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June 30, 2009
This Guy Is Just Pathetic
You know the old saying about what to do when you're in a hole?
"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.
... In early 2009, after Jenny Sanford discovered the affair, the couple went into counseling. She has told The Associated Press that he asked her several times to visit the mistress and she refused.
But the governor claims he wanted to end the affair in person and, with his wife's permission, went to New York with a "trusted spiritual adviser" serving as chaperone. The three went to church and dinner together and parted ways the same night.
Oh what a circus.
Oh what a show.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:23 PM | Comments (9)
I Hope They Have Seating For 300 Million
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:39 AM | Comments (1)
The New Jersey "Budget"
Lawhawk has a good summary on this bit of delusional insanity and fiscal disaster. Corzine and every single Legislator who voted for this should be pounded in the polls and thrown from office.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:59 AM | Comments (7)
The Electricution Of Mary Poppins
We've been out of town for a few days at a family get together. We got home at, oh, 9:30 Sunday night and were greeted by this
That's an 8' patio umbrella. Or was, I should say. It seems that on Friday night there was a rather violent thunderstorm that lifted the umbrella up, ripping it out of its heavy stand in the table on the deck in back of the house, carried it completely over the house and deposited it in the power lines in front.
Needless to say I didn't even attempt to get that sucker down; the good folks at JCP&L came by early yesterday and took care of it.
I got to cut up the tree that came down in the back yard.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:00 AM | Comments (21)
June 29, 2009
Sometimes You Have to Let the Actions Speak for Themselves
...before you say goodbye.
Kenneth Reusser, 1920 - 2009The funeral for Ken Reusser, a legendary Marine aviator is taking place in Clackamas as I type this. Apologies for not finding out about this sooner.
Reusser is a much-decorated pilot who received the Navy Cross for his actions in World War II. In a dramatic counter-kamikaze mission, he and his copilot tracked down a Japanese surveillance aircraft that was providing information to suicide pilots, chasing it through skies so cold that their guns froze up.They used their Corsair's propellers to slice through the tail of the reconnaisance plane.
His passing touches a special place in our family, too ~ he was the Grinch's Commanding Officer in VMF-232 during the mid-50's.
Semper Fi, sir.
And God speed your valiant heart through clear skies.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:23 PM | Comments (7)
June 28, 2009
Kcruella and Us Were in New Orleans All Weekend
I have no idea what Bingley's miserable excuse will be.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:23 PM | Comments (11)
June 24, 2009
"...And I'm Really Having a Beautiful Winter."
Grace under fire personified has left us.
What a magnificent human being she was.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:44 PM | Comments (7)
Someone Knows Me Too Well
Got an email this morning titled "Enhance your pathetic existence..."
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:21 AM | Comments (7)
"I've Never Paid A Woman"
Italian politicians have a certain style that US ones can never hope to master
(CNN) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has refuted allegations that he paid prostitutes to attend parties he hosted at his various homes.In an interview with Italian magazine "Chi," the 72-year old denied he had ever paid for sex.
''I've never paid a woman. I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest,'' Berlusconi told Chi.
Very true.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:34 AM | Comments (4)
June 23, 2009
Swilling Trend-Mongers
We are so far ahead of the curve we scare ourselves.
And small children.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:22 PM | Comments (9)
I'm Thinking Our Local Dealership Should Rephrase
...their "thank you" emails...
It was a pleasure servicing you and your 2002 E430.
I must have missed something when I dropped it off.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:39 AM | Comments (4)
Ed McMahon Has Died
Semper fi and God speed, Colonel.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:25 AM | Comments (7)
As Dear Dave E. Notes in My Previous Post
...(on the subject) our Precedent will, indeed, be on the telly YET AGAIN, at 12:30 EST. It seems he's "scheduled" a news conference vice his EVERY FREAKIN' DAY telly sneak attacks, ergo committing an error of epic proportion: advance warning. And I have planned accordingly.
At 11:30CST, I'll be watching the bullriding on Versus instead of the bullshitting on the networks!
(Cowboys wear brain buckets now...? Is NOTHING sacred?)
Take that, Precedent
Yes I CAN!
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:55 AM | Comments (9)
DC Metro Crash
Man, how terrible
WASHINGTON - An inbound Metro train smashed into the back of another at the height of the Monday evening rush hour, killing at least nine people and injuring scores of others in Metro's deadliest ever subway accident.D.C. Fire and EMS says rescue workers located three more bodies in the wreckage late Monday night. All three were declared dead at the scene.
Experts familiar with Metro's operating systems tell The Washington Post operator error and failure of the signal system likely caused the deadly crash.
To prevent trains from colliding, Metro designed a fail-safe computerized system that controls speed and breaking. If trains get too close to each other, the computers are supposed to automatically apply the brakes.
The train just smashed into the rear of the one stopped in front of it.
The operator of the train was killed; I hope she wasn't texting and didn't notice the train stopped ahead.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:52 AM | Comments (1)
A Token Of My Extreme
The St. Petersburg Times unloads on the Appliantologists. The first of three articles.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:25 AM | Comments (5)
June 22, 2009
The Black Eyed Perez
They're my new favorite band
TORONTO (AP) - Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas with assault after he allegedly gave celebrity blogger Perez Hilton a black eye outside a Toronto nightclub.Hilton said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band's tour manager. They were at the club following a Sunday night video awards show.
... Hilton, who is openly gay, said in interview with The Associated Press that he called will.i.am a "faggot," a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site.
"He was like 'You need to respect me.' He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me," Hilton said. "I was like 'I don't need to respect you. I don't respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said 'You know what, I don't respect you and you're gay and stop being such a faggot.'"
Hilton should be charged with a hate crime for using such language.
Or punched.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:07 PM | Comments (11)
Quote of the Day
That it's from a Frenchman and not a deafening chorus of American feminists is an embarrassment.
..."In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause in a speech at the Chateau of Versailles southwest of Paris.It has no business ANYWHERE.
"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement—I want to say it solemnly," he said."It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:50 PM | Comments (7)
Well, That Certainly Reeks
...of "hope".
...the White House has assumed "a posture of watchful waiting," adding: "There will be big increases in stimulus spending in the fall and early next year. We have to wait to see what happens with that. If you get to the end of this year or early next year and employment is still limping back, then we have to do some serious thinking about whether there might be special problems in the labor market that require targeted interventions."
But he's already been on the telly this morning, so all is right with the world. It's gotten to be so commonplace that none of us at work ~ including the drycleaning guy doing his rounds ~ can function until the 10 a.m. answer to "Has he been on yet today?" is in the affirmative, "Oh, there he is already!"
Part B of the query consists of "Great. For what this time?" "Healthcare." "Great. Change the f*cking channel before I lose breakfast."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:18 PM | Comments (6)
Standards At The NYT
When it's a NYT employee who's in danger, well, golly, they're just all mum and agonized and the very souls of discretion
NEW YORK (AP) - Deciding not to report initially on reporter David Rohde's capture by the Taliban for seven months was "an agonizing position that we revisited over and over again," New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said Sunday."All along, we were told by people that probably the wisest course for David's safety was to keep it quiet," Keller said in an interview on CNN.
The Times reported Saturday that Rohde escaped from seven months in captivity in Afghanistan and Pakistan by climbing over a wall on Friday.
Rohde was abducted Nov. 10 along with an Afghan reporter and a driver south of the Afghan capital of Kabul. The Times kept the kidnapping quiet out of concern for the men's safety, and other media outlets, including The Associated Press, followed suit at the Times' request.
"It was an agonizing position that we revisited over and over again," Keller said in the CNN interview with Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. "But I also have a responsibility for the people who work for me. I send a lot of people out into dangerous places and their security is also part of my job."
But when it's a Republican President's policy that is protecting 300 million people, well, heck, let the sun shine in and the People have a right to know
In a stunning break with her party, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that the New York Times damaged national security by revealing the National Security Agency's top secret terrorist surveillance program authorized by President Bush."If the press was part of the process of delivering classified information, there have to be some limits on press immunity," Rep. Jane Harman told NBC's "Meet the Press."
But don't worry: Bill Keller still "agonized" before hitting the "publish" button
KELLER: One of the assumptions that was built into the "Journal's" editorial is that, you know, when the president tells you that there's a national security reason for not publishing something, you should take that at face value. And, you know, we certainly believe that presidents are entitled to respective, attentive hearings, particularly in matters of national security. And we gave the White House every opportunity to explain why they thought publishing this information would be harmful. We agonized over it. We, as you say, held the story, and we kept reporting.
Priorities, folks.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:25 AM
June 19, 2009
Well I'm Sure We'll All Breathe Easier Now
At least in one Florida city
A Florida city has written common sense into its employee dress code: Wear underwear to work.The Brooksville city council recently approved a revised dress code as part of its effort to update existing policies.
The revision instructs employees to observe "strict personal hygiene," including the use of deodorant. It lists "the observable lack of undergarments and exposed undergarments" as "unacceptable attire."
It also prohibits clothing with foul language or messages promoting drug use, "sexually provocative" garments, halter tops and piercings anywhere except the ears.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:23 AM | Comments (7)
June 18, 2009
You Could "Look for the Union LABEL"
But you'd be much better off carrying a union CARD.
...The Democrats' other problem is that the usual populist line won't fly. The party would like to be able to protect itself by saying that only those who now receive the most generous benefits will face taxes. Then again, the Americans who now have the Cadillacs (or, in these post-bailout-days, the Swedish sports car Koenigsegg CCXs) of health-care coverage are union workers. Union workers "would be stuck footing more of the bill than others," says Paul Fronstin, a senior research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute.This was the big gripe back when President George W. Bush first proposed rewriting the tax code to equalize the tax treatment of employer-provided and individually purchased health care (albeit as a means of creating a market-oriented system, rather than funding a federal entitlement). In Michigan, home of the once-mighty auto workers, Sen. Debbie Stabenow growled in 2007: "There are 160,000 people [in Michigan] with excellent health insurance plans . . . who for the first time would end up paying taxes on them."
The attack against Mr. Wyden was an early shot across the Baucus-Obama bow, and it resonated. Mr. Baucus officially floated his plans for a tax this week, only with a surprising twist: His levy will not apply to union plans, at least for the duration of existing contracts. In other words, Mr. Baucus intends to tax the health-care benefits only of those who didn't spend a fortune electing Democrats to office. Sen. Ted Kennedy, who is circulating his own health-care reform,
...has also included provisions that will exempt unions from certain provisions.
I thought we lived in the UNITED States and ALL shared the burden. I'm so naive.
In the age of hope and change, the only ones sharing the burden are the taxpayers who don't have a card that says "UNITED" followed by "Auto Workers", Steel Workers", "Operating Engineers", "Food and Commercial Workers", "Laborers International", or any such thing associated with bought and paid for Democratic voting blocks. The rest of us are chum and I don't mean the "best friend" sense.
Obama's given them Chrysler, he's giving them GM and, any moment now, tax dollars courtesy of your "Cadillac" health benefits supporting Obama healthcare.
...Baucus said his proposal is likely to cap benefits at "a level higher than the actual benefit that members of Congress receive today." An employer-provided plan worth less than that level [$13,000/yr per family of four] would remain tax-free, he said, while any benefit exceeding the cap would be taxed as ordinary income.Such a tax, if adopted, would be phased in over "several years," Baucus said. And it would be likely to "grandfather" in health benefits set as part of a collective-bargaining agreement, he said...
allowing union plans to remain tax-free...until new contracts can be negotiated.
I despise this guy and his toadies more every day, to the point of choking on bile when his schmug appears, yet again, on the telly. Can anyone count the fuckin' balls this guy has in the air at any given time? I know he's hoping the ones that fall to earth won't be noticed until they're jammed so far down our throats we can't breathe to bitch about the ones still suspended in flight.
Healthcare's the flaming poopie torch on the right.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:38 PM | Comments (9)
U.S. Senate Apologizes for Slavery
By unanimous consent, the Senate passed a resolution a short time ago apologizing for slavery and racial segregation.Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, one of the sponsors, said the measure was no “panacea,” but could help trigger “reconciliation.”
“I am pleased that Congress has officially offered an apology for slavery and it’s long overdue,” he said. “The formation of my home state of Kansas was centered around slavery and came to be known as ‘Bleeding Kansas.’ I believe that this official apology will enable our nation to begin healing our racial wounds rooted in the institution of slavery.”
Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, was the other sponsor.
The passage coincides with Juneteenth, a celebration which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.
I'm wondering how Robert Byrd voted on that particular resolution, or is he still in the hospital? They probably shot it through while he was gone.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:36 PM | Comments (12)
What A Pompous Twit
Via Allah, here's Barbara Boxer, pompous twit extraordinaire.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:19 AM | Comments (16)
June 17, 2009
A Couple More Numbers for Bingley's Health Care Lament
...There was a report from the Congressional Budget office that the health care plan offered by Senator Kennedy would cost $1 trillion and include only 16 million of the uninsured.And lucky us!That's $62,500 a pop for ten years but when have government projections been anywhere near reality.This was followed by a late report from the Senate that health care plans being kicked around would cost $1.6 trillion over ten years. To Greg Valliere it looks like there is a real threat that President Obama's campaign pledge to not raise taxes on the middle class will go the way of "Read my lips. No new taxes." But that is what political capital is for. To be able to react to the real world and not the campaign world. Joe Biden jumped ahead in the cue and said the stimulus won't save or create 3.5 million jobs but more like 600,000. And it looks like whatever is planned in the White House will have a fight on Capitol Hill as Senator Dodd has said taxing health care benefits is not a good idea while the Senate Finance Committee is kicking around a proposal to tax benefits worth more than $17,000 as regular income.This is starting to look like the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:49 PM | Comments (3)
But...Wait a Minute
... have watched with horror the new footage of violence committed against the youth almost every hour. In at least one film clip, Arabic-speaking men treat a young protester like a piece of meat getting ready to be cut in the local butcher shop. The activists report seeing many of these Arabic-speaking men among the anti-riot police force in the streets of Tehran. This poses a special problem for students committed to nonviolent protest. The cornerstone of nonviolence strategy is to talk to your oppressor, to remind him of your humanity and to show him his family members in the crowd. How do you do all that when your oppressor has been imported from abroad, selected from oppressed, poor Palestinian or Lebanese communities?Iranians don't speak Arabic either? Somebody better tell you know who, because...
...In his speech, Mr. Obama uses to call “people of Iran”, however, translators of White House make it look as “Nation of Iranian”! This is exactly what Islamic occupiers of Iran want!...he seems to think EVERYBODY does.They also wants to make benefit of a short sentence that was used by Mr. Obama to say Happy New Year in Farsi! But in 3 words, 2 of them are Arabic!So, Farsi was not the main language that was used by Mr. Obama.
Schmaybe keeping his mouth shut during the current unpleasantness isn't such a bad thing after all.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:53 PM | Comments (4)
That's a Shame
Eddie Bauer files for bankruptcy protection
As I said in this post about A&F:
FYI: Eddie Bauer used to be as revered. At one time they were THE outfitters for all the major Himalayan expeditions and the quality was unsurpassed. I still have my circa 1972, goose-down Karakorum -40º mummy bag. The label says "For the rest of your life" and they meant it.
I'd hoped they were starting the transition back to QUALITY expedition gear when one of their emails touted "Return to Everest!"
SEATTLE, WA - On the morning of May 19, two legendary mountaineers on the First Ascent "Return to Everest" expedition reached the highest point on Earth. Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker stood on the summit with members of their production crew before descending to High Camp at 26,000 feet. Forced to spend an extra 24 hours in the "death zone" while waiting for high winds and whiteout conditions to improve, the team began their final summit push around 11:00 p.m. on the evening of May 18. Their successful summit comes 46 years and 18 days after Whittaker's uncle, Jim, became the first American to do so, on May 1, 1963.
The common thread between the two expeditions besides the Whittaker name: Eddie Bauer was the outfitter, then and now. First Ascent marks Eddie Bauer's return to its heritage as America's original expedition outfitter.
Why does every beancounter in the world want their store to be the GAP?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:21 PM | Comments (2)
Our Dear Precedent
...is on the TV YET again ~ for the fifteenth frickin' time today. Announcing YET another agency to take-over whatever use to pass as free markets, which has ruined the American dream and caused him YET more sleepless nights.
Only 3 1/2 more years. Thank God I remember most of those Lamaze breathing techniques for the pain caused when his mug appears YET again on the tenatively free airwaves.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:10 PM
Quote of the Day
..."It appears to suggest that I was removed because I was disabled -- based on one occasion out of hundreds," he said."I would never say President Obama doesn't have the capacity to continue to serve because of his (statement) that there are 56 states," Walpin said, adding that the same holds for Vice President Biden and his "many express confusions that have been highlighted by the media."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)
A Tattoo Primer
What the location means.
(courtesy of Theo Spark)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:02 AM | Comments (5)
All Your Biz Are Belong To Us
Well, actually, not "us" but "him"
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, the government would have new powers to seize key companies -- such as insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks.
Look, I think there needs to be clear regulation of a lot of the financial industry, and I think that limits need to be in place so that no one company's demise could wreck the entire economy. But there's no way in hell the government should have the power to go around seizing companies.
On Monday, Obama administration officials sketched the outlines of the plan the president is to unveil Wednesday. They said it would seek to reduce gaps in regulatory oversight, rein in the use of mortgage-backed securities and other complex derivatives, reduce incentives for companies to take excessive risk and give the government new power to quickly intervene during any future crises.
The government should regulate the derivatives market in a simple way: amend the rules of incorporation so that the traders who initiate these trades, and the executives who sign off on them, are personally liable for any losses that occur. These huge losses occurred in part because the people who came up with and approved these trades didn't understand them, and no one had the stones to say :you know, I don't think we've thought this through all the way" and put the kibosh on the trades. If, however, these folks faced the threat of personal financial ruin if these things tanked then maybe they'd take a closer look at the risks involved.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:12 AM | Comments (1)
They Are Simply Insane
It's beyond Monopoly money
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate sources say the latest cost estimates for health care legislation are around $1.6 trillion over 10 years. Two Senate staffers, one Democratic and one Republican, said Congressional Budget Office estimates put the cost of the Finance Committee version of the bill at around $1.6 trillion.
In-freakin-sane.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:10 AM
June 16, 2009
Sharon, Email Me
Gmail dumped your address.
And I have access to new Russell Crowe as Robin Hood snaps...::swoon:: His Max is a Must.
Just sayin'.
Girlfriends should share.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:05 PM | Comments (1)
Holy Sh*t!!!
And I mean HO LEE SH*T!!!!!!
Win a Phone Call from the Time Bandit Captains!
Every 100th person who purchases Time Bandit gear from the Time Bandit store will receive a call from one of the Time Bandit Captains! At the end of the contest, one person will be chosen from the winners to receive free, personalized gear! Will you be the keeper? This contest is only going to soak until June 19th! For more contest details and to view the rules, visit "On Deck"
Don't even bother dialing, kiddies. Those salty dogs are MINE.
Oh.
Hi, honey....
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:34 PM | Comments (6)
They All Laughed At Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi
Wireless was a phony
It's the same old cry
They laughed at me serving you
Said I was a cheap damn Scot buffoon
But oh, you came through
Now they'll have to change their tune
They all said you never could taste yummy
They laughed at me and how!
But ho, ho, ho!
Who's got the last laugh now?
(link via my lovely Bride)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:22 PM | Comments (14)
A Thought From Crusader This Morning
...is a great idea.
"Man, how about Iran? Wearing a green shirt, for what it’s worth, but what is it with the Persians and Carters? (Or Carter-like Presidents)"
I don't think I own a green shirt (unthinkable for an Irish type, eh?), but I've got a green scarf. No one'll know but me, and that's okay.
UPDATE: Wahoo!! Found one and, strangely enough, the boss is in green, too! I explained to him why he was. {8^P
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:34 AM | Comments (1)
I Know the People of Iran Are Speaking to Us
...because I can read the signs.
I got the picture.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:24 AM | Comments (5)
I'm Mr. White Flag Day
My friends call me Snow Miser
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) ―
Parts of New Jersey were pummeled by a massive hail storm on Monday afternoon, leaving it looking as if a June blizzard blew through with inches of dime-sized pellets piling up.Washington Township residents were seen on their driveways breaking out the snow shovels and officials sent out bulldozers to act as snow plows to clear the streets after severe thunderstorms pounded the region. Children were seen forming hailballs.
CBS 2 HD's Christine Sloan was in Washington Township and spoke to stunned residents. This as the snow and ice piled up around them.
It was a day for snow boots and a jacket as several inches fell in what's being looked at as one freak storm.
I'm too much...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:16 AM | Comments (7)
June 15, 2009
Freakin' Terrific
Microbe Wakes Up After 120,000 Years in IceAfter more than 120,000 years trapped beneath a block of ice in Greenland, a tiny microbe has awoken. The long-lasting bacteria may hold clues to what life forms might exist on other planets.
You know...not EVERYTHING in ice needs to be 'woken up'. The bitch is in telling which one.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:24 PM | Comments (9)
Even If I Wasn't Going to Be in New Orleans
...eating and drinking myself into a well-deserved coma ~ and in spite of the fact that she sounds like a lovely girl who wrote just the sweetest email request ~ SOMEthing in my DNA will NOT allow me to paint something so sweet...
...and so completely VILE.
"...My *** is getting married on July ***...as a...present I was hoping to get...personalized toasting flutes...what I am looking for is a Man wearing......a Red Sox T-shirt that says groom above him, and a Woman wearing a Red Sox T-shirt that says bride..."
No, ma'am.
THAT I cannot do.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:16 PM | Comments (6)
Gosh, I Really Love This New "Smart Diplomacy"
...that's undoing all the damage that Chimpy McHitler did to our relationships with key allies.
Key allies like, say, Britain
Senior aides to President Barack Obama accompanied four Uighur prisoners as they were flown from Guantanamo Bay to the British colony of Bermuda, without the UK being informed, it was revealed yesterday.In an escalating diplomatic row over the transfer of the former terrorist suspects, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the transfer with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in what was said to be an uneasy conversation. Privately Whitehall officials accused America of treating Britain, with whom it is supposed to have a "special relationship", with barely disguised contempt.
One senior official said: "The Americans were fully aware of the foreign-policy understanding we have with Bermuda and they deliberately chose to ignore it. This is not the kind of behaviour one expects from an ally."
Feel the love.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:41 PM | Comments (4)
Well I Fear We'll Find Out, Won't We?
Didn't Wile E. Biden say something about some kind of test
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea's communist regime has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic bomb-making program in defiance of new U.N. sanctions.The North's defiance presents a growing diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama as he prepares for talks Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart on the North's missile and nuclear programs.
...South Korea's Unification Ministry issued a statement Sunday demanding the North stop stoking tension, abandon its nuclear weapons and return to dialogue with the South.
On Saturday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry threatened war on any country that dared to stop its ships on the high seas under the new sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday as punishment for the North's latest nuclear test.
It is not clear if the statements are simply rhetorical. Still, they are a huge setback for international attempts to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions following its second nuclear test on May 25. It first tested a nuclear device in 2006.
I'm sure Kim Jong Il is just pulling our leg for a few laughs. That card.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:47 AM | Comments (1)
What's This "Guessed" Crap?
I thought noted tax cheat Geithner was the smartest fellow in the world, the only one who could lead Treasury and follow the divine wisdom of the One and his faithful sidekick Wile E. Biden? Now Biden's telling us the Most Competent Administration Evuh was just...guessing?
"No one realized how bad the economy was. The projections, in fact, turned out to be worse. But we took the mainstream model as to what we thought -- and everyone else thought -- the unemployment rate would be.""Everyone guessed wrong at the time the estimate was made about what the state of the economy was at the moment this was passed."
So for $1 trillion we've gotten, what, 4 new government jobs and a pack of Juicy Fruit.
Change you can believe in.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:30 AM | Comments (3)
June 14, 2009
It's Your Day, You Most Beautiful Thing in the World
Shine.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:24 PM | Comments (1)
June 12, 2009
Rachel Lucas Asks The Question We're All Wondering:
I am so dead.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:58 AM | Comments (12)
The One's Trek Towards "600,000 Jobs Saved Or Created"...
...just got a little tougher
Olympic Airporter, an airport shuttle service that has carried thousands of Shore travelers to Newark and JFK airports for more than 30 years, will close on June 19 because of rising expenses and slowing demand, company officials said Thursday. AdvertisementIts decision devastated customers, who viewed the service as an inexpensive alternative to a taxi or parking at the airport.
"It's going to be a tragedy for me, I'll tell you that much," said Kathy Brown, 63, of Red Bank, who uses the service four times a year. "The price is right, and it's convenient."
Wall-based Olympic Airporter operates 19 trips a day, with stops in Toms River, Wall, Middletown, Keyport and Newark Liberty International Airport. It also shuttles passengers to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
...It started the airport shuttle service in 1987. It purchased the Princeton Airporter in 2006, adding service from Princeton to Newark Liberty and changing its name to the Olympic Airporter. Today, it has 128 full- and part-time employees and a fleet of 90 vehicles.
And next week it has zero. I'd love for the article to delve into the burden that Washington's and especially Trenton's regulatory mania has placed on the company.
But I ain't gonna get that from the APP.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:40 AM | Comments (9)
My, Those UN Typewriters Will Be Hummin'
This weekend, just cranking out more of those effective strong letters of disapproval
WASHINGTON (AP) - North Korea may be preparing for its third nuclear test, a show of defiance as the United Nations considers new sanctions on the dictatorship for conducting an underground nuclear explosion in May, according to a U.S. government official...."We have come to expect North Korea to act recklessly and dangerously," NSC spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement. "But while the world unites to pass a strong new Security Council resolution, it is clear that North Korea's behavior is succeeding only in further isolating itself."
President Barack Obama's special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said Thursday that the United States is determined to make sure the North faces serious consequences for its growing missile and nuclear threat.
Serious consequences, friends.
Maybe he'll make Kim go on Letterman.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:59 AM | Comments (6)
To Go "Nuclear" And Stand Up To The EU
...requires something that Brown hasn't got
Britain cannot veto the massive shift in regulatory power to Brussels now under way. Internal market laws are decided by qualified majority voting (QMV), and London has few friends in this fight.What Gordon Brown can do at next week's EU summit it to play the Luxembourg card by invoking "vital national interest", if he is willing to risk a showdown with fellow leaders. This has no legal status. It is the political equivalent of a stamping bull, or a viper's rattle. It means back off, or we strike.
...Britain has long fudged matters in dealings with the EU, hoping that common sense will prevail, as it often does. But the assault on the City may be a line too far. London has been the centre of global finance for three hundred years. Either the British government controls the City, or the EU apparatus controls it. This cannot be fudged.
A set of stones.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:48 AM | Comments (2)
June 11, 2009
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Women's Advocacy Group Leader Blasts Letterman's Jokes About Palin, Calls for ApologyThe president of a national women's public policy group on Thursday blasted David Letterman's "offensive" jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter and called on the CBS late-night host to formally apologize.
"There's a saying that out of the heart, the mouth speaks, and Letterman's statement reveals a pretty ugly reflection of who Letterman may be," Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, told FOXNews.com.
They're a conservative, biblical values group, for crying out loud. What a surprise they're offended.
I want one of Hilary's big shot girlie groups to say something.
Anything.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:26 PM | Comments (5)
You Think Obama Doesn't Want to Regulate Every Aspect
...of your LIFE?
Oh, you are so wrong, baby. It's coming.
Administration: Rein in pay in US private sector
Obama administration: Executive pay needs curbs, better management, across US private sector
Enjoy that flush while you can.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:19 AM | Comments (1)
I Found a Video Illustrating My Stimulus Philosophy
Walk it back, baby.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:12 AM
My Email to CBS, for What It's Worth
I've never watched the icky, gap-toothed pervert, but feel compelled to chastise the network. And the sponsors. I've added links for the post. (And the cheeseballs have a damn AOL email address! What up wit dat?)
Subject: David Letterman is a disgrace, as his advertisers will also learn
There's comedy and there's comedy, and his attempt at humor qualified as neither.
His attempt at a pseudo apology is pathetic and indicative of a complete lack of individual character.
Would CBS have been so accommodating if, instead of Willow Palin, the target had been, say, young Malia Obama?
But, then, it never would have been.
Because these stupid pseudo-intellectual f*ckers have been picking on Willow all along.
Picking on little girls when you don't agree with their mum is okay. It's clever and funny, doncha know?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:29 AM | Comments (7)
Thoughts On Shooting Reporting
The murder of the guard is horrible beyond a doubt, but I'm somewhat struck by the coverage
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A rifle-wielding white supremacist entered Washington's Holocaust museum on Wednesday afternoon, fatally shooting a security guard before being wounded himself by return fire from other guards, authorities said.Stephen Tyrone Johns, a six-year veteran of the museum's security staff, later "died heroically in the line of duty," said Sara Bloomfield, museum director.
Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as James W. von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland.
Did you know the shooter was a white supremacist? I guess it's reasonable to prominently note in a report written just a few hours after the shooting some details that are in fact probably highly relevant to the crime, and here "prominently" means twice in the first three sentences of the story. To be clear: CNN feels that it is very important that the suspect's political/philosophical world view be stressed; that it was his belief system that led him to act this way. And frankly I think they're right. The guy is a wacko scumbag.
Meanwhile, last week
(CNN) -- An Arkansas man was arrested Monday in connection with a shooting at a Little Rock military recruiting center that killed one soldier and wounded another, authorities said.Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad -- a 24-year-old Little Rock resident formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe -- faces a first-degree murder charge and 15 counts of engaging in a terrorist act, Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas said. The terrorist counts stem from the shots fired at an occupied building.
While authorities continued to investigate a motive, Thomas said Muhammad is a Muslim convert and, based on preliminary interviews with him, investigators believe there were "political and religious motives" in the shooting.
CNN's being a little more coy here, aren't they? You know, "investigators believe" that this person's belief system "might" have played a part in what he did - but let's not get hasty! Perhaps this little nugget buried by the AP yesterday may help them make up their minds
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A Muslim convert charged in the killing of a soldier at a recruiting center in Arkansas says he didn't consider it murder because U.S. military action in the Middle East made the killing justified.Abdulhakim Muhammad told The Associated Press Tuesday in Little Rock that he confessed to police that he killed Pvt. William Long outside an Army-Navy recruiting center.
After this murder yesterday it took only a few hours for Obama to issue this statement
“I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.“Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time.”
I agree with every word.
Compare that to the nearly 5 days it took for him to issue this somewhat more tepid statement
"I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House."I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long's family as they mourn the loss of their son."
A bit of a difference, it seems to me.
Oh, and as a further point of comparison here's what Obama said, again within hours, not 5 days, of Dr. Tiller's murder
I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.
Priorities, my friends.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:55 AM | Comments (10)
June 10, 2009
Hans Brix!
Here comes that letter to Kim Jong Il telling him how angry the UN is
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have agreed on a resolution that would expand and tighten sanctions on North Korea, two senior Western diplomats at the United Nations said Wednesday.The permanent members -- China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States -- reached the agreement in consultation with Japan and South Korea.
The council began discussions late Wednesday morning. A vote is possible Thursday or Friday, according to several diplomats, including French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert.
The agreement comes amid rising tension with North Korea, which recently conducted a nuclear test, fired test rockets, and threatened U.S. and South Korean ships near its territorial waters. The nuclear test and the firing of six short-range rockets same in late May.
(That spelling error in the last sentence is in the original CNN story, btw; I guess CNN'c editors have the same level of training as UN Nuclear inspectors)
That sound you hear is the NKs rolling on the ground in laughter. But don't despair! The One has set his laser-like focus on cash-for-clunkers...whilst Kim is focused on clash-from-bunkers.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:21 PM | Comments (3)
"What You Smell is What You Get"
"Burger King and piss and sweat."A slice of the delightful, HILARIOUS lyrics in this potty-mouthed anthem dedicated to striking UK subway workers.
I'd put that sucker up for a Grammy. A warm Swill salute to Wolf Howling for the find.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:27 PM | Comments (3)
What About All the Jobs at the Hefty Garbage Bag Factory?
All those scientists and technicians employed to make the next greatest, stretchiest, strongest tall kitchen cinch sack with self ties and odor control?
Rubbish 'banned'FOOD, glass and drinks cans could all be banned from our rubbish bins under government proposals to be outlined today.
Nobody cares about the lives of those evil-doers in a clean, green world.
And I used to laugh at the British penchant for over regulating...
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:32 AM | Comments (12)
Take Off, Eh!
To the Great White North
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The multiple frosts that have blanketed Western Canada in the last week are the most widespread in the top canola-growing province of Saskatchewan in at least five years, the Canola Council of Canada said on Tuesday.Two overnight frosts last week have already resulted in some Saskatchewan farmers reseeding their canola, a Canadian variant of rapeseed, said Jim Bessel, senior agronomy specialist in the province for the industry group Canola Council.
...In Manitoba, the frost is the worst in memory for its frequency and area covered, said Derwyn Hammond, the province's senior agronomy specialist for the Canola Council.
"Certainly (it's) the worst year I've seen," said Hammond, who has worked for the Canola Council for 15 years.
Reports of sightings of the Goreacle in Western Canada could not be independently confirmed.
Aside from the frosts.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:23 AM | Comments (1)
June 09, 2009
Quote of the Day
CNBC regular on the union's turning down the Boston Globe offer:
"They forgot the first rule of a parasite: NEVER kill the host."
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:18 PM | Comments (4)
Don't Bother Applying
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:11 PM | Comments (5)
Every Evening I Go to Bed, Thinking There's NOTHING Left Our Precedent Can Do to Shock Me
And EVERY freakin' morning, the SOB proves me wrong, bless his little pointy head. File this new jaw dropper under "You GOT to be shittin' me?!?!?!"
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Tuesday challenged Congress to pay for new increases in federal benefit programs as it goes rather than sink the nation deeper into a debt, calling it a matter of public responsibility. Republicans lashed back that Obama is no voice of fiscal restraint as the deficit soars.The president's plan would require Congress to pay for new entitlement spending, such as health care, by raising taxes or coming up with budget cuts — a "pay-as-you-go" system that would have the force of law. Under the proposal, if new spending or tax reductions are not offset, there would be automatic cuts in so-called mandatory programs — although Social Security payments and some other programs would be exempt.
Ohohohohoh, wait. I see.
..."It is no coincidence that this rule was in place when we moved from record deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s — and that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that doubled the national debt," Obama said, flanked at the White House by supportive Democratic lawmakers.
Bush did all this to us. I am at the point where I barely have any molars left in my head from the teeth gnashing that occurs every frickin' time I see his smug, pretentious mug on the telly. Which, of course, seems like it's fifty
And it's only been four months.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:00 PM | Comments (4)
Oh Yeah? Well My Plan...
...will save or create (in my mind) at least one trillion jobs
(CNN) -- As the nation's unemployment rate inches toward double-digit territory, the White House insists that job creation is on the way.Vice President Joe Biden on Monday is presenting to President Obama the "Roadmap to Recovery," a plan to accelerate the implementation of the $787 billion stimulus plan in its second 100 days.
Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February, vowing the program would create or save 3.5 million jobs. So far, 150,000 jobs have been saved or created by the plan -- fewer than that 345,000 jobs lost in May alone.
The White House says as a result of the expedited pace, the recovery plan will create or save more than 600,000 jobs in the second 100 days.
So there.
Notice how they say with a straight face that "So far, 150,000 jobs have been saved or created by the plan" even though there's absolutely no data to support this, and one might *think* that their very next line, "fewer than that(sic) 345,000 jobs lost in May alone", might make them maybe kind of sorta perhaps question the One's math.
But really, trust me on this: I will create or save, my option, One Trillion Jobs.
Or not.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:25 AM | Comments (4)
Damn You Chimpy!
Now you've stolen our Summer!
According to Long Range Expert Joe Bastardi, areas from the northern Plains into the Northeast will have a "year without a summer." The jet stream, which is suppressed abnormally south this spring, is also suppressing the number of thunderstorms that can form. The ones that do form in areas of the Ohio Valley and West are forming in places with very cold temperatures, which can lead to more electrified thunderstorms than normal this year.
Global Warming: It's Real.*
* but on Mars, not Earth.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:29 AM | Comments (3)
Why Is It A "Coup"...
...when Republicans in the NY Senate do it
COUP IN ALBANY: GOP Takes Over NY State Senate Malcolm Smith Ousted As Senate Majority Leader; Dems Turn Off Lights, Cut Internet Power In Attempt To Stop Coup Paterson Goes Ballistic: I'm Here To Stand Up For Democracy Reporting Marcia Kramer ALBANY (CBS) ―Who's in charge of New York?
That was the big question Monday night following a political standoff in Albany.
The Republicans said they pulled off a coup, snatching power away from the Senate majority, but the Democrats said it was illegal and that they're still in control of the Legislature.
And the whole thing has Gov. David Paterson lashing out at lawmakers.
It was a carefully crafted coup -- five weeks in the making, with independent Tom Golisano in on the plotting.
And when it was over Republican Sen. Dean Skelos of Rockville Center was back in power as Senate Majority Leader. Dumped was former Democratic leader Malcolm Smith.
but when Democrats in the US Senate do it it's a "courageous and wonderful display of our democracy in action"?
Just wonderin'.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:18 AM
June 08, 2009
Dear President Sarkozy
As an American citizen I am dreadfully embarrassed by my President's snub of you and your nation, one of our longest-standing allies.
While it may be of little consolation, please be aware that any time you and your Bride are in New York you have an open invitation to dine at our house.
It's the least I can do.
best regards,
Mr. Bingley
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:08 AM | Comments (19)
Good News From Europe
Labour takes it on the chin
Labour has suffered its worst post-war election result as it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats at Brussels.Labour's share of the vote at the European elections was just 15.3% - worse than party bosses had feared.
The Tories won with 28.6%, beating Labour in Wales but failing to increase their total share significantly.
The results have sent shockwaves through UK politics and led to renewed calls for Gordon Brown to quit as PM.
tick-tick-tick
You hear that Gordon? It's time to go.
(mind you, the BNP is not a party that I support)
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy led pro-business parties in defeating socialists in European Parliament elections, lessening the pressure for more stimulus measures to fight the deepest recession since World War II.Amid signs the economic slump is bottoming out, the continent’s top two leaders escaped the drubbing in European Union-wide elections that was handed to U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and socialists in smaller countries including Spain, Austria, Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia.
Boy Obama really has some wide coat-tails in Europe, doesn't he?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:20 AM | Comments (3)
June 07, 2009
That Took Some Nerve!
Bravo to Lebanese voters and may we support you against Hezbollah with everything we have.
BEIRUT — Lebanon's pro-Western coalition declared victory early Monday, as local television stations reported the faction had successfully fended off a serious challenge by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies to grab the majority in parliament.Official results for Sunday's election were not expected until later Monday, but the winners were already celebrating by shooting in the air, setting off fireworks and driving around in honking motorcades.
The election was an early test of President Obama's efforts to forge Middle East peace. A win by Hezbollah would have boosted the influence of its backers Iran and Syria and risked pushing one of the region's most volatile nations into international isolation and possibly into more conflict with Israel.
And I wouldn't say it's Obama's efforts, but a result of Bush's democracy mantra.
But, hey. Who are we kidding and this is no time to quibble.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:51 PM | Comments (4)
June 06, 2009
Some Holiday Celebrations Are Real
...quack ups. I won't miss it next year.
[June 5] Today is Dead Duck Day. Like last year, the short open-air ceremony is open to the public. Please come and commemorate the sudden and dramatic death of the mallard duck that entered the scientific literature as the first ever recorded victim of homosexual necrophila in this species, and discuss (new) ways to prevent birds from colliding with glass.
Wait...?! What's that you say? Dead ducks doing...what?
Sad, but true.
The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the
mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae)Moeliker, C.W., 2001 - The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos
(Aves: Anatidae) - DEINSEA 8: 243-247 [ISSN 0932-9308]. Published 9 November 2001
On 5 June 1995 an adult male mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) collided with the glass façade of the
Natuurmuseum Rotterdam and died. An other drake mallard raped the corpse almost continuously
for 75 minutes. Then the author disturbed the scene and secured the dead duck. Dissection
showed that the rape-victim indeed was of the male sex. It is concluded that the mallards were
engaged in an ‘Attempted Rape Flight’ that resulted in the first described case of homosexual
necrophilia in the mallard.
Almost sounds like the result of a grant from the NEA, doesn't it?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:56 PM | Comments (6)
June 05, 2009
Stoopid Saturday Video
...late Friday evening. It's only 18 seconds.
Go ahead, cowards.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:05 PM | Comments (9)
Obama's Rebuilding That Overseas Love...
...One dinner snub at a time
The Obamas turn up in Paris this evening, but have declined a dinner invitation from the couple next door: the Sarkozys.President Obama’s reluctance to spend more than minimum time with the French leader on his visit for the D-Day anniversary has come as an embarrassment to the Elysée Palace.
America’s First Family will not be dining with President Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, even though they are staying at the residence of the US Ambassador, yards from the Elysée apartments where the Sarkozys spend their weekends.
Mr Sarkozy’s staff were trying yesterday to arrange another private moment between the couples. Mr Obama is due to fly back to Washington tomorrow night or on Sunday.
Good gawd almighty, this guy is the most arrogant SOB we've ever had.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:14 PM | Comments (12)
You Know I Love You Guys Dearly
But I am somewhat disappointed that no one (and I'm looking at you, Ken) has gotten the pun yet in my Music Theory post from a few months ago:
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:36 AM | Comments (9)
Sunday Dinner
I've been quite merrily working my way through the NY Strips from last month, very very tough work, let me tell you...the sacrifices I make for you guys.
Anyhow, as the weather was quite lurvly on Sunday I decided to use the bottom of my WSM as my own little Smokey Joe kettle to grill the steaks over charcoal. After many months of me begging my local Imbibery has finally stocked one of my all-time fav wines
The Mondavi Carneros Pinot Noir is, for about $18, a simply lovely wine. It has very nice fruit and structure and as close to a burgundian flavor as I've found in an American pinot under $30. Buy it if you see it.
I wanted to see how much I could cram on the grill; I think 3 NY Strips and 4 ears of corn fit nicely
The nice thing about this ad-hoc kettle is that the grill itself was easy to spin so I could control the cook pretty easily by having the coals piled against one side of the bowl. This gave me both direct and indirect cooking.
Served along with a batch of oven-roasted rosemary/thyme/sea salt spuds (and another bottle of wine, natch) it was a very satisfactory way to end the weekend.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:30 AM | Comments (3)
Oy
The French government expressed deep disappointment Friday over the news that ocean debris recovered by the Brazilian military this week appeared to be the remains of a shipwreck and not from an Air France jet that crashed in the South Atlantic on MondayCrap. And if THAT'S true, who were the poor guys on the boat?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:25 AM
With major dad, I've Always Known I Was Lucky Enough to Have Snagged (From His Cradle, Mind You)
...an époux extraordinairement. Wednesday night, without quibble or whimper, not only did he take me out for a divine dinner, he willingly sat in the theater through the re-release of one of my all-time favorite movies. An utter and complete chick flick.
And, as if that wasn't enough, do you know what he did last night? Do YA?!?!
After noting that Polly Walker was HOT, he told me...he had really enjoyed the movie.
Guy's a keeper.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:59 AM | Comments (2)
Patton's Speech
via our friends at Babalu as he really gave it, 65 years ago today
Be seated.Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.
You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.
When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser.
Americans despise cowards.
Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he’s not, he’s a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are.
The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He Men and they are He Men.
Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen.
All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call ‘chicken-shit drilling.’ That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don’t give a fuck for a man who’s not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn’t be here. You are ready for what’s to come. A man must be alert at all times if he expects to stay alive. If you’re not alert, sometime, a German son-of-an-asshole-bitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you to death with a sock full of shit!
There are four-hundred neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily, all because one man went to sleep on the job. But they are German graves, because we caught the bastard asleep before they did.
An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team.
This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about fucking! We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we’re going up against. By God, I do.
My men don’t surrender, and I don’t want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back That’s not just bullshit either. The kind of man that I want in my command is just like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Luger against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand, and busted the hell out of the Kraut with his helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German before they knew what the hell was coming off. And, all of that time, this man had a bullet through a lung. There was a real man!
All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain.
What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn’t like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, ‘Hell, they won’t miss me, just one man in thousands.’ But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like?
No, Goddamnit, Americans don’t think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war.
The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn’t a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the ‘G.I. Shits.’
Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don’t want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men.
One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, ‘Fixing the wire, Sir.’ I asked, ‘Isn’t that a little unhealthy right about now?’ He answered, ‘Yes Sir, but the Goddamned wire has to be fixed.’ I asked, ‘Don’t those planes strafing the road bother you?’ And he answered, ‘No, Sir, but you sure as hell do!’ Now, there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds.
And you should have seen those trucks on the road to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over forty consecutive hours. These men weren’t combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable.
Don’t forget, you men don’t know that I’m here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I’m not supposed to be commanding this Army. I’m not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the Goddamned Germans. Some day I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, ‘Jesus Christ, it’s the Goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton.’
We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple-pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too — before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit.
Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I’d shoot a snake!
When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don’t dig foxholes. I don’t want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don’t give the enemy time to dig one either. We’ll win this war, but we’ll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we’ve got more guts than they have; or ever will have.
We’re not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we’re going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You’ve got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it’s the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you’ll know what to do!
I don’t want to get any messages saying, ‘I am holding my position.’ We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy’s balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time.
Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!
From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don’t give a good Goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that.
There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won’t have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, ‘Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.’ No, Sir. You can look him straight in the eye and say, ‘Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!’
That is all.
That beats the living shit out of anything we've heard from The One.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:09 AM | Comments (5)
Barack O Borg?
"Resistance is futile."
(image from GraniteGrok)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:44 AM
As We Honor The Veterans Of D-Day
Let us not forget what happened on these very same days in June two years earlier:
Midway.
We can never thank you glorious guys enough.
(via Ace)
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:21 AM | Comments (2)
June 04, 2009
Quote of the Day
..."In the interest of full disclosure," he added, "this did happen shortly after a waterboarding endurance competition, and just before a clothespins-on-your-genitals challenge."
And they claim Gitmo is torturous...
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:29 PM | Comments (2)
Now That's Gotta Hurt
A federal judge says deep-sea explorers based in Florida should give 17 tons of shipwreck treasure back to Spain.Odyssey Marine Exploration said Thursday it will fight a federal magistrate judge's recommendation that the estimated $500 million in silver coins and other 19th century artifacts go to the Spanish government.
Talk about a booty call...
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:58 AM | Comments (14)
14 Minutes Of Terror
Oh my gosh, what a nightmare
At 11 p.m. (10 p.m. EDT), pilot Marc Dubois sent a manual signal saying he was flying through an area of "CBs" -- black, electrically charged cumulonimbus clouds that carry violent winds and lightning.Satellite data show that the thunderheads -- towering up to 50,000 feet -- were sending 100 mph updrafts into the jet's flight path.
"Such an updraft would lead to severe turbulence for any aircraft," AccuWeather said.
"In addition, the storms were towering up to 50,000 feet and would have been producing lightning. The Air France plane would have encountered these stormy conditions, which could have resulted in either some structural failure or electrical failure."
At 11:10 p.m., a cascade of horrific problems began.
Automatic messages relayed by the jetliner indicate the autopilot had disengaged, suggesting Dubois and his two co-pilots were trying to thread their way through the dangerous clouds manually.
A key computer system had switched to alternative power and controls needed to keep the plane stable had been damaged.
An alarm sounded, indicating the deterioration of flight systems.
At 11:13 p.m., more automatic messages reported the failure of systems to monitor air speed, altitude and direction. Control of the main flight computer and wing spoilers also failed.
The last automatic message, at 11:14 p.m., indicated complete electrical failure and a massive loss of cabin pressure -- catastrophic events, indicating that the plane was breaking apart and plunging toward the ocean.
If there's any consolation to be found it's that at that altitude they would have fallen unconscious within 30 seconds or so once the cabin lost pressure.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:52 AM | Comments (9)
Twenty Years Ago Today
It seems like yesterday.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:35 AM | Comments (4)
Will The Last One Out Of Downing Street...
...please turn off the lights?
In a move that left the Prime Minister fighting for his political future, rebels claimed that as many as 50 Labour MPs were prepared to put their names to an email demanding that he step down.Details of what party insiders described as an attempted “cyber coup” emerged after his authority was dealt a potentially critical blow by the resignation of Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary.
It's been frankly mind-boggling watching the disintegration of Parliament brought on by this expensing scandal; if only such a thing could happen here and we could clean house in DC!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:53 AM
June 03, 2009
Now THAT Is Government at Work!
Well, shit howdy ~ something useful this way comes. I Googled me a question:
What the F*CK are these frickin' bubbles doing in my manicure?!?!?!
...and Uncle Sam answered.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:24 PM | Comments (9)
From Our Hidden Camera In D.C.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:18 PM | Comments (2)
The Spelling Bee
...REALLY bad on these.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:58 PM | Comments (2)
Allahzeimers
It's that crippling disease that causes you to forget you were a Muslim.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:20 PM | Comments (1)
If the Precedent Wasn't So Preoccupied With Posing in the Mirror and Our Being a "Muslim" Nation
...he might just have time to be pissed about these puny efforts to thwart his masterful plans.
The federal circuit court granted a request by a group of Indiana pension funds that hold a small portion of Chrysler's secured debt to "stay" the sale order to allow the circuit court to hear the expedited appeal.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:05 AM
Obama Won't Release Memos Showing What We Learned From Terrorists...
...but he will release the secret list of all our nuclear sites and facilities potentially to terrorists
The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an online newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document had been made public.
...David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation, said information that shows where nuclear fuels are stored “can provide thieves or terrorists inside information that can help them seize the material, which is why that kind of data is not given out.”
The information, considered confidential but not classified, was assembled for transmission later this year to the International Atomic Energy Agency as part of a process by which the United States is opening itself up to stricter inspections in hopes that foreign countries, especially Iran and others believed to be clandestinely developing nuclear arms, will do likewise.
"...in hopes that foreign countries...will do likewise." Yes, pointing out where you store your jewels and valuables in your house has long been known to be a deterrent to thieves.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:53 AM | Comments (2)
June 02, 2009
Saturday Dinner
I was in the mood for shrimp and scallops...but somehow this seems to be a bit beyond the word "shrimp"
Geeze Luise those things were ginormous. So I took four of them and plopped them in a big honking ziplock along with about a pound of scallops, fresh lime juice (four limes' worth), a splash of olive oil, some red pepper flakes and about a tablespoon of curry powder. I let them marinate for about 45 minutes (with the fresh lime juice that's about the max; any longer and the seafood will start to ceviche-fy), flipping and squishing constantly to get all the tasties spread about then popped those babies on the grill for just a couple of minutes per side
served with some twice-baked spuds I made earlier in the day (and some green thing that is required by the Government) it made for a tasty meal.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:44 PM | Comments (5)
How Do You Say "Hummer"...
...in Mandarin?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors Corp. has signed a deal to sell its Hummer truck unit to a Chinese industrial company, a person with knowledge of the deal said Tuesday.The news comes a day after GM (GMGMQ) filed for bankruptcy in New York. The company did not identify the buyer nor name a price, saying only that the deal would close by the end of September.
But a source identified the buyer as Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd. in China.
Your tax dollars at work.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:50 PM | Comments (12)
The Wine Dark Sea
Those poor poor folks
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Search planes scoured the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, looking for the remains of an Air France jetliner that disappeared in a storm with 228 people on board.The Airbus A330 went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there was little chance of finding any survivors.
France and Brazil sent military aircraft and ships to try to locate wreckage between Brazil and West Africa.
Brazilian carrier TAM said the crew of one of its planes saw "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean. But Brazil's air force said a merchant ship in the area found no signs of burning debris from the Air France jet.
Aside from some automated reports saying there were electrical failures and perhaps one saying there was a loss of pressure, there was nothing.
Horrible.
UPDATE: Some wreckage may have been found
(CNN) -- Wreckage has been found in the Atlantic Ocean that could have come from a missing Air France jet that disappeared Monday with 228 passengers and crew on board, Brazilian aviation officials said Tuesday.
Americans Anne and Michael Harris, who lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were aboard the flight.Floating objects and seats were found 720 kilometers (447 miles) from the island of Fernando de Noronha, said Brazilian Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral.
The search will continue but there is not enough material to officially say this is the wreckage from Flight 447, Maral said.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:02 AM | Comments (9)
The "New" Math
...Spokesman Robert Gibbs, keeping the White House press corps in stiches, as he always does, said the Obamas would have preferred using a commercial airline shuttle to New York and back, but the Secret Service would not allow such unprotected travel (ba da bing).And that was that. No further probing; asked and answered; time to move on.
Giving lie to:
..."You can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas, or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
Yes, we CAN!!
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:19 AM | Comments (3)
It's Always Dicey to Invite Someone to Your Party
...who enjoys hurting your feelings.
In a new overture to Iran, the Obama administration has authorized U.S. embassies around the world to invite Iranian officials to Independence Day parties they host on or around July 4th.A State Department cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates late last week said that U.S. diplomats could ask their Iranian counterparts to attend the festivities, which generally feature speeches about American values, fireworks, hot dogs and hamburgers.
This guy just kills me.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:52 AM | Comments (5)
June 01, 2009
Here's Something Else That Is Not Good
The dollar is in the toilet. Some are calling it "the next crisis" and I'd agree. Of course, we can all take comfort in the fact that the Most Smartest Treasury Department Ever, led by Noted Tax Cheat Timmeh Geithner, is confuzzled by what's going on
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is studying significant moves in the U.S. government bond market last week that could have big implications for the central bank's strategy to combat the country's recession.But the Fed is not really sure what is driving the sharp rise in long-dated bond yields, and especially a widening gap between short and long term yields.
Do rising U.S. Treasury yields and a steepening yield curve suggest an economic recovery is more certain, meaning less need for safe haven government bonds and a healthy demand for credit? If so, there might be less need for the Fed to expand the money supply by buying more U.S. Treasuries.
Or does the steepening yield curve mean investors are worried about the deterioration in the U.S. fiscal outlook, or the potential for a collapse in the U.S. dollar as the Fed floods the world with newly minted currency as part of its quantitative easing program. This might be an argument to augment to step up asset purchases.
Ever get the feeling that Treasury relies more on their Magic 8 ball than anything else?
There's this bold and innovative new theory out there that says when you insanely increase the supply of something its value goes down. Pretty cutting edge, eh?
And when you spend far far more than you can possibly take in the 'easy' way out of it is for you to print lots more money and inflate your way back.
Everything old is new again
Last week, I delivered a message on inflation. Since then, the dollar has dropped in value, the stock market has sustained record losses, and the whole sale price index increased 0.9%. In other words, our economic system is screwed, blued and tattooed! We just have to face the fact that there is simply no way to fight inflation in a capitally-intensive, highly-technological, conflict-riddled, anything-for-a-thrill world of today. That's why, tonight, I want you to try to look for in inflation, an entirely new word: Inflation is our friend.For example, consider this: in the year 2000, if current trends continue, the average blue-collar annual wage in this country will be $568,000. Think what this inflated world of the future will mean - most Americans will be millionaires. Everyone will feel like a bigshot. Wouldn't you like to own a $4,000 suit, and smoke a $75 cigar, drive a $600,000 car? I know I would! But what about people on fixed incomes? They have always been the true victims of inflation. That's why I will present to Congress the "Inflation Maintenance Program", whereby the U.S. Treasury will make up any inflation-caused losses to direct tax rebates to the public in cash. Then you may say, "Won't that cost a lot of money? Won't that increase the deficit?" Sure it will! But so what? We'll just print more money! We have the papers, we have the mints.. I can just call up the Bureau of Engraving and say, "Hi! This is Jimmy. Roll out some of them twenties! Print up a couple thousand sheets of those Century Notes!" Sure, all these dollars will cause even more inflation, but who cares? Everyone will be a millionaire!
In my speech last week, I said that America would have to undergo an austerity program, but since this revolutionary new approach welcomes inflation, our economy will be free to grow, and we can spend, spend, spend! I believe the watchwords for the 80's should be "Let's Party!"
Can anyone tell me there's a serious difference between this and Treasury's policy?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:32 AM | Comments (1)
BREAKING: Air France Flight "Drops Off Radar"
This is not good
(CNN) -- A French passenger aircraft carrying 228 people has disappeared from radar off the coast of Brazil, airline officials say.Air France told CNN the jet was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris when it vanished.
Update: Early reports
Initial indications were that the plane, an Airbus A330, encountered severe turbulence off the coast of Brazil, people who were briefed on the situation said Monday. They said they did not know whether this contributed to the plane’s disappearance.
Air France said in a statement the plane sent an automatic message reporting an electrical short-circuit at 0214 GMT, roughly 15 minutes after flying into the turbulence.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:19 AM | Comments (5)