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March 31, 2009
I'm Shocked and Heartsick ~ HOW Did Bingley
...miss this?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:12 PM | Comments (5)
The Importance Of Knowing Ernest
Some may recall a few weeks ago where I vowed to subject myself to a Plonk-a-thon for you, Dear Readers, to see if there were some hidden gems to be found in the wilds of the box wine world. I know quite well the general box wines, those overly sweet, heavily perfumey tasting beasts marked with generic names like "white grenasty" or "killable red;" wines that quite frankly, while perfectly acceptable when heavily chilled and served over ice, make one feel that somehow they should be wrapped in a brown paper bag when consumed in a back alley somewhere and washed down with a chaser of Prestone. No, I wanted to see how bulk winemakers were handling some of the high-faluting grape varietals, so after some diligent research I found the following three examples of merlot:
Franzia
Almaden
and Peter Vella
I found out in the course of this arduous research that both Franzia and Almaden are owned by some mega vino behemoth named the Wine Group or "TWG", which also owns Corbett Canyon, Glen Ellen and many others, while Vella, whose family has long ties with Ernest and Julio Gallo, is part of the even larger E&J Gallo wine empire.
But on to the important stuff...
Each box holds 5 liters of wine, the equivalent of 6 2/3 bottles. I paid $14 for each box, so that means each 'normal' sized 750ml bottle cost $2.10.
$2.10
That, my friends, is change I can believe in.
Interestingly, each wine had a slightly different tap arrangement
The Franzia and the Almaden both used a 'screw' type tap, with the Franzia's being on top whilst the Almaden's was rotated 90º forward to the front. The Vella's was a spring-loaded push button dealio. They all worked fine for the pouring, but Almaden lost points when it slowly leaked precious wine out when I didn't take care to make sure it was totally closed...an easy thing to do when one is making one's way solo through 15 liters.
The wines all had a similar pleasant ruby color
and there were no offending aromas from the glasses; in fact, they smelled quite decent, so I lined up Murderer's Row
and settled in for a long
and arduous research period
I found that many times I had to re-visit samples many times
to ensure that my data was accurate. Some might call it an obsession, but I feel that you deserve my very best effort.
Pretty early on I have to say I had decided on third place. Least favorite was the Franzia. While it had a smooth mouth feel the wine exhibited some mildly unpleasant grapefruit notes and was noticeably more acidic than the others.
To me the Almaden and Vella wines were clearly superior to the Franzia, but in different ways. The Almaden had the most distinct merlot varietal flavor, with more pronounced cherry fruit and tannins giving it a more complex 'edginess' then you might expect; certainly this would be more at home in a bottle costing, say $8 than $2, while the Vella had a very smooth fullness to it. The fruit and tannins were there but in a more elegant, subdued fashion.
Ultimately I had to give top honors to the Vella. His years working with Ernest and Julio have paid off handsomely for us. It just...satisfied me more. I could easily just have the box on the counter and relax every evening with a glass or three whilst talking with my Bride and enjoying a meal; in fact, I did relax for many evenings with three boxes on the counter. A pleasant wine greatly enhances life, friends.
The really nice thing about these boxes is that the wine stays fresh, as no air gets in to spoil them. In these nervous times these wines are a great value. I really won't buy the Franzia again, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy either the Vella first or the Almaden second again.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:35 PM | Comments (16)
NEVER Was a NYT Opinion Piece More
...WRONG.
"...Puns are the feeblest species of humor..."
Miserable jerk needs to have his eyes opunned.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:11 PM | Comments (3)
Great News: China Can Sink Our Carriers!
But don't worry! The Most Experienced State Department Ever will talk them out of it
With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned.After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a "kill weapon" developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.
First posted on a Chinese blog viewed as credible by military analysts and then translated by the naval affairs blog Information Dissemination, a recent report provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km.
The range of the modified Dong Feng 21 missile is significant in that it covers the areas that are likely hot zones for future confrontations between U.S. and Chinese surface forces.
The size of the missile enables it to carry a warhead big enough to inflict significant damage on a large vessel, providing the Chinese the capability of destroying a U.S. supercarrier in one strike.
Because the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.
Needless to say, the Navy is not amused.
As analyst Raymond Pritchett notes in a post on the U.S. Naval Institute blog:"The Navy's reaction is telling, because it essentially equals a radical change in direction based on information that has created a panic inside the bubble. For a major military service to panic due to a new weapon system, clearly a mission kill weapon system, either suggests the threat is legitimate or the leadership of the Navy is legitimately unqualified. There really aren't many gray spaces in evaluating the reaction by the Navy…the data tends to support the legitimacy of the threat."
But surely the Chinese know better than to butt heads with The Unicorn?
Gosh, it's so comforting having the world loving us again.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:03 PM | Comments (4)
Steppin' Out, With My Wahoos
Well, at the very least the halftime entertainment should be better: UVA hires Tony Bennett as new basketball coach
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Washington State coach Tony Bennett, who led the Cougars into the postseason in each of his three years at the school, has been hired to revive a Virginia basketball program that just posted its worst record in more than 40 years.
And so when wise men say to me
That love's young dreams never come true
To prove that even wise men can be wrong
I concentrate on man-to-man defense and taking the open 3...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:45 AM | Comments (2)
You Can't Get Much More "Out Of State"...
...than by being an illegal immigrant, for god's sake. But Dear Governor Corzine never let a simple fact like that stand in the way of "doing something for the children"
JERSEY CITY — A state panel on immigrant policy released recommendations Monday that include in-state tuition eligibility and driving privileges for illegal immigrants, as well as the creation of a commission on New Americans.Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who convened the Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy last August, said Monday he agrees that illegal immigrants, especially those brought to the U.S. as children and attending local schools, should be able to pay in-state tuition at the state's public colleges.
First off, they are not "New Americans" but illegal immigrants, which is a very hurtful phrase that means, um, "criminal." Why should they be "entitled" to privileges that hard working and tax paying residents, both native born and legal immigrants, have been paying for all these years? Someone who hops off a container ship in Perth Amboy gets reduced tuition at Rutgers but the child of a serviceman born and raised in Iowa has to pay full fare? What kind of crap is that? Demo-crap, that's what kind.
We are broke, he is taxing the middle class out of existence, yet he wants to in effect increase government spending and create a whole new class of entitlements.
The report recommends several ways to make the delivery of federally mandated social services more culturally relevant, as well as improve conditions for immigrants in education, health and the labor force, among other areas.Corzine said he'll push lawmakers to approve the creation of the state commission on immigrant issues, although funding for new programs is expected to be scarce in the current economic climate. If approved, New Jersey would become one of the few states with a government entity dedicated to immigrant affairs.
The governor also is urging a re-examination of an immigration directive from the New Jersey Attorney General ordering police to notify immigration authorities when they arrest someone suspected of being an illegal immigrant. He's also backing moratorium on federal immigration raids in the state, which he says often tear mixed-status families apart.
There's a scary phrase: "ways to make the delivery of federally mandated social services more culturally relevant." No, no, and a thousand times no. The government should not give a rat's ass about how things are "culturally" done amongst other, er, cultures, but only how we do things in a fair, western legal fashion. In other words: women are fully equal to men, we eat pigs and we love dogs. If you've got a problem with any of that, tough.
Not surprisingly, Lawhawk was on this last night.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:54 AM | Comments (5)
March 30, 2009
Oh Cry Me A River
This headline makes me want to barf
Aging Manson 'Family' members long for freedom(CNN) -- Susan Atkins is terminally ill; Charles "Tex" Watson is an ordained minister. They and other members of Charles Manson's murderous "family" now shun him.
After three decades behind bars, Manson family members Atkins, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten have repeatedly been described as model prisoners who have accepted responsibility for their crimes.
... By her own admission, Atkins held Tate down as she pleaded for mercy, and stabbed the eight-months-pregnant woman 16 times. In a 1993 parole board hearing, Atkins said Tate "asked me to let her baby live ... I told her I didn't have any mercy on her."
After stabbing Tate to death, according to historical accounts of the murders, Atkins scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home Tate shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski, who was not home at the time. Three of Tate's house guests were also slain, as was a teenager who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage out back.
Sharon Tate and her child 'long' for life, you scumbags.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:58 PM | Comments (9)
"T'anks a Lot"
...is no longer just for expressing gratitude.
GM CEO forced out; stocks likely to plunge
Since January 20th, it's more of a "result".
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:12 AM | Comments (2)
While We Carpool And Take The Bus To Work
To save money and such, our Dear Leader is going to London...with Five Hundred People
Britain will get its first chance to see Barack Obama this week when a White House cavalcade - complete with armoured limousines, helicopters, 200 US secret service staff and a six-doctor medical team - sweeps into the UK.Obama will fly into London for his first visit to the UK as president of the United States on Tuesday to take part in the G20 summit in the capital's Docklands area. He will not be travelling light.
More than 500 officials and staff will accompany the president on his tour this week - along with a mass of high-tech security equipment, including the $300,000 presidential limousine, known as The Beast. Fitted with night-vision camera, reinforced steel plating, tear- gas cannon and oxygen tanks, the vehicle is the ultimate in heavy armoured transport.
In addition, a team from the White House kitchen will travel with the president to prepare his food. As one official put it: "When the president travels, the White House travels with him, right down to the car he drives, the water he drinks, the gasoline he uses, the food he eats. America is still the sole superpower and the president must have the ability to handle any crisis, anywhere, any time."
That's one hell of a carbon footprint; hell, it's a full-fledged carbon body slam.
Look, I know he's the President and all that and needs to be protected yadayadayada...but 500 friggin' people?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:30 AM | Comments (11)
March 29, 2009
While I Wish He Had Thought to Ask
...for UAW President Ron Gettelfinger's resignation while he was cleaning house, I really don't think Wagoner was the problem. Has this ever happened?
GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest...The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.
My first response would have been "bite me". But then Barney Frank would be after whatever pittance I'd received as compensation and, considering Wagoner was only making $1 salary in 2009, he probably DID say something.
Like, "Blow me. 
And you can keep the dollar."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:37 PM | Comments (6)
March 27, 2009
It Ain't Rocket Science
"PJTV is looking for the best method or tool..."I gotcher
Frodo: We scare him off, we're lost!
Sam: I don't care! I can't do it, Mr. Frodo! I won't wait around for him to kill us!
Frodo: I'm not sending him away!
Sam: You don't see it, do you? He's a villain.
Frodo: We can't do this by ourselves, Sam. Not without a guide. I need you on my side.
Sam: I'm on your side, Mr. Frodo.
Frodo: I know, Sam. I know.Trust me.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:27 AM | Comments (3)
March 26, 2009
Why Wasn't The Charge "Prostitution"?
I'm sure he had to put a couple of bucks worth of quarters in to pay for this, um, "service"
SAGINAW, Mich. — A man police caught performing a sex act with a car wash vacuum has been sentenced to 90 days in prison.Jason Leroy Savage must also submit to drug testing.
I'm going to be very nervous the next time I order "full service"...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:16 PM | Comments (9)
Something Is Very Rotten In Oakland
How else to account for this
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - As the city prepares for a massive public funeral for four police officers slain in the line of duty, dozens took to the streets in a show of support for the man authorities say was their killer.Organized by International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, the march Wednesday evening took participants near a police substation within sight of the two locations where Lovelle Mixon allegedly shot the veteran officers before being slain himself.
Loved ones and supporters walked through the streets chanting, "OPD you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!" There were no officers patrolling the march route.
"I don't condone what he did, but it's bringing to light the frustrations between the community and the police," said Uhuru Movement member Kihad Deen. "This gives people a chance to speak their minds."
Mixon's cousin, Dolores Darnell, 26, addressed the small crowd, calling him "a true hero, a soldier."
"This is the real Lovelle," she said, holding a picture of a smiling Mixon with his wife. "We do apologize for what he did to the officers' families. But he's not a monster."
Well, he's certainly not a monster anymore
Authorities say a day before the shooting the 26-year-old fugitive parolee was linked by DNA to the February rape of a 12-year-old girl who was dragged off the street at gunpoint.
One thing I don't get is the use of the word "allegedly." It's not like there's going to be a trial and therefore a need for presumption of innocence; the bastard is dead and there doesn't seem to be any doubt that he killed at least the first two motorcycle cops, right? Heck, even his "supporters" admit he killed them. And they "do apologize for" it.
And what the heck is this "International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement?"
A recent meeting of the Intergalactic People's Democratic Uhuru Movement
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:02 AM | Comments (8)
March 25, 2009
The Law
...and unintended consequences.
FedEx threatens to cancel Boeing jet orders: reportFedEx Corp is threatening to cancel the purchase of billions of dollars worth of new Boeing Co cargo planes if Congress passes a law that would make it easier for unions to organize at the package-delivery company, the Wall Street Journal said.
...FedEx's actions raise the stakes in an increasingly bitter battle involving chief rival, United Parcel Service Inc, and the Teamsters union, which has been trying for years to organize at FedEx, the Journal said.
"Look for the union label".
Or will it be "libel"?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:34 AM | Comments (12)
Sometimes, Reading a Newspaper
The Huntsville Housing Authority buys an apartment complex in southwest Huntsville, and that move has a lot of people fired up about it.Folks in the neighborhood said they just found out about over the weekend while reading the newspaper.
...Many said they're angry that they were not notified about this until the deal was already made to purchase Stone Manor Apartments.
Paige Rucker, the spokesperson for the Housing Authority faced a meteor shower of questions.
She says that the Housing Authority could not say anything to anyone about it, not even the residents at Stone Manor Apartments until the authority purchased the apartment complex.
Rucker said the owner of the property at the time, decided not to notify the residents about the sale.
Odd how NO ONE could tell NOBODY, isn't it?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:53 AM | Comments (1)
Scots Wha Hae...
wi' Wallace shaved
A razor believed to have been owned by poet Robert Burns is expected to fetch £1,000 at auction in Edinburgh.Auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull said it came with documentation stating that it was once owned by the "bard himself".
Burns is said to have left the razor at a friend's house in Irvine, Ayrshire. An old note lists its subsequent owners.
"The best stropped razors o' mice an' men/Gang aft astray."
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:58 AM | Comments (3)
Politicians: Why Not Bail Out Newspapers?
Hey, they've always been there to bail out certain politicians
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks."This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," said Senator Benjamin Cardin.
It seems to me the reason they are "struggling" is because they have already in fact become "non-profits." We have an old joke in my office: "we're a non-profit corporation; we didn't intend to be..."
If you are losing money because people aren't buying your product, well, either you change or go under; don't expect to be transformed into some quasi-governmental agency. This is crap.
A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.
Ooh, there's a shocker. Expect lots of investigative stories about government corruption now.
Not.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:21 AM | Comments (4)
March 24, 2009
You Think You're Living A Cursed Life?
You, my friend, are a rank amateur compared to Tsutomu Yamaguchi
TOKYO — A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person certified as a survivor of both U.S. atomic bombings at the end of World War II, officials said Tuesday.Tsutomu Yamaguchi had already been a certified "hibakusha," or radiation survivor, of the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing in Nagasaki, but has now been confirmed as surviving the attack on Hiroshima three days earlier as well, city officials said.
Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city. He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki just in time for the second attack, city officials said.
How does one say "Book of Job" in Japanese?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:17 AM | Comments (11)
If I Were An AIG "Executive"...
I'd tell Congress to get stuffed
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Executives at American International Group have started giving back their bonus cash in full, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.On a conference call with reporters Monday, Cuomo said that of the top 20 executives who received the biggest bonuses, 15 have given them back in full. The amount returned so far is about $50 million. Of the top 10 highest earners, 9 have returned their bonuses.
According to Cuomo, the investigation into the distribution of the bonus cash continues. "I am trying to get the money back because I believe that is what the American people deserve," said Cuomo.
"I am hopeful that more AIG employees will heed the example set by their colleagues and pay the money back," said Cuomo.
To those bonus earners who have returned the bonus cash, the attorney general said they have "done the right thing."
...Cuomo said that the Attorney General was going through the executives and calling them one by one, in collaboration with AIG.
Cuomo also said that for those AIG executives who returned the bonus cash, there was no "public interest" in making his or her name public.
This is mob rule and Darkness At Noon-esque legal intimidation and thuggery is disgusting. Whatever the faults in business acumen these folks have displayed, and clearly these are legion, they have a contract and it was created before any of these bailouts were ever even thought of. Noted tax cheat Geithner and his crack staff of 2 geriatric hamsters and an arthritic python were fully aware that these contracts existed, or they should have been, had they exercised anything approaching due diligence in the discharge of their duties. This is after-the-fact ass covering and a political ruse to distract the Public's attention from the mind bogglingly insane amount of money The One, Congress and noted tax cheat Geithner are flushing away here.
Here's an idea. If "getting the (taxpayer's) money back is what the American People deserve" when it is paid as salary who performed very poorly in their jobs, an idea which sounds all stirry and patriotic and lump-in-the-throat inducing I freely admit, I hereby demand that every Member of Congress be required/shamed/humiliated a la the AIG folks to give back every penny they've been paid for the past 20+ years.
Let's hold them to the same standard.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:00 AM | Comments (15)
March 23, 2009
In A Related Story...
Boy do I want to emulate this guy.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:47 AM | Comments (4)
Hardee Har Har
Yep, you keep yucking it up as you're mucking it up
President Barack Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, which could touch off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.”His remarks came in a“60 Minutes” interview in which he was pressed by Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy.
“You're sitting here. And you're— you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about money—’ How do you deal with— I mean: explain. . .” Kroft asked at one point.
“Are you punch-drunk?” Kroft said.
“No, no. There's gotta be a little gallows humor to get you through the day,” Obama said, with a laugh.
Can this guy go one frickin' day, just one, with out appearing on some talk show?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:42 AM | Comments (10)
March 20, 2009
Talk About Depression
Fluke? Credit crisis was a heistIt was no accident.
The folks in power in Washington and on Wall Street want to pretend that the current global financial crisis -- you know, the one that reduced household net worth in the United States by $11.2 trillion in 2008, according to the Federal Reserve -- was an accident caused by some unfortunate confluence of greed and asleep-at-the-switch regulators.
What we're now living through, though, is the result of a conscious, planned looting of the world economy. Its roots stretch back decades. And it wouldn't have been possible without the contrivances of the bought-and-paid-for folks who sit in Congress.
Of course, just because the plan blew up on the looters, taking off a financial finger here and a portfolio hand there, you shouldn't have any illusion that they've retired. In fact, in the "solutions" now being proposed -- by Congress -- to fix the global and U.S. financial systems, you can see the looters at work as hard as ever.
Well, I'm depressed.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:39 AM | Comments (6)
You Have to Ask Yourself
With all the success we've had lately utilizing native languages to impress our allies, do we REALLY want Hillary's Babelfishers at State attempting Farsi captions to impress the Iranians?
President Barack Obama told Iran's people and leaders that the United States wants to engage with their country and end decades of strained relationship, but not unless their officials stop making threats.Obama on Friday released a video message with Farsi subtitles that urged the two countries to resolve their long-standing differences. His video was timed to the festival of Nowruz, which means "new day." It marks the arrival of spring and is a major holiday in Iran.
What Obama thinks he said:
What the Farsi translates to:
UPDATE: HotAIr has the video.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:22 AM | Comments (5)
Most Gifted Orator Ever
He just continues to impress, doesn't he?
Sigh. One almost gets tired of saying it, but one must say it, still: Can you IMAGINE what the press and the Dems would do with that, had Bush said it. Can you IMAGINE what the press and the Dems would have done with the Irish PM Teleprompter gaffe (the press has helpfully embargoed the video, so Obama doesn’t have to see it playing 24/7, as Bush would have - had Bush so gaffed). Can you IMAGINE what the press and the Dems would have done if Bush had given the Prime Minister of Great Britain a lousy pack of 50 “Classic” DVD’s that didn’t work in the UK?
Go read the Anchoress for the current (but ever growing, it seems) list of horrorsgaffs examples of this Administrations sheer intellectual and cultural brilliance.
As I think someone at Ace's said first:
"Boy, we really dodged a bullet with that Palin chick, didn't we?"
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:22 AM | Comments (2)
Talk About Appropriately Named!
TULSA, Okla. — One of the most deadly spiders in the world has been found in the produce section of a Tulsa grocery store. An employee of Whole Foods Market found the Brazilian Wandering Spider Sunday in bananas from Honduras and managed to catch it in a container.That teeny tiny passport of his has to be quite a read, but, if I were him, I'd be worried about the next "stamp".
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:15 AM | Comments (8)
March 19, 2009
Holder: Antitrust Aid OK For Newspapers
My, this is brilliant
WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday preserving a healthy newspaper industry was important and he was open to adjusting antitrust policy if it could help."I'd like to think 20, 30, 40 years from now people will still be reading the newspaper," Holder told reporters.
He was responding to a call by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging the Justice Department to give newspapers more leeway to merge or combine operations.
The industry is reeling from declining circulation, economic recession and a shift in advertising and reader attention to online media. Venerable newspapers have closed or -- such as the Hearst Corp's Seattle Post-Intelligencer this week -- gone to Internet-only editions with reduced staff.
It seems to me the problem that has led to the newspaper's decline is indeed anti-trust: people don't trust the papers. So they don't buy their product.
And Holder's suggestion that the government let them get even bigger is foolish. Yes, let's allow and encourage money-losing operations to get even bigger and lose even more money, maybe to the point where they're "too big to fail."
That worked so well for Fannie Mae and AIG.
That's one way for the Left to get it's "Fairness Doctrine": nationalize the media.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:46 AM | Comments (9)
Country Mouse, City Mouse
Carl Hiassen exposes the Sunshine State's livestock and legislative underbelly, in all its darkness.
Sometimes it's not easy to admit that you live in Florida.Last week, our state Senate boldly took the first step toward making it illegal for a person to have intimate relations with an animal.
Although such a law might thin the dating pool in certain counties, it should ultimately serve to protect household pets and domestic livestock, which evidently are at far greater risk than most of us had imagined.
The cry for justice first arose from the small Panhandle community of Mossy Head, where in 2006 a 48-year-old man was suspected of abducting a neighbor family's pet goat and accidentally strangling it with its collar during a sex act.
I wish I were making this up, but the story is true. The poor goat's name was Meg.
...More unwanted publicity came to Mossy Head when a local entrepreneur began selling T-shirts that said,''Baaa Means No!''...Shortly after the fatal encounter with Meg, the same man was arrested while trying to sneak off with another goat. This time he was sentenced to 364 days for theft.
...As Rich's bill was being amended to make sure that some common animal-husbandry practices were exempt, Sen. Larcenia Bullard of Miami spoke up in puzzlement.
''People are taking these animals as their husbands? What's husbandry?''
(I fully expect she'll ask about "violins on TV" eventually.) In the comments:
"All of us are being screwed by the donkey, now that Obama is in."
Perspective is everything.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:42 AM | Comments (11)
"Honestly? I Lied"
This Dodd is some piece of work. I love how he's twisting in the wind. And give CNN some credit for nailing his ass
(CNN) -- Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN Wednesday that he was responsible for language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored.Dodd acknowledged his role in the change after a Treasury Department official told CNN the administration pushed for the language.
Both Dodd and the official, who asked not to be named, said it was because administration officials were afraid the government would face numerous lawsuits without the new language.
Dodd, a Democrat, told CNN's Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer that Obama administration officials pushed for the language to an amendment designed to limit bonuses and "golden parachutes" at those companies.
"The administration had expressed reservations," Dodd said. "They asked for modifications. The alternative was losing the amendment entirely."
On Tuesday, Dodd denied to CNN that he had anything to do with adding the language, which has been used by officials at bailed-out insurance giant AIG to justify paying millions of dollars in bonuses to executives after receiving federal money.
So he goes from saying "I did not do it" to saying "They made me do it!" in one day.
And now he's using the Flip Wilson Defense:
"Obama made me do it!"
Oh yes, Obama, the One who promised us to hit the ground running, to be the most readiest, most smartiest, most teleprompterist evuh, well right after Dodd issues his Obama-culpa President Obama says
(CNN) -- President Obama said Wednesday he'll "take responsibility" for AIG executives receiving controversial bonuses while the company took $173 billion in government bailouts."We didn't draft these contracts. We've got a lot on our plate. But it is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure stuff doesn't happen like this," Obama told a town hall meeting in Costa Mesa, California.
Yes, yes, who could have possibly predicted that someone who had never held any sort of executive position might be somewhat overwhelmed by the Presidency? Yes, you do have a lot on your plate, Mr. President. Poor bubsie.
Like choosing an appropriate gift for visiting heads of state.
Like filling out your NCAA bracket.
Like attending a town hall meeting in Costa Mesa.
Like choosing someone to help out noted tax cheat Geithner with all that hard math at Treasury.
Here's a bold suggestion. How about requiring Members of Congress to actually read all legislation before they are allowed to vote on it?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:00 AM | Comments (4)
March 18, 2009
Out Of Thin Air
As feared, this is how Obama and noted tax cheat Geithner will "solve" the budget mess
WASHINGTON: Saying that the recession continues to deepen, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the economy by buying mortgage-backed securities and long-term Treasury issues."Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending," the Fed said, adding that it would "employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability."
As expected, the Fed kept its benchmark interest rate virtually at zero. But in a surprise, it drastically increased the amount of money it will create out of thin air to thaw out the still-frozen credit markets that have cramped lending to consumers and businesses alike.
Just print more money.
That worked so well in Weimar Germany and Argentina.
The dollar goes totally in the toilet.
We get screwed.
Change you can believe in.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:45 PM | Comments (3)
Jet Blue Schools CEO's in 3 Easy ~ and Confidential ~ Lessons
"Jet Blue can get you to many cities where you own homes or hide money."
"There you have it! Easier than writing off a toxic asset!"Lesson 2
"Well, it's a brave new world out there..."
Lesson 3
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:33 PM | Comments (3)
Oh, Yeah. He Needs to Be on Leno
...like AIG needs bonus cash. I do take issue with this line of thinking...
...Critics accused him of dumbing down the presidency and of blurring the line between politics and entertainment.
That's already a done deal.
Try staying home and reading a bill, or all those sticky notes you get from Geithner, yo.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:19 PM | Comments (6)
If We Lose CNN...
Remember just a few short months ago how all the media were agog about the wonders of "The First 100 Days" of the Age of Obama? CNN had a big splashy fawning banner "Obama: The First 100 Days" with the benevolently smiling photo of The One prominently displayed on their main page.
But here we are barely 60 days into our National Renaissance and that's down the memory hole, squirreled as a smallish button on their "Politics" page.
Curious, no?
"If we lose CNN we've lost the war..."
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:32 PM | Comments (3)
WHAT in the SAM HELL?
...Obama was informed of the bonuses on March 12, before they were paid. After the funds were disbursed, the president ordered his economic and legal teams to determine if there was a way to recoup the money, according to the aide.(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
So why are we beating up Frodo Geithner for "not doing something"? He TOLD the boss in time. And, if Obama KNEW days before, why didn’t our Action Jackson Crisis Opportunity President…ACT ?!?
(In 6 months, will anyone even ADMIT to voting for this f*cking incompetent, clueless POS?)
We're doomed.
UPDATE: Via Instapundit, this story with some Gibbsian tap dancing:
...Gibbs was peppered with questions at his daily briefings Monday and Tuesday on why the administration didn't act earlier -- like when it was offering another $30 billion to the company in early March.Gibbs said Monday, "Based on what I read in the newspaper," the administration learned about the bonuses last week. He declined to offer a timeline on Tuesday.
Oh, I'll BET he declined! Because he probably found out Monday night that the PRESIDENT had known about it as well!
"WHAT did he KNOW, and WHEN did he KNOW it" ring a bell?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:35 AM | Comments (7)
The AP Should Read The Swilling
If they did they could have published this yesterday
WASHINGTON – If not distancing itself from Treasury Secretary and noted tax cheat Timothy Geithner, the White House is placing firmly on his shoulders responsibility for how the government handled the $165 million in bonuses paid to about 400 executives and traders at American International Group Inc....Then he volunteered the answer to a question being asked all over Washington: Did noted tax cheat Geithner still enjoy President Barack Obama's confidence, given the whopping bonuses the failed insurance giant paid Friday after receiving taxpayer bailout money?
"The president has complete confidence" in noted tax cheat Geithner, Gibbs said.
Is Obama satisfied that noted tax cheat Geithner informed him of the impending bonus payments in a timely fashion?
"Yes, the president is satisfied," Gibbs replied.
Those, of course, are statements that wouldn't need to be made if noted tax cheat Geithner's status were clear. Not just a president's confidence, but his "complete confidence" can be a well-worn political signal that the person allegedly enjoying it should start circulating a resume.
Update: Maybe this is how the AP found us. Hehehe.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:40 AM | Comments (2)
The NewsHour Had Some Fireworks Last Night
It was vastly entertaining.
...RAY SUAREZ: Well, Robert Kuttner, earlier today, the CEO of AIG, when asked that same question, said, "We can't attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the company if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued review by the U.S. Treasury."
ROBERT KUTTNER: Yes, can you imagine that? I mean, the U.S. Treasury, by the way -- which is to say, the U.S. taxpayers -- owns 80 percent of the company. So it might as well start behaving like an owner.And "the best and the brightest"? "The best and the brightest"? These are the worst and the dumbest.These are the people who took down the whole economy.So as far as I'm concerned, these 300 people in this unit in London that lost tens of billions of dollars that they now want the U.S. taxpayer to make up, far from getting bonuses, they should be sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff.
And if the Obama administration doesn't realize that the average American feels that way, then he's going to get on the wrong side of a populist backlash.
And the Republicans, who are ordinarily a lot closer to Wall Street, are going to eat his lunch.
I can't stop smiling.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:47 AM | Comments (2)
You Know, When I Saw This Article...
...My first thought was of that squirrel from the Bridgestone Tire commercial
Bat Boy's last moments
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- A bat that apparently had trouble flying instead tried to hitch a ride on the space shuttle Discovery, NASA officials said.The free tail bat was last seen clinging to the space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank just before launch.
The rodent was last seen clinging on the foam of the external tank of the space shuttle moments before the Discovery launched, officials said.
NASA officials had hoped the bat would fly away on its own, but admitted the bat probably died quickly during Discovery's climb into orbit.
I'm sure PETA will start a campaign to get NASA to protect bats...
Update: Sigh. The problem with having a co-blogger and not checking the other entries before hitting post...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:05 AM | Comments (7)
Hard Times
...couldn't happen to a nicer group of folks.
Iran is being forced to divert funds from other sectors of its national budget to support its oil industry — its main revenue source — because of the low price of crude, the nation's oil minister said Thursday.Oil production is the main source of Iran's income, and Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari's comments revealed an extra burden on the country ahead of key elections in which popular dissatisfaction with falling living standards is expected to play a large role.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:31 AM
It's Called "Class"
Something that is sorely lacking in the new inhabitants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Former President George W. Bush says he won't criticize President Barack Obama because Obama "deserves my silence," and says he plans to write a book about the 12 toughest decisions he made in office. Bush's speech Tuesday at a luncheon in Calgary, Alberta was his first since leaving office.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:47 AM | Comments (2)
March 17, 2009
I ::HEART:: Me Some Tapper
The man can ask some questions...
...TAPPER: Well, I guess, just the question I have is, if you said that you have confidence -- the president has confidence in Secretary Geithner. Are you confident that the oversight process is working, if these bonuses had been -- the Treasury Department had known about these bonuses since September -- Secretary Geithner didn't act on it until last week?
GIBBS: Well, again, I don't -- let me make sure -- I mean, obviously, you and I understand this, but let's make sure everybody understands that there was a change in administration between September of 2008 and what we're talking about even at some point last week.
TAPPER: OK, right. That's what I'm saying.But clearly somebody dropped the ball.Somebody didn't tell Secretary Geithner about this or Secretary...
Oh, man ~ reading it? He eats Gibbs for a fatty snack. There IS a video attached to Jake's post, but I couldn't watch. It's like knowing the crocodile's gonna bite the wildebeest at the water's edge when he stops to take a sip. I always turn away.
Tapper's been doing a whale of a job for a long time. Normally I would wonder how long before ABC's "1000%" behind him, but World News has been a place for mostly honest news as well. (Witness their series on the changes in Iraq all this week.)
There's hope. How refreshing.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:39 PM | Comments (2)
Hmmmm
Schmaybe someone in Washington's taking notice of the general drift of sentiment regarding the wonderful disabled vets insurance plan they're hatching. Coming in from our trackback at HotAir and sticking around for a couple pageviews:
Domain Name house.gov ? (U.S. Government)Sure wish I'd sworn more.
IP Address 143.231.249.# (Information Systems, U.S. House of Representatives)
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:09 PM | Comments (2)
Noted Tax Cheat Geithner...
...is toast
President Barack Obama has "complete confidence" in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and any suggestion he bungled over the AIG bonuses storm is "unfair" the White House said Tuesday.
He's gone in a week.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:07 PM | Comments (7)
I Was For Bonuses Before I Was Against Them
...or, at least until folks found out about it
Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9629, 0.1828, 23.43%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009,” which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law.
Oh, and did I mention
Also, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org.
You can't make this stuff up.
But they can make you pay for it.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:17 PM | Comments (4)
Later Leitao
Because the 'Hoos were sooper schtinky this year
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Dave Leitao has resigned as Virginia's men's basketball coach after the team's worst season in decades, according to an athletic department official familiar with the decision.The person requested anonymity because the official announcement was to be made later Monday.
Virginia finished 10-18 this season, 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was the Cavaliers' worst record since they went 9-17 in 1967-68.
Wahoo Blah doesn't cut it.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:28 AM
Here's a Little Song I Wrote
You might want to sing it note for note( Should we be worried about Goldman Sachs?)
Don't worry, be happy.(But...but..."Increasingly, it looks like an AIG collapse might have cripped or -- worse -- killed Goldman Sachs. And that might have ended the global financial system right then and there"!?!?!)
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:33 AM | Comments (4)
An Emergency Technique to Help Survive St. Paddy's Day
We are nothing if not prepared.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:59 AM | Comments (10)
Finally, A Senate Plan I Can Agree With
Here's some legislation that should be 'fast tracked'
In an interview with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT-AM today, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said executives of AIG should consider following what he described of the Japanese model of shamed corporate executives: apology or suicide...."I suggest, you know, obviously maybe they ought to be removed, but I would suggest that the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them [is] if they would follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide."
Grassley added, "In the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology."
Of course, I would also not mind if many of our Congressional Members followed this example.
But that would require they have honor.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:58 AM | Comments (2)
However Much I Try to Stay Optimistic
...the Obama team seems hell bent to remind me that it's really amateur hour, with the most self absorbed, self indulgent, pissiest little monsters in the neighborhood on stage. The smirky beasts whose mere appearance makes your palm itch, because you just want to smack the crap out of them.
White House Ridicules Cheney After Criticism
..."Well, I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy," Gibbs said to laughter during his daily briefing with reporters. "So they trotted out the next most popular member of the Republican cabal."
The Bush White House was unfailingly...mum in deference to former Presidents/Vice-Presidents running their jibs (For example...) ~ a combination of respect for the office (which shouldn't be part of a new administration's learning curve) and natural class (which, obviously, can't be learned). The Obama Administration's response to anything seems entirely built on...
"I know you are, but what am I?"
...rather than a solid course of action coupled with a "sticks and stones may break my bones...etc." attitude.
You know. Like "adults" would.
We're doomed.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:29 AM
Some Dems Starting To Chafe At "Crisis Legislating"?
Perhaps. I don't want to get too hopeful, but maybe a few of these goddamnedincompetentidiots very busy Legislators might actually start reading the bills before they pass them?
WASHINGTON -- Eight Senate Democrats are opposing speedy action on President Barack Obama's bill to combat global warming, complicating prospects for the legislation and creating problems for their party's leaders.The eight Democrats disapprove of using the annual budget debate to pass Obama's "cap and trade" bill to fight greenhouse gas emissions, a measure that divides lawmakers, environmentalists and businesses. The lawmakers' opposition makes it more difficult for Democratic leaders to move the bill without a threat of a Republican filibuster.
The budget debate is the only way to circumvent Senate rules that allow a unified GOP to stop a bill through filibusters.
"Enactment of a cap-and-trade regime is likely to influence nearly every feature of the U.S. economy," wrote the Democratic senators, mostly moderates. They were joined by 25 Republicans. "Legislation so far-reaching should be fully vetted and given appropriate time for debate."
This cap-and-trade horse dung will only screw our economy more and drive more jobs overseas.
Of course, since no one here will be able to actually afford anything, anyway, it might not matter.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:28 AM
Erin Go Brothel!
Happy St. Pats!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:18 AM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2009
Only Half as Much of the Project Done?
Like the song used to say: "Look for the Union label."
State governments that contract jobs paid for with stimulus money will be required to pay workers on construction projects union wages rather than market rates -- good news for workers but good news for not as many of them....Los Angeles County officials who received $8 million in Community Development Block Grant money to weatherize homes for low-income people said they typically bid the job low and pay about $15 an hour for a worker to caulk windows. However, under union scale, that job pays $25 an hour and $5 in benefits, so instead of repairing 100 homes, they might do 50 homes for the same price.
Elsewhere, the union wage for a plumber in Long Island is $45 an hour, the market rate is $30. In Las Vegas, the Davis-Bacon wage for a glass worker is $57 an hour, a job the Nevada State Housing division currently pays $15 to do.
...In the past, cities and states got around the Davis-Bacon provision by diluting federal money with local cash, but with the stimulus, that's not allowed. One think tank estimates that with about $200 billion in the stimulus set for construction projects, Davis-Bacon raises costs by about $17 billion.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:37 PM | Comments (1)
What's Thong With New Jersey?
Well, here's one good example
TRENTON, NJ - Things could get hairy in New Jersey this summer for women who sport revealing bikinis or a little bit less.The painful Brazilian wax and its intimate derivatives are in danger of being stripped from salon and spa menus if a recent proposal to ban genital waxing is passed by the state's Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling.
...New Jersey statutes allow waxing of the face, neck, arms, legs and abdomen, but officials say that genital waxing has always been illegal, although not spelled out.
While I'm really not in the demographic that might partake of these services I fail to see where it is in any way the State's duty to intervene in this. If you find it painful then simply don't get it done.
It's amazing that the Party that screams long and loud about "keeping the Government out of the bedroom" wants to get the Government into your shorts.
Well, I guess it's not so surprising.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:41 AM | Comments (8)
March 14, 2009
I'm Anti-Depressed!
In the spirit of Sis' post below, last night for dinner I decided to make a "fattie" to en-cheer my beloved family
A "fattie," Dear Friends, is a 1lb log of breakfast sausage that is smoked at 250º or so until its internal temperature reaches about 170º
I made a basic fattie: just took the sausage and coated it with my favorite BBQ dry rub.
The more advanced students of Fattieology roll the sausage out and put cheese, onions, peppers, etc, inside and roll that bad boy back up and carefully seal the seams to keep all that tasty goodness inside before bbqing it.
Dang-nabbit it was tasty.
and salty.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:38 AM | Comments (8)
March 13, 2009
No Shit, Sherlock
Salt Might Be 'Nature's Antidepressant'Most people consume far too much salt, and a University of Iowa researcher has discovered one potential reason we crave it: it might put us in a better mood.
...Behavior also came to play a key role in making sure we have enough salt on board. Animals like us come equipped with a taste system designed to detect salt and a brain that remembers the location of salt sources -- like salt licks in a pasture.
A pleasure mechanism in the brain is activated when salt is consumed.
You are singin'...
...to the choir...
...my friend. 
And NO ONE here needed a grant to tell you that. (Although a bailout would be nice.) Our wisdom is free for the asking.
Second opinion available upon approved salty snacks offering.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:18 PM | Comments (4)
Restoring Our Place In The World
After last week's brilliant and suave handling of Gordon Brown, the Most Competent Administration Evah now welcomes Brazil in their own unique style
RIO DE JANEIRO -- His meet and greet with the U.S. president was bumped to Saturday, and when the White House announced his official visit, they misspelled his name.But when Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva becomes the first Latin American leader to sit down with President Barack Obama this weekend, he brings undisputed clout.
...Brazil has become a major U.S. trading partner, with cautious economic policies that have helped it weather the crisis better than almost all other major economies. With huge new offshore oil finds and abundant ethanol, Brazil could be key to helping wean the U.S. off Venezuelan crude and shift to cleaner energies.
Still, the White House made several moves interpreted as snubs by the Brazilian media.
Silva aides said the trip was pushed forward from Tuesday because of the St. Patrick's Day holiday - making Latin America once again look like an afterthought. Then, the White House announcement misspelled his name as "Luis Ignacio" and put "Lula" - a nickname that decades ago became a legal part of the Brazilian leader's name - in quotes.
The White House quickly corrected the mistake.
Gosh, I really sleep like a baby* at night knowing that our country is in such competent hands.
(h/t HotAir)
*meaning I wake up crying every two hours and reach for a bottle...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:24 PM | Comments (5)
And I Bet They Get Less Time
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:52 AM | Comments (2)
Speaking Of Pushing And Prodding...
File this under "What The Hell Were They Thinking"
Maryland State Police airlifted the 27-year-old woman to Prince George's County Hospital Center early Sunday morning after she was injured in an incident involving a sex toy attached to a saber saw blade, TheBayNet.com first reported.The man who called 911 about the incident admitted attaching the sex toy to the saw and then using the high-powered, homemade device on his partner, according to the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office.
Related StoriesThe saw cut through the plastic toy and wounded the woman, according to TheBayNet.com. The injuries were severe enough for medevac, but the woman was released from the hospital Monday and is recovering from her unusual injuries.
At times like these I can easily be convinced that a license should be required before certain people are allowed to breed.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:02 AM | Comments (12)
Even in the Midst of an Economic "Catastrophe Not As Bad As We Think" Crisis
...California never ceases to amaze with its penchant for cutting edge innovation, to wit:
The Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute of Los Angeles
Ow.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:58 AM | Comments (11)
They Push Prod And Push...
the new, wet behind the ears kid on the block
A potential conflict was brewing last night in the South China Sea after President Obama dispatched heavily armed American destroyers to the scene of a naval standoff between the US and China at the weekend.Mr Obama’s decision to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. They harassed and nearly collided with an unarmed American vessel.
Washington accused the Chinese ships of moving directly in front of the US Navy surveillance ship Impeccable, forcing its crew to take emergency action, and to deploy a high-pressure water hose to deter the Chinese ships. Formal protests were lodged with Beijing after the incident.
On a day that Mr Obama and his senior officials met the Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, in Washington, Beijing showed no sign of backing down. Its military chiefs accused the unarmed US Navy ship of being on a spying mission.
I can't say that I've seen something so far in Obama's handling of anything that gives me confidence he'll handle a "situation" with our largest creditor with anything approaching aplomb.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:30 AM | Comments (2)
March 12, 2009
As the Weeping Grandfather in "Moonstruck" Says
"I'm confused!"Isn't this quote today...
Obama: Economic crisis 'not as bad as we think'...from the same prophet who said this...
In his first prime-time news conference, U.S. President Barack Obama called this "the winter of America's hardship."Fresh off a daylong visit to a town in the state of Indiana that has been devastated by job losses, Obama said the country is in a "full blown crisis" and warned if Congress doesn't pass his economic plan immediately, the results could be catastrophic.
...just 3 weeks ago? (What? We're better already? Strange. Why do I feel so bad, then?)
Or...is our Prezzy O a prankster, like the punk who yells "PSYCHE!" outside the girl's locker room...after pulling the fire alarm?
I'm tired.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:34 PM | Comments (6)
Re: The Obama/Shinseki "You Owe Us..."
"...for not having a leg to stand on" plan. Yeah. It sucks. Even the thought of them THINKING it...sucks.
But, speaking as both a prior 12 1/2 year active duty Marine and as the wife of a recently retired one, that isn't the only wonderful thing they're kicking around. Part of the lore of the military, besides the obvious "serving your country", is that there are benefits that make up for all the shit your country puts you through in its name. (In our time, the pay was just starting to slip ahead of slave wages ~ the kids are rather more handsomely rewarded now, but no less than they're due. And they'd do it for less.) One of those enumerated active duty benefits is, to this day, the healthcare. Out of all of them (college, etc., ad nauseum), healthcare has always been the cherry on top the Armed Forces sundae. While major dad and I were active, we'd seen it erode. And, for all that the retirees are living longer on stronger drugs, it only seems fair that we consider our medical to be something we should help pay for. (Of course, no one ever thought they'd be shunted off to Medicare at 62, but that's another argument.)Whatever it's limitations, it's still a damn site more better and affordable than 99% of what's out there for all that ails us in our dotage. But.
But.
What should be sacrosanct is "free" healthcare that your life may pay for as an active duty member. The deal when you came in was you and your family. And that's how it should be. Sacrosanct.
But that's not how the bean counters see it. The latest proposals are an outrage of epic proportions.
Fees for Active Duty Families – Dependents of active duty members enrolled in TRICARE Prime, the managed care network, would pay new fees equal to 10 percent of the cost of health services obtained either in military treatment facilities or through civilian network providers. Total out of pocket costs would be capped, however.To help offset these costs, dependents would receive a $500 non-taxable allowance annually. Those who elect to use alternative health insurance, rather than TRICARE, could apply the $500 toward their health insurance premiums, co-payments or deductibles.
CBO estimates these fees would save $7 billion over 10 years and encourage Prime enrollees to "use medical services prudently." It also would entice more spouses to enroll in employer-provided health plans instead of TRICARE. The downside, CBO said, would be financial difficulties for some Prime enrollees despite the cap on out-of-pocket costs. Also, CBO said, spouses induced to rely on employer health plans could see health coverage interrupted during military assignment relocations.
That last sentence is a kicker. Forcing spouses to use employer insurance, then leaving them in the lurch when husbands change commands? Sounds benign enough ~ "hey, we're going to California!" But command changes also occur when an individual is transferred to a hostile environment (Think Middle East deployment)(Bullets, carbombs and Baptists.)(BAATHists. Sorry) and isn't it wonderful to know your family's medical is completely AFU when Mom had to quit since Dad deployed, then sweet Sally falls out of a tree and breaks her arm...and it's a nightmare, because TriCare hasn't kicked in. They never HEARD of her. That arm's got to get set and then it's up to Mom to pray the bill collectors aren't calling in short order. Oh, yeah. Dad ~ writhing in isolation imposed impotence ~ needs that stress like nobody's business.
Activated reserve troops have been dealing with this mess forever, since it's the nature of the weekend warrior's world ~ different rules and twelve more levels of bureacracy. There's no excuse for it with active duty troops, I don't care how many snotty nosed, hacking coughed urchins a LCpl's wife drags into the base ER for tylenol and Robitussin. That's her right and that was the deal, DOD.
Auguries of this trend abounded even years ago. First when peckish feeling active duty members, instead of taking themselves down to "sick bay" ('twixt 0700-0900 or 1300-1500) for a de rigueur going over by a junior corpsman (invariably leaving with a bottle of 800mg Motrin, Robitussin, Sudafed and blisterpack of Cepacol throat lozenges, be it your leg or lymphoma) were then directed to "make an appointment" with TriCare. In some communities, there WAS no sick call ~ did away with it completey, requiring active duty members to travel off-base for an appointment at a "NavCare" center. So WHAT happened to the kids who had NO transportation to a facility maybe 10 miles off base, when they used to be able to WALK to sick bay? How, you might wonder, did they get there to receive their cure? "How", indeed.
Then another wrinkle was added. To everyone's great consternation, they were NOT eligible to be seen if they weren't "enrolled" in the formerly-for-dependents-only DEERS ~ 105º fever, pus-oozing fleshwound not withstanding ~ which, of course, no one had seen fit to tell them they had to enroll in to begin with, 'cause when you raised your right hand, wasn't that enrolling?
It only got more obnoxious. Our encounter came a tad later, in 2004. As we're checking major dad in for his shoulder reconstructive surgery, they want to know who I'm insured at work with, since the Navy is planning on billing those guys for the whole thing. I was sorry to disappoint them happy to say I was unemployed.
Ten years before, that question would have been unthinkable.
It should STILL be.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:47 PM | Comments (9)
I'm Running Out of Ways to Say "We're..."
"...fucked".
The Senate is gearing up to ratify a Nixon-era U.N. treaty meant to create universal laws to govern the seas -- a treaty critics say will create a massive U.N. bureaucracy that could even claim powers over American waterways.LOST -- the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, also called the Law of the Sea Treaty -- regulates all things oceanic, from fishing rights, navigation lanes and environmental concerns to what lies beneath: the seabed's oil and mineral wealth that companies hope to explore and exploit in coming years.
Gee, everyone thank Crusader for the day brightener. This is all a bad, BAD dream, from which there is no escape possible. FOR YEARS.
Unless...
Worth a try, right?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:51 PM | Comments (5)
Took A Few Days Off
It was actually rather nice: my Bride went out of town so I played Mr. Mom and I really didn't touch teh internets for about five days. I cooked a lot, baked some bread, drove Daughter all about; hell, I even vacuumed some and scrubbed a toilet (I didn't do any windows, though). And now my Bride has returned so all is right with the world.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:03 AM | Comments (8)
Obama Finally Finds A Job For Bill
Inspired by Sis' post below it seems that Obama has found the perfect place to make use of the former President's, ah, skills
...he signed an executive order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls."The purpose of this Council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy," Obama said.
The council will meet regularly, he said, and will include Clinton, noted tax cheat Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, Secretary of Defense Robert "I never really worked for Bush" Gates and Attorney General Eric "Cowards" Holder among other members, Obama said.
"I sign this order not just as a president, but as a son, a grandson, a husband and a father and a horn-dog wanna-bee," Obama said.
"The Cabinet Position? Why Hill, you vixen!"
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:15 AM | Comments (3)
March 11, 2009
Doctor, Doctor! Gimme the News!
"A lot of research shows that people who drink moderately flat-out live longer than those who don't," [Dr.]Lloyd tells Page Six.
I got bad case of believing you!
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:15 AM | Comments (9)
March 10, 2009
Personally, I Would Have Said "Pay My Mortgage"
...but he's entirely correct, regardless.
Imagine a child falls down a well. Now imagine I offer to lend the parents my ladder to save her, but only if they promise to paint my house. Would you applaud me for not letting a crisis go to waste? Or would you think I'm a jerk?I ask because I'm trying to come to terms with Rule No. 1 of the Obama administration.
...Michael Kinsley famously said that a gaffe in Washington is when a politician accidentally tells the truth. As they say, it's funny because it's true.
But the White House tactic isn't funny at all. It's scary. Its amorality is outweighed only by the grotesque and astoundingly naked cynicism of it all.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:11 PM | Comments (4)
Your "Holy HOOTCHIE MAMA !!!" Moment of the Day
This, believe or not, is being sold as...
...a prom gown.
I'm guessing Bingley will not be allowing Daughter to shop online this year.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:15 AM | Comments (31)
March 09, 2009
Why the "Bernie Madoff's" of the World Will Always Be Warm?
...Helg Sgarbi admitted to meeting BMW heiress Susanne Klatten, 46, at a spa near Innsbruck, Austria, in July 2007 and starting an affair. Using what prosecutors called a well-practiced scam, he told her that he had brought his quadriplegic daughter to the United States and convinced Klatten to give him $9 million to pay for treatment.
Because there's always a plethora of lambs for the fleecing to go along for the ride.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:11 AM | Comments (5)
March 07, 2009
A Grim Milestone For Obama
Reuters uses the "G" word twice
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama tried to highlight some good news and tout his economic plan on Friday, but the grim reality of plunging employment and faltering stock markets once again stepped on his message.... For the White House, the grim economic news has made it hard to find the right balance of blunt talk about the present and optimism for the future.
"As the president has often said, it's going to get worse before it gets better," spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Air Force One as Obama headed to Ohio to tout a minor victory for his plan.
That last line was a little snarky, wasn't it? Someone is going to get a talking-to from an editor...
Wait! Yet a third "grim" sighting!
Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, pointed to another 168,000 manufacturing jobs lost in February."This is a grim moment for American workers," he said. "The economic recovery package passed last month was a good first step, but more needs to be done."
When your grip on Reuters starts slipping...
(h/t Insta)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:27 AM | Comments (2)
March 06, 2009
Jobs Data
Crappy, as you would expect:
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. employers axed 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest in 25 years, as companies buckled under the strain of a recession that is showing no signs of ending, according to a government report. While that figure was near economists' expectations for a 648,000 drop in non-farm payrolls, January and December job losses were revised sharply higher. The Labor Department on Friday said the unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent in February, the highest level since December 1983. That was above market forecasts for a rise to 7.9 from January's 7.6 percent. January's job cuts were revised to show a steep decline of 655,000, while December's payrolls losses were adjusted to 681,000, the deepest since October 1949. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has purged 4.4 million jobs, with more than half occurring in the last 4 months. Job losses in February were broad based, with only government, education and health services adding jobs. "Since the recession began, the rise in unemployment has been concentrated among people who lost jobs, as opposed to job leavers or people joining the labor force," said Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Keith Hall The manufacturing sector shed 168,000 jobs in February, after eliminating 257,000 positions the prior month. Construction industries bled 104,000 jobs in February after losing 118,000 in January. The service-providing industry slashed 375,000 positions after shedding 276,000 in January. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)
Key here are, as always, the revisions: Dec and Jan were worse than they had previously reported. I'm shocked and stunned.
Only in the government could you keep revising reports month after month and keep your job; hell, you probably get a staffing increase.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:50 AM
What A Mess
I'm blah and downcast today. The economy is a mess, our "leadership" is thinking only of ramming through their statist agenda, they embarrass all of us by how they treat our closest ally...there's just no good news anywhere, really. So I'm just going to crawl into my cave with a case of wine this weekend.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:10 AM | Comments (15)
Happy Burfday THS!
The bestest sistah evah!
And the oldest one I've ever had...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:02 AM | Comments (20)
March 05, 2009
Is There a Doctor in the House?
The one we had...just left.
Gupta opts out of surgeon general considerationDr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, has withdrawn his name from consideration as surgeon general of the United States, CNN confirmed Thursday.
Man. It's not even my gig and I'm embarassed at the rate the potential Cabinet newcomers...go.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:19 PM | Comments (8)
Gaia *Hearts* Drag Racing
Why else would she have created nitrous oxide burping worms?
Aquatic animals that feed on lake and stream bottom sediments burp out small amounts of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, a new study finds.While the biological emissions from these critters pales in comparison to the nitrous oxide emitted by fossil fuel burning, their contribution could increase as more and more nitrogen-rich fertilizer runs off into lakes, streams and seas, the authors of the study said.
The Earth Mother Approves
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:52 PM | Comments (4)
"All By Myself"
Understaffed Geithner can't keep up, critics say...With an awkward first television appearance, a bank rescue plan that lacked promised specifics and two restructured bailouts that raised taxpayer risk, Geithner has failed to calm financial markets desperate for answers.
Critics say part of the problem is that Geithner is flying solo: Not one of his top 17 deputies has been named, let alone confirmed. And without senior leadership, lower-level Treasury employees can't make decisions or represent the government in crucial conversations with banks and others.
Remember this guy? We were told he's Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius ~ TurboTax excepted ~ and we had to confirm him 'cause he's THE ONLY ONE who could do it all.
Now he's lonely.
And we're f*cked.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:14 AM | Comments (3)
Ted Kennedy Has A Knight Cap
And in other news, the sun came up in the east.
I say let's honor Teddy by naming a major sustainable energy facility after him.
(h/t to Eric)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:42 AM | Comments (2)
Ah Bizkit, I Know The Feeling
Via the god-like Rachel Lucas, any of you with dogs will appreciate the dreaming Bizkit
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:06 AM | Comments (2)
Noted Tax Cheat Tim Geithner Goes Green
He wants to make sure other people pay more taxes so Obama can spend it to help Gaia
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday.It was one of the sharpest attacks yet on the oil and gas industry by a top Obama administration official, reinforcing the White House stance that new U.S. energy policy will focus on promoting renewable energy sources like wind and solar power and rely less on traditional fossil fuels like oil as America tackles climate change.
"We don't believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don't think that's good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country," Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing on the White House's proposed budget for the 2010 spending year.
Hell, I don't think anyone who has the nerve to exhale should get any tax breaks! I mean, that shit is just loaded with CO2 when it comes out of your mouth! We need strict government policies to dis-incentivate exhalation; it's for our own good.
These guys are the scariest bunch of tools to come along in a long, long time.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:28 AM | Comments (2)
March 04, 2009
Quote of the Day
..."Northwest began serving penis this month as its merger partner Atlanta-based Delta airlines has done for years," Verjee said.Oh, well, why not, considering what the administration's been serving up.
It was only a matter of time.
I do, however, take issue with this quote:
"Georgia is the top penis producing state in the country."
Everybody knows by now that that honor goes to Illinois.
Update: It appears Jedi mind control tricks are at play in the fields of The One.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:49 AM | Comments (9)
Leadership?
My Bride and I were talking last night about how low and, well, petty Obama is. Seriously. With all the insanity and uncertainly in the world at the moment what is required is a calm, reassuring, firm hand on the tiller. And what do we have? A Doomsayer In Chief. Henny Penny Goes To Washington. A president who singles out media pundits for specific criticism and attack. Good god. What has been said about Obama so far has been nothing compared to the invective and vitriol hurled at Bush and Clinton over the past 16 years. Did you ever once hear a journalist or pundit singled out in a Presidential news conference or briefing the way we've seen Limbaugh and now Cramer just yesterday? Of course not. Those men, regardless of the rightness or wrongness of their actions knew that such petulant childlike behavior was beneath the dignity of their office, their nation...and themselves.
But now we have a President who's never faced criticism before, who's never had his ideas and plans given anything but fawning praise before, and like any spoiled adolescent he's lashing out instead of considering that perhaps maybe there's the slightest of chances he might be, er, um, how does one put this gracefully...wrong? It's almost as if he's never had any executive experience, really, but that can't be: he was after all a community organizer.
"Obama": It's Kenyan for "thin skinned"
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:13 AM | Comments (15)
One Ticket...Just A Few Miles From Me
Whoever you are, I hope you remember your Bestest Bud Bing!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:34 AM | Comments (1)
We're Swimmmmmmmming In The Oil
A-Just swimmmmmmming in the oil!
What a glorious feeling!
NEW YORK (AP) - Supertankers that once raced around the world to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for oil are now parked offshore, fully loaded, anchors down, their crews killing time. In the United States, vast storage farms for oil are almost out of room.As demand for crude has plummeted, the world suddenly finds itself awash in oil that has nowhere to go.
It's been less than a year since oil prices hit record highs. But now producers and traders are struggling with the new reality: The world wants less oil, not more. And turning off the spigot is about as easy as turning around one of those tankers.
I hope those producing countries in the Middle East choke and drown on this excess capacity. They have made uncounted trillions over the past two decades...and have what to show for it? Rampant corruption, beheadings and car bombs.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:28 AM | Comments (3)
March 03, 2009
A Dead Cat Bounce
It would appear to be.
Markets came back today, after taking one of their worst beatings in years on Monday. But investors will have to overcome some hurdles if the rally is to be sustained, including testimony from administration officials in Congress, a call for bailout help from Toyota Motor (TM, news, msgs), a report expected to show a steep drop in automobile sales, and a data release indicating declining home sales.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:28 AM | Comments (4)
My Kind Of Stimulus Plan
This would kick start my economy.
Oh yeah.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:26 AM | Comments (4)
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Obama tells the Russians that if they get Iran to say they're not planning to nuke Europe then he'll ixnay the missile defense
MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) - Washington has told Moscow that Russian help in resolving Iran's nuclear program would make its missile shield plans for Europe unnecessary, a Russian daily said on Monday, citing White House sources.U.S. President Barack Obama made the proposal on Iran in a letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, Kommersant said, referring to unidentified U.S. officials.
Iran's controversial nuclear program was cited by the U.S. as one of the reasons behind its plans to deploy a missile base in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. The missile shield has been strongly opposed by Russia, which views it as a threat to its national security. The dispute has strained relations between the former Cold War rivals, already tense over a host of other differences.
I know I'll sleep better at night, in a hopey/changey kind of way, knowing the Iranians have given their word.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:18 AM | Comments (4)
March 02, 2009
A Blizzard Buries Stocks
I'm home thanks to the 8+ inches of global warming that fell over night, but it's the equity markets that are getting snowed under
Global stocks have fallen sharply on fears the global financial sector could take a further turn for the worse.In Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 fell by 4.2%, while Germany's Dax was down 2.8% and France's Cac 40 lost 3.6%.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei index closed down 3.8% at 7,280.15, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.9%.
Confidence was hit by a fresh $30bn bail-out of US insurance giant AIG, and news that UK bank HSBC aimed to raise £12.5bn from its shareholders.
I thought this AIG news was in the market last week? No matter; everything is taken as bad news right now. Consumers...aren't, so the vicious death spiral has begun: people are spending less because they're over-extended and concerned about their jobs, which means companies make less money so they have to fire people. A nasty feedback loop is set up, and it will only get worse for a while, I fear.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:19 AM | Comments (8)
March 01, 2009
Well, According to the New Administration, Aren't We Supposed to Share
...and share alike?
Report: Iran Stole Marine One Specs
Sensitive Details On Presidential Helicopter Taken Through Computer Security BreachAn Internet security company claims that Iran has taken advantage of a computer security breach to obtain engineering and communications information about Marine One, President Barack Obama's helicopter, according to a report by WPXI, NBC's affiliate in Pittsburgh.
"So Sue Me!" ~ President Mahmoud Imadinnerjacket explains that, since it wasn't a Metallica track he downloaded, who gives a flying goat turd and whachoo gonna do about it anyway?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:36 AM | Comments (3)
Seven More Reasons Islamic "Republics" SUCK
The bull-necked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found by the roadside, had "loose morals" and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.
Someone definately "deserves to die" and it's not loose women.
...Kadyrov's bluster shows how confident he is of his position. "No one can tell us not to be Muslims," he said outside the mosque. "If anyone says I cannot be a Muslim, he is my enemy."
Fine. Count me in.
They're monsters.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:22 AM | Comments (3)
What a Shame They Couldn't Vote
...her off the island. And all this time I thought she had a halo and everything ~ "Newspapers dubbed her the new Joan of Arc, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy greeted her with a hero's welcome in Paris and a special service in her honour was held at Lourdes."
Betancourt Criticized By Ex-Hostage...But the most provocative revelation of "Out of Captivity" deals with Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician kidnapped a year before they were marched into the gulag they say she dominated.
One of the Northrop Grumman employees alleges she was haughty and self-absorbed, stole food and hoarded books, and even put their lives in danger by telling rebel guards they were CIA agents.
"I watched her try to take over the camp with an arrogance that was out of control," Keith Stansell of Bradenton told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.
"Some of the guards treated us better than she did."
Is it French thing?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:13 AM | Comments (1)
Rahm Emanuel on "Face the Nation" This Morning
...just reinforced my original "what a lying, sack o' shit this asshole is" opinion of him.
Wait'll the transcripts are are out and you'll see what sort of "change" hath been wrought.
UPDATE: Trust HotAir to gather all the pertinent elements before mere mortals can.
At least I wasn't mistaken in my initial impression.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:05 AM | Comments (2)