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August 31, 2006

Bush Is Not A Nazi, Really

My wonderful bride is a much better Net surfer than I am, and she is always finding these very interesting sites that I never have seen. Last night she showed me German Joys, and this post where the author, who is no big fan of his, gives a clear example of what life might be like if GWB really was a Nazi.

As the Man says, read the whole thing, but also read the comments, as it's always entertaining to see the goofy comments that appear in support of the Bushymcchimpyhitler meme.

*link fixed. I am a moron.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:26 AM | Comments (13)

August 30, 2006

A Feast For A Grim Milestone™

Well, ok, it's probably not much of a feast, but no matter! Tonight we join hands with our Swilling friend Tim Blair and celebrate 1000 Days of Plastic Turkey lore! Tim has honored the occasion with a a Turkey Roll of Fame for those who have done much to promote this tale; I took it upon myself to come up with ways to actually cook plastic turkeys, and serve them to my familly.

But first, what to drink? I was wandering around the liquor store the other day when I saw this:

My friends, you must all buy this wine. A lot of it. allow me to quote the label:

Patriot Red, Australian Red Wine

A toast to the Patriots of America and Australia

United in the pursuit of Freedom, Liberty and Justice

We raise our glass to you!

Blended by Simon Gilbert Wines, Apple Tree Flat, Mudgee, Australia. It only cost $9 and it was quite tasty. Buy this wine! Don't you question my patriotism; Drink it!

Now, on to the food! For the main course, I thought I'd try some grilled plastic Turkey with olives, pineapple and red pepper strips:

Update: Dessert is ready!

Dang, it's getting hot out here:

Hmm, I don't like my plastic Turkey medium rare, so we better let it go a little while longer

Well, I'll just have some more wine and chat with my beloved Bride in the kitchen. Oh shit! Look at the time! Better go check on dinner...

Oops...

Good thing my Gobbler Gulag™ hasn't been raided yet by those damn Plastic Edible Turkey Advocates!

Yo quiero Taco Plastico!

Mmmmm, tasty!

Now what to have for dessert...

Yum-yum!

Plastic turkey jello!

Boy! That hits the spot!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:00 PM | Comments (13)

CNN Gets Racy

With headlines like this:

Police: Throbbing artery gave polygamist away

I bet that throbbing artery was the source of all his trouble...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:44 PM

Differing Standards?

What would happen to you if the following was found in your car:

FBI officials said at a press conference Tuesday that [he] was found with $54,000 in cash, numerous gift cards worth an additional $10,000, 15 cell phones, four portable radios, four laptop computers, a global positioining system device, a police scanner, several pairs of sunglasses and three wigs.

First off, "positioining"? The AP and MSNBC don't have friggin' spell check (CNN doesn't even try to spell it; they just say "GPS device")? Anyhow, if you're the leader of a Mormon Sect in Nevada and Utah they think about giving you bail. Somehow I don't think that would be an option in my case.

This wacko polygamist guy is a real scumbag, and I hope they put him away for a long long time.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:39 AM | Comments (11)

A New Ward Petition

Just when you thought he had disappeared, the Ivory Toweristas have come up with a petition in support of poor Ward Churchill.

I'm sorry, that's "Courageous Professor Ward Churchill."

My bad.

The actions of the University of Colorado in this case constitute a serious threat to academic freedom.

Is that the freedom to lie? The freedom to be hired solely because you claimed (falsely, it seems) to have the desired ethnic blood?

They indicate that public controversy is dangerous and potentially lethal to the careers of those who engage it.

No, they hopefully show that lying to get your job, and being promoted way over your head or qualifications (only a Masters degree from a school whose name he even misspells on his website), will someday come around and bite you and the racist fools who hired you very publically in the ass; and that can only be a good thing.

They suggest that professors—tenured and untenured alike—serve at the pleasure of politicians and pundits.

No, they suggest that these people should be -gasp- actually qualified.

They call into question standards of scholarship and peer review at Colorado 's flagship institution.

This I actually agree with. Who the hell was on the tenure committee for Churchill? Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do!

They endanger not only those scholars working in that area where historical inquiry, critical social commentary, and political activism intersect—an area that defines the true locus of academic freedom in an open and democratic society—but also those historically disenfranchised "others" who are struggling to have their perspectives and programs represented in, and legitimized by, the academic mainstream.

Here's the whole crux, isn't it? There's no mention of that nasty little word 'truth' in that statement, is there? Just a fear-mongering cry of 'how dare you question what I'm doing!' Well, I will because I'm, you know, paying for it, and because, well you're inventing facts, etc. Just because you have a 'theory' and you want to 'study' it doesn't make it right. Academics should be seeking the truth, not "struggling" to have every "perspective legitimized".

Thus, for a variety of reasons that go well beyond the scholarship and politics of a particular individual, we urge the University of Colorado to reverse its decision to fire Professor Ward Churchill.

PS - And for [insert your deity of choice here]'s sake please do not allow them to look into my research!

UPDATE: A Swill Salute to Pirate Ballerina for their most excellent petition.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:56 AM | Comments (8)

New MSM Definition: "Jitters"

"Jitters" is defined as "feelings which cause one to hop in an SUV and run down Jews."

See? Isn't that simple? No jihad here folks, move right along.

Of course, we get the required “He is a very good person. He is not like that. What’s wrong with him?” from the AP report.

I'm sure the NYT will have a story today telling us about "Young Omeed, known as a quiet man with a quick, warm smile, who often was seen helping kittens out of trees."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:16 AM | Comments (1)

It's Not Exactly A Tiger In Your Tank...

High prices when you pump sucking you dry? Well, the ladies of the brothel in Australia will get you a discount on your gas bill:

SYDNEY - Hot and bothered by rising pump prices? Australian brothels are offering clients discounts based on their gas bills.

Brothel owners claim the system works much the same way as supermarkets which offer shoppers discounted gas prices by presenting their grocery bills when they fill up their tanks.

“If you come in and spend time with one of our lovely ladies, we’ll give you a discount of 20 cents a litter,” Kerry, manager of Sydney brothel The Site, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:43 AM | Comments (6)

Police Pot In Duluth

I think Bill's take on this story is exactly right:

"A joker". Yeah, right. The mere presence of these plants is proof that the Duluth police are running a marijuana distribution ring. They should be required to prove in court that they were not growing the plants for illicit purposes, and they must prove that all their assets were not purchased with drug money. If they cannot do this, the Duluth Police Department should be forced to forfeit all their assets under the asset forfeiture laws the rest of us are subject to.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:39 AM

August 29, 2006

Scotland, Part 3: Up To Inverness

I am a silly man. Anyone who knows me will readily vouch for that, as will many who hardly know me. But I am exceedingly blessed in my Bride, who indulges in my silliness, and this drive was one such occasion. I like to play on my PS2, and one of my favorite games is a racing game called TOCA Racedriver 2. A silly name, I agree, but a great game, especially the online component. One of my favorite tracks in the race is called "Loch Rannoch"...which happens to be a real Loch that was not too far out of our way up to Inverness! How could I resist? Yes, yes, yes; it's very sad that I plan part of my vacation to visit a spot I only know of from a freakin' video game. As I said, I am a silly man.

Anyhow, so the Bride agreed and we turned off of the A-9 onto the road towards Loch Rannoch. Well, I guess it was a road. It was paved, but really only about a lane and a half wide, and it followed the course of an old sheep track. Seriously. Any road that is not a highway in Scotland goes up and down and over and around every little contour and dell in the land. Every corner was a blind corner, and I had all of 1 hour's experience sitting on the wrong side of a car and driving on the wrong side of the road. Oh, and it was raining. Luckily, about halfway there there was a place called "Queen's View" which looked out over Loch Tummel. There's some dispute over which particular Queen has dibs here; certainly Victoria visited here (and she was amused by the View, btw) but Mary may have as well. Regardless, the view was lovely:

Suitably refreshed, we hopped back into the car for the drive to Rannoch, which looked quite raw and foreboding when we finally arrived

But completely satisfying nonetheless. There's quite a swanky resort on the shores of Loch Rannoch, if you're ever in the area. I have to admit that the Loch didn't look quite like it did in the game...

I was getting the hang of this left-drive thing, so the trip back took much less time than the trip in, and as I turned back onto the main road leading onto the A-9 I heard this discreet cough next to me and a calm voice said "Drive on the left dear." Oops! No harm, no foul...

Next on the agenda and quite near by was Blair Castle, home of Atholl royalty. Man, does the 4th grader in me love that family name! I just want to shout out "Yo, Atholl!"

Anyhow, it's a spiffy looking place

and it comes with a built-in piper!

But sadly, like every other place of antiquity, there's no photography inside. Trust me when I say that it's worth a visit, as they have tons and tons of 17th and 18th century muskets on the walls, lots of neat paintings and tapestries, and a dining room that serves haggis sausage that is to die for.

Or from.

(We're still working that out.)

Continuing northwards we had a date at Leault Farm to see a working demonstration of sheepdogs herding...sheep, oddly enough. It's set in a lovely valley

The dogs were adorable and sweet

And the sheep were, well, sheep.

It was amazing how the dogs responded to the shepherd's commands and whistles. Each dog had it's own name and pitch that he would play on his whistle, and then he would play a few notes to indicate each command that the dogs were to carry out. He could get the dogs all to lie together whilst a few gathered the sheep close by

Notice the dogs lying in a widely spaced line. With a few whistles he got them to lay still and the other dogs weaved the sheep in and about the line line they were on a parade ground

And then he got the dogs to do the same sort of herding with ducks

It's amazing how much of this is instinct, as one of the dogs was only 12 weeks old yet was already learning and carrying out commands.

Just to make sure we emptied our pockets when the souveniers were offered they soon brought out the puppies, and of course Daughter fell hopelessly in love with one

It was a nice glimpse into a way of life that has all but disappeared.

We then drove up to Inverness and took a short detour to Culloden. Wow, what a sad, moody place. They have markers all about the battlefield showing you the disposition of the forces

And there are stone markers showing where the various clansmen are buried

It was a misty, overcast, windy day when we got there, late in the afternoon, and my god I swear you could hear the souls crying out of the swampy heather

The battle was a complete slaughter of the Jacobites, and the English showed no mercy. They've restored this house to as it looked during the battle

They had to restore it because after the battle 30 or so wounded Jacobites sought refuge in it, and the house was then burned to the ground...wars were fought to be won back then.

Well, the light was failing and night was fast approaching, so we figured what better place to visit then the 4,000 year old Bronze Age burial ground that was only about two miles away?

I'm pretty sure I'll never get to Egypt, but to walk around these 4,000 year old ruins, which are still in pretty darn good shape, was as cool as could be. They're tucked under these gorgeous big old trees, near the banks of the River Nairn, and well worth the visit. It's a rare treat for us gringos to be near something that just reeks of old.

And that was Sunday.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:00 PM | Comments (8)

Ernesto, Schmesto

Wake Island is going to get pounded by Holy Schmokey Ioke:

Classified as a Category 5 "super typhoon," Ioke is expected to extensively damage the U.S. territory when it hits Wednesday with 155-mph winds, said Jeff Powell, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

"This is going to roll up a storm surge that will probably submerge the island and destroy everything that's not made of concrete," Powell said.

Ouch.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:01 AM | Comments (5)

For Ken

I ain't much of a memer, but since it's Ken we're talking about I'll make an exception:

1) A book that changed my life:
The Bible. Has it turned me into a street corner preacher? No, but it has helped me to change some of my ways.

2) A book I've read more than once:
The Star's My Destination by Alfred Bester

3) A book I'd take to a desert island:
LOTR

4) A book that made me laugh:
"Crusade" by David Weber and Steve White

5) A book that made me cry:
"Iron Horse", a biography of Lou Gehrig. I'm a sap.

6) A book I wish had been written:
"Damn. Ronnie Was Right After All" by the Democratic National Committee
or maybe
"My Undying Love For Bingley" by Paulina Porizkova...

7) A book that should never have been written:
Rousseau's The Social Contract
"Noble Savage" my left nut.

8) A book I'm currently reading:
"Gengis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World" by Jack Weatherford

9) A book I'm planning to read:
Jeesh, whatever catches my eye; there's no telling what that might be.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:11 AM | Comments (4)

August 28, 2006

They Said He Said It...

...and they've got the tape to prove it. I heard it differently, but then...I worked around airplanes.

Video courtesy of al-Reuters.
In the interest of complete disclosure: EBOLA SENT THIS TO ME.

(There's your credit, you miserable little puke.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:24 PM | Comments (2)

Tajiika...Komikaa...Pateeka...

Freakin' enough alreadystan!

You try.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:48 PM | Comments (9)

The UN Shows Its True Colors

There's an amazing article in the latest Weekly Standard that, if it is accurate, should remove all doubt on where the UN stands:

DURING THE RECENT month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel, U.N. "peacekeeping" forces made a startling contribution: They openly published daily real-time intelligence, of obvious usefulness to Hezbollah, on the location, equipment, and force structure of Israeli troops in Lebanon.

UNIFIL--the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, a nearly 2,000-man blue-helmet contingent that has been present on the Lebanon-Israel border since 1978--is officially neutral. Yet, throughout the recent war, it posted on its website for all to see precise information about the movements of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers and the nature of their weaponry and materiel, even specifying the placement of IDF safety structures within hours of their construction. New information was sometimes only 30 minutes old when it was posted, and never more than 24 hours old.

Meanwhile, UNIFIL posted not a single item of specific intelligence regarding Hezbollah forces. Statements on the order of Hezbollah "fired rockets in large numbers from various locations" and Hezbollah's rockets "were fired in significantly larger numbers from various locations" are as precise as its coverage of the other side ever got.

Now, one must pause a little when the byline is by someone who is "president of the Zionist Organization of America, Greater Philadelphia District," but after a little digging I found the documents she is refering to here, and they bear out her story. The UN is supplying up-to-date intelligence on IDF movements.

Disgusting.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:30 PM

Katherine Harris Is An Idjit

Ok, so that's not the most brilliant of insights, but I mean, really, what else can one say after this:

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is "a lie" and God and the nation's founding fathers did not intend the country be "a nation of secular laws."

The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will "legislate sin," including abortion and gay marriage.

Harris made the comments -- which she clarified Saturday -- in the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, which interviewed political candidates and asked them about religion and their positions on issues.

Separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told," Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is "wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

God does not choose our leaders; he gives us the free will to choose them for ourselves, for better or worse, and to render unto our Caesers what is theirs. Christians are in their core just as sinful as non-christians; our hope lies in confessing our sins and in Christ's salvation. The Founding fathers, whatever their spiritual views, most certainly did intend our nation to ruled by secular laws. The laws may or may not be based on moral precepts from christian scripture, but they most certainly are meant to be applied across the board without regard to the religion (or lack thereof) of the citizenry.

I wonder how many dimpled chads we'd find between her ears?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:25 PM | Comments (5)

Scotland Part 2: Zoo Britannia

The next day we decided to go to the Edinburgh Zoo in the morning and then take a bus out to see the Royal Yacht Britannia in the afternoon.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Zoo. I won't bore you with too many details, but it was quite lovely and sort of meanders on this hillside on the edge of town...and it was empty. That was odd, really. Here it was a beautiful Saturday morning, bright sunshine in Scotland even, and there was nobody there.

Who would have thought we'd run into Ken?

This was the weirdest little beastie. It would just run back and forth and then stick its butt way up this tree and mark...back and forth, constantly.

But then we saw it's name, and it all became clear

No Scent For Oil!

A little further on we happened on the Zoo's security system

Anyhow, after 3 hours of hearing Daughter squeal "It's so cuuuuuuuute!" at

Every

Single

Animal

we reckoned it was time to hop on the bus back into town, grab some lunch, and then hop back onto another bus to head out to Leith and see HMY Britannia.

So we did.

This was actually a great way to get a cheap tour of the city. Edinburgh only has 400,000 or so folks living there, but during August when the Fringe Festival is going on there are over a million tourists and performers and hangers-on there at any given time. It's insane, really. And they are all clustered about the Royal Mile for the most part. Sheila would absolutely love it, as everywhere you go there are street performers and hawkers for performances shouting out. We ran into troupes from all over the world up there, from High School groups from the States to dance troupes from Asia. Insane. So it was nice to get away from that and actually see more residential areas of the city from the bus out to Leith.

I've been in a lot of cities, and I have to say that the areas we went through, especially as we got closer to the port, which are traditionally the rougher areas of most cities, really didn't look that bad. Every place we saw seemed fairly clean and reasonably well kept up, and it was nice to see the residents going about their normal lives. There was a Hibernian match that day, and our bus took us near the stadium, and it was neat to see all these green-bedecked folks getting on the bus, chatting amongst themselves in that pre-game excitement before they hopped off to have a few at the many over-flowing-with-fans pubs we passed.

It also was comforting to see kids who were, oh, 10 or so, getting on the bus in pairs but unaccompanied by an adult. I know the crime rate in the UK is far higher then in the states, and it was nice to find out that here at least parents felt good enough to let their kids go to the mall without too much fear. Yes, I said 'mall', for that's where Britannia was moored, permantly attached to a mall. Not a bad idea, actually. It pays for the upkeep and ensures a steady stream of visitors, and the mall is there to merrily drain more pounds from you after you tour the yacht...pounds from your wallet, not your waist, sadly.

Touring the yacht (it seems a bit much to refer to something that is over 400 feet long as a 'yacht'...Thurston Howell 3rd eat your heart out!) takes a bit of time:

You start out on the top deck and loop around then go back off one gangway and down a flight of stairs and back on another gangway, wash, rinse and repeat:

One of the more interesting decks was the main deck on the stern for the royal family:

The teak was scrubbed every day, but it had to be done silently by sailors who were not wearing their caps. This was so because as this made the sailors technically out of uniform then the royals didn't have to return the sailor's salutes and thus wear out the royal elbows. Mind you, the sailors had to salute and stare straight ahead anytime a royal was about.

The main dining room was larger than my house:

I imagine the claymore behind the head of the table came in handy when the roast wasn't done quite right.

You can actually rent the dining room for private functions, as Britannia was decommissioned in 1997, if you're looking for that special place for your next soire.

Now, having a 400' yacht is nice and all, but how does one get one's royal personna from the yacht onto shore? Simple, really: you hop in your 40' 'barge' that you always carry onboard for just that purpose:

They had a neat picture from the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994 which gives you an idea of the size of Britannia

That's the QE2 in the backround.

Anyhow, she is a very interesting ship, and the tour tells lots of stories about life for her crew that seem just, well, odd I guess to American ears, but they are justifyably proud of her, and she is well worth the visit.

Shallow person that I am, however, I am forced to admit that the highlight of the day for me was afterwards in the gift shop, when I came upon this:

Hehehe.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:39 AM | Comments (6)

August 27, 2006

Scotland, Part 1: Spot 23

Well, I've congealed a lot of the nearly 400 photos I took, so here's the first part of the trip. I'm putting most of the pictures below the fold so as not to tie up the bandwidth of folks who ain't interested.

I have to say the nice thing about flying right after a terror plot is busted is that the over-head bins are completely empty. It's nice to get on a plane and not be assaulted by feisty travellers who define "two carry-on items" as "a large purse, a large bag, a medium sized wheeled suitcase, a garment bag, and a laptop case." Gawd, those people bug the beejebus out of me. Anyhow, there was none of that on this trip. No lipbalm either, come to think of it, which was a bit of a drag; you know the terrorists have won when they take away Chapstick!

After many hours over the Atlantic we landed in Edinburgh and grabbed a cab into town and this street

where our hotel was. This street looked exactly as I thought it would, with all these cool tract-townhouse thingies curling off into the distance. But what the hell is up with all those cars parking on the wrong side of the street?

My bride correctly figured we needed to get our clocks set correctly, so as soon as we were checked in we took a tour of the Royal Mile area, both to get our minds acclimated to the place and to keep ourselves awake until we could go to bed at a reasonable time at night so that our bodies would get used to the new time zone, as well. And it was during lunch that I stumbled upon the insidious secret that enables the UK to continue to exist and its demonic symbol was everywhere: £. Seriously. You get off the plane all foggy brained, and you see a lunch menu where the entrees are priced at "10" and you think "well, 10 bucks, that's a touch much for a ham and cheese sandwhich, but what the heck, we're on vacation, so eat up kids" and you don't realise that the price is in pounds, not dollars, and you're now spending almost $19 for a sandwhich that seems to be made solely of butter. Food is incredibly expensive, and all I can say is thank God I lost my credit card at the airport before we left so that my Bride had to pick up all the meal tabs...in fact, she had to pay for everything. Woo-hoo! Am I the King, or what?

Anyhow, the next day we strolled down Princes Street on our way to the Castle and saw lots of these

Double-deckers are very cool, and they really are the best way to get around town, and by far the cheapest. You can get an all day fare for under $5 (£2.30, I think it was) and it's well worth it, as cabs will kill you, cost wise. And the busses are everywhere and go everywhere, and they seem pretty safe, as we saw lots of youngish kids (9-10 or so) getting on the busses in pairs to go various places. It took awhile to sink in, but then I realized why all the busses are doubles: there are no wires. Anywhere. Not one. No electric wires or phone wires or even telephone poles are to be found. Wiser minds then my own assure me that this is because all of the wires are buried in conduits in the street, but frankly I believe that the absence of wires is from Maggie Thatcher's fiendish place to implant radio control devices in the mind of everyone, so that they would respond to the orders beamed to them from the satellites that Reagan was supposed to have put aloft during Star Wars; she kept up her end of the bargain, at least, and as a bonus managed to rid the country of wires.

Immediately after I had this intellectual breakthrough my Bride let out a sigh of joy which caused me to turn about and see this:

Edinburgh castle really does dominate the city. In a fit of silly exhuberance, we decided to walk across the dell you see in the foreground (which used to be a stinky stinky garbage-and-excrement filled Loch whose odors gave rise to Edinburgh's nickname of "old Reeky") and climb directly up the hill to the castle. My goodness, was that a silly idea. We found a nice trail, but it was a steep and switch-backy climb and we were huffing and puffing by the time we got to here

the entrance to the castle. The castle is very cool to walk about; they have excellent tours and lots of well-marked historical sites and tidbits. It is also still under the aegis of the military, and the sight of all these 15th century torture devices combined with men with submachine guns really helped to keep the kids in line.

Its location affords some lovely views of the city, as well:

And there you can already see the clouds and mist starting to work their way in.

But the whole point of a castle is the cannons

Remember that picture; in an hour or so we returned there to watch them fire off a round from a modern howitzer that they have. They do this at 1 pm everyday, and you'll see how much the weather changed by then.

As with any good historical site, they have lots of neat stuff from the different eras when it was in use. I've heard alot about Mons Meg before, and I was very excited to see this cannon from the mid-1400s:

My Bride informed me that in the course of her research for our trip she happened upon a story that said a rather amorous couple conceived a child inside Mons during the 18th century...

Hmmm...

Right behind Mons Meg is the oldest part of the Castle, Saint Margaret's Chapel, which dates from the 12th century

It's quite lovely inside

The page I linked to above says that it is availible for small wedding parties, and that brings me to another point which became very obvious while we were there: Scotland is a land of many beautiful churches, and is the home of my Presbyterian faith and is thus very important to Protestantism as a whole. But it sure doesn't seem like anyone actually goes to church there anymore. Most churches that we saw that were still intact were used as "Community Centers" (sorry: Centres) or were gift shops or restaurants; very few, well, none that I recall, really, were actually focused primarily as, you know, houses of worship. Aside from the mosques.

Sigh.

Anyhow, we took the kids downstairs and tried to get them locked up in the dungeons but the darn doors wouldn't budge, and by this time it was close to 1 pm and we had to go up and see them fire off the modern howitzer they keep there to help set people's watches.

Remember how it looked when we got there?

Here is the exact same spot (from a slightly different angle) just a few hours later

I got that just after it had fired; you can still see all the smoke curling about.

The rain started to come down now, but heck, it's Scotland, so we left the Castle and headed down the Royal Mile to see more sights. I had to visit Spot 23 and to see his house in person, as my Bride has had a print of it hanging in our home for as long as we've been married. And so we made our way around the side of St. Giles church, where he preached for many years, to the parking lot and Spot 23

with its simple, bare brass marker. There is no writing, no inscription on that piece of metal, no fancy engraving or carvings or even words to mark the final resting place of the man who so clearly defined the Presbyterian faith apart from that of the Roman Catholic faith, the man who argued for so many hours face to face with Mary, Queen of Scots, the man who lived in this house

which is, in fact, the only surviving medieval private residence in Edinburgh, and is just a block from St. Giles. Yes, if you work in the Courthouse in Edinburgh you can park your little car atop the final resting place of the earthly remains of John Knox, and I can't help but think that that is just as he would like it.

We kept walking down the Royal Mile through the rain and made our way to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is a neat place in and of itself, mind you, but what appealed to me the most was the attached Abbey which collapsed sometime in the 18th century, I think:

There's something about being in ruins like that on a foggy, misty, rainy day which is just too cool and puts chills far beyond that which can be solely laid at the feet of the weather down one's spine.

Even though it was raining rather steadily we strolled about the grounds and gardens, which were very pleasant, and we could see that our friends up on Arthur's Seat were having a rather damp day as well:

We then had a very wet walk back to the hotel, and found a wonderful Indian place whose curries were just the thing to drive away the damp and chill.

Thus endeth the day.

Oops, I almost forgot the present I bought for my sister-in-law:

Hehehehe.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:25 AM | Comments (6)

August 25, 2006

Here Nessie Nessie Nessie...

Loch Ness is stunningly beautiful.

And the visitor's center at Urquhart Castle is the best I've ever seen.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:44 PM | Comments (8)

I Just Flew In From Edinburgh...

And boy are my arms tired!

Looks like Sis didn't burn the place down in my absence.

It's great to be back in the Great Satan, and I'm offloading pics from the camera as we speak.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:00 PM | Comments (6)

Searching for Answers Friday

Contrary to major dad's expectations, I'm gonna let my favoritest mayor slide, since he seems not to need my help publicizing his pearls o' wisdom at the moment. No, I'm gonna stick up for another Democrat ~ yes, I am. Our confusing situation quote of the day...

"The rule requires everybody to file it. The rule doesn't exclude anyone from filing it," Reed said.

He said Todd should be punished for not following the rule, because the challenge was filed against her and not against other candidates.

...causing concern that the Democratic Party is seriously off their nut(s). Or worse, the nut(s) are running the Deomocratic Party. Lemme see if I can lay this out for you. Here goes. It's so twisted, I can't begin to.

A Democratic Party committee Thursday night disqualified an openly gay candidate for the Alabama Legislature and the woman she defeated in the primary runoff because both women violated a party rule that party officials said no other candidate has obeyed since 1988.

That's the first part. Now, NO ONE ELSE in any Democratic race in any part of the state of Alabama had followed the rules either. (Got that?) So, HOW did these two particular ladies come to the party's attention. Welll, the winner, Ms. Todd ~ who is gay and WHITE ~ defeated Ms. Hendricks (who also had not filed said paperwork) ~ who is black ~ by 59 votes in a MAJORITY BLACK district. Ms. Hendricks M-I-L filed a challenge about Ms. Todd's late filing of paperwork. There has been a great deal of pressure to keep the seat...black.

"Of course if I was black I don't think they would have contested the election," Todd said. She blamed the contest on Joe Reed, longtime chairman of the black Democratic caucus, who wrote a letter before the election urging black leaders to support Hendricks because of her race and stressing the need for keeping the seat in black hands.

Segall also alluded to Reed's influence in his closing statement to the committee.

"This is about race. Folks are upset that a white woman won in a black district. There are some times you just have to say 'this isn't right,'" Segal said.

Contacted after the hearing, Reed said he was not responsible for filing the election challenge, but he said he believes Todd should be disqualified for violating the party rule.

Oh, I'll bet he wasn't responsible. I'll have to give the last word to the Gay and Lesbian Victory spokesman.

"Patricia got the most votes in two separate elections — the primary and the runoff — but party bosses didn't like the outcome, so now they want to simply handpick a candidate. What happened today in Montgomery was unfair, undemocratic, un-American and unwise," Dison said.

Can't disagree. And where are the operatives screaming about stolen this and disenfranchised that? Just remember you saw it here because (as deeply BURIED at MSNBC as it was), I don't think you'll hear much of it anywhere else.

Damn shame these weren't Republicans ~ even British papers would have front page fodder then.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:36 PM | Comments (2)

August 24, 2006

Tropical Depression Five

...has formed...

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE INDICATE THAT THE
TROPICAL WAVE MOVING WESTWARD THROUGH THE WINDWARD ISLANDS HAS
DEVELOPED A CLOSED WIND CIRCULATION...AND ADVISORIES ON EITHER A
TROPICAL DEPRESSION OR TROPICAL STORM WILL BE INITIATED AT 5 PM
AST. MAXIMUM WINDS AT THIS TIME APPEAR TO BE JUST BELOW TROPICAL
STORM STRENGTH...BUT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT STRONGER WINDS MAY BE
OBSERVED PRIOR TO ADVISORY TIME.

...and DARN if it isn't in just the rattiest spot to do so. Dr. Jeff at Weather Underground is all over it. If it has fired up even more, it will be 'Ernesto'. Tell me ~ is that as WHACK a name as 'Ivan'? We seem to attrack the oddly named ones.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:51 PM | Comments (18)

Ralph Peters

...in the New York Post.

...A culture of blame prevents moral, social and political progress. This is a self-help universe. The nonsensical Arab insistence that all Arab problems are the fault of America and Israel (or the Crusades) ignores the fact that Arab civilization has been in decline for 700 years - and has been in utter disarray for the last 200.

This is a homemade failure. Through their own choices, cherished beliefs, values and norms, Arabs have condemned themselves to strategic incompetence. No society that oppresses women, denies advancement on merit even to men, indulges in fantastic hypocrisy, wallows in corruption, undervalues secular learning, reduces its god to a nasty disciplinarian and comforts itself with conspiracy theories will ever compete with us.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:47 PM | Comments (1)

Calling Apple Lap Tops! Calling Apple Lap Tops!

"Smokin'" might not refer to your processor speed.

Apple to recall 1.8 million notebook batteries
Recall is second-biggest in U.S. history involving electronics or computers

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:22 PM | Comments (5)

Is That a Dye Packet Exploding in Your Pants...

...or are you just happy to see me?

The 'Not-Too-Bright-Bandit'

...yes, that's really his name ~ is off the streets, capping this week's edition of "I'll Take My HamBurglar Well Done".

Police have captured the Not-Too-Bright Bandit, whose attempts at bank robbery ended badly, including having a dye pack explode in his pants.

Ralph Chapman Jr. 23, was arrested in Orlando last night shortly after 8 p.m., according to Tampa Police Detective Joseph Fish.

Police were able to capture Chapman thanks to his picture being widely distributed, police say. They also have a partial fingerprint from the note he left at the Bank of America robbery attempt earlier this month.

He is being charged with that attempt and one at a bank in Clermont, near Orlando.

The results there weren’t much better.

Chapman waited his turn behind another customer, then said something that indicated the dye pack debacle* had made a strong impression.

He told the teller, “Give me something that doesn’t explode,” Tampa police said.

Cagey criminal mind there. Living green, he also cleans up after every job...

...The teller refused, forcing him to leave empty-handed. Before he did, police said, he asked, “Can I have my [stickup] note back?”

In spite of his conscientious behavior, it didn't take insensitive Tampa police but five seconds to start casting aspersions.

Police dubbed Chapman “The Not-Too-Bright Bandit” on Friday because, well,
“he’s not,” police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

Smug bastards.

* Re: 'dye pack debacle'

...[Aug. 2 robbery attempt] Surveillance video shows him waiting in line about 10 minutes and flashing the clerk a handgun stuffed in his waistband before cramming cash and a hidden dye pack down the front of his pants.

He made it as far as a hedge in the parking lot before the dye pack burst at a temperature of about 425 degrees, police said. He escaped in a cloud of red smoke, flinging dyed bills in his wake, police said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:41 PM | Comments (1)

Opponents "Smell Blood..."

"and I think they're going to get it,"

It look like cosmic curtains for Pluto. Grief stricken protestors are rallying around their doomed orb as I write ~ tearing at their hair, ululating...

'No, Pluto is a nice planet'

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:01 AM | Comments (4)

Why Does This

The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, is now host to the world’s largest communist party, state media said on Thursday, after establishing the first party branch in one of the U.S. company’s China stores.

A Chinese Communist Party official in the northeast city Shenyang said a Wal-Mart store there had set up a party branch on Aug. 12 — the first branch of the ruling Communist Party in the U.S. icon of global capitalism, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Employees at the Wal-Mart store will now have access to CPC membership,” Xinhua said, referring to the Communist Party of China.

...in the Land of THIS...
...give me a whoppin' big case of feeling like this......?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:30 AM | Comments (1)

Bloodless Ways to Hit the Iranian Street

...right where it hurts the mullahs most.

...The obvious next diplomatic step is to show Iran that the world meant what it said by following through with the toughest achievable sanctions. A myth has developed in some circles that there are "no good options" available to pressure Iran, but that's more excuse than analysis. Iran's mullahs are unpopular at home and their citizens will notice if they are declared a global pariah state. Sanctions on travel by Iran's government officials, diplomats and sports teams may be largely symbolic, but such symbolism will not be missed on the Persian street.
Iran is also vulnerable economically. Sanctions on banks that deal with Iran can limit the regime's access to global credit markets for trade and other financing. Despite its oil exports, Iran also imports some 40% of its refined gasoline. A ban on selling gasoline to Iran would surely lead to gas lines and other shortages there, with possible domestic political repercussions. And it is domestic discontent that the mullahs rightly fear the most.

The worry in the West is that Iran would respond to a gasoline embargo by playing its oil card in retaliation, withholding its supplies and sending world oil prices perhaps to $100 a barrel. But the mullahs can't eat oil. Amid other economic sanctions, they would need their income from oil sales more than ever. They are also watching closely to see if the world is serious when it says it won't allow them to go nuclear, and they know better than anyone that gasoline imports are their biggest political danger. They'll know a wrist slap from a serious policy.

We've cut North Korea off financially from practically the whole world. Who's still playing with them? Russia, who now with China are the powers still pushing for 'negotiations' with Iran. Let them play ~ we should be quietly choking off everything around them that we possibly can. I mean, if Congress is actually reading their own report...

...Anyone who still thinks a nuclear-armed Iran won't pose a serious, and perhaps mortal, threat ought to consult this week's bipartisan staff report from the House Intelligence Committee. Drawing on open-source information and mindful of classified background, the report lays out the history of Iranian nuclear deception and its attempts to promote trouble throughout the Middle East. It notes that "Iran probably has an offensive biological weapons program." And it discusses in detail Iran's support for Hezbollah and other terror groups, as well as its continuing support for insurgents who are killing Americans in Iraq.

"A nuclear-armed Iran would likely embolden the leadership in Tehran to advance its aggressive ambitions in and outside of the region, both directly and through the terrorists it supports--ambitions that gravely threaten the stability and the security of U.S. friends and allies," says the House Intelligence report. With a nuclear arsenal that they felt protected them from retaliation, the mullahs would also be more likely to use conventional military force in the Middle East. The domino effect as Turkey, Egypt and the Saudis sought their own nuclear deterrent would also not be "stabilizing," to cite the highest value of our Middle Eastern "realists." And don't forget President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vow that "Israel must be wiped off the map."

...there shouldn't be a problem.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:38 AM | Comments (1)

And No One to Thank For This

...but us.

‘Shiite giant’ extends its reach
Sadr’s armed movement becomes pivotal force in fractured Iraq

...Millions of Sadr's supporters turned out in December elections to give his movement the largest bloc in parliament, which in turn put him in control of four government ministries. Thousands of male followers abandoned their homes and jobs when a bomb destroyed a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22, rallying at Sadr headquarters on a night and day of retaliatory bloodletting that plunged Iraq into sectarian war.

While opposition to the U.S. military presence in Iraq remains one of its core tenets, the Sadr movement's militia, called the Mahdi Army, took heavy casualties in two military uprisings against better-armed, better-trained U.S. forces in 2004. Today, according to Sadr leaders and outside analysts, the movement is husbanding its strength and waiting for American troops to go.

Sadr "clearly is the most potent political figure, and the most popular one," in Iraq, said Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. "Unless directly provoked, Sadrists will lay low, because they know the Americans' time in Iraq is coming to an end," he said. "Why would they risk another major loss of fighters if it's not necessary?...

...Americans in their eyes are already defeated -- they're going to leave."

Yup, that would be us. We've had nothing but grief from these fat little clerics, thanks to our risk aversion induced indecision and the time honored Middle Eastern "cease-fires" we fall for that allow them to breathe and regroup. He and his army should have been dealt with mercilessly when the Sadr City insurgency first erupted. But we let him scuttle back to his lair (just as the Israelis are doing with Hezbollah's robed and bearded Shelob) immunized from further prosecution military or otherwise. He gets to gloat that he played us like a rabab, (tangentially increasing his supporters fervor with his display of canniness against the great Satan) and we get to wring our hands in frustration when the fruits of our non-labor ripen, as they inevitably must.

They've learned that you can stab us in the eye and draw blood, but, as long as you drop the stick the second we act like we might mean business, you can snatch it back and slice at us over and over again, as long as your mouth is saying something entirely different from what your hand is doing. You keep carving away until we withdraw completely from the field of battle in quiet indignity.

It's worked every time.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:17 AM

August 23, 2006

As If We Didn't Have Enough to Blame on Global Warming and Pollution

...now polar bear gonads (the technical term) are going the way of wool in the dryer.

Polar bear genitals shrinking due to pollution
Shrinkage could endanger animals with already have low reproduction rate

The icecap may not be the only thing shrinking in the Arctic. The genitals of polar bears in east Greenland are apparently dwindling in size due to industrial pollutants.

Scientists report this shrinkage could, in the worst case scenario, endanger polar bears there and elsewhere by spoiling their love lives and causing their numbers to diminish.

Greenpeace will be airlifting Neuticles in by the cargoshipfull.
I can hear them after a night of binge drinking at the Aurora Barealis:

Lounge Lizard Polar Bear: Come here often, you furry white vixen?

Floozy Polar Bear: No. I'm not that kind of girl. Tonight I just came for the halibut.

Lounge Lizard Polar Bear: Well, it's a whole different 23 1/2 hours of darkness when I'm on ice, creampop. Wanna go blow a seal? Maybe work the old steelhead over?

Floozy Polar Bear: Ooooooo! [shivers in anticipation] You silver salmon tongued devil...you don't have to bend my ptarmigan with your puffin. Let's go!

[later]

Lounge Lizard Polar Bear: Honestly, baby! This has never happened to me before! It's got to be the pollution!

Floozy Polar Bear: I'll bet you say that to all the sows.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:54 PM | Comments (7)

More Katrina:

"What went right."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:43 PM

How Many Times Can We Say the Code Word: 'ASIAN'

...in one article, in an attempt NOT to say 'Muslim'?

Asian students' shock at ejection from jet by passenger mutiny
Two Asian students have revealed their shock and despair after being thrown off a plane because other passengers feared they were suicide bombers.

• Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until Asians are removed

'Muslim' is used twice ~ by the students themselves, who also persist in calling themselves...Asians first.

"We might be Asian, but we're two ordinary lads who wanted a bit of fun," Mr Ashraf told the Daily Mirror.

"Just because we're Muslim does not mean we are suicide bombers."

Kim Jong Il is ASIAN. Chairman Mao was ASIAN. Hideo Nomo is ASIAN. William Hung is ASIAN. You say 'ASIAN', most of the world thinks 'Far East/Occidental'. By the Daily Mail's reckoning, Mel Gibson is ASIAN. (I could call myself Gisele all night long, but that doesn't make me 'Bündchen'.) (At least it hasn't so far.)

Are we are going to be sensitive ~ turning 'Muslim' into the N-word of our times, even though, like 'Jew', it's an ethnic and cultural fact vice a perjorative? Then how 'bout just plain old 'Middle-Eastern'? Whatever happened to that?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:29 PM | Comments (5)

Regarding the Marine Corps IRR Call-Up

...major dad (being the gentleman and the scholar he is) has found a link on the right hand side of USMC.mil. See where it says...

Volunteer for duty
IRR Marines and recent retirees needed for GWOT billets
Learn more and apply

...? This is the link (if mine doesn't work just click through theirs ~ might be Privacy Act issues). It's got cool little boxes where you fill in your MOS, grade, DuSta CONUS etc. and when you're available. Plug all that in, hit search and see if the Marine Corps can use you. Nobody wants or needs a SNCO in either 6313 OR Career Planner, which is just dandy by me. (So I'm not gonna sweat a recall and won't be power chugging ding dongs to get out of it.) But if anyone's worried they might be on the hit list, it probably wouldn't hurt to see if your MOS is something they're in dire need of. Like the WaPo article says:

They would come from a pool of about 59,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) -- Marines with specific skills who left active duty and returned to civilian lives, but are obligated to serve if called. Marine Corps officials said yesterday that reservists in their first or last years of enrollment will not be subject to recall.

Officials said they will try to choose Marines with the smallest number of combat tours, leaving about 35,000 subject to the call-up.

Those receiving a recall notice will have five months to report to active duty and could serve tours of 12 to 18 months, Marine officials said yesterday.

Forewarned is forearmed. And, if you're like most Marines I've ever known and there's a slot for your MOS, you'll beat them to the punch if your wife will let you.

UPDATE: More on the skill sets they're looking for:

Yet the call-up is a rare one for the smallest of the country's four military services, which has always prided itself on its recruitment and retention record. Less than 180,000 Marines serve on active duty, but the Corps has consistently met or exceeded its recruiting and re-enlistment goals for years, even as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq drag on.

Those expected to receive involuntary activation notices include infantry and other combat specialties, communications and intelligence specialists, combat engineers and military police, the Marines said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:42 PM | Comments (2)

Dutch Police Have Arrested 12 People

...who were passengers on a diverted Northwest flight.

Dutch police said Wednesday that 12 passengers were in custody after a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Mumbai, India, returned to Amsterdam when several people on board aroused concern.

No formal charges have been laid, police said.

Flight 42 returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after "a couple of passengers displayed behavior of concern," according to Northwest Airlines.

It is not clear what behavior sparked the response.

And how neat ~ they had an air marshal on board.

According to the official, the crew told passengers to follow the instructions of the air marshals after at least one member of the team identified himself as a marshal.

At that point, the pilot diverted the plane.

UPDATE: A llittle more info emerging.

A U.S. government official said that some of the passengers had pulled out cell phones during the flight, and that some appeared to be trying to pass the cell phones to other passengers.

In addition, some passengers unfastened their seatbelts while the light requiring they be fastened was still illuminated, the official said.

That was enough to cause U.S. air marshals aboard the flight to break their cover. Fight attendants ordered the passengers to heed the orders of the marshals, the official added.

An airline source in Amsterdam said the passengers who were arrested were looking into plastic bags and were busy with their cell phones.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:40 PM

Playing Ping Pong With Pyongyang's Pecuniary

...parcel parking.

Vietnam banks 'shut N Korean accounts'

Vietnamese banks have been forced to shut North Korean accounts in the country as part of a US-led crackdown on overseas financial institutions acting as a repository for Pyongyang's funds, a leading Korean affairs expert said on Wednesday.

The move comes ahead of Communist Vietnam's anticipated entry of the World Trade Organisation later this year and follows the signing of bilateral trade agreement with Washington in May.

It is also an indication that the US Treasury's efforts to limit North Korea's access to international banking are proving increasingly successful since it moved last September against Macao-based Banco Delta Asia.

..."North Korea's access to international financial markets is under threat" and the US push was now from Pyongyang's perspective the biggest barrier to the resumption of six-party talks, Mr Beck said.

It left Pyongyang with a diminishing number of banking options, he said, with Russia "really one of the only countries -- perhaps the only country -- in the world that is allowing North Korea to bank."

Wooo, there's a lot going on behind the curtain. Lucky thing Putin's there to lend him a ruble every now and then.

It's enough to drive a dictator to drink.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:36 PM | Comments (3)

I've Put Off Posting On This

...both because I wanted to wait until it was confirmed and because I was just plain sick at the thought. But he took the deal, his camp issuing patently ridiculous interpretations of the findings which are in themselves disgusting, delusional and devoid of personal responsibility. So I can't pretend it never happened and he's our golden boy anymore.

Gatlin loses record in deal
After accepting the accuracy of an incriminating drug test, Olympic and world champion sprinter Justin Gatlin faces up to an eight-year ban from track and field competition.

In exchange, the Woodham High graduate avoids a lifetime ban from the sport -- the penalty for a second positive test.

Gatlin, 24, will be stripped of his co-world record-tying time of 9.77 seconds that he ran in May. He also agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's efforts, but his compromise does not stipulate that he testify against his coach, Trevor Graham, who has been involved with at least a half-dozen athletes who have received drug suspensions.

The one thing I don't get ~ His coach is track and BASEBALL's acknowledged dirtballpondscum:

...The case is about more than Gatlin. It's also about his coach, Trevor Graham, who now has had at least seven athletes test positive for banned drugs. Graham precipitated the BALCO scandal in June 2003 when he sent a vial containing a designer steroid to USADA, which found a way to identify the previously undetectable substance thanks to work by the Olympic testing lab at UCLA.

Graham portrayed himself as a whistleblower and has denied any involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.

"As Trevor has stated publicly, he completely supports Justin Gatlin and Justin's cooperation with USADA and efforts to get reinstated," said Graham's lawyer, Joseph Zeszotarski, in a released statement. "Trevor knows he has done nothing wrong in his relationship with Justin or any of his athletes and only wants the truth to come out."

But Graham, according to a recent report in The New York Times, is under scrutiny by a federal grand jury as well as USADA.

Why in God's name did he ~ WOULD he ~ ever hook up with this guy?

But I guess that answer's plain enough, too.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:34 AM | Comments (2)

$125,000 Sounds Like a Little More Than Just

...keeping your dues current.

Conflict of Interest Is Raised in N.S.A. Ruling
The federal judge who ruled last week that President Bush’s eavesdropping program was unconstitutional is a trustee and an officer of a group that has given at least $125,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan, a watchdog group said Tuesday.

The group, Judicial Watch, a conservative organization here that found the connection, said the link posed a possible conflict for the judge, Anna Taylor Diggs, and called for further investigation.

“The system relies on judges to exercise good judgment, and we need more information and more explanation about what the court’s involvement was in support of the A.C.L.U.,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, which gained attention in the 1990’s for ethics accusations against President Bill Clinton.

Three legal ethicists interviewed said although Judge Taylor’s role as a trustee for a supporter of the civil liberties group would not necessarily disqualify her from hearing the case, she should have probably disclosed the connection in court to avoid any appearance of a conflict.

“It certainly would have been prudent” to notify the parties in the case, including the Justice Department, about the issue, said Steven Lubet, a law professor at Northwestern University and an author of “Judicial Conduct and Ethics.”

“I don’t think there’s a clear answer as to whether she should have disqualified herself,” Professor Lubet said. “But at a minimum, she should have disclosed it.”

You would think. But since it was hardly in her self interest (and that of her 'club') to do so ~ I mean, how often does such a juicy tidbit drop in your jurisprudenal lap? A chance to strike a blow against the man? ~ it's easier to say nothing, make your point in court and defend yourself later when the sh*t hits the fan. If you disclosed something like this prematurely (read: before you get your shot at it), there might be enough noise generated that you'd have to step aside.

...The Web site for the group that supported the A.C.L.U., the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan in Detroit, lists Judge Taylor as its secretary and a trustee. It indicates that trustees make all financing decisions for the organization, whose assets exceed $350 million and which gives grants for a variety of community projects.

Judge Taylor declined to comment on the matter on Tuesday, and the foundation did not respond to a message for comment on what role if any she had in awarding the civil liberties grants.

The executive director of the Michigan A.C.L.U., Kary Moss, said her group had received four grants totaling $125,000 from the foundation since 1999. They were a $20,000 grant in 1999 for an educational program on the Bill of Rights, $60,000 in 2000, along with the N.A.A.C.P. and other groups for education on racial profiling, $20,000 in 2002 for work on racial profiling and $25,000 in 2002 for a lawyer to work on gay rights.

Most times when I hear people screaming 'activist judges' in these perpetual campaign ads and conservative sound bites, my 'blahblahblah' meter kicks into overdrive. This is America and you don't always get what you want. Then, every once in a while, along comes the Jimmy Carter connected poster child for 'activist' and I wonder if the left has taken leave of the few senses they have...well...left. How is it that they can be so blinded by their own indignation that the rules obstreperously applicable to others don't apply to them?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:08 AM | Comments (2)

August 22, 2006

A must watch.

Here.

Amen!

Posted by Crusader at 09:39 PM | Comments (3)

Holy Mother of Xenu!!

Grab your samurai sword and start swinging, cause Tom's been...

CUT

He's too weird. Can you imagine?

Paramount cuts ties with Tom Cruise
Film distribution giant ends 14-year relationship with actor's production company because of Cruise's recent erratic behavior, says a report.

Paramount Pictures will end its longstanding relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions, actor Tom Cruise's production company, citing his erratic behavior, according to a report published Tuesday.

Sumner Redstone, CEO of Paramount owner Viacom (Charts), said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Cruise's controversial behavior over the last year - including advocating for Scientology and denouncing the use of antidepressant drugs - was the cause for the move.

The movie company is concerned that Cruise's behavior hurt his most recent film, "Mission: Impossible 3," said the report.

"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Redstone was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

I'll bet it's all those mean posting identities Emily's used..

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:18 PM | Comments (3)

Hmmm...

...I think I've aged out on my IRR commitment, thank God.

Marines to issue involuntary call-ups
Corps faces shortage of volunteers for deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan

The U.S. Marine Corps said Tuesday it has been authorized to recall thousands of Marines to active duty, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at any one time, but there is no cap on the total number of Marines who may be forced back into service in the coming years as the military battles the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months.

...The call-up affects Marines in the Individual Ready Reserve, a segment of the reserves that consists mainly of those who left active duty but still have time remaining on their eight-year military obligation.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:14 PM | Comments (7)

I Hate to Keep Hammering on This

...but it's a subject near and dear to my heart. I've decided to let Max Mayfield talk today.

Looking back nearly a year to the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and the third-worst hurricane in terms of American lives lost, Mayfield said Katrina itself could have been a greater disaster.

More than two days before Katrina struck the Gulf coast August 29, the hurricane center had predicted its future track accurately and also warned it could become a powerful Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

New Orleans was squarely in the danger zone, and emergency managers and residents had plenty of time to prepare.

"One of my greatest fears is having people go to bed at night prepared for a Category 1 and waking up to a Katrina or Andrew. One of these days, that's going to happen," Mayfield said.

I believe they came close with Charley ~ people were expecting a 3 and got damn near a 5 at the last second. (I also love the swipe at local LA officials, but that's neither here nor there.)

...Or how about a major hurricane racing up the east coast to the New York-New Jersey area, with its millions of people and billions of dollars of pricey real estate?

"One of the highest storm surges possible anywhere in the country is where Long Island juts out at nearly right angles to the New Jersey coast. They could get 25 to 30 feet of storm surge ... even going up the Hudson River," Mayfield said.

"The subways are going to flood. Some people might think 'Hey, I'll go into the subways and I'll be safe.' No, they are going to flood."

That would suck. But there's something bothering Max that is the most important thing of all. And NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES (in however MANY ways) it gets passed to the citizens in vunerable areas, everybody STILL wants to know why the National Guard's not handing out Dasani 3 hours after landfall.

He is mystified by a study that found 60 percent of people in hurricane-prone U.S. coastal areas have no hurricane plan -- which to disaster managers means up to a week's worth of food and water squirreled away, a kit with flashlights and other gear, and an established evacuation route to higher ground.

"After Katrina and after the last two hurricane seasons you can't understand why more people are not taking hurricanes seriously," Mayfield said.

Because people are helpless MORONS in general, Dr. Mayfield. And MORONS are conditioned to think that ~ even if every major access to a HUGE area is OBLITERATED ~ that somehow the gub'ment is responsible for BOTH the damage and their welfare. 'MORONOCITY' (the technical term) spans all socio-economic barriers and all ethnic persuasions. The day after Ivan there were Range Rovers, taxis and ancient Impalas all lined up for hours (within hours) by our airport. The Squid Terrorist was aghast at the desperation. He had to deal with them attempting to attack him for 'cutting in line' as he tried to assess the damage to the airport and it's outer areas, so relief flights could start coming in. (He's one of the airport maintenance supervisors, hence 'emergency personnel'.) Oh, he was hot under the collar when he got home that first VERY long day.

"How can these f*ckin' IDIOTS be out of water and PISSED OFF already?!
It's only been a day..."

I dunno. But they do it every time, with every storm. And they're the goobers you see on the news reports, like the whole world's failed them.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:04 AM | Comments (9)

A Good Question

...without a really good answer.

Israel is still in Lebanon, and Hezbollah is more powerful, thanks to Israel's lack of resolve and our pitiful support. More roadside bombs were exploded in Iraq in July than in any month since we invaded almost four years ago. More than 3,000 Iraqi civilians were killed last month in Iraq — that is more than 100 a day. Iraq is in the middle of a civil war, not sectarian violence. Hell, I don't even know what sectarian violence is, but I do know — and so should you — what a civil war looks like, and that is Iraq. Over 2,300 American soldiers have been killed or wounded there, and that count is still getting worse. We are flat in the middle of a bloody war with terrorism. We have just witnessed how vulnerable we still are, based on the most recent London "liquid bomb" scare.

However, such mundane subjects as terrorism and war are not on the front pages or in the news today, no sir. What we care about now, what we will be treated, to is the revisiting (the constant yelling and confusion created by lawyers and experts talking about), the conjecturing about another blonde, this time about a dead 6-year-old beauty queen from Colorado, or last week, about a famous actor who gets drunk and says bad things. You have got to be kidding me! Of course it was and still is tragic for the Ramsey family, but come on. How do we square this round peg? How did we get so off track? How can we spend even a moment of our national time on this?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:53 AM | Comments (1)

August 21, 2006

ATTENTION: RED SUCKSOX FANS

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:48 PM | Comments (9)

Dear Max Mayfield

"We're actually not sure why some of these are not developing," he said.

STFU, already. Seriously.

Now, on a lighter note. Swillers are very familiar with my 'tale of woe' radar shots of hurricanes and tropical storms pounding the hallowed shores of Bangla-cola. Over and over again, like a bad record. I wanted to take this opportunity to present even more reason why, if you should learn that major dad and I have moved anywhere near your neighborhood...you should leave immediately. Just take the dogs/cats and go.
North Carolina's coast (especially the Onslow/Pender/New Hanover counties) hadn't taken a direct hit from a storm of any magnitude since 1934. We moved there in 1993.

This is 1996. And it's not ONE storm, it's TWO. In the identical spot and identical path.


Bertha ~ one of the earliest Cape Verde storms on record ~ came ashore as a strong Cat 2. (We'd gone to bed because it was going into Myrtle Beach, SC ~ shades of me not worrying about Ivan because "it's going to Biloxi." Right. )

56 days later, Fran landfalled within 5 miles of where Bertha had come ashore as a Cat 3. The radar shots of the two were sold as "The Eyes of '96". I didn't buy one. But there were a wealth of incredible 'before and afters'.
Pre-Bertha.
Post-Bertha.
56 days later.
We were happy to be a smidge inland.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:10 PM | Comments (2)

This Was So Cool

...I just had to share.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:31 PM | Comments (2)

Now THAT'S

...cranky.

But I didn't see any protestors.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:31 PM

I Find His Track of Faith

...disturbing.

"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

So what did the Rev. and Watertown City Councilman Timothy LaBouf do that disturbs so many?

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on August 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.

The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

I can think of someone else who ought to stuff a sock puppet in it...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:20 PM | Comments (2)

ABC News Reporter Jake Tapper

...has his own blog at the ABC site and it often has little gems in it. (Plus he just seems like a really decent guy ~ that helps.) One caught my eye today, unfortunately illustrating the point of my Andrew Young/Ray Nagin rants.

...Right now am working on a World News with Charles Gibson spot about the political football Wal-Mart has become, along with the recent anti-Semitic, anti-Korean, and anti-Arab comments made by civil rights icon Andrew Young. (For which the former UN ambassador has APOLOGIZED, though when I spoke with the man who conducted the interview for the LOS ANGELES SENTINEL -- the black newspaper Young made the comments to -- he asked me what Young had to apologize for.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:41 AM | Comments (2)

So Speaks the Front Runner, Ségolène Royal

...the "rising star of the French Socialist party".

...Confronting those who criticised her inexperience in foreign policy, she launched an attack on the "simplicity" of US President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" policy, and described Mr Sarkozy's policy of encouraging skilled immigration as "a pillage of talent from old French colonies".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that sound like she'd much prefer the uneducated, unemployable car-b-que types she already has?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:47 AM | Comments (1)

Tonight's Programming Note

The Travel Channel at 9 p.m. EST. ~ Anthony Bourdain in Beirut.

The moment that things went sour: Tracey, surprised mid-scene by the sound of automatic weapons fire, shoots Hezbollah supporters as they drive through town celebrating the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. The reaction of our fixer and friends was one of immediate dismay. Unlike us, they realized pretty quickly what this would likely mean for Beirut as they knew it.- Tony Bourdain

Apparently it wasn't all mojitos at the bar after all.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:45 AM

Joe Rosenthal

...the WWII, Pulitzer prize winning photographer (left) has died at 94 years young.

Rest in peace Joe. And thank you.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:38 AM | Comments (3)

August 20, 2006

Protecting Your Rear

Kofi says you can.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to recommend Monday that the rules of engagement of the enhanced UNIFIL force to be deployed in Lebanon include opening fire on Hizbullah where necessary, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Whether you do or not is up to you...

"This is to date the most explicit expression of the upgrade to the UNIFIL force that has yet been received," one senior diplomatic official said.
Nevertheless, even if the UNIFIL forces had authorization to open fire, whether they would indeed do so and subject themselves to a firefight with Hizbullah is questionable. Officials in the Prime Minister's Office reserved judgment, saying they wanted to see the recommendation before responding.

...since those cranky bastards tend to fire back. Oh hell, let's be honest ~ sometimes they even fire first. What are the French to do?! I know...give it to the Italians!

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a telephone conversation in the afternoon with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Sunday, said that Israel would like to see Italy lead the force, a change from the widespread expectation that France would be heading it up.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:56 PM | Comments (2)

Get Me To the Church On Time

In one piece would also be loverly.

Snipers lurking on buildings and in a cemetery sprayed bullets into Shiite Muslim religious processions in the capital Sunday, killing at least 20 people in another spasm of sectarian bloodletting that many Iraqis fear is pushing them toward civil war.

I just don't get the Religion of Pieces. Shooting parishioners walking to mosque like fish in the proverbial 'wrong prophet' barrel on one of their bigger holy days is something you do? That's okay with whatever your version of the Koran says and whatever spaceship whatever prophet you bow to arrives on? I mean, really? That's OKAY? And that same prophet in his spaceship calls the U.S. 'Satan'? And I should feel bad for whatever it is we've done to try to move you, your prophet, his spaceship and all your religious, murdering buddies out of 700 A.D.? Must be cultural. None of that sh*t is okay in anything we have here, whether it's King James, Roman Catholic, Telmudic, Pastafarian or Wiccan tree scrolls. Granted it's boring, but at least we get where we're going.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:47 PM

Blah...BlahBlah...BlahBlah...PGA....

...blahblahblah...["P"-words]...blahblah...blah...Tiger...blahblahblah...blah.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:27 PM | Comments (2)

In Quiet

...there is opportunity.

Equipment stolen from Katrina memorial site
Thieves make off with $100,000 in building equipment in New Orleans

Thieves hauled off $100,000 worth of heavy equipment that was being used to help build a Lower Ninth Ward memorial to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

A Bobcat excavator and a Bobcat T300 Skid Steer Loader, both of which require trailers or flatbed trucks to transport, were removed from the site sometime between midnight and 6:30 a.m. Saturday, construction company officials said.

In the neighborhood that remains nearly pitch black at night almost a year after the levees failed, the equipment didn’t last three days at the site.

My first question would be: WHY, in a "neighborhood that remains nearly pitch black at night almost a year after" are we building 'memorials' and not using the resources for cleaning the mess up or repairing/rebuilding homes? (Even new homes someplace else?) If the place "remains a largely vacant, debris-stained portion of New Orleans", just who the f*ck was the memorial for?

Memorials are for the DEAD...when everything else is DONE.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:12 PM | Comments (2)

August 19, 2006

Mayor Nagin?

Excuse me?

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Friday blamed racism and government bureaucracy for hamstringing his city's ability to weather Hurricane Katrina and recover from the disaster that struck the Gulf Coast nearly a year ago.

In remarks to the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, Nagin said the hurricane "exposed the soft underbelly of America as it relates to dealing with race and class."

"And I, to this day, believe that if that would have happened in Orange County, California, if that would have happened in South Beach, Miami, it would have been a different response," the mayor said.

FUCK you.

You're a miserable excuse of a elected "leader".
And I would hope to God things would be handled differently anywhere BUT New Orleans, because NO ONE deserves the magnitude of the negligence, ignorance and ineptitude evidenced on your watch. In all honesty ~ in spite of all your pandering ~ there are simply parts of New Orleans that should NEVER be rebuilt and it ain't black and it ain't white and it ain't green, orange or purple. It's called 'underwater'. And what a fine 'thank you' to the tens of thousands of folks who poured into the Gulfcoast in the aftermath of Katrina. Or, if they couldn't be there personally, gave so generously? Or how about communities LIKE MINE, you arrogant ass? We already looked like this when Katrina went by (thanks to Cat 4 Ivan in Sep '04 AND then a CAT 3 named Dennis made landfall right on top of an already devastated Pensacola Beach in Jul '05), but we opened our arms to anyone from your city who could make it here. Our FEMA blue roofs could always shelter more folks. But you've probably never heard of us, big city guy that you are and all. And, big city guy that you are and all, you most likely have no concept what your pitiful, disgusting, ignorant, race baiting mouth is doing to the attitudes of the MILLIONS of Americans who gave in a heartfelt effort to do everything to SAVE YOUR CITY. They see the BILLIONS of dollars, federal and charitable, being poured into the gaping black hole that has ALWAYS been New Orleans' nightmarish fiscal legacy. Of course the Federal Government's a mess to deal with, but New Orleans and Louisiana have had an unimaginable carte blanche. Americans have seen Congress and the administration handing out hundreds of millions of dollars like candy, with no accounting for anything. They see the resources committed solely to YOUR city (Like Missippi, Alabama and Texas have no needs equaling yours?), YOUR evacuees still in Houston, Atlanta, PENSACOLA, et al, stretching and straining local resources and yet you're calling the rest of us racist? And no where in all your rhetoric has there ever been an admission of your own culpability, your own INCOMPETENCE ~ all the while that damning finger of yours is waggling in every face but your own. You are going to curdle and squander every last bit of good will left. Race plays no part in that, I assure you.

As for Miami getting it better, let me leave your sorry ass with something written about Miami's response to Andrew, from Hugo survivors.

In McClellanville, it never occurred to anyone that the federal government would come rebuild their town. Instead, the citizens got to work a few hours after the hurricane. They dug their own homes out of the mud and the slime that Hugo left behind; then they went next door and dug their neighbors out. They went on that way for months. There was help from outside, of course, especially from private charities, and nobody in McClellanville felt shy about taking it. But no one counted on it, either.

Three years later, most of the scars left by Hugo have disappeared. Folks hardly even talk about it anymore–or didn't, until Andrew. Since then they've been watching the news stories out of Miami with interest. Once in a while, a reporter calls to ask if the people of McClellanville have any advice for the people of Miami. They always choose their words painstakingly.

"I don't want to insult your community," Thames says carefully. "But I think that, in certain respects, you're going about things wrong down there. This thing is an act of God–there isn't anyone responsible for it. It's done, and you just have to put it behind you and get on with it. There's always a lot of political hype after a disaster. But when it comes down to clearing away the rubble and debris and getting started on the rebuilding, you'd better do it yourself."

We are so tired SICK TO DEATH of your schtick. Now.
STFU already and act like a leader...for once.
Brendon Loy in and on Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke". I haven't watched any of it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:59 AM | Comments (13)

August 18, 2006

Sweet Baby Jesus

I want THIS guy dead.

(And a warm Swill welcome back, martini boy.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:09 PM | Comments (3)

"Do You Think I'm Sexy?"

In a word...

...no.

I am also stunned to learn there exists an abomination known as 'Burberry Speedos'.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:17 PM | Comments (9)

Kreme Takes a Whipping

Nothing Left but the Hole in the Middle Krispy Kreme's first West Coast outlet sparked fanfare and big sales. Patrons moved on, and now so has the store.

Fans and employees of Krispy Kreme went from glazed to confused Thursday morning as the chain's La Habra store — the first on the West Coast — pulled down its signs, packed up its doughnut mix and shut its doors for good.

From opening day in January 1999, the workers toiling inside the tidy white, green and red building fueled a feeding frenzy to the tune of 20 million doughnuts and $9 million in sales in the first year.

...Whatever the reasons, James Glass, an analyst with CIBC World Markets in Boston, put it bluntly: "People just won't line up for doughnuts forever and ever."

Can't say I'm surprised. "Southern tradition" or not, I've never much cared for Krispy Kremes, bein' a TO THE DEATH "Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Creme-Filled" kinda girl.

Even shuttering every Dunkin' Donut for 65 miles five years ago didn't drive me to Krispy Kreme desperation donut dementia. Now that's loyalty.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:52 PM | Comments (13)

The Kind Letter

"...but they both said that they would rather have him never come back than never have gone."

...and TR's response.

Makes me cry.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:14 AM | Comments (5)

Overheard on Special Report With Brit Hume

...just now [ed note: refers to broadcast of 17 Aug.]: After discussing Iran's attempts to rearm Hezbollah, the conversation shifted to troop allocations for the U.N./Lebanese ceasefire force. Brit asked why France has volunteered such a 'puny' number of troops when they'd been one of the driving forces of the plan.

Bangladesh pledged up to 2,000 troops and France offered 200, a disappointment to some who expected more from the country likely to lead the force.

The reason? It has been rumored through diplomatic circles that Syria has threatened France directly ~ if they participated in any great manner, there would be a repeat of 1983 and the Marine Barracks. (Can you imagine OUR reaction to that?!)

The French, being the French, are considering their response.

UPDATE: I still haven't found a transcript of the comments themselves, but the latest wire releases certainly lend credence to something Vichy going on.

...French President Jacques Chirac said he would dispatch only 200 army engineers in addition to the 200 already part of UNIFIL, which is commanded by a French general. He said 1,700 troops were offshore but would not be put under U.N. command. France had been expected to be the backbone of the force.

"We had hoped -- we make no secret of it -- that there would be a stronger French contribution," Malloch Brown said. "Others have come forward and we are pretty convinced we've got the elements here of a strong force."

FRENCH HESITATION

France's hesitation has confused U.N. officials. On Wednesday, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie criticized the mandate of the force, which France wrote in drafting the August 11 resolution. She also objected to troops coming under U.N. control -- another provision Paris had insisted on to meet Lebanese demands.

UPDATE Part Deux: I've found an NYT July 24, 2006 report where Syria threatened the UNIFIL Force itself.

One Syrian official issued a strong warning against a proposal that was gaining momentum on Sunday for an international force to guard the Lebanon-Israel border. Deploying such a force without the cooperation of Syrian and Hezbollah, the official said, will risk repeating 1983. That was a pointed reference to the 241 United States service members and 58 French soldiers killed in attacks on military installations by suicide bombers. It has long been considered likely that Hezbollah sent the bombers with Syria's blessing.

The whole article is a basically a Syrian billboard.

From today's WaPo: A new edition of "And NOT to Yield"

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called Chirac on Thursday to plead with him to reconsider. The French president's office released a statement later indicating he had not yielded.

The statement confirmed that France would send a company of 200 military engineers to Lebanon. They would join more than 200 French peacekeepers already serving in the relatively small U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL. Chirac also told Annan that "France was prepared to assume command" of the bolstered U.N. force, according to the statement.

...The decision was prompted in part by the French military's anxiety over serving under U.N. command, diplomats said. French officials cited the loss of 84 French troops in the U.N. mission in the early 1990s in Bosnia, and the seizure of French peacekeepers as hostages. French officials had also expressed concern that Hezbollah fighters were not prepared to disarm and might turn their guns on peacekeeping troops, according to U.N. diplomats. In 1983, Islamic militants killed 58 French paratroops in a suicide bomb attack in Beirut.

Let me translate that for non-French speaking Swillers:

"WE get to LEAD you wonderful Nepalese/Indonesian/Banglesdeshi/smallforeignbrownpeople guys into battle, since it was OUR idea.

YOU will get to do all the dying, so that WE do not soil OURselves."

AGAIN: The French...

Alliot-Marie said troop contributions to the expanded UNIFIL force should come from a great number of countries, both in Europe and the Muslim world.

"What we must absolutely avoid is giving the image of a Western world imposing peace on the Muslim world," she said.

...make me dizzy.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:13 AM | Comments (5)

"Strolling Bones"

That's hilarious.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:04 AM

BREAKING NEWS: Drudge and the AP

...are reporting...

Plane Lands in Italy After Bomb Report
A British passenger plane requested an emergency landing in Brindisi on Friday because of a suspected bomb on board, Italy's air traffic agency said. The plane, a Boeing 767 with the Excel air carrier, had left from London's Gatwick airport and was bound for Hurghada, Egypt, officials said.

If it's true, Ryanair is gonna look pretty feckin' stupid for this...

Ryanair Threatens to Sue British Government After Mid-Air Terror Scare

Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC threatened to take legal action against the British government unless it meets three demands for relaxing airport security and improving staffing at overstretched airports within the next seven days.

(In all honesty ~ I think they already do.)

UPDATE: A little more info.

A bomb threat scrawled on a sick bag caused a British passenger plane from London to Egypt to be diverted to southern Italy on Friday, but police said it appeared to be a hoax.

"The alarm has been called off," said Brindisi border police chief Salvatore de Paolis.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:00 AM

"Light as a Feather"'

...and different degrees of 'dead'.

The Jerusalem Syndrome

The outrage of so many outraged people outrages me. On the scales of world opinion, some Muslim corpses are light as a feather, and others weigh tonnes. Two measures, two weights. The daily terrorist attacks on civilians in Baghdad, killing 50 people or more, are checked off in reports under the heading of miscellaneous, while the bomb that took 28 lives in Qana is denounced as a crime against humanity. Only a few intellectuals like Bernard-Henri Lévy or Magdi Allam, chief editor of the Corriere della Sera, find this surprising. Why do the 200,000 slaughtered Muslims of Darfur not arouse even half a quarter of the fury caused by 200-times fewer dead in Lebanon? Must we deduce that Muslims killed by other Muslims don't count - whether in the eyes of Muslim authorities or viewed through the bad conscience of the west? This conclusion has its weak spots, because if the Russian Army - Christian, and blessed by their popes - razes the capital of Chechnian Muslims (Grosny, with 400,000 residents) killing tens of thousands of children in the process, this doesn't count either. The Security Council does not hold meeting after meeting, and the Organization of Islamic States piously averts its eyes. From that we may conclude that the world is appalled only when a Muslim is killed by Israelis.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:50 AM

I Don't Think This is Quite What Wal-Mart Wanted

...when they hired Andrew Young.

Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said early Friday he was stepping down from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.

...In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was concerned Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.

"Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

Whoa! Lucky thing for him he wasn't a WHITE guy named...um...Allen or something.

...Allen’s gaffe earned him plenty of bad press, especially from the Washington Post which has thousands of readers in northern Virginia.

Democrats and Democratic-allied groups have pounced on Allen’s blunder, aiming to weaken him as he heads into his Nov. 7 contest against Webb.

Allegation of racism
“Republicans have used racism to try to win over voters for decades, but this kind of pandering has absolutely no place in our politics,” said Nita Chaudhary, a staff member of MoveOn.org in an e-mail to MoveOn.org members Thursday.

Moveon.org and its PAC, a group which backs Democratic candidates, is urging the Republican National Committee to withdraw its support from Allen.

“The sting of Sen. Allen's words upset me personally,” Chaudhary wrote.

Chaudhary's parents emigrated from India and she was born in the United States.

“I'd hoped to see his colleagues in Washington censure him for this display of bigotry. But just yesterday, Sen. John McCain stood with him at a town hall meeting. Race-baiting continues to be a time-tested tradition for the Republican Party in the South.”

Well, no one's 'pouncing' by the 'thousands' on Mayor Young. (Although the WaPo is carrying the AP story, sans incisive commentary and excoriation.) Sadly, I guess that's because powerful Democratic blacks can never, ever be 'racist' in this society. Having that 'victim' placard firmly attached to their indignantly puffed chests, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Reverend Al and their ilk have the race baiting down to a science. But there is enough smug hatefulness to go around, knowing full well the consequences will never, ever be equal to the offense...if any at all...a veritable 'get out of jail free card' from the media. They're immune from the public pillorying that accompanies a simple misspeak for the rest of us, less mind a full blown statement à la Mr. Young*. As one man (and yes, in the interest of full disclosure, he is a Joo...) pointed out in the MSNBC piece...

The remarks surprised Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who pointed to Young's reputation of civil rights work.

"If anyone should know that these are the words of bigotry, anti-Semitism and prejudice, it's him," Hier said. "I know he apologized, but I would say this, ... during his years as a leader of the national civil rights movement, if anyone would utter remarks like this about African-Americans his voice would be the first to rise in indignation."

Oh, indeed, sir. We're all in this together. T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R.

We're past the point where the 'Reverends' and the remaining vestiges of the 60's Civil Rights Leadership get to brandish those laurels to protect themselves from what their mouths are REALLY saying. Now luminaries in the public sector just have to find the intestinal fortitude to call them on it in a BIG way, as rapidly and vociferously as the protestations for, say, Senator Allen.

Settle in. I've got a feeling it's gonna be a while.

* 'McKinney' is a suitable substitute

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:38 AM

Baby, It's (Not Quite As) Hot Outside!

From TCS Daily.

...Hurricanes require warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and last year the tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures were running well above normal. Global warming was the explanation given by most 'experts' the media interviewed. And since global warming will only get worse, those SSTs were expected to just keep on increasing.

But now those same regions that had anomalously warm SSTs last year are -- gasp! -- near normal.

...This is not the only surprisingly cool SST story. A new scientific article now accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the globally averaged upper ocean cooled dramatically between 2003 and 2005, effectively erasing 20% of the warming that occurred over the previous 48 years!

The rapidity of this observed temperature change is beyond what computerized climate models can explain. This is perplexing for modelers, who tend to believe that their models contain all of the important physics of the problem.

Things are now heating up again (in a 'normal' fashion), but we're very thankful for the peace and quiet while it lasts.
An abnormally warm Swill Salute to the Blogfadah.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:00 AM

August 17, 2006

The Affidavit From the Flight Crew of United 923

...confirms they had every reason to divert into Boston.

A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.

...The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members, landed safely with the escort of two F-15s after the pilot declared an emergency on board because Mayo spoke of being in Pakistan and made other remarks the crew believed were references to building a bomb.

...According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Daniel Choldin filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, flight attendants noticed Mayo about 90 minutes into the flight because she was pushing against the aircraft bulkhead. When the attendant told her to return to her seat, Mayo said she wanted to speak to an air marshal and made statements about knowing that people wanted to see what was in her bag.

FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz confirmed Thursday that authorities found a screwdriver and an unspecified number of cigarette lighters in her bag, items which are banned under new security regulations. Marcinkiewicz also confirmed that matches were found Mayo's bag.

...Later during the flight, according to the affidavit, Mayo asked a flight attendant: "Is this a training flight for United Flight 93?" The flight attendant didn't know if she made a mistake because the flight was actually Flight 923, or if she was referring to Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.

During that time, she was "biting her fingers, rubbing her feet and in a constant state of movement. She appeared very agitated," the affidavit said.

She wrote in a note and said to flight attendants that she had been in a country illegally, and later said she had photographs of Pakistan. Her U.S. passport indicated that on Aug. 15 she had left Pakistan and entered the United Kingdom, according to the affidavit.

Flight attendants summoned the captain, who spoke to Mayo. During the conversation, she made reference to there being "six steps to building some unspecified thing."

"She made reference to being with people associated with two words. She stated that she could not say what the two words were because the last time that she had said the two words she had been kicked off of a flight in the United Arab Emirates," according to the affidavit.

Then she dropped trou and proceeded to pee on the floor, among other things. Speaking for my chicken-hearted self, if I was sitting back in coach, I'd be like "put this thing on the deck before SHE does." And wouldn't object if somebody did some tub thumping in the meantime.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:39 PM | Comments (4)

BREAKING NEWS ~ Warrantless Wiretapping

...is ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

Let the games begin.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:13 PM | Comments (3)

Oh...My...GOD!

Burton, Depp to Make 'Sweeney Todd'
The director-star team will reunite to adapt the Stephen Sondheim musical to the big screen

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:03 PM | Comments (3)

I REALLY Like Nicole Kidman

And not just because she sent beer out to the photographers waiting on her father's curbside the night before her wedding.

Kidman condemns Hamas, Hezbollah
The actress, joined by 84 other high-profile Hollywood stars, directors, studio bosses and media moguls, has taken out a powerfully-worded full page advertisement in today's Los Angeles Times newspaper.

It specifically targets "terrorist organisations" such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.

"We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," the ad reads.

"If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

"We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs."

And quite a list signed it with her, bless their very un-Hollywood hearts. (Does anyone have a copy of the ad they want to share?)

A warm Swill Salute to RCP.
UPDATE: Got it and a warm Swill salute to Webloggin for that.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:00 PM | Comments (11)

Wal-Mart Makes John "Hair Like a Pony" Edwards

...and John "I Wouldn't Buy a Cambodian-Made Magic Hat There" Kerry very angry ~ two gaZILLIONAIRES who don't have a clue. Welcome to one of the Democratic Party's whipping boys.

[In 2004]..."Every consumer should know when they walk into Wal-Mart their tax dollars are going to provide healthcare for Wal-Mart workers?.?.?.?while the people who own Wal-Mart are making billions of dollars," he proclaimed. The retailer struck back immediately. A Wal-Mart official denounced the Pittsburgh event as part of "a union-funded publicity stunt that's more about politics than anything else".

...John Kerry, to whom Mr Edwards was running-mate, cited Wal-Mart and the family of founder Sam Walton in a speech this month on the failings of the US healthcare system. "It's unconscionable and it is unacceptable that five of the 10 richest people in America are Wal-Mart stockholders from the same family – worth double-digit billions each – but they can't find the money to secure health coverage for their own workers and their families," he complained.

...Working Families for Wal-Mart, funded mainly by the retailer, is part of both strategies. Operating with more personal animosity than might be appropriate from the company itself, it is attacking the store chain's critics. For instance, it has just launched a website called PaidCritics.com, aimed at exposing what it says are special-interest links between the anti-Wal-Mart campaign, the unions and politicians in the Democratic party (Wake Up Wal-Mart struck back with its own site – Abunchofgreedyrightwingliarswhoworkforwalmart.com).

Working Families has also set out to mobilise support. It is chaired by Andrew Young, the pro-business former mayor of Atlanta who served as the first black US ambassador to the United Nations. Its board includes Hispanic business figures, while its recently created state organising groups include leading black clergy.

...the black caucus on Chicago's city council was evenly split on the move to set a minimum wage for workers in the city's big stores – with opponents saying depressed inner-city areas needed Wal-Mart's investment and tax revenues.

The vote in Chicago also highlights the risk to the Democrats of trying to use Wal-Mart's record to galvanise support in the run-up to 2008. While Mr Kerry and Mr Edwards might see Wal-Mart's low-paying jobs and healthcare record as a rallying point for voters who feel left out of the American dream, other elements of the party will take a different view – including New York's Senator Hillary Clinton, who in 1986-92 served on the board of the retailer based in Arkansas, her home state.

John Zogby, the pollster, argues that focusing too much on Wal-Mart "means no net gain", because union voters already favour the Democrats and the party must seek other support if it is to recapture the White House in 2008. "When are the Democrats going to talk to Wal-Mart shoppers?" he asks . Mr Zogby, who has done some polling work for Wake Up Wal-Mart, says Democrats still lack "a strategy that deals with Joe and Mary Middle America – and Joe and Mary Middle America are at Wal-Mart".

Even Joe Biden ~ who sometimes can actually speak without a forked tongue ~ is bangin' the drums.

Eye on Election, Democrats Run as Wal-Mart Foe

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, delivered a 15-minute, blistering attack to warm applause from Democrats and union organizers here on Wednesday. But Mr. Biden’s main target was not Republicans in Washington, or even his prospective presidential rivals.

It was Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer.

...“My problem with Wal-Mart is that I don’t see any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class people,” Mr. Biden said, standing on the sweltering rooftop of the State Historical Society building here. “They talk about paying them $10 an hour. That’s true. How can you live a middle-class life on that?”

Now, Swillers know I am no fan of Wal-Mart, but only because I don't feel we need 12 Superstores in a 15 miles radius and I despise the influence they peddle, moulding every greedy city council to their wishes. But I am well aware of the resource they provide, both in available jobs and affordable products, services and comestibles (Okay, OKAY, I shop there, too. Sometimes. Ouch.), hence my agreement with Mr. Zogby's warning.

The people who want to see Wal-Mart villified are the unions, who are already basically Democratic Party operatives. The Democratic elite is so far removed from the man on the street (Would anyone but them think the 'abunchofgreedyrightwingliars' etc .com is anything but pissy, petty pique?) that they are pandering shamelessly (and sounding like equine asses) to those union voices already in their pockets. Those same unions who couldn't deliver the presidency to either Gore or Kerry because their current stature doesn't match their rhetoric. (Of course, their stature would increase exponentially if they forced Wal-Mart workers into the fold. Union bosses could give a hooyah about the welfare of Wal-Mart workers ~ more dues in their coffers = more influence. )

The vast majority of regular folks who voted for Bush and Co. are also a fair percentage of the ones who are IN Wal-Mart every day, shopping and working. If the Chicago wage regulations have adverse effects on what already were (from all accounts) well paid and satisfied Wal-Mart employees in the area, those happy Democratic voters might change their minds. As in "well, thank you for saving me from the $11/hr job I ALREADY had and don't NOW." The Democratic Party needs to get it's head out of it's collective nitrogen filled green space helmet and find someone unlike Gore/Kerry/Kos who can listen to the guy in the NASCAR T-shirt or the family with 3 kids at Wal-Mart EVERY DAY and then say something intelligible back.

Maybe even connect on a level somewhere south of their usual exalted pedestal. Actually pulling the SUV entourage into a Wal-Mart parking lot would be a good start. Shoot! Stay in the Escallade/Suburban/Excursion, roll down a window, hobnob with the common little people loading their cars, make a good impression. To a one, you'll hear they LOVE Wal-Mart and you don't even have to touch any of them to find that out. Plus all those same little people will scurry home to tell all their low to middle class friends they met John Kerry in the parking lot at the Wal-Mart and 'what a nice guy'.

Grandstanding at a union rally or Kossites flinging epithets few Wal-Mart shoppers ever have access to does nothing for the voters waiting at the markdown ground beef bin. To be honest, they're not going to look kindly on someone intent on both costing them money and destroying something they really enjoy. They might even get mad.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:05 AM

You GOT to Be

...sh*ttin' me!

Report: Arrest made in JonBenet case
Suspect detained in Thailand in connection with ’96 murder, DA source says

The family of slain 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey expects arrests in the ten-year-old mystery surrounding her murder, NBC News reported Wednesday.

Jon Ramsey, JonBenet’s father, was told by Colorado authorities that an arrest was made overseas in connection with his daughter’s death in 1996, MSNBC-TV reported.

Color me gobschmacked. That's a headline I never thought I'd see anywhere but the National Enquirer. Nancy Grace and the rest of the foam-at-the-mouth shellac-heads will be all over this.
UPDATE and bump: Yeesh! This is unbelievable and he is unbelievably creepy.

Well, just being 'creepy' never convicted anybody. (At least I hope not.) They're saying they've got DNA samples from the scene (and probably took samples from him when they arrested him), a palm print on the doorjamb, plus one well defined bootprint next to the body as hard evidence. Will it match? And is Mr. Karr going to do a rapid about-face when he gets here and lawyered up?

Of course, being in Thailand when they nailed him for a murderous sexual assault against a six year old isn't going to help him any.

UPDATE: Well, it just keeps getting more twisted.

Relatives say suspect studied JonBenet case
Teacher held in girl’s murder wrote term paper about case in college

UPDATE: He's a whacko.

...Court records show a 14-year-old girl sought an annulment of their "ceremonial marriage" in 1985, claiming she feared for her life when she agreed to wed him in 1984, when she was just 13 and he was 19.

Karr admitted she was a minor, documents show, but he disputed she was 13. A judge granted the annulment, and they didn't have any children.

Karr later married Lara Karr, who was 16 when their twin daughters died the day they were born on Sept. 1, 1989. The girls, Angel and Innocence Karr, are buried in the cemetery of a rural church in a family plot.

Twins die after home birth
Former Sheriff A.C. Tice and others recalled the death of the newborns partly because of the circumstances: They were born at home rather than in a hospital.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:30 AM | Comments (13)

August 16, 2006

Now Here's a REAL Man For You

Just like shootin' fish in a barrel.

Country star accused of killing tame bear
Troy Lee Gentry allegedly shot enclosed animal with bow and arrow

...Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow in an enclosed pen on Greenly’s property in October 2004.

The government alleges that Gentry and Greenly tagged the bear with a Minnesota hunting license and registered the animal with the state Department of Natural Resources as a wild kill.

Gentry allegedly paid about $4,650 for the bear, named Cubby. The bear’s death was videotaped, and the tape later edited so Gentry appeared to shoot the animal in a “fair chase” hunting situation, the government alleges.

...Gentry’s manager, Johnny Dorris, said Wednesday that Gentry, an outdoorsman and hunter, expects to be exonerated.

Gentry “relied on the knowledge and expertise of a local guide to obtain the proper permit,” Dorris said in a written statement. “Troy felt what he did was legal and in full compliance of the law and was surprised to hear of the indictment.”

It would be hard to get much more revolting than that. Maybe we should zip strip ducks to his carnival games, too.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:20 PM | Comments (4)

Gah

Summary The relatively quiet hurricane season we've been enjoying is not going to last. A very active period will start, as soon as the atmosphere destabilizes a bit more. If one believes the long-range 2-week outlook from the GFS model, the current quiet period should last another 4-12 days. Around August 21, I expect it will appear that a switch has been thrown, and the Atlantic will be very active indeed. Expect our first hurricane in the Atlantic by August 26, and a very active September. However, I do expect we will get many recurving storms that will miss land, and that this hurricane season will be similar to the ones we experienced in 1995-2003.

He could be way wrong. And the '1995-2003' does nothing to make me feel better. I'll post why shortly.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:29 PM | Comments (4)

No Wonder Bras Allowed!!

You can separate, but you can't lift. And you can thank the baby bombers.

Authorities Warning Women Not to Wear Gel Bras As Worries of Possible Female Bombers Increase

U.S. authorities are advising women not to wear gel bras on airplanes as information developed in the foiled London plot points to an expanding role for women in smuggling explosives on to an aircraft.

Authorities at Scotland Yard are questioning a husband and wife, suspects in the London terror plot, about allegations that they were planning to use their baby's bottle to hide a liquid bomb.

UPDATE: The ABC News website report seems to be down right now, but I just got me a screenshot. It's in the extended section.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:06 PM | Comments (11)

Hezbalkah Just Says "No"

Hezbollah balks at withdrawal from south
Lebanese officials work on compromise

Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire.

...Hezbollah's reluctance to get its men and arms out of the border zone reflected nervousness over the continuing presence of Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil. But it also demonstrated the militant Shiite Muslim movement's increased assertiveness here after a war of more than a month during which it stood off the Israeli army while Lebanon's national army stood aside.

‘Insensitivity and immorality’
In a televised speech Monday evening, Nasrallah accused those who are pushing Hezbollah for immediate disarmament of "insensitivity and immorality." He recalled that Lebanon's Shiite-inhabited areas took the worst battering and suffered the highest number of casualties during 33 days of warfare in which about 800 Lebanese civilians were killed and 750,000 were driven from their homes.

"Those people have performed veritable miracles," he said, referring to the Shiite Muslims who are the largest sect among Lebanon's 4 million inhabitants.

"And at this emotionally difficult and fateful time, some individuals speaking with wooden tongues sit behind desks in their air-conditioned offices and talk about these issues," he added. "This is inappropriate and wrong. I advise that no one exert pressure, bearing in mind that the most ferocious battle in the history of Lebanon has just been waged south of the river."

And why is the Lebanese government working on a compromise with these snakes? Nasrallah had already agreed to the U.N.cease-fire resolution ~ it gave him his 'great victory' over Israel, recognising Hezbollah as a separate entity to bargain with ~ so the world at large should deal with this. He doesn't get to hide behind the Lebanese all of a sudden.

UPDATE and Bump: Quite a thoughtdful analysis from Nick Blanford, the Times [U.K.] Correspondent in Lebanon.

Analysis: why Hezbollah will not be disarmed
"I think you can forget about Hezbollah being disarmed. It is just not going to happen. Hezbollah doesn't want to be disarmed and there is nobody else willing to do it. In that simple fact lies the potential for future trouble.

..."Even if the Lebanese Government had been crazy enough to try to force the army to do it, I think the army would have refused. A lot of its senior officers are loyal to President Emile Lahoud, the last leading ally of Syria to remain in office in Lebanon.

"Many people regard the army as almost a proxy of Hezbollah.

..."I think Hezbollah realises that they made a big mistake by kidnapping those Israeli soldiers on July 12. They have already admitted that they thought it would cause nothing more than a mini flare up, they didn't expect the powerful military reaction they got from the Israelis.

..."But I think it is clear that the reason why Hezbollah is now promising to pay a year's rent for homeless Shia families and compensate them for damaged property is because they have a lot of work to do to bring their supporters back on board.

"What is more, I think the recriminations are about to start in earnest from the other sectarian communities in Lebanon, who stayed quiet during the war out of loyalty to the country. Shias only represent 35 per cent of Lebanon - the rest is divided between Sunnis, Christians and Druze. Overall, the conflict has made an already polarised society even more polarised.

A good read.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:28 PM

BREAKING NEWS In the Current Climate

...rumbling with the flight crew is a bad, BAD idea...

London Flight Diverted Over Disturbance

A flight from London to Washington, D.C. was diverted to Boston Wednesday morning after the pilot declared an emergency because of a passenger disturbance, the airline said.

United Flight 923 with 182 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely at Boston's Logan International Airport, United spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

A Logan spokesman said three passengers had a confrontation with the flight crew. State Police took control of the plane after it landed. All the passengers were being taken off the plane and their carry-on luggage was being checked, said spokesman Phil Orlandella.

...right, Bingley?

UPDATE and bump: More coming out about this.

Fighter jets escorted a diverted London-to-Washington, D.C., flight to Boston's Logan airport Wednesday after a distraught passenger pulled out a screw driver, matches, Vaseline and a note referencing al-Qaida, an airport spokesman said.

United Flight 923 landed safely, Logan airport spokesman.

Hello, heightened security? I'll bet there were a couple other passengers who were "distraught" after that! Hopefully, they got a couple shots at him in, too, ala the thumping Richard Reid got.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:32 AM | Comments (2)

A Change ~ In Honor of Bingley, Kilts, Ugly Sheep, That1Guy

...and all the David Hasselhoff photos I post.

Picture courtesy of the always socially astute, politically correct, sensitively inclusive and firm admirer of the male form secure enough in his masculinity to know a manly man when he sees one and isn't afraid to post the picture for us slavering wimmens ~ That1Guy.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:16 AM | Comments (6)

I See That ~ Despite My BEST Intentions and High Standards

~ I am going to be forced to post on this, thanks to Bingley yesterday and now, FIRST thing this morning, the lovely Susanna.

Australian farmers called to report ugly sheep

Yes, yes, they're on the prowl for ugly sheep in order to make pretty sheep prettier. And that's completely f*cked up and superficial. So I am issuing a fatwa against those who would take advantage of vunerable sheep ~ those not possessing the requisite physical attributes necessary to be deemed 'attractive in a sheepy sort of way'. Those who might be more susceptible to blandishment because of their insecurity and damaged self-image. Not every sheep can be born beautiful, but every sheep should be treated as if they were.

It's the only thing that separates us from the French and Belgians.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:30 AM | Comments (1)

I Didn't Even Know New Jersey Politicians

...could spell 'ethics'. I mean, why should they? It's her SECOND shot at a big time spot, so who's to say there's not a third somewhere after the dust settles?

N.J. Attorney General Quits Amid Scandal
For the second time in three years, Zulima Farber's error in judgment concerning minor traffic issues has cost her a high-profile judicial job in New Jersey.

First it was a nomination to the state Supreme Court. Now, it's her job as state attorney general.

..."I admit to being human and making that error. I am truly sorry and apologize to all New Jerseyans for that mistake," said Farber, who will leave office at the end of the month.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...Y A W N N N N.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:17 AM | Comments (3)

Vacation! Be Kind To Sis!

Going here

to see

and

Sadly, none of this

this trip.

See y'all in awhile!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:11 AM | Comments (7)

August 15, 2006

Das Macht Nichts

"Thin lipped, right wing bitch" isn't gonna sell a lot of product ~ but you get who you hire, so they must not care. No bigs. I wasn't much of a M•A•C fan anyway. I'm still using 20 year old Dior eyeshadow.

UPDATE: Looks like we're not the only ones who noticed.

MAC Cosmetics has injected the ick factor into its new online ad featuring Sandra Bernhard , in which the caustic comic inexplicably starts riffing about the bodily fluids of an overexcited barnyard bird. Shilling for MAC's Plushglass lip gloss, Bernhard crows: "If I had thin lips, I could never express myself the way I'm able to express myself with a kind of passion - sexy powerpout, loudmouth, a little hyaluronic acid from a rooster's [bleep]. Cock-a-doodle-doo!" Can you spell g-r-o-s-s?

"Ick" doesn't begin to cover it, but it's a start.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:18 PM | Comments (14)

Another Sign the Apocalypse Is Nigh

Cindy Adams is channeling me.

SO many celebs lining up to help Africa - Angelina, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Jay-Z, Clooney - there'll soon be no room for animals. Next up, Lindsay Lohan, who just said: "Africa seems so exotic. I have always wanted to go there." Great. Admirable. But how about helping Americans? Like in Appalachia or New Orleans?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:28 AM | Comments (5)

'Ouch' From an Unexpected Source

The Guardian's Polly Toynbee is en fuego.

The grand assemblage of Muslim MPs, peers and leaders of 38 key groups who signed an open letter to the prime minister last weekend are almost certainly right. British foreign policy has helped foment murderous extremism among British Muslims.

The London bombings a year ago might not have happened had Labour taken the French stand. If Tony Blair and his cabinet had never hitched Britain to George Bush's war chariot, it is unlikely that al-Qaida-inspired terror cells would plan mass murder from British airports. Before, Islamist terror was focused on faraway countries - Indonesia, the Philippines, Algeria, Somalia, Russia - and the twin towers. If we had only kept our heads down, terror's hot breath might have passed over us.

Every minister hotly denying this obvious truth sounds absurd - but makes the wrong point altogether. The point is that a democratically elected government's foreign policy can't be moulded by threats from murdering religious maniacs. There are 1,001 good reasons why we should never have supported, let alone joined, the war in Iraq. But the one truly bad reason would have been fear of terrorism.

Those signing the letter steer perilously close to suggesting the government had it coming. The Muslim leaders wrote: "The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all." They urge the prime minister to "change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion. Such a move would make us safer." Maybe it would, but there can't be many, pro- or anti-war, who think sparing us from threats by God-blinded killers should be the number-one priority in foreign policy.

...It goes with the selective amnesia that forgets about the Kosovo Muslims Blair and Clinton saved from genocide. It goes with a distorted memory of the Taliban as anything other than ruthless despots to their people (especially their women) and unprovoked originators of terror against the rest of the world. As for Iraq, invasion was dangerously misguided, but selective Islamic memory forgets that Saddam murdered Muslims.

In the great disaster of Blair's foreign policy, the irony is that most Britons would agree with the Muslim leaders' critique, both on Iraq and Lebanon. But that does not lead to any "understanding", let alone appeasement, of terrorists. What is their cause? It's not a viable Palestinian state (though that would help). It's not better rights in Britain to jobs and respect (that would help). It's not to bring democracy to corrupt Middle Eastern governments propped up by the west (democracy is a western abomination). Their cause is to impose a fantasy caliphate across some mystically united Muslim world - even as conflict between rival Islamic sects in Iraq kills thousands more Muslims than infidel invaders.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:28 AM | Comments (2)

POD People

...in public product protection pugilistics.

Apple has laid legal claim to the word "Pod," arguing that other companies that use the word as part of their product names risk infringing the trademark of its popular iPod music player.

...This month, Google drew attention to its own long-running battle to defend the trademark in its name when it wrote to the Washington Post to protest the use of the verb "to google," though examples of similar warning letters date back at least four years.

...Dave Ellison, whose company, Mach5Products, makes the Profit Pod, said he had been sent a "cease and desist" request by Apple's lawyers last week, just after receiving trademark recognition for his product name in the US.

...Mr Ellison contested Apple's claim, arguing that his company's product was not sold to consumers and that he and his wife, Carolee, had thought up the name around five years ago, before they had heard of the iPod, which was introduced in 2001. "I'm not going to change the name – it's not like they offered us anything for it," he said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:08 AM | Comments (5)

May I Offer Another Theory Why

...THIS might be true?

Charities fail to attract cash as 'human crisis overlooked'
CHARITIES are facing difficulties paying for humanitarian relief work in Lebanon because the public has shunned their appeals.

... Mark Astarita, the director of fundraising at the British Red Cross, told The Times that the complex political issues surrounding the Middle East conflict were deterring even the most generous. “It has proved very tough indeed to raise money from the general public and, although we are usually successful with corporate donors, this has proved a very difficult appeal for them to respond to,” he said.

I would submit it's difficult to raise the money for two reasons. One is the less-than-a-week-old foiled KoolAid bombing plot and the British Muslim community's very public but less than condemnatory reaction to it...

ON FRIDAY last week I agreed to add my name to a letter to the Government from Oxfam, other non-governmental organisations and individuals to express, in the wake of the Middle East crisis, our commitment to the fundamental humanitarian principle that all innocent lives should be valued equally.

As has been made apparent to me over the past few days, the letter was open to several interpretations. It has never been my contention that the Government ought to change foreign policy because of terrorist threats within our borders. We must never be held to ransom by those who would deliberately shed innocent blood in the name of their cause. I firmly believe that justice, righteousness and national interest should be our policy compass. So when ministers such as Kim Howells and Douglas Alexander argue that “no government worth its salt would allow any policy to be dictated by threats of terror”, we are at one.

The second would be the fact that people, despite their earnest wishes and generous giving, are sick of their hard earned, well intentioned dollars going to the bad guys.

Money sent to Pakistan for earthquake relief may have ended up in the hands of the alleged airplane bomb plot ringleader, Rashid Rauf, thanks to a charity set up by his father and uncle.

Documents examined by ABC News show that Rauf's father, Abdul Rauf, and his uncle, Mohammed Mumtaz, established the London-based Crescent Relief in 2000. The charity, currently run by Mumtaz, has since sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pakistan for humanitarian purposes.

Officials say they believe Rauf, who has lived in Pakistan for the last few years, helped distribute the charity money and may have diverted some of the funds for his alleged terror plot.

It's like buying the stick used to poke your eye out and you can only do that so many times before you smarten up. Or run out of eyes.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:34 AM

Is There Hope For England?

This news certainly makes me think that there is:

Muslims face extra checks in new travel crackdown

By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.

The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.

The system would be much more sophisticated than simply picking out young men of Asian appearance. But it would cause outrage in the Muslim community because its members would be far more likely to be selected for extra checks.

I don't care if it causes "outrage", as basically every terrorist attack in the past 5 years has been the work of young muslim men between the ages of 18 and 25.

Three days before last week’s arrests, the highest-ranking Muslim police officer in Britain gave warning that profiling techniques based on physical appearance were already causing anger and mistrust among young Muslims. Tarique Ghaffur, an assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said: “We must think long and hard about the causal factors of anger and resentment.

“There is a very real danger that the counter-terrorism label is also being used by other law-enforcement agencies to the effect that there is a real risk of criminalising minority communities.”

I'd prefer that the police think long and hard about who is blowing up planes and busses and trains.

Actually, they don't have to think too long and hard to come up with the answer, now do they?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:36 AM

August 14, 2006

Wow! And I Mean

...WOW!!!

Barbaro Walks Outside His Stall
Injured Kentucky Derby Winner Barbaro Walks Outside His Stall and Grazes on Grass

Now that's a heart thhhiiiiissssssssssss BIG.

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

A Quick Movie Quiz

Scenes reenacted from famous movies. You guess which.
You're nuts if you don't play.

I wound up a pistachio of some sort in the scoring.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:29 PM | Comments (21)

"Is That a School of Cell Phones in Your Box"

"...or are you just hard of herring?"

I glanced at this picture flashing in an ABCNews slideshow and immediately...
...thought something had happened to Greek anchovy fisherman.

I have my moments. In my defense, I've been sniffing paint all day.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:20 PM | Comments (2)

"If Terror Is to Be Defeated..."

'''...first you have to drain the swamp."

On the Times U.K. editorial page

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:35 PM | Comments (2)

File This Under: Can't We

...just...

Serbs suggest partition of Kosovo
The head of Serbia's delegation on the future status of Kosovo has suggested partition of the disputed territory if no way can be found for ethnic Albanians and Serbs to live together

...all...

Nigeria hands Bakassi to Cameroon
Officials from Nigeria and Cameroon have held a joint ceremony in the disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to mark its transfer to Cameroon.

... But the court ruling has not gone down well with Nigerians living in the peninsula, the BBC's Alex Last reports from nearby Calabar.

Most Archibong residents have said they would rather leave their ancestral land than be ruled by Cameroon, such is their level of mistrust.

...get...

Somalia's PM calls for ceasefire
Somalia's interim Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi has called for a ceasefire with the Union of Islamic Courts, which controls the capital.
He called on the Islamists to join peace talks in Sudan, to which Mr Ghedi said he would send a delegation.

...Talks between the interim government and the courts are very important for the future of Somalia, Prime Minister Ghedi said.

Tensions between the government and Islamists have prompted fears of escalated conflict.

...along?

Hundreds die as fighting curbs hopes for peace talks
BATTLES raged across the north and east of Sri Lanka yesterday in the bloodiest fighting since a 2002 ceasefire, thwarting hopes of renewed peace talks.
Nearly 200 people were killed over the weekend with the heaviest fighting reported on the approaches to the city of Jaffna in the north. The violence followed two weeks of fighting near the eastern city of Trincomalee in which about 500 people have died and at least 60,000 have fled their homes.

...The scale and ferocity of the latest fighting made many Sri Lankans fear that full-scale war had returned after months of smaller clashes.

Sigh.

Buoyed Hezbollah plans next move

Probably...

Hope for new talks with North Korea pinned to aid from South
Scarcely more than a month after refusing to ship food and fertilizer to North Korea, South Korea is proffering "strictly humanitarian" aid to help rescue the North from flooding reminiscent of the disasters that preceded the famine of the late 1990s.

...South Korea's Unification Ministry, after having rejected North Korea's request for five hundred thousand tons of rice as well as fertilizer after the missile shots but before the flooding, responded eagerly to resume efforts at reconciliation despite US pressure to hold out for a return to six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons.

...not.

'The Street Is Not With Us'
An Arab envoy on the chasm between Israel and Hizbullah—and between Arab leaders and their people

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:13 PM

'Wuv a Puppy' Post

I just got an email from my Louisiana Lab Rescue friend, with pictures of schweet wabbies who need homes desperately.

I'll share it, if anyone's looking for a wonderful wab.
(The parent rescue site is Labs 4 Rescue.)

How do I know about them? Well, as of a couple weeks ago, we're the proud parents of Beauregard ~ a rootin' tootin' 85 pound, 14 or so month old Gumby boy. (I'd post a pic, but he hasn't held still long enough.) I stumbled across his picture on the website and he looked so much like my schweet Schmacks, I sent the link to major dad sayin' "I found our boy". He's a treasure.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:10 AM | Comments (4)

Now You Have a Casting Couch Chance

...with Bingley's boy.

JIM ("I am a gay American") McGreevey might have a new job soon - as one of the homosexual hosts on the talk show Joan Rivers is launching this fall on Bravo that's described as a queer version of "The View."

Ah, the Garden State can remain ever proud of it's elected officials in or OUT.

(Of office, duh...)

UPDATE: Lisa's right, of course. So

CAPTION THIS PICTURE

Let the games begin. Cyber jelly donut to the winner.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:17 AM | Comments (11)

Morning Read

Via Tim Blair, go read this:

THE apparently successful pre-emptive strike by British and Pakistani police against a home-grown terror cell in Britain should raise the concern of every decent patriotic citizen in Britain, Europe and Australia about their long-term security. For the danger comes from what one would have hoped were the socially integrated children of Muslim immigrants, millions of whom have settled in western Europe and hundreds of thousands in Australia. Instead, a small but potent minority of this second generation has embraced a totalitarian temptation that George W. Bush, following numerous liberal Western analysts, has correctly identified as Islamic fascism.

All of it.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:12 AM

Baby Boomers

Not only have we started to see women suicide bombers; now it seems that islamic women were going to use there own children as covers for the bombs:

HATE-filled mums willing to sacrifice themselves and their BABIES are being hunted in the war on terror.

Security sources confirmed last night that alleged “baby bombers” were among those arrested over the plot to massacre thousands by downing transatlantic flights.

Those being quizzed included a husband and wife with a six-month-old infant.

The discovery prompted fears that there were fanatical mothers in secret al-Qaeda cells in Britain ready to become suicide bombers — and to die with their tots in their arms.

And it emerged as the reason why women at airports were ordered to drink from their babies’ bottles before being allowed to board flights during last week’s massive alert.

Nice, huh? Jihad brings the family closer together.

Now, I'm a little fuzzy on the 'rewards' part here, though: the nice young jihadi couple go boom; he reckons he's due his 72 virgins. Where does that leave her, let alone junior?

The absolutely outrageous thing about all of this is that because of the insane 'profiling' PC fears we have an 85 year-old white grandmother has a much greater chance of being searched than an 22 year old arab male...and we know all the terror attacks that those grannies have carried out in the last five years.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:48 AM | Comments (2)

Targeting A Bridge?

The theory at the moment is the guys in Michigan with 1000 cell phones were targeting the Mackinac Bridge:

Federal authorities helped with the investigation into a possible terror threat to the Mackinac Bridge. The FBI office in Detroit worked with local law enforcement authorities before the police arrested three men in Caro on Friday. Officers found about 1,000 pre-paid cell phones in their van. Police in Caro arrested the three Palestinian-American men after they allegedly bought 80 of the phones at a Wal-Mart store in Caro.

A pre-paid cell phone can be economical and convenient. But, 22 year old Adham Othman, 23 year old Louai Othman, and 19 year old Maruwan Muhareb aroused suspicion when they allegedly bought 80 phones at the same time. Caro Police Chief Ben Page said they thought “something was wrong here."

When police pulled the men over, they found about 1,000 phones in the van. Many were separated from their battery packs and the chargers were discarded. Michigan State Police Trooper Patrick Sharkey says, “We didn't know exactly what was going on. You hear on the news about these phones being used to detonate IED's."

Their wives claim they are 'good guys' who were only planning to resell the phones.

Uh-huh.

In pieces.

Gee, that's how I always buy my phones.

As usual, Michelle Malkin has more.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:38 AM | Comments (8)

August 13, 2006

"Green Helmet"

...says he's just a singer in a rock and roll band
simple civil defense worker.


The AP does some spin control. (click through photo) They ALL could use some.

UPDATE: WOW! Lucky thing AP got it's puff piece done!! He's not feeling so great now.

Thirteen killed as Israel keeps up strikes on Lebanon

...Two rescue workers, including the chief of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre, Salam Daher, were wounded by shrapnel during raids near the hospital where they had been rushing to help extinguish the fire, police said.

Better keep those coolers running and the bodies on ice, folks. It'll be a bit before he can get back to corpse compositions.

A warm Swill Salute to Little Green Footballs

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:15 PM | Comments (4)

Perhaps We Should Call Them

...HezBALKah

CNN's "Late Edition" is reporting that Hezbollah forces south of the Litani River in Lebanon are refusing to lay down their arms when the cease fire goes into effect later today (our time). They are also reporting the Syria continues to ship arms into Lebanon even now.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you.

News has it that the Lebanese Army refuses to go into the area per the cease fire agreement if Hezbollah has anything left that could hurt them.

...The resolution, approved unanimously by the U.N. Security Council on Friday, calls for boosting the number of U.N troops in the area from 2,000 to 15,000.

They would be joined by 15,000 Lebanese troops and charged with ensuring Hezbollah could not operate anywhere between the Israeli-Lebanese border and the Litani River.

The Lebansese government has postponed discussions on the plan until they can 'consult' with hezbollah's negotiator.
The Lebanese cabinet postponed its meeting Sunday to discuss implementing the U.N. resolution aimed at ending fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

A Lebanese government minister said the meeting was postponed one to two days at the request of parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a key negotiator with Hezbollah.

The postponement will give government officials more time to meet with Hezbollah leadership to discuss details of implementing the U.N. resolution, the Lebanese minister said. (Posted 11 a.m.)

And already 200 Hezbollah rockets have hit Israel today.
UPDATE: Captain Ed notes an additional angle to the postponement:

The cease-fire agreement appears to have created a crisis in Lebanon's government, as a Cabinet meeting of Siniora's government has been abruptly cancelled. The Cabinet was supposed to vote on a plan to deploy their army into southern Lebanon and to displace Hezbollah. That has now been indefinitely delayed -- which means that Israel is not bound by the agreement to stop fighting:

Oy.

Transcript/link to report as it becomes available.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:20 PM | Comments (6)

The Deathscapers

Reader Dan Collins alerted me to this story about a photographer in Lebanon admitting hat they pose bodies for shots, and sometimes they even bring in the needed bodies from the morgue.

Like friggin' landscapers.

Or maybe Moral Artistes.

But remember, we're the evil ones, kids.

Lots more at Hot Air and LGF and Confederate Yankee.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:31 AM | Comments (1)

What I Woke To This Morning

Well, not really.

But a feller can dream, can't he?

Actually, the weather's been fantastic this weekend in Jersey. Very low humidity, barely into the 80s during the day and cool at night.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:43 AM | Comments (4)

From the New York Times ~ Today's Editorial

No kudos for the operation that busted this plot, no acknowledgment that listening in on trans-continental phone calls yields invaluable intelligence or that international financial transactions might lead to someone with a bomb in his Kos-KoolAid bottle. Nope, none of it. That august institution of the free American press has the Kos-KoolAid bottle firmly pressed to it's puckered lips and is drinking in long, self satisfying swigs.

...It comes like a punch to the gut, at times like these, when our leaders blatantly use the nation’s trauma for political gain. We never get used to this. It never feels like business as usual.

On Wednesday, when the administration already knew that British agents were rounding up suspects in what they believed was a plot to blow up planes en route to the United States, Vice President Dick Cheney had a telephone interview with reporters to discuss the defeat of Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut in a Democratic primary. Mr. Cheney went off on a rather rambling disquisition, but its main point was clear: In rejecting Mr. Lieberman, who supported the war in Iraq, the Democrats were encouraging “the Al Qaeda types.” Within the Democratic ranks, the vice president added, “there’s a significant body of opinion that wants to go back — I guess the way I would describe it is sort of the pre-9/11 mind-set, in terms of how we deal with the world we live in.”

...But that did not seem to deter Mr. Lieberman from scoring a cheap sound bite yesterday. Leaving Iraq, as Mr. Lamont advocates, “will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,” he said. “It will strengthen them and they will strike again.”

Osama bin Laden said the very same thing, but in the first person on tape: that al-Qaeda has taken strength from our continual cut and runs. All they have to do is wait us out. In the Times' eyes, I guess bin Laden is the subject matter expert and a distinguished Senator speaking the verifiable, quantitative truth using Osama bin Laden's own words is a "cheap" trickster for political gain.

Bin Laden's right, you know. He has us nailed like a cheap roof shingle. I'll bet this editorial gets framed on the cave wall when he gets it.

UPDATE and BUMP: Captain Ed has an interesting background on a controversy in the comments.

"...The controversy was about the lack of congressional and judicial oversight of the program, followed by worries that the story itself somehow compromised the program (as though terrorists would not have known of the high likelihood of their financial transactions being monitored had they not read it in the NYT and some other papers.) In other words, get yer facts straight, Swilling."

Byron Calame's (Public Editor at the NYT) column today looks at just how critical this information was for public consumption. So critical, the story was DELAYED FOR OVER A YEAR, while lying about the timing when it was finally released.

In my January column, in which I refused to rely on anonymous sources, I noted that I was left “puzzled” by the election question. But I have now learned from Bill Keller, the executive editor, that The Times delayed publication of drafts of the eavesdropping article before the 2004 election. This revelation confirms what anonymous sources had told other publications such as The Los Angeles Times and The New York Observer in December.

And, as Captain's Quarters takes it apart, it was all calculated not to have Kerry look any more wishy-washy and ineffectual than he was doing on his own.

...Left-wing pundits and bloggers have insisted that Keller spiked the story to keep George Bush in office. Keller, however, has a different take on his decision. He insists that the news would have likely helped Bush rather than hurt him, and the public support for this program after its delayed revelation last December supports that analysis. John Kerry and the Democrats had castigated Bush for the lack of visible effort to find and track terrorists, and the program's exposure would have forced Kerry to recant and suddenly argue that Bush had been too enthusiastic about fighting terrorism, a tough pirouette to execute in a grueling presidential campaign.

In the end, the final version of the story got prepared just days before the election, and Keller argues that a release at that point would have been "unfair" to all parties. It took several weeks for all of the political dust to settle once the article did come out. He may have a point, but then two related events took place: he delayed the release for over a year, and then Keller lied about the timing when he published it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:22 AM | Comments (16)

August 12, 2006

Meanwhile, Back In Pristine Europe

Waldheimer's, that tragic disease that causes people to forget they were Nazis, claims another victim:

Nobel Prize-winning German writer Guenter Grass, author of the great anti-Nazi novel The Tin Drum, has admitted serving in the Waffen-SS.

He told a German newspaper he had been recruited at the age of 17 into an SS tank division and served in Dresden.

Previously it was only known he had served as a soldier and was wounded and taken prisoner by US forces.

Speaking before the publication of his war memoirs, he said his silence over the years had "weighed" upon him.

I bet it did.

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

August 11, 2006

Of Course They Are

Muslim groups say British policies fuel militancy

...In an open letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, leading British Muslim groups and politicians said his foreign policies on issues such as Iraq and the Israel-Hizbollah war were putting civilians at increased risk of attack in Britain and elsewhere.

"The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all," they said in the letter, published in the Times newspaper.

Lovely threat, that ~ Allah's version of "you brought that sh*t on yourself, man..."

"Iraq and the Israel-Hizbollah" ~ please. And the Muslim excuse for 9/11 is what? There was no Iraq, no Afghanistan, no NOTHING. I hope to God the British don't fall for this crap the way the Spaniards did. There will ALWAYS be a grievance for these lunatics and I'm pretty f*cking sick of the CIVILIZED world caving in to their murderous bi-polar rages. For you to come into someone's home, their country, by CHOICE and live with all the freedoms associated with it (as opposed to your fetid family hut in Stone Ages-stan) and then do your best to destroy it ~ all the while lecturing them on their transgressions against you...? We should all kick ourselves in the ass. HARD.

They do it because WE LET THEM.

I want the British MAD, God damn it. I want US mad ~ I want EVERYBODY mad.
Enough of this sh*t.

UPDATE: As usual, The Gateway Pundit has much more.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:26 PM

The "Third Camp" Manifesto

Sis pointed out this Manifesto she found over at Slugger O'Toole's. It makes for an interesting read, and to my mind (what little of one there is) it neatly encapsulates a lot of the Left's positions on just about everything.

So let's take a peek, shall we?

The title gives a big hint as to what lay below:

"Manifesto of the Third Camp against
US Militarism and Islamic Terrorism."

The present conflict between the Western governments and the Islamic Republic of Iran can have disastrous human, political and social consequences. The terrible experience of Iraq has shown to all the catastrophes that can result from economic sanctions and a military attack. Deterioration of living conditions, economic plight, death, destruction and displacement of people, and increased repression by the Islamic regime, would be some of the immediate consequences of economic sanctions or a military attack on Iran. This policy would unleash Islamic terrorism on a regional scale and escalate it internationally.

Yes, it will have disastrous effects if we lose it. If Iran is victorious the catastrophe for the West will make Iraq look like a happy place with gumdrop smiles (and run-on sentences. Hell, I know my sentences run on, but I'm not publishing some high-faluting 'manifesto'). Er, and are they saying that there is no regional Islamic terrorism currently, and that it's quiet around the globe?

Ho boy...

We must stand up with all our power to the US government’s and its allies’ bullying. We must put an end to the crimes of the opposite pole, i.e. Islamic terrorism. We must help the people of Islam-stricken countries to get rid of the menace of Islamic terrorist states and forces. American militarism and Islamic terrorism have brutalised the world. Neither of them has a solution to the present crisis and its resulting problems. Rather, they are themselves the cause of this crisis and its aggravation. Civilised humanity must rise up against both these poles and the suffering that they have imposed on the world. The human and genuine solution to the problem of nuclear weapons, to Islamic terrorism and its horrific crimes against the people of the world, and to the militaristic bullying of the US and Western governments lies in the hands of us people.

There you have it: the US and Islamic terrorists, co-equal world brutalisers, equally at fault and equally fearful of the mighty wrath of "us people." How low our language has fallen from the dizzying heights of "When in the course of human events..." and "We the People..." to "us people." I keep looking for a "Youse Guys" in there somewhere.

Amid all this, the struggle of the people of Iran for freedom holds a prominent and critical place. For years there has been a mass social movement in Iran against the Islamic regime and for liberty and equality. The triumph of this movement over the Islamic Republic of Iran would be a decisive blow to political Islam and Islamic terrorism throughout the world. It would also be a powerful response to the US government’s political-military interventionism aimed at regime change, in the name of “exporting democracy”, and imposition of reactionary puppet regimes on other societies. The victory of the Iranian people would be a giant step forward and a turning point in the struggle against militarist and Islamic terrorism and in defence of liberty, civilisation and universal rights for all throughout the world.

The triumph of such a movement in Iran would be wonderful, and it would be a powerful response to US military intervention, because that intervention is the only thing that will create the conditions for it to happen. Do you really think that the religious leaders in Iran will give up as easily as the Shah did if there is a general uprising of "the people"?

We, the undersigned, declare:

1- No to war, No to economic sanctions

Economic sanctions and a military strike on Iran will have catastrophic human, political and social consequences. What happened in Iraq should not be repeated in Iran. These threats must stop immediately.

Ok, and in their place you suggest?

2- No to US militarism, No to political Islam

In the conflict between the state terrorism of the West and Islamic terrorism, the civilised world is not represented. Both sides of this conflict are reactionary and inhuman. They must be driven back.

My god! Not only is Bush evil; he's not even human! And I like the "yes, we believe in peace and freedom but not in the political rights of religious people" angle of this, don't you? Instead of "We are all New Yorkers" they offer "You are all terrorists."

3- Nuclear disarmament of all states

Neither Iran, nor the USA, nor any other state should have nuclear weapons. The Iranian regime’s nuclear project must stop immediately. However, states which have the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons themselves are not competent authorities to judge on the nuclear capability of other states. Halting the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear project is the task of the freedom-loving people of the world, in particular the people of Iran - just as the nuclear disarmament of all states and liberation from the global nuclear nightmare can only be achieved by the struggle of the people of the world.

I agree: nobody should have nuclear weapons. But I feel compelled to point out that unfortunately they do. States with no nuclear capabilities are the only competent judge of another states nuclear capabilities? Are they kidding? Someone who can't boil water without a cheat sheet is the one we should use for reviews of french cuisine? Halting their program is the task of freedom loving people; I ask again: how do you suggest this can be accomplished?

4- Attacks on civil liberties in the West in the name of ‘war on terror’ must stop

The governments in the West are violating or restricting civil rights and liberties in the name of fighting the terrorist threat and safeguarding security. Increased surveillance and control of citizens, curtailing freedom of _expression and movement and denying the rights of immigrants are some of the commonest forms that this attack on people’s rights is taking. This must be stopped. No excuse for an attack on civil rights and liberties is acceptable.

The only attacks I see on civil liberties are people being attacked and murdered for 'insulting' Islam and printing some cartoons. Oh, and they looked in my backpack the other day when I took the subway. Help, help, I'm being repressed.

5- We actively support the struggle of the people of Iran against a military attack and against the

Islamic Republic of Iran

For 27 years the people of Iran have been fighting against repression, violation of women’s rights, sexual apartheid, stoning, torture, execution of political prisoners and poverty and economic deprivation. The people of Iran want to and can determine their own political destiny. Support for the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom, the victory of this struggle against the Islamic Republic and the establishment of people’s own direct rule will be a crucial step in standing up to the US government’s bullying and a decisive blow to Islamic terrorism in the Middle East and the world.

I wasn't aware that the people of Iran were struggling against a military attack, at least not one by soldiers who aren't wearing Iranian uniforms. By that list it sounds like the people have been struggling against...Islam. The US government wholeheartedly supports the people in that struggle.

6- The Islamic Republic must be expelled from the international community

The Islamic regime in Iran must be kicked out of the international community, just like the racist South African regime, for 27 years of crimes against humanity, for the brutal suppression of the rightful struggles of the people, for the execution of over one hundred thousand political prisoners, for establishing a sexual apartheid in Iran and for promoting Islamic terrorism in the Middle East and throughout the world. We call for the non-recognition of the Islamic Republic as the representative of the Iranian people, for the ending of diplomatic ties with it and the closure of its embassies everywhere. We call for the expulsion of the regime from international institutions.

Now wait one minute. Only in a manifesto from the Left can they end triumphantly with a position exactly opposite from where they started. Recall the opening paragraph:

The terrible experience of Iraq has shown to all the catastrophes that can result from economic sanctions and a military attack. Deterioration of living conditions, economic plight, death, destruction and displacement of people, and increased repression by the Islamic regime, would be some of the immediate consequences of economic sanctions or a military attack on Iran.

And now the ending once again:

The Islamic regime in Iran must be kicked out of the international community, just like the racist South African regime...

Hmmm, and the method the "international community" used with South Africa?

Economic sanctions.

The logic is brilliant: we are against sanctions so we insist that they be used; if there are any bad results, well, we told you so!

There is no plan, no vision, no suggestion on any plan of action to actually do something, no nothing in this 'manifesto' except the repeated mantra 'no'. That's their answer to everything. The US is bad, m'kay. Islam is bad, m'kay. Let's hold hands and via our collective empowerment we can will problems away. The utopian belief in "Why can't we all get along" is frightening; that seemingly intelligent people are signing on, even more so.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:34 PM | Comments (7)

Police Fear Threat To Muslims?

Oh sweet baby jeebus, the West is doomed. I can't believe this crap; actually, sadly I can:

Police fears of threat to Muslims

It was "totally wrong" to retaliate against Muslims, Mr Fahey said
The police have increased their presence in areas with Muslim populations in the UK to deter attacks after the latest terror arrests.

Funny, most of the world, hell, most Muslims, are worried about attacks from Muslims.

The head of the Muslim Council of Britain said Muslims were "fully behind" efforts to prevent attacks.

Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari said the community supported curbs on terrorism, but warned of "a distance" growing between them and the police.

My, isn't that telling. They fully support efforts to prevent attacks on Muslims, but they only "support curbs on terrorism.

However, police "need to do a lot more thinking" before that can happen, argued Fahad Ansari from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, because their intelligence was "flawed".

"For four years we've been seeing more and more innocent people being harassed and demonised," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We've seen very few terrorists being captured but a lot of innocent people destroyed.

Their intelligence is not as flawed as their tactics. This PC surrender has got to end. And most of the innocent people who have been destroyed have been destroyed by...muslim terrorists.

Muhammad Abul Kalam from the Muslim Safety Forum said that there was generally an increase in Islamophobic attacks following events such as Thursday's raids, in which 24 people were arrested.

Oh bull. After every single terrorist attack in the past five years there has been one and only one minority that has suffered 'reprisal' attacks: Jews.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:07 PM | Comments (10)

The IDF Gets a Taste of Warfare

...American style.

Analysis: IDF fumes over denied victory

...This wishy-washy decision-making process cost the IDF lives, according to one senior officer. "A military force always needs to be on the offensive, pushing forward and keeping the enemy on its toes," he said. "When you sit still for too long, you turn into a target and you begin to get hit again and again."

That is what has been happening. Over the past 30 days of fighting Hizbullah, the army has lost 83 soldiers, 35 of them this week. "That is what happens when you sit still and don't move," the officer said. "The enemy fortifies its positions and gains the upper hand."

The results of sitting in place can also be seen in the way most of the soldiers who died this week were killed. Hundreds of anti-tank missiles have been fired at troops in southern Lebanon. When a force sits still it becomes an easy target, officers said. One said he thought that the number of casualties from "just sitting and waiting for orders" could turn out to be the same as the IDF would have lost had it been allowed to make the push to the Litani.

UPDATE: It looks like "Unleash the Hounds!!" is back on.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is dissatisfied with the emerging cease-fire deal and told his defense minister in a meeting Friday to get ready for a wider ground offensive in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said.

I hope they carry through this time. There's nothing worse than getting jerked around ~ just ask the Marines who went into Fallujah.

Others are watching at Michelle Malkin.

And Bill Quick at The Daily Pundit ~ all I can say is "WOW". Please, please read it.

UPDATE: Hold the phone and NOT SO FAST !!

Mideast peace deal reached at U.N.
Israeli media say Olmert will recommend government accept it

Slimey Hezbollah jackals will be dancing in the streets at yet another 'victory'.
Jesus, we're killing ourselves here.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:05 PM

For Our Florida Swillers

...in case you hadn't read it.

Hurricane Grants To Fortify Homes Almost Ready To Go

The thousands of homeowners eager for a shot at state money to help reinforce their homes against hurricanes may have to wait only a week longer.

...Called My Safe Florida Home, the $250 million program gives matching grants up to $5,000 toward the cost of fortifying homes against hurricanes. Homeowners first must request a home inspection, then wait for an inspector to visit and make a report on the home's condition.

The program is new, and Takacs couldn't say how long applicants might have to wait for an inspection or how long it might take for homeowners to get the grant.

The state has yet to announce the date residents may begin requesting an inspection. Takacs expects the state will be ready in about a week.

The grant would pay half the cost of up to $10,000 in improvements such as shutters, reinforcing garage doors or replacing shingles. Homeowners would pay the other half.

The program is aimed at homes built before building codes were toughened in the mid-1990s. Once an inspector completes a report detailing the improvements needed and the estimated cost, the homeowner can apply for the grant.

The state will be ready to accept grant applications Sept. 1, Takacs said.

Approved homeowners will select from a list of contractors sanctioned by the state. Only state-approved contractors may perform the work.

There are limitations.

Grants are for homes with an insured value of $500,000 or less and for homeowners only. You will have to provide the state proof of the insured value and homestead exemption.

...For information about the grant program, call 1-800-342-2762.

Some work covered: reinforce roof decking, add waterproof sealing to plywood roof deck joints, brace gable ends, upgrade shingles, replace garage door.
What a dynamite idea! Those matching grants now are a thousand times cheaper than the aftermath of a Charlie or Ivan.

Now if we could just get people to stockpile the minimum supplies...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:48 PM

The Dearbornistan Duo

Michelle Malkin has the latest updates:

A second charged was added for the two Dearborn men who were arrested in Ohio and charged money laundering to support terrorism. Thursday, prosecutors charged 20-year-old Ali Houssaiky and 20-year-old Osma Sabhi Abulhassan with soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism. Police said the men initially lied, but then under interrogation admitted to buying 600 untraceable cell phones. Authorities are concerned that if shipped to the Middle East, the chips from the phones may be used to remotely detonate car bombs.

I'm still concerned about my theory, as well.

But they are "good, quiet kids."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:19 AM | Comments (2)

PEACE Activists

Here's the list of the names of the Presbyterians for East Asian Community Esprit, better known as "PEACE", who are being scandalously charged by the police over their GatorGrenade sports drinks.

I mean, look at the names. This list could easily be confused with the Kirk membership in John Knox' day.

Certainly not with, you know, terrorists or any such.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:58 AM | Comments (4)

August 10, 2006

I Think There May Be a Little Literary License

...in this Sky News leadline.

Angry Travellers Hit Out At Plotters

It goes to this article...

'Terrorists Must Not Win'

...where the quote in the headline never appears, neither does 'anger' and only one of the interviewed travellers is actually talking about 'terrorists'. ("If I can't get to Brighton, they win.") Everyone else is stoic/philosophical about missed flights or 8 hours without their iPod. WTF is that? WAKE the f*ck up and for Christ's sake GET MAD !! Whatever happened to "I want the people who wish me dead DEAD!" English grace under pressure is one thing, but we are fast approaching Neville Chamberlin territory. C'mon, c'mon, c'MON and stop this pretense of feeling their pain when THEY'RE the ones inflicting it!

Can you imagine a New Yorker, had it been centered here? (I can...)

"I don't give a rats a$$ who these motherf*ckers think they are, but they can come see Vinnie and I'll show them how we act in this country. Blowin' up women and children and disruptin' interstate commerce? You and what army, Ahmed? I got your virgins right here, you sick [p-word]. Those f*cked up bastards need their a$$es kicked and we're just the guys to do it. I'd say back to the stone age, but, since they're already there, there ain't much point to diplomacy, like we were f*ckin' French or something."

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

We're Up to SIX

...of the missing eleven Eyptian students.

...El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed Ibrahim, 20, and Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali El Bahnasawi, 20, were arrested at a residence in Dundalk, Md., outside Baltimore, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Chicago police detained Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, 22, at OHare International Airport as he was attempting to book a flight to Montana, the FBI said. Immigration agents later took El Ela into custody.

With everything that's gone down today, it's worth revisiting our Homeland Security Chief's initial reaction to these guys going missing.

...Sensitivity toward Muslims is so raw that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this week felt compelled to express disappointment that the FBI put out an alert for 11 Egyptian students who failed to show up at Montana State University. They entered the country on visas, then vanished. Chertoff said not to worry, just a bunch of kids cutting class. No threat here.

I'll bet he wish he could eat those words.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:10 PM | Comments (4)

Now That's a Power Drink

...we could all do without.

The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.

ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container.

The Telegraph U.K very thoughtfully points out how to make a 'liquid/sports drink bomb' and some of the pitfalls inherent in manufacturing 'liquid/sports drink bombs', as does Sky News. The one pseudo safeguard they're talking about...

Measures introduced at UK airports included specific restrictions on taking liquids on board, prompting speculation that evidence had been uncovered of a plot to smuggle liquid explosive devices onto flights.

Passengers travelling with infants were being asked to taste baby milk they intended to carry on their journey in front of security staff.

...is a no go right off the bat, even if the Presbyterian East Asian Criminal doesn't have a false bottom in his pop, and I have personal knowledge of the lengths people will go to. Let me share a dark chapter of my history.

Once upon a time, ths was a youngish Marine Corps Sgt., stationed in her birthplace ~ Iwakuni, Japan ~ for a 6 month long deployment. One of the advantages/disadvantages of that particular slice of Occidental heaven is the fact the it's so God awful far from civilization. It sucks not to have a city close-by, but it's wonderful if you're into spending time in truly rural Japan. Rural as in isolated villages, people unjaded by the average Japanese reaction to gaijiin, sustenance fishing, farming and...raising koi. Yes, the flashy fish.

I had a young LCpl K working for me who'd had a fish fetish before he hit Iwakuni, so you can imagine his ecstacy when he stumbled across an ancient fellow raising world champion koi during a backroads bike trip. He and the old man soon became fast friends, and he'd pedal out to help him every break he had. When it came time for us to rotate back to the States, the old man gifted him with two very small, future champion fish ~ worth at least a couple grand at the sardine size they were at the moment. LCpl K was beside himself with joy. Until he realized getting them home would be a smuggling job of epic proportions between customs, the Air Force and a 25+ hour flight.

Enter the Japanese penchant for gadgets of the miniscule variety. He'd canvassed the ginza for something, anything, to keep his scaley friends alive during the trans-Pacific passage. As luck would have it ~ on his last free day ~ he stumbled over a mini, battery operated aquarium pump. Coupled with an Igloo half gallon insulated jug, he had himself a fishy hide away. After a few dry(!) runs for battery life, the covert koi were tucked into the Igloo with water, food and pump, and boarding the plane for home.

It all went well, as they sailed through every obstacle until about 20 hours later when, at that one last customs hurdle in Anchorage, the officer asked "What's in the jug?"

"Water for the trip!" LCpl K chirpily replied.

"Then you won't have any problem taking a big swig."

GULP. "No, sir."

"Well...?"

GULP. He thought about it for a second and a half and then he gulped 20+ hour old fish water. On terra firma eons later in California, it turns out it had all been for naught. He didn't die from the water, but the fish had. And been dead for God knows how long.

Desperate people will do anything.

Update: We got IslamoSpam in the comments!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:27 PM | Comments (4)

Fox News Reporting an Air Canada Flight Diverted

...to Baltimore because of a suspicious package. From what I heard, it was on it's way to Logan ~ I'll have to check. Now it's sitting all by its loneself on the tarmac at BWI.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:12 PM

2009 Camaro

So they announced it. Wonder how they got around the contract that they had with the last plant that built F-cars?

Posted by Crusader at 02:36 PM | Comments (2)

"The Devil's Flying Monkeys"

Peggy Noonan in the Opinion Journal today touches briefly on the very thing I was thinking watching the news. Last night he ABC Evening news had a round-up of the Lieberman-Lamont bout. They spoke to Lieberman and briefly to a confused looking/braindead sounding Lamont...and then spent the bulk of the report on Kos. How revolting. Pandering to the illusion that he and his unhinged hordes are now bonafide king makers. His whole attitude was 'we're coming for you' if you don't meet the Daily Kos' criteria for 'worthy'. I KNOW three quarters of the American viewing public have no clue who Mr. Moulitsas is and don't know Kos from Adam (and lucky they are for it), but dang. That was like watching the most radical, treacherous, lunatic fringe get a leg up in a Third World 'parliment'. And old Lamont's a fool if he thinks they won't chew his leg off to keep him from going in his own direction. He won't be able to hear a fire alarm over the Kosite voices in his head dictating his every move because he owes them. I hope to God there's SOMEone in the Democratic Party SOMEwhere wondering, "What the hell just happened and shouldn't I be scared?"

...There's another thing he [Lieberman] has going for him, and it's the flip side of insiderism. He's a grownup. He's not an angry kid. When America gets in trouble, and everyone thinks more trouble is coming, you want grownups around. In this, Mr. Lieberman is in sharp relief to Mr. Lamont's supporters.

Everyone in public life gets tagged. But this is one of the first times in a long time that somebody's base got tagged. The Kos crowd is viewed by most people outside that crowd as hate-fueled, bitter and stupid--the devil's flying monkeys making their "Eeek! Eeek!" sounds. As a political phenomenon such people do not . . . inspire. They're not like the young lefties of old trying to be "Clean for Gene."

They seem like people who do not--cannot--create and cohere. They seem driven by a spirit of destruction. This will take you only so far. It didn't help when Kos himself, Markos Moulitsas, got all Robespierre the other day and instructed Harry Reid to strip Mr. Lieberman of all his committee assignments.

Like the crowds with the pitchforks and torches when all the slaughter and beheadings were over. You have to hope there's somebody left who can clean up the mess the mob makes, because they don't actually ever 'DO'. They sit idly around until there's a chance to 'DON'T' ~ there's far less effort expended and zip responsibility for the outcome.

UPDATE: Whoa ~ I think I've been channeling Duane at Radio Blogger.

If Lamont wins, sane Democrats all over the country instantly panic that the party has been taken captive by the nutter fringe. And it can't be a comfortable feeling going into the November election. Republicans now know who they are fighting this Fall, and it sure isn't other Republicans. It's a single-issue campaign, essentially nationwide...the war on terror. And no matter how you slice it, what this evening's result in Connecticut showed is one fact that cannot be denied. The Republicans, while certainly not perfect in how they are fighting the war on terror, they are fighting it. The Democrats are running away from the war. And in fact, they are so committed to not fighting the war on terror, the only people they seem willing to fight are people who aren't as anti-war as they are, especially in their own party.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:17 PM | Comments (8)

ABCNews is Reporting

...in a 'Breaking News' banner,

TERROR PLOT COULD HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT WITHIN DAYS, UK OFFICIALS SAY; PRESIDENT BUSH TO MAKE STATEMENT ON THE PLOT WITHIN THE HOUR

Well then it would make sense to step in on those Presbyterian East Asians before they actually killed people.

It would, of course, if this whole 'terror' thing wasn't just Rovian machinations to draw attention away from Bush's Lieberman/Iraq War loss. Which it was. No one is really going to kill anyone ~ they just let you think so.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:39 AM | Comments (4)

Quote for the Day

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. -J. R. R. Tolkien

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:46 AM | Comments (5)

On Fox and Friends

...they've got a dapper British guest (Simon Henderson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy) who's explaining how the British goverment takes pains to not to classify their homegrown terrorists as...terrorists. They call them all 'criminals' and, if really pushed, will call them 'East Asian'. (Witness this breaking Sky News report.)

...Sky News' Crime Correspondant Martin Brunt says those arrested were mainly young, British-born Asian men.

Which really irritates the Hindu and Sikh populations in the U.K. with its implications since, as he told the Fox crew,

"When it comes down to it all the people in the past ~ and I'm willing to put money on it today ~ are all British Muslims."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:02 AM

In Other Presbyterian News

Here's what they're up to in Ohio:

MARIETTA, Ohio - Two men were charged Wednesday with money laundering in support of terrorism after authorities said they found airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints in their car.

Deputies stopped Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, both of Dearborn, Mich., on a traffic violation Tuesday. They found the flight documents along with $11,000 cash and 12 phones in the car, said Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks.

Prosecutor Susan Vessels declined to say how the phones, cash or flight information involved terrorism.

Abulhassan and Houssaiky admitted buying about 600 phones in recent months at stores in southeast Ohio, said sheriff's Maj. John Winstanley. The men said they sold the phones to someone in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb.

Well, here's a guess: you use multiple phones distributed among the cells. You use each phone once, for only a few minutes. Since the NYTimes has thoughtfully shown you all about the US intercept and listening program, you now know that you need to randomize and break up any patterns in your communication, and so 600 cell phones used by the 10-15 members of your terrorist group allows you to do that.

Thank you, New York Times.

Update: I should have known that Michelle Malkin would be all over this...last night! Heh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:39 AM

Had A Lovely Dinner Last Night

The Watchful Babbler and his bride were in town on their honeymoon and I had the exquisite pleasure of a long dinner with them at the Bridge Cafe, which is one of my favorite places to eat downtown.

Great food, great wine and best of all great friends. What else could a feller ask for?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:19 AM

New Terror Plot In The UK

A huge terror plot has been foiled in the UK:

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said. It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.

Police were searching premises with 21 people in custody after arrests in the London area and West Midlands.

High security is causing delays at all UK airports. The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical.

Evidently they were trying to smuggle liquid explosives of some type on board in carry-on luggage.

The British Department of Transport advised all passengers that they would not be permitted to carry any hand baggage on board any aircraft departing from any airport in the country. Passengers faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights.

British Airways said some flights were likely to be canceled. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among items banned from being carried on its planes.

Now, as is sadly the case these days, those first two articles only refer to the people in custody as "British Born", so of course my first reaction, much like Tim Blair's, is to say "Damned Presbyterians."
Certainly CNN gives no helpful information as to their identity. Ah, what's this tidbit in the Times UK:

So far 21 suspects - believed to be British citizens, many of Pakistani origin - have been arrested in overnight raids in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham, but police stressed that the huge, complex, security operation was still ongoing and that there may be further arrests.

On the radio this morning they actually said "muslims." How insensitive; I'm sure the anchors will be fired.

A friend in London this morning told me that he was tired of muslims complaining about feeling picked on. "Not all muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists seem to be muslim," he said, "And I don't recall the Irish complaining about profiling when the IRA was blowing shit up."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:35 AM

August 09, 2006

Hmmmm...

So somebody besides us noticed.

Israel says BBC not reporting war fairly
The Foreign Ministry is under pressure from Israeli citizens to resume its boycott of the BBC and to withdraw credentials from its reporters due to "one-sided" reports on the war in Lebanon, Israeli diplomatic officials said Wednesday.

...The diplomatic officials said the network had not been reporting the war fairly. Senior diplomatic officials in Jerusalem went as far as saying that "the reports we see give the impression that the BBC is working on behalf of Hizbullah instead of doing fair journalism."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:02 PM

Israeli TV is Reporting IRANIAN Fighters

...among the dead.

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have been found among Hizbollah guerrillas slain by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, Israel's Channel 10 television reported on Wednesday citing diplomatic sources. It said the Iranians were identified by documents found on their bodies, but gave no further details on how many were discovered or when.

Now combine that "SHOCKING" information with the armed Iranian drone shot down by the IDF this weekend. It hearkens back to Marine reports of Chinese regulars among the North Koreans they engaged on their way to the Chosin reservoir.
People pooh-poohed that, too.

...By the end of October, 1950, the smattering reports of Chinese intervention in North Korea began adding up. But intelligence summaries from the field were rejected by senior intelligence.

...When the formalities had ended, [Lt Gen] Ned Almond turned to Captain Don France, Litz's intelligence officer, and asked for the latest news. France had been collecting data for weeks on end and, though he was known as a rather sober type, the studious captain blurted out in the presence of the medal winners and the regiment's senior staff, "General, there are a fucking lot of Chinese in those hills."

Almond did not blink, though many of the thirty-odd bystanders had to duck out of the cozy tent to keep from choking on their laughter.

The general stood through what little remained of his briefing and stalked out in the evening chill to board his helicopter, which had been flown up from Hagaru-ri earlier.

-From "Chosin" by Eric Hammel.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:11 PM

Watched It Last Night and WOW

We loved it.

Watch the clip from the film. You can take or leave his interview with Maher (the pretentious ass), but Ross comes off as genuine as he does in the film. And doesn't let Maher lead him into anything, no matter how hard Maher tries.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:55 PM | Comments (1)

Heh.

I'd really guffaw, but this is Florida.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:24 PM | Comments (4)

A Worthless Little Survey

Purchasing Power Ranking of Cities

Purchasing power ranking of cities based on the number of minutes of work required to buy a Big Mac, according to a study conducted by Swiss banking giant UBS. The rating was based on the local price of the product divided by the weighted net hourly wage in 14 professions.

Tokyo 10 minutes of work

All the way to...

Bogota, Colombia 97

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:14 PM | Comments (4)

An Eagle Eyed Jarhead Stars In

"Through the Green Door".

One glance at an unusual door to a house west of Falluja launched U.S. troops on a hunt that led to the capture of four men suspected of kidnapping Jill Carroll, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

A Marine lieutenant thought he recognized a small structure on the door and the gate from intelligence reports about the U.S. journalist's 82-day abduction, spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.

"Troops on the ground, young Marines and sailors, paid attention to what may have been considered minor details at the time," he told a news conference in Baghdad.

..."The young Marine ... continued to follow up on what he remembered from the reports and [was] able to specifically identify some features associated with that ...

"He determined that, in fact, he had probably found the house where kidnap victims may have been held, specifically in this case, Jill Carroll."

Marines arrested the homeowner in al-Habbaniya beginning a chain of events that took them to three more houses that may have been used as holding cells.

In one of the houses, Marines disarmed booby traps before rescuing two other hostages, Caldwell said.

It's a GREAT frickin' story! OO-rah!!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:54 PM | Comments (6)

Sir Macca Vs Lady Mucca

While my bank account gently weeps:

THE McCARTNEY divorce is going to be the most bitter high-profile split since Charles and Diana’s ten years ago.

Heather Mills, dubbed Lady Mucca after The Sun exposed her porno past, has hired the same lawyers used by the late Princess as she battles Macca for his millions.

Although she once claimed she had no interest in the former Beatle’s £800million fortune, ex-hooker Heather went to see top divorce firm Mishcon de Reya this week.

This is going to get nasty-nasty.

And I'm adoring the UK press' coverage!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:49 PM | Comments (19)

Today's Inspirational Poster

Is brought to you by our friend Robb at Sharp As A Marble:

We'll be seeing this in those SkyMall catalogues in no time, mark my words...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:11 AM | Comments (6)

I Smell "Embellishment" in the Air

See the Headline?



Now see the last sentence?

Have these people lost their minds? The truth is bad enough, you don't have to manufacture anything worse.
I don't have an earlier version of the AP report they used, so right now? That BS headline is on 'FAIR and BALANCED' Fox.

UPDATE: It's now 0848 CST and FoxNews.com still has the same headline.

UPDATE Part Deux: 0852 and it's just changed to "crashes".
UPDATE Part Trois ~ 12:34 EST: The FOXNews home page still has the copter as SHOT DOWN. Screen shot below.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:17 AM

Quote of the Day

On integrity.

The BBC's website photo editor, Phil Commes, has also taken a neutral line on the faked photographs from Beirut supplied by Reuters , saying: "One man's color balancing is another man's grounds for dismissal."

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:47 AM | Comments (4)

Lamont Wins - Democrats Lose?

So Lamont pulled off the primary win, based solely on bringing home the troops from Iraq. It's a pity about Lieberman, as he was the one Democrat that I could conceive of myself voting for. It will be very interesting to see how this affects other Democratic races. Certainly this will tend to polarize and radicalize them more in the North East, as the nutroots folks now have a scalp and will apply these tactics to every race they can in the future.

But where does this leave moderate Democrats (who, unlike "moderate muslims" actually seem to exist)? I think this is the begining of the splintering of the Democratic Party; well, actually this is when the cracks become public and gaping. People are going to have to choose to jump with the nuts or stand against them. I think the next few years will see the rise of a strong third party movement that will eventually supplant one of the other two.

Interesting times.

Real Clear Politics agrees:

And as much as mainstream Democrats may try to downplay this result as a Connecticut issue, the rejection of a three-term Senator who was the party's VP nominee only six years ago will have repercussions throughout the country and they don't help the Democratic Party.

Yep.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:34 AM | Comments (14)

August 08, 2006

Fortunately For the World ~ If TOWACA Press Int'l Reports It

...you don't have to decide. Our sources and resources...

"Pull your pants up, son."
Lebanese rescuer attempts to awaken exhausted poser, while Sheik "Six Pack Abs" Ali bin Bingley patiently awaits extraction from the only beam he's ever been under that wasn't out of a bottle. -Adinon Haggis, TPI

( Click HERE for entire, horrifying photo )

...are unimpeachable.

UPDATE: Bingley says to note that I"m available should any wire service positions (I won't say 'fauxtographer' because all my work is real and really happened just like my real photographs of reality.) open unexpectedly. I'm cheap, since I work from home. None of those expensive 'in country' plane tickets to buy.

Robb at Sharp as a Marble is busy documenting tragedy as well.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:59 PM | Comments (5)

More Fauxtography

Gateway Pundit has got an amazing catch of Pravda:

he's alive

Now he be dead (while, as Gateway says, "sweating and holding his hat by his side")

Look at the guy in the center on the top photo; it's the same guy who is being pulled 'dead' from the Joos rubble!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:14 PM | Comments (1)

What If You Had a Big Pipe...

...and never peeked?

Corroded Alaska Pipeline Untested for 14 Years
The severely corroded pipeline that forced the shutdown of the country's largest oil field had not been inspected or cleaned by BP Oil for at least 14 years, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records.

The lines at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field carry eight percent of the domestic crude oil production but are exempt from federal regulation.

And how did BP get their name in the paper at all?

The Department of Transportation increased its scrutiny of BP's Alaska operation only after the discovery of a 250,000 gallon crude oil spill there in March.

The spill went undetected for days until a worker who was passing by smelled the oil. The spill, which was caused by another corroded pipeline, has lead to a federal criminal investigation of BP.

So it gushed until someone without a headcold wandered by. 'Scrutiny' and 'enforcement' are two very different animals. If there's no one to force you to do something ~ and no mechanism for consequences if you don't ~ you do nothing. That keeps money in your jingling pocket, continuing and enhancing the Big Payoff.

Now, federally regulated pipelines are required to be inspected every five years. So why doesn't the BigPipe fall under those same regs? Because it's considered a "low-stress" pipeline.

...Removal of the “low-stress” pipeline exemption. Two weeks ago on March 2, 2006, the largest oil spill to date on the North Slope of Alaska of 200,000 gallons or more was discovered at a caribou crossing. This spill came from a BP crude oil transmission pipeline which was exempt from PHMSA regulations because it was a “low-stress” hazardous liquid pipeline that met the following criteria: it did not transport a highly volatile liquid (HVL), it was located in a rural area, and it was outside a waterway currently used for commercial navigation.13Moreover, according to BP spokesperson Daren Beaudo, the pipeline “had known interior and exterior corrosion damage. Because of this, BP had downgraded the maximum pressure allowed within the line…” [page 9]

I guess BP figures "low stress" to be the same as "NO maintenance". If the thing rots apart, you reduce the pressure in the line.

Holy crap! You think, with the price of oil the past two years, they could have spent just a little of it making sure their golden goose was still laying unimpeded. I'm not liking the looks of our goose at the moment...

UPDATE: CNN's got a little more. It seems everybody's shocked, SHOCKED! They should read the report I linked to.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:03 PM | Comments (16)

Drudge is Counting 139 Days 'til Christmas

Do you buy gift cards? Montgomery County has their 2005 Gift Card Report online and it's an eyeopener. If you've only got a minute, the charts on (page 11/gift cards ~ page 12 on/bank cards) let's you figure out whether you'll have any money left on that card after 12 or 24 months to use if you've forgotten it. (And what it'll cost you to get it in the first place.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:16 AM | Comments (4)

In a World Full of Danger, Death and Destruction

...they have time to worry about this...

How Much Is Too Much: Is the President Too Chunky?

...when the last President looked like this?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:20 AM | Comments (4)

It's Time to Bring the Troops Home NOW

It's too dangerous when sh*t like this starts happening. Enough already.

After a long day searching homes in suffocating Iraqi heat, Lance Cpl. Mike Young saw a most surprising source of relief ~ a sprawling Wal-Mart had appeared in the distance.

"No joke _ looking through the haze I thought I saw a Wal-Mart. I said to myself, 'I bet they got some cold water in there,'" Young said, recalling a mission last year in a rural area west of Baghdad.

Bless their hearts! That place sucks.

(Which leads me nicely to my next point.) On a related note ~ Lt. Sarah, after an idyllic all of 5 months home, is shortly headed back to the sandbox with her 'eyes in the skies' troops. I'd like to get our Swilling Marine Unit Support Group rolling well before the holidays, so drop me a line if you're up to it for the whole deployment. Cards, cookies, whatever you can do is, as ALWAYS, ever so appreciated.

UPDATE: For those of you like Diptera who are welcome newbies to our pet project, it started as the "Twelve Marines of Christmas" and quickly became something like seventeen or so ~ we took on the WHOLE SHOP ~ and will this time, too. Confusing at first (kids going "who are these people and why am I getting a package?" ~ we almost have the communication thing licked so you'll KNOW your Jarhead got the package), our ad hoc little effort should run like a top this time now that we're hardened veterans. It doesn't matter if you only have enough for the postage for a note card every couple weeks or a packages ransacked from Big Lots ~ it's ALL wonderful.

The suggestion thread. (Mike "Wet Naps Aren't for Sissies Anymore!" Rentner probably has tons to add to this, too.)
And I think this was our last update before the cut-off for packages. Anyways, you get the idea. Email me at ths-at-beegewelborndotcom.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:04 AM | Comments (12)

A Toy For The Birthday Boys

If she really loved you...

She'd get you something that goes from 0 to 100 mph then back to 0 in 9.9 seconds

Not surprisingly, given that it has a 987bhp 16-cylinder engine and a top speed of 400 kmh, the UKP 880,000 Bugatti Veyron has blitzed everything else on four wheels by a massive margin – what is surprising is that it has also blitzed a credible representative of the fastest of the two wheel brigade as well, managing to beat a Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike by nearly a full second.

But the 1890kg £880,000 Bugatti ripped through the gears to hit 60mph in 2.8sec and 100mph in an astonishing 5.5sec. It then stopped in just 3.4sec, giving a 0-100-0mph time of 9.9sec.

Not only is the Bugatti faster than the Suzuki, it creates more g-force at maximum acceleration than you’d experience in an F-16 jet fighter at take off or when skydiving.

It can be yours for $1.3 million.

If she cares, that is.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:22 AM | Comments (9)

August 07, 2006

Pipeline Update

Oh great. Now BP is saying it could be closed for months:

BP PLC said Monday it will replace 73 percent of the pipelines from the nation's largest oil field and that it could be closed for weeks or months, crimping the nation's oil supplies at a time of peak demand.

BP, the world's second-largest oil company, began shutting down the pipelines on Monday and said it would replace 16 miles of the 22 miles of transit pipeline in the Prudhoe Bay field following a leak discovered Sunday.

Company officials told a news conference they did not immediately know how much it would cost to replace the lines. They will continue to keep the oil field closed and bring parts back into service once it's safe to do so.

73 freakin' percent?

Not good.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:51 PM | Comments (13)

Funny, I Thought This Was The Point Of Airstrikes

CNN has this big banner headline Five killed in Israeli attack in south Beirut.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- An Israeli strike hit a south Beirut street on the edge of the city's mostly Christian eastern district Monday evening, killing five people and wounding 24, security sources said.

The strike hit a building near a mosque in the upscale southern suburb of Shiyah, officials with the security forces told CNN.

What the hell are the airstrikes supposed to do, deliver flowers? And, frankly, hit the damned mosque if the bastards are hiding in it.

Oh, and, PS:

The strike came shortly after Israel warned residents south of Lebanon's Litani River to stay off roads after 10 p.m., Israeli military sources said.

The warning came in a message broadcast through the media, sources said.

And Hezbollucks has warned how many civilians to leave before they attacked?

Damn Joosss, putting civilians in harm's way by telling them to, er, leave areas where terrorists are.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:29 PM | Comments (4)

Lost and Found

How wonderful is that?

An unknown Marine who rescued two Port Authority cops at Ground Zero - the characters at the center of Oliver Stone's 9/11 movie - and then shunned public attention for nearly five years is a humble courthouse security officer from America's heartland, The Post has learned.

Long Island native Jason Thomas, 32, teamed with another Marine to freelance their way through the burning rubble of Ground Zero and find PA cops John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno pinned below.

...A decorated sergeant during his active Marine service between 1996 and 2000, he was living in Hempstead, L.I., and attending the John Jay College of Criminal Justice on 9/11. When the hijacked planes struck, he threw on his military fatigues and headed for lower Manhattan.

"I knew my city was under attack," Thomas said of his impulsive trip. "I felt compelled to do something."

Thomas and Karnes - an accountant and reservist who made his own impulsive trip from Connecticut - randomly met at Ground Zero and launched their own search-and-rescue mission.

Barking out, "U.S. Marines! Can anyone hear us," they gingerly made their way through wreckage until hearing Jimeno crying out for help.

And there's someone anxious to meet him.

..."I am looking forward to thanking another one of my angels," Jimeno said.

...Said Jimeno: "You have to admire that there are people in this world who do things because it is just the right thing and are content with their actions and not looking for fame or money."

Man...you sure do.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:23 PM | Comments (7)

THAT Would Be a BIG 'Whoops'!

Lebanon's PM: 'Horrific massacre' as 40 killed in airstrike
Lebanon's prime minister said Monday an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla left 40 people dead.

"An hour ago, there was a horrific massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing," Fouad Siniora told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut.

...Siniora choked back tears, wiping his eyes as he spoke, The Associated Press reported. The ministers applauded.

"If these horrific actions are not state terrorism then what is state terrorism?" AP quoted Siniora as saying.

"How AWFUL! Dreadful! Horrible Israelis!" you say, n'est pas?
But ~ like the $19.95, 1-800-number commercials on TV ~
WAIT !! There's MORE!

A yellow "News Alert" banner is flying above that incendiary headline with the rest...

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Siniora now says one dead in Houla, not 40 as he said earlier.

Al-Reuters photo to follow, I'm sure. Just as soon as they put the mouse down.
UPDATE: Screenshot below (and more on the meeting where he announced the Israeli non-massacre.) I wonder if there was anyone around to applaud when it turns out the casualties were significantly less?

UPDATE Part Deux: MSNBC just got this up a bit ago...

Lebanon retracts claim that Israel killed 40
Prime minister now says one person died in airstrike on village

...while noting in additional news:

U.N.: Hezbollah had fired rockets from nearby
U.N. peacekeepers at a post near Houla reported Hezbollah fired rockets toward Israel twice Monday from positions near the U.N. base.

(Damn. I thought those guys were never anywhere near a U.N. outpost ~ all Zionist lies and such!)
MSNBC is also being very careful to distance themselves from any al-Reuters taint...

MSNBC.com was not among the news publications that ran the photo when it was first offered.

(They're using 'RETRACT' a lot today.)

MORE:
These are the ministers (Morroco, Kuwait, UAE, etc.) who applauded his...premature... massacre announcement. Nothing like working a sympathetic audience with theatrics when you've got an agenda to push.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora choked back tears as he told a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Beirut that 40 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on the southern border village of Houla, but he later said only one person was killed.

Saniora got strong backing from the foreign ministers, who warned the U.N. Security Council against adopting resolutions that don't serve Lebanon's interests. They decided to send a high-level delegation to New York to press Lebanon's case.

You can always straighten out the details later.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:51 AM | Comments (9)

Wow ~ How Can You NOT Love This?

"I left Hungary for Israel, and when Gene, whose name then was Chaim, which means 'life,' was 9 we came here. To Williamsburg. I went to work, $39 a week, as a piece-goods worker in a factory and enrolled him in Yeshiva. He spoke Hungarian and Hebrew, but the boys beat him up because he didn't speak English. I told him, 'Go to the bakery. There they speak Hungarian.' He said, 'Because they speak Hungarian, I don't go there. I want to speak English.' "

..."Always he wanted to be a musician, but I said, first you finish college. This is a country, I told him, that if you work hard you can make it. Friends called him a sissy because they smoked but not him. He wouldn't drink. Didn't do drugs. He was very hardworking. He would pray then go to school then do a paper route in Jackson Heights. Out of a schmatta, I made a bag to hold those newspapers. And the first money he got he bought me a corsage. My boy became a mensch all by himself. Never asked help from nobody."

That would be Gene Simmons' mom (yes, that Gene Simmons) talking. And this would be her boy talking...

"American TV must be broadcast around the world. Arab countries need to see that here women have two eyebrows not just one. It's jeans, rock 'n' roll and hamburgers that won the war on communism. Nobody's saying, 'Let's go grab some hummus.' They're saying, 'Let's grab a burger.' Our culture must be heard around the world."

Rock ON!

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:05 AM | Comments (16)

Oy! Maybe the End

...IS near...

Assume the position.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:15 AM | Comments (3)

Corruption Sorry, Corrosion On The Pipeline

Well, this could get messy if it lasts:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - In a sudden blow to the nation's oil supply, half the production on Alaska's North Slope was being shut down Sunday after BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. discovered severe corrosion in a Prudhoe Bay oil transit line.

BP officials said they didn't know how long the Prudhoe Bay field would be off line. "I don't even know how long it's going to take to shut it down," said Tom Williams, BP's senior tax and royalty counsel.

I expect to see prices spike quite a bit today. Oh great. I'm not surprised that there is corrosion, I mean the pipeline's been exposed to the elements up there 30 years, but geesh louise you would have thought they would/should have inspected it a tad more closely and caught this earlier.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:55 AM | Comments (2)

Heart Of Darkness

Boy, old Marlon Brando's life really got bizarre there his last few years, no?

IT WAS dark, cramped and run-down, but for nearly half a century it was Marlon Brando’s home. Now his neighbour Jack Nicholson, who paid £3.4m for the house after Brando died two years ago, is planning to demolish it and plant frangipani flowers over the plot.

...For safety reasons Nicholson will probably fill in the pool which, shortly before his death, Brando declared he would stock with electric eels to power his house and reduce his electric light bill.

...Nearly everything owned by Brando has been destroyed or sold. Yet there is one fragment of the legacy still unaccounted for: the Oscar he received for On the Waterfront (1954).

Relatives believe he either lost it, gave it to a friend or, in a darker mood, hid the 13in statue from debt collectors. The gold-plated knight may yet emerge from Frangipani’s dust during the demolition.

Although, I guess he did give some hints of oddness earlier on in his life...

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:38 AM | Comments (2)

Buried Waaay Down This Page

...of Hezbollah rocket attacks, Israel whomping on southern Lebanon and Condoleeza Rice talking about "peace" was this tiny tidbit of an afterthought ~ the merest 'oh, by the way..' ~ filed under "other developments".

• Hezbollah mortars struck the U.N. headquarters at Henniye, Lebanon, wounding three Chinese U.N. peacekeepers, said UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strugar.

Where's the corresponding WaPo headline like this...

Israeli Airstrike Hits U.N. Outpost
4 Observers Killed; Olmert Pledges to Allow Lebanon Aid

... when Israel hit an outpost surrounded by Hezbollah mobile rocket launchers? Hezbollah can hit the U.N. HEADQUARTERS and it only rates a note?!

More importantly, Kofi piped up yet? Outrage anyone?

Anyone?

UPDATE: Attitude wise, I was right. The reporter in Lebanon for NBC's Nightly News actually mentioned it, saying "...U.N. Headquarters was hit by a Hezbollah rocket that fell short..."

MONDAY UPDATE and bump: CBS News has a Sunday Israel/Lebanon roundup with no mention of Hezbollah rockets hitting the U.N. headquarters. There should be a Reuter's photo appearing any time now.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:35 AM | Comments (12)

August 06, 2006

al-Reuters Rears Their Ugly Head

And gets nailed, blogging style.

Reuters employee issues 'Zionist pig' death threat
Worker suspended after telling American blogger: 'I look forward to day when you pigs get your throats cut'

A Reuters employee has been suspended after sending a death threat to an American blogger.

The message, sent from a Reuters internet account, read: "I look forward to the day when you pigs get your throats cut."

It was sent to Charles Johnson, owner of the Little Green Footballs (LGF) weblog, a popular site which often backs Israel and highlights jihadist terrorist activities.

Woof! (And they only SUSPENDED HIM??!!!) AND al-Reuters has gotten nailed for a lousier Photoshop job than even I could produce and Little Green Footballs is all over it.
*

Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged

...In the message, Reuters said that "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvience."

"Improperly"? "Woof!!" again. (Call James Carville, because now THAT'S spin!) So THIS is the same fellow responsible for the same ashen faced dead babies being carried by immaculate "rescuers" through multiple scenes and that the blogo-sphere was condemned for questioning? No wonder al-Reuters is pi$$ed at Charles and the crew. Sucks when your blatant misrepresentations and manipulations are exposed like that. Bloggers are a damn royal pain in the a$$.

Thank God.

*LGF .gif

UPDATE: Allah's got a great round-up.
UPDATE Part Deux: The Jerusalem Post has more, including more on the Qana photos which were shot by the same, happy lensman.

...Many have questioned how a photograph that appears so clearly doctored to so many non-professional photographers made it past the Reuters photo editor who oversaw the photographer's work. Others, however, pointed out that since the violence began, news agencies have had to increasingly rely on freelance photographers and writers to cover the breaking news events in the region.

"Everyone is culpable if this photo wasn't vetted in camera-to-print process. Ultimately though, it rests on the photographer. Editors, while casting a suspicious eye, should not have to examine photos for forgeries and fakes for every image that comes into the system," wrote [Photographer Jason] Fritz.

No, they shouldn't. But it makes it easier if they don't want to.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:52 PM | Comments (2)

Hot Time, Summer

...in the swamp. Nothing like one of...

major dad's WORLD FAMOUS CHEESEBURGERS

...with your choice of condiments and cheese (He's Swiss ~ GACK! ~ I'm American), topped off with some nummy avocado slices, along with sides of salad with homemade vinaigrette and wagon wheels with pesto made from homegrown herbs. Top that off with a lovely chilled glass of rosé* and voilá! You don't mind the heat and humidity as much.

*That would be a 2005 Benessere Rosato di Sangiovese, from Napa. Lip schmackin'!

I feel better already. Ten minutes to "Deadwood".

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:53 PM | Comments (8)

But If We Were in a Pitched Battle Against Pernicious Cuniculi

...I'm sure he'd feel differently.

Former President Carter, who helped broker the historic Camp David peace accord, said President Bush has pursued an "erroneous policy" that has fostered violence in the Middle East.



..."In my opinion, maybe the worst ally Israel has had in Washington has been the George W. Bush administration, which hasn't worked to bring a permanent peace to Israel," Carter told the newspaper.

..."In my opinion, we should make every effort now to withdraw American troops from Iraq," Carter said. "I would say certainly begin a major withdrawal no later than the end of this year."

Jeez louise. Who voted for this guy? Would any sane person admit they had now?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:20 PM | Comments (3)

A Double-Double Moment of Silence Please

Esther L. Snyder, who founded the In-N-Out Burger restaurant chain with her husband, died Friday, her family said. She was 86. ...The Snyders' business plan was simple: Serve fresh burgers in a "two-way speaker" drive-through concept. While her husband ran the day-to-day operations, Snyder was in charge of the books and occasionally helped out in the kitchen by molding meat patties by hand and slicing tomatoes and onions.

As major dad says (through his drool after seeing this picture), "the Rolls Royce of burgers." And she kept the integrity of the chain pure. I remember reading where the biggest change in decades had been the agonizing decision about whether to add Dr. Pepper to the menu. I'm a 'double-double with cheese, grilled onions, fries and a chocolate shake' girl. Always have been

And, sadly, we've lost another incredible woman pioneer in the same weekend: a veritable legend.

Four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher died Saturday in a Seattle hospital of a reoccurrence of leukemia after a recent stem-cell transplant, her doctor said. She was 51.


Butcher dominated the 1,100-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome in the late 1980s. In 1986, she became the second woman to win the grueling race. She added victories in 1987, '88 and '90 and finished in the top four through 1993.

Bless her heart. I used to be glued to race reports when she was in it.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:19 AM | Comments (6)

August 05, 2006

Damn Straight!

What Tony Blair said, that is.

In a press conference early Thursday afternoon, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that he finds it astounding that President Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" as a solution to the Middle East's problems.

"If someone else were to call for Iran or Syria to be wiped off the map, people would be tearing the house down!" he added.

A warm Swill salute to Meryl Yourish

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:30 PM

Happy Birthday Crusader!!!!!!

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:52 AM | Comments (13)

So Young

So carefree.

So innocent.

Little did they know that a Grim Milestone would soon change their lives forever.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:17 AM | Comments (2)

August 04, 2006

Dear Mr. Drudge and USA Today

I only have one thing to say about this headline you both have seen fit to use:

Hurricane season defying forecasts

STFU.

Thank you.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:39 PM | Comments (8)

No Problem

Ohio State No. 1 in preseason coaches’ poll
Defending champion Texas No. 2;
rivals Notre Dame, USC tied for 3rd

We have a secret weapon.
And he doesn't like the West Coast.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:56 PM | Comments (6)

No More Standing At The Bar?

Ah, the Alcohol Nazis are going too far now!

IT SHOULD be patently obvious. The principal drawback to vertical drinking is the danger of vertical falling over into horizontal befuddlement.

Police in Preston, Lancashire, think it is not as simple as that. Vertical drinking, they believe, is one of the country’s main causes of public disorder and would like to see it banned in the city’s pubs.

Vertical drinking is a new term for what used to be called standing at the bar, long regarded as the natural refuelling posture. Sixteen pints of lager slip into the tanks much more easily when the gullet is erect rather than kinked by the body being squeezed into a chair like a half-shut penknife. Drinking while standing in a like-minded group, police argue, is a contributor to booze-fuelled violence.

"Vertical Drinking." I thought that meant having bottles of the '61, '66, '82 and '86 Latour with the same meal? And who would have ever suspected that other people standing at a bar also wanted to drink! My God, the insights in the British Press!

*

It also seems the anti-smoking folks are making great strides in England, as well. Now I will be the first to admit that I love the fact that bars in NJ and NY are smoke-free now, because I don't smoke and I hated smelling like stale smoke when I got home (I really could care less about the whole "secondhand smoke" crap), not that I care if people smoke or not. Anyhow, like I said it looks like these sorts of laws are making headway over there, which leads to a glorious throwaway line like this that you would never ever see in an American paper:

The latest attempt to infringe libertarian drinkers’ rights will be compounded next year when England imposes a no-smoking rule in pubs, forcing drinkers on to the pavement for a fag. The opportunities for violence could be immense.

You're not kidding they could be immense!

Hehehe.

*to whoever did the snockered Paddington: we thank you.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:12 PM | Comments (8)

Oh God, Here We Go

"Ee-ville cat piss made me do it!"

A parasitic microbe commonly found in cats might have helped shape entire human cultures by manipulating the personalities of infected individuals, according to a new study.

Infection by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii could make some individuals more prone to some forms of neuroticism, and could lead to differences among cultures if enough people are infected, says Kevin Lafferty, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In a survey of different countries, Lafferty found that people living in those with higher rates of T. gondii infection scored higher on average for neuroticism, which is defined as an emotional or mental disorder characterized by high levels of anxiety, insecurity or depression.

...One recent study showed that the parasite makes normally cautious rats outgoing and more prone to engage in reckless behavior, such as hanging around areas frequently marked by cat urine, making the rats easy targets.

I can see it now ~ all those Miracle Whip types pointing wobbly fingers of blame at Sylvester.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:50 PM | Comments (9)

Murderous Acts Need No Aggrandizement

...from liars.

General briefed Murtha after murder comment, Corp says
The head of the U.S. Marine Corps briefed Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) on the Haditha case after the vocal war critic publicly said Marines had killed innocent civilians in that Iraqi city, the Corps said on Thursday.

...Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is being sued by one of the accused Marines for libel. He had told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Gen. Michael Hagee had given him the information on which he based his charge that Marines killed innocent civilians.

But a spokesman for the Marine Corps said Hagee briefed Murtha on May 24 about Haditha. Murtha had made comments on the case as early as May 17.

A Swill salute to the Gateway Pundit.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:35 PM | Comments (3)

"Run Away!!"

Well, that's what happens.

...A Duke University study demonstrates that it matters whether civilian decision makers have military experience: A review of U.S. foreign policy over nearly two centuries shows that when we have the fewest number of veterans in leadership and staff positions in Congress and the Executive branch, we are most likely to engage in aggressive (as opposed to defensive) warfighting. And we are most likely to pull out of conflicts early.

Just ask the Clintonites.

...The Triangle Institute of Security Studies has tracked the growing disconnect between the military and the leadership, and finds evidence of a growing distrust of both groups toward each other. The group in America that reports having the lowest opinion of the military is the elites: They are almost six times more likely than members of the military to say they would be "disappointed if a child of mine decided to serve."

...In World War I, one of Congress's stated reasons for proposing a draft was that without it, too many of the upper-class children would rush to service, and we'd lose the leadership class of the country. In 1956 a majority of the graduating classes of Stanford, Harvard and Princeton joined the military, and most were not drafted. Leadership was then understood to have a moral dimension — the cry "follow me" was more convincing than "charge!" Those who aspired to future leadership saw service as a hallmark of credibility.

'Credibility'. Now there's a word. But how do you convince someone whose kindergarten education may have cost in the tens of thousands and now has their Ivy League pass in hand to crawl through the wet woods in Quantico? Or breathe in the incredible stench that comes with a third world country up-close-and-personal, instead of the rarified air of a resort located there? Even more daunting ~ how do you convince his parents and that's true for conservative as well as liberal mom and dads. It's even harder when we're stuck in a snake pit/quagmire/piece-o'-shit-country-run-by-f*ckin'-loons and the whole American psyche is teetering. Waiting for the "cut and run" order we KNOW is wrong but probably inevitable. Do you encourage your baby to go off and risk dying for that? None of this is going to change until the military receives it's full measure of support and respect. It's been hamstrung since Truman fired MacArthur and only gotten worse. There aren't decisive results anymore. There's no 'vanquishing the darkness' to take pride in. We stop just short of the prize ~ "We don't have a 'mandate'/U.N. authority" ~ and we fight with one eye on the economics. Going in as cheap as we can. And then skitter out of the mess we created with our ineptitude. Only our troops pay and pay and pay for it.

major dad sent this as I was writing and it's perfect.

... WHEN you fly as often as I do you learn to mind your own business as soon as you take your seat. But that wasn’t possible once I saw the military honor guard boarding US Airways’ 1:45 p.m. flight from Boston to Washington earlier this week.

I was heading through the gate when I first noticed Senator Ted Kennedy, walking down the concourse and arriving fashionably late, not an uncommon sight on this route. I stepped aside and followed him down the ramp.

As we got to the arched entrance of the plane, the members of a Marine honor guard in their dress blues were coming up that outside staircase usually used for stowing strollers and allowing mechanics on board. The marine in charge held in both hands a flag that had been folded into a triangle as if it had been previously draping a coffin, which it had.

Senator Kennedy extended his hand to the marine and said, “Thank you for your service.”

“Thank you, sir,” replied the marine.

“Are you escorting remains?” asked Senator Kennedy.

“Yes, sir, a marine.”

“And the funeral is at Arlington Cemetery?”

“Yes, sir, on Wednesday.”

“Thank you, I’ll try to get out there.”

...They stood at the window between Gates 43 and 45 and watched as a full Marine honor guard marched up the tarmac, coming to attention between the plane and a silver military hearse. The unloading of their son’s coffin from the cargo hold was very slow, and every time someone inside the terminal noticed and stopped to stare, someone else noticed and did the same, and this kept happening until about 20 people stood in silence watching out the window.

The mom leaned her elbows on the window ledge, supporting her chin and cheeks with both hands. She remained perfectly still. She stared for 10 or 15 long minutes and never moved. The father stood nearby, rocking from foot to foot and pacing a bit. They did not touch; they did not say a word to each other. Neither wore a wedding band. Perhaps they were divorced, or simply isolated in their pain.

Standing nearby was a man wearing the T-shirt of a suburban fire and rescue department that he may have earned 20 years and 35 pounds ago. He went over to the parents to chat, not knowing who they were, just one curious spectator to another.

But whatever he said to the mother caused her to turn and look at him in disbelief. Her lips didn’t move, which only encouraged him to repeat it. Her eyes widened and her chin tilted upward like a boxer who had taken a blow. She stared at him and then looked back outside toward her son. Down on the tarmac the white gloves of eight marines snapped their final salute as the doors of the hearse closed...

In the figurative sense that poor Marine guarding the BLT gate in Beirut in '83 ~ with no bullets in his weapon ~ is the perfect symbol for the American military from Vietnam on.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:59 AM

On Yet Another Legal Front

I'm sure I have no conception of the suffering this little guy and his family have had to endure and I am sorry for it. But the award was breathtaking.

An appeals court on Thursday overturned a landmark $105 million verdict against a stadium vendor that sold beer to a drunken fan who later paralyzed a girl in an auto wreck.

Ordering a new trial, the three-judge state appeals panel said the trial court improperly allowed testimony about the "drinking environment" at the 1999 football game at Giants Stadium.

The family claimed that vendors for Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. continued to sell beer to Daniel Lanzaro during a 1999 New York Giants game even though he was clearly drunk, and that the concessionaire fostered an atmosphere in which intoxicated patrons were able to still buy alcohol.

Hours later, Lanzaro, then 34, caused the wreck that paralyzed then-2-year-old Antonia Verni from the neck down.

My heartless cynical side kicked in, however, when I read this waaaay down in the column...

...However, the court said a new jury can consider whether other defendants previously excluded can also be held responsible in the case. Those defendants include the National Football League, two bars where Lanzaro drank after the game and a friend of Lanzaro's who drank with him on the day of the accident.

He was barhopping AFTER the game? That turns a tragedy into a 'go for who's got the most cash' lawsuit in my eyes. Of course the jury awarded some ridiculous amount if they think he poured down the stadium steps into his car, then drove off to ruin that poor child's life. Obviously there's no dinero in either local bars or the poor schmuck who was out with him.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:43 AM

Well, That's Good News

She's out of the hospital.

CBS News journalist Kimberly Dozier has been released from a rehabilitation hospital, where she had been recovering from critical injuries suffered during a May 29 car bomb attack in Iraq.

"I'm up on crutches and can even manage with a cane," Dozier said in a statement issued by CBS News on Thursday. "It's not pretty, but I'm walking on my own."

..."The last I saw Paul and James, they were rushing from their Humvee to 'get the shot' of a young U.S. Army Captain, James Funkhouser Jr., greeting Iraqi locals at a streetside tea stand," Dozier said.

The blast killed the three men and an Iraqi translator, and seriously wounded Dozier.

Bastards.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:31 AM

If That Isn't One of the Grossest Things I've Ever Heard

Ick.

Body Modification a Growing Trend

Allen Falkner's tongue is just one of his unusual features.

It is split down the middle, and when he sticks it out, it looks like a two-pronged snake tongue.

Gotta be a BITCH trying to eat an ice cream cone.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:24 AM | Comments (8)

How Quickly Things Change

An update to yesterday's discussion.

Nazi-Era Victims Can Sue German Firms
Victims of Nazi-era crimes can sue for additional money from German companies that paid $2.5 billion into a reparation fund for U.S. claims, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the victims could seek interest stemming from a six- to nine-month period when they say payments to the fund were delayed.

The decision reverses a lower-court ruling that said the dispute over interest was a political question, not a matter for the courts, because U.S. and German officials had negotiated the 1999 fund agreement.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:15 AM

I'm Not Sure Why It Costs Nearly $2 Billion

To build this

The Senate did an abrupt about-face yesterday, voting overwhelmingly to begin paying for 370 miles of fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, just three weeks after voting against the same spending. The amendment's sponsor said senators were so embarrassed by that July 13 vote that most felt they had to reverse course and vote for it this time -- especially after so many were on record in May voting to build the fence in the first place. The amendment, which provides nearly $2 billion for the project, passed 94-3, with 66 senators switching from "no" to "yes" votes since last month.

But it's a start. I just hope that certain Senators from Boston were not able to slip in a provision awarding the contract to their Big Dig cronies...

Build it strong and high.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:31 AM | Comments (2)

August 03, 2006

Words Can Not Express The Disgust I Feel

At the amoral bastards on this tape over at HotAir.

My god, it is sickening. Listen to it, if you can.

And then go listen to this, the 911 call of a man on the 102nd floor of tthe World Trade Center. I was not going to link to this, because it just ripped me to shreds listening to it. But those "Loose Change" bastards (whatever the hell "loose change" is) has just pised me off so much that I am going to link to it.

But be warned, it is horrible. I am crying even as I type this.

Just what the hell is wrong with some people? How blind, ignorant, spiteful can some be? How insane are you to believe that there are conspiracies behind every corner?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:56 PM | Comments (1)

More Crazies In Florida

Now I'm not saying that our favorite Cracker is involved, but sometimes ya' just gotta wonder:

ST PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A woman and her roommate were charged with starving the woman's 9-year-old daughter, who weighed just 42 pounds when she was found, authorities said.

The child also was locked up all day and was forced to wear a filthy diaper, police said.

Melissa Samoraj, 27, and Raymond LaFountain, 31, were arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse.

Now, that is horrific enough, but then effects of the Miracle Whip evidently kicked in:

LaFountain was originally described by police as Samoraj's live-in boyfriend, but the gender classification at the jail was changed from male to female following a routine strip search, Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said.

It warps minds and bodies, it does.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:55 PM

[Thy] Tongue Outvenoms All the Worms of Nile*

Warning! Shakespeare's works contain references to adultery, incest, and premarital sex, and is replete with bawdy humor and double entendres. And don't forget the violence. Don't even get me started on the violence. Quick -- name a Shakespearean tragedy where the title characters live through the fifth act. Couldn't do it, could you? Bodies pile up faster in Shakespeare's plays than they do in the Baltimore morgue.**

Insult Me Again

*from Cymbeline
**from Shakespeare Online

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:33 PM | Comments (10)

All I Can Say is "Hey..."

..."you voted for him."

Experts excoriate recovery leaders
Nagin, council are failing N.O., they say

Without a citywide rebuilding plan or a central agency in charge of redevelopment, New Orleans is likely to squander its opportunity to make a strong recovery as billions of dollars head toward the Gulf Coast, according to top officials with the Urban Land Institute.

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina fast approaches, New Orleans lacks leadership from Mayor Ray Nagin and the City Council, said John McIlwain, the senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute.

...'You still have a chance'

"It's virtually a city without a city administration and it's worse than ever," McIlwain said. "New Orleans needs Huey Long. You need a politician, a leader that is willing to make tough decisions and articulate to the people why these decisions are made, which means everyone is not going to be happy."

Squander, squalor...status quo. It's not Bush and it's not the Jooz and it's not institutionalized racism or that we all hate poor people or that Americans aren't generous to a fault.
It's stupidity, duplicity, complicity, avarice and incompetence. On an unimaginable scale.

...In an e-mail asking for his response to McIlwain's criticism of his administration, Nagin replied: "No comment."

Oh, I'll bet. There were some enlightening comments on the NOLA.com forums after this article came out, a couple of which really resonate...

As far as the people speaking, it seems clear to me that Nagin was re-elected mainly by folks who no longer live here and have little or no intention of returning. Nagin might be the first politician in history to have been elected out of spite. And that makes me mad. We, who are here and making an effort, are stuck with the result of that election, while those in Houston and Atlanta who gave us this result are enjoying the more competent governments in those areas.

And...

[I read that article, too]...achris, and literally wanted to cry. Nagin & Company have one, just one, golden opportunity to make great things happen for New Orleans. But with no well-defined, cohesive plan in place and a mayor who is, for all intents, MIA, it's difficult to remain optimistic.

All eyes are on New Orleans now, have been since Katrina. Folks from every part of the world contributed to her recovery. Each day that Mayor Nagin isn't perceived as doing all within his power to guide the city in a positive direction, he further erodes the confidence of not only his constituents but the global community. Why would people from anywhere choose to invest big bucks in New Orleans when they rightfully believe their hurricane relief contributions and tax dollars are being flushed down the toilet???

I haven't read this report anywhere but locally. I don't think a national spotlight is something MSM is willing to shine on this cesspool right now, because it would silence some of those "federal government ain't done enough" refrains. God forbid we should hold a black city administration responsible for the welfare of it's people...ever.

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

CNBC.com

...is having another one of those days.

Dow 1.119 Mil +1,107,880.13
Nasdaq 207,033.00 +204,954.19
S&P 127,428.00 +126,149.45

Time to sell, sell, sell! I always wonder if some little goofball in the basement slips those numbers in just to see if anyone's paying attention.
UPDATE: DOW and NASDAQ back to normal, but the S&P's making up for them:

S&P 127,444.00 +126,165.45

Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:47 AM | Comments (2)

Well, I Guess You Have To Admire His Honesty

I mean, at least you always know where he stands on this issue:

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, Iranian state media reported.

In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-back group Hezbollah. "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site.

But remember, folks: the US is the greatest threat the world faces.

Now here's a laugh:

"This war must stop, or it will radicalize the Muslim world, even those of us who are moderate today," said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who leads the world's most populous Muslim country.

"Moderate" my left nut.

"From there, it will be just one step away to that ultimate nightmare: a clash of civilizations," he added.

I think we're there already, but unfortunately our side refuses to face it.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:48 AM | Comments (3)

A Well Known 'FRIEND of BIG BUSINESS'

...saved some BIG DRUG COMPANIES some BIG bills.

U.S. court: Victim of Nazis cannot sue German drug companies

A man left sterile by Nazi medical experiments during the Holocaust cannot sue two German drug companies, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of Simon Rozenkier's lawsuit, saying that his "exclusive remedy" is through a fund set up by the German government in 2000. Rozenkier applied for compensation from that fund and received two checks totaling $9,993 (-7,800), the ruling said.

...U.S. Circuit Judge Alan Lourie wrote that former President Bill Clinton was personally involved in negotiations that established the fund as "the exclusive forum for claims by Nazi-era victims of medical experimentation against German companies."

How about that. I wonder what the quid pro quo was?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:01 AM | Comments (6)

Give a Man a Fish and You Feed Him

Teach a man to fish...

Israeli commandos made their daring raid on a Hezbollah hospital because they believed that the two soldiers whose kidnapping started the Lebanese war had been treated there, sources revealed yesterday.
The commandos didn't find the Israeli soldiers but they seized five Hezbollah fighters, killed at least 10 others and took a treasure trove of intelligence documents when they escaped, as they came, by helicopter.

...Israeli officials said the raid sent a message to Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

"The army and air force proved their ability to go everywhere, even when Hezbollah turns a hospital into a headquarters," said the mission commander, Brig. Gen. Yochanan Locker.

Israeli television said the real target of the raid may have been a senior Nasrallah deputy, who escaped.

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked whether any of the five men seized were "big fish," he replied, "They are tasty fishes."

...and you clean up the neighborhood.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:19 AM

Chris Deflates

And we're not shedding any tears:

CHRIS IS BECOMING DISORGANIZED IN A HURRY. SATELLITE IMAGES INDICATE THAT THE LOW-LEVEL CENTER HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY DUE TO NORTHWESTERLY SHEAR...AND THIS WAS CONFIRMED BY FIXES FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE. THE MINIMUM PRESSURE HAS RISEN TO 1010 MB AND THE MAXIMUM FLIGHT LEVEL WIND REPORTED SO FAR IS ONLY 38 KNOTS. HOWEVER...ASSUMING THAT THE ENTIRE CIRCULATION HAS NOT BEEN SAMPLED...THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS ADJUSTED TO 40 KNOTS... AND THIS IS VERY GENEROUS. I WAS TEMPTED TO FORECAST WEAKENING AND EVEN DISSIPATION OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...BUT THE BEST OPTION AT THIS TIME IS TO KEEP THE CYCLONE ON A STEADY STATE CONSIDERING THAT THE SHEAR COULD DECREASE...AS SUGGESTED BY THE SHIPS MODEL.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:57 AM | Comments (3)

You Can Blow 'Til the Cows Come Home

...and I'm still not gonna kiss ya! Take them nasty puckers somewhere else...

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:57 AM

There Was Something About This Article

...on the Times UK tonight...

.

..that I found hugely depressing. "Men 'told to kill all Iraqis'". I knew the commander of the Army Brigade in question was Col. Michael Steele (of 'Blackhawk Down' fame), who is being investigated for allegedly giving the order to 'kill all Iraqi military-aged men'. We saw the story on World News Tonight yesterday (a story that is now missing from the website) and so I recognized his face. But the 'Massacre Evidence' link goes to a story on the Marine's Haditha investigation. As if the two were interchangeable. As if it didn't matter what uniform it was or what town or who died. It's all lumped into one ugly pile. The Army atrocity is dispatched with a headline and a sentence ~ no point on expanding coverage, just set the link to the next Marine massacre in the queue.

If you look carefully at the whole page, Americans are the only ones killing anyone in Iraq.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:27 AM | Comments (3)

August 02, 2006

Sounds Like a Certain Lawyer Might Be Tap Dancing

...to a different tune, maybe the "Up to the Big House on the River Dance"?

What would you do if a lawyer threatened, "Give me a million dollars or my client and I will publicly brand you as a rapist and destroy your life?"

On July 27, the California Supreme Court expanded the range of choices possible to one man who was presented with that threat.

The dance phenomenon Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame can proceed not only with a lawsuit for defamation against his accuser but also with one for extortion against her lawyer.

...In January 2003, Mauro sent Flatley a letter on Robertson's behalf in which he demanded a "seven figure" settlement; his fee would be 40 percent.

...Court documents show he threatened to send news releases to media outlets such as Fox News and the Chicago Tribune. He continued, "Any and all information, including Immigration, Social Security Issuances and Use, and IRS and various State Tax Levies and information will be exposed.We are positive the media worldwide will enjoy what they find."

John Brandon, one of Flatley's attorneys, further attested that Mauro warned him, "I know the tour dates [of Flatley's shows]; I am not kidding about this; it will be publicized every place [the dancer] goes for the rest of his life."

The 'victim' is a real hot number, too...

...In October 2002, Flatley and his accuser Tyna Marie Robertson had a sexual encounter in a Las Vegas hotel. Twenty-five days later, she called Nevada from Illinois to report a rape.

...(Robertson was also in the news last year for litigation surrounding the claim that Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher fathered her child and, so, should pay her support; DNA tests confirmed his paternity. According to private investigator Ernie Rizzo, who worked for both Flatley and Urlacher, Robertson has had other relationships with wealthy and famous men that ended in litigation.)

major dad asked "Who's that friend of yours that always says 'F*ckin' lawyers'?" That would be DaveJ, wise man that he is.

Read the whole thing.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:30 PM | Comments (6)

This Makes Me Sick

So, 3 people have died of rabies in China. The obvious response then is to club 50,000 dogs to death

SHANGHAI, China - China slaughtered 50,000 dogs in a government-ordered crackdown after three people died of rabies, sparking unusually pointed criticism in state media Tuesday and an outcry from animal rights activists.

Health experts said the brutal policy pointed to deep weaknesses in the health care infrastructure in China, where only 3 percent of dogs are vaccinated against rabies and more than 2,000 people die of the disease each year.

...Dogs being walked were seized from their owners and beaten to death on the spot, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported. Led by the county police chief, killing teams entered villages at night creating noise to get dogs barking, then beat the animals to death, the reports said.

How horrible. But this is the situation they find themselves in by doing the standard PRC procedure of refusing to admit there is a problem, and thereby moving to act on it, until it gets way out of hand.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:01 AM | Comments (6)

The Jerusalem Post

...does an in-depth take on the Qana rumors.

...Israel Insider cited a CNN report that, it said, noted the victims had died in their sleep. It seemed highly improbable, the piece asserted, that people could have slept "through thunderous Israeli air attacks. Rescue workers equipped with cameras," it went on, "were removing the bodies from the same opening in the collapsed structure.

Journalists were not allowed near the collapsed building... Israelis steeled to scenes of carnage from Palestinian suicide bombings and Hizbullah rocket attacks could not help but notice that these victims did not look like our victims. Their faces were ashen gray. While medical examination is clearly called for to arrive at a definitive dating and cause of their deaths, they do not appear to have died hours before. The bodies looked like they had been dead for days."

When even CNN is questioning the veracity of the reports and pictures, there might just be a problem.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:47 AM | Comments (3)

This Is a Damned Shameful Thing If Proven True

Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

I can't see where criminal charges wouldn't be coming (as indeed they should) based on these initial findings. At least we'll have a chance to hear what the Marines have to say in their defense. And it would appear military authorities are being thorough in investigating all aspects.

A parallel investigation is examining whether officers in the Marines’ chain of command tried to cover up the events.

Sort it out and nail the bad guys.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:36 AM | Comments (2)

To Parrot Ebola, Whence He Sent This Unto Me

"What the freakity hell?!"

Pirates of the Carribean Disneyland Ride Revamp
The classic ride gets a film-related update.

*A congregation of pirates talks about "Captain Jack Sparrow" while a likeness of the Johnny Depp character crouches behind a barrel nearby.

*In another stretch, the dreaded Sparrow pokes his bearded head out of a barrel.

*As the ride moves to the section where the ship battle is taking place, the boat goes through a waterfall (the illusion is made by fog) bearing the likeness of the CG Davy Jones. He delivers a message of dread that concludes just as the boat passes through the faux falls.

*At the end of the ride, as the boat begins its climb to the end, Johnny Depp's Sparrow sits in a room full of booty singing his pirate song.

*A likeness of the Captain Jack from the movie has been added to the Rogue's Gallery.

Shiver me FREAKIN' TIMBERS!!!

Argh.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:04 AM | Comments (10)

I'm Sure They're Referring to Behavior Exhibited

...during the Bingley/Diptera Cheesy Fries Road Trip.

...The new poll's results were consistent among drivers of cars, pickups and SUVs. There were few regional differences among drivers, although northeasterners were more likely than drivers in the rest of the country to have "shouted, cursed or made gestures to other drivers" in the past year.

Male bonding is revolting ~ especially when food's involved.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:59 AM | Comments (11)

Oy!

I said the Israeli troops needed a "yarmulke"; I didn't say they needed a Llama car!"

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:58 AM | Comments (5)

The Woman Is a Train Wreck

U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris received a grand jury subpoena from federal investigators and concealed the fact from top campaign advisers hired to help her deflect negative publicity, her former campaign manager has disclosed.

"Yes, there was a subpoena. She didn't tell us," said Glenn Hodas, Harris' third and most recent campaign manager. He said he learned of it in June while reviewing invoices from powerhouse Washington lawyer Benjamin J. Ginsberg and confronted his boss.

(I'll bet you thought I was talking about Cynthia MacKinney.)

Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:57 AM

Some "Justice" This Is

She keeps a slave for four years and she only has to go to jail for two frikkin' months??

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - A woman was sentenced to two months in jail Tuesday for effectively stealing the services of an Indonesian woman who prosecutors said was held as a virtual slave for four years.

Sarah Khonaizan, 35, a Saudi citizen who lives in suburban Denver, also was ordered on the theft charge to pay $90,000 in restitution and was ordered not to have any contact with the 24-year-old woman.

Sorry, that's wrong-wrong-wrong. She should be jailed for at least twice as long as she held that woman.

Her attorney, Forrest Lewis, has said she wants to return to Saudi Arabia and will not fight deportation.

Oh, you bet she wants to return; back in Jihadiville she would probably get a government subsidy to keep indonesians chained up in the basement.

Put her in jail, now, for a long, long time.

Next to her charming husband:

...her husband, Homaidan Al-Turki, 37, was convicted in June of sexually abusing and imprisoning the woman. He faces a federal trial in October on other charges in the case.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:27 AM | Comments (8)

August 01, 2006

Why Does This Drudge Headline

CUBAN WIRE: CASTRO'S DEATH 'VERY FAR AWAY'

...remind me of ?

Posted by tree hugging sister at 04:52 PM | Comments (5)

"Your Can Shove Your Re v solution

..right up your East River." Or something like that.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that would give his nation until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment. Instead, Ahmadinejad insisted Tehran would pursue its nuclear program.

"My words are the words of the Iranian nation. Throughout Iran, there is one slogan: 'The Iranian nation considers the peaceful use of nuclear fuel production technology its right,'" Ahmadinejad said

Salamadamadingdong Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes his pizza fighting rhetoric to new levels.

"If some think they can still speak with threatening language to the Iranian nation, they must know that they are badly mistaken," he said in a speech broadcast live on state-run television.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 03:59 PM

Well! That Didn't Take Long

Haden-Guest says, "It was a very heated discussion about Israel's invasion of Lebanon, but that's a far cry from being anti-Semitic. She was not channeling Mel Gibson..."

Made the Gossip Page just that fast. How long before...

"Going GIBSON"™*

...goes global?

You heard it here first.

*We've got ©(Okay, DAVE???)™TOWACA on THAT sucker and we'll hunt unauthorized users down like dogs.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 02:03 PM | Comments (4)

There Are No Words

Yes, Virginia. It's true God made bananas.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:19 PM | Comments (11)

From The Department Of People With Too Much Time

A Lego "1984 Ad" Playset:

Heh.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:01 PM | Comments (2)

200 Years and Counting

And the few I've had tasted every bit of 200 years old. But that's apparently part of the debate surrounding...

...the Circus Peanut.

..."People can't wrap their brains around why it's sweet and get really confused by the flavor," said Beth Kimmerle, author of "Candy: The Sweet History."

Though they're orange and look like peanuts, they taste like banana. And they are chewier than a traditional marshmallow. Even those who like circus peanuts can't agree whether they're better soft and fresh or stale and hard.

"Break out a bag anywhere, and you'll get a debate going," Kimmerle said.

God, they're nasty.
UPDATE: Let's make this AN OFFICIAL SCIENTIFIC POLL to silence the molecular nitrogen set.

Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:51 AM | Comments (26)

Singing in the Rain

...just singing in the rain.

What a glorious feeling,
When this sh*t starts over again.

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

Red Dawn?

It would seem that Raul is no improvement:

As head of Cuba's armed forces, Raul has been deeply involved in Cuba's military involvement in Angola and Ethiopia during the 1970s _ as well as with the military's successful peacetime efforts to help rescue Cuba's economy following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"I am among those who believe that it would be in imperialism's interest to try, with our irreconcilable differences, to normalize relations as much as possible during Fidel's life," Raul said in the interview with state television. Later, he said, "it will be more difficult," implying he would be harder to deal with.

Babalu is the place for all things Fidel...Michelle Malkin is also keeping tabs (or maybe keeping the book?) on him.

Update: Here's some more backround and info on Raul.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:48 AM | Comments (4)