Cronyism evident in Dallas

The absurdly cold weather in Texas has caused over-demand of the power grids there such that authorities are importing 380megawatts of electricity(you need 1.21 gigawatts of electricity for time travel...just sayin') from Mexico to help meet demand. But that's not enough and they've instituted rolling blackouts until demand goes down. Obviously hospitals, public safety departments, etc are exempt and use generators for emergency electricity. But what has residents peeved is that Cowboy Stadium is also exempt. The Superbowl organizers claim with a straight face, that it's a public safety issue to not have the stadium and surrounding hotels be blacked out, even though the game isn't until Sunday.

I'm sure that as Texas residents sit huddled and shivering in the dark, they are comforted knowing that Superbowl tourists, media, and pampered players are toasty and warm in their well-lit rooms.

I become less and less interested in the Superbowl every year and now I'm not only uninterested, I'm a little hostile.

Most predictable claim

POSTED BY BILL


"When all you have is a hammer, everything's a nail" goes the old saying.  Well, when all your life is invested in pushing the looming crisis of anthropomorphic climate change, i.e. Global Warming, every weather phenomenon is caused by - you guessed it - Global Warming.


Al Gore, as predictable as ever, is saying that the horrible winter weather most of the country is experiencing is caused, of course, by Global Warming.  There is literally nothing that could happen weather wise that he would not say this about.

Yawn.

Dude keeps poisonous snakes as pets.....what could go wrong?

Nobody delights more than me, in the misfortune of people who keep wild animals as pets, and then get attacked by them....

From DailyRecord -- FAIR LAWN, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man remained hospitalized Tuesday after he was bitten by his pet snake.

Fair Lawn police said 25-year-old Eric Bortz bought the albino Monocled Cobra, an eastern diamondback rattlesnake and a copperhead snake in Pennsylvania on Monday and thought their venom sacks had been removed.

Sgt. Rich Schultz said the cobra bit Bortz on Monday night after he reached into its container to feed it or otherwise handle it.

After Bortz began to experience severe respiratory problems, he was taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson and then to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., which has a snakebite treatment center.

Heh heh...what an idiot! I don't get these people who keep exotic, wild animals around the house. They don't function as pets. You can't play with them. They'll attack you given the slightest opportunity because they see you as either a threat or as food. What's the purpose other than to provide jokers like me with a good laugh at your expense?

It's Groundhog Day.....does anybody care?

I know for the folks in Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day is a big deal, mostly because of marketing and paraphernalia opportunities. They make a huge deal and have an hours-long run-up to the big reveal, only to have to drag this poor creature from his hutch and pretend that something happens, when those guys have already pre-written the declaration of the weather.

I guess the whole production brings in a lot of money to the town of Punxsutawney but, for me it's unwatchable TV. Just sayin'.

HBO's "The Pacific"

POSTED BY BILL


Ed wrote about HBO's 10 part series "The Pacific" a year or so ago, prompted by some of Tom Hank's comments that showed a certain ignorance and moral confusion, shall we say.  Maybe so, but I think we owe him and Spielberg some gratitude for producing this and "Band of Brothers."

My son gave me the box set for Christmas, and I have just finished watching it.  Wow is all I can say.  The episodes, and even more so for me, the extra material such as historical background and interviews with living veterans, are so well made and so full of clear respect for the sacrifice of these men.  I had already read Eugene Sledge's book "With the Old Breed on Peleliu and Okinawa" and consider myself well read on the entire war.  As a child of the 50's, I grew up in the aftermath of WW2 and have always had an intense interest in the history of the period.  But, there is something about seeing a well made production that seems to capture the awful truth of the madness.

Anyway, I completely recommend it.  Especially for any younger people, or older, who may not know just what our fathers and grandfathers did.   I would love to hear other people's comments who have seen the series.

Scratch Newt from your list of potential GOP nominees

It was bad enough when he sat on that ridiculous couch with Nancy Pelosi and lectured us little people about environmental whackoism, now Newt Gingrich is running around Iowa shilling for the idiotic ethanol industry.

The absurd notion of taxpayers being fleeced of their paychecks to subsidize the ethanol industry which couldn't exist on its own, so that drivers can put our food supply into our gas tanks, all to save polar bears and combat a non-existent phenomenon -- man-made global warming -- to me disqualifies Newt Gingrich from any possible consideration for the GOP nomination. He'd serve us much better on the lecture circuit, criticizing liberals from the sidelines. I cannot in good conscious vote for anybody who supports government ethanol subsidies.

UPDATE: Scratch Ambassador to China, John Huntsman too. He thinks the stimulus wasn't big enough. With republicans like these, who needs democrats?

The Muslim Brotherhood gets a toe-hold

The Muslim Brotherhood is a radical Islamic group that supports Sharia law and an Iranian-style theocracy for all Arab nations. Because of their radical nature, Egypt has banned them from operating there, but they are taking advantage of the anarchy and chaos in Egypt and quietly organizing to be included in whatever new government gets established.

From FoxNews -- The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.

As a prerequisite for inclusion, outgoing oaf Robert Gibbs says that only peaceful participation by the Brotherhood will be allowed and they should support choice for the people, etc., etc., etc. But here's what the Muslim Brotherhood is really about.....

From AtlasShrugs -- Mohamed Ghanem, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, calls Egypt to stop pumping gas to Israel and prepare the Egyptian army for a war with it’s eastern neighbor.

When Obama fiddled while the students in Iran were murdered by the Sharia government, he gave his tacit approval for theocratic rule to take hold in other middle-east nations. By approving the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, he is also giving tacit approval for forces hostile to Israel to take policy leadership roles in that country. What is Israel supposed to do with Iran to its east and a newly hostile Egypt with an openly stated goal of war with the Zionists to its south?

Let's hope it doesn't come to that but what if it does? Will Obama intercede on Israel's behalf to stop any aggression from the Muslims? I doubt it. 

Jerry Brown.....doing what democrats do

Gov. Jerry Brown attempts to drive another nail in California's coffin....

From LATimes -- Citing the pro-democracy unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, Gov. Jerry Brown called it “unconscionable” that GOP legislators are vowing to block his attempt to ask voters to extend tax hikes to balance the budget.

“When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can’t say now is the time to block a vote of the people,” Brown said.

High taxes, absurd environmental restrictions, and extravagantly expensive union labor contracts and benefits packages are hanging around California's neck like a millstone, yet Gov. Moonbeam thinks raising taxes is the way to balance that state's budget. All he'll succeed in doing is driving the few remaining producers and earners out of that state and into neighboring states. Soon, all that'll be left in California is the government, unions, and self-centered actors.

Obama wants an Internet kill-switch.....just like Egypt's

What's the first thing the Egyptian government did when the citizens rose up to oppose it's policies? Kill the Internet, cell-phone communications, Facebook, and Twitter so the rabble couldn't organize. Essentially the government wanted them to be more easily controlled. Well, there's a bill in Congress right now that would give Obama, or whoever the chief executive is, the same authority without judicial oversight or authority.....

From QandO -- A controversial bill handing President Obama power over privately owned computer systems during a "national cyberemergency," and prohibiting any review by the court system, will return this year.

Launching nuclear weapons requires at least two people. Should any one man have the power to shut down the Internet for what he alone perceives to be a "national cyberemergency"? No one man should have the authority to seize control of the Internet or communications between citizens and with the outside world. Even if you argue that he'd never use it, why grant the man occupying the white house that authority in the first place?

E*Trade talking-baby outtakes.....hilarious!

I don't care what anybody says, the E*Trade talking-baby ads are brilliant and hilarious. If I was smart enough to trade myself, I'd use E*Trade on the strength of these ads alone. Here are some outtakes that you probably won't see on TV.