Touched By An Angel

And an Angel.

And an Angel

WORCESTER, Mass. – Police in Massachusetts said Angel Cordova was facing drug charges Tuesday alongside Angel Cordova and Angel Cordova.

The three Cordova brothers — 32-year-old Angel Luis, 27-year-old Angel Ramon and 24-year-old Angel Carlos — were arrested Monday evening in a raid on their Worcester apartment, the Worcester Police Department’s Vice Squad said in a press release.

Yay! Greece Is Saved!

Oops! My bad; I meant lost

Fitch ratings agency on Wednesday slashed its rating for Greek sovereign debt to “C” from “CCC”, indicating that default is “highly likely in the near term”.

The downgrade comes just after the country secured a second bailout from its creditors and the subsequent announcement by the Greek government that private investors holding Greek debt would be forced to accept a debt swap, in which they exchange their bonds for lower-value debt.

These long agonizing deaths always end up be far more painful, don’t they?

Got Gott?

Had a bottle of this over the weekend

About $13 if I recall. At first I was a little disappointed, as it was a little out of kilter. There was good curranty/blackberry hints there but the tannins seemed over powering. Then I got distracted and put my glass down for a good 45 minutes and when I came back to it SWEET BABY JEEBUS was this wine lovely, full of deep rich blackberry and plum flavors and very very well balanced tannins. This is definitely a wine that you need to decant if you can or, as I will do since I can’t seem to find my decanter anywhere, pour the glasses when you start cooking dinner and somehow not drink from then until dinner is ready.

Now I’m not really sure I can do such a thing, mind you; I think my solution will be to open this up and pour the glasses and then immediately open another bottle of something else to drink to tide me over until this wine is ready…yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

An elegant and eminently practical solution.

Goals

One needs to have goals in life. For some it’s being able to afford a fancy car; for others perhaps a handsome/beautiful spouse and 3.14159 kids.

In our house, it is to emulate all things Suzette.

So when she raved about broccoli bites well my Bride really had no option but to make a batch herself.

and they turned out pretty darn yum. The broccoli was perfectly delectable, cooked but still al dente.

Bride and Daughter consumed theirs plain, whilst I of course had mine with a dash (or three) of Frank’s Red Hot.

When I make the next batch I’ll experiment with different cheeses, specifically pecorino-romano (which should work fabulously) and blue (I am a little concerned about the melting characteristics of blue).

Stability, Thy Name Is…

Well, not “Greece”.

Greece Deal Will Only Last Until Next Election: Gartman

Greece’s purported deal with its creditors will last only until a new government takes over following the spring elections, hedge fund manager Dennis Gartman said Tuesday.

…“All the authorities have been able to do is delay default by a few weeks, perhaps a few months at best,“ Gartman wrote in his investor newsletter. “Greece will default, but perhaps not under the present government in power.”

Well, I’ll Be a Monkey’s Uncle Aunt

Did you know that “administrative earmarks” spiked when they were trying to get ObamaCare passed? Almost like the White House was trying to PAY PEOPLE OFF for their votes or something…

Morning Bell: ‘Buying’ House Votes for Unpopular Legislation

An examination of “administrative earmarks” around the time of congressional votes on key pieces of President Obama’s agenda suggests the White House used its power to fund local projects as a means to “buy” votes for major legislative efforts.

Administrative earmarking refers to the federal government’s allocation of funds from its discretionary budget for specific projects. The practice is less transparent than legislative earmarking, since, according to the Congressional Research Service, “[t]here is no source that defines and comprehensively identifies Administrative earmarks.”

But an analysis of grants from agencies during the early years of the Obama administration shows that the districts of moderate Democrats, whose support was so crucial for Obama during the 111th Congress, received large sums right around the passage of three key pieces of legislation: Obamacare, Dodd-Frank financial regulations, and the cap-and-trade bill.

Lachlan’s got a great chart to go with his article, not to mention lists of who got how much. Awkward that.

“You Da Man!”

…is what the Muslim protestor in this picture seems to be saying to U.S. military personnel, as he registers his disapproval towards the Bagram fence. (The Grauniad calls it “pointing”.) And yes, the hubbub is all about a “reported Qur’an burning” (HEAVENS TO MURGATROYD!!!), so they interrupted their molesting of under-age male relatives and every day abuse of bagged-up women to trot over to the base for the release of some pent-up moral outrageous outrage.

Sweet Mary Mother of God, these fetid Stone Age misogynists need a life.

And I DON’T mean one of our kids’…ever again.

So This Is How They Got To 57…

Thank God the Super Intelligent Crew is in the White House

Round the clock White House staffers may have taken that three-day weekend after all.

Announcing the vice president’s schedule following the President’s Day holiday, staffers reported Joe Biden as being off to ‘Road Island.’

But, seriously. I trust them to run the country.

In to the ground.

Lille Hammered

Poor DSK! The life, she is more complicated now, no?

LILLE, France (Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken in for questioning on Tuesday by police investigating an alleged prostitution ring run out of the northern French city of Lille.

…The probe is focused on a prostitution ring that allegedly supplied clients of Lille’s luxury Carlton hotel. Police want to establish whether Strauss-Kahn knew that women at sex parties he attended in Paris and Washington were prostitutes.

Were I ever to attend “sex parties” with a bunch of 50+ year old men and mid-20s young ladies I for one would certainly be shocked SHOCKED I tell you to even consider the idea that the young ladies might be “prostitutes.”

Stunned, even.

Update: His lawyer raises an interesting point

“He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you’re not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” his lawyer, Henri Leclerk, told French radio Europe 1 in December.

I think there may be quite a few fellows willing to put that challenge to the test.

Purely in the interest of Science and the Pursuit of Justice, mind you.

Valentines Day Grub

Computer access has been a little light of late a Chateau Bingley so I haven’t been able to torment y’all with these until now.

As all good evenings (and by “good” I mean, of course, “every”) must begin with a suitable quaff I had a lovely cup of bourbon and got the cognac and wine ready for their roles

I prepared the fingerlings with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, sea salt and chipotle and

flung them into the oven for their roasting. Things got a little busy (i.e. photo-free) as I prepared the steak au poivre – minus the poivre as the Girls are not such big fans. The cognac cream sauce came out very yum as did the spuds; the spinach (sauteed with a little balsamic vinegar) also tasted very good but as always my timing was off and it was a tad over cooked (hence the deep deep green mushy appearance)

One intractable quandary that inevitably arises when cooking for three people is that the packages of pre-cut filets at Costco contain four steaks.

I’m never quite sure what to do with the extra one

nom-nom-nom

Of Presidents’ Day

And Washington’s Birthday:

…Give the last word to Washington’s great adversary, King George III. The king asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what Washington would do after winning independence. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”

“If he does that,” the incredulous monarch said, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”

Well, he was sure no Barack Obama.

H/T Instapundit

A CBS Reporter Receives Death Threats and Is Temporarily Forced Off the Air to Protect Her Family’s Safety

…because she did an expose on…wait for it…underage drinking in an affluent D.C. suburb.

Yeah. They were THAT pissed.

…”At first I was frightened and then I became angry,” McCarren said. “It felt like an orchestrated Facebook and Twitter campaign of hate. People put my home address on the internet. There were calls for revenge and retaliation against my family. I’m now in about my 27th year as a reporter and I have never seen anything like this. It seems like these suburban, affluent kids have simply never been told ‘no.’ They have an inflated sense of entitlement. They feel entitled to cell phones, computers, cars, and in this case, they appear to feel entitled to doing something illegal, which is drink underage of 21.”

Erica Hill remarked, “One of the most surprising parts about that backlash from the outside is the reaction that you got from parents who were equally outraged as their teenagers were.”

“One of the most memorable things, was at an underage drinking party that was busted by police, one of the parents showed up to collect his son and he said right in front of police, ‘Why didn’t you run?‘“

“Entitled”. Says it ALL. Just shocked someone has the nerve to say it.

Andrea McCarren told her story to Howard Kurtz this weekend.

Happy Joe Cain Day!!!

…a day late.

Joe Cain in his Chickasaw Chief Slackabamarinico regalia.

We missed Joe Cain’s Merry Widows visit to his grave this year, because the weather just wasn’t conducive to an hour and a half drive (to Mobile) that might end in a gully washer. To make amends, I found a report one of the local news types had filed and share it with you now. Hang in there for the threats of “I’m gonna hit you with a biscuit” and one widow’s cross-gravesite, naked aggression (a bonk on the bonnet) against another of Joe Cain’s grieving, wailing, “He loved ME best!” widows’ chorus.

I LOVE Mardi Gras.

No Wonder They Don’t Allow Scoutmasters to Carry Firearms Anymore

May you experience fair winds and following seas as you cross the River Styx, Mr. Fairfax…although I’m sure the afterlife is going to seem intolerably dull.

John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74

He crossed the Atlantic because it was there, and the Pacific because it was also there.

…On a camping trip when he was 9, John concluded a fight with another boy by filching the scoutmaster’s pistol and shooting up the campsite. No one was injured, but his scouting career was over.

His parents’ marriage dissolved soon afterward, and he moved with his mother to Buenos Aires. A bright, impassioned dreamer, he devoured tales of adventure, including an account of the voyage of Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo, Norwegians who in 1896 were the first to row across the Atlantic. John vowed that he would one day make the crossing alone.

At 13, in thrall to Tarzan, he ran away from home to live in the jungle. He survived there as a trapper with the aid of local peasants, returning to town periodically to sell the jaguar and ocelot skins he had collected.

He later studied literature and philosophy at a university in Buenos Aires and at 20, despondent over a failed love affair, resolved to kill himself by letting a jaguar attack him. When the planned confrontation ensued, however, reason prevailed — as did the gun he had with him.

In Panama, he met a pirate, applied for a job as a pirate’s apprentice and was taken on. He spent three years smuggling guns, liquor and cigarettes around the world, becoming captain of one of his boss’s boats, work that gave him superb navigational skills.

Economic God, Paul Ryan: “You’re Showing That You Have No Plan to Get This Debt Under Control”

Timmah, Pointy Eared Treasury Elf: “We don’t have a definitive solution… We just don’t like yours”

THIS Is Where Bingley’s Unabashed, Unabated Indulgences Have Brought Us To

Way to ruin Happy Hour for EVERYONE on FREAKING EARTH, big guy…

Deadly Alcohol Needs Global Regulation, Health Expert Says

When considering the world’s worst killers, alcohol likely doesn’t come to mind. Yet alcohol kills more than 2.5 million people annually, more than AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis.

For middle-income people, who constitute half the world’s population, alcohol is the top health risk factor, greater than obesity, inactivity and even tobacco.

The World Health Organization has meticulously documented the extent of alcohol abuse in recent years and has published solid recommendations on how to reduce alcohol-related deaths, but this doesn’t go far enough, according to Devi Sridhar, a health-policy expert at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

In a commentary appearing today (Feb. 15) in the journal Nature, Sridhar argues that the WHO should regulate alcohol at the global level, enforcing such regulations as a minimum drinking age, zero-tolerance drunken driving, and bans on unlimited drink specials. Abiding by the regulations would be mandatory for the WHO’s 194 member states.

Drink up, Shriners. You know Obama’s going for it…

I Wonder If I Can Get My Bride To Renew Our Vows?

Because I’ve finally found the perfect venue

White Castle and Thunder 106 want to give you the perfect wedding. Enter to win a White Castle Wedding! Just submit a photo and brief story why you want to get married at White Castle. Winner will be announced on Thunder 106 February 17th.

Wedding includes music, photographer, plus rings from Fords Jewelers, flowers from Flowers by Adalia, cake from Chocolate Carousel, and of course, food and refreshments by White Castle!

The wedding will be on February 26th so make sure all your affairs are in order and enter today!

Is it possible for a guy to be too romantic?

Further Proof Bacon Powers The Universe

74 million years ago a 1.5 mile-wide slab of fatback slammed into what is now Iowa

When a 1.5-mile-wide, 10 billion-ton meteorite humming along at 45,000 miles per hour slams into a place, the consequences are bound to be noticeable for awhile.

But 74 million years?

For some 1,600 thirsty residents of Manson in northwest Iowa, the prehistoric meteorite’s impact is causing new headaches as the city struggles to find a place to sink a new water well.

…Drilling a single residential well is not a problem for most homeowners, but even then the water is likely to be hard and polluted with nitrates.

Bacon.

There’s nothing it can’t do.

In The Archives Of eGermany.com

…we find this heartfelt outreach

Sensitive, artistic-minded young Austrian professional with service background and exuberant dreams seeks like-minded bacon-friendly lady for 1000 year adventure of life, laughs and lebensraum

Here’s Your Little Cup O’ Cheerful This Morning

…to go with big, fat plate of hope and change

Oil Price Spike Likely ‘Within Months’: Charts Pro

An oil price spike is likely this year as 10-year volatility is below average and geopolitical risks are not properly priced in, Ron William, a technical strategist at Mig Bank, told CNBC.com.

How ’bout that. I watch the wholesale gasoline price like a hawk anymore, vice the oil per barrel, since it’s the gas that directly affects me the soonest. (They used to move in concert, but haven’t for some time.) While oil’s been burping all around the $90-$100/bbl range, price per gallon has been on a rock steady climb since Christmas from $2.49/gal to a shade over $3 this morning. Add 80¢-$1 to that for your “average” retail-at-the-pump price in a couple days. If you live in a city with those extra taxes or a barged-in fuel (aka “tough-to-get-petrol-to-ya”) spot like Pensacola, add another, well…whatever hurts the most. 50¢…$1 even?

Consider that the refineries haven’t even shut down for maintenance and reformulation yet. Wait’ll one has problems, or an accident…or a big, rumbly storm saunters along into the Gulf.

And that’s WITHOUT the geopolitical risk premium added in and the SOOPER GEENEEyus we have at the helm handling things.

Buy a Yugo.

Pride Of The Italian Navy: The Costa Concordia?

Via Tim, we learn that the usually-reliable Telegraph is a little confused about ships

Fifa has questioned the Argentine Football Association over reports that the country’s championship could be renamed after the General Belgrano cruiseship sunk during the Falklands conflict in 1982.

To help out the editors at the Telegraph I present the following:

This is a Cruise Ship

This is a Cruiser

In fact that’s the Belgrano herself sinking after being torpedoed the last time Argentina tried to invade the Falklands.

Back when Sean Penn was still at Ridgemont High.

As Ave Can Vouch

and I can attest as well after my trip there this Spring

Zurich took over from Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s most recent world-wide cost-of-living survey.

The study, which is published twice a year, tracks the prices of goods and services such as food, transportation, utilities, private schools and domestic help to calculate scores for each city, using New York as its base with a score of 100. Real-estate prices aren’t factored into the survey.

Zurich and Tokyo scored 170 and 166, respectively, indicating that they are about 70% and 66% more expensive to live in than New York.

Now if perchance you are looking to stretch your living budget even further…

Karachi, Pakistan, came in 131st out of 131 cities, with a score of 46. Also among the bottom 10 were Mumbai and New Delhi in India; Kathmandu in Nepal; and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

What An Asshat

There’s really no other way to describe it. And not for his conversion; I don’t give a rat’s ass about that. No, it’s for pearls of wisdom like this

US filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday in Iran, where he is making a documentary, he told AFP.

“The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets,” he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony.

“The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with.”

Yeah, I’m sure that’s how his new co-religionists look at it.

Update: Sounds like his dad would feel right at home in this camp too

A vast conspiracy is afoot. At least according to Egyptians who believe certain Israeli products are being imported into their country for the sole purpose of rendering Egyptians infertile. First it was shampoo allegedly laced with chemicals, now designer jeans harboring “secret magnets” are designed with one purpose — sterilize Egyptians. According to Sinai Bedouins like Muhammad Al-Mane’i, “Israeli products contain lethal poison.”

Blast Be The Thais That Bind

His limbs in tourniquets: A poor Enraged Peaceful Person blowed off his own legs

An Iranian man has blown off his own legs and wounded at least four other people in grenade attacks in Bangkok, according to the police.

It remains unclear what the man’s targets were, but the blasts come just a day after two bomb attacks aimed at Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia.

Hopefully the other four folks’ injuries are not too serious.

How’s That “Smart Diplomacy” Stuff Working Out?

Obama: “Let me be clear”

In the coming weeks, we will continue to help the Libyan people with humanitarian and economic assistance so that they can fulfill their aspirations peacefully.

…This is just one more chapter in the change that is unfolding across the Middle East and North Africa. From the beginning of these protests, we have made it clear that we are opposed to violence. We have made clear our support for a set of universal values, and our support for the political and economic change that the people of the region deserve. But I want to be clear: the change in the region will not and cannot be imposed by the United States or any foreign power; ultimately, it will be driven by the people of the Arab World. It is their right and their responsibility to determine their own destiny.

Yes, they are now free to express their true aspirations

GENEVA, Feb. 13 – Gays threaten the continuation of the human race, Libya’s delegate told a planning meeting of the UN Human Rights Council today, reported the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group. It was the first appearance in the 47-nation body by the post-Gaddafi government, whose membership was restored in November following Libya’s suspension in March.

Protesting the council’s first panel discussion on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, scheduled for March 7th, Libya’s representative told the gathering of ambassadors today that LGBT topics “affect religion and the continuation and reproduction of the human race.” He added that, were it not for their suspension, Libya would have opposed the council’s June 2011 resolution on the topic.

I’m shocked, shocked at this development.