosa Island Authority on Wednesday agreed unanimously to request Jacksonville-based coastal engineering firm Olsen Associates examine the issue of how much sand leaseholders can keep around their homes.
"We've got to determine what's the proper height," SRIA general manager W.A. "Buck" Lee said.
Most of the sand displacement occurred during a spate of hurricanes and tropical storms to strike the barrier island during the last several years.
The Island Authority offered to remove the sand that washed onto peoples' lots after the storms, but sand removal now is going to come at the property owner's expense, Lee said.
"They're going to have a terrible time trying to legislate that," beach leaseholder Joseph Reynes said.
Ya think?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:10 PM
The Wicked Witch of the East
...in stunning surround sound.
PROTECT YOUR MANHOOD!!
Brought to you as a public service, courtesy of Radio Blogger.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:20 AM | Comments (3)
October 11, 2006
Somebody STOP Nancy "Pond Scum" Pelosi
...before she starts ta draining!! The swamp's doin' just FINE, thank you.
Federal deficit falls to smallest level in 4 years
Decline seen helped by higher tax revenuesThe federal budget deficit, helped by a gusher of tax revenues, fell to $247.7 billion in 2006, the smallest amount of red ink in four years.
The deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was 22.3 percent lower than the $318.7 billion imbalance for 2005, handing President Bush an economic bragging point as Republicans go into the final four weeks of a battle for control of Congress.
Bush called the 2006 outcome a “dramatic reduction” in the deficit which allowed him to fulfill his 2004 campaign pledge of cutting the deficit in half earlier than his original 2009 target date.
If we're lucky, there'll be NO Fall gator wrestling for you, chitlin' cheeks.
UPDATE: Well, I didn't hear anything about it on World News Tonight just now, but I mighta missed it. I did work around airplanes.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:47 PM | Comments (2)
Lending Credence to My 'Homo Hunt' Post
...the Kolbe Grand Canyon story link is off MSNBC.com's home page, but lookee how it pops up on their Politics page ~
with a RED exclamation mark for IMPORTANT !!
WHY would it be marked "IMPORTANT"? (And WHO decides/marks it as such?)
If nothing happened, WHY would it even be there?
Are they fishing? Are they schmearing under the guise of reporting?
Has a Democrat EVER taken pages along on a junket? We know how they treat interns...so it's a legitimate question, n'est pas?
If it was Barney Frank, it wouldn't have made the toilet paper, less mind MSNBC.
UPDATE: Since no one's blogging this (per a Technorati search) but moi, I thought I'd check another news site. You know ~ see if it'd made an appearance. Not on CNN ( 11:30 CST screenshot of my search ) it hasn't. If it's sooo "IMPORTANT!", shouldn't they be on it too?
Hmmmm....
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:10 AM | Comments (3)
Gaia Under Threat From Super-Sized Monster
No, not the Russkie Comet; we're talking the biggest, baddest monster of them all, one who is "eating the Earth":
The population of the United States will pass 300 million today, or tomorrow. No one knows exactly where, no one know precisely when. It is a milestone for sure but is this a cause for celebration or anxiety?Some American commentators are already saying the landmark is a chance to note the US is perhaps the only country in the developed world where the economy is being bolstered by a population that is growing at a discernable rate. But many experts say passing the 300 million milestone should be a wake-up call that demands a reappraisal of the extraordinary, unparalleled rate of consumption by the world's largest economy and its third largest by population.
As an economic model for the rest of the world to follow - in particular the rapidly developing economies of China and India - it is unsustainable, they say.
They then list some helpful 'facts' that show how horrible the US is for the world, including this information which has convinced me, folks:
75 Life expectancy for men in the US. Women are expected to live until 8063 Life expectancy for men in the developing world. Women are expected to live until 67
In the interest of Humanity, we ask that all Americans over the age of 65 kill themselves immediately.
You think I'm exaggerating the threat?
Perhaps.
But consider this: the phrase "Soylent Green is people!" has exactly the same number of letters as the phrase "George Bush is Karl Rove."
I thought you might find that...interesting.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:31 AM | Comments (6)
October 10, 2006
And Are We On a Homo Hunt Here?
No sooner does openly gay REPUBLICAN Rep. Kolbe offer his official version of what prompted him to alert the Clerk of the page program, then this little number appears on MSNBC:
Rep. Kolbe visited Grand Canyon with pages
Park Service workers accompanied group during 1996 tripRep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) took two male pages with him on a three-day camping trip in 1996, former congressional pages and National Park Service officials tell NBC News. The pages, who were 17 at the time, went rafting and camping with Kolbe in the Grand Canyon over the July 4th holiday that year.
So, I guess no pages have ever gone anywhere with anyone else ~ gay OR straight ~ EVER? I mean, what's the point of the story if not to stick it to Kolbe ~ sprinkle some suspicion on him? Especially if they went as "part of a larger group" as the piece mentions later on?
If they weren't sharing his tent and canteen sippy straw, is there any reason to print this other than innuendo? (Which could be an unfortunate word choice, granted...)
I don't see anything yet from the Kossites, but they're not the only rotten eggs devil's flying monkeys ~ just the loudest.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:45 PM
The Archdiocese of Miami and Diocese of Palm Beach Put Foley on Notice
...to put up or shut up.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:26 PM
A Photo Essay From Forbes
Mr. T’s Tips For A Great First Date
"Make a good first impression. Press and iron your clothes. Don’t dominate the conversation, and keep your finger out of your nose."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:05 PM | Comments (3)
"No Matter What We Do the Fact Remains
...there is evil in the world."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:46 PM | Comments (8)
It's Helpful and Encouraging
...to have the Chinese onboard.
North Korea must face “some punitive actions” for testing a nuclear device, China’s U.N. ambassador said Tuesday, suggesting that Beijing may be willing to impose some form of Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang.China’s U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters that the council must give a “firm, constructive, appropriate but prudent response” to North Korea.
“I think there has to be some punitive actions but also I think these actions have to be appropriate,” he said.
...While the U.S. and its allies want a swift, tough resolution, the question has been how much punishment China would allow. China has been North Korea’s major ally and a source of both food and fuel for the desperately poor nation of 23 million.
Wang’s comments suggested that Beijing will at least allow some muscle in the resolution.
...In Beijing earlier Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry vented its anger against its communist ally over the test for a second day, with a spokesman saying that relations had been damaged.
“The nuclear test will undoubtedly exert a negative impact on our relations,” the spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said at a routine media briefing. He said Monday’s test was done “flagrantly, and in disregard of the international community’s shared opposition.”
Wang went a step further than Liu, who said the time was not right for punishment, much less military action.
At the very least, there should be maritime inspections of anything entering or leaving NorKo ports. And perhaps some US light should shine on reports like this one (courtesy of Crusader) via China that will CURL YOUR FREAKIN' HAIR.
UPDATE: Senator McCain has thoughtfully blogged comments of his I spent all day looking for, because they were dead on target.
...The President is right to call on the Council to impose a military arms embargo, financial and trade sanctions, and, most importantly, the right to interdict and inspect all cargo in and out of North Korea. I hope the Council quickly adopts these sanctions, and that all members enforce them.The worst thing we could do is accede to North Korea’s demand for bilateral talks. When has rewarding North Korea’s bad behavior ever gotten us anything more than worse behavior?
...Prior to the agreement, every single time the Clinton Administration warned the Koreans not to do something -- not to kick out the IAEA inspectors, not to remove the fuel rods from their reactor -- they did it. And they were rewarded every single time by the Clinton Administration with further talks. We had a carrots and no sticks policy that only encouraged bad behavior. When one carrot didn’t work, we offered another.
Enough vegetables already ~ on the bargaining table AND in government.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:25 PM | Comments (1)
There're Some Interesting Contradictions
...in this CBS/NYT poll for 6 Oct. Bush gets HAMMERED when people are asked about his handling of the economy, 34% approval to 57% disapproval, fails MISERABLY when asked about Iraq ( 30% to 66% ) but comes out a just squeak behind when asked their opinion of his handling of 'the war on terrorism' ~ 46% thumbs up to 48% in the 'he sucks' column. In what might be good news for Congress in a twisted fashion, they get drubbed in a 'how Congress is handling their job' question by a 27% approval to 64% 'throw the bums OUT' margin. BUT, when asked how their LOCAL representative was doing, everybody ( 56% to 27% ! ) loves their own guy! So is "Congress" an abstract for most voters? That would work in the Republicans favor I'd think. That's until schizophrenia hits again (in question 26) where those same voters, asked if they think their 56% beloved rep has earned re-election 'doing a good job' back in question 8, 43% say "no". ¿Que?
Now, back to the economy. Bush takes a whoopin' on his handling of it, but when asked on a five point scale HOW the economy ITSELF is doing, 60% of the respondants rate it in the VERY GOOD/FAIRLY GOOD categories! ¿Que? (How do they think "good" happens when a guy's been president for the past 6 years? At some point or another, he or Karl Rove had to have done something right. Mah-roons.)
There's also a 'favorable/not' list of questions which includes Cheney, Hastert, Condi but no Democratic leadership. I thought that odd.
Of course, there's 34 pages of this drivel and 87 freakin' questions before they get to the demographic ones signaling the end, so I guess you might be a little brain dead when it's done.
Provided you weren't already when it started.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:21 PM | Comments (2)
Just Lovely
DODDS schools worldwide told to watch for violent MS-13Department of Defense Dependents Schools is trying to stop one of the most dangerous U.S. gangs — MS-13 — from gaining a foothold among students, according to a newsletter sent to its schools worldwide.
“While attending civilian schools in the U.S., future DoDEA students could be exposed to widespread gang activities, influence and violence,” the newsletter states. “Some may be recruited as members or associates into an MS-13 clique.”
MS-13 stands for Mara Salvatrucha — roughly translated, “Salvadoran Gang.” It is organized and highly violent. In some areas, gang members purposely mutilate individuals to create an atmosphere of fear, according to the newsletter.
They're mostly in the Virginia/D.C. area ~ color me surprised on that one. No reports of an actual DOD school infiltration yet, but with the internet...
...Charles Steitz, a spokesman for DODDS-Pacific, said school officials across the region have seen no on-campus gang activity, but they’re aware of community concerns.Earlier this year, however, Kadena Air Base on Okinawa established a joint service task force to investigate a brief rise of gang-related activity involving a small group of high school teens linked through MySpace.com, said Capt. Xavier Rivera, with Kadena’s 18th Security Forces.
...you can meet the strangest people.
( A previous hispanic gang/military post. )
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:54 PM
Miss Goggle Eyes
...runs away a second time.
Jennifer Wilbanks, who became known as the "runaway bride" after taking off just days before her lavish wedding in 2005, is suing her former fiance for $500,000.Wilbanks and John Mason broke up for good in May, about a year after her excursion to Las Vegas and New Mexico made international headlines while hundreds of friends and family members searched for her back home in suburban Atlanta.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:41 AM | Comments (3)
"Veils Suck"
Salmon Rushdie, again I salute you, Sir
The row over Muslim women's dress codes reignited today after author Salman Rushdie declared that "veils suck". Rushdie, whose book The Satanic Verses triggered death threats from Islamic clerics, gave his full backing to Leader of the Commons Jack Straw for raising the issue.Rushdie was forced into hiding for 10 years after Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini served a "fatwah" on him over his book’s alleged slight on the prophet Mohammed.
..."Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there's not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted wearing the veil.
"I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on [Straw's] side.
"He was expressing an important opinion, which is that veils suck, which they do. I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women."
Mr Straw triggered anger last week when he revealed he asked Muslim women visiting his constituency surgery to remove their veils.
He said that seeing someone's face made it easier to communicate and felt the garment was a barrier to integration and good community relations.
While Straw is right about that, that aspect is really secondary; the real problem with the veil is that it subjugates the women and consigns them to second-class status. That is simply unacceptable in the modern world.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:46 AM | Comments (15)
October 09, 2006
They Sure Sound Like Red Blooded Americans
...to me!
Alaska Villages Reject Venezuela Oil
In Alaska's native villages, the punishing winter cold is already coming through the walls of the lightly insulated plywood homes, many of the villagers are desperately poor, and heating-oil prices are among the highest in the nation.And yet a few villages are refusing free heating oil from Venezuela, on the patriotic principle that no foreigner has the right to call their president "the devil."
..."As a citizen of this country, you can have your own opinion of our president and our country. But I don't want a foreigner coming in here and bashing us," said Justine Gunderson, administrator for the tribal council in the Aleut village of Nelson Lagoon. "Even though we're in economically dire straits, it was the right choice to make."
And ho-lee cow, are things tough up there for them.
...A spokesman for Gov. Frank Murkowski, John Manly, said the governor believes Chavez's donation is a ploy to undermine Americans' faith in their government. But he said it is up to each village to make its own decision."It seems like a very strange irony that we produce the oil and yet every year there seems to be a chronic problem in getting the fuel to people that need it," Manly said.
Joan Eddy, principal and teacher at Nelson Lagoon's school, said most buildings in town were erected 30 to 40 years ago, which makes them pretty old, considering how they get battered by the constant 20-25 mph wind coming off the ocean. Their heating systems are aging, too.
She noted the fuel barge is late arriving this year, and said residents are turning on their furnaces for only a few hours in the morning and at night.
"We're conserving as much as we can because we are concerned. It looks like it's going to be a snowy winter and cold," she said.
Bless their hearts.
Remind me again why I should send money to Africa?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:10 PM
This Is an ODD Co-incidence, N'est Pas?
First salad bar spinach...then Iraqi policemen...and now...
Sweet little old ladies at a REPUBLICAN fundraising luncheon!
- "Suck it up, Grannie!" Senator John Kerry implores geriatric Republican supporter MayBelle Ipswitch, after presenting her with a luscious plate of victuals.The widowed Mrs. Ipswitch replied saucily "But she hasn't got any!"
"Shut your piehole and masticate, you blithering hag." the Massachusetts Democrat retorted. ©TPI 2006
If anyone can establish WHEN Howard Dean and the Democratic leadership knew about Sen. Kerry's garçon fantasies, we could blow this sucker wide open.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:24 PM | Comments (2)
The NY Post Has a Lively Front Page
Bush Blasts Nuke Kook!!Heh. Can't beat that. And Bush did sound firm and presidential. Why is it some
"Reports of North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon is an extremely dangerous and destabilizing event," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee.Kerry also used the occasion to criticize Bush. "Weapons of mass destruction pointed at our allies and strategic partners represents a shocking failure of President Bush's security policy, and a threat to the interests of peace and stability in the world."
He's shocked ( SHOCKED !!) he tells you.
-Sen. John Kerry emotes his shock at the shocking developments that have shocked the world.
He's so shocked he's frozen.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:15 PM | Comments (5)
I Wonder If She Was a Blonde?
"She started screaming and all the staff thought she had been electrocuted,"...Nah, couldn't have been. We would have quit screaming just as quickly, assuring everyone it was "a broken nail, nothing more".
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:15 AM
Well, Imagine
...that
“This is Foley’s lifestyle,” said Ron Gwaltney, a home builder, as he waited with his family outside a Christian rock concert last Thursday in Norfolk. “He tried to keep it quiet from his family and his voters. He is responsible for what he did. He is paying a price for what he did. I am not sure how much farther it needs to go.”
I was wondering why they thought the Christian Right would leave the GOP in droves over this, when it seems so painfully obvious that anyone could figure it out.
A) Foley did it his ownself. No one did it for him. No one made him do it. Rock.
B) The alternative is Nancy Pelosi. Hardspot.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:35 AM
I Think Miles O'Brien
...experienced a Freudian slip while reporting on North Korea's nuclear test. He said:
"The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed a 4.2 magniturd...(!)...magnitude disturbance..."
I think he had it right the first time.
From NPR's "Morning Edition" to MSNBC, the repeating theme is the resounding failure of diplomacy.
...The move, which Pyongyang had begun warning was imminent on Oct. 3, ends years of intensive diplomacy aimed at preventing the isolated Stalinist state from developing a nuclear capability. It struck a blow to Chinese leader Hu Jintao, who just hours before the detonation hosted a breakthrough summit meeting with Japan's new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, which ended with a joint call for Pyongyang to refrain from testing a weapon and rejoin six-party talks.
Even China's completely put out, calling it "brazen", which I guess is a big time slap in diplo-speak. Not to mention that it's ruined a big week for the Chinese.
...But such speculation that Kim was staying his hand turned out to be grimly premature. Hu has another reason to be furious with Kim. Sunday was also the opening day of a key four-day Chinese communist party plenum in Beijing, during which Hu was slated to begin the political maneuvering required to reshuffle personnel and orchestrate his own succession. Now that important party conference is in shambles, upstaged by Kim's nuclear test.
I can't wait for Jimmy Carter's spin on this.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:24 AM
Fat Man, Little Boy, Now "Ronery Guy"?
So Much for the Peace Ceremony
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Monday it had safely and successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, flying in the face of a warning from the U.N. Security Council.
Even the Chinese are not amused
The US said the reported test was a "provocative act", while China denounced it as "brazen".In an unusually strong statement against its ally, China expressed its "resolute opposition" to the claimed test and said it "defied the universal opposition of international society".
Now we see the fruitful harvest of the wise policy of supplying NK with nuclear technology
The North is believed to have enough radioactive material for about a half-dozen bombs, using plutonium from its main nuclear reactor located at Yongbyon, north of the capital Pyongyang. It insists its nuclear program is necessary to deter a U.S. invasion.
Some people are pointing out that fact that this bomb was much smaller, yield-wise, than Little Boy or Fat Man; this is irrelevant. If NK is allowed to get away with this, than the Iranians will get the know-how in a matter of weeks from both the NKers and the Europeasers.
Michelle has a full link round-up.
And, Madeline, Cheers!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:46 AM | Comments (1)
October 08, 2006
ONLY Because She's Family
...Kcruella, I mean.
::sigh::
Go Mets.
Go.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:00 PM | Comments (2)
October 07, 2006
WHOA!!
Go HOGS!!
Arkansas stuns No. 2-ranked Auburn
Razorbacks run wild over Tigers, earn surprising 27-10 win
Kcruella and I have fond memories of being stationed in Memphis and our long, drawn out growls of...
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRazorbacks!!
...at inappropriate moments. Usually.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:56 PM | Comments (10)
Dear Northview High School in Century, FL
Don't let your "perfect" 6-0 record fool you. As "SPORTSMEN" ~ which is what I thought high school sports were really all about ~
YOU
SUCK.
Chiefs roll to perfect 6-0The numbers game certainly fell in Northview's favor Friday, on the scoreboard and on the sidelines.
The Chiefs beat a thread-bare Tallahassee John Paul II Catholic roster -- all 12 of them -- 41-0 to remain undefeated.
"It was a win," Northview coach Cody Keene said. "We know we had them out manned but our kids did what they had to do and their kids played hard."
...John Paul II (1-6) tried to postpone the game because of its lack of available players. The Panthers began the season with just an 18-man varsity roster which has since been thinned because of injuries.
The two schools originally had agreed to reschedule for Oct. 20, but Northview decided to enforce a new rule and asked John Paul II to either play the original schedule or forfeit the game and be held responsible for the Chiefs' lost revenue. Northview has averaged between $6,000 and $8,000 this season.
So the unbeaten team of integrity says 'okay' ~ "AGREES" ~ to a delay. Then a single lightbulb erupts in a Century brain and they realize if beating 18 football players is easy, they should be able to kick the sh*t out of a team with only TWELVE. (Throw in the 3 hour bus ride from Tallahassee to Century for gravy) So QUICK!! AGREEMENT DO OVER! "Their kids played hard." What an ASS. Their kids played the WHOLE F*CKIN' GAME.
And what lovely life lessons for the Century players.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:56 AM | Comments (2)
Joke Of The Day
Q: Who bats after Alex Rodriguez?
A: Detroit.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:34 AM | Comments (4)
October 06, 2006
If Roger Simon Has the Courage to Do It ~ Out Himself
...then, by God, we all should.
Inspired by Roger's bold, selfless act and in the spirit of freedom from the closet that binds ~ I will summon what little intestinal fortitude I can claim, step forward and tell all of you ~ my dear friends and bosom companions, compadres and confidantes ~ that I've been lying to myself and all of you all this time. It's been obvious for some time and ever so painful to come to grips with, but here it is ~ the bald truth....
BINGLEY
...you are OUT.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:14 PM | Comments (7)
"More Troops Please"
"Not losing" isn't the same as winning.I've heard President Bush repeatedly state he will send more troops to Iraq if the commanders on the ground ask for them. I think, having returned home from Iraq two months ago, that there must be a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line. Maybe units on the ground are painting too rosy a picture for the generals. Perhaps the generals aren't asking because it goes against the "can do" ethos of the Army. Possibly the military is being squeezed by the Pentagon to do more with less. Or maybe the White House doesn't want to admit more troops are needed. In any case, while I do not have the answers nor do I seek to place blame, it is painfully obvious there's a disconnect.
I volunteered to serve in Iraq because I believe in our mission there. I share the president's conviction about the Iraq war--we can and must win, for the Iraqi people, for the future of our country and for peace-loving people everywhere. But I'm frustrated. America is fighting with a hand tied behind its back. Soldiers have all the equipment we need--armored humvees, body armor for every body part, superior technology, etc.--but we simply do not have enough troops in Iraq, and we need them now.
...I believe, as the president noted, that "the safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad." Why then do we have just enough troops in Iraq not to lose?
Crusader sent this along and it's an argument we back seat drivers have been making since this whole mess started.
Give our troops everyTHING and everyONE they need to do this right ~ massive, overwhelming force and support to unleash the hounds and get it DONE.
Not the Rumsfeld doctrine of "more on less".
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:46 AM | Comments (2)
Sh*tting With The Stars
Our buddy Gunslinger passed this on to me:
MALIBU, Calif. - Just whose waste is fouling the most star-studded stretch of the Southern California coast? Los Angeles County officials intend to find out, and if the evidence leads back to the toilets of some of Hollywood's rich and famous, the sewage could really hit the fan. "This is going to get messy," predicts Mark Pestrella, the public works official assigned to the project....Malibu, whose spectacular seaside cliffs, canyons and beaches have attracted numerous environmentally minded celebrities over the years, including Sting and Tom Hanks, was incorporated in 1991 specifically to stop construction of a sewer line. There are an estimated 2,400 septic tanks in this city of multimillion-dollar homes strung along 25 miles of coast.
Malibu residents fiercely guard their privacy and their right to use septic tanks, and many deny their septic systems are the source of dangerous ocean bacteria levels that rise sharply after heavy rains.
Those Hollywood stars are so full of it I'm not really surprised that some is leaking into the ocean. Will they rename the town Malipoo?
These are, of course, the same people who fly all over the globe in their private jets so they can scold us about our energy consumption.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)
NOW We Know the TRUE Meaning of
..."NANNY STATE"...
A government proposal to raise Italy's legal age for buying alcohol from 16 to 18 is going down like a corked wine with bar owners, scientific experts and some critics in the very government that came up with the idea....Livia Turco, health minister, said the measure would align Italy with other European Union countries. In fact, the legal age for purchasing most or all types of alcohol in France, Germany and several smaller countries is 16, though it is 18 in the UK and 21 in the US.
..."It sends a repressive and prohibitionist message to young people, and it could have the opposite effect to that intended - making the abuse of alcoholic drinks more attractive," said Gennaro Migliore, a communist legislator.
..."I wonder if it's really true that you can change people's lifestyles with prohibition," said Lino Stoppani, Fipe's president.
Many critics have pointed out that Italians learn to drink moderate amounts of wine or beer at a relatively young age - under 14 - because of the tradition of leisurely family meals at the weekend in restaurants.
...It is widely recognised in Italy, however, that the high level of traffic accidents is related to alcohol consumption. About 200 Italian teenagers die every year as a result of accidents involving drinking and driving.
Nevertheless, the budget's proposals on alcohol seem in apparent conflict with the much more liberal approach that some government ministers are considering on drug use.
Paolo Ferrero, social solidarity minister, says he plans to reverse the existing law, passed by Italy's former centre-right government, which made it a criminal offence to possess all but the smallest amounts of marijuana and cocaine.
Hmmm, beer or cocaine? Which would I rather have Ebola using? I think the best indicator on that score would be which is served at those long Sunday dinners. As for 200 teenagers killed in drinking related accidents ~ in my mind, that's a pretty astonishingly low number considering the age at which you can legally begin quaffing. Judging by the American experience when it was 18 to drink, you'd think there'd be slaughter on every road in Italy four times a day with tanked 16 year olds.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:30 AM | Comments (5)
The Awards Are In!!
One of the winners...
Medicine - Dr. Francis Fesmire said he wasn't sure whether he was honored or embarrassed when he learned he'd won an Ig Nobel for his paper called — ahem — "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage.""I'm a serious guy, and something I wrote in 1987 is coming back to haunt me," said Fesmire, an emergency physician and director of the emergency heart center at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Um...bravo, Dr. Fesmire! Another...
Biology - Bart Knols and Ruurd de Jong, for showing that female malaria mosquitoes are attracted equally to the smell of Limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.
and a third...
Ornithology - Dr. Ivan Schwab accepted his Ig Nobel for his work explaining why woodpeckers don't get headaches. Schwab, an opthamologist, said his writings are based on the research of deceased UCLA professor Phillip R.A. May, who received an Ig Nobel posthumously."I had heard about the Igs and this sounded like too much fun to pass up," said Schwab, who planned on dressing up as a woodpecker for the ceremony. "I'm very proud to be part of it."
By george, I would be too. (The Ig Nobel website is getting hammered right now, but I'm sure there's great stories when we can get in.) Read the whole list on MSNBC and weep.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:48 AM | Comments (1)
Where Is This Officer's Loyalty?
Do police in the UK have to take an oath to uphold the law?
A Muslim police officer who asked to be excused from guarding the Israeli embassy was married by the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, The Daily Telegraph has learned. Pc Alexander Omar-Basha's father-in-law is related to Bakri, who performed an Islamic ceremony at the family home in north London....Scotland Yard said yesterday that Pc Omar-Basha, a member of the Metropolitan Police armed Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG), had been allowed to absent himself from armed patrols outside the Israeli embassy after expressing concerns about the effect it might have on the safety of his relatives in Lebanon during Israel's military campaign in August.
The decision provoked a debate about political correctness in the police force and drew accusations that Muslim officers were being treated differently to others.
This is complete and total bullshit. He should be fired. Will they allow any muslims who work for the fire department to 'absent themselves' from any fires at synagogues or AIDS clinics?
This is a perfect example of the Balkanization that is creeping in to the West as a result of all this pandering to sensibilities. The law is the law, and it applies to everyone equally. Freedom of speech and thought can not be abridged because someone might feel offended.
Lots more on this here.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:33 AM | Comments (3)
Chemical Fire In NC
Oh man, what a mess:
APEX, N.C. -- Shifting winds forced Apex officials to expand an evacuation area early Friday to protect residents from a chemical gas plume that continued to spread from an industrial fire that has raged since late Thursday.Town Manager Bruce Radford said a leak at the EQ North Carolina plant on Investment Boulevard sent several large plumes of chlorine gas into the air around 9 p.m. Thursday. A large fire broke out at the plant afterward, sending flames more than 100 feet into the night sky and setting off multiple explosions.
EQ is a licensed hazardous-waste facility that serves businesses.
Apex and Wake County officials declared a state of emergency early Friday and evacuated about 16,000 people -- half of of Apex -- within hours.
...Weatherly said the fire had spread to a nearby petroleum farm and had ignited four storage tanks containing a total of about 200,000 gallons of fuel. Officials were unsure if the fire had spread beyond that, however, he said.
They're just going to let it burn out, and may have to evacuate more folks.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:16 AM
October 05, 2006
"Shoot Me First"
The bravest, most loving sacrifice and the most incredible, loving gift.
The oldest of the five Amish girls shot dead in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "Shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates....What's more, Fisher's 11-year-old sister, Barbie, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to "Shoot me second," Rhoads said.
"They were amazing," Rhoads said, "absolutely amazing. There was a tremendous amount of calm and courage in that schoolroom."
"Marian, the oldest one, did ask to be shot first," Rhoads said. "The faith of their fathers really was embedded in them. … How many adults are willing to do that? Not many."
There has to be a special horse and buggie lane on Heaven's gentle paths.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:32 PM | Comments (15)
On the CITGO 'Boycott'
I stole myself from Ken's comment section. (Yes, I'm the one with no...ahem...reproductive appendage for a reason.)
I'm not driving an extra 10 miles to buy non-CITGO gas. Sorry. CITGO's a fact of life here on the Gulf Coast, even to the point of being the supplier for ALL our local Naval installations' petrol stations. The Tom Thumbs that are two to every corner here carry CITGO as their branded gas, but are OWNED by Kroger Supermarkets ~ a VERY American chain. And, while it was convenient for 7-11 to drop CITGO, the fact of the matter is that most of these firms are signed into decades long contracts (a la the Navy (signed 1989 I believe) and have no such opportunity to be nimble.7-11's contract was EXPIRING and they chose not to renew. Big difference.
Therefore the only people you are hurting by boycotting is the folks who work in the Quick Marts attached to CITGO pumps and it's not like most of them would be working in computer sciences if only they didn't LOVE the Quick Mart life so much.
So no.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:54 PM | Comments (4)
I Know I'm Insufferable But
...aren't there always...two ?
Clinic to separate 2 more conjoined N.D. twins
8-week-old girls joined at the abdomen, Mayo doctors say
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:38 PM
Your Tax Dollars at Work
Being the considerate soul I am, I refrained from comment the night of the Saints' return to the Superdome. I didn't have a problem with FEMA (read:our money) dollars being spent to refurbish a New Orleans landmark, even though it's obvious there are crushing needs elsewhere. Having spent bunches of time in the city, I know what that place and it's pitiful but always beloved gridiron squad mean to the denizons of Duvalle. My beef, pure and simple, is with the AMOUNT FEMA spent. Out of ONEHUNNERTEIGHTYFIVEMILLIONDOLLAH ~ yes, $185 MILLION ~ the NFL ponied up...$15 mil.
Tagliabue, whose league provided a $15 million grant for repairs and improvements that cost $185 million, urged the team leading the reconstruction to ratchet up the job.
Well, thank you, white man. Now...
Do. The. Math.
According to Doug Thornton, regional vice president of the private management company for the Superdome (which is owned by the State of Louisiana), the remaining $170 million
“was from the public-assistance program from FEMA on insurance disasters to cover state property.”
I'm also wondering if the National Flimflam League is quietly still collecting their extortion payola from the city and state for the privilege of hosting said team, per our post in May 2005.
Under the current agreement, the state will pay the Saints $15 million this year and in 2006, $20 million in 2007 and 2008 and $23.5 million in 2009 and 2010. The Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District refinanced bonds on the Superdome to cover this year's payment.
That sort of stuff just hurts coming from an organization (ed.note: the NFL) with teams that can pay just ONE 'PLAYER" $35+ million a year and has an average salary (read: regular player) of ...
The NFL Players Association's research department says the average player salary rose 5% in 2005 to $1.4 million and that the average starter earns $2,259,000. The median salary for all starters was $1.7 million, an increase of 17%. The average for quarterbacks, running backs and offensive tackles was in excess of $3 million.
...and income streams like this...
The popularity of the game and the players and the NFL's ceaseless efforts to market every aspect of it make this a lucrative operation for all parties."The revenues are continuing to grow and the salary cap will continue to grow alongside it," says agent Neil Schwartz. "Therefore, players make more money, owners make more money and so do general managers, coaches and assistant coaches. Everyone reaps the fruit."
...while generously giving the American Taxpayer (read: us) $15 million to fix a part of that very revenue stream.
So why did I bring this up now? Besides the fact that it bugs the sh*t out of me, we have, here in Bangla-cola, that very thing happening in miniature. And it bugs the SH*T out of me. ELEVENMILLION FEMA dollars (read: yours) have been allocated to repair...our fishing bridge.
Fishing bridge reels in support
FEMA will help pay remaining cost of span across Pensacola Bay
...The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to help pay the remaining cost to replace a local landmark -- Escambia County's portion of the fishing bridge over Pensacola Bay.FEMA, which already had agreed to pay Escambia $5.3 million, will put up another $5.8 million to help demolish and rebuild the north half of the old bridge.
...The old three-mile, two-lane bridge -- formerly U.S. 98 -- was replaced in the 1960s by the current four-lane span. The center portion of the old bridge was removed, creating the separate Escambia and Gulf Breeze fishing piers.
For years, the two sides of the bridge were popular fishing sites because of access to water up to 30 feet deep. They also were a sort of walkway for people who wanted exercise with a view of the bay.
But Hurricane Ivan's storm surge on Sept. 16, 2004, lifted many segments of the old bridge off their pilings and dumped them into the bay.
Happy, happy fisherfolk voices are raised in support, but COME ON. "SORT of a walk way"? An $11 million 'sort of a walkway'?
Hey, it's your money ~ I'm just the messenger. I also like fish and fisherfolk, but there's a whole lot in this backwater that those greenbacks (note: not the turtles) could help. They left the old bridge standing to begin with because it was cheaper(!) than dismantling it (imagine that) and schmaybe someone could make a buck or two charging folks to fish.
Hel. Lo.
Before and after...
And Hell.
No.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:36 AM | Comments (11)
For Yard Work
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:14 AM | Comments (2)
"Come to JEsus, Sister!"
Nancy Pelosi has turned to reading from the Gospel.
Nearing elections, Pelosi emphasizes economy
House Democratic leader vows to raise minimum wage, cut taxesPointing toward midterm elections, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi promises to raise the minimum wage while cutting taxes to spur economic growth and help the middle class.
Someone else is noticing the sudden complete reversal/burst of faith.
“If there was any evidence that campaign season is in full swing, it’s Nancy Pelosi’s epiphany that tax cuts spur economic growth after years of leading the charge in tax hikes on American workers,” said Tracey Schmitt, a Republican Party spokeswoman.
Lay your HANDS on the dashboard and shout "AMEN!!"!
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:41 AM | Comments (3)
October 04, 2006
Omigod, Omigod, OH MY GOD!!!!
The SUSPENSE is KILLING ME!!No answers until tomorrow. Can anybody blog this from Cambridge for us? Huh? Huh?
The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize CeremonyThere's a Dunkin Donut in it for you...
Thursday, October 5, 2006, 7:30 pm.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:57 PM | Comments (1)
George Bush Kills PUPPIES!!
Buy This Mug!! Wear This Shirt!!
Bush Derangement Day
(Hey Michelle, let us know ~ we'll send ya one!)
Man, we'd be FOOLS if we weren't ALLLL over this, 'cause, like, we have been since the beginning.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:54 PM
You Can Buy the Reissued 39¢ Eid Stamp
...in 2 days. 
My buddies at CAIR want everyone to use them, bless their little pointy wrapped heads.
USPS to Re-Issue 'Eid' Stamps
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/28/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is asking members of the American Muslim community to contact local postmasters and request that they stock the stamp commemorating Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha when it is re-issued on October 6, 2006, as part of the "Holiday Series." In past years, there have been reports that the Eid stamp was unavailable in some post offices.CAIR is also asking Muslims to buy and use Eid stamps for all their mailing needs.
This stamp was originally issued on September 1, 2001 (Yes, that date is right), but not without it's own prescient little controversy...
STATEMENT BY AZEEZALY S. JAFFER, VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
November 14, 2001
Washington, DC - "The U.S. Postal Service today is reproducing its Holiday Stamp promotional posters in local post offices in response to recent concerns raised by the American Muslim community.Due to an oversight, an image of the Eid stamp, which commemorates two important Islamic festivals, was left off the promotional posters*.
The Postal Service deeply regrets the oversight and is reprinting the holiday posters depicting the Eid stamp image in local post offices. Eid stamps will be available for sale at post offices nationwide this Holiday season.
...and darned if I don't think *they got it right the first time. Now, I know this is a free country and all the money goes to the Post Office and not murderous thugs or anything, but...I'll stick to the Ben Franklin series, 'cause I tend to bristle when I read a comment like this on an Islamic blog (SEE? I'm well rounded!) announcing the glad tidings.
That is so nice, the Americans are so friendly to Muslims - it is indeed such a Great Country that they have eid stamps for Muslims. We should be happy. Our government and postal service are so very Muslim friendly.Could you also ask the postal service, if they are also going to issue stamps celebrating the slaughter of Iraqi Muslims, Palestinian Muslims, Lebanese Muslims?
Mmm, mmm, mmm.
Would that I could find a Babelfish Arabic translation for 'f*ckwad'.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:21 PM | Comments (6)
If You Can Kill THREE Birds With One Stone
...what the hell ~ give it a whack!
The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee (SDCC), headed by Reid, sent an e-mail with the subject line "Heckuva Job!" to supporters Wednesday. The e-mail contained a photo of President Bush, Foley, and former FEMA director Mike Brown during a visit to Florida following a hurricane. Beneath the photo appears the caption: "It's Time for a New Direction."
UPDATE: In one of those weird web coincidences, lookee, lookee, lookee here what the Gateway Pundit's put together. Goes hand in glove with this post, n'est pas?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:57 PM
No. 1 On This List From Human Events
...struck me as sardonically comical.
1. Sen. Teddy Kennedy. The liberal Massachusetts senator testified in defense of nephew accused of rape, invoking his family history to win over the jury in 1991.
Better Teddy's family history of womanizers than his own personal whale tale, eh?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:50 PM | Comments (2)
A Study in Grace Gives True Meaning
...to 'religion of peace'.
...‘God’s blessing to everyone’
Back in the pumpkin patch, the midday sun was getting hot. John had work to do. Pumpkins are a cash crop, unlike most of the corn and alfalfa in many of the fields.John said the community is especially concerned that many of the children who were killed or wounded have young parents in their mid-20's to mid-30's. Brothers who escaped had to leave sisters behind with the gunman.
I had heard that some people from the Amish community were perhaps going to meet with Marie Roberts, the gunman's wife. John assured me that would happen soon, if it hadn't already.
"They need support, they need help," he said. "We will send them flowers." He expressed concern about how difficult it would be for the three Roberts children when they return to school.
Finally he asked me to promise to include this message in my story. "We appreciate the help and support of the police and firefighters and our neighbors. God's blessing to everyone. God has a reason for this. We don't know yet and we may not find out in our lives."
I wish, in the face of such horror, I could claim such tranquility reposed in my soul. It does not now, nor ever has.
I'm the vengeful type.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:55 AM | Comments (4)
Those of Us of a 'Certain Age'
...remember when this came out.
Sage Brush Patriot has restored The Duke's "America: Why I Love Her".
His voice makes me sniffle. I'm so pitiful.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:07 AM | Comments (1)
October 03, 2006
Not to be Outdone By Your Average Celebrity
...dodging into rehab, good ol' boy Mark Foley is now also claiming he was...dumdumdum DUMB...
ABUSED as a CHILD.
UPDATE: By a member of the CLERGY
What's next on the People Magazine 'rehab'/be-a-victim-your-ownself list?
Hmmm? UPDATE: Good GRIEF! SKEPTICS !!
...Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a former colleague, said on Fox News Channel: "I don't buy this at all. I think this is a phony defense. The fact is, I think he's responsible for what he did here and I think it's a gimmick."
Oh, where's the love?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:22 PM | Comments (8)
Ken Posts
...on a someone with "touch of greatness".
How is it these young Jarheads can make you cry so damn hard?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:21 PM | Comments (1)
Time Blames The Victim
Did a Critic of Islam Go Too Far?A teacher in France is the latest to face death threats for daring to criticize the religion and its prophet's emphasis on violence
Did a Critic of Islam Go Too Far?
A teacher in France is the latest to face death threats for daring to criticize the religion and its prophet's emphasis on violence
By JAMES GRAFF/PARIS
Posted Monday, Oct. 02, 2006
The French are always quick to quote Voltaire, but for the last week one of his bons mots has been particularly pertinent: "Even if I don't agree with what you say, I'm ready to fight to my death so you can say it."
What calls the phrase to mind is the plight of Robert Redeker, 52, a writer and high school philosophy teacher who has been under police protection and in hiding with his family since the newspaper Le Figaro published his op-ed piece about Islam on Sept.19. Entitled "Faced with Islamist intimidations, what should the free world do?," Redeker's article called the Koran "a book of extraordinary violence" that shows the prophet Mohammad to have been "a pitiless warlord, pillager, massacrer of Jews and polygamist." The very day the piece came out, Redeker started receiving e-mail death threats. In a letter to a friend published this week in Le Monde, Redeker wrote that one website condemning him to death included a map showing exactly where he and his family lived, along with photos of him and his workplaces. In the letter, published as part of an appeal of support signed by French intellectuals including Bernard-Henri Lévy, André Glucksmann and Elisabeth Badinter, Redeker writes that he and his family are being forced to move every two days. "I'm a homeless person," he complains. "I exercised a constitutional right, and I'm being punished for it right here on the territory of the Republic."
Dhimmi Magazine.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:14 PM
Why Your Mother Always Said NOT to Share Personal Items
...with others in your school.
Study: Sea Lice Killing Wild Salmon
A team of Canadian scientists has found the most direct evidence yet that baby salmon pick up fatal infections of sea lice while swimming past salmon farms in British Columbia's Broughton Archipelago, and that the more salmon farms the more baby salmon die.
That's a lousy way to go.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)
BREAKING NEWS on MSNBC
State-run radio: Commercial airliner hijacked in Greek airspace.
No link yet just a headline. I'm looking.
Nothing anyplace else.
FOX has the headline now, too. And now Drudge has
Turkish Airlines spokesman says hijacked aircraft has landed at an airport in Brindisi, Italy...
UPDATE: MSNBC has a smidge more.
A Turkish commercial airliner has been hijacked in Greek airspace, Greek state-run radio said Tuesday.The plane had taken off from Tirana, Albania, and was destined for Istanbul.
The plane has landed in the Italian city of Brindisi, a Turkish Airlines spokesman said.
UPDATE: Oh, good Lord. The POPE made me do it.
Turkish television channel NTV, quoting unnamed security officials, reported that the plane was hijacked by two Turks to protest Pope Benedict XVI's planned visit to Turkey next month.
And the plane lands in ITALY, of all places.
UPDATE: Thanks to our cub reporter Jimmy "Gunslinger" Olsen in the comments, I can add this:
Earlier reports on Tuesday that two hijackers were protesting Pope Benedict XVI's planned visit to Turkey were apparently incorrect; authorities now say that the single hijacker has requested political asylum.The hijacker, who according to passengers sneaked into the cockpit when the rest of the crew was busy, told the pilot there were two hijackers, Italian police said. But passengers have reported seeing only one.
Turkish officials said the hijacker, identified as Hasan Ekinci, wrote a letter to the pope in August asking for help in avoiding service in the Turkish army.
"I am a Christian and don't want to serve a Muslim army," he wrote, adding that he had been attending church since 1998.
I'm quite sure I wouldn't want to serve in the Turkish Army either, but there are better ways to draft dodge.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:53 AM | Comments (5)
As If There Weren't Enough Distractions in the World
...(North Korea and rumors of a drunk Hasselhoff not withstanding) then I find this.
Top 204 Star Wars Lines Improved......By Replacing A Word With "Pants"
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:00 AM | Comments (3)
Al-Reuters and the Latest Installment of
..."You Brought That Sh*t on Yo'self".
Western foreign policy and a tendency among some Muslims to impose their idea of truth have been key factors in the rise of radical Islam, Muslim writers say."Islam is about peace and submission. But there are certain realities that we cannot hide from," said Ziauddin Sardar, a Britain-based writer best known for his book, "Why Do People Hate America".
"There is a certain radicalization of young Muslims not just in Muslim countries but also in the Muslim population in the West," Sardar told a writers' conference in the Balinese resort town of Ubud.
"One reason for it is Western policy, what's happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Chechnya. (Millions of) Muslims are very young and they feel very angry and hurt by the perpetual death and destruction in their society."*
Muslim writers do not, however, pin the blame for the rise of Islamic radicalism only on Western policy, but say the Muslim world's failure to engage with the Western world is a key reason for the differences and misunderstanding.
*Note to poor young Muslims disaffected by Iraq policy: there would be no Afghanistan or Iraq without 9/11 and that always seems to be left out of these treatises from Islamic writers. Millions of 'very young' Americans are also 'angry and hurt by the perpetual death and destruction in their society' wrought by YOUR kind.
I think we should take the blame for some of the rise of radical Islam ~ because we ALLOW it, we PERPETUATE it, we ENABLE it. From Somali cab drivers dictating who may grace their PUBLIC cab as a fare (which MIGHT NOT be a religious issue after all: "Partly out of concern that taxi drivers might be citing religion to avoid short-distance fares"), to CAIR dictating what one may or may not say on PUBLIC airwaves, to cancelling operas and opening a 'prayer room' at Windsor Castle, EVERY accomodation is seen as weakness and the demands accordingly become more strident, more encompassing. The Germans are beginning to question things.
...SPIEGEL: You have said numerous times that the conflict between the Western world and Muslim groups here is an "ideological war."Tibi: The result of a conflict between two sides is that people politicize their cultural backgrounds. In Germany representatives of the Islamic communities try to hijack children who are born here, along with the entire Islamic community, to prevent them from being influenced by the society which has taken them in. Children born here are like blank sheets on which you can write European or Islamic texts. Muslim representatives want to raise their children as if they don't even live in Europe.
SPIEGEL: Many Germans believe that communities should live together peacefully without any parallel societies. Is it therefore right to compromise in order to avoid antagonizing Muslims unnecessarily?
Tibi: Quite the opposite. The Islamic officials who live here are very intelligent and view this as weakness. Muslims stand by their religion entirely. It is a sort of religious absolutism. While Europeans have stopped defending the values of their civilization. They confuse tolerance with relativism.
When do we START defending ours? As Mr. Tibi says at the end of the interview, "America's strength is that it is capable of accepting people into its communities." But those very same people, be they Hispanic or Islamic, Vietnamese or Laotian, need to be willing to be BROUGHT into the fold. Not just satisfied to reap all that America symbolizes while maintaining isolated 'old country' enclaves they scuttle back to after taking our money in commerce or welfare. (And I'm about sick of those Spanish NFL commercials they've been running during games, but that's a whole 'nuther rant.)
Assimilation is our only hope. It has always been what makes us ~ the great, rambunctious, scrappy, larger-than-life collective ~ "American".
'Cause there really is an 'us' in U.S.A.
And if it needs defending, so be it.
Bingley Update: This post at Hot Air ties in very nicely with what Sis is saying.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
NOTHING But Ugly Revelations
I don't know if I can take much more.
In yet another interview, Hasselhoff confirmed what some fans of his series “Knight Rider” always suspected: that Kitt, the talking car, was, in fact, gay. And he had the hots for his driver.
Of course he did.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:50 AM | Comments (3)
The Theocracy Arrives In Dhimmiapolis
After years of warning us that it was happening, I have to grant the Left their due: we are indeed heading towards a theocracy.
Only it's not the evul kkkristians.
As Tim Blair has noticed, this constant kow-towing to muslim sensibilities has placed them in charge. Look, let's be clear: you can believe what ever you want. What you CAN NOT do is impose your beliefs on someone else, especially if you work in a government-sanctioned industry. Remember 'separation of church and state' that people always go on about? Well, I guess that doesn't apply to taxicabs in Minnesota. Taxicabs are granted exclusive licenses from the State and Local governments, so it is unconstitutional for them to discriminate...unless, of course the drivers are muslims. Then the Taxi commission, instead of yanking their license for refusing a fare based on religious beliefs, which is what they'd do to say a Baptist cabbie who refused to take a gay couple, surrenders:
Now the airports commission has a solution: color-coding the lights on the taxi roofs to indicate whether a driver will accept a booze-toting fare. The actual colors haven't been decided on yet, but commission officials met Thursday with representatives of the taxi drivers and the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society to continue working on the plan.
No, that's not a 'solution', that's a surrender. There is but one solution: any cabbie who refuses a fare for religious reasons loses his license. End of story.
Until that happens, which is not likely anytime soon in the People's Republic of Dhimmisota, I have this suggestion: I want every single person who flies into Dhimmiapolis to buy a bottle of booze* at the airport, every single person, and I want all of you to carry them openly out to the cabs so that you get refused a ride. Only take rides with those who allow alcohol; screw the other ones.
Now, as winter is approaching I wonder who will be the first person to die from exposure in the 50-below-zero weather there after they have been refused a ride for having a bottle of bubbly with them at New Years. Will the cabbie be charged with a Hate Crime?
*Update: This plan also helps out all the Duty Free retailers in the airports who have been pounded by the new security restrictions for flights. The rising Bingley tide lifts all boats, folks!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:46 AM | Comments (1)
October 02, 2006
Media Sources Had the Foley Emails
...last year.
...The St. Petersburg Times said that last November, it received copies of an e-mail exchange between Mr. Foley and a former page from Louisiana. The newspaper said the boy, who was under age, did not want his name used, and the paper said it did not want to publish accusations based on unnamed sources. The Miami Herald apparently received the same information, although it is not clear when it received it.Brian Ross of ABC News said he learned about the e-mail messages in August but was too busy with Hurricane Katrina and the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to pursue them immediately. None of the organizations seemed to anticipate how big the story would become.
Who in Congress knew and when?
And oh Lord, is it ever going to get dirty.
In North Carolina, where Representative Robin Hayes, a Republican, is engaged in a tough campaign fight, the state Democratic Party issued a statement asking, “Who does Robin Hayes stand up for — Mark Foley and the Republican House leadership or under-age children?”Damn! But Brian Ross is reporting hearing from more pages about others in Congress, so it might behoove the Democrats to contain their disgust and outrage to Mr. Foley for the present.
A former senior Republican official in Congress says Foley was one of a handful of members and staff whose behavior with pages was being closely watched.But so far Foley is the only member whose overt sexual approaches have been documented.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:49 PM
As Much as I Despise Joe Screw Your Borough
...I'm with him on this one.
Scarborough: D.C.'s dark underbelly exposed
Joe Scarborough and Mark Foley entered Congress together in 1994...Reading the first set of e-mails made me uneasy. My friends and I who knew Mark got on the phone and asked why he would ask a high school kid for a picture. Friday afternoon I saw the instant messages he sent to another student and realized that Mark was in big trouble.
But he is not alone.
Where was the Republican leadership over the past year? They knew of Mark's inappropriate e-mails to a former page but never informed Democratic leaders so they could warn those pages they had brought to Washington.
How could the Speaker of the House not remember being told by the Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee that Foley had been confronted with his inappropriate e-mails to a male intern? Does this happen so often in Congress that it was no big deal to Denny Hastert?
The fact that Republicans allowed Mark Foley to continue as Chairman of the Committee on Missing and Exploited Children is terrible. The fact that they let him lead the charge on a bill to stop the exploitation of minors on the Internet is unpardonable.
My only beef with his point of view is letting Democrats know so they could "warn" their pages. How 'bout you expose and expulse the SOB? How 'bout you show zero tolerance for such behaviour?
THAT's the problem with this whole mess.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:24 PM
Paging John Ashcroft!!
We'll be needing those draperies back...
Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing
“Keep the ‘Art’ in ‘Smart’ and ‘Heart,’ ” Sydney McGee had posted on her Web site at Wilma Fisher Elementary School in this moneyed boomtown that is gobbling up the farm fields north of Dallas.But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended.
I hope it wasn't a Picasso or anything they saw.
Jeez, they'll need counseling!
Now cover your eyes, or I call your parents.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:09 PM | Comments (5)
The Fall Foley Age
There is some talk about who knew what, when with regard to this, and what should happen to them.
The unfolding cyber-sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned Friday, has spread to the House leadership that appears to have known of Foley's involvement with a former congressional page for months. The word "cover-up" is now being aimed at various top House Republicans, and they are losing support from Republican bloggers as a result.
To me, anyone who knew about this, actually knew and not just 'heard rumors', should be voted out. I don't care what party they are from. Yes, there are legitimate questions about the timing of stories from the MSM on info they had for a year; I don't care, that's a different issue.
Any bastard/bastardette who knew about this is a disgrace and should be hounded from office.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:18 PM | Comments (2)
Letterman's Top Ten Chapter Titles
...for the book by Bingley's boy.
New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's bio, "The Confession"10) "The Day I Got Caught Governing Myself;"
9) "How to Pretend to Like Girls for 47 Years;"
8) "From Schwar zenegger to Pataki: Governors I'd Like to Oil Up;"
7) "Another Confession - I Can't Resist Entenmann's Pound Cake;"
6) "At First I Just Thought I Was Bipartisan;"
5) "The New Jersey Budget Crisis - What Would Judy Garland Do?;"
4) "A Look at the Governor's Balls;"
3) "Politicians Who Left a Bad Taste in My Mouth;"
2) "How to Push Through a Bill - Or a Steve or a Larry;"And the No. 1 chapter title - drum roll, please! -
"Why I Don't Like Bush."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)
October 01, 2006
Ozzie Wants It Made PERfectly Clear
...that he is NOT the Scottie responsible for either the chomped ear...
...or the subsequent surgery to repair the damage. (That would be the Princess who, one would think, would be better behaved considering her age and status.)
- Boo's spokesman denies any knowledge of the incident, saying "butter wouldn't melt in her mouth" and that the Princess wishes we would all just "piss off, because nobody saw jack anyway. Only Mike Tyson would be stupid enough to keep a piece o' ear around".
On a lighter note, however, Ozzie thinks Beau's blaze red babushka bandage...
...is dashingly natty, having a bit of a 'red' thing going himself.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:41 PM | Comments (5)
A Note to the GOP
I wouldn't try gambits like this...
Breaking news, male prostitution ring being run out of Democratic Congressman's apartment
In reality, this is not breaking news. It's old news about Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Barney Frank. In this Washington Post story, Congessman Frank's gay lover claims that Frank even knew about the operation.
...to excuse a pedophile and a cover-up that smacks of election year desperation like this.
Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said Saturday he told Speaker Dennis Hastert months ago about concerns that a fellow GOP lawmaker had sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. Hastert's office said aides referred the matter to the proper authorities last fall but they were only told the messages were "over-friendly."...The House leaders said it is their duty to ensure House pages are safe. They said they are creating a toll-free hot line for pages and their families to call to confidentially report any incidents, and will consider adopting new rules on communications between lawmakers and pages.
The boy who received the e-mails was 16 in the summer of 2005 when he worked in Congress as a page. After the boy returned to his Louisiana home, the congressman e-mailed him. The teenager thought the messages were inappropriate, particularly one in which Foley asked the teen to send a picture of himself.
The teen's family contacted their congressman, Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who then discussed the problem with Reynolds sometime this spring.
They don't even begin to equate.
Whatever you think of prostitution, homosexuality or Barney Frank personally, those are adults. Consenting ADULTS.
Not some sick SOB stalking teenage boys, who have no hope for protection from the leaders of the 'family/conservative values' party, because they need his slimy a$$ in his slimy seat. I don't care when anybody but the Republican leadership knew about this ~ I didn't elect them. But if Hastert and his fellow dirtballs KNEW even a WEEK before the story broke that this degenerate was playing both sides of the aisle and DID NOTHING? Then they don't need to be House leaders anymore and should resign their positions as such. They have made a mockery of 'leadership' and 'integrity'.
And conservative bozos who bring up Barney Frank and homosexuals as if that mitigates a CHILD PREDATOR?
Mr. Foley should be very happy that none of those pages had a father (or mother) with protective impulses like major dad, Bingley or I. No one would have shot him but the face in his booking picture would look very different from the one on his campaign posters.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:28 PM
They Need to Get These Cabs Lit
...BEFORE Bingley and I get there for the GOP Convention...or I'll thump someone, I'm sure.
"WHAT?!", you ask? Aren't they talking about Mogadishu?
Muslim Cabdrivers May Have to Signify Alcohol-Free Cars
No, gentle reader. They're talking about MINNEAPOLIS.
Hundreds of Muslim cabdrivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport may soon be required to put different colored lights atop their vehicles after refusing to take customers they know are carrying alcohol.The proposal, which would allow airport workers to direct travelers to cabs more efficiently, needs approval from the airport’s taxicab advisory committee, and airport officials hope to have the lights ready by year’s end.
If the proposal is adopted, cabdrivers without the light who refuse a fare will be sent to the back of the line, which often means a three-hour wait.
Some said they would rather wait for another fare than carry a passenger with alcohol. “It is forbidden in Islam to carry alcohol,” said Muhamed Mursal, a cabdriver.
Pat Hogan, an airport spokesman, said a handful of drivers began refusing to carry alcohol 10 years ago. Now he estimates that three-quarters of the 900 airport cabdrivers are Somali, most of them Muslim.
...Some travelers are taken aback by the idea that they might be refused a ride.
“They’re really kind of imparting their religious views on the public,” said Katie Patterson of McKinney, Tex. “I can understand if somebody’s drunk; that’s a whole different issue. But to just bring in a closed container, maybe you should look for other work.”
Ya think? But suggesting that is probably discriminatory, insensitive and racist. You know, like something the Pope would say. Which is also probably what it's going be called if this "back of the line blue light special" gets approved.
I can't discriminate against a Muslim if he wants to rent my apartment and cook goat.
So why can he tell me to piss off if I want to rent his cab with duty free liquor in my bags?
My Uncle Sam didn't raise no dhimmi.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:54 PM | Comments (12)
I've Created A Monster
And heh, again.
And yet again.
I'm glad to be of service...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:02 PM | Comments (4)