Begging Gets You Everywhere

I’m Sure Someone in the White House is Dialing for Dollars to the AP Like MAD Right Now

Or maybe more like REAL PISSED OFF.

FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama makes it sound as if there are millionaires all over America paying taxes at lower rates than their secretaries.

“Middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires,” Obama said Monday. “That’s pretty straightforward. It’s hard to argue against that.”

The data tell a different story. On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.

President Liar Liar, Pantalones On Fire again ~ called out by his own Palace Guard.

DAMN, that’s awkward. Lucky thing the demographic he’s appealing to has literacy issues thanks to Democratic philosophies and probably won’t read this.

60º And Raining

I’m off to a golf outing today.

Works for me.

The Only Protester I Saw On Wall Street

Those darn Juice.

Is there nothing they can’t do?

I took this at 11 am or so at the end of Wall on Broadway.

Pathetic.

Exciting Yard News

This

did not fall on the house during the Irene unpleasantness. We were very happy.

All we lost was the upper half of a maple

And here’s a pic I found of the post-freezer grilling

Ribeyes, pork chops, a couple NY strips and a couple pound Chateaubriand.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!! I’m Already an Expert

…but in case you’re not…

Now, get out there and roll an arrrrrgghhhh!

Days Of Whine And Rages

Currently I think there are far more cops on Wall Street than there are protesters. In fact, I know there are, because I saw zero protesters this morning. Granted, it was 5:30 when I walked down Wall Street but still, when one is fighting for justice and committed to overthrow this oppressive system one would think a little sacrifice, a willingness to endure some measure of hardship, would be called for.

But evidently not.

There seemed to be a few folks camped out in the little park on Liberty Street and Broadway, you know the one where the little old men and the younger hustlers used to play chess in the days pre-9/11? But even they were out numbered by the news vans and crew.

And everyone is outnumbered by the barricades the police have set up, designed to funnel and herd folks into single-file lines as they walk from Trinity Church down the length of Wall Street.

Ought to be fun at lunch time when all the tourists are trying to move about.

Another Marine Corps Heroine

…rides into history.

Many warm thanks to our own Mr. Summers for the wonderful, wonderful story.

Into Folklore, Indeed

The NewsHour last night did a fine piece on Sgt. Dakota Meyer, GySgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, the harrowing ambush and the indefatigable, extraordinary, blazing courage of the ordinary human spirit.

Semper Fidelis.

…JEFFREY BROWN: As the president alluded, there was another element in this story that is unusual. Meyer and Chavez were acting on their own.

All in all, as chronicled in a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal: “This battle has entered military folklore, and resulted not only in today’s Medal of Honor, but in two Navy Crosses, two investigations for dereliction of duty, three letters of severe reprimand, and a recommendation for a second Medal of Honor.”

The writer of that line was Bing West, himself a former Marine captain and now author of several books on the military. He was at today’s ceremony and joins us now.

Welcome to you.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Lock Your Doors, Folks

There is evil afoot

Officers have received two complaints in the past week about a man who seems desperate to suck women’s toes – whether they want him to or not.

“We want him off the streets,” said Conway police spokesman LaTresha Woodruff.

Indeed you do, Officer LaTresha.

Friends, I hesitate, nay, I shudder to mention this, but for your own protection you simply must be appraised of the heinous nature of the crimes this podiphile is committing:

Last Saturday, Ruth Harris, 83, told police she was sitting in a chair in front of her apartment when a man approached and said he liked her feet. According to a police report, the man took off one of her shoes and began sucking on her toe.

May the forces of the Public Constabulary swiftly bring this beast to Justice.

Lots And Lots Of Police Here Today

Couldn’t quite figured out what was going on, then I remembered that the Anarchists were trying to organize (yeah, but they don’t appreciate the irony in that) an “occupation” of Wall Street for tomorrow.

Oh joy.

Makes Me Damn Weepy, It Does

MCAS El Toro…in oils.

This Is Brilliant

This is recycling that actually works

Perhaps you’ve performed that old camping trick before, where you created a lantern by shining a flashlight into a water-filled bottle. While that may have helped you find your marshmallows in the dark, imagine how much brighter that bottle would have been if it were lit directly by the Sun. Bright enough, it turns out, that it could brilliantly light up the interior of a one-room house. That’s the idea behind the Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light) project – it’s bringing daytime indoor lighting to the homes of the poor in the Philippines, by installing water-filled plastic pop bottles through holes in their roofs.

Pretty damned cool.

Exclusive: Video Of Obama’s Speech

Here’s the video of Obama’s speech below from yesterday that Treacher so effectively skewers

Personally, Obama fills me with inertia.

John 14:15 Or Obama 9:14?

“If you love me, keep my commandments”

Obama promoted his jobs bill in North Carolina on Wednesday, the third stop on what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called a “campaign” for jobs.

Not for the first time, Obama called back to an audience member’s shouted, “I love you” with “I love you back.”

On Wednesday he added, “But if you love me you’ve got to help me pass this bill.”

Wow. And to think, some people actually call this guy a malignant narcissist.

Time To Put That Straw Hat Away

You may scoff, but things have been known to get out of hand

The Straw Hat Riot of 1922 was a riot that occurred in New York City in 1922 due to people wearing straw hats past the unofficial date that was deemed socially acceptable, September 15. It lasted three days, and it led to many arrests and some injuries.

Read the NYT report from September 16th, 1922 here.

Out of an abundance of caution I am wearing a felt fedora today; the panama hat is hidden away in my car.

Dear Bingley…

How come no one ever comes to me for advice with situations like Dear Abby gets

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been married for 10 years, and it is a wonderful marriage. We love each other very much, never argue and get along great. We have a 2-year-old child.

Recently I found a “sex tape” online of my wife with the guy she dated before me. This video was taken without her knowledge and is from 13 years ago, Because of this, I am not upset about it.

The best part is how Abby asks the real question at the end:

Just what exactly were you searching for on the internet that you “happened” to come across this tape?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I Say Let Them Do It

A few weeks ago a story came out about the Cherokees booting the descendants of their slaves

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – The nation’s second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more than 170 years ago by Native American owners.

The Cherokee nation voted after the Civil War to admit the slave descendants to the tribe.

Now, I know that you are shocked and stunned to learn that someone other than Evul White Europeans (and a topless Yul Brynner of course) ever even considered owning slaves, but that’s not the issue here. No, the issue is that the Cherokees promised that the descendents of their slaves would be full members of the tribe.

Now there was some lovely irony in this, but the report today fills in a little more information

OKLAHOMA CITY — The nation’s second-largest Indian tribe said on Tuesday that it would not be dictated to by the U.S. government over its move to banish 2,800 African Americans from its citizenship rolls.

“The Cherokee Nation will not be governed by the BIA,” Joe Crittenden, the tribe’s acting principal chief, said in a statement responding to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

…After the Civil War, in which the Cherokee fought for the South, a treaty was signed in 1866 guaranteeing tribal citizenship for the freed slaves.

The U.S. government said that the 1866 treaty between the Cherokee tribe and the U.S. government guaranteed that the slaves were tribal citizens, whether or not they had a Cherokee blood relation.

They want to ignore a treaty they signed. I say let them. No problem what-so-ever, my Native American friends.

And immediately all other treaties between the US Government and the various Indian Nations are null and void as well. They are now all simply US citizens like you and me.

Kiss the casinos goodbye, suckas.

Well I Guess I Shouldn’t Be Surprised…

…that the Weather Channel’s fact-checkers are as accurate as their forecasters

#2: Binghamton, NY
To be sure, I could’ve easily picked the state of Vermont, or many other locations in Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, or Maryland for this entry, given the awful flooding from both Irene, and the remnant of what was once Tropical Storm Lee. The number of bridges washed out, roads closed and homes flooded is jaw-dropping!

All fine and dandy.

Except that the picture they use of “Binghamton, NY”

is actually Owego, NY,

(seen here from a different angle)

which is about 25 miles away.

Remember, they’re the Professionals.

Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Lambsicles?

So Daughter was out with friends last weekend and that left my Bride and I alone. We’re still grappling with this impending Proto-Empty Nest Syndrome stuff, so I figured we’d best eat meat off of bones as therapy.

I picked up this lurvly rack of ribs

so we could have our nice dinner for two

two, not you

oh fine.

Anyhow, I cut between each one

and got 9 nice sized little morsels (plus some cleaned up trimmings for the Mooch)

then based on a recipe from Steven Raichlen I put them in a dish with some olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, chunks’o’garlic and some capers and coated them with that

then added about a half inch of wine

covered the pan with saran wrap and shoved it in the fridge to marinate for an hour or so, flipping the pieces roughly every thirty minutes.

For the sauce I took 1 cup of Malbec

and put it in a sauce pan over medium-high heat to reduce

down to only about a 1/4 cup

then set the pan aside to come to room temperature (which didn’t take that long). in the meanwhile I got out a cup of Grey Poupon

and added the now-cooled reduced malbec to it

and mixed it up with a little pepper to taste

and set that aside in the fridge.

I got the grill cranked up and got the brussel sprouts going (but no mushrooms and less stock this time). Due to their thin size the marinated chops cooked very quickly and evenly, which was nice

and every thing plated up in a most yummy fashion.

The dijon/wine reduction made a very nice dipping sauce for the chops on the plate, and the buttery bacony sweetness of the brussel sprouts balanced things out in a most pleasing fashion. I was told I could make this again, which is high praise indeed at Chateau Bingley.

Today’s Words Of Wisdom

For when you need to be sure

Brought to you via our friend Tim.

Update: Even more so in light of this

(Reuters) – Taliban suicide fighters launched an attack on central Kabul on Tuesday, taking over a multi-storey building under construction near the diplomatic district in the Afghan capital and firing rockets in the direction of several embassy and NATO compounds.

Seafood Diet

There you are my Pretties, swimming in your primordial soup of olive oil, lime juice and red pepper flakes

A little freshly-cut Maple, courtesy of Irene

Now don’t y’all look cozy

Yes indeed.

Yes indeed.

A Senseless Tragedy On Route 80

A tractor trailer careens out of control

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A big rig loaded with 35,000 pounds of beer has flipped on its side and is leaking.

The tractor trailer flipped on its side after the driver failed to make a turn while exiting Interstate 80 at Truxel Avenue, according to police.

The 53-foot big rig carrying cases of Bud Light Lime beer is blocking several lanes of Truxel on the Interstate 80 overpass.

Bud Light Lime?

The tragedy is, of course, that all that crap didn’t spill.

Blech.

Outback Steakhouse Gets My Support

Good On Ya

Nine years ago, an idea was hatched at Outback headquarters to send meals to troops in combat, starting with Afghanistan in 2002.

Outback co-founder, Trudy Cooper, told me that it was a natural thing to do since their headquarters is so close to MacDill Air Force Base.

“We already serve meals to our military, how hard could it be to take them meals where they fight?” she asked.

And that’s just what they did. Outback actually drove their catering truck into the back of a C-17 and flew it to Afghanistan in what they called Operation Feeding Freedom. Since that day, OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC (which includes Outback Steakhouse, Carraba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine), has traveled every year to feed the troops abroad. And they do it without publicizing their efforts.

“We love our military,” Cooper said soon after her and her staff taking meals to wounded troops here on KAF.

Good people doing good things deserve our support. Thanks, outback. you’ll be getting my business.

But just not at the Carraba’s in our town; the food there stinks. 🙂 We have an Outback and they’re opening up a Bonefish close to the house,

(via Ace’s sidebar)

2996: We Remember John Resta And Sylvia San Pio Resta

(ths notes 9/11/11: I’ve removed some links that no longer work from Bingley’s original and added a picture where one no longer showed. Sylvia and John will always shine here. ALWAYS.)
(originally published by Bingley on 9/11/06)
I’m putting this up early because I refuse to let the WWF trivialize the lives of my friends and my countrymen.

We all know the story of how they and so many others died on that day, but we must never forget how these wonderful people lived, either. John and Sylvia adored life, and they adored each other. They were so deeply in love and so happy together. Newsday tells the story of their engagement

Halloween, with its orange candy, spooky costumes and family fun, is not generally considered a romantic holiday. But since John Resta and Sylvia San Pio Resta met five years ago today at an office costume party, Halloween had always been about romance for them.
Two Halloweens ago, on the third anniversary of their meeting, John, 40, stayed home from work and rented a tuxedo. He bought flowers, lit candles and set the table with a stone crab dinner specially flown in from Sylvia’s favorite restaurant in Miami. When Sylvia, 27, got back to the couple’s Bayside apartment, he got down on his knees and proposed.

In August of 2000 they were married in Hazlet at the Catholic school that John had graduated from. Their reception was held at the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank, which is far and away the nicest place for a wedding reception in the area. And boy did John and Sylvia have a great party: the weather was perfect, and from cocktails out on the deck overlooking the river to dinner and dancing inside every guest spent the evening laughing and basking in the glow of the newlyweds. We sat at a table with a mix of their family friends and business associates and just had a great time passing stories about the couple, which seems to be required at weddings. Sylvia had this habit of reading cookbooks on the train from cover to cover, as if they were mysteries, and we would kid her about it.

They both loved children, and

John’s 10 nieces and nephews in New Jersey adored the couple right back, said Mazzeo, of Hazlet, N.J. The Restas spent almost every other weekend in New Jersey, taking the kids out on outings, to movies and for pizza. Sylvia even played Pokémon cards with the smallest ones.

Sylvia also loved to play videos games, and to have an Aunt who’ll come over and play them with you surely ranks high atop any young boy’s list of dreams!
We had dinner with them in February of 2001 while they were out on one of these visits, and they brought a lovely colorforms-type art present for our daughter. It wasn’t a special occasion, but they knew just the right gift to bring that would keep an 8 year old occupied at the table in the nice italian restaurant that we ate in; that’s just a small example of how thoughtful they were. John and I spent the whole meal talking about families, and how much he loved having such a large extended family so near by, and how excited he was about his future with Sylvia. I noticed during the meal that Blondie (‘Blondie’ was my nickname for Sylvia. The first time I met her her hair was dyed blonde, so I always called her that, which in turn would confuse the bejeebus out of people when they finally met her as her natural brunette, which in turn led to a lot of laughter on our parts) wasn’t touching her wine, nor had she run out to have a cigarette. I asked her about this odd behavior the next day and she told me the wonderful news that she and John were expecting.
This news set off a crazy period in their lives, as it does in all of our lives. They were living in an apartment in Queens, and their first thought was that they needed to buy a house. With all of John’s family out in Monmouth County, NJ, that was where they concentrated their efforts. We all know how stressful home buying can be, let alone when expecting your first child, and I would talk to Sylvia every Monday and hear how the previous weekend’s searching had gone, and I would pass along any houses that I saw in our neighborhood onto them as well, because they were the kind of couple you would adore having near you.
As the frustration grew they reached a decision together which to my mind I’m so glad they did: they said the heck with it. They realized that a lot of kids spent their first few years in cramped apartments and turned out ok; family is what matters. As Sylvia’s family lived mostly in Spain the summer of 2001 would be their last chance to visit for quite awhile, so they flew to Spain to spend a few weeks visiting them. They had a wonderful trip.
John and Sylvia worked at Carr Futures; he was a project manager and she was a commodities broker, which is how I knew her. As our market closes around noon, she was able to schedule appointments at very convenient times. On September 11th she and John were going to visit her doctor that very afternoon, and she was one week away from going out on maternity leave.

They were so thrilled at having a boy, and they were going to name him Dylan. I would always kid her that she was condemning him to a life of whiskey drinking, and she would laugh and say that at least they’d get some good poetry out of him.
Carr Futures was on the 92nd floor of the North Tower.
Flight 11 hit the 94th floor.
From the New York Daily News, March 19th, 2002:

John’s older brother, Tom, says he finds what little solace he can in the very real possibility that John and Sylvia were together when they died.
“I think my feeling is they wouldn’t have wanted to die any other way,” Tom said. “They were always together. They were inseparable. Like my sister says, they were like a left and right shoe. I just can’t imagine what life would be like if one of them had lived.”
Tom doesn’t know for sure what happened next. As far as he knows, his brother and sister-in-law didn’t make any cell phone calls or write any E-mails after the plane hit. He has heard news reports that the impact of the crash filled the stairwells of the 91st and 92nd floors with rubble, but he also has heard secondhand stories that they were seen several floors lower, working their way down the stairs.
“I can imagine him trying to help her down the stairs, with smoke all around,” Tom said.
He thought for about a day and a half that Sylvia might have made it out after a reporter told him she had heard that a pregnant “Spanish” woman had been found alive.
“We had hope,” Tom said.
But that hope soon vanished. Philosopher’s wisdom In the grief- filled weeks and months since, Tom has thought a lot about something Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th century philosopher and scientist, once wrote: “Those who are truly married on Earth are in heaven one angel.”
On Feb. 14, a police officer and a representative of the Monmouth County, N.J., coroner’s office came to the family’s house to relay news that John’s remains had been identified.
“From dental records,” Tom said.
“I think if John could have picked a day to be identified, it would have been Valentine’s Day,” he said. “He was a very romantic person. He believed in love and friendship.”
Sylvia is among the more than 2,000 people whose remains have not been identified. A few days ago, her mother was asked to provide more DNA samples.
So the family has decided to wait until she’s found. “We don’t want to bury him without her,” Tom said. “They did everything else together.”

Together forever, as they were meant to be.
We love you and miss you, and we will always remember you.

A special thanks to DCRoe for all the work done in honoring all of the victims.