Have You Been Naughty Or Nice?

It’s Reckoning Time soon

Chestnuts Roasting On A Open Fire

well, actually, it was in a gas oven. There was a post last week at Al Dente on how to do it, so I figured why not.

Score an ‘x’ on each one

and pop into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes

the skin/shell peels back nicely from the ‘meat’

Brains! We must eat the brains!

And here’s a nice wine to wash those brains down:

“Amitage” from Columbia Crest

a very nice blend: 64% Merlot, 19% Syrah, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4.5% Malbec. For $10 an excellent, smooth wine with full body and fruit.

Now if only there was a fitting name for this color

Hmmm…

I have to say these suckers are very rich; I bought a pound and that was way too much. No wonder zombies move so slowly after eating them.

Next time I may roast them on the grill using birch or cherry to give them some smokiness.

Ah…

…oopsie.

Realtors: We Overcounted Home Sales for Five Years

Data on sales of previously owned U.S. homes from 2007 through October this year will be revised down next week because of double counting, indicating a much weaker housing market than previously thought.

The National Association of Realtors said a benchmarking exercise had revealed that some properties were listed more than once, and in some instances, new home sales were also captured.

“All the sales and inventory data that have been reported since January 2007 are being downwardly revised. Sales were weaker than people thought,” NAR spokesman Walter Malony told Reuters.

Contrary to Diane Sawyer’s Rosy Eyed Pronouncements Last Night

Retail is downright scary right now. People have vanished after a first, really strong week of December. I told major dad when I got home from the salt mines ~ and after hearing her on the telly at work ~ that I’d read a contrary report on CNBC and, voilà, here it is:

Holiday Sales Appear to Stall: Are Big Discounts Next?

After early bird discounts fueled a Black Friday buying boom, retailers are seeing sales dry up halfway through the holiday sales period, a consumer survey completed Sunday showed. The trend may force discounts as deep as 70 percent on coats and flat panel TVs as Christmas Eve approaches.

Forty percent of consumers are completely done with their holiday shopping at this point, up from just 28 percent who were finished at the same time last year, according to the America’s Research Group/UBS Christmas Forecast Survey.

Now, in our wee mainstreet shop, there ARE no “big discounts”, as we don’t buy in “big” quantities to be able to do the Macy’s 70% off and survive discount. In otherwards, there’s “zip” for a margin.

The proof-in-the-pudding, gloom statistic this morning?

Retail Sales Weaker Than Expected in Nov., Up 0.2%

U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in November as a drop in receipts for food and beverages weighed against stronger sales of motor vehicles, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

The Science Ain’t Settled

Kudos to these real scientists

Two top U.S. hurricane forecasters, revered like rock stars in Deep South hurricane country, are quitting the practice because it doesn’t work.

…“We are discontinuing our early December quantitative hurricane forecast for the next year … Our early December Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts of the last 20 years have not shown real-time forecast skill even though the hindcast studies on which they were based had considerable skill.”

BREAKING: On Drudge

Belgium grenade attack leaves at least two dead

The attack took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the town’s courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market, Belga news agency said.

A two-year-old child is reportedly fighting for life in hospital. Six other victims are said to be gravely injured.

One of two or more assailants threw stun grenades into the courthouse while another was hurled at a bus shelter, RTL-TV1 said.

Shots were fired across the square by gunmen posted on the rooftop of a bakery shop, with further shots heard later from across town.

Police cordoned off the square and gave chase to the assailants, one of whom was reportedly killed. The gunmen are thought to be hiding in Liege cathedral.

The Karachi Post in Pakistan claimed that the attack was linked to a sentence in an honour killing case. It said the parents of Sadia Sheikh were sentenced on Monday when there had been a bomb alert in the court.

Oh, God FORBID someone should go to jail for an “HONOR KILLING”. Religion of Pieces and Honor? Peas and carrots, right?

And for “shits and giggles”, have a go at this Daily Caller piece out today:

Islamic governments push for speech curbs in the US

The State Department began a three-day, closed-door meeting Monday to talk about U.S. free speech rules with representatives from numerous Islamic governments that have lobbied for 12 years to end U.S. citizens’ ability to speak freely about Islam’s history and obligations.

Free speech advocates slammed the event as an effort to gradually curb public criticism of Islam, but it was defended by Hannah Rosenthal, who heads the agency’s office to curb anti-Semitism.

The meeting is a great success, she said, because governments in the multinational Organisation for Islamic Cooperation have dropped their demand that criticism of Islamic ideas be treated as illegal defamation. Member countries include Pakistan, Iran, Saudia Arabia and Qatar.

In exchange for dropping the demand, she said, they’re getting “technical assistance [to] build institutions to ensure there will be religious freedom” in their countries, she told The Daily Caller.

I’m holding my side at that last howler…

Eh…

…PIC.

The reaction in a Bloomington, IN bar when IU hits the winning 3 pointer…at the buzzer…against Number ONE Kentucky.

Finally! We Are A Net Exporter To China!

Er, except in this case it ain’t a good thing

WASHINGTON (AP) – As few as 12 different Chinese groups, largely backed or directed by the government there, do the bulk of the China-based cyberattacks stealing critical data from U.S. companies and government agencies, according to U.S. cybersecurity analysts and experts.

The aggressive, but stealthy attacks, which steal billions of dollars in intellectual property and data, often carry distinct signatures allowing U.S. officials to link them to certain hacker teams. And, analysts say the U.S. often gives the attackers unique names or numbers, and at times can tell where the hackers are and even who they may be.

Sketched out by analysts who have worked with U.S. companies and the government on computer intrusions, the details illuminate recent claims by American intelligence officials about the escalating cyber threat emanating from China. And the widening expanse of targets, coupled with the expensive and sensitive technologies they are losing, is putting increased pressure on the U.S. to take a much harder stand against the communist giant.

They build all the chip and computers.

And then they hack into them and steal our data.

But of course there’s no relationship to be found there.

In Case You’re Wondering

Wearing khakis is a good idea if you are in the habit of spilling coffee on yourself.

Just saying.

Are You Kidding Me?

“If you are entering the country illegally please leave us a note and someone will get right back to you…eventually

BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas – The bloody drug war in Mexico shows no sign of relenting. Neither do calls for tighter border security amid rising fears of spillover violence.

This hardly seems a time the U.S. would be willing to allow people to cross the border legally from Mexico without a customs officer in sight. But in this rugged, remote West Texas terrain where wading across the shallow Rio Grande undetected is all too easy, federal authorities are touting a proposal to open an unmanned port of entry as a security upgrade.

By the spring, kiosks could open up in Big Bend National Park allowing people from the tiny Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen to scan their identity documents and talk to a customs officer in another location, at least 100 miles away.

Build a wall, build it now.

A Decade Of Blair

Tim Blair’s blog, from whose forehead so many of us have sprung Athena-like, has turned 10 years old.

Amazing stuff.

Thanks, Tim, and keep it going.

ths UPDATE: I have to add I owe the magnificent Blair my very nom-de-innerwebs, thanks to a post of his that included disparaging comments by my darling siblings, which morphed into moi. He is a champion among mere mortals and…a fine fellow to drink with. Oddly enough, known he’s known as a jovial sort on many continents. Here he is this past September in Pensacola, as he and major dad casually invoked their Super Powers to hold a massive ship’s prop upright at the National Museum of Naval Aviation so the janitorial staff could swab underneath, while still reading the informative placard.

Never miss a beat, our Blair.

If You’ll Remember, For a Moment, a Previous Post

…on Pensacola and Escambia County’s astonishingly (and our incomplete list not-withstanding) vast number of incredibly talented athletes (and others) who’ve made the professional leap, considering our relative geographic isolation and smallish population?

Got it?

We’re not slackers in the college arena by a long shot, because (OBVIOUSLY!) most of those pros are honed there. But tonight we get to see one of our stellar jocks, Escambia High grads, hometown boys do something we’ve never seen before and it’s pretty damn cool.

Sit in that front row waiting to see if he won The Heisman Trophy.

Trent Richardson, Pensacola son.

Oh, hot DOG! We dig it.

How ‘Bout THAT Friday News Dump?

Boeing Stock Rises after Labor Board Dismisses Case

The National Labor Relations Board said on Friday it dismissed a high-profile case that accused Boeing of illegally opening a non-union production line in South Carolina to punish unionized Washington-based workers for past labor strikes.

Surprise, surprise! Some screws got turned though…

…”The union asked to withdraw the charge following the ratification of a four-year collective bargaining agreement between its members and Boeing earlier this week,” NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon said in a telephone briefing with reporters.

The contract extension, approved this week, ensures the upcoming version of Boeing’s best-selling 737 narrowbody aircraft, called the 737 MAX, would be built in Washington state, where Boeing has always made its jets.

Hmmm…I wonder what South Carolina’s take on this is?

Issa likes it

…House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, who has been investigating the NLRB case against Boeing, praised the board’s decision to drop the charges, but said his investigation into the board would continue.

“Today’s news is a victory for American manufacturers, workers and the cause of job creation,” Issa said in a statement. ”It is also a victory for the people of South Carolina and Boeing workers whose livelihoods have been in limbo throughout the course of this action.”

Issa continued: “NLRB’s record of rogue action and lack of transparency with the public and Congress in this case–and in others–has raised serious questions that remain unanswered.”

Blae Blae Ye Stormy Winds

I dinnah care a single flie

A fierce storm with winds of up to 165mph has battered northern parts of Britain, with people warned to stay indoors, schools forced to close and flights and rail links cancelled.

wind power advocates hardest hit

Why Am I Not Surprised: Obama Off To Hawaii For Christmas

He gets lei’d.

We get screwed.

Oh, and Bush spent every Christmas at Camp David so that his staff could be with their families.

Thanks to Fausta for the head’s up.

I’m Shocked, Shocked

…to hear that there was gambling going on

Jon S. Corzine, the former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor who presided over the collapse of the commodities brokerage MF Global, says he cannot explain what happened to “many hundreds of millions of dollars” that the firm was holding for customers.

In testimony prepared for delivery to Congress Thursday, Corzine says he was “stunned” to learn shortly before the firm sought bankruptcy protection at the end of October that MF Global could not account for the money.

“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” the former MF Global chief executive says, according to the testimony.

Give him an orange jumpsuit.

Update: astonishingly, before his testimony he read from Obama’s playbook and used the “Blame Bush” strategery

WASHINGTON (AP) – Jon Corzine told a congressional panel Thursday that he never intended to break rules requiring failed securities firm MF Global to safeguard client funds. He also said he doesn’t know what happened to an estimated $1.2 billion that went missing.

Corzine is testifying before the House Agriculture Committee about the firm’s bankruptcy, which followed disastrous bets on European debt that were made while Corzine was CEO.

Corzine deflected blame for the company’s collapse. He argued that he inherited a firm already doomed by his predecessors’ bad financial decisions.

What an asshat.

Stooge! He Should Have Talked to Eric Holder and His ATF Toadies

…for something like that!

Mexico says it foiled plot to sneak in Kadafi son
Authorities say four people are held. They allegedly aided Saadi Kadafi’s bid to set himself and three relatives up in an oceanfront estate in Nayarit state.

Reporting from Mexico City— Mexican authorities announced Wednesday that they had busted an international smuggling ring that was planning to sneak a son of Moammar Kadafi into Mexico, where he was to be ensconced in a ritzy oceanfront estate.

Saadi Kadafi, the 38-year-old son of the deposed and slain dictator, and three relatives were to travel to Mexico using falsified documents that gave them new names and Mexican citizenship, authorities said. The plot involved a network of safe houses, illicit bank accounts and private jets crisscrossing the globe from the Middle East to Kosovo to Canada, said Alejandro Poire, Mexico’s interior minister.

Just dial up the Holder “Have-Guns-Will-Travel” Bureau and you’re four Expedia.com tickets away from “Buenas Dias, muchachos. Cervesa fria?“

The Day Of Infamy

Rest in Peace, brave souls.

What Is This All-Encompassing “Civil Society” of Which They Speaketh?

Anybody? I’m clueless.

Kyoto Protocol on Life Support

DURBAN, South Africa – The United States has become the major stumbling block to progress at the mid point of negotiations over a new international climate regime say civil society and many of the 193 nations attending the United Nations climate change conference here in Durban.

Perhaps the @zucottipark Twitter AQ Expert Would Care to Dazzle Mr. Nieto With His Mad Math Skilz

(Now, this all went down this past April, but it’s the first I’d heard of it and I thought maybe you, too.)

Judge Reverses Marine Commander’s Ban of Anti-terrorist Decals

ANN ARBOR, MI – Jesse Nieto is one of those many unsung patriotic Americans. He served 25 years in the Marine Corps, including two combat tours in Vietnam. His youngest son, Marc, and 16 of Marc’s shipmates were killed on October 12, 2000, by Islamic terrorists who bombed the USS Cole. Nieto has worked as a civilian employee at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina since 1994.

Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard delivered good news to Mr. Nieto. He ruled that Camp Lejeune officials violated his free speech rights when they ordered him to remove decals attacking Muslim terrorists from his vehicle. Judge Howard enjoined Marine officials from further enforcing the ban against Nieto. (Click here to read decision)

The rest of the story on political correctness run amuck follows.

Beginning in 2001, to show his anger toward the Muslim terrorists who killed his son, Nieto displayed various decals on his vehicle expressing anti-terrorist sentiments, such as “Remember the Cole, 12 Oct 2000,” “Islam=Terrorism,” and “We Died, They Rejoiced.” Based on a complaint from a Marine who is married to a Muslim, on July 31, 2008, two military police officers (MPs) issued Nieto a ticket for displaying “offensive material.”

After Nieto refused to remove the “offending” decals from his vehicle, the Base Magistrate issued Nieto a written order, ordering him to remove his vehicle from the base until all decals were removed and banning his vehicle from all other federal installations.

The order in effect prevented Nieto from driving his vehicle to Arlington National Cemetery (a federal installation) to visit the grave marker of his fallen son…

Somehow they don’t seem very inflammatory to me ~ you certainly can’t debate the veracity of the statements ~ and I’ve seen far ruder, more offensive things come out of, say, your average Democrat’s mouth about fellow Congressmen or American taxpayers, or any MSNBC broadcast, could you stomach one. (Nieto did agree to “remove some of them including one showing the cartoon character Calvin urinating on Muhammad’s head, records say.” I might have fought hard for that one, but, then again, Calvin IS copyrighted material…) I found @zucottipark’s Tweet far more offensive, because it equated and exploited the slaughter of all those innocent Americans by REAL terrorists (who would slice his smug little smile from his face, if given half a chance) to his phantom foreclosure bad guys. And it’s maddening he can’t comprehend that. And that, no, B of A/Wells Fargo/et al is really not an appropriate comparison for your purposes, douche. **sigh**

This man lost his son. I’m glad he gets to keep his bumper stickers.

In Every True Being

In every Noble Character

there is hidden some flaw, some key to reducing this once Proud Visage of Stone Faced Resiliency, Somber Endurance and Inspirational Courage to quivering jelly

Some are, of course, easier marks than others.

major dad Found This Nice Song Eli Manning Sings to My Aaron

Oh, the Southside of Chicago, Is the BADDEST Part of Town! If You Go Down There, You Better Just BEWARE…

…because the guy you’re planning to mug could be a MMA fighter…

…and purple isn’t everybody’s color, yo. Get my drift?

Think Of It As Drano For Your Arteries

There are no vampires at Chateau Bingley.

The above found its way into a yummy batch of puttanesca I made on Saturday

What I Started Sippin’ This Weekend

Not that I’m a sucker for a coy name, mind you, but this Jefferson’s Bourbon is pretty tasty: smooth with a smoky caramelized apple flavor. And for about $32 not a bad buy, either.

Note to self: steal camera back from Daughter, as the iPod Touch photo capabilities obviously stink.