The Coalition of the Swilling

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October 31, 2008

So It's THS's Favorite Day

But she is nobly sacrificing her own personal holiday to work with the veterans; that's the kind of gal she is, the kind who cares about you, Dear Friends.

I'm sure her and Major Dad will sneak out later for a romantic bite to eat

Back at our chateau, Daughter went to school today wearing a big t-shirt and her flannel pj bottoms.

She said she was a "nudist on strike."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:27 PM | Comments (3)

Friday Humor

I don't know about you, but I am so tired of all this election stuff that I just want to laugh, drink, and forget about anything to do with these races. So to lighten the mood I'm going to post a bunch of great (i.e. really bad) puns that I received via email yesterday; to lighten my mood I'm going to see The Capitol Steps in Red Bank tonight.

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a head.'

14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

18. It's not that the man did not know how to juggle, he just didn't have the balls to do it.

19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

21. A backward poet writes inverse.

22. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudal ism it's your count that votes.

23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

24. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:02 AM | Comments (7)

"Melamine"

It's actually Mandarin for "quality inspection"

The toxic chemical melamine is probably being routinely added to Chinese animal feed, state media has reported.

Correspondents say the unusually frank reports in several news outlets are an admission that contamination could be widespread throughout the food chain.

...The problem widened last weekend when the authorities in Hong Kong reported that melamine had also been detected in Chinese eggs.

Four brands of eggs have since been found to be contaminated, and agriculture officials speculate that the cause was probably melamine-laced feed given to hens.

Melamine is high in nitrogen, and the chemical is added to food products to make them appear to have a higher protein content.

..."The feed industry seems to have acquiesced to agree on using the chemical to reduce production costs while maintaining the protein count for quality inspections," the state-run China Daily said in an editorial.

"We cannot say for sure if the same chemical has made its way into other types of food," the newspaper added.

The BBC seems to think this problem just started this fall, when in fact it surfaced nearly two years ago when melamine-tainted pet food started killing animals all across the US. It has also been found in Chinese chocolate products, especially those that used the tainted milk powder, which led to huge recalls throughout Asia these past few months.

I can assure you that if you happen to have a Chinese agricultural product in your inventory right now you can not give the stuff away.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:46 AM

October 30, 2008

Well, I Guess You Could Say We Done Made the Big Time

...since our office got us our own protester today. His message is a little garbled...

...as Cam the Man said, "Like three different people had ideas, but they could only afford one piece of cardboard." He's young and stupid, so there's still time to hope. We kept him hydrated and fed. Before he left for the day, he actually made the rounds inside thanking everyone for taking care of him. Pleasant, huh?

He'll be back tomorrow.

Hopefully he won't realize what the older gents taped to the window just behind him right before he struck a pose...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:10 PM | Comments (15)

They Said If George Bush Were Re-Elected...

...we'd see censorship on the internet. And they were right!

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.

The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.

The plan was first created as a way to combat child pronography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to "protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users".

Mr Conroy said trials were yet to be carried out, but "we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material."

A sad, sad day.

And frankly a scary one, given how we are going to get this "Fairness Doctrine" rammed down our throats here.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:22 AM | Comments (5)

Where Would You Be Safer?

So far this year 276 US soldiers have died in Iraq...and 426 people have been murdered in Chicago.

CHICAGO (AP) - During the same weekend that county pathologists conducted autopsies on the bodies of actress-singer Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother, they also examined the bodies of six other people who'd been gunned down or beaten to death.

Five of them died in Chicago, as did the Oscar winner's mother, Darnell Donerson, her brother, Jason Hudson, and 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, whose body was found Monday. Like Hudson's relatives, three died on the city's South Side.

The deaths are yet another reminder of the bloodshed on Chicago's streets this year - when the city has seen more homicides than both New York and Los Angeles. And they go a long way toward explaining why residents of Hudson's childhood neighborhood say it's not surprising that people may have heard gunfire coming from her family home but didn't bother to call police.

"You hear gunshots day and night, that's nothing new," said Ken Rasheeda, 38, who grew up in the neighborhood, Englewood, where he and his wife are now raising three children. "There's been times I heard gunshots and I didn't think twice about it, it's so common."

More homicides than NY or LA.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that Chicago is outpacing New York and Los Angeles in 2008 murders, even though the population here is much lower. Chicago had 426 murders through last Tuesday, compared to 417 in New York and 302 in Los Angeles.

2007 populations:
New York: 8,274,527 people, 417 murders in 2008 so far
Los Angeles: 3,834,340 people, 302 murders in 2008 so far
Chicago: 2,836,658 people, 426 murders in 2008 so far

Chicago has twice the murder rate of LA and three times the rate of NY. One would think that an aspirant for national office from this area should have a clear list of impressive achievements from his time as a state legislator, let alone a "community organizer", fighting to protect his constituents' very lives, no? Something that shows the kind of Hope! and Change! he's been able to actually bring into peoples' lives, so we can get a glimpse of what he'll do for the rest of us as President.

Here are the crime statistics for the home cities of each of them:
Obama
McCain
Biden
Palin (the closest city)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:24 AM | Comments (5)

October 29, 2008

"Grrrrrrrrrr"

Rassroles.

A photographic walkabout.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:52 PM

FLIP! Obama's Pre-empting the World Series Pre-Game Show

An indication of how disgusted I am by the whole "Cult of the Almighty Obama Cleanse"? Yes, it's true. And I admit it in spite of everything I've ever, ever indicated before.

I would far rather sit ~ would PAY MONIES with an AVS verified creditcard to sit ~ through a half hour of that insufferable, blithering, blathering idiot, Tim McCarver, than spend one FREE minute SECOND listening to the Messiah lecture and pontificate.

Tuning to "Pushing Daisies" in 3, 2, 1...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:54 PM | Comments (4)

In His Own Words

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:38 PM

Did Campbell Brown Get Struck by the Truth Fairy?

I really have no other explanation for the sudden rash of commonsense spouting from her ruby reds.

...On this issue today, former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, an Obama supporter, writes in The New York Post, "a hypocrite is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue -- who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. And that, it seems to me, is what we are doing now."

For this last week, Sen. Obama will be rolling in dough. His commercials, his get-out-the-vote effort will, as the pundits have said, dwarf the McCain campaign's final push. But in fairness, you have to admit, he is getting there in part on a broken promise.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:26 AM | Comments (11)

Holy Fahrvergnügen, Batman!

The irony of this is so rich I can taste it

The head of Germany’s largest fund manager accused Porsche – the largest investor in VW – of acting against the interest of other shareholders.

Klaus Kaldemorgen, the head of DWS, which is a shareholder in VW and owned by Deutsche Bank, said: “I criticise heavily that a company like Porsche is manipulating VW shares in an irresponsible manner.”

And what is this " irresponsible manner”? Um, something so nefarious as owning more of the stock than the market 'experts' had thought.

Which means all the hedge fund managers and Goldman Sachs/Morgan Stanley geniuses, yes the same folks who brought you the financial joys of the past few months, are screwed again because they shorted the holy loving poop out of VW stock

Volkswagen briefly became the world’s largest company by market capitalisation on Tuesday after an extraordinary share price surge that raised fears that hedge funds and other traders could collapse after betting on a fall in the stock.

The continued surge – triggered by the revelation on Sunday that Porsche had a much larger interest in the carmaker than many traders had realised – sharpened criticism over the level of disclosure and regulation in German capital markets.

VW’s share price rose 82 per cent to €945 following Monday’s 147 per cent jump, leaving it with a market capitalisation of about €287bn ($370bn), making it the world’s second-largest company ahead of Wal-Mart, General Electric and Microsoft.

At its intra-day peak of €1,005, its market capitalisation exceeded Exxon, the US oil company. This has raised fears over a “squeeze” on traders betting on a fall in Volkswagen shares through short-selling – the practice of selling borrowed shares in hope of profiting by buying them back later at a lower price and returning shares to the lender.

A manager at a large hedge fund said: “The losses will be extreme. I don’t think it is going to bring down a big fund, but it will probably bring down some small ones.”

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. As they termed it, "Shortenfreude"

The immediate cause of the problem was Sunday’s revelation that Porsche, which has been engaged in a creeping takeover of VW for the past three years, controlled not just 35 per cent of the group as had been known, but 74.1 per cent, through an equity stake of 42.6 per cent and 31.5 per cent in cash-settled options, which it did not have to disclose. Taken with the 20.1 per cent owned by the state of Lower Saxony, that left a free float of just 5.8 per cent, barely above the 5 per cent required for the company to remain in Germany’s blue-chip Dax index.

Screw these guys who short stocks en masse and cause credit problems at otherwise sound companies.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:41 AM | Comments (3)

Just to Expand on Crusader's Post Below

...I'll share a little 'happening' from the campaign office yesterday. First, let me remind you what our facade looks like:

Got that? Well, I guess the three well dressed, middle-aged ladies who came in mid-afternoon didn't. They asked in ~ ALL SINCERITY

~ if "this was the place for early Democratic voting?"

And were really embarrassed when we pointed out two things...two GLARING, SHOULDABEENOBVIOUS things:

1) The larger than life McCain photos they had to pass to get in the door, not to mention the John and Sarah cut outs that greet everyone.

2) The unfortunate fact that, by law, Republicans and Democrats ALL vote in the same place, at the same time and THAT building is two blocks down on the right.

We're doomed.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:31 AM | Comments (5)

October 28, 2008

Ah, the joys of living in a Chicago suburb.....

So, back in July we moved to St. Louis, as the firm I work for has moved its headquarters here. After looking around, we decided to buy in Illinois. Higher taxes, but cheaper houses, and an easier and shorter commute. My hope is to vote against Obama in '10, but I have seen more and more evidence of how much the entire state is a suburb of Chicago (Tho' we are around 5 hours drive south. We were able to vote early, due to the fact we were registering to vote in the state for the first time(!). So a friend of ours, who just moved from Alabama, was going to vote early last weekend. So he walks up to the counter to vote on Saturday, only to be informed that he had already voted the day before (!?!) for Obama (WWhiskey Tango Foxtrot?). Odd, he says, as I was not even in the state yesterday, as I was returning from Alabama. Upon proving who he was, the earlier ballot was discarded, and he was able to vote for Sarah. Well, I suppose for that other guy, too, as he was a corpsman in the Navy. But just keep that in mind a week from today, as the games have already begun.

Posted by Crusader at 09:03 PM | Comments (1)

So I'm Walking Around Midtown Yesterday

Up by Columbus Circle, going to meet a client at a bar for an important off-site meeting, and this young lady walks up to us and says "Can I talk to you about Barack Obama?" I smiled and said "no thanks" and she wandered off, and I thought to myself my, what an admirable act of political courage; such boldness! Such audacity! To volunteer as an Obama shill in Manhattan.

The heart flutters, it does.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:00 PM | Comments (6)

October 27, 2008

Mr. President, BUILD THAT FENCE!

Making a run for the border...

And you thought Obama had terrorist links...

...Suspicious of the chunky diapers, inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the international bridge in Hidalgo found several links of spicy pork sausage, or chorizo, inside.

...The Mission resident, who was not identified after the Friday night incident, was fined $300

and her chorizo was seized.

I guess she was trying to pamper her contraband.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:39 PM | Comments (5)

I Bought the Book Purely for the Title

I stayed around for all the rest purely for the storytelling, even to the point of trying out snippets of gleaned Navajo on Navajo squadron mates. It would take onerous repetitions for me to get one word pronounced correctly. Ah, the diné ~ they came to life.

I LOVE Tony Hillerman. I'm sure even St. Peter will greet him with "Yá'át'ééh ak'is" and trickster Coyote will be laughing outside the pearly gates.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:24 PM | Comments (1)

Considering the Obama Headlines This Morning

2001 OBAMA: TRAGEDY THAT 'REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH' NOT PURSUED BY SUPREME COURT

...and his contention that the Constitution is a “charter of negative liberties”, I find this command on Obama's front page to be...unsettling. Don't you?



I'll "Skip the Offer" for $5, Alex...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:19 AM | Comments (2)

October 26, 2008

Ah, I Love the Smell of Downtown Pensacola

...in the morning. Strolling along the brick sidewalks, I pass the beer trucks unloading and wave at the early risers heading...

...to the nifty little coffeeshop down from the office.

It's a lovely place...


...in spite of the globs of dried-on spittle the Obama kids leave every night and our kids get to clean off every morning.
A beaming Sarah and somber John are always there before I wander in.

John always looks a little glum and I wonder why. Right up to when someone pops out of the back to say "Good morning" in his own unique and inspiring fashion...

...and I wink in sympathy at John, as if to say, "Oh, yeah. HIM." John brightens up imperceptibly.

The luminaries aviators running the joint are already swapping the flying exploit du jour...

...while legions of happy snuffies do the actual grunt work and listen with half an ear.

I occupy what's referred to as "First Chair". It's quite the bossest job in the place, since we're front and center when you come through those doors. I get to say "What can I do ya for?" to every soul coming in, hand out the cool-ass buttons we design and make here, answer the phones, cheerlead for the other volunteers who show up to make buttons, phone calls ~ whatever the heck we need ~ listen to folks earnestly ramble on like I had a direct line to John (Honest to God, I wish I did.), catch up on the GOP proper gossip about what insane outrage the other campaign's local reps have perpetrated THIS week and make cookies for the incredible core group we have. It's a GREAT gig.
And my happiness must be catching because THIS good lookin' convert...

...is a producer for a national NBC news team that interviewed the admiral and shot us busy politicking in the office. (Watch for it Election Day ~ even got my Sarahcuda gear on camera.) Man, we worked him over HARD, but he broke eventually. Begged, BEGGED me to take his picture.

As you can tell, Sarah wasn't happy about it one bit.

I told her to suck it up.

It's a big tent.

John's reaction? Well. Steady as she goes and solid as a rock.

I'm votin' for that guy.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:59 PM | Comments (9)

October 24, 2008

Oh, KEEEEEEERYST!!!

Not ONLY do they blame her for LUNATICS not yelling things during a 10,000 person rally, NOW she's hazardous to that most DELICATE of creatures, the...NHL GOALIE!!!

Sarah Palin got a big welcome from St. Louis Blues fans when she dropped the ceremonial first puck. And when the first on-ice fight broke out, the Republican vice presidential nominee returned the enthusiasm.

...Palin’s appearance might have been costly to the Blues as goalie Manny Legace left the game after one period with an injury that possibly occurred when he tripped over the carpet placed on the ice for Palin and her family to walk on.

Just before the ceremony, Legace was the first player onto the ice for St. Louis. A team official pointed to the carpet, but as Legace stepped onto it with his skate, he fell, then gingerly made his way to the crease.

Pick up your skate, you flippin' CLOD!!!

Nuts. The media is FUCKING nuts.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:33 PM | Comments (3)

Not That I'm Paranoid...

...but sometimes I just get this feeling that someone is watching me.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:15 PM

OPEC Cuts Production

And oil drops to $64 a barrel.

That tells you how concerned folks are about the demand side.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:01 AM | Comments (7)

Stock Futures Are Locked Limit Down

Great. Europe indices are down 10-11%, which would be, what, an 850-ish drop for the Dow?

What a mess.

My wine supply is going to take a drubbing this weekend...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:55 AM | Comments (5)

October 23, 2008

Oh, We Learned, Alright

"At this point, it doesn't really matter," she said Thursday. "What matters is for people to know my account of what happened and for all of us to learn from it."

And you don't need a damn book deal.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:20 PM | Comments (2)

NEVER Forget "The Root"

...and the lessons we SHOULD have learned. Because these animals are still with us twenty five years later. As are the root causes of this hideous and heartbreaking tragedy ~ political correctness and a willingness to leave our troops toothless and exposed for political expediency.

God speed, my brothers.

We love ya, Scipio. Semper Fi, you outstanding Gunnery Sergeant of Marines.

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

Didn't He Say "Get in Their Faces?"

See? The problem with rhetoric like that is the assholes who take it as permission.

A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said.

...Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

Yeah, I SO want this guy to be my president and bring all his friends along with him for the ride.

Stupid, IGNORANT little bitch. I hope they throw the book at her LYING ass.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:26 PM | Comments (16)

There's Something Just Weird...

about this guy's seeming endless need to speak before adoring masses

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Construction is underway for a massive stage in Chicago where Barack Obama could declare victory on election night. Tens of thousands are expected to gather in Grant Park just 13 days from now. One way or another, that huge crowd will witness history.

CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that 1996 was actually the last election night when both major party candidates did speak publicly. In the close elections of 2000 and 2004, that did not happen. Preparations to accommodate a big crowd in Grant Park are already underway.

A lot of work remains on platforms for speakers, risers for cameras and security barricades. Earlier Wednesday, construction crews at the south end of Grant Park were assembling what they said would hold a giant video screen for the election night gathering.

No one really knows how many people will come to the lakefront's Grant Park on Nov. 4. Weather will likely play a role. It was warm and sunny a few days ago in St. Louis when Barack Obama drew an estimated 100,000 to the banks of the Mississippi River.

The whole Berlin thing, the Temple bit at the convention, and now this?

Look, clearly the poor guy's early life sucked, totally totally sucked. But I'm more than a little troubled at the prospect of having as President a person who seems to have this unending need to make people like him. I want a President who is not afraid to make the tough, unpopular decisions for the good of America, not his self-esteem or standings in international media polls. A President who's not afraid to tell other countries to piss off. I disagree with most of his policies but that doesn't really concern me; that's what politics and opinions are all about. What concerns me is his character.

Obama has never, not once, in his entire career, however long you care to define it, shown the slightest inkling or ability to swim against the tide, to take a brave, unpopular stand. Not once. He has made one important decision so far...and he chose Joe Biden. He's the first candidate of my generation, those of us born in the 60s, but he really seems to me to be a precursor of the generation following ours, the Self-Esteem I Am Special generation that WSJ referred to as the "Trophy Kids" just the other day. But whereas this next generation has been coddled from birth Obama certainly has not, but since his teens evidently he has basked in this glow of greatness to come, this expectation that he was intended for higher things, so folks around him hopped on board and passed him along, never testing him along the way. I mean, has he ever actually had a job? Seriously. Has he ever flipped burgers, worked at a fruit stand, cleaned toilets, sat in a cubicle looking at paper for 40 hours, whatever? Has he ever had a boss say "Barack, this sucks. Do it again and you're fired"? All of that is vital to building character, to instill some humility...which he seems to lack. This is what to me ties him to this "Trophy Kid" entitled generation. Every time he's been criticized he gets petulant and lashes out at his critics and/or tosses old friends and relatives under the proverbial bus; this is exactly how these 20-somethings entering the workforce now react. They can not handle criticism, they can not even accept the possibility of it being valid. It is, rather, a vicious personal attack with out any basis in the not-at-all-even-remotely-possible-so-don't-even-think-of-it-you-racist/sexist/genderist/ageist/misogynist reality that they did, indeed, screw up...like we all do all the time (well, those of us who are mere mortals, at least). Has he ever once said "I screwed this up"? No, all we hear is "That is not the _____ (fill in the name here) I knew" or wave his "I don't look like other candidates" line. For once in his career I'm afraid Biden may actually be right, that a President Obama would be severely tested early on in office.

And given how he's reacted to minor tests in the past I find that prospect unsettling.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:04 AM | Comments (12)

Indeed, Sir

...These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

If only national journalists had the conscience he's appealing to.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:58 AM

In the Tank

Not the MSM. I'm talking the business of lobsters.

The price of Maine lobster, which accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. catch, is tanking.

The primary factor, a drop-off in demand by penny-pinching diners, has been in place since summer. But a secondary problem recently surfaced: the global banking crisis left Canadian processors short on credit, trapping Maine lobstermen and dealers with too much supply.

Ayuh.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:37 AM | Comments (1)

I Musta Missed That Part

You know, where folks were all polite about Palin.

...There was, of course, a time when Democrats tiptoed around Palin.

But since...

...Mean old John Lewis called us racists, which hurt our feelings. So now, we're going to ... play the race card.

...aka Reverend GODDAMNAMERICA, chickenroostin' Wright, and since...

...Polls seem to be tightening, and the election is going to be decided by a white, male plumber named Joe.

...anyway, the author's suggested Democratic response straTEEgery is simple:

They should respond with Palin.

Oh, by all means. Start slamming old girl again.

...If Democrats are still worried about offending women, they can ask Clinton to tape the TV ad attacking Palin. If she won't, I betcha Tina Fey will. In a heartbeat.

Heh. Now THAT sounds like a winning strategy...for somebody...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:54 AM | Comments (3)

October 22, 2008

How Cool Is This?

Screw the election; today we're all about weird science

NEW YORK (AP) - Just two weeks after a Nobel Prize highlighted theoretical work on subatomic particles, physicists are announcing a startling discovery about a much more familiar form of matter: Scotch tape.

It turns out that if you peel the popular adhesive tape off its roll in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays. The researchers even made an X-ray image of one of their fingers.

..."We were very surprised," said Juan Escobar. "The power you could get from just peeling tape was enormous."

...In the new work, a machine peeled ordinary Scotch tape off a roll in a vacuum chamber at about 1.2 inches per second. Rapid pulses of X-rays, each about a billionth of a second long, emerged from very close to where the tape was coming off the roll.

That's where electrons jumped from the roll to the sticky underside of the tape that was being pulled away, a journey of about two-thousandths of an inch, Escobar said. When those electrons struck the sticky side they slowed down, and that slowing made them emit X-rays.

This so far only seems to work in a vacuum., but I could imagine an x-ray device for an area with no electricity: you pop a roll of scotch tape into a chamber, close it and create a vacuum using a hand pump, and peel off tape in the chamber via a hand-turned crank whilst holding the device over the body part you want to x-ray.

Neat, neat stuff.

Insert body part here

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:41 PM | Comments (7)

More "If You Disagree You're A Racist" Crap

So now the word "socialist" is actually code for "black;" in fact, it's an "old code word." Who knew? It really is stupidity beyond belief, well, it should be beyond belief; I'm not sure anything is beyond belief these days, and not worthy of much of a response. I think I like this fromVolokh best:

The funny thing is that if indeed Hoover referred to Du Bois, Robeson, and Randolph as socialists, it was not because they were black,but because they were, well socialists. Robeson, in fact, was a Communist, as was Du Bois in his later years.

Are there still 'racists' in the US? Of course. But this constant hue and cry over racism has become pretty much a red herring now, where every disagreement with Obama over policies is decried as racist, which frankly gives the impression that his supporters do not want any policy discussions at all. Can someone please tell me a legitimate thing to criticize him on?

And I suppose I can't say "red herring" now, because obviously "red" is code for "communist" which is code for "socialist" which is code for "black."

Well lookee here, using this political version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon let's prove that anyone is in fact racist. Here's an easy one: Conservative bastions are called "Red States." As we've shown above, "red" is code for "communist" which is code for "socialist" which is code for "black." Therefore via our perfect logic they are in fact racist. And socialist.

Which makes as much sense as any other political analysis you're likely to see.

So in the meantime have fun with The Oracle of Bacon.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:12 AM | Comments (3)

October 21, 2008

Zionist Spy Pigeons!

Maybe they read The Protocols Of The Elders Of Flyin'

Security forces in Natanz have arrested two suspected "spy pigeons" near Iran's controversial uranium enrichment facility, the reformist Etemad Melli newspaper reported on Monday.

One of the pigeons was caught near a rose water production plant in the city of Kashan in Isfahan province, the report cited an unnamed informed source as saying, adding that some metal rings and invisible strings were attached to the bird.

"Early this month, a black pigeon was caught bearing a blue-coated metal ring, with invisible strings," the source was quoted as saying of the second pigeon.

"The beaks on these two are especially pronounced," continued the source, who noted that the invisible strings could also have been used to haul away small children for neocon rituals and Neil Diamond concerts.

The source gave no further description of the pigeons, neither their current status nor what their fate will be.

Squab has been sighted on several area menus.

This is what it sounds like when Dov cries...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:08 AM | Comments (6)

October 19, 2008

HIP! HIP! HOO

RAYS !!!!!

Rays and Phillies in the Series.

Man, how wild is THAT? And who'd a' EVER thunk it?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:43 PM | Comments (3)

Aw, Man

If I may...

I'd like to say something....Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush's agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.

Army Specialist Steve Fortunato wrote that. His mom shared it...because he couldn't.

According to BostonHerald.com: "He was killed on his first day back on patrol after a 19-day leave in Massachusetts. Fortunato was in the 26th Infantry Regiment and served as a gunner in back of a Humvee. He had served in Afghanistan since July."

God bless him. And hold his family close in this time of unspeakable pain.

We thank you with all our hearts, soldier.

And thanks to Steve for letting us know.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:31 PM | Comments (3)

So, It's Sunday Afternoon

Not finding any slow field rats...


...Ozzie and Beau are left to wonder what's for da dinner? Well, whaddo I got?


Plenty, 'twould seem.

Let's talk stuffing. 4 pieces of deevine Nueske's bacon, diced up and crisping. But I can't decide what smells better ~ the bacon or the toasted LOCAL pecans...



Ahhhhh. Yums. Get the bacon pieces crispy and slotted spoon them into a large bowl.

LEAVE THE BACON FAT ALONE, INFIDEL!!! Or I KILL you!

Add a pat of butter and then a small, diced onion and about 3 garlic cloves. Soften 'em up.



Add a diced apple and those pecans and let the apple soften as well. At this point I added some chopped fresh parsley, dried celery flakes, thyme and rubbed sage. The gentle heat really gets the aromatics singing.



Okay, major dad! (The man will not quit.)



Add to the bacon waiting patiently in the large bowl...



...and then mix in about 2 cups of the crumbled homemade cornbread, Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish to taste and some chicken stock to get it moistened. (But not to sticky glop stage.) Now, for the slasher movie...



"Come to me my pretty."



Slide a SHARP knife down the length of the rib bones...



...and then ~ without completely separating the loin from the bones ~ begin slicing the length until you've created and "unrolled" loin.



(I also moderately "frenched" the rib ends.) Salt and pepper, schmear with stuffing, and roll 'er on up.





Truss that puppy front...



...and back...

...then get him acquainted with a roasting pan. (AFTER you've replaced the stuffing that escaped from his sides and liberally sprinkled him with thyme, sage, garlic salt and cracked pepper.)



He'll love you for it. 350º until 145º internal temp. This old boy was a tad over 4 lbs and about 1 1/2 hrs.

And WHAT in the wild, wild world of sports TOOK so long?!?!?



Oh, that's MUCH better now! Thing Q, my darling! I can concentrate again. Pork ~ When he's done, put him on the cutting board, tent him and let him rest 15 or so minutes. Then drain off most of the fat in the roasting pan, add a pat of butter and about 2-3 T flour, and WORK those brown yummies!



The small pan behind has a combination of vermouth and chicken stock (schmaybe 3C all together) that's been gently reducing to about 1 1/2C this whole time. Once your flour's cooked into the pan and the cooked-on nummies are coming off the bottom, slowly add the liquid and stir. It should start to thicken up immediately and you'll be able to loosen it up to the gravy of your choice with the addition of more dribbles of chicken stock. I strained it, but there's not a dang thing there that was inedible, should you choose to go rustic. I also just added cracked pepper, since there's lots of salt and herbs in the pan from the roast's initial seasoning and stuffing spillage. (Taste well before you add anything.)

Untent that happy puerko gordo and check out just how pretty he is.



Honestly, take a moment to bask in your handiwork and receive the kudos of those in the kitchen.



Add some of major dad's World Famous Creamy Mashed 'Taters, one of his beauteous salads, and then...well...eat.



Melt in your diggetydadgum mouth, I tell ya.

Scotties and lab not included.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:18 PM | Comments (5)

October 18, 2008

Poetry Night at Ace's

I haven't drunk enough yet. The inspiration poem is as follows:

...Obama is kind.
Obama is gentle.
Obama is intelligent.
Obama is a leader of men.
Obama is honest.
Obama is a family man.
Obama is the future.
Obama will win by the greatest land slide of all time.
The days of racism and hate are numbered.

He is the ONE.
Racism will END in 2009.
Hate will END in 2009.
Terrorism will END in 2009.
Goverment crime will END in 2009.
Wall street crime will END in 2009.
Poorness will END in 2009.
Oil company crime will END in 2009.
Gas station price crime will END in 2009....

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:35 PM | Comments (7)

You, Me and Joe the Plumber?

We are SOOOO fucked.

Barack Obama lines up a cabinet of stars as John McCain struggles on

...A host of well-known figures, including some Republicans, have indicated they would be willing to serve in some capacity as Obama begins to acquire a winner’s glow. From Senator John Kerry, the 2004 presidential candidate with hopes of becoming secretary of state, to Larry Summers, a former US Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator who has been tipped as defence secretary, there are plenty who have signalled their availability.

And I read this before dinner.

Blech.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:03 PM | Comments (4)

Thought For The Day

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:59 AM | Comments (3)

Our Treat in the Local Fishwrap

...almost every day.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:11 AM

October 17, 2008

There Are Few Problems In This World...

...that the combination of a box of Triscuits, a wedge of gorgonzola and a bottle of chianti can't solve.

That is all.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:42 PM

As I Enjoy Fomenting Controversy and Curiosity

...I made a little broach to wear to the campaign office today.

I'll be glad to explain it to anyone who asks. And encourage them to make their own.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:15 AM | Comments (6)

Since 2004 Two Children In NJ Have Died From The Flu

So naturally Trenton demands that every child get a flu shot

As flu season approaches, many New Jersey parents are furious over a first-in-the-nation requirement that children get a flu shot in order to attend preschools and day-care centers. The decision should be the parents', not the state's, they contend.

Hundreds of parents and other activists rallied outside the New Jersey Statehouse on Thursday, decrying the policy and voicing support for a bill that would allow parents to opt out of mandatory vaccinations for their children.

Look, I think there are many cases where mandatory vaccinations are important: polio, measles, the various hepatitises etc. This is not one of them.

In fact, flu kills about 36,000 Americans a year and hospitalizes about 200,000. But children make up a small fraction of the victims - 86 died last year, from babies to teens, according to federal figures. Only two flu deaths of children in New Jersey have been recorded since 2004.

Two children have died since 2004 from the flu. According to what I could find the death rate among influenza vaccine recipients ranged from 0.01 to 0.02% within 7 days and 0.09–0.10% at 30 days. Not a huge risk, it seems to me. But in NJ in 2006 alone there were roughly 670,000 children between the ages of 0 and 5 who would be required to get this vaccine. By my math one would expect, what, 6 or 7 of them to die? Even if I'm off by a factor of 100 on my math it sure seems like the cure is worse than the disease.

I'm sure all those campaign contributions by the pharmaceutical industry in NJ had nothing to do with this.

Nothing at all.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:04 AM | Comments (17)

October 16, 2008

Lots of Laughter

...from some really stupid people...

...who haven't a clue that he's dissing them. At least someone in that crowd has to have a blue collar job, right?

Right?

Thanks to ninjapirate over in the comments.

UPDATE: More assness, courtesy of the Vice Chairman for Education, Hope and Opportunity, People's Republic of Obama. Let me reiterate the update from the post below...

...Mr. Wurzelbacher was playing football in his front yard with his son, Joey, on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Obama made an unscheduled stop to go door to door greeting voters and asking for their support.

In his own yard. Minding his own business. And then the JoeHole gets a shot at you, too? Jeez.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:15 PM | Comments (6)

Joe, the Proctological Plumbing Parable

So. I think even a long dead Aesop would have eschewed the use of small rodents to tell the story of the plumber unlicensed, tax dodging drain cleaner from Ohio, who had the simpleness of mind...the TEMERITY... to...ask a question. The truth needs no embellishment for effect. He dared ask.

Heretic. Unbeliever. Filthy untouchable.

And now? He's probably unemployed, thanks to the media's predilection for roto-rootering the assets of any infidel who questions the annointed one. Obscene as the smears against my girl are...she's running for office. Disgusting as the lies and innuendos swirling around McCain are...he's running for office. We can gnash our teeth against the hatefulness of the attacks, in the end, what we are left with is Eddie Murphy's philosophy, "You brought that shit on yoself, man!" Bless their hearts, it's the name of the revolting game and you may be surprised by the viciousness of the attack, but there's no way you can say you "didn't know it was going to be like that!"

But Joe? He's a nobody, like the rest of us schmucks. No plans other than making a living, no agenda other than hangin' in there and schmaybe reaching "comfortable" at some time in his life. Even that ordinaryness is open to a faint whiff of snark from those annointed to report:

...Wurzelbacher also acknowledged that he had no specific plans for buying Newell’s business, saying he and Newell had simply talked about the idea from time to time. He might have difficulty making the purchase: Court records from his divorce show that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.

He doesn't have anyone to get him a million dollar mortgage for less than prime rate, or buy the lot next door and sell it to him cheap, once he can afford it.

Nah.

He just asked for a little clarification from the horse's mouth...

...and got the "inYOUendo" from Obama's media bodyguards instead.

Will the media cover Joe as he makes his way to the unemployment line? I mean, it's the least they could do, since they sent him there.

For respectfully asking a question.

We all need to share the parable of "Joe and the Questions That Should Not Be Asked" as far and wide as humanly possible.

And be very afraid.

UPDATE: CHA!

But why is it that political reporters only get curious when a conservative Joe America storms onto the scene? Why aren’t they just as curious when liberals trot out, say, a 12-year-old boy to give a national radio address?

It only gets worse!

...Mr. Wurzelbacher was playing football in his front yard with his son, Joey, on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Obama made an unscheduled stop to go door to door greeting voters and asking for their support.

DAMN!

Minding your own business. Words escape me.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:18 PM | Comments (5)

I'm Betting On A Winning Season This Year

Via Tim, I'm betting that this team will qualify for the playoffs, get killed in their final regular season game but win the final victory in the Championship game

Christ runs for 232 yards in Catholic victory

With Schuhl out with turf toe, Christ carried 23 times for 232 yards and three scores as the Gloucester Catholic High School football team improved to 4-0 with a 42-7 victory over Woodstown in a Tri-County Conference Royal Division game.

"It's a good opportunity for me to start and show myself as a junior and get my name out there," said Christ. "I just wanted to come out, pursue, win and do what needed to be done."

Christ did a tremendous job running downhill and when he took a hit, he seemed to accelerate. Christ scored on runs of 24, 1 and 51 yards the last bouncing off several would-be tacklers and sprinting to the end zone.

"If they don't wrap me, I'm just going to put my legs out and keep them moving," said Christ.

I actually was at the game and snapped this photo of the epic triumph

"Christ runs for 232 yards in Catholic victory"

Headline of the year, folks.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:35 AM | Comments (8)

October 15, 2008

As Always...

Theo makes an excellent point

Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed.

Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling booze.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:17 PM | Comments (3)

Retail Sales Tank In September

No surprise here

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales at retail stores recorded their biggest monthly drop in more than three years in September while a measure of inflation eased, according to government data on Wednesday that intensified recession fears.

A gauge of manufacturing in New York State tumbled in October to the lowest since its inception in 2001, a report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank said.

Retail sales fell 1.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted $375.5 billion, the Commerce Department said. That was the sharpest drop since August 2005 and far worse than the 0.7 percent decline economists polled by Reuters had expected.

I can't help but think that this is going to get much worse before it gets any better. Who is going to spend much of anything on Christmas? I think these next two months, so key for our economy, will be a disaster.

Monday was a dead cat bounce for the market, I fear.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:49 AM | Comments (6)

Beef Stew With Port. Well, Mostly Port With A Beef Chaser.

Man, this past week sucked, didn't it? I found that I was very very tired and really just drained by Friday, so I knew for the weekend I needed to follow my own advice and spend as much time in the kitchen this weekend as I could; that's where I can really relax. As the weather is just lovely and slowly cooling I wanted to cook something warm and filling, and there's one recipe that my parents got out of an old Dodge magazine that they had when we drove around in something like this beast. The recipe was called "Portuguese Soupas." I don't actually think any Portuguese were harmed or consulted in its making, however, as any ones I've mentioned this to have never eaten anything like it.

Anyhow, one of the big benefits of spending several hours in the kitchen is the imbibing opportunities

Baritone Shiraz/Cabernet blend. It has nice fruit and structure, not the deepest of colors in the glass, more like a darkish raspberry, really. In these rather trying economic times what's especially nice about it is that it comes in a 1 liter bottle for only $10. Is it a great wine? No, I wouldn't save it for a special event, but it's fine for every day imbibing.

Did I mention beef? At Costco they have these delicious london broils running, oh, 2 pounds each or so and they come two to a package, so on Friday night I grilled one and for this dish on Saturday I cut up the other

into 1" or so chunks and put it in a large dutch oven, which certainly got someone's attention

Not that I am easily swayed by outright begging, mind you, but look at that face

Oh, I guess some meat might have fallen into your bowl after all

Anyhow, back to the human food. Did I mention this recipe uses Port?

Yum. Anyhow, take two of the large 28 oz cans of crushed tomaters and dump them into the pot atop the cubed meat. Then take your tasty bottle of ruby port and fill one of the cans, oh, about a third of the way up

and swish it about to remove any leftover 'maters then pour that into the other can and repeat, then dump that into the pot with the other stuff. And pour more port in for good measure; I usually end up using most of the bottle.

Now, Friends, I know that you, like myself, are concerned about serving your guests and family only the finest in beverages and vittles, so it is important at this point to make sure the port is up to your usual high standards (i.e. the bottle has been paid for)

Yes, that will work nicely.

Place the pot on the stove over medium-ish heat and add what you consider to be a reasonable amount of garlic

and a teaspoon or so of ground coriander

a large chopped onion, a teaspoon of celery seed, some freshly ground salt and pepper

At this point you should get the pot up to a rolling simmer then back it off to a sloooow simmer for about 3 hours, covered, stirring occasionally. The idea is to let things meld and reduce slightly.

and oh damn

I'll attend to that little emergency in a moment; first take a few large spuds (again, this is at the roughly 3 hour point)

and please note that I am not a Potatist: I believe all tuber races have the right to freely coexist in my belly. It's my Big Tent.

So cube up those babies and plop them into the pot for about thirty minutes of cooking

Don't they look thirsty?

Of course they do.

Don't I look thirsty?

Why won't this camera focus?

Now what goes nicely with this stew is some home-made garlic bread. So in a little saute pan gently melt half a stick of unsalted butter with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil

add a decent amount of garlic powder, some oregano, fresh ground pepper and salt and gently simmer

Come here my pretties

ah, tasty chopped garlic

add that to the saute pan and continue the kinder, gentler sauteing

I'd even turn the heat down more, as if it's a touch too high or you get distracted the garlic is easy to over cook and it becomes like hard little bitter bits of chewing gum.

While that heats up slice your baguette into thick pieces

Now, back to the stew for a moment. Take a package of frozen spinach (As Julie Child once said, this is "Nutrition rearing its ugly head")

and carefully plop it into the pot

and I do mean 'carefully,' for as some folks would say the stew has been cooking for several hours and it is quite nu-que-ler; you do not want to splatter thyself. A side effect of this is that the frozen spinach rapidly becomes unfrozen and perfectly done in the 10 minutes or so that are left.

Now, an unfortunate side effect of being in the kitchen for 3 hours is that the one liter bottle of wine is now a zero liter bottle.

An outrageous restriction of my civil liberties which will not stand.

But first I've got to carefully spoon the garlicy goodness onto the waiting slices

springle with a light layer of parmesan cheese and put in the oven at, oh, 375 or so. I like to bake the garlic bread, not broil it, so 375 for 8-10 minutes seems to work for my taste, but YMMV.

After a few minutes in the pot-o-doom the spinach is mostly de-frozen so give it a stir

and attend the that most pressing matter: your glass

I love this wine. I feel so dirty saying that, but it's true. A very smooth, easy-drinking vin de table. And how does $8 for a 1.5 liter bottle strike you? This is an insane bargain. Buy this wine. Buy a lot of it. Have a glass every night with your beloved. Enjoy life, dear friends. Vive la Freedom Fries!

So the 10 minutes are up, my glass is newly full, the garlic bread has nicely browned

the stew is ready

serve and enjoy

(sorry about the bite out of that piece there...Quality Control and all, you understand)

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:35 AM | Comments (15)

October 14, 2008

MUST See TV...From CNN?!

Whooda thunk it? But it's damning.

Swill salute to Instapundit.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:11 PM | Comments (4)

October 13, 2008

Who's Your Buddy? Who's Your Pal?

And who could turn out to be your worst nightmare?

Iceland, with IMF deal in works, turns to Russia

Icelandic officials are in Moscow on Tuesday for talks on an emergency loan that could be worth billions of euros, the country's latest attempt to raise cash to help save its economy from collapse.

...An official from Iceland's central bank said a delegation from the bank and government left for Russia on Monday to begin talks on the emergency loan, a move that has raised questions about Russia's motives and what price Moscow might extract.

Putin makes Tony Soprano look like a rank amateur.

Say "goodnight", Iceland.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:51 PM | Comments (7)

This is EXACTLY WHY We Need the Fairness Act

To stop racists and bigots and brownshirted thugs from using a political candidate's...real name.

...In urging voters to choose John McCain in the November election, Scott used Barack Obama's middle name - "Hussein."

Activate pee-pee whacking, to commence...

Both the Obama and McCain campaign's immediately criticized the statement. McCain's camp said it distracted from their message, while Obama's office said Scott was trying to stoke the fires of a whisper campaign claiming Obama is a Muslim, which is not true.

And you know what? Let's make sure he knows just how SERIOUS his transgression and regrettable utterance was.

Feds investigating sheriff after 'Hussein' remark

Oh, yeah. HATCH ACT that, pal.

A Swill salute to Ace, where a commenter said that Barrack Obama is becoming Voldemort aka "He who shall not be named".

Come to think of it, they do bear a faint resemblance...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:12 PM | Comments (4)

October 11, 2008

Super Action Hot Breaking Exclusive!

With the internets all a buzz about the exciting discovery of Sarah Palin's SAT scores, which conclusively prove how smart the lefty blogosphere is and just how, well, pitiful, really, damn near anyone who doesn't agree with them is, I can now reveal for the first time EVUH Sarah Palin's acceptance letter to John McCain after he asked her to be his running mate:

Sources deep in the campaign have 100% guaranteed that it is the real deal.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:36 AM | Comments (7)

October 10, 2008

SHOCKING News Via Kcruella: Mood in New York City Turns Desperate

You had to think it might come to this, you know? The eyewitness account she sent:

Subject: Jumper

My friend was in traffic all morning trying to get across the Tappan Zee Bridge into NYC.

Once he was able to get across the bridge, he saw that someone was trying
to jump off. Cops were able to save him.

He was able to take this picture when he passed. This is the poor guy
that was trying to jump off the bridge....

(Caution: Probably NSFW)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:30 AM | Comments (10)

Quick Stock Thoughts

The SEC must re-instate the ban on short selling, and they must re-instate the uptick rule.

There is no excuse for allowing hedge funds to keep pounding the market like this. If you own the stock and want out, fine.

But don't let those other bastards profit by punishing us.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:59 AM | Comments (4)

To Hell In A Handbasket

That's how it looks at the moment, my friends

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe joined Asia's panic selling in stocks on Friday, knocking the benchmark world equity index to a 5-year trough, while the low-yielding yen jumped as fears grew that efforts by policymakers are insufficient to contain the global financial crisis.

Equity trading in Russia, Iceland, Romania, Ukraine and Indonesia has been halted while nearly half of Milan stocks are suspended for excessive losses, just hours before finance chiefs from Group of Seven rich nations meet in Washington.

But one thing to keep in mind is that with specialized computer trading programs these market moves get over-done, selling markets lower than they really should be much as they also can lift them higher then they should be when moods are ebullient. Knowing things get exaggerated is not much of a comfort when it's your savings getting pummeled, for sure, but it may be indicative that, while things seem horrific for the future it might not get as bad as we fear. One thing that reassures me a little at the moment is that so far no commercial banks have failed, as far as I can tell. I find that reassuring, that banks that have worked in the traditional style, lending to businesses and individuals, are stronger than the flashier investment banks that needed to keep searching for ever greater returns to satisfy their investors..and are paying the price for their ill-considered risk taking. So hopefully the groundwork, the base, is there for us to recover and start anew once the bloodletting is done.

But we need to atone for our sins in this, our gorging on debt, our over-extending ourselves in the hedonistic orgy of easy credit. Has there been unchecked government spending? Hell yes. Has there been questionable lending by banks and financial companies? Hell yes. But we also all need to look at ourselves and accept the fact that we willingly spent money we did not have, well in excess of what we rationally could hope to pay back in a reasonable time. Sure, all the ads said "past results are not reflective of future returns" but that was because we would earn even more on the next go-round, right? How many decent companies that made a steady profit every year were punished by the people investing our money because they didn't make more money the next year and increase their profit margin? How greedy were we? We bought the latest fashions and ate at the trendiest places far too often, took too many trips to Cancun and rented limos for our 8th grade proms. Now the cold reality sets in. The grass may in fact be greener on the other side...but that doesn't mean the grass you have right now is bad. We have to re-learn what previous generations knew, to always hope and strive for better things of course but more importantly to make do with what we have, to not reach far beyond our grasp.

So instead of going out this weekend get some burgers or steaks and some cheap bottles of wine, invite your neighbors over and enjoy life.

Not things.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:15 AM | Comments (9)

October 09, 2008

What's Another $37 Billion Among Friends?

I mean, really, it's beyond parody

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The New York Federal Reserve is lending up to $37.8 billion to American International Group to give the troubled insurer access to much-needed cash.

In exchange, AIG is giving the New York Fed investment-grade, fixed-income securities that it had previously lent out to other institutions for a fee. Those institutions are now returning these securities and want their money back.

The new program, announced Wednesday, is on top of the $85 billion the federal government agreed to lend to AIG last month to prevent the global company from collapsing. AIG said last Friday it had drawn down $61 billion.

I guess they have a few more spa visits coming up.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:03 AM | Comments (8)

October 08, 2008

Dateline: Pensacuda, FL Tuesday, October 6th ~ The Weather Outside was FRIGHTFUL

We'd had thunderstorms since 0230 and over 6 inches of rain by 1000 and it was STILL pouring, but no matter. Getting inside seemed tantalizingly deLIGHTful.
And we weren't disappointed. The stage was set...

Happy, HAPPY fellow Veterans for McCain volunteers were practicing cheers (and grateful for the days of volunteering that had us inside at 1030 instead of waiting in line since 0730, like some faithful had, bless their hearts)...



...while others were snapped modeling really Swill "Sarahcuda" t-shirts (Which were also mentioned in the local fish wrap this morning!!!!) !!



Check out the seats filling as folks trickled in through the tight security. Two hours later and nosebleed is lookin' to be the only seat left. And they went FAST



Lights down! Camera! Action!!


Medal of Honor winner Bud Day strutted through the throngs, took the stage and started firing up the crowd. He ended with a rousing Pledge of Allegiance. ( I hope I look that good in FIVE years, less mind at his age.) Local congressman Jeff Miller, whom with I have never been truly enamored, took the stage next and...well...DAMN! That boy was fire and BRIMSTONE good! He had a great voice and terrific delivery, opening up by asking if there were any "bitter gun and bible clingers in the Civic Center?"




The answering roar was astonishing. I was laughing out loud. Thinking, "So THIS is what 'that old time religion' feels like!"

Dead time ensued, but we were hyper by then and hardly noticed. Someone's husband had relayed via cell phone that she'd left Jacksonville and then someone else heard she was at the airport, and THEN...? As one of the 3000 people still outside, my sweet Ebola texts me simply...

"She's here."

...as he sees the motorcade drive up. Everyone ERUPTS as I shout the news. And I'm crying, because I know he's not going to make it inside. I'm just sick.

"Sa-RAH! Sa-RAH! Sa-RAH!!"

Deafening.

About 3 minutes later, lights down, spots up and Charlie Crist works the crowd on his way to the stage. He's pretty damn great in person, too, but you know what? We're all suffering brain freeze because we. Want. SARAH!! And then we hear "...the governor of the great state of Alaska and the next Vice-President of these United States ~ Sarah PALIN!!!"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is stunning. Oh, Lord, girl crush hits HARD. In every one of the 10 or 12 THOUSAND hearts in that arena. She's gracious and shaking hands and then climbing on to the stage and waving her heart out. I don't know why but "neat as a pin" pops in my brain. And I want her shoes. Next to us, some of the ARC Gateway staff and kids were sitting with beautiful, yellow "Give Trig a Kiss for Us" t-shirts. Somehow, she saw them and stopped. She clasped her hands to her chest, then kissed her fingertips and offered them in the group's direction.

She got to the microphone and, eventually, got to the stump speech.



DAMN. She's good. And sly like a fox. The delivery's amazing. She didn't really seem to use the teleprompter. It was all on yellow legal pad and she hardly needed it at that.

Holding up the cell so Bingley can hear. And wish he was me.

Obama and Ayers took it on the chinny chin chin...

"HUH?!?! He didn't know he'd launched his career in the living room of a domestic terrorist? He didn't know...until he did know. And then he continued to be in anyway associated with that person. The story keeps changing and the claims keep getting more and more curious."

...or just Obama.

"Our opponent doesn't seem to get the economy problem we're in. He wants more spending and more taxes. But HOW do you get out of the hole you're in? You STOP digging!

It was simply captivating and her local touches were perfect.

"Man, I LOVE you, Florida! You guys just GET it!"

Roar of the crowd explodes and how the walls stay up, I have no idea. This place is crazy wit d' Palin heat.

Then she was through, waved bunches and hotfooted it down the stairs to shake as many hands as she could. First at the foot of the steps and then around every inch of the stage, starting with the side furthest away from us. And do you know what else she'd done as soon as she'd finished the speech? She sent the Secret Service up to get the kids next to us and bring them down to her. Organized them herself for a group picture and the ARC staff members were beside themselves. There wasn't a dry eye left in the house.



We left then.

Only way to have been more perfect was if my baby boy had gotten to the seat we were saving for him. It was one of those moments you didn't want to be by yourself. You WANTED to have someone dear to share the excitement with. The moment with. In the middle of the revelry, one of the three elderly ladies sitting behind us ~ who had driven all the way from Panama City to be there ~ leaned over and grasped my arm.

"You know, " she said with earnest conviction, "We're part of history today."

I knew.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:26 PM | Comments (7)

Racist BASTARD!!

Sarahcuda trots out William Ayers and NOW?! Now a WHITE guy claims...wait for it....
Obama's plane smells BAD...

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time.

Will the slander never cease? Filthy LIES, all of them. It smells like VICtory.

I'll bet you anything he's a plant for The Corner.

Oh, yeah.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:34 PM | Comments (1)

PBS Asks the Tough Question

Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States?

It's a shame they don't have an "■ Yes EXCLAMATION POINT" option. I would have preferred that.

A warm Swill salute to the delightful Susan Moore, Chair, FL Women for McCain-Escambia.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:10 AM | Comments (9)

Besides Stocks, Our "In the Tank" Award for This Morning Goes to:

...Newsweek. Imagine that. The home page link headline:

Newsweek: Poor are not to blame for mess

...to the article headline...

Subprime Suspects

The right blames the credit crisis on poor minority homeowners. This is not merely offensive, but entirely wrong.

...to a taste of the contents.

...Let me get this straight. Investment banks and insurance companies run by centimillionaires blow up, and it's the fault of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and poor minorities?

Blech. Something tastes nasty.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:44 AM | Comments (1)

The Uglytude Continues

Futures and overseas markets are down again

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures were sharply down on Wednesday as deepening fears that the credit crisis would make more victims and drag the global economy into recession sent equities plunging around the world.

By 5:51 a.m. EDT, S&P 500 futures were down 2.7 percent, Dow Jones futures down 3.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 3.1 percent.

European shares were taking a beating, with UK's FTSE 100 index losing 4.4 percent, Germany's DAX index dropping 6 percent, and France's CAC 40 falling 5.2 percent. Europe's banking sector was down 5.6 percent.

The Nikkei average plummeted 9.4 percent on Wednesday, its biggest one-day drop since the 1987 stock market crash.

Commodity markets are also tanking, as the lack of credit is causing people to dump stocks.

And my bus didn't show up this morning. Like I needed to wait an extra half hour this morning at 4goddamned50 am. Really, I had nothing better to do.

Really.

Update: Whoa, the Fed just cut rates 1/2 percent, and everything is surging higher.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures turned positive on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates in concert with other global central banks to calm markets.

S&P 500 futures jumped 28.30 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures climbed 173 points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 36.25 points.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:41 AM | Comments (13)

October 07, 2008

Thou Shallt Not Mock Soros

Goodness, Georgy-porgy made a call and NBC jumped like a slavish puppy

NBC is furiously erasing its tracks. Any attempts to upload the forbidden SNL bailout skit skewering George Soros and his left-wing subprime schemer friends Herbert and Marion Sandler will likely be squashed. So, I transcribed the whole comedy sketch for you and provided screenshots for the 7-minute video that has disappeared from NBC and Hulu. (You can see it as of 1:08am Eastern here on YouTube, though I doubt it will last long. Pat Dollard’s blog has posted the full clip on its server. Thanks to Ms. Underestimated for the .wmv file.)

Down the memory hole with that skit! The only possibly objectionable element of it was the 'people who should be shot' graphic that was displayed; other than that the skit was shockingly spot-on.

Which I guess is why NBC is so quick to 86-it.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:04 AM | Comments (6)

If You Disagree You're Racist. Duh.

That seems to be their go-to response these days, isn't it? If you dare to question The One's record or policies, well you're a racist, natch.

And if you dare to question the wisdom of the folks who "encouraged' banks to begin giving mortgages to people who had no money, if you say, "you know, maybe just maybe that wasn't so brilliant a policy," well, obviously, you, sir, are a hooded Klansman

BOSTON (AP) - Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation's housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that's racially motivated.

The Massachusetts Democrat, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the GOP is appealing to its base by blaming the country's mortgage foreclosure problem on efforts to expand affordable housing through the Community Reinvestment Act.

He said that blame is misplaced, because those loans are issued by regulated institutions, while far more foreclosures were triggered by high-cost loans made by unregulated entities.

"They get to take things out on poor people," Frank said at a mortgage foreclosure symposium in Boston. "Let's be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn't hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people."

Frank also dismissed charges the Democrats failed on their own or blocked Republican efforts to rein in the mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The federal government recently took control of both entities.

I think it's a bit much to expect Barney to exercise any oversight in Congress, let alone admit to failed policies, when he's never been able to exercise any control over his boy-toys at home.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:35 AM

Bi-Partisan Pop

This is pretty neat.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:30 AM

October 06, 2008

Oh Great

What the hell is the Government? A job provider for ex-Goldman Sachs employees?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Treasury Department on Monday sought to answer the first of many questions surrounding how it will implement the $700 billion financial rescue plan.

The department announced that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had appointed Neel Kashkari to oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program and the newly created Office of Financial Stability.

Kashkari, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, is currently the assistant secretary of the Treasury for International Economics and Development.

Great. Let's keep rewarding the guys who helped get us into this mess. I'm sure he will not let these firms over charge US for these assets they are dumping.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:34 PM | Comments (7)

Dear GOPUSA ~ You MIGHT Want to Rethink the Tenor of Your Emails

Because a subject line like this...

Alert: Will You be Ready When the Depression Hits?

...doesn't do a THING to cheer up the party faithful.

How stupid can you possibly be?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:40 AM | Comments (3)

Oh, MAN ~ Islamofascists Have Finally CROSSED the LINE!

Silenced?!?!?! I KILL THEM!!!!!

Comedian Defends 'Achmed the Dead Terrorist' Puppet Routine Against South African Ban

It's no laughing matter.

Funnyman ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is fuming after a ringtone advertisement based on his popular comedy skit, "Achmed the Dead Terrorist," was scrubbed from South African TV because it mocks Islam.

...ASA officials said a South African man, Moegamat Khan, had filed a complaint that the commercial was offensive to the Islamic religion and created an impression that all Muslims were terrorists.

And the ASA agreed. "To associate this divine inspiration to a terrorist is offensive to the people who believe in [Muhammad]," the authority ruled. Muslims make up 2 percent of South Africa's population.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM | Comments (1)

Here's Another Cheery Economic Outlook

Man, my mattress is looking better and better as the place to keep what money I have

Germany takes hot seat as Europe falls into the abyss We face extreme danger. Unless there is immediate intervention on every front by all the major powers acting in concert, we risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared, unless they own gold bars.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Investors will learn today whether the Paulson bail-out - fattened to $850bn (£480bn) by Congress - can begin to halt the death spiral in the credit system. So far, the response looks terrible.

Germany is now in the hot seat. The collapse of a rescue deal for Hypo Real Estate on Saturday threatens a €400bn (£311bn) bankruptcy that nearly matches the Lehman Brothers debacle for sheer scale.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to pull her head out of the sand, guaranteeing all German savings, a day after she rebuked Ireland for doing much the same thing. Reality intrudes.

During the past week, we have tipped over the edge, into the middle of the abyss. Systemic collapse is in full train. The Netherlands has just rushed through a second, more sweeping nationalisation of Fortis. Ireland and Greece have had to rescue all their banks. Iceland is facing an Argentine denouement.

I'm not so sure I'd be excited to own gold bars; gold has been a dog like every other commodity the past 6 months.

And they're awfully hard to eat.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:20 AM | Comments (3)

European Markets Down About 6% This Morning

Good thing we just dumped $700 billion in, ain't it?

ATLANTA (CNN) -- The major markets of Europe and Asia were sharply lower on Monday as traders looked past America's bank bailout bill and focused on Europe's growing financial crisis.

The most influential European markets -- London's FTSE 100, the CAC 40 in Paris and the XETRA DAX in Frankfurt -- were off about 3% to 6% in the first half of the trading day.

Russia's RTS index fared worse, pushing its losses into double-digit territory. A midday (5 a.m. ET), the index was down more than 12%. The index lost 9% of its value in the first 30 minutes of the trading day.

Trillions have been wiped out, and given how things are I expect the next few months will be worse. The US retail sector is going to get slaughtered; who's going to buy anything? These next few months are the most important ones for the economy, with so much centered on the Christmas shopping season. Are you going to spend a lot this year?

That's what I thought. Me neither.

Update: Looks like I'm not alone on this.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:12 AM | Comments (2)

October 05, 2008

Well, If It'll Take the Rust Off Your Car...

IV. Summary and Conclusion:

My conclusions were that Coke and Dr. Pepper dissolved the
most. I found out everything I wanted to know. I expected Coke
to dissolve the most and 7-Up to dissolve the least. I was
right.

...somehow, this isn't that surprising.

A researcher who figured out that Coke explodes sperm and scientists who discovered that people will happily eat stale chips if they crunch loudly enough won alternative "Ig Nobel" prizes Thursday.

Other winners included physicists who found out that anything that can tangle, will tangle and a team of biologists who ascertained that dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas.

...She said she was serious in testing the soft drink because women were using it in a douche as a contraceptive and, later, to try to protect themselves from the AIDS virus.

In THAT case, I'd like to buy the Third World a Coke!

HOLD THAT!!
Schmaybe not...

CHEMISTRY PRIZE. Sharee A. Umpierre of the University of Puerto Rico, Joseph A. Hill of The Fertility Centers of New England (USA), Deborah J. Anderson of Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School (USA), for discovering that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide, and to Chuang-Ye Hong of Taipei Medical University (Taiwan), C.C. Shieh, P. Wu, and B.N. Chiang (all of Taiwan) for discovering that it is not.

::sigh:: Who to believe anymore?

As always, the winners' list is seriously hilarious. The extensive research done on Bingley actually won a category!

REFERENCE: "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations," David Sims, Organization Studies, vol. 26, no. 11, 2005, pp. 1625-40.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: David Sims

God bless Mr. Sims. I can't imagine what he went, through considering the subject.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:19 PM | Comments (4)

Here We Go

WASHINGTON (AP) - By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

William Ayers: unrepentant domestic terrorist

Obama: Ayers associate on numerous projects, possibly dating back as far as 1985.

What's "unsubstantiated"? Maybe that word does not mean what the AP thinks it means.

Jake Tapper said the Obama camp would be premptively attacking, but he didn't say the Associated Press would do it for him.

Of course, it's not just them starting. The Atlantic attempted to put up an Obama defense...

In response to Gov. Sarah Palin's invocation of Barack Obama's "terrorist" "pal" William Ayers, Democrats have settled on a rhetorical response that inquires, innocently enough, whether Todd Palin's association with anti-American secessionists is fair game, especially in light of Palin's charge that Obama "is not a man who sees America as you and I do."

Todd Palin, a former member of the Alaska Independence Party, might well have seen America unlike his wife did -- that is, an America that one can secede from. He was comfortable belonging to and being associated with a political party whose founder seemed to delight in denouncing the principles that hold our union together.

Can somebody get Todd Palin's firebombing domestic terrorist mugshots for me? I couldn't find one.

Weird. I mean, that such an august entity is comparing the two. There HAS to be...something.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:56 AM | Comments (4)

I Haven't Heard It Put Quite That Way Before

...But YEE HAW!!!

...To wit: the Washington Post reports that Sen. John McCain's campaign -- convinced that the maverick thing alone isn't working -- is about to open up a can of whoop-ass on Obama with a focus on his personal associations.

May I also add, "And not a blanketyblankblankblank moment too soon."

...I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called “Panther 21,” members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of February 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car. (Today, of course, we’d call that a car bomb.) A neighbor heard the first two blasts and, with the remains of a snowman I had built a few days earlier, managed to douse the flames beneath the car. That was an act whose courage I fully appreciated only as an adult, an act that doubtless saved multiple lives that night.

Via Instapundit.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:23 AM

October 04, 2008

So. Seen Anything About Ike or Houston or Galveston on the News Lately?

Just askin'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:21 PM | Comments (6)

Nothing To See Here, Folks

Move right along

WASHINGTON — Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.

So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

..."C’mon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?" the aide told FOX News. "No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Frank’s political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxley’s wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCain’s wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nation’s housing and banking laws."

I guess this is who Frank took up with after his previous boyfriend got in trouble for running a prostitution ring out of his apartment.

His taste in men ranks up there with Anne Hathaway's.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:29 PM | Comments (11)

I Could Not Help Myself

I am weak, broken, with no will to resist.

For weeks the sounds have been running through my mind, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't drive them out.

So like a sinner before the gates of heaven I came crawling on back to you...

1977

My god, it's been that long. There was a house not far from us that played this album constantly, exceedingly loudly, with the windows open for, hell, it seemed like a solid 6 months when it first came out.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:29 PM | Comments (8)

October 03, 2008

'FlyTunes

'Fly gets in touch with his inner Piano Man...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:09 AM | Comments (1)

October 02, 2008

Margaret?

Bite me.

...This one should matter, given that the next president may be a 72-year-old, four-time cancer survivor who lately is behaving more like a cocky fighter pilot than captain of the ship of state. Palin could be president on Day Two, Three or Four, before she had time to learn on the job, if such learning is possible.

Palin with a prepared text on a large stage does fine. Without a script, not so fine. Expectations for her at the debate in St. Louis are at about curb level because of some rocky interviews. The press complains that John McCain's handlers have kept Palin in a cocoon when actually she's been spending every waking minute with Katie Couric, an inexplicable decision whose proponent may be looking for other work now.

...In case she bombs, the campaign has an excuse ready. Although the campaign signed off on PBS's Gwen Ifill well after it was known she has a book on race and the '08 campaign coming out in January, aides now contend that renders her a poor choice to moderate.

...Bush quietly made the elite more so by tending to their economic interests while playing up his love for Nascar Dads and barbecue. As long as you drop your g's, you can be way wealthier than Wal-Mart patrons (the Palins earn more than $200,000 a year) as long as you aspire to the same cultural class.

I'll betcha Sarah's happy to disappoint ya.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:51 PM | Comments (1)

AND...

I GET TO SEE HER TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:30 PM | Comments (2)

I'm Just Gonna Git Me A Brew...

And hang with some of my "Bosniac" homeboys.

'Cos Biden says they're cool.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:00 PM | Comments (2)

True Confessions: After Watching the Debate? ::sigh:: I ::giggle::

...have a girl crush.

::blush::

Sister :: hearts:: Sarah.

In a BIG way.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:45 PM | Comments (4)

Any Clue WHO This Search Term

...is referring to?

african american hair by iranian bob cute short

"Iranian Bob"?

I only know one Bob: kinda cute, sorta short, but Iraqi.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:06 PM | Comments (1)

Wowsers ~ Berg v. Obama aka WTF?

UPDATE: HOLD ON: I've noticed in the comments of other threads referencing this one that it's being debunked by this ObamaCrimes post:

ALERT: Contrary to Internet Rumor, No Court Ruling Yet On Obama / DNC Motion to Dismiss in Berg v. Obama

On Mr. Berg's behalf, I am posting this to state clearly the Court has not yet ruled on the Motion to Dismiss in Berg v. Obama.

Here's the status:

1. Last week Senator Obama and the Democratic National Committee filed a Motion to Dismiss the Berg v. Obama lawsuit.
2. On Monday, Mr. Berg filed an answer requesting that the suit not be dismissed and that the Court order production of documents proving Senator Obama's consitutional qualifications to serve as President of The United States.
3. As of 1 AM EST today, October 2nd, 2008, the Court has not ruled on the Motion for Dismissal in Berg v. Obama.

The PDF appears to be something called a "RESPONSE in Opposition", where a plaintiff's lawyer drafts something he wants a lawyer to sign. (Any lawyers in the house? Did I describe that correctly?) If so, let's lay to rest that the judge has ruled. He HAS NOT. However, my post stands as written concerning my reaction to the circumstances of Mr. Obama's life vis a vis citizenship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the initial complaint at the beginning, toodle on down to page 5 of the PDF. And read. I swear to God, your eyes will bug out of your head.

I SWEAR.

Not only was the dismissal denied, but Obama, by order of the court, has THREE DAYS to turn over the documents.

Wowsers...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:22 PM | Comments (12)

Hoist Them By Their Own Petards

Words of wisdom by our Masters

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see.

Read the link for more gems, and sleep soundly tonight knowing such foresight is working for you.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:23 AM

Que Horror!

McCain is sarcastic with a Reporter; modern era of peace and love ends

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, once renowned for his jocular sessions with journalists, appeared irritable and at times sarcastic in an interview in which he defended running mate Sarah Palin's experience and campaign ads critical of rival Barack Obama.

... When it was suggested that Palin's lack of experience worried voters, McCain turned sarcastic.

"Really? I haven't detected that in the polls, I haven't detected that among the base," he said. "If there's a Georgetown cocktail party person who, quote, calls himself a conservative who doesn't like her, good luck. I don't dismiss him. I think the American people have overwhelmingly shown their approval."

At another point, McCain was asked if he's strayed from his "straight talk" image with advertising that some have labeled deceptive. McCain dryly responded, "It would be valuable if you gave some examples for an assertion of that nature."

Harry Reid repeated his calls that McCain be given a "time out for his behavior." An aide later clarified that Reid was not in fact referring to any particular Senator when he spoke.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:05 AM | Comments (1)

October 01, 2008

Greta! Greta!

For asking this question and getting this response I swear never ever to make a catty comment about that horrible eye job you had again (h/t to Ace)

PRICELESS

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:03 PM | Comments (7)

The Harry Reid Follies

Wise leader Harry says

"We don't have a lot of leeway on time," Reid told reporters in the Capitol. "One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company -- a major insurance company -- one with a name that everyone knows that's on the verge of going bankrupt. That's what this is all about."

What he meant to say was

...later in the day Reid spokesman Jim Manley said the senator was speaking broadly and not referring to anything specific.

"Senator Reid is not personally aware of any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy," Manley wrote in an e-mail to ABCNews.com. "Rather, his comments were meant to refer to the conditions in the financial sector generally. He regrets any confusion his comments may have caused."

Amazing.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:44 PM | Comments (3)

We Watch "The News Hour" Every Evening

...anticipating the occasional blood pressure spike. But we know that. On last Monday's broadcast, they did the first of their candidate "leadership style" profiles: McCain. And it was pretty stunning, even by their standards. There were the obligatory GOP fellows who worked for and with McCain, natch. Quick enough, they switched to noted McCain supporter...um...Gary Hart.

GARY HART: I have hesitation, probably would have were John McCain a Democrat, about a personality in the Oval Office who is more impulsive and intuitive, if you will, than analytical and thoughtful.

Now, John McCain is not seat-of-the-pants. I'm not -- I don't want to give the impression that he just -- whatever he had for breakfast makes the decision of going to war.

It's not quite like that. But I think, again, on a scale, I'd prefer somebody who's a little more thoughtful, a little less impulsive, and a little more analytical.

Okay. Fair enough, I guess, to point out that people feel that way. Don't want to be thought of as "in the tank" for the Republican, now do we? But next there was this guy (only more rumpled and kicking back in his office at the time). ..

...and he's the "Oh, HELL no!" to in-the-tank.

His name's Norman Ornstein (worked with McCain on campaign finance) and this is what he had to say:

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, American Enterprise Institute: John McCain is a fighter pilot. A lot of his persona comes from being a fighter pilot.

This is a man who not only constantly questions authority, but is fond of making last-minute, from-the-gut, impulsive, risk-taking decisions, and believing to his bones that there may be a risk here, but it will pay off.

An impulsive decision-making style is fine if you're riding a jet. An impulsive decision-making style is fine if you're piloting a jet in combat. It's fine if you're a senator where the consequences are not going to be that long-lasting. It's a real question mark when you move into the presidency.

Hammer that message home, PBS. McCain's a finger-on-the-hair-trigger-whackdoodle.

Stunning.

Catch your breath and head for calmer waters. Like the Obama "leadership style" profile the very next day.

Confidence, Openness Mark Obama's Decision Making Style

Ah. Soothing is it not? I'd sense a trend if my brain wasn't filled with visions of children's choruses.

And now Authoress Ifill gets to moderate a debate? Oh, BLISS.

What election...?

UPDATE: Ace notes the commission's "What book?" confusion and links. A WARM Swill welcome to all, including those debonair VodkaPundit visitors. Thanks guys!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:06 AM | Comments (5)

It's Kind Of Telling

That one has to go to the UK to find an article like this about Joe Biden

Dominic Lawson: Why should anyone trust Joe Biden?

The Democrats' candidate for VP doesn't deserve to be called a sage

Tuesday, 30 September 2008

Joseph Robinette Biden – known to all as "Joe" – was once the most talked about American politician in Britain. Unfortunately for the senior Delaware Senator, all the talk was accompanied by incredulous laughter.

Read the rest for a convenient reminder of just how 'ready' and 'intelligent' and 'experienced' Joe is...and imagine how the US MSM would be screaming if Palin had done any of this stuff.

I forget where I read it, probably somewhere in the comments at Ace's, but I agree with the person who said that they really really hope that at some point in the debate tomorrow Sarah turns to Biden and says "That's a really good line, Joe; Neil Kinnock write that for you?"

Hehehehe.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:45 AM | Comments (2)