Monday, December 29, 2008

Clean Coal?

I don't think so. I missed this on xmas day (I was too busy pouting over my non-boat status).
When an earthen wall holding back 525 million gallons of ash slurry gave way at the coal-fired Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee in the wee hours of Monday morning, the resultant flood ruined a picturesque rural landscape, inundated more than a dozen houses, and blanketed as much as 400 acres of land with potentially toxic muck.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Extremely Small Victory

The Packer's win!!! This resounding 31 - 21 victory, however, was against the 0 - 16 Lions. The hapless Lions set a record for losses in one season. The Packers set the bar of stupidity very high, i.e., dumping Brett Favre, arguably the Packers Packer. I hope Ted Thompson & Mike McCarty are pleased with a defense that gave up 21 points to a team that did not win a game all year.  Oh, & the refs were still crooked, it was Ed Hochuli, enough said.

25 Years Ago, Reagan Was President

& he was a liar, so what did the Chesapeake expect? & for those of you who are still ReThugs, hard to believe that simple time doesn't mature some, we've had nothing but ReThug Presidents, with the minor relief from Clinton. We've also had the ReThugs in charge of the Senate & House for a lot of those years. ReThugs just don't give a shit about the environment, much like they don't like black people.
The water is still there, but The Bay -- the old, bountiful estuary -- is not. As the old industries have declined, they have been replaced by tourism, where the look of the water is all that matters. Or by trucking, or work in prisons, where the water doesn't matter at all.

This is the real cost of the cleanup's failure: People learning to live with broken promises.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

I Suppose This Will Work

It has apparently worked many, many times before.
Waves of Israeli airstrikes hit Hamas security facilities in Gaza on Saturday in a crushing response to the group’s rocket fire, killing more than 200 — the highest one-day toll in an Israeli military operation against Palestinians in decades.

----

Still, there was a shocking quality to Saturday’s attacks that began in broad daylight, as police cadets were graduating, women were shopping at the outdoor market and children were emerging from school.

The center of Gaza City was a scene of chaotic horror, with rubble everywhere, sirens wailing, and women shrieking as dozens of mutilated bodies were laid out on the pavement and in the lobby of Shifa Hospital so that family members could identify them. Most of those killed were Hamas police officers and security men, including two senior commanders, according to Palestinian officials. But the dead included at least a dozen civilians, including several construction workers and at least two children in school uniforms.
My emphasis.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Harold Pinter, R.I.P., As Usual, Death Takes Our Presents Away At Xmas

Obit here. More here. & here.
All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.

----

I mean, don't forget the earth's about five thousand million years old, at least. Who can afford to live in the past?

----

The crimes of the U.S. throughout the world have been systematic, constant, clinical, remorseless, and fully documented but nobody talks about them.

----

Nothing is more sterile or lamentable than the man content to live within himself.

----

Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?

All quot4s above by Harold Pinter. I will miss him, anyway.
Merry Xmas




George Thorogood & The Destroyers



My Chemical Romance



Cheryl Crow & Eric Clapton



Christine Agulero & B.B. King



Bing Crosby

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Sleep, Sleep

Sleep(*):
"I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting." -- Mark Twain

"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone." -- Anthony Burgess

"There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more." -- Woody Allen

"To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep." -- Joan Klempner

"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,...."
-- William Shakespeare

* -- From here.

More sleep(**):
I'll sleep when I'm dead. -- Warren Zevon
** -- From here.

More sleep(***):
“Sleep is the best meditation.” -- Dalai Lama

“Dawn: When men of reason go to bed.” -- Ambrose Bierce

“Sleep is an excellent way of listening to an opera.” -- James Stephens
*** -- From here.

Now, the real reason for this post is another example of why didn't they tell me this when I was a kid, for crying out loud. Health classes? Yeah, right. & here I sit, one heart attack, three stents, & one CPAP machine later.
In fact, getting an extra hour of sleep had the same effect on heart disease risk as lowering one's systolic blood pressure (the upper reading) by 16.5 points.

The study adds to the mounting evidence that short sleep duration (less than five hours) has subtle health consequences, Lauderdale said.

Indeed, over the last several years, research has showed the length of time a person sleeps is important to health, said Terry Young, a sleep expert with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Adrian Mitchell, R.I.P.

Obit here. Man, this blog is turning into obit central or something. It must be the holiday season.
I was run over by the truth one day.

Ever since the accident I’ve walked this way

So stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Good Idea

About time for a permanent dark sky reserve. Leave it to the Canadians to be ahead of us again, eh?

A Post I Wish I Could Have Written

Jude:
And why, in the name of all that is holy, are they talking to G. Fucking Gordon Fucking Liddy about what he thinks? Attention all: That asshat is a convicted felon.
....
And that's what's wrong with our elite press in a nutshell. When you don't have any information about a topic, keep your fucking mouth shut. Your opinion in such a case is worthless.
....
In other dumb-ass news, George Bush is still President, and, since these people can't go five minutes without being total dicks, he's deciderated to implement a "conscience clause" by executive fiat. Of course, this is just cover for religious nuts to deny women reproductive health services. And we're not only talking about abortions here--these fools can now get away with refusing to dispense birth control because they (doctors or pharmacists) don't approve of it. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK? If you have a moral objection to dispensing certain medicines, don't become a pharmacist. It's not like your choices are:

1. Be a pharmacist
2. Homelessness


See, all the jobs I've ever held, if I refused to do some of the work because I "didn't believe in it," I'd have gotten fired. And with good cause. You know what I'm waiting for? A Muslim doctor refusing to treat a cirrhosis patient, because the Qu'ran says we should avoid alcohol. That'd go over like a fart in church, wouldn't it? I know these fundie assholes are short-sighted, but don't they understand anything about unintended consequences? When you open the door for people to refuse their professional obligations based on personal beliefs, you destroy the very concept of professionalism. Or, as Chief Lyman used to say, "You fuckers don't have to like it, but you do have to do it."
....
Which anyone with three functioning neurons can tell you.

Go read the whole thing, I didn't cut & paste all of it, OK? My emphasis.

Very Short

May Joulupukki treat you well today, the winter solstice.

http://www.24kvintageart.com/library/santaclaus/joulupukki.jpg


http://gracemagazine.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/winter480.jpg


http://www.socialmedia.biz/images/2007/12/22/winter_solstice_at_stonehenge.jpg


http://naturalpatriot.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/father_winter_solstice.jpg

Robert Mulligan, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Majel Roddenberry, R.I.P.

Obit here. Man, it seemed like yesterday that I was lusting (in my brain, of course) after the mini-skirted nurse my freshman year at college. Nostalgia/sentimentality, the most evil, destructive emotions, IMHO, seem to be Velcroing themselves to my back.

http://www.nndb.com/people/069/000023997/majel-sized.jpg

More Of The Dangerous Bu$hCo Legacy

Putting kids in danger. God I hate this idiot president, the worst president ever.
In the Prince George's County community of Riverdale Park, town officials have noted a distressing sign of the national economic downturn: more children left home alone to fend for themselves by working parents too strapped to afford child care.
My emphasis.

No Child Left Untouched

Bu$hCo's worthless & harmful "education reform" has reached the heights of stupidity, much like Bu$hCo, himself. Here is the way one school district in Wisco deals with the mandated state tests. Just sad.
The law has led to a change of focus for many schools when it comes to how they approach educating students with disabilities, ranging from students with physical impairments to those who have slight learning disabilities to those who have medically diagnosed conditions such as autism.

At Arrowhead, it means time once spent teaching how to cope independently with a disability - using books on tape, for instance - is now devoted to more instruction on the skills they need to pass the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations.
....
Many, such as Arrowhead teacher Ginny Thorson, also worry about the toll on students' self-esteem of taking the same test as is given to someone with no disabilities.
To those people out there who actually believe that this change is a good thing for handicapped students, I don't know how you sleep at night. Must be a lot of mother's little helpers. I couldn't find The Stones singing their song, so you will need to be happy with this cover. So sue me. My emphasis.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Things Are Looking Way Up For My Friend Al

According to Josh Marshall, it is now my friend Al's election to lose. One bright spot given the Obama invitation to the slimy hater Rick Warren. I knew that Obama was not a liberal, but with all the hard work that a whole lot of people did to ensure his overwhelming election, I was expecting much more than a condescending statement about grown-ups. It looks like we are going to be dealing with more of the same. Fuck the dirty fucking hippies who have been right for the last eight years. Thanks for nothing Obama.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I Did Not Listen Or Watch Or Care

Jacksonville - 20 (Yes, that Jacksonville) Green Bay - 16
Now 5-9, the Packers joined the 4-12 club of Mike Sherman in 2005 as the only ones in the last 17 years to finish with a losing season.
Green Bay sucks. Oh, you know that Brett Favre guy? Well, his team won again today. They are 9-5 for the season & are tied for first place in the AFL-East. Thanks Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy, stupid morons.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

UPDATE: More On Cars

Athenae has a great post on the ReThugs sole reason for existing - destroying every union job in America, & Harry Reid will not even make them publicly vote for it. Disgraceful.
But this thing where the UAW is somehow responsible for the downfall of American industry is absolutely enraging, and not just because I grew up the granddaughter of somebody who wore coveralls and carried a black lunch box to work every day and came home deaf, big hands black with grease, from the days on the line. It's enraging because SERIOUSLY, this is what we're doing?

Friday, December 12, 2008

More On The Failed Attempt To Save The Car Industry

Let me repeat, the ReThugs torpedoing the car industry load is nothing more than trying to destroy the UAW & with that the middle class in America. Those bastards in the Senate are criminals that are beneath contempt. Why the citizens of these southern states keep electing these moron is incomprehensible to me. With actions like this, the ReThugs will continue to evolve into a pathetic regional party (the South) & finally become forever the Herbert Hoover Party, the party of insensitive, blowhard haters. I wish them all the ability to savor by direct experience the wonderfulness of the nursing home industry in America.
They could have given the loan on the condition that - cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency on oil.

They could have given the loan on the condition that - build cars that reduce global warming.

They could have given the loan on the condition that - the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.

They could have given the loan on the condition that - the management team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground resign....

[buuuhht...ed.]

...the Senate decided it is more important to break a union, more important to throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.
Tip of the blaze orange hunting cap to The Kid.

They Get Their Asses Handed To Them In November & Now They Have Declared War On The Workers

I guess the dickwads that run the ReThug Party have absolutely no ideas left. So, what do they do? Why, attempt to eliminate the UAW, don't you know? Hoover? Right. & yet Hoover doesn't get to the half of it. I know I've said this before my loyal four readers, but I just hate the ReThug sonsofbitches, hate them. I do dearly love the chickadees that come to our feeders, however, so rest assured that I am not an angry leftist blogger. Yep, that's the ticket & I'm sticking with it, you betcha'.

Dennis Yost, R.I.P.

Obit here. I do remember Spooky, getting groovy, there's an idea for a cloudy December day & Stormy, but I do not remember Traces of Love. Sorry about the dearth of blogging the last couple of days. My excuse is that I shot my second deer of this season & have spent the last few days processing both deer. I think next time I will be much friendlier to the $70 price tag for cutting, wrapping, & labeling that a local butcher shop offer.Justify Full




Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Wide Stance Stays Convicted

Convicted sex offender, Larry Craig, remains a convicted sex offender. There are days when I just love the criminal justice system in this country. Today is one of those days.

Blame The Bloggers

Of course. I suppose the correct move from here on out is to put Zell in charge since he is way more knowledgeable about the newspaper business than, say, me.
Mr. Zell financed much of his deal’s $13 billion
of debt by borrowing against part of the future of his employees’
pension plan and taking a huge tax advantage. Tribune employees ended
up with equity, and now they will probably be left with very little.
(The good news: any pension money put aside before the deal remains for
the employees.)

Monday, December 08, 2008

Sundown Suburb

I learned something new today, what a sundown suburb is. I had never even heard the term before. I can almost feel the neural network now being formed in my geezer brain, almost, but no cigar, oops, no smoking on this blog, unless, of course, it's after, whoa big fella. Sorry about that, some strange, outside force moved into my body from the snowy & cold outside. Any of my four loyal readers know the reference? Anyhoo, back to sundown suburbs - it just doesn't surprise me that Bu$hCo is moving into one in Dallas, TX, or that Dick "Dick" Cheney still has house located in one, again near Dallas, TX. Racism is not dead with the election of Sen. Obama, it just continued on in the toney neighborhoods, except for the servants.

No More Moose?

Looks like moose in MN are leaving for cooler climes. The deniers blame the wolf, an easy, but completely moronic answer. It's global warming, absolutely no question. With President-Elect Obama as our new leader, I think we will see major improvement in our work with other countries. We will accept the responsibility of our role in global warming & do what we can to stop it. We just had a young bull moose wandering around Ashland, here in northern Wisco. I'd give you the link to The Daily Press' article, but they want a bunch of money so you will just have to believe me on this one. This is an event that occurs occasionally up here. The last moose, however, was a sick animal that was taken by the DNR. Moose are susceptible to a brain worm larvae that are carried by whitetail deer. They don't hurt the whitetails, but are lethal to a moose.

Moose Heading North To Avoid The Warm Weather

http://cozycovecabins.com/images/moose-on-road.jpg

It's Coming On Stronger, People

Without being a drama queen, this drone is leading us into a society where we all become drones to the Bu$hCo/Cheneys of America.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g222/pma1963/Cheney_and_Bush_Borg.jpg

Z

While in school at Madison, way back in the day when the politicos of Wisco actually valued post high school education for all, or at least all in the top 75% of a graduating class, I was quite inspired by the movie Z. It played at an off the square theater somewhere on the far east side of Madison. I had taken one semester of French, sadly ...you know, but this movie was so good that it seemed that I didn't need to read the subtitles. I have also been envious of how quickly the youth of Greece can mobilize on any given issue. It appears that the recent murder of a 15 year old by the police has ignited a huge protest against the Greek government. I know that it's unpopular & a sign of not being serious, but I would hope that someday the young in America, along with their geezer allies, would act this fast & this fiercely. I like the incredibly awful writing of this paragraph in the story:
The youths regularly clash with the police, whom they view as symbols of the establishment. In most cases, the confrontations are relatively contained and end at the gates of universities with the young people holding off the police with gasoline bombs, rocks and slingshots.
I haven't heard the word establishment used in this context in, oh, let's say 48 years. Looks like a certain NYTs reporter needs to get out a bit more.

It's All About Freedom

So shut your pie-hole, traitor. Oh, & you're a Moooslim.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

24 - 21

The refs were rotten & so were the Packers. Thanks again Ted Thompson & Mike McCarty. Thanks for getting rid of the heart & soul of this franchise - Brett Favre.
Good teams find ways to win games. Bad teams find ways to lose them.

While I Didn't Shoot At A Deer Today, I Did Shoot At A Stump Just Off The Grass In The Front Yard, These Muzzle Loaders Require A Person To Fire It When You're Done Hunting Since There Isn't A Way To Unload It Once You've Put The Powder In, The Bullet In, & The Primer In, Yes, Yes, I Bought An Inline

Finally I have something to really smile about. This is President-Elect Obama's finest appointment, so far, IMHO. I've been less than excited, to say the least, about his team so far. Let's hope this is the beginning of a recognition of just how many liberals supported him in a really big way. Many of us stuck with him, even through the FISA vote, which he ought to regret. I'm glad for Gen. Shinseki, now he can do what Rumsfeld, Bu$hCo, Paul Wolfowitz & true tool Douglas Feith failed to do - understand that they were & are stupid, especially about Iraq. Has there been anything this idiot boy-president hasn't fucked up?
"If Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and [former undersecretary for defense Douglas J.] Feith had listened to Shinseki, there wouldn't be as many wounded veterans to take care of," Cole said. "I think this is a way of saying, 'Here was a career officer who had valuable insights who was shunted aside by arrogant civilians, and we're not going to make the same kind of mistakes.' "
My emphasis.

Yes, I'm A No Kinda Guy

When it comes to oil refining in northern Wisco, right at the headwaters of the Lake Superior drainage. It's a very bad idea. Murphy Oil would be the refiner & this graf ought to be enough to kill the deal, enough, of course, for thinking people.
Murphy, which has a checkered environmental record in Wisconsin, wants to boost its refining capacity in Superior nearly sevenfold - from 35,000 barrels daily to 235,000. That's almost 10 million gallons a day.
My emphasis.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

H.M., R.I.P.

Obit here.
Henry Gustav Molaison, born on Feb. 26, 1926, left no survivors. He left a legacy in science that cannot be erased.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Time Out

Via First Draft, we get the video, & please click the following link: Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage - & read a bit. I particularly enjoyed the description of a job as a "...street Pharmaceutical Sales Rep...."

O.J. Sentenced To At Least 8 Years In Jail

I'm watching a replay of the sentencing on ESPN.  As others more intelligent than I have pointed out, our long national nightmare may be over.

Double Good

This is apropos the previous post. I guess, what with the dead doe hanging in the barn & the new muzzle loader leaning against the chair, I have guns on my mind. Plus that particular chief of police is also a bad role model for those obese youth who need to lose weight for their health.

About Time, No Thanks To The Worthless NRA

A report from the ATF concerning guns & crime was finally released. I hope the execrable Rep. Todd Tiahrt is happy about the results of this study. People like Tiahrt, a pentecostal(no surprise here), must think god has left for the coast. Another good thing about Sen. Obama's election is that the NRA will lose some of its hold on the political machinery of government. & none too soon, since IMHO, the NRA has set back the country in ways that even it didn't imagine. These fascists need to be put out to pasture, a pasture full of milkweed. Not that I want anyone to get hurt, mind you. The amount of gun violence in this country is astounding, & to have this praised as some sort of crime prevention is beyond the pale. No matter how hard they try, handguns are not made for deer hunting (or any other big game animal, for that matter).
ATF is allowed under federal law to inspect federally licensed gun dealers once a year, but agency officials said inspections are done at an actual rate of about one every 17 years.

"The federal laws are written to the advantage of the gun dealers," said Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. "It's difficult for [officials] to act decisively to suspend or revoke a license."

To increase oversight of gun dealers, nearly two dozen states, including Maryland and Virginia, as well as the District, allow or require state inspections. In those that do not, crime guns are exported at a rate 50 percent higher than in states that allow or mandate inspections.

"Leaving it up to federal law and ATF is insufficient to really hold gun dealers accountable," Webster said.
My emphasis.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

$tephen Harper Is Canada's George Bu$h

What a fascist disaster for democracy in Canada. Looks like Harper is much like Bu$hCo, lies & raw power to keep his position. If the Canadian people don't do something tomorrow, things will get even worse. People like $tephen Harper & Bu$hCo believe so strongly in their own ideas that those ideas need to be put into practice no matter what the ELECTED representatives of the people decide to do. This is a huge embarrassment for any one's freedom agenda. Come on Canada, don't let thus tin horn dictator run your democracy into the ground.

Headlines, Headlines

Since I've got nothing right now, I've been putting a scope on my brand new never been fired muzzle loader, a gun I can use, well, as of Tuesday, that would be last Tuesday, the day before yesterday, but given that I couldn't get the last payment organized until yesterday, I will be happy to hunt by tomorrow afternoon. Lucky I have one deer hanging in the pole barn. So, given my general laziness today, here are the headlines of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel online edition for today, December 4, 2008:
Auto executives beg lawmakers for quick action
Losses at state pension fund deepen in November
No crime, just incompetence
Coach asserts he has confidence in Rodgers

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

439 To 147

I can even figure this math out, & math is my worst subject. Soon, we'll be returning to the conservative's dreamtime, only the white, the handsome, the beautiful, the children of privlege will be able to afford a college education. The rest of us will make useful serfs for the ruling class. Another piece of Bu$hCo's awful legacy.
Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.
My emphasis.

Odetta, R.I.P.

Obit here. Oh boy, what a loss this is. The last time I saw her was at NOLA's Jazz Fest in 2004. At that venue, it's possible to get a front row seat without hassle or price. It was one wonderful performance, as all of hers were. She ended her set by letting the audience in on a couple of truths, one was that tonight they better use condoms & that in the fall they had better NOT vote for George Bush. Too bad.





More here.



Interview on video here.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

One Dead Doe

For those of you who are interested: I went out Friday afternoon & sat in the blind that I set up in my front yard. About an hour into this hunt (cough, cough, & I'm not being checked for hernias) a good sized doe walked by. I moved my rifle up to shooting position but made a small noise as I clicked (see what I mean) the safety off & she turned & looked right up at me. I was sure this deer was about to take off, so I took the front-on shot, a shot I really didn't want. I fired & for some crazy reason she dropped right there, just like on the teevee. She was kicking her front legs, so I took another shot & hit her in the neck again & this finished her off. There will be venison in the coldH2O's home this winter. The gun deer season ended today. Tomorrow we get a one week muzzle loader season. I just paid off my muzzle loader, a style of gun I have never used, last week. Hopefully I can pick the rifle up & the scope will be mounted. Then I'll sit in that blind in my yard & wait for a buck, a doe, & another doe to walk by. I do have three tags left, an antlered tag & two doe tags. But I must beg you, my loyal four readers, to have some decency & not call me Dead-Eye Dick, thanks in advance.

Thanks A Bunch Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy

I hope you bastards slip on the new snow & fall even farther on your fat asses.

Packers 31
Carolina 35

Oh, & the refs weren't very good either.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Those Damn Swedes...

...appear to have just purchased an Illinois company & infected it with their damn Swedish socialism. The horror, oh, the humanity.


http://www.obit-mag.com/media/image/8470_Hindenburg.gif

Among Other Things, President Bu$hCo Doesn't Care About The Land

What a spiteful, little man. No matter the result of the massive landslide election in favor of the Democratic Party, Bu$hCo & Dick "Dick" Cheney continue to show their contempt for the land. Check out the charts in the linked story. As a note on journalism, note how the author of the piece is clearly biased towards the Bu$hCo regime by writing things like:
The Bush administration, which has sought to reduce American dependence on imports to meet the continuing demand for oil and gas, has aggressively pushed to open up energy exploration across broad swaths of the West, off both coasts, and in Alaska.
Coupling the country's overseas oil dependence & the lack of leadership from Bu$hCo to develop alternatives clearly leaves the American citizenry & the American landscape sucking hide tit.  I'm glad it's almost over.

Friday, November 28, 2008

The Dems Made A Huge Error With LIEberman

The odious Joe LIEberman(Really R-Assholville) ought to have been stripped of his plum chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, but no, 43 boneheads under the guise of compassion & a fake post-partisan zeal, voted to let LIEberman keep that job. The 13 Democrats, who truly understood what their party is supposed to stand for, wanted to throw this dickhead out with the rest of the ReThug trash. This will come back to bite them in the ass. One could make the argument that Smith, a moderate ReThug, but still a ReThug, was someone to support. That would make sense only if his Democratic opponent was someone like David Duke, but Smith's opponent, Jeff Merkley, support sexual orientation as a civil right, that's enough for me. We now find out the LIEberman also gave $5000, a nice chunk of change, to the douche bag "...too many mosques in this country" Peter King.

Via TPM.

More Evidence That Big Pharma Does Not Care About Life

Or the truth, for that matter.
What happened next provided the first signs that the Allhat evidence might not be universally embraced.

Rather than warn doctors that Cardura might not be suited for hypertension, Pfizer circulated a memo to its sales representatives suggesting scripted responses they could use to reassure doctors that Cardura was safe, according to documents released from a patients’ lawsuit against the company.

And in an e-mail message unearthed in those same court documents, a Pfizer sales executive boasted to colleagues that company employees had diverted some European doctors attending an American cardiology conference from hearing a presentation on the Allhat results and Cardura. “The good news,” the message said, “is that they were quite brilliant in sending their key physicians to sightsee rather than hear Curt Furberg slam Pfizer once again!”

Pfizer declined to comment on the messages.
My emphasis.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Why Won't Corporations Like Murphy Oil Just Do The Right Thing?

Murphy Oil has ties up here in the northern part of Wisco, ties that also want to dig 800 through bedrock to get at some taconite ore. This is going to occur, of course, near the headwaters of the Bad River in northern Wisco. At the other end of the Mississippi River watershed (I know, the Great Divide occurs a few miles south of billycreekville, so sue me.) Murphy Oil is making money, but not making many friends.
The suit was filed Friday at U.S. District Court in New Orleans by the Concerned Citizens Around Murphy.

The group contends that the refinery has violated the Clean Air Act more than 130 times since 2003 by releasing pollutants such as sulfur dioxide at rates exceeding the company's emission permits.
....

"We only have a few big industries" in the parish, he said. "We need them. We appreciate them. All we're asking is for them to comply with the regulations."
What a quaint idea, corporations actually obeying the law & understanding why it is a law.

How Much Sushi Can A World Eat?

Apparently, enough to make the bluefin tuna extinct.
Given that tagging studies have shown that the half-ton tuna can roam the full span of the Atlantic in seeking breeding and feeding grounds, the European position is widely seen by fisheries specialists as sending the fabled species spiraling further toward outright collapse. At the center of the fight, spurred largely by the worldwide sushi trade, is one of nature’s most magnificent, and endangered, experiments — a transatlantic torpedo that can sprint at highway speed while warming its brain with energy from its muscles.
What a cool animal.  It's too bad the fishing industry has more influence than brains. My emphasis.

J.B Van Hollen Is A Petty Little Prick

With a skin thinner than my two year old granddaughter's. We need to impeach him, before he embarrasses any more.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Nothing To Worry About, Folks, Move Along

Bu$hCo's complete lack of concern & regulation has led to this. & the moron president is sitting up nights trying to put these odious "regulations" into the permanent category. But, hey, we're as good as China.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads a panel that oversees the FDA budget, said the agency was taking a "marketplace first, science last" approach.
"The FDA should be insisting on a zero-tolerance policy for melamine in domestic infant formula until it is able to determine conclusively based on sound independent science that the trace levels would not pose a health risk to infants," DeLauro said.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a frequent critic of the FDA, said: "If no safe level of melamine has been established for consumption by children, then the FDA should immediately recall any formula that has tested positive for even trace amounts of the contaminant."

Good

Let us all hope that this investigation is just the beginning of exposing everything Bu$hCo did & then hold the accountable, i.e., put the bastards in prison.

M.C. Breed, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Betty James, R.I.P.

The Slinky, a toy that I have a special fondness for, particularly when chicken pox is involved. The woman who gave the Slinky its name to the toy has died in Philadelphia. When I was a kid back in the 1950s, my dad brought home a Slinky for me to play with while I was home with the chicken pox. Why I remember that toy, rather than others is surprising to me. When The Kid got the pox, I went on a mad, frantic search for a Slinky, the original Slinky, the metal Slinky. My search yielded a blue on one side, white on the other plastic Slinky, ugh. Anyway, I hope The Babies don't get sick with chicken pox, but if they do, I hope their parents buy them a couple of Slinkys to play with.

http://rockalot.typepad.com/my_weblog/images/slinky_original_metal.jpg
http://cathistegall.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/slinky.jpg



Amazing

It's just amazing that we are actually having court cases that state the government (Bu$hCo) can not use a person's race/ethnicity as a reason to hold that person without charge or arrest. This is how far we have sunk in the last eight years. President-Elect Obama has a huge table to clean.
A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Monday that the United States government could not use ethnicity as justification for detaining two Egyptian-born men who were questioned for four hours after a cross-country flight in 2004.

The two men, Tarik Farag, a former New York City police officer, and Amro Elmasry, who was working in Egypt for General Electric, sued the government, saying the questioning was unjustified. The government said that the men, who were arrested but not charged with any crime, had acted strangely during their flight from San Diego to Kennedy International Airport and that two counterterrorism agents had observed them switching seats, checking their watches often and speaking in Arabic.

The government said that the men’s ethnicity was a factor in deciding to detain them, and argued that it was an acceptable factor.
Seat changing, checking the time, speaking a foreign language - no wonder, we ought to put them in maximum security & throw away the keys.  Actually, it souns like they may have been a bit nervous flying in an airplane, just like I am.  It's OK if I do, however, since I'm a grumpy, old, white guy. My emphasis.

Legacy, Baby, Legacy

This is one more reason that the Obama administration needs to bed real aggressive when it comes to Bu$hCo's many, many crimes. The country, through the vote among other expressions, demanded a tough, sharp partisan clean up. For example...
In their study, the two University of Illinois researchers wrote that “whether by design or neglect, the result is the same: The removals and revisions of White House documents distort the historical record of what our government has said and done.” In the new study, the researchers traced five online documents that listed the number and names of coalition partners.
Their study is here. My emphasis.

Favre-less Packers Lose Big Time (& I Don't Mean Dick "Dick" Cheney)

What a disaster. I can't even blame the refs for this loss. Oh, & Brett Favre, remember him? Well, the Jets are 7-3 after knocking off the Titans who were 10-0. Yeah, that Ted Thompson is a real fucking genius alright.

This says it all.



Well, maybe this deer-in-the-headlights look really says it all.



Monday, November 24, 2008

Meanwhile....

They just keep adding up.

My Friend Al

A prediction that My Friend Al will beat the dumbshit Norm Coleman(R-Asshat) by 27 votes after the recount is finished. It's way closer that it ought to be, but a 27 vote win is a 27 vote win.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/2455260546_4ecd866d75.jpg?v=0

This Isn't Oprah's Book Club

Here's a suggestion for my loyal four readers: What's New: Memoirs of a Socialist Idealist. The book is written by a 95 year old man named Ben Swankey. You can buy the book here. I didn't find it at Powell's or Amazon, so go right to the publisher to get the book. Hat tip to friend RK for turning me on the The Tyee, a Canadian online paper, where I heard about the book, but you know, they probably get their feisty behavior from their single-payer, socialized medicine, eh? Well, with a bookshop like Powell's, we can hope with some sense reality as a backup.


http://www.scholarships.ed.ac.uk/images/canada_flag.jpg

Thanks Again, Ted Thompson

Jets 34 - Titans 13



Remember, the Titans were 10-0, until they met the Jets & Brett Favre. Great decision Packers.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Don't Go Mental, Part Deux

A for-profit chain of psychiatric hospitals is good for investors, for patients, not so much.
The company put its well-honed business formula into action: Staffing fell. Beds filled up. Profits soared. It was a winning strategy for investors. But for some patients, federal records show, checking into Sierra Vista proved dangerous -- at times deadly.
Cut staff, kill patients? What's new about that?  My emphasis.

An Absolutely Good Thing

Good for Northwester & Illinois. It's about time. Now, for the North Dakota Fighting Idiots. It's time moron boys in North Dakota, it's past time.

Thanks Ronnie "I Don't Have Alzheimer's, I Think" Reagan

This is the result of Reagan's beginning his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, MS. The progress that had been made in race relations in the country went down to tubes, thanks to Reagan & the ReThugs who supported him.  & now, the racists in the south, as well as other areas of the country, are out in full moron-mode & one person has already been killed.
Yet the house on Louisiana Avenue that Foster was renting is owned by a Bogalusa deputy sheriff. And leaders of Bogalusa's black community, which makes up 41 percent of the town's population, said they've been reporting Klan sightings to the local police for more than a year.
In October 2007, residents of one black neighborhood said they witnessed white-hooded Klan members on horseback riding through their streets. And last March, Klan members openly handed out fliers in town advertising the second annual "Sons of Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Craw Fish Boil" held at the house Foster was renting.

"The city leaders want to make it look like this is just some small fringe group," said Marvin Austin, 61, a former city councilman who was once a member of a black self-defense group, the Deacons for Defense, that formed in the 1960s to defend black Bogalusa residents from the Klan. "But the Klan still has a lot of sympathizers here."

My emphasis.

Bob Jeter R.I.P.

Info here.

Friday, November 21, 2008

I Guess It's Really Over

I hate Ted Thompson sooooo much. Favre's home sold.

What The Wisco ReThugs Have Wrought

It's good that Wisco voters have returned the government back over to the Democratic Party.
That would mean when the new Legislature is seated in January, Democrats will run the Assembly, Senate and governor's office for the first time since 1986.

"I'm not exactly a huge gambler, but I like the word trifecta," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison). "I think it will be really great to have the governor, the Senate and the Assembly to finally have a good proactive agenda for the middle class in Wisconsin."

The ReThugs have really hurt the people of this state, & the people finally figured it out. Here's what Tommy Thompson & his fellow party members did to Wisco health care.
Health Department Director Conlon said that Wisconsin as a state compares poorly with Minnesota. While Minnesota ranks second in the nation in health, Wisconsin has been falling in rank in recent years. Our state spends only about $7 per person for public health and ranks 47th in the nation in public health spending. Minnesota spends seven times that amount.
Makes me so proud to be a Badger.  Yeah, I threw up in my mouth when I typed that.  My emphasis.

Don't Go Mental

We all know how screwed up the American health care system is, so bad that a single payer system needs to happen & needs to happen soon. What is also a terrible turn of events & it will be no shock to any person who can feel a pin prick in the foot, is that medical research has become a matter of Big Pharma throwing millions & millions at medical researchers with the hope that most of the money will stick & then the results will be just great for the drug makers. Even as we watch the once honorable discipline of psychiatry become nothing more than a pill monitoring profession, it's far worse than we thought.
An influential psychiatrist who served as the host of public radio’s popular “The Infinite Mind” program earned at least $1.3 million between 2000 and 2007 giving marketing lectures for drug makers, income not mentioned on the program.

The psychiatrist and radio host, Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drug makers have been uncovered... Dr. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is the first media figure investigated.

Dr. Goodwin’s radio programs have often touched on subjects important to the commercial interests of the companies for which he consults. In a program broadcast on Sept. 20, 2005, Dr. Goodwin warned that children with bipolar disorder who are left untreated could suffer brain damage, a controversial view. “But as we’ll be hearing today,” Dr. Goodwin reassured his audience, “modern treatments — mood stabilizers in particular — have been proven both safe and effective in bipolar children.”

That very day, GlaxoSmithKline paid Dr. Goodwin $2,500 to give a promotional lecture for its mood stabilizer drug, Lamictal, at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla. Indeed, Glaxo paid Dr. Goodwin more than $329,000 that year for promoting Lamictal, records given Congressional investigators show.
& this ethically challenged MD is not the only shrink to really screw with people's mind, Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff seems to have trouble with the truth.
In July 2004, Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff signed a letter to Emory University administrators, stating that he would not earn more than an annual $10,000 from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world's second largest pharmaceutical company.

Nevertheless, UK-based GSK reported payments to Nemeroff amounting to $170,000 in 2004.
& then there are the wonderful nick names this loser earned.
He’s “Dr. Bling-Bling”.... An “arrogant academic bully”.... Whether Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff is....“a shill” for pharmaceutical companies, as a former boss described him ....
People struggle like hell to get better in the head, are given loads of different chemicals to try & balance out the brain chemicals, & search for someone to talk with, someone with a relevant education to help them out, as well. Then to read about these people, who really don't have the best interests of the patient foremost in their practice/research is really disheartening. Now instead of working out of a deep depression, people have to worry that the shrink that is monitoring their meds read some of this questionable research & then prescribed that drug. It's another worry a person just doesn't need or deserve.

My emphasis.

OK, OK, OK

Here's the video of no one shaking the idiot Bu$hCo's hand. I'm late with it, but it's worth a look. I would be sad for Bu$hCo if I gave a shit for an immoral, stupid, hateful drunk. I do not give a shit.




Via Crooks & Liars.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

My Friend Al

It's getting closer. Coleman(ReThug-Asshat) is now up by just 136. I believe we are going to win this. But, dear readers, I also predicted back in the late 80s that Daniel Ortega would win in Nicaragua. That turned out to be the case, 20 years later.

This Is The Beauty Of Science

Darwin was right, even if it took 150 years. I can hear the wingnuts in the Bu$hCo assministration screaming & pulling out hair.

Just Keeps Going Down

Another 400+ today.  Legacy baby, legacy.

Oh, I Can't In Good Concious Make This Joke

So you guys go & do it.

Justice Delayed

For a very long seven years.

Just Wow

I just never thought this would happen. Maybe things are changing for the better in this country. You go Henry, & let all of us hope you get support from the Democratic leadership.

The Pathetic ReThug Gableman

Michael Gableman, ReThug & criminal Wisco Supreme Court Justice, grabs on to the last bastion of of the laughably evil - free speech. Well, here's some free speech - Does Michael Gableman fuck goats? That's what I've heard on the street. I believe an investigation on whether or not Michael Gableman fucks goats ought to be done by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Peter Matthiessen Wins

Peter Matthiessen won the National Book Award for fiction this year. This is his second win. Northland College, once again shooting itself in the foot, could have awarded Mr. Matthiessen the Sigurd Olson prize a few years ago, but one of the PhDs on the judging panel stated, & I paraphrase - "Well, it's no The Snow Leopard. All I can say to that doctoral comment is - WTF?

Legacy

Thanks George W. Bu$hCo, for this. Too bad it probably won't hurt your retirement funds. Dickhead.
As Someone Said: Disappointed Lately?
I was a lukewarm supporter of Sen. Obama given his centrist stand on most issues that I care about. His opposition the Bu$hCo's vanity war not withstanding, he really screwed up by supporting the FISA bill, after saying he would not support it. Well, he won the presidency with the support of a lot of progressives in the world of the Intertubes (although the biggest tube of them all, Sen. Stevens, gets to do an 85 year old slink back to Alaska). I, for one, was so horrified, disgusted, just plain fucking angry at Bu$hCo, et.al., that anyone could have put a bumpersticker on my truck. We've got change alright: a proposed AG with more friends in suits than blue jeans, a love affair with Joe LIEberman (that one really hurt, but the 43 totally spineless Democrats deserve all the criticism & anger they will get), & a promise (?) not to prosecute those who tortured in my name & yours. I suppose Sen. Obama is better than Sen. McCain, but on these three issues: the AG, LIEberman, & prosecuting tortureerrs, someone please explain how McCain would have differed from Obama, come on, someone, explain it to me.

So, my loyal four readers, I'd like you to read this, then come back & we will talk about change we can believe in.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

One More

Look like Palin/McBu$hCo did clean up a little bit. I'm glad Stevens is out, but I'm real unhappy LIEberman is still in.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

We Win

The refs cleaned themselves up. It's always good to atone. Plus the stinking Vikings are losing to the Bucs.

37-3

Mason Crosby kicks another field goal.  1:41 left.

Take A Breather

& read this interesting dog disease article. I always was under the impression that the Shar Pei had so many wrinkles because he/she was a fighting dog & the wrinkles made it difficult for the attacker to get a grip, a.k.a. big bite. The dog turns out to have been used as a guard dog/herding dog.





Shar-pei dog with mucinosis. (Credit: Image courtesy of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Oh, Nevermind

Jason Hunter runs a Bear's fumble 54 yards for a touchdown. Good refs.

Crooked Refs

Nick Collins get shafted.

Scary

If the prediction that America is headed toward the reality of present day Huntington, West Virginia, we really are in deep trouble. Time for some action, some change.
Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese — an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. It's even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them have).

Decent Refs, For A Change

Packers(17)lead the dirty Bears(3). Oh, oh - terrible call, according to Larry McCarren as the half ends. Let's hope that call isn't an evil omen or the second half.

Stinking Vikings

The stinking Vikings are playing a noon today, the same as the Packers. What this means to those of us in northern Wisco is that we won't be able to watch the game on the teevee since the dumbass stations in Duluth will show the stinking Vikings rather than the Packers. Go figure. Let's hope the refs are honest. Lucky for me we have the Internets Tubes, thus I'm able to listen to the radio on my computer. Not so bad. Well, the refs have already cheated for the Bears. I hope they straighten up.

This Surprised Me

Until I thought about the places I go to get my laptop serviced. Or when I go & browse at computer stores. Yes, where are the women?

Widening Gap

Saturday, November 15, 2008

REMINDER

* * * * * * *
There is no longer the shadow of a doubt that the torture of prisoners was planned at the highest levels of the US government with the explicit knowledge and approval of the president. How do we know this? Bush himself admitted it.
Via Tristero.

Original post over at BooMan's.

* * * * ** *

J.B. Van Hollen's Ego Is Out Of Control

I've always know J.B.'s been a jerk, but his tenure as Wisco's AG has been downright stupid. What's going on at the state's Justice Dept., anyway? It certainly has become an ideologue's wet dream. Maybe we could get Van Hollen to hire the few idiot right wingers left in Wisco. That way they'd all be in one place; it will be easier to keep track of the dorks, plus Wisco's Supreme Court is in MadTown, so their rulings to overturn just about every nakedly partisan lawsuit brought by J.B. can be easily dismissed. I haven't forgotten the two ethically & criminally & intellectually challenged Justices - Gableman, the Crook & Ziegler, who just couldn't keep her hands off cases related to her husband's businesses. &, continuing the tradition of not doing any real discipline, the court slapped Ziegler, very gently, on the wrist. Hopefully the court won't be so damned timid with the criminal Michael Gableman.

Latter Day Saints? My Ass

There are a host of reasons for disliking the Mormans, but number one in my book is how they pushed so hard on Prop. 8 in CA. They can sit back & act all innocent & stuff, but they are a racist, homophobic, anti-woman outfit.
The campaign issued an urgent appeal, and in a matter of days, it raised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church. The money allowed the drive to intensify a sharp-elbowed advertising campaign, and support for the measure was catapulted ahead; it ultimately won with 52 percent of the vote.
As proponents of same-sex marriage across the country planned protests on Saturday against the ban, interviews with the main forces behind the ballot measure showed how close its backers believe it came to defeat — and the extraordinary role Mormons played in helping to pass it with money, institutional support and dedicated volunteers.
What a hateful bunch. My emphasis.

Edumacashonal President

Right. Even in his home state, it appears Bu$hCo created a culture of cheating, dishonesty, & criminal behavior. I wish to once again thank the 5 ReThugs on the Supreme Court for siccing this bastard on the whole country. Their wisdom was just, just, well, bullshit. Remember, this isn't about "foreigners", it's about Bu$hCo.
Eager to hire teachers for bilingual education programs, the Dallas public school system assigned fake Social Security numbers to newly hired foreigners so it could get them on the payroll quickly, an internal investigation found.

My emphasis.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Joe LIEberman Must Go - 2

First it was Sen. Leahy who spoke for millions of hard-working, law-abiding, honest Democrats. Now, the one-&-only Sen. BERNIE Sanders adds his great voice in not only calling Joe LIEberman out, but also demanding that the Democratic Caucus not reward this traitor with a major committee chairmanship. If LIEberman somehow weasels his way into a chairman's role, it will be a huge disappointment to all who worked hard for Sen. Obama & for the millions & millions who voted for him. Here's BERNIE:
"Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not 'change we can believe in,'" Sanders continued. "I very much hope that Senator Lieberman stays in the Democratic caucus and is successful in regaining the confidence of those whom he has disappointed. This is not a time, however, in which he should be rewarded with a major committee chairmanship."

Convicted Felon Ted Stevens Falls Farther Behind

Mayor Mark Begich is now 1,061 ahead of the convicted felon Ted Stevens.

It Must Be Nice

To live in a world where you are paid a bonus that is called deferred compensation, but ought to be called screwing the working class money. I would with troubled kids & often wonder what goes on in their heads when they have a clear choice of not getting in trouble but still get in trouble. I guess the same goes for these leeches at AIG. That's some great oversight there Paulson & Bu$hCo.


http://www.deltadickshow.com/Screwed_-_2.jpg

Let's See

Brett Favre has the Jets in first place with a 7-3 record. The Packers are in 3rd place (out of 4) wigh a 4-5 record. I've got nothing against the Packers' QB, Aaron Rodgers, but which record would I rather have? Yes, you'd be correct, 7-3 with Favre. I hope Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy are happy. I'm not.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_EN5ehpJSRhM/RxYzGNERQZI/AAAAAAAACS8/mP1MN9v6ln4/DSC01116.JPG

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Continuing To Look Good


http://digitalphilosophy.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/deneuve70.jpg

Oh, wait, wrong pic, screw it. Here's the post, but she does look good, eh?

It looks like we are going to win Alaska with Mark Begich leading convicted felon Ted Stevens by 814 votes. The votes left to be counted apparently come from areas favorable to Mr. Begich. This is good because Gov. Moron, er, Palin (R-I Don't No Nothing About Geography, You Betcha) will not be able to replace the convicted felon Ted Stevens with herself & then run in the special election to replace the convicted felon Stevens. I know, but doesn't it sound good to say the words convicted & felon when they relate to a worthless ReThuglican. So there, as I stamp my foot & turn blue, which, it turns out might not be much of a stretch for me since I read the results of a recent sleep study I did at the local hospital.