Global Warming

…LA style.

I’m Not Normally a Mark Levin Fan

…but, oh, SNAP!

“You would think that the Constitution is just another statute for these guys to play with,” Levin said. “This is why I’m furious. Once we lose the Constitution, and we’re losing it big, what’s left? How do we keep these people in check?”

Snoopy Was There Too

taking a nap as usual.

Welcome To Brazil, My Child

We just flew in after 10 days in Brazil.

Boy, are our arms tired.

The “Sandy” Relief Bill Vote

Why is Sandy in quotation marks?

Because those little piggies up there just can’t help themselves, even when it’s something simple.

Read Gabriel’s breakout of the proposed “relief” in the bill. Not much of it is named “Sandy”:

$3 million for oil spill research;
$25 million for the failed Head Start daycare program; and
$3.9 billion for a new HUD disaster program.

…for starters, in the “conservative-friendly” bill. ¿QUE?

Call your peeps’ offices and tell them vote NO.

Let’s Make THIS Point

…as often as we can.

Perhaps the US should pull out of Chicago? Body count:In last 6months 292 killed(murdered) n Chicago.221 killed n Iraq. #tcot #tlot #ncpol

— di kele (@Pudingtane) January 14, 2013

So I thought I’d expand and update her premise, since we technically haven’t been “in” Iraq for over a year, and go with Chicago murders for 2012 versus American deaths during the same time at war in Afghanistan:

American Casualties by Year Through December 6, 2012: 306

Chicago this week ended 2012 with: 513 homicides

Rahm’s gun-free Chicago wins.

Bingley Always Reminds Me of Steve Martin

…I became a believer only about two years ago. I finally got it. Steve Martin’s entire career was a build-up for the most memorable punch line in the history of stand-up comedy.

For over 40 years, he practiced playing his banjo in private. Then, without warning, he came clean. He has finally started touring with his music. He no longer tries to make us laugh. And let me tell you, he is really good on the banjo. I would pay to hear him play. I just hope he doesn’t add much patter in between songs. A little is OK — about as much as his banjo playing in 1967.

No one would pay to hear him play the banjo if he had not become famous with his comedy. He used comedy as a career marketing tool. It took 45 years, but it worked.

He was never a comedian using a banjo as a prop. He was a banjo player using comedy as a prop. He just needed time to perfect his banjo skills.

We have all heard about actors who wait on tables for years while they work in actors’ studio in the hope of getting a big break in the movies. Martin worked in the movies for years in order to get a big break playing banjo. “Gotcha!”

I get it! The joke’s on me!

I regard this as a long-term career marketing strategy like no other. It deserves to be a case study at the Harvard Business School.

…except he plays the bagpipes. Other than that, they’ve been Cosmic Twins from the time “Wild and Crazy Guy” came out.

Did Bingley ever tell you guys about the Tut costume I made him for my Ides of March birthday party, circa 1973? Man. It was bitchin’, complete with cobra headpiece. DonnaD might remember it…or she might not, cause THAT was a party.

We Watched “Moonrise Kingdom” Friday Night

What a totally whack little movie. BOTH of us absolutely LOVED it

Kurdish Women Assasinated

…IN PARIS?!?

Kurds Assasinated in Paris, France Says

A senior female founder of the PKK militant group was assassinated together with two other Kurdish women in Paris, the French Interior Ministry said, as Turkish officials hold peace talks with the group to end its decades- long fight for autonomy.

“Three women were killed, assassinated, in an office of this Kurdish group,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on France Info radio today, describing the killings as “unacceptable.”

Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was shot in the head in an attack on the Kurdistan Information Bureau, Turkey’s Hurriyet daily said in a report.

…Erdogan left open who might be responsible for the attack.

I’ll bet he did… O_o

I’m Taking On the General

General Mills, that is. I left a note this morning:

While reducing the amount of processed food in our diet by a remarkable amount over the years, we have always left a niche for your Betty Crocker boxed potato mixes, referring to them as “Cheesy Goodness”. We even lay in a number of them every Hurricane Season (and the Mayan Apocalypse), since all they require (truly) is water and some heat. We were dismayed when you reformulated them to cook quicker, but such is progress. What happened last night, however, was outside the acceptable ~ our most treasured “Cheesy Goodness”, a recently purchased, much anticipated Cheesy Hashbrown, came out of the oven completely inedible due to a revolting cardboard taste that had nothing remotely “cheesy” nor “goodness” about it. We dumped it immediately.

WHAT HAVE YOU WROUGHT?!?!?!

It looked sort of sickly in its separate bags ~ tiny, shriveled ‘taters and a sparse amount of cheesy powder, but I still had hope when I made it ~ as ALWAYS ~ precisely according to the box directions.

Revolting. Horrifying. Certainly NOT “the perfect blend of cheddar cheese and sour cream flavors” promised by the box, or our fond memories.

(By the by, the box has SHRUNK/SHRIVELED to 3.7 ounces. Yes, I noticed that as well. It’s astute, I am.)

Whatever you’ve done with the “Cheesy Goodness”, please return it. Immediately.

Because THIS foodstuff is vile and an assault on everything we hold dear.

Thank you.

Man, we were snortin’ fire.

And 3.7 OUNCES?!?!?! It sure wasn’t any CHEAPER than the last time we bought it, which was, admittedly, quite a while ago.

But that’s the same bullshit as damn Pillsbury cakes. I do a riff on Paula Deen’s Gooey Punkin’ Butter Bars for Thanksgiving and Christmas that Ebola loves, and went to whip him up some when he was home this year. Wellll, put the box of cake mix (she specifies any old 18.5 oz box mix) in with the stick o’ butter, and I thought, “YEESH! That seems a wee bit greasier than usual…”

A box of cake mix is NOW…16.5 ounces, ladies and germs.

TWO OUNCES in baking is like a little less fissionable material building a bomb ~ SHIT MIGHT NOT WORK, DUH.

We’re getting boned left and right. But mostly LEFT.

ths update: Oh, BARF ~ General Mills answered. They recently DID just PURPOSEFULLY dick it up.

Thank you for contacting General Mills regarding your dissatisfaction with the recent reformulation of Betty Crocker cheesy hashbrowns.

Our goal is to give consumers quality products at a good value. Prior to introducing any product, extensive consumer testing is done. We conduct market research and product testing continuously to obtain consumer reaction to existing products and to changes being considered. Only when we feel confident that a product change will broaden its appeal will we alter a product’s formulation. We are sorry that you do not agree that the recent change in Betty Crocker cheesy hashbrowns was for the better.

In keeping with our satisfaction guarantee, we are sending replacement product certificates to the address you provided. Please allow 10-15 business days for delivery.

We appreciate your loyalty to General Mills and hope you continue to choose our products.

Ah…no.

Ah, the Cocktail of My Youth!

Rediscovered, thanks to the innerwebs!

Once I left New Jersey in 1980, for first Memphis and then California, I could never find anyone who knew what “applejack” was, less mind the drink itself.

…The cocktail in question? The Jack Rose — a combination of applejack brandy, lemon juice and grenadine — that
was the featured alcoholic beverage (the only one, actually) in one of the most lavish private homes in New York City: 840 Fifth Avenue, the mansion owned by the imperious Mrs. William Astor. The Mrs. Astor, who ruled New York society wearing fabulous diamonds and a purple-black wig from the mid-1800s until 1905. Guests at her dinner parties were permitted one cocktail before dinner: a small glass of Jack Rose.

Flash-forward to 1926: the same year that the Astor mansion at 840 Fifth was demolished, Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises was published. The Jack Rose cocktail figures here as well. The narrator of the novel, Jake Barnes, is waiting for Lady Brett Ashley to meet him in a Paris hotel bar. While he waits, he orders a Jack Rose.

Now I know why. Apparently I’ve been a trendsetting, retro-history buff all along.

Story of my life, really. (Of course, I picked it up as an 18 year-old in a backwoods, 1970’s New Jersey/New York border dive ~ in fact Florida, New York ~ with a curious, “What’s that?” as a pinkish glassful went by on its way to another customer.)

Bought some Laird’s today straight off a Publix liquor store shelf in Pensacola, since the times, they have a’ changed.

No GEICO Ads here

Navy submarine struck, loses periscope

Authorities said the Navy’s nuclear submarine USS Jackonsville suffered damage to its periscope in a collision with another vessel in the Persian Gulf.

…A Navy official told ABC News the periscope was likely sheared off by a fishing trawler.

He said the crew was conducting normal operations “when they felt a shudder.” The crew then pulled up the periscope and discovered the damage.

Somebody’s probably gonna be trawling for a desk job after this though…

Pretty Nervy for a Guy Whose FIRST Campaign Was ALL About “Traditional Marriage”

And the HORRIBLE MISSTEP by the pastor?

Oh, just a speech TWENTY YEARS AGO:

THE GIGLIO IMBROGLIO — The public inauguration of a new Moral McCarthyism

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) — A new chapter in America’s moral revolution came today as Atlanta pastor Louie Giglio withdrew from giving the benediction at President Obama’s second inaugural ceremony. In a statement released to the White House and the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Giglio said he withdrew because of the furor that emerged yesterday (Jan. 9) after a liberal watchdog group revealed that almost 20 years ago he had preached a sermon in which he had stated that homosexuality is a sin and that the “only way out of a homosexual lifestyle … is through the healing power of Jesus.“

In other words, a Christian pastor has been effectively disinvited from delivering an inaugural prayer because he believes and teaches Christian truth.

The fact that Giglio was actually disinvited was made clear in a statement from Addie Whisenant of the Presidential Inaugural Committee:

“We were not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection, and they don’t reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this inaugural. Pastor Giglio was asked to deliver the benediction in large part because of his leadership in combating human trafficking around the world. As we now work to select someone to deliver the benediction, we will ensure their beliefs reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance for all Americans.”

That statement is, in effect, an embarrassed apology for having invited Louie Giglio in the first place. Whisenant’s statement apologizes for the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s failure to make certain that their selection had never, at any time, for any reason, believed that homosexuality is less than a perfectly acceptable lifestyle. The committee then promised to repent and learn from their failure, committing to select a replacement who would “reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance.”

The imbroglio over Louie Giglio is the clearest evidence of the new Moral McCarthyism of our sexually “tolerant” age. During the infamous McCarthy hearings, witnesses would be asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

In the version now to be employed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the question will be: “Are you now or have you ever been one who believes that homosexuality (or bisexuality, or transsexualism, etc.) is anything less than morally acceptable and worthy of celebration?”

Louie Giglio, pastor of Atlanta’s Passion City Church, also is founder of the Passion movement that brings tens of thousands of Christian young people together to hear Giglio, along with speakers such as John Piper. They urge a rising generation of young Christians to make a passionate commitment to Christ. In recent years, the movement also has sought to raise awareness and activism among young Christians on the issue of sex trafficking. It was that activism that caught the attention of both President Obama and the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Note carefully that both the White House and the committee were ready to celebrate Giglio’s activism on sex trafficking, but all that was swept away by the Moral McCarthyism on the question of homosexuality.

Two other dimensions of this story also demand attention. First, we should note that Louie Giglio has not been known lately for taking any stand on the issue of homosexuality. To the contrary, Giglio’s own statement withdrawing from the invitation made this clear:

“Due to a message of mine that has surfaced from 15-20 years ago, it is likely that my participation, and the prayer I would offer, will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration. Clearly, speaking on this issue has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.”

Kirsten Powers, bless her heart, was pretty pissed on Twitter tonight:

For the record, I don’t agree with a lot of what Giglio said, but his sermon was basic orthodox Christianity. Who is banned next? The pope?

— kirsten powers (@kirstenpowers10) January 11, 2013

The irony is (besides, of course, Obama’s OWN position until Biden’s big yap forced his hand), whatever Pastor Giglio said in the course of that ancient sermon still had to sound better and be said with inherent love, compared to Chuck Hagel’s RECENTLY expressed opinion of all things gay.

So when does Hagel get disinvited?

“Your Little Book”

Piers Morgan sniffs disdainfully at Ben Shapiro’s copy of our Constitution.

Blood.

Boil.

The show’s beginning:

Yeah, Yeah ~ Today in 1776 City Dweller Thomas Paine Published “Common Sense”

…but in the wilds just west of Wilmington, North Carolina a little ruckus at Widow Moore’s Creek Bridge saved the rebellion’s bacon.

“King George and Broadswords!”

Loyalists were unaware of what they would encounter as they charged across a partially dismantled Moores Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776. Just beyond the bridge nearly 1,000 North Carolina patriots waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire. This dramatic victory ended British rule in the colony forever.

The loyalists, mostly Scottish Highlanders wielding broadswords, expected to find only a small patriot force. As the loyalists advanced across the bridge, patriot shots rang out and dozens of loyalists fell, including their commanders.

Stunned, outgunned and leaderless, the loyalists surrendered, retreating in confusion. Wagons, weapons and British sterling worth more than $1 million by today’s value were seized by the patriots in the days following the battle.

In addition to ending British authority in the colony, the patriot victory led North Carolina to be the first colony to vote for independence. The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, coupled with the Battle of Sullivans Island near Charleston, SC a few months later, influenced the 13 colonies to declare independence on July 4, 1776.

Waiting on the other side of the bridge were mountain Scotsmen who hunted squirrels and had given up broadswords a long, long time ago. Legend has it that’s where NC got “Scotland” County’s name from ~ as a thanks to those Scots who chose to ignore the Loyalist call from the governor and fought for the new nation forming.

Did you know?
The last Scottish clan army was the militia raised in the Cape Fear area of North Carolina to fight as British loyalists in 1776. They mounted what is believed to be the last major broadsword charge in Scottish history. Their story is told at Moores Creek National Battlefield.

Known as the “Lexington and Concord” of the South, the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776, near Wilmington, North Carolina, crushed the loyalists, encouraged the Whigs, stimulated the independence movement and kept the British from invading the state in 1776.

We’ve been down for their historical encampments and battle re-enactments. GO, if you ever have the chance.

Smart, Smart Move

Just get the hell out in front of it NOW.

Marines tell spouses clubs: admit same-sex spouses

NEW YORK (AP) – The Marine Corps has advised its legal staff that spouses clubs operating on its installations must admit same-sex spouses if they wish to remain on the bases.

It’s a step that the other service branches have not yet announced as they grapple with how to accommodate same-sex couples following repeal of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly.

Underscoring the challenges, the Marines’ legal advisory _ obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press _ refers to an ongoing controversy at the Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina where the officers’ spouses club has denied admission to a same-sex spouse.

The Marine Corps commandant’s Staff Judge Advocate, in an e-mail to legal offices throughout the corps, said the Fort Bragg events had “caused quite a stir” and cautioned, “We do not want a story like this developing in our backyard.”

The memo noted that spouses clubs and various other private institutions are allowed to operate on bases only if they adhere to a non-discrimination policy encompassing race, religion, gender, age, disability and national origin.

“We would interpret a spouses club’s decision to exclude a same-sex spouse as sexual discrimination because the exclusion was based upon the spouse’s sex,” the memo said.

A Marine Corps spokesman, Capt. Eric Flanagan, said the Marines cannot directly control the actions of independent organizations such as spouses’ clubs, but added, “We expect that all who are interested in supporting Marine Corps Family Readiness would be welcome to participate and will be treated with dignity and respect.”

Obama: Bringeth Me Yet MORE Binders Full of Manly Parts

BREAKING: Hilda Solis out at Labor.

“She Didn’t Use This Money”

“She didn’t need it.“

Yeah. That’s my problem, too.

Not.

A chapter from the Book of “How Life Sucks When You’re 79, Rich as Croesus and Then the Rats at the Bank Rat You Out“.

How He Can Be So Polite to This Asshat, I’ll Never Know

Must be the Marine Corps training…

A Little Known Fact About the NY Christmas Day Firemen Killings

Those guns weren’t legal either:

Woman accused in slaying of two NY firemen
Dawn Nguyen allegedly bought guns for convicted felon William Spengler, who used them to ambush and kill two the firefighters.

WEBSTER, N.Y. — The neighbor of a convicted felon who ambushed firefighters on Christmas Eve, killing two, bought the guns for him and lied to the seller, knowing that he wasn’t allowed to have them, authorities said Friday.

William Spengler had picked out the semiautomatic rifle and shotgun used in the ambush and went to the sporting goods store with the neighbor when she bought them for him, U.S. Attorney William Hochul said.

The neighbor, Dawn Nguyen of Rochester, was arrested Friday. She faces a federal charge of knowingly making a false statement for signing a form indicating she would be the legal owner of the guns, Hochul said. She also was charged with a state count of filing a falsified business record, State Police Senior Investigator James Newell said.

You’ll also notice this crime slipped rapidly from the national conversation, apparently right after the information about the ILLEGAL purchases came out, a fact which was itself quickly buried. (I’ve been waiting since reading this on 28 December for some sort of national airing…)

I think Glenn Reynolds calls it “harshing the narrative”.

This Guy ROCKS the Gun Control Arguments’ World!!

FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather

Stats and FACTS you can USE, people! Bravo.

Four Years

I know your first thought is immediately “That’s how much longer we’re stuck with the clown circus in the White House”, but it’s also another marker for how long it’s been since the “idiot” Harry Reid and his gang of thieves passed a budget:

Tuesday marks the 1,350th day since the Senate passed a budget. The law requires Congress to pass a budget every year, on the grounds that Americans deserve to know how the government plans to spend the trillions of taxpayer dollars it collects, along with dollars it borrows at the taxpayers’ expense. But Majority Leader Harry Reid, who last allowed a budget through the Senate in April 2009, has ignored the law since then.

There’s no mystery why. The budget passed by large Democratic majorities in the first months of the Obama administration had hugely elevated levels of spending in it. By not passing a new spending plan since, Reid has in effect made those levels the new budgetary baseline. Congress has kept the government going with continuing resolutions based on the last budget signed into law.

While Reid has forbidden action, the House has passed budgets as required. Senate Democrats have been highly critical of those budgets, designed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. But under Reid’s leadership, Democrats have steadfastly refused to come up with a plan of their own.

The situation is deeply frustrating for many Republicans. Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, has conducted a virtual crusade on the issue, loudly and consistently and unsuccessfully demanding that Reid obey the law and pass a budget. Now, with a fight over the debt ceiling approaching, Sessions wants to try something new.

Quote of the Day

“Sadly, Harry Reid has again revealed himself to be an idiot, this time gravely insulting Gulf Coast residents,” Vitter, the ranking Republican of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, said Monday.

Oh, spot ON, Senator Vitter.

Play it again, Dave!

“I’m Not Your Servant”

In Case Anyone’s Keeping Score

…I’maDinnerJacket’s a solid “aye!” in the Hagel column:

Iran hopes Hagel confirmation will bring U.S. policy changes

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it hoped the appointment of Chuck Hagel as the next U.S. defense secretary would lead to “practical changes” in Washington’s foreign policy.

After that rousing endorsement, oh, gosh yes! He sounds just like the guy we need another one of.