Quote Of The Day

“As I read the Constitution, the Congress writes the laws and you get to decide what you want to sign,” Boehner said, recounting what he told the president, according to two sources.

Damn straight.

From Jennifer Rubin

What Boehner said to the Caucus this afternoon.

Spam Of The Day

I got good info from your blog cream for aging

We proudly purvey only the finest blog cream.

At Least 91 Dead Now

What an evil, evil scumbag who should just be shot. But he won’t be; he won’t even be put in a cell for the rest of his life. The maximum sentence for any crime in Norway is 21 years.

And since prisons can hurt the tender psyches of these poor souls the kindly Norwegians have started putting murderers in places like this

It was July 2006 and I was visiting Bastoey, an open prison 45 miles south of the Norwegian capital. It is home to about 115 detainees, including murderers, rapists and other felons, who enjoy activities not usually associated with prisons.

In summer, they can improve their backhand on the tennis court, ride a horse in the forest and hit the beach for a swim. In winter, they can go cross-country skiing or participate in the prison’s ski-jumping competition.

…”The biggest mistake that our societies have made is to believe that you must punish hard to change criminals,” explained Oeyvind Alnaes, Bastoey’s then-prison governor. “This is wrong. The big closed prisons are criminal schools. If you treat people badly, they will behave badly. Anyone can be a citizen if we treat them well, respect them, and give them challenges and demands.”

I think they should consider reviving this old custom

Norway abolished the death penalty for civilian crimes in 1905. The last execution took place in 1876 when murderer Kristoffer Nilsen Grindalen was publicly beheaded on a scaffold built–according to custom–near the scene of the crime.

Oh and guns are, of course, highly regulated in Norway.

Krauthammer on Teh Present’s Hissy Fit

…which was well attended by an enraptured press corps.

They’re Saying at Least 80 Kids on That Island in Norway

…are dead.

Dear God.

Our hearts go out to their families, the folks in Oslo and all our warmest thoughts to the Norwegian people.

Such inhumanity is always unfathomable. It never loses its power to horrify, nor should it.

We’re lost if it does.

Breaking: Oslo Bombing?

Ho boy

An explosion knocks out windows in government buildings in downtown Oslo, news agencies reports. Injuries have been reported.

Update at 10:03 a.m. ET: Reuters reports at least 8 people injured in an explosion that knocked out most of the windows in a 17-story building where Prime Minister Jen Stoltenberg’s office is located. The nearby oil ministry is reported to be on fire.

UPDATE:

UPDATE THE SECOND: Early reports are almost always chaotic and wrong, but this from the Grauniad is bad if true

Neil Perry in Oslo just sent me this worrying development. I’ll try to get more details:

A man disguised as a police officer began shooting where prime minister Jens Stoltenberg was attending a Labour party conference at Utoya, Stoltenberg has just confirmed.

He said there is a ‘critical and serious siuation’ where he is (but he is safe).

He was speaking on the phone to Norwegian TV station TV2.

The Worst Tragedy In The History Of Mankind

I am inconsolable

IT was certainly an expensive drop – more than $1 million worth of shiraz wine has gone down the drain after it was dropped by a malfunctioning forklift.

The 462 cases of 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove shiraz – at $185 a bottle – fell more than 6m to the ground as it was being loaded for export from Adelaide to the US.

I adore Molly Dooker’s wine…although I’ve never splurged on this Velvet Glove stuff.

I’m leaving to go drown my sorrows.

Iowahawk Was Twittering About Al Gore Dancing

…and the only thing I ever heard associated with Al Gore besides hot air was his weak “Macarena” gag (me) at the Democratic Convention and…oh…DAMN it. It’s stuck in my frickin’ head for the rest of the day, now.

Shake yer booty. Happy Friday!

If Linda Hamilton Gets Stood Up for The Marine Corps Ball (As She Should, Shameless Hussy)

…someone else is looking mighty fetching these days…

Dodging incoming does a body good, eh? I wonder if The Manolo’s seen this yet.

“Who Would Hire ANY of These Pinheads Advising Obama?”

Via Instapundit.

Pop Quiz!

As we have been hearing from our Glorious and Wise Democratic Leadership in DC, paying our national debt is a SACRED DUTY and it would be UNPRECEDENTED and REALLY EVUL not to raise the debt limit.

So, way back when in the dark misty passages of time, how many of these Selfsame Solomonaic Sages voted to raise the debt ceiling in 2006?

Hey, So How’s That Missile Technology That Clinton Transferred To China…

…working out?

China’s military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public on Thursday.

Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Center study on the lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China’s so-called “assassin’s mace” arsenal – weapons that allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces.

…“The DF-21 medium-range ballistic missile has been mentioned as a platform for the EMP attack against Taiwan,” the report said.

Of course they could have developed these sorts of things on their own, but is that any sort of reason to help them along?

It Can Be a Burden, Being the Acknowleged Experts

…on, oh, so many things…

There Are Times When I Think Allen West Thinks Entirely Too Much of Allen West

This was one of them. (Although, as usual, there wasn’t a thing to disagree with in the sentiments expressed. Just the manner and place.)

The SMART money from the Democratic side would have been to let the professional rudeness slide. Sit in dignified, hurt silence. “Hey, what goes on outside these walls, blahblahblah, but in here we’re colleagues, blahblahblah…” They’d be golden.

But damned if they aren’t the gift that keeps on giving.

California Democrat Compares West to Florida Pastor Who Burned Koran

..California Democrat Compares West to Florida Pastor Who Burned Koran
by Chad Pergram | July 21, 2011

In a statement about an inflammatory email Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., sent to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. earlier this week, Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., likens West to Pastor Terry Jones who last year, threatened to burn a stack of Korans at his Florida church. Jones later burned one of the Muslim holy books in a less public display in March.

“Public opinion of policymakers is already quite low, why in the world would Rep West want to undermine it further by stooping to such undiplomatic demagoguery?” Honda’s statement reads. “Not unlike the pastor in Florida who burned the Koran, knowing all too well the forthcoming media frenzy, this action by West is hardly different.“

Public opinion, of course, having nothing to do with anything that ever came out of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s gaping, vacuous, malevolent maw.

Washington Then and Now: Quite the Coolest Concept

…for a person with beaucoups time on their hands.

Check out the slideshow.

And MSNBC Officially

…Jumps the Sharpton.

Sharpton Appears to Win Anchor Spot on MSNBC

After giving a nearly six-month tryout for the Internet talk show host Cenk Uygur, the cable news channel MSNBC is preparing to instead hand its 6 p.m. time slot to the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Mr. Sharpton’s imminent hiring, which was acknowledged by three people at the channel on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed, is significant in part because MSNBC and other news channels have been criticized for a paucity of minority hosts in prominent time slots. Mr. Sharpton, who is black and is a well-known civil rights activist and radio host, has been guest hosting in the 6 p.m. time slot for the last three weeks.

In the Paper Today

…Why would Republicans have so little respect for him, say things about him that are obviously false, and be against anything he proposes? He is everything the previous president wasn’t. He is super intelligent, about as well spoken as one could hope to be, knowledgeable about almost everything affecting government, sensible about things, and compassionate. He actually knows what it’s like to be without.

…one of the saddest things I’ve ever read (“All About Control”) in my life.

And Thank YOU to the Douches at NASA for Scheduling the VERY LAST Shuttle Return EH-VAH

…for when 90% of the public who paid your way all these years would miss it.

You Know, I Had More Fun Last Night Than I Thought I Would

For a 58 yr old Pat Benatar’s got a lot of energy and put on a very enjoyable show. Her operatic training has served her voice well; she’s still got a lot of power in it. She has taken a few of the songs down a step or two, as the high notes just aren’t there anymore (tell me about it!), but the sound is still smooth and has no raspy/froggy notes.

All in all a great evening.

And a loud one.

Damn I’m tired.

“Corn, Corn, Is Pricier…”

“…than porn.“

At the NAS Pensacola Commissary, no less.
In the middle of *&%^ing summer.

Mr. Obama, TEAR DOWN THAT SIGN!!!!

Well, I Know at Least Two of the Spammers Read the Bingley Posts

…they left their comments on, so there is some integrity among thieves.

Rambling…

Ostentatious!

I mean, you can just tell.

Semper Fidelis

…and a big OO-rah!

Obama OKs Medal of Honor for living Marine

Dakota Meyer, a former corporal, will be honored for his heroics in Ganjgal, Afghanistan, in September 2009

They’re Calling It a “Shock Study”

I think it’s AWEsome.

Just a brief exposure to an image of the American flag shifts voters, even Democrats, to Republican beliefs, attitudes and voting behavior even though most don’t believe it will impact their politics, according to a new two-year study just published in the scholarly Psychological Science.

What’s more, according to three authors from the University Chicago, Cornell University and Hebrew University, the impact had staying power.

“A single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months,” the study found. “These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.”

Well, they don’t call her a Grand Old Flag for nothin’.

Paul Ryan

**heart’s a flutter*

…turns a jaundiced eye on the “Gang of Six” plan. Thank goodness he had time…