h/t: seehere
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Paul Ryan Reacts
And a quicker synopsis of the shenanigans:
I say fine, amend the bill all you want, then (once it's a different bill) send it back to the Senate as a new bill, where it can be passed, defeated, or filibustered.
video h/t: GayPatriot
Bogus Story
Well, no, I don't know it to be untrue. But what are the chances that a group of people could get matching Chuck Norris t-shirts, go around blasting Never Gonna Give You Up, and not think to pretend to be searching for ninja-cat? or epic beard guy?
I mean, if you're going to go to all that trouble, why not include as many memes as possible? I'm just sayin.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Obama at Fox
I've been trying to embed the whole Fox interview but their code doesn't get along with Blogger. See the whole thing here though.
It's More than Just the Process
"You know we need the money more than you.You're just dissatisfied with the process. "
Ya-Hoo!
My kid got into her school of choice.
And as I understand it, Obama will loan us the money for her to go. Seems only fair as he's poised to make it impossible for me to pay for it.
It Sort of Makes Sense, if You've been Drinking Heavily
***Update:
Another thing just occurred to me. Say the Senate passes a bill that gives Georgia $50 million for a bridge. The House of Representatives writes a bill changing it to give Nancy Pelosi's vineyard $20 million for grape research, buy a backyard for an Obama estate somewhere for $15 million, finance some artist's experiments with urine and crucifixes for $10 million, and send Georgia $5 million for the bridge. How is that different from what they're trying to do with health care?
It's more than just a tainted process. It defeats the purpose of the bicameral legislature. The final bill is never passed by the Senate.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Time for Another Blond Joke
During a recent password audit at our company, it was found that a blond receptionist was using the following password:
"MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento"
When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital!
via
Lyrebird does Construction
This lyrebird, Chook, started imitating construction noises after a renovation was done at Adelaide Zoo. And here's a remix of Sir David Attenborough on the lyrebird:
via
Football Idiots
OK truth be known, I used to use these same tactics in academic competitions. I'd start the spelling bee normally, but when they got to a word I just didn't know I'd drop to the auditorium floor clutching my knee, and yelling, "Who threw that?!" You'd be surprised how often that works.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Elephant vs Crocodile
"Submit, you big smelly beast!"Though, it's not entirely clear that the elephant isn't using the crocodile as a back scratcher.
Fender Bender
An Irish priest and a Rabbi get into a car accident. They both get out of their cars and stumble over to the side of the road.
The Rabbi says, "Oy vey! What a wreck!"
The priest asks him, "Are you all right, Rabbi?"
The Rabbi responds, "Just a little shaken."
The priest pulls a flask of whiskey from his coat and says, "Here, drink some of this it will calm your nerves."
The Rabbi takes the flask and drinks it down and says, "Well, what are we going to tell the police?"
"Well," the priest says, "I don't know what your aft' to be tellin' them. But I'll be tellin' them I wasn't the one drinkin'."
via
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Wrong Way Ehrlich
Mark Perry from CARPE DIEM:
Earth Day (April 22) is only six weeks away, and I just noticed that the EPA recently updated air quality data for 2008 and thought it was worth featuring now in anticipation of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day:
Predictions made around the time of the first Earth Day in 1970:
“Air pollution is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone,” Paul Ehrlich in an interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970.
Ehrlich also predicted that in 1973, 200,000 Americans would die from air pollution, and that by 1980 the life expectancy of Americans would be 42 years.
“By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half...” Life magazine, January 1970.
“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from the intolerable deteriorations and possible extinction,” The New York Times editorial, April 20, 1970.
The world will be “...eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age,” Kenneth Watt, speaking at Swarthmore University, April 19, 1970.
“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation,” biologist Barry Commoner, University of Washington, writing in the journal Environment, April 1970.
MP: Here we are 40 years later, the U.S. population has increased by more than 50%, traffic volume (miles driven) in the U.S. has increased 160%, and real GDP has increased 204%; and yet air quality in the U.S. is better than ever - nitrous dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead have all decreased between 46% and 92% between 1980 and 2008 (see chart).
Friday, March 12, 2010
Salt Ban
The control-you silliness continues:
MYFOXNY.COM - Some New York City chefs and restaurant owners are taking aim at a bill introduced in the New York Legislature that, if passed, would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.
"No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises," the bill, A. 10129 , states in part.
The legislation, which Assemblyman Felix Ortiz , D-Brooklyn, introduced on March 5, would fine restaurants $1,000 for each violation.
Another ready-fire-aim push to control how you live your life. If you have high blood pressure and you want to control it by drastically altering your salt intake, be my guest. (but even for people with high blood pressure, most aren't sensitive to salt, and reducing it will do little good) And what about us people who are happy with their blood pressure? Does the government have a right to dictate how we eat based on a half-baked nutritional theory?
If we let these stuck-hippie control freaks decide our diet, it won't be long before they tell us we can't shoot our TV sets, car-joust, or make potato cannons.
Really, their science is awfully thin.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
No Reason for It
Just trying to get back into Photoshop, and increase my chances of getting audited.
More Found Cute
Cute, except for that one in the middle - I included it because it was so refreshing to see they weren't making fun of American bellies.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Tickle Fights?
Thank you for the information on Rahmbo, representative Massa. Now, if you could just go back to your side of the aisle.
Surprisingly, from the NYT
Robert Pear, in the NYT:
WASHINGTON — At the heart of President Obama’s drive to rein in health costs is a proposal for federal review and regulation of health insurance premiums, with a new agency empowered to block excessive rate increases.
State officials are leery of the proposal, which raises a host of questions: How would Congress define “excessive”? How would the new federal power relate to state insurance regulation?
The proposal has great political appeal. But experts see a serious potential problem: Federal officials will focus on holding down premiums while state officials focus on the solvency of insurers, the ultimate consumer protection.
The president made a big deal about requested rate hikes from a Blue Cross company in California because it suited his agenda. So he highlighted a request, not a rate hike. He didn't mention that the request most likely wouldn't be approved, or that there were already lawsuits to limit any increase. Also not mentioned are the reasons for the request.
Should Obama get his desired Insurance Rate Ministry?:
“You can’t separate the underlying solvency of companies from the rates they charge,” said Sean Dilweg, the insurance commissioner in Wisconsin. “The federal proposal would be a huge pre-emption of decisions that states have made over their history.”
....Insurance commissioners said they fully supported efforts to expand coverage and rein in health costs. But they said it would be risky to hold down premiums before costs were under control. And they do not expect the federal legislation to drive down costs anytime soon.
Sandy Praeger of Kansas, one of several insurance commissioners who met with Mr. Obama at the White House last week, said: “From a consumer protection standpoint, the most important thing we do is ensure the solvency of companies. We would strenuously resist not having the ability to approve rates or having the commissioners’ oversight of rates overturned.”
Course, maybe that's the point. Maybe Obama's intention is to gently strangle the insurance companies, so that Big Brother can step in to save the day when the bodies hit the ground.
Which makes it all the more important: call, write, fax, or send a pigeon to your representative. Now is the time. It can be short, simple, and to the point: this bill will be bad for the country; they need to start over.
***Update:
The Hill has been keeping track. Here's a list of the undecideds and the leaners. If any of these are your rep, it's even more important that you contact them:
Leaning No
Michael Arcuri (N.Y.) (Y)
Undecided
Brian Baird (Wash.)
Marion Berry (Ark.) * (Y)
John Boccieri (Ohio) *
Dennis Cardoza (Calif.) * (Y)
Kathleen Dahlkemper (Pa.) * (Y)
Steve Driehaus (Ohio) * (Y)
Bart Gordon (Tenn.) *
Mary Jo Kilroy (Ohio) (Y)
Ron Kind (Wis.) (Y)
Dan Maffei (N.Y.) (Y)
Scott Murphy (N.Y.)
Solomon Ortiz (Texas) * (Y)
Tom Perriello (Va.) * (Y)
Nick Rahall (W.Va.) * (Y)
John Spratt (S.C.) * (Y)
Bart Stupak (Mich.) * (Y)
John Tanner (Tenn.) *
Leaning Yes
Russ Carnahan (Mo.) (Y)
Jim Oberstar (Minn.) * (Y)
No comment
Mike Doyle (Pa.) * (Y)
World's Laziest Predators
from:World's Laziest Predators
***Update: Three Beers Later has a few important additions.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Democratic Follies
I don't know which is better: Dan Rather conceding that our articulate president couldn't sell fruits from the Cucurbitaceae family on the side of the road, (well, of course he couldn't, that would require some experience in commerce, or at least an academic understanding of capitalism) or the image of Rahm Emanuel come waggiling up to congressman Eric Massa to give him a dressing down in the nude. They're both just so embarrassing for the Democrats, I can't wait for the first liberal to blame George Bush for somehow causing it all.
BTW --- message to other congressmen who may be the object of one of Emanuel's naked encounters: You are not entirely defenseless in that situation. Pee on him. In fact, that defense would probably work in the halls of Congress as well.
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