Archive for June, 2009
Minnesota Supreme Court OK’s Stuart Smalley
You wanted him Minnesota and now you got him.
Minn. court rules for Franken in Senate fight
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state’s long-running Senate race.
The high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining the Senate seat are dwindling.Justices said Franken is entitled to the election certificate he needs to assume office. With Franken and the usual backing of two independents, Democrats will have a big enough majority to overcome Republican filibusters.
~snip~
Stuart Saves His Family Theatrical Trailer
Tags: Al Franken, Minnesota, Stuart Smalley
HR 2454, A Congressional Sex Act on America
With or without our consent.
Here’s a pdf link to the bill passed by congress today and heading for the Senate.
Btw the vote was 219-212 with enough Republicans crossing the aisle to pass it.
And here are some highlights of the 300 page amendment tacked on in the wee hours of the morning.
It was amazing to listen to Boehner run down the 300+ page amendment to the bill that got dumped on Congress at 3 AM this morning. Among the provisions:1) You are now more or less subject to the CA building code no matter where you are. If you sell your house, you have to pay to get it energy rated and brought up to CA standards.
2) Son of Smoot-Hawley
3) Every city, town, and municipality must hire 3 full time people to deal with the bill
4) All house appraisers must now be retrained and re-certified by some sort of federal agency to evaluate “properly” the energy enhancements
5) FNM and FRE are to be set free to have to make more lost cost mortgages.
6) There is a 5 billion dollar set-aside for the creation of a “Green Bank” to make loans to worthy people.
7) Acorn gets a slice, since they get some money to perform the retrofit “greening”. CRA all over again.
Tags: ACORN, Congress, HR 2454, Obama, Pelosi, Republicans, screwed, Senate, sex act
Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett RIP
I’ll confess right now that I wasn’t a really big fan of either one. But I do remember watching the careers of both over the last couple of decades.
Michael Jackson’s rise from entertainer to curious oddity who became the tabloid equivalent to a car accident was kind of disturbing. You didn’t want to look but were compelled to.
He made astronomical sums of money, became a virtual recluse, then embroiled himself in scandal several times with the whole world watching. I found it to be pretty sad really.
Farrah Fawcett became a pinup girl, TV actress then did a couple of movies. Then as far as I could tell basically fell off the map.
In the grand scheme of things they both were media icons of the past who’s resurrection to relevance came about upon their death.
Michael Jackson’s legacy is the rise to fame and then the descent into being simply a curiosity.
Farrah Fawcett’s will be that her death was eclipsed by the demise of the “king of pop”.
However it’s always sad to hear of the death of someone who you are familiar with and I am saddened by their passing, so to their family’s I’d like to say that I’m sorry for their loss and hope they find peace.
Tags: Farrah Fawcett, king of pop, Michael Jackson, RIP
Government Run Health Care Example
If the government can’t properly provide health care for veterans than what makes anyone think they can do it for everyone?
Testimony: VA medical gear still being mishandled
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers blasted Veterans Affairs officials on Tuesday after hearing testimony that the agency still wasn’t following procedures for handling endoscopes, months after discovering that the improperly cleaned instruments may have exposed veterans to hepatitis and HIV.”I’m outraged that any of our nation’s heroes were potentially infected or that they even have to worry about the possibility,” said Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., who is chairman of the House’s Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
~snip~
While the competence of many in the VA system is above reproach, there are too many instances of malfeasence to ignore. Is this what we want on a national scale?
Tags: endoscopes, Example, HIV, malfeasence, VA, veterans
Going Green is Really Gonna Cost You
With the government take over of 2 major automotive companies in the United States it’s no surprise to me that the era of manly muscle cars is over. We have now entered the age of the metro-sexual weenie car.
Observe.
Electric Car Company Launches Car-Sharing Program
~snip~
Businesses and local governments can also buy the Maya 300 for their fleets. The company will make the cars available to the public in 2011, starting at $25,000 for a 60-mile range vehicle and $35,000 for the 120-mile range vehicle.~snip~
$35,000 for 120 miles on a charge, you notice of course that they don’t say how long it takes to charge…..do they.
The automobile facilitated a freedom that Americans could never, in the history of this country, enjoy before the invention of the internal combustion engine. The plain truth is that there is no reliable substitute, and it will take decades before we see one.
Drill here, drill now…wean ourselves off of foreign oil while looking for alternatives, but don’t try to sell us on limiting our choices or our freedom for glorified golf carts.
Tags: engine, foreign oil, freedom, golf carts, Green, metro-sexual, weenie car
Barney Frank Wants Pot Decriminalized
Barney Frank, democratic congressman, ranking democrat of the Financial Services Committee while the worst financial crisis since Jimmy Carter has occurred has introduced legislation to decriminalize marijuana.
Frank files bill decriminalizing marijuana
WASHINGTON — Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank has reintroduced legislation that would curtail the federal government’s authority to arrest and prosecute minor offenders, his latest attempt to roll back federal penalties for people who possess small amounts of the drug or use it to ease symptoms of chronic illnesses.
Frank, a Newton Democrat, filed the legislation late Thursday, the measure — co-sponsored by Texas Representative Ron Paul and others — would wipe out federal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams of pot, and for the not-for-profit transfer of up to one ounce. The legislation would leave it up to the states to determine punishment for those offenses.
~snip~
Does anyone else not see the hypocrisy here?
Everyone’s ready to go all libertarian over pot smoking, as in “it’s a personal choice”, the “government needs to get out of my personal business”, “it’s my body” and the big one……”it violates my freedom!!!!”.
Yet no one brings up these same concerns when it comes to taxing and regulating the bejeesus out of tobacco products.
Smoking pot gives off second hand smoke, just like cigarettes, there’s even some research that suggests pot can cause cancer. Prompting California regulators to add it to proposition 65 listing it as having cancer causing chemicals.
Personally I don’t really care if it’s illegal or not cause I don’t use it, but lets at least have some consistency in our outrage here. If the government is going after tobacco products regardless of the choice and freedom issue, shouldn’t they be consistent enough to regulate marijuana use as well?
Tags: Barney Frank, cancer, decriminalize, government, marijuana, pot, proposition 65, Ron Paul, smoking, tobacco
On Iran and Their Election
I’ve been quietly monitoring the the protests and unrest in Iran for a few days, reading various blogs around the web and different twitter feeds trying to get a feel for what is actually going on.
There’s some who have an ambivalent opinion about the election and the protests, seeing it as basically an argument between two puppets, simply for the fact that any one who ran had to have the OK of the ruling mullahs.
But the escalation of violence and the video of the death of a young woman spreading around the web named “Neda” brings a new dimension to the troubles in Iran. She has become a symbol of all the others killed or brutalized by the ruling clerics.
There seems to be real opposition spreading against the Mullahs who, in reality, control the government.
I’m old enough to remember the other revolution in the 70′s when the Shah was overthrown, the American Embassy was over run and the Ayatolla Khomeini was installed as supreme leader.
I have no idea what Iran will have when it is all over but, from what I can tell, the people of Iran maybe taking steps to reclaim responsibilty for the kind of government that they will live under.
Tags: Iran, mullahs, Neda, protests, puppets, twitter
Obama….Man of Action!!! Update:PETA Disapproves
Obama makes decision, kills fly.
Media cheers.
This just in:
PETA Wishes Obama Hadn’t Swatted That Fly
WASHINGTON — The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he’s bedeviled by a fly in the White House.PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.“We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals,” PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. “We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals.”~snip~
The press must be in a tizzy, how to pander to PETA and at the same time praise Obama’s “toughness”.
Looks like an all night-er for editorial staffs all across the nation.
Tags: fly, media, Obama, smacks
Fed Given More Muscle
From Bloomberg.
The power grab continues.
Tags: Fed, power, regulation
PBS Imagines no Religion
It seems that the Public Broadcasting Service has decided to eliminate (or phase out) religious programming from its broadcasts.
Apparently they had a rule against it that wasn’t being enforced.
PBS to Begin Phasing Out Religious Programming From Airwaves
PBS board members, who for 25 years have turned a blind eye to religious programming at some of their member stations’ religious programing, have decided to enforce a rule banning the broadcasts — a move that spells the beginning of the end for religious shows on public television.
Six PBS stations currently broadcast “sectarian” programs produced by local religious groups, including the morning “Mass for Shut-Ins,” which is popular among elderly and ailing Catholics who cannot attend the daily service.
Under the terms of a decision reached by the PBS board Tuesday, those stations can retain their current shows. And all stations can air programs and documentaries that cover sacred topics — even a newsworthy service, like a papal Mass.
But no new religious shows can be offered, and none of the 350 other stations may air any purely spiritual content, a move some groups say is a quiet means of phasing out religion from their airwaves.
“PBS’ goal is to not have religious programming on PBS affiliates of what we call ‘pure’ religious (content)” such as Masses or devotional readings, said Susan Briggs, director of Communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
~snip~
It seems they don’t get the “Public” or “Service” parts of “Public Broadcasting Service”, in essence that the public supports them and in return they provide a service.
I guess alienating those who access these services is in the best spirit of servicing the public when they are more interested in pandering to the perceived wave of a “progressive society”.
It’s way past time the American people stopped subsidizing PBS with their tax dollars, it seems they don’t need all of us anyway.
Tags: airwaves, broadcasting, PBS, public, religion, religious, service
