The arrogance of Our Betters in Congress continues to astound. It shouldn’t, I suppose, but it does
Judy Matott asked Baucus if he would work to improve Libby’s image, and then asked him and Sebelius, “if either of you read the health care bill before it was passed and if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing.”
Baucus replied that if Libby residents assembled an economic development plan, he would do what he could to help, and he took credit for “essentially” writing the health care bill that passed the Senate.
“I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It’s statutory language,” Baucus said. “We hire experts.”
We must clean House.
(i think I fixed the link Skyler – thanks for the heads up)
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Dozens of schoolgirls and teachers were sickened Wednesday by poison gas in Afghanistan, medical and government officials said.
The latest incident, this one at a high school, is the ninth such case involving the poisoning of schoolgirls, said Asif Nang, spokesman for the nation’s education ministry.
I’m sure safe secure Western Feminists will stage huge protests against this type of behavior.
New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose far less than expected in July and, excluding transportation equipment, posted their largest decline in 1-1/2 years, according to a government report on Wednesday that pointed to a slowdown in manufacturing.
Home Sales Fall 12.4% to 276,000, Short of Estimates that Called for Sales to Rise to 333,000 (story developing)
CNBC is using the “unexpected” word, as in , “We were expecting things to start firming up, perhaps even a 2% bump. Coming in waaay below expectations…a 12.4% drop is UNEXPECTED and bad news.”
(CNN) — The Mexican Navy discovered 72 dead bodies on a ranch Tuesday in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, a statement released by the agency said.
The bodies, 58 of which were men and 14 women, were found above ground in a section of a ranch about 14 miles (22 km) away from the town of San Fernando. The Navy called it one of the largest discoveries of dead bodies in Mexico’s 4 year-old war on organized crime.
No reason to secure the border, nothing to see here, move along.
It really sounds like these guys were well trained and kept their wits
COPIAPO, Chile – Their self-imposed rations were meager: Two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, a bite of cracker and a morsel of peach every other day.
That iron discipline kept 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground alive for 17 days on just two days’ worth of emergency rations. And the same strength may be needed while they wait for rescuers to dig a tunnel wide enough to get them out — an operation that Chilean officials say may take until Christmas.
I still can’t grapple with what these guys are facing for the next few months. They’re much better men than I, Gunga Din.
I was very glad to read this
The miners can still reach many chambers and access ramps in the lower reaches of the mine, and have used a separate area some distance from their reinforced emergency refuge as their bathroom.
I’m sure Sheryl Crow has some tips for them in that department…
Life | Mr. Bingley | 7:15 am | Comments Off on Journey To The Center Of The Earth Update
BELDEN, Miss. — Toyota began taking applications Monday for 1,350 production and maintenance workers at its Blue Springs, Miss., plant that had been stalled while the Japanese automaker waited for the worldwide recession to end.
Gov. Haley Barbour and Toyota officials made the announcement at Itawamba Community College
They’ve worked too hard to take Toyota out. (UPDATE: Although somebody’sgot the right idea…)
Ah Suzette, Suzette…always taunting me into treating my family like lab rabbits showing my family how much I love them. “Looks like someone will be baking” indeed.
Th only thing to be decided was what.
Since Poor Laura couldn’t go to California to escape the warrant heat I thought I would do my part to cheer her up…by baking a Circus Peanut Key Lime Pah. I’m big this way.
What could be easier or more festive? You simply mix the yolks of three salmonella delivery devices with half a cup of Key Lime juice and a 14 oz can of sweetened constipated milk
Schplop it into Mr. Keebler
Now there’s something missing…ah yes!
Damn, I am an artiste!
Now into the oven at 350 for 20 minutes or so…
Huh, interesting. I was sort of hoping for some meltage action from the peanuts, much like marshmallows do when set atop of sweet potatoes. I guess the extra chemical goodness in the Circus Peanuts makes them go more the meringue route…
You know, the flavor combination actually works (well, it did for Daughter and moi; my Bride was somewhat less enthused), although the Peanuts were a tad difficult to eat as they were sort of crusty on the outside and a little chewy in the middle; the banana-esque flavor of the Peanut pairs nicely with the tart lime.
Daughter suggested that next time we pulverize the Peanuts in the food processor and mix the bits in with the pah filling; I like her thinking.
Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc – Viognier and some nice sharp white cheddar.
For around $10 bucks this is a really tasty wine: soft fruit and a semi-lush (there’s that word again) mouth-feel that’s not at all oaky or overly sweet or fruity.
The period January – July was the warmest such 7-month period in the planet’s history,
and temperatures over Earth’s land regions were at record highs in May, June, and July, according to the National Climatic Data Center. It is not a surprise that many all-time extreme heat records are being shattered when the planet as a whole is so warm. Global warming “loads the dice” to favor extreme heat events unprecedented in recorded history. In fact, it may be more appropriate to say that global warming adds more spots on the dice–it used to be possible to roll no higher than double sixes, and now it is possible to roll a thirteen.
REALLY? I mean, you know fer sure? In the forever and ever, way back when, whole, whole, WHOLE HISTORY of the EARTH…not ONCE was it ever HOTTER than it was this summer?
Connecticut Senate Candidate Forced to Explain PAC Donations
HARTFORD, Conn. — Richard Blumenthal’s words are haunting him again.
Already forced to apologize for saying he had served “in” Vietnam in the Marine Reserve rather than stateside, the state attorney general’s campaign for U.S. Senate is now being challenged to explain his assertion that he had “never taken PAC money” and has “rejected all special interest money.”
Federal records show that he has accepted $480,000 in political action committee money since he made that claim in January. Moreover, his Republican opponent, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, points to nearly $17,000 Blumenthal received as a state legislative candidate in the 1980s — a figure Blumenthal’s campaign does not dispute.
Blumenthal’s campaign insists he did not lie — as McMahon says — when he said in an interview on MSNBC the day after he announced he was running for the seat of retiring Sen. Chris Dodd that he had never taken PAC money.
His campaign says he was referring only to his 20 years as attorney general.
Specifics, schemifics.
–“I only took this much, which, of course, means, ‘NONE’. Which is, incidentally, how high the Mekong River in Vietnam is at flood stage. Or so I’ve heard, since I actually wasn’t IN there,” explains Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
I’ve avoided saying anything on this because, well, there’s been just too much screaming and stupidity and dishonesty. Yes I was here in Lower Manhattan on September 11th, yes I had several friends murdered, yes I walked through ash, all that, so I think that I’m a little closer to the issues (for better or worse) at hand than many of the folks commenting around the country.
WASHINGTON—A leader of a planned Muslim community center near Manhattan’s Ground Zero compared opposition to the project to the persecution of Jews, in comments that could add to the controversy over the center’s proposed site.
“We are deeply concerned, because this is like a metastasized antisemitism,” said Daisy Khan, who is spearheading the project with her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. “It’s beyond Islamophobia. It’s hate of Muslims.”
Kiss my ass, Daisy.
Can we be honest, please?
This mosque is nothing more than a giant “Fuck You” to America.
And you know what? They have a right to say that…as we have a right to call them on it. Freedom, glorious sweet Freedom, goes both ways my friends. If they own the property they can pretty much build what they want on it as far as I’m concerned. And I fully support Gutfeld’s bar next door. Welcome to America, folks.
This was always my choice for the new WTC
And I want the names of the 19 hijackers to be immortalized, too:
I want each name to be inscribed on a separate urinal in the memorial.
I mean, seriously. You’re a miner. There’s a cave-in. You and 32 of your co-workers survive. You communicate with folks topside, and they say “Great! we’re going to rescue you”…in four months
COPIAPO, Chile – For 33 men found alive after 17 days trapped deep in a copper and gold mine, the toughest challenge now may be preserving their sanity during the months it may take to carve a tunnel big enough for them to get out.
Chileans were euphoric Sunday after a narrow drill broke through 2,257 feet (688 meters) of solid rock to reach an emergency refuge where the miners had gathered. The trapped men quickly tied two notes to the end of a probe that rescuers pulled to the surface, announcing in big red letters: “All 33 of us are fine in the shelter.”
It really is amazing.
But then there’s this
But rescuers said it could take as long as four months — until around Christmas — to carve a second shaft some 27 inches (68 centimeters) in diameter, wide enough for the miners to be pulled up one by one.
Pulled up one-by-one through that tiny opening…pulled up over 2,200 feet.
For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic, a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she’s made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it’s a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.
In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.
“The real kick in the pants is that I don’t even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous,” Bess says.
It seems to me there are clear Constitutional issues here in addition to the usual “how rapacious for our money is our government” bit, as well.
Speaking of the meeting of East and West, I saw the oddest thing whilst waiting for the bus home today. This picture does not do it justice, unfortunately. As we were standing there on a warm Augustinian day, what should walk towards us but a young lady wearing what looked like a hajib…and a bikini top and shorts
The other folks on line and myself stood there in stunned silence for a minute, and then we all laughed. Only in America, indeed.
Luckily there weren’t any Taliban with stones in the area; otherwise they might have had a little “chat” with her about modesty…
TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) – Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler may be “American Idol”-bound, but he’s taken another tumble on stage — this time in Toronto.
Aerosmith was performing at Toronto’s Air Canada Center on Tuesday when, according to media reports, guitarist Joe Perry backed into Tyler as they played “Love in an Elevator,” which sent the frontman off the catwalk and into the crowd.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures rose on Thursday as investors awaited weekly jobless claims data and earnings from technology giants Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc for signs of improvement in the tepid economic recovery.
At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the Labor Department will report first-time claims for jobless benefits for the week ended August 14. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 476,000 new filings, compared with 484,000 in the prior week.
The actual initial claims number climbed to 500,000.
WASHINGTON (AP) — New applications for unemployment insurance reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November, a sign that employers are cutting jobs again as the recovery slows.
The Labor Department says initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 500,000, the fourth increase in the past five weeks. Wall Street economists forecast that claims would drop.
Unexpectedly, of course.
When will they admit that this Keynesian experiment has been a complete and utter failure?
As anyone who knows me will vouch, I am all about building bridges; creating culinary fusions of the very best that the Oriental and Occidental cultures have to offer for the adventuresome palate in the hope that in some small way I can foster understanding and greater felicity in this sometimes raucous storm tossed fragile little spinning ball of tectonic vibrancy we inhabit.
It is in that spirit of giving for my fellow Man, that ineffable yearning to reach out so that others may yet see and rise above their enervated existences, to help those who desperately yearn in the depths of their very souls to find some spark, some way to cast off the soul-quenching ennui that is 21st Century life, that I humbly present to You, Dear Reader, tonight’s blending of the Exotic Mysteries of the East with the Refined yet Down Home Earnestness of the Heartland
Morality, Nanny State, Politics | Mr. Bingley | 
August 25, 2010 11:32 am | 
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