First Natalie Maines and now the classless Mary Travers, dishing on the woman who donated bone marrow to her during her battle with leukemia. (You know ~ as in ‘save your life, last chance you’ll ever have‘ bone marrow?)
“I had to have a bone marrow transplant. It’s been a terrible year,” she told me. “I just learned the donor’s name is also Mary. She has two daughters. I have two daughters. See, just in case something goes wrong, you must wait a year before you can communicate with them.
…Mary laughed and added: “The problem was, I’m a lifelong Democrat. I was terrified that if she’s a Republican, I could go into the voting booth and, like Dr. Strangelove, my whole brain could change around. When we finally spoke I asked her about this. There was a pause then she said, ‘But I am a Republican.’ So I said, ‘Well, hell, I guess it’s about time the Republicans did something nice for me.’ “
Whatever happened to “thank you”?
…a playable lie?
Update: A warm Swilling welcome to Simon in the comments, who reminds me of this:
“We need more goats,”
I’m not making this up.
…I thought they were still talking about Hawaii. But it was Spain creaking at the seams.
The wealthy semiautonomous Catalonia region gained sweeping new powers to run its own affairs Sunday, as voters overwhelmingly approved a blueprint that some fear could leave Spain’s government cash-strapped and powerless.
…At stake in the voting in this region, which considers itself a nation within a nation, were a much bigger slice of tax revenues collected in Catalonia, a say in the appointment of judges and prosecutors to courts run from Madrid and, critically, an indirect proclamation of Catalonia as a “nation.”
…than just corn.
City officials in Champaign and Urbana took notice when they heard that an ethanol plant proposed nearby would use about 2 million gallons of water per day, most likely from the aquifer that also supplies both cities.
“There was concern about impacting a pretty valuable resource,” said Matt Wempe, a city planner for Urbana. “It should raise red flags.”
There are green NIMBY issues to consider as well, in the rush to alternative fuels.
…yet another weird, historical confluence ~ a Yin and Yang, them and us, as it were. (Pretty appropriate, considering the debate in the House and airwaves lately.) The Yin of it?
Bunker Hill.
No one of the thousands who crowded the housetops, church steeples, and shore batteries of Boston to watch the spectacle ever forgot the extraordinary scene they witnessed. June 17, 1775, was an absolutely still, brilliantly clear summer’s day. Viewers in Boston only half a mile away could make out the stages of the battle clearly.
It didn’t go well, but we didn’t give up.
And the Yang?
Read more »
Well, ok, it was lunch actually, but I’m a sucker for a cheap literary reference. Anywho, as I said below I was going to drive to Philly today just to have lunch at Genos. I’m sure you’ve seen his story at Michelle Malkin’s; I did, and as soon as I read it I decided to make the trip. Over beers on Tuesday I floated the idea to Nightfly, and as he was game we met this morning and drove to Philly with his beloved and my daughter in tow.
Thanks to the directions Michelle had linked to it was very easy to find, and when we got there at 12 or so man, the place was mobbed. There was no where to park nearby so I drove around a bit and finally found a spot after we doubled back a block over. It turns out we doubled back a tad too much, because once we walking back on 9th Street we were heading the wrong way. In a moment of Sensitive 90s Guy Lucidity™ I asked a shriveled but dapper looking Italian fellow which way Geno’s was, and as he was about to answer another much younger Italian gent with (I kid you not) a bottle of Chianti in each hand said “It’s down this way…but don’t forget to speak English!” And with that he laughed and went on his way. Thusly encouraged, we continued on ours.
And there, glistening in the distance like the spires of Tangerine City, home of the Whiz, we saw…
Read more »
Probably not, of course:
“A lot of pandering started going on, and you’d see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism.”
“The entire country may disagree with me, but I don’t understand the necessity for patriotism,” Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. “Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don’t see why people care about patriotism.”
And soon you won’t see why people don’t care about you or your music, sweet pea, especially when you can’t help but evoke the “M” Factor:
“It was the bullying and the scare factor,” shudders banjo and guitar player Robison. “It was like the McCarthy days, and it was almost like the country was unrecognisable.”
The level of debate can be gauged from the way Maines was compared to “Hanoi Jane” Fonda, who was photographed manning a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun at the height of the Vietnam war.
Yes, it always comes back to McCarthy and Vietnam, that one-two combination of leftist martyrdom. Oh, I am called to task for a stupid comment! I’m being repressed! McCarthy! How dare people not buy my music because they think I’m an ass…
…to the UCMJ.
More than two weeks ago, Sullivan said he expected murder and kidnapping charges would be brought soon, and a Pentagon official confirmed charges were imminent. But none has been filed and the delay has not been explained.
According to Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, charges must be filed within 120 days of servicemembers being taken into custody. Gibson put that date at May 24, which would mean charges might not be filed until September.
Maybe now people will understand why ACTIVE DUTY members are reluctant to speak out. You sign your life and every right you ever had away when you swear that oath. ‘Military justice’ provides many safeguards, but ‘timely manner’ isn’t one of them. Michele Malkin with more. ( Don’t confuse the manner of the Marines’ confinement with ‘military justice’. That/shackles/etc. are at the discretion of the Commanding Officer. There is nothing that prevents him from doing the same to any service member in his command, except the counter order of a senior officer.) It’s harsh and there are reasons for it, but don’t ever think that there aren’t abuses and those can be arbitrary and hateful. And whether you make it to a Court Martial, an NJP (Non-Judicial Punishment ~ stand in front of the Old Man’s desk for a peepee whacking) or they drop everything, don’t think for two seconds that you get a shot at addressing your treatment or the ‘violations’ of your rights. Remember? You signed those away.
They could have held those Marines and sailor in any brig on any station. But the pictures on TV and the articles in the papers and the Congressman on the floor of the House had them chained like animals. And WTFO? Even Saddam Hussein gets to swing his arms.
Le Martha Stewart syndrome, she strikes yet again!
The embattled French co-CEO of Airbus parent EADS on Friday defended his sale of shares in the company before delays in the superjumbo A380 sent the stock tumbling, calling it an “unfortunate coincidence.”
Queeks! Zomebody knits eem a Bastille poncho!
…have to play by the rules.
The Panhandle for the first time will get a state environmental resource permitting program, similar to those in other parts of Florida, under one of the five bills signed Thursday.
“Including the Panhandle in the statewide program will preserve more wetlands, improve stormwater management and flood control and better protect some of the most pristine rivers, estuaries and streams in Florida,” Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille said after the bill was passed last month.
A 15-year-old girl can enter into a common-law marriage in Colorado, and younger girls and boys possibly can, too, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
While the three-judge panel stopped short of setting a specific minimum age for such marriages, it said they could be legal for girls at 12 and boys at 14 under English common law, which Colorado recognizes.
…but could they not still charge the elder partner with statutory rape?
Katrina certainly devastated a lot of lives, and there are thousands upon thousands of folks working very hard to get their lives back in order who deserve and value what help we can give them.
But then there are also people like Theon Johnson
This winter, FEMA put up over 300 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in New York City hotels. Almost all of them have gone back to their lives, their jobs. But not Theon Johnson. He’s currently sprawled out watching Halloween 5 on one of the two full-size beds in his room at the JFK Airport Holiday Inn. He is one of four evacuees still living in a hotel in the city.
The others left in February and March, when, after spending more than $500 million, FEMA stopped paying for hotel rooms housing some 40,000 evacuees across the country. That left many scrambling for places to live. But thanks to the city’s squatters-rights law, evacuees here were safe. Their rooms weren’t paid for, but since they’d been in them for more than 30 days, the hotels couldn’t just kick them out. Only a judge’s order could evict them.
…When Johnson’s caseworker, Sharon, comes around, she gives him some bus passes and maybe a few bucks, but she’s getting frustrated. “They sit around on their butts watching TV. There’s only but so much I can do if they’re not willing to help themselves.”
After being flown here for free back in September, Johnson’s been at the Holiday Inn since Super Bowl Sunday. On April 21, the hotel served Johnson with three notices of occupancy termination, saying that it would begin court proceedings if he wasn’t out by May 9. He wasn’t, so it did. If the court boots him, Johnson could end up in one of the city’s homeless shelters. He’s been broke for over a month now. FEMA sent him $9,000 in housing aid, but he spent it all on booze, cigarettes, some clothes, and food—partying, mostly. “I spent my money just the way I wanted, and I think [fema] should send me some more,” he says.
I wish we could boot his lazy ass to Mexico; there are a hundred hard-working illegals in my town that I’d much rather have in this country and help out with my tax dollars than this piece of crap.
…would be used to illustrate this point…
The global refugee population has begun to rise for the first time in four years, largely due to instability in Iraq, a US group said in a survey, which saw refugee protection deteriorating by all measures.
…when it’s: a) Indonesia and b) 3 YEARS old? The “group” doing the survey says displaced Iraqis abound in Jordan and Syria as of this past year. But I guess not one refugee drew pictures ~ or ones that suited ~ for a new AFP photo op.
“It’s being faxed from a Kinko’s in Austin as we speak…”
Stopwatch Ticking for Dan Rather
CBS to Drop Ex-Anchor From ’60 Minutes’
CBS executives have decided there is no future role at the network for Dan Rather, making it certain that the man who sat in the anchor chair for 24 years will depart by this fall.
These executives recognize Rather’s contributions over four decades and are not trying to boot him because of the controversy surrounding his botched story on President Bush and the National Guard, say network sources who declined to be named while discussing a sensitive personnel matter. But the executives concluded there was no room for Rather at “60 Minutes,” particularly with incoming anchor Katie Couric planning to report a half-dozen stories a year and the hiring of CNN’s Anderson Cooper as a part-time contributor.
I’d say “SEE-ya!”, but that would imply that a) I give a hooyah or b) I’m gloating. Let’s just leave it at Eddie Murphy’s “You brought dat sh*t on yoself…”
…are just chopped liver?
Asked about clemency for those who attacked U.S. troops, he said: “That’s an area where we can see a green line. There’s some sort of preliminary understanding between us and the MNF-I,” the U.S.-led Multi-National Force-Iraq, “that there is a patriotic feeling among the Iraqi youth and the belief that those attacks are legitimate acts of resistance and defending their homeland. These people will be pardoned definitely, I believe.“
And how many more get to die, since you’re floating the idea you can kill us with impunity?
I’m sure you’ve heard by now about this new ‘scandal’ involving the Marines, this “Hadji Girl” song. I’ve refrained from saying anything about it because I wanted to read the lyrics. And I’m glad I did. Thanks to Michelle Malkin, here they are:
Hadji Girl
I was out in the sands of Iraq
And we were under attack
And I, well, I didn’t know where to go.
And the first think I could see was
Everybody’s favorite Burger King
So I threw open the door and I hit the floor.
Then suddenly to my surprise
I looked up and I saw her eyes
And I knew it was love at first sight.
And she said
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl I can’t understand what you’re saying.
And she said
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
Hadji girl I love you anyway.
Then she said that she wanted me to see.
She wanted me to meet her family
But I, well, I couldn’t figure out how to say no.
Cause I don’t speak Arabic.
So, she took me down an old dirt trail.
And she pulled up to a side shanty
And she threw open the door and I hit the floor.
Cause her brother and her father shouted
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They pulled out their AKs so I could see
And they said
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me.
As the bullets began to fly
The blood sprayed from between her eyes
And then I laughed maniacally
Then I hid behind the TV
And I locked and loaded my M-16
And I blew those little f***ers to eternity.
And I said
Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad
Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah
They should have known they were f***ing with a Marine
Durka-Durka, Mohammed Jihad is of course the rallying cry of these fellows
It’s a song about a guy who falls in love with a girl who leads him into an ambush by her brother and father, and they kill the girl, not the Marine. And then he kills them, thankfully.
I’ll buy his album, durka-durka.
But it’s not the typical reaction from the twisted panty brigade that upsets me about this; it’s this reaction in The Marine Corps Times that is most troubling: (via LGF)
Islamic scholars and the Marine Corps have condemned an Internet music video called “Hadji Girl” that allegedly shows Marines mocking dead Iraqis.
The four-minute video contains images of what is said to be a Marine in Iraq singing a song that seems to glorify killing an Iraqi young girl. The video was removed from the site on which it was posted and where more than 50,000 people viewed it, according to the Council on Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.
According to CAIR, the song’s lyrics include the lines: “I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally … I blew those little [expletive] to eternity. They should have known they were [expletive] with Marines.”
“According to CAIR”. According to goddamned CAIR!!!!! What spineless a$$wipe in the USMC Brass is condemning a Marine based on a CAIR press release’s version of what the lyrics are?
Fine, I will grant that the song may not be in the best of taste or perhaps some desk-bound turd can say it’s “inappropriate” or some such rot, but for the USMC to come down hard on this guy based on some squealing from a terrorist-sympathizing group like CAIR is disgusting.
Update: Allah at HotAir has some contact info. Support the Marines and kick some Brass!
When the U.N. Security Council headed to Africa on a 10-day trip, ambassadors thought their biggest security nightmare could come during a visit to a camp for Sudanese or Chadians caught up in the Darfur conflict and angry at the United Nations. But it turned out their scariest moment came from a “haboob” – a word few had ever heard.
Flying back from Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, and approaching the national capital, Khartoum, on the evening of June 8, the ambassadors were talking about their meetings to promote implementation of a January 2005 peace agreement ending another conflict – the 21-year civil war between the government and southern rebels – when the pilot suddenly revved up the engines.
Peru’s U.N. Ambassador Oswaldo Rivero, who happened to be sitting in the cockpit at the time talking to the Spanish pilot, said all of a sudden they saw a black cloud coming toward the plane. The pilot knew what it was – a “haboob” or sandstorm – and he immediately sought to gain altitude to avoid it.
“It was a terrible storm,” De Rivero said. “He was concerned about sand in the engines. That is very dangerous.”
I woulda hapooped.
Watch and remember.
It was February 1994 when Eki, a 12 year old boy from Sarajevo, was interviewed by Peter Jennings.
Peter Jennings, “What do your mother and father tell you about what the future is going to be?”
Eki,” They don’t talk about it.”
Peter, “How come?”
Eki, “They don’t know what to say.”
I was in tears afterwards and major dad said “Someone has to see this and get that kid out of there.” Someone did, bless their hearts. George and Helen Priebe of Irvine, Calif. brought his whole family over and they settled in Michigan.
Today the Iraq War veteran, Petty Officer Eki Foco, became a citizen of the United States of America.
He says America is a great place to be.
Well, Petty Officer Foco, it’s great to have you.
Congratulations.
…since she always looks so cranky, gaunt and frail.
Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, listed her ownership with her husband of a vineyard in St Helena, the heart of California’s Napa wine country, which is valued at between $5m and $25m.
Harry Reid-ickulous seems well heeled as well. So I’ll send my $1.75 instead to Ted, who will be paying for therapy after this review of his book.
…And Senator Ted Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, reported $50,000 in royalties on a children’s book, My Senator and Me: A Dog’s Eye View of Washington, which follows a day in the life of the senator from the viewpoint of his dog. The conservative National Review panned the book, saying it “reeks of liberalism from its very first sentence” and calling it “the very worst book written by a senator since, well, since Barbara Boxer’s novel was released last fall“.
Then again, maybe not.
But if you don’t want yours, you
may soon find it tough to figure out who to complain to. 
…like THIS.
‘This is not normal behavior,’ says lead investigator
…According to the report, the crew came in too low and too slow, with incorrect flap settings while making a type of emergency landing regularly practiced by flying crews.
The plane also was underpowered, according to the report, after one of its four engines had been shut down because of erratic warnings from an alarm system. Pilots mistakenly tried to throttle up the engine they shut down instead of one of the remaining three working engines. That left two engines throttled up, one idling and one shut down.
“Clear and convincing evidence” showed that the pilot failed to use all of the available engines during a miscalculated landing approach that was hampered by incorrect settings on the big plane’s wing flaps, Torres said.
…or it winds up like THIS.
Pop quiz after lunch.
Home Depot gets my vote!
A plumber who bought a bathroom vanity for a home renovation found something else in the box: a stash of 40 pounds of marijuana and three grams of cocaine.
Police did not identify the plumber or the store, though WWLP-TV reported the vanity was purchased at the Home Depot in Chicopee.
…Ricardi said the plumber discovered the drugs in Southwick on Monday after he made the purchase. The man noticed the vanity top hadn’t been included in the package and instead found two plastic bags containing the drugs stuffed inside.
Who needs a top with packing like that? Beats the hell out of styrofoam and much easier to resell.
I guess this won’t get too much press:
Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: “Gore’s circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention.”
…Among experts who actually examine the causes of change on a global scale, many concentrate their research on designing and enhancing computer models of hypothetical futures. “These models have been consistently wrong in all their scenarios,” asserts Ball. “Since modelers concede computer outputs are not “predictions” but are in fact merely scenarios, they are negligent in letting policy-makers and the public think they are actually making forecasts.”
We should listen most to scientists who use real data to try to understand what nature is actually telling us about the causes and extent of global climate change. In this relatively small community, there is no consensus, despite what Gore and others would suggest.
I didn’t realize that Darth Rove’s powers extended that far north…
Appearing before the Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development last year, Carleton University paleoclimatologist Professor Tim Patterson testified, “There is no meaningful correlation between CO2 levels and Earth’s temperature over this [geologic] time frame. In fact, when CO2 levels were over ten times higher than they are now, about 450 million years ago, the planet was in the depths of the absolute coldest period in the last half billion years.” Patterson asked the committee, “On the basis of this evidence, how could anyone still believe that the recent relatively small increase in CO2 levels would be the major cause of the past century’s modest warming?”
Well, duh, because it’s all about Chimpy McBushyhalliburtonoil, fool.
Fun | tree hugging sister | 
June 19, 2006 9:40 am | 
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