Nov 20, 2009

Lion cubs at Belgrade Zoo


Three lion cubs are seen in the lion's enclosure, at Belgrade Zoo, Serbia last summer.

The cubs were born Aug. 13, from mother African lion Kiara, and father white lion Wambo, who is a top attraction at Belgrade Zoo.

Cable News Race results

Cable News viewership race for:
Wednesday November 18, 2009

As usual, Fox tops all cable news channels.

Fox News - Hannity (Palin interview) - 4,200,000
Fox News - Bill O’Reilly - 3,868,000
Fox News - Glenn Beck - 2,512,000
Fox News - Greta Van Susteren - 2,383,000
Fox News - Bret Baier - 2,235,000
Fox News - Shephard Smith - 1,980,000
MSNBC - Keith Olbernann - 1,041,000
CNN Headline News - Nancy Grace - 1,036,000
MSNBC - Rachel Maddow - 957,000
CNN - Larry King - 835,000
MSNBC - Chris Matthews - 625,000
CNN - Anderson Cooper - 611,000

...from Matt Drudge

Once again Fox News stands head and shoulders above the others with Anderson Cooper barely edging our Chris Matthews for last place.

We wonder if CNN regrets dumping Aaron Brown (pictured) for Anderson “cold oatmeal” Cooper. Brown wasn’t the most exciting newsman around but at least he could talk at the camera without stammering.

When did he pick up his bowing habit?

iPhone the Hummer of cellphones

From a New York Times report last September:

Slim and sleek as it is, the iPhone is really the Hummer of cellphones.

It’s a data guzzler. Owners use them like minicomputers, which they are, and use them a lot.

Not only do iPhone owners download applications, stream music and videos and browse the Web at higher rates than the average smartphone user, but the average iPhone owner can also use 10 times the network capacity used by the average smartphone user.

The result is dropped calls, spotty service, delayed text and voice messages and glacial download speeds as AT&T’s cellular network strains to meet the demand.

Another result is outraged customers.

Link

Maersk Alabama beats off Somali pirates in second attack

A Guardian article from the UK reports:

Somali pirates attacked the container ship Maersk Alabama (pictured) for the second time in seven months. Private guards on board the US-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.


Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy Seal sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a night-time attack.

Information about the first Maersk Alabama hijacking can be found here.

Click here for more information about the second Maersk Alabama hijacking.

Buying votes to pass ObamaCare

Democrats are determined to pass ObamaCare at any price.

A report at the link below talks about a One Hundred Million Dollar health care vote.

From the report:

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?

Here’s a case study.

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify. Guess what, only one state qualifies - Louisiana.

Louisiana is the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.

How much will this cost to get Landrieu’s vote?

According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.

More here including the incredibly complicated language of that section of the bill.

Nov 19, 2009

Modern Bonnie and Clyde killed after daring bank robbery

A blazing gun battle erupted on a suburban street in Westminster, Colorado after a man and woman robbed a bank and lead police on a high speed chase.

Westminster is in the north Denver metro area.

(click on photo to enlarge)

The car driven by the bank robber suspects shows evidence of the hail of bullets.

Both the man and the woman were armed with handguns as they walked into the First Bank near 120th and Sheridan earlier Thursday morning and made off with an undisclosed amount of money.

Police shot and killed a male suspect and wounded a female suspect who later died at the hospital.

Link

Applications up for Salvation Army red kettle jobs

A regional Colorado Salvation Army spokesperson said applications for Salvation Army red kettle bell ringers jobs are up this year.

"We didn't even have to advertise in the paper this year," Captain Thomas Fenton with the Salvation Army said. "We're getting a lot of applications this year and a lot of first-time applicants."




Captain Fenton said applications are up 100 percent this year when compared with last.

"We're seeing people from all walks of life now," Fenton said. "I think the economy has frightened people. It's frightened them no matter what they earn."

It's something a spokesperson for the regional Salvation Army said he is seeing statewide.

We thought Salvation Army red kettle bell ringers were all volunteers. Most of them in Colorado are paid somewhere in the $8.50 to $9 an hour range.

Link

Another hot air balloon hoax

Just in time for winter - gloves for texting, etc.

Your thumb and index finger may turn blue with cold but these unique gloves should keep the rest of your hand warm.




The manufacturer says:

Two fingers to technology!

Their missing thumb and index fingertips give you the freedom to touch, tap, stroke, slide and pinch your devices' controls in any way you desire.

The cost is a little over $33 a pair plus shipping from the UK.

More information here.

Hillary on first Afghan visit as Secretary of State

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday for her first visit as America's top diplomat, on the eve of President Hamid Karzai's inauguration after a fraud-tainted election.

Clinton's visit comes at a time when President Barack Obama's administration is in the final stages of deciding whether to send tens of thousands of extra troops, and election fraud has battered the veteran leader Karzai's reputation in the West.

Link

Hillary making an impression in Afghanistan

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Fake job numbers in stimulus propaganda

A report at the link below says the Good News is: Obama creates 30 new jobs in one congressional district. The Bad news is: There is no such district!

By the way, I love the photo in the Los Angeles Times article showing Joe Biden doing a dance as if he were an administration puppet. Obama seems to be snapping his fingers.

The Times article reports:

Chicago politics, where voting is such a revered civic duty that people do it even after they're dead, cold, stiff, stuffed, boxed and buried beneath the permafrost for years, has now come to D.C. with the Obama administration.

This afternoon comes the most encouraging economic news, courtesy of our keen-eyed buddy Rick Klein over at ABC, that the Obama administration's $787-billion economic stimulus has, for example, thankfully created 30 new jobs in a little-known rural corner of Arizona at a cost to American taxpayers of only $761,420 ($25,380.67 per job).

So the people of that 15th Congressional District in staunchly Republican Arizona should be pretty happy about this.

Trouble is, there is no 15th Congressional District in Arizona. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. Doesn't exist. Not in Arizona. Not even on paper at the Democratic National Committee. There are only eight. Period.

The administration's recovery.gov website reported these jobs as being created there.

The report goes on:

But then the trouble is that just months after grandly unveiling the recovery.gov website to showcase its economic prowess and tech-savvy, the Obama administration just spent 18 million additional taxpayer dollars to redesign the still new website.

And that site proudly also reported nonexistent new stimulus spending not just in Arizona but other states across the country.

How many other stimulus jobs have been reported as saved in fictional congressional districts?

Link

Nov 18, 2009

Pomp and circumstance: Opening of Parliament




Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip walk through the Royal Gallery in the Houses of Parliament in London, during the annual State Opening of Parliament.


Britain's Queen Elizabeth II returns to Buckingham Palace following her speech at the State Opening of Parliament in London, Britain, November 18, 2009.

3 million registered voters are dead 12 million more are ineligible

A report at the link below says:

Regardless of how lively an election season might be, a new study shows that more 3.3 million voters on current registration rolls across the country are dead.

Another 12.9 million remain on voter registration lists in an area where they are no longer alive.

We wonder if there is anything to the rumor about the George Soros-funded SOS Project? It’s a liberal strategy to install a liberal Secretary of States in every state to aid and abet Democrat voter fraud perpetrated by ACORN and the SEIU and UAW labor unions.

This is not your fathers Democratic party!

Link

Who can stand to watch Guy Fieri eat?

Can you stand to watch Guy Fieri eat? Me neither.

Just who is Guy Fieri anyway? He is the popular host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and two other TV shows on Food Network.

I just can’t watch his “Diners and Dives” program for the same reason I can’t watch eating contests.

Below are photos of Guy Fieri eating. In the first photo with Rachael Ray he is at least holding one hand under his chin to catch whatever falls away. Usually, food drips down off his chin and falls to the floor.








He eats like you trained your kids not to eat. The man needs a bib tied around his neck and a drop cloth on the floor.

Pronouncing his last name can be a bit tricky if you are like me and can’t roll your “R”s. In that case, you can get pretty close by pronouncing the “r” as if it was a “t” and say Fieti. That’s a lot easier for me than trying to say Fieri with a heavily rolled “R.”

Lion snarling during show rehearsal


A lion is photographed during a rehearsal for the circus show "Festif" at the Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione in Paris

Al Gore’s favorite cartoon

Eye makeup


A model gets her makeup done backstage during the DFashion fashion show in Mexico City.

Icebreaker with 100 tourists stuck in Antarctic ice

A Russian icebreaker carrying more than 100 tourists, scientists and journalists on a cruise around Antarctica was struggling to free itself from sea ice about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from clear water.

A report said neither the ship nor any of the passengers faced any risks.


The cruise was advertised as a unique opportunity to watch emperor penguins in their natural habitat. The Finnish-built icebreaker (shown above) has been used as a cruise ship for several years and carries two helicopters.

No word from Al Gore to explain how an icebreaker could be stranded in ice in the face of his dire warnings of rapidly advancing global warming.

Link

Nov 17, 2009

Time out at the check out

Nuo opera dancer in remote Chinese village


A performer wearing a costume and a frightening mask dances during a traditional exorcising opera named 'Nuo' in the remote village of Changjing, Wuyuan county, China.

Nuo rituals, bearing aboriginal traces, are performed during Spring and late Autumn seasons in the village.

After 3 wins have the Titan code blues bags disappeared?


The photo above shows Tennessee Titan football fans reaction to an 0-6 start.

Now that the Titans won their last three games, have the ‘Code Blues’ bags disappeared?

Video: texting on motorcycle in speeding traffic - revisited

(click on picture to see video)

Remembering the Green 2008 Democrat National Convention

Democrats promised their 2008 convention in Denver would be the "greenest convention in history."

Attendees were encouraged to offset their convention travel with carbon credits and were given the link to a carbon offset calculator on the internet.

Meals were made of locally grown ingredients, reducing the environmental impact.

They staffed the convention floor with nearly 950 volunteers to make sure attendees tossed their trash and recyclables responsibly. Can you say ‘trash police?’


The wooden keycards (shown above) turned out to be the biggest joke of the entire convention! They replaced the standard hotel-issue plastic cards. Problem was, they splintered easily making them difficult if not impossible to use. It would take more than the proverbial knock on wood for luck when it came to those forgettable cards.

And how about the billboard near Denver that reportedly asked the public to save water by wearing their underwear for four days in a row: “forwards one day, backwards the next, then inside out for two more.” Maybe that’s the change they could believe in (pun intended). Wearing underwear inside out indeed!

They did stop short of staffing the rest rooms with TP police to make sure patrons didn’t use too much toilet paper.

Nov 16, 2009

Inverted umbrella


A man continues to use his umbrella, even after the wind turned it inside out, as he walks down Liberty Street in New York.

Nuggets guard J.R. Smith changes name then retracts

Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith (pictured) recently proclaimed, “my name is Earl.”

From a report at the link below:

It seems like something written into a television program. A burgeoning star in the NBA, whose fame is dependent upon the name he's made for himself, decides to switch for no apparent reason at all.

According to the Denver Post J.R. Smith announced on Tuesday before the Nuggets game in Chicago that “from now on, he wanted to be called by his given name, Earl.”

Now he wants sports writers and announcers to go back to calling him J.R.

The name it is ‘a changin.’

Link

Washington outraged over the Obama Japan bow

A report at the link below says:

News photos of President Barack Obama bowing to Japan's emperor have incensed critics here, who said the US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

Obama is in China today but the report says:

Washington's punditocracy was still weighing whether or not the US president had disgraced his country two days earlier by having taken a deep bow at the waist while meeting Japan's Emperor Akihito.


Bow2

Barack Obama is shown bowing deeply to Emperor Akihito of Japan.


The photos above show other dignitaries meeting Emperor Akihito with the customary handshake.

William Kristol said, “it's not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one.” Bill Bennett said, “It's ugly. I don't want to see it.”

"I'll bet if you look at pictures of world leaders over 20 years meeting the emperor in Japan, they don't bow," Kristol said.

Some said the gesture was particularly grating coming after Obama's bow to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at a G20 meeting in April (shown in photo below).


Obama's bow in Japan seems to have grabbed much of the attention being paid to the trip.

The gesture appears to have touched a particularly raw nerve among Obama critics who said the president has hastened America's decline as a world superpower by being too apologetic and too deferential in his dealings with other world leaders.

Apologizing and bowing to world leaders diminishes the stature of the office of the President of the United States.

Link

The $1M Michael Jackson Funeral expenses

A breakdown of noteworthy expenses:
Interment costs in the Great Mausoleum of Forest Lawn-Glendale: $590,000

Endowment care by Forest Lawn-Glendale: $88,500

Embalming: $450

Casket coach: $250

Jackson's luxury casket (style 3-99 Prometheus): $25,000

Jackson's burial outfit: $35,000

Family's clothing allowance: $1,975

Framed picture of Michael Jackson to be placed next to the casket: $3,682

Invitations and programs: $11,716

Flowers: $16,000

Glendale Police department and city support: $175,089

Designer for the funeral, Bush-Tompkins: $15,000

Link

Lieberman on ObamaCare: I’ve got to stop it!

Senator Joe Lieberman (pictured) has said he has "no other choice" but to filibuster a health care bill that contains a government-run health insurance option.

Lieberman goes on to say that, while reform is needed, the public option would be harmful to America’s future and that he would use his right as a senator to try "to stop it."

Joe Lieberman is a moderate Democrat from Connecticut. In 2006 the Democrats dumped Lieberman and backed Ned Lamont for the Senate.

Lieberman subsequently ran as an Independent and was successful in defeating Lamont.

Joe Lieberman is now an Independent Senator from Connecticut and is a maverick in the Senate although he usually caucuses with the Democrats.

Is Lieberman going against Democrats in the Senate on the healthcare bill because they dumped him three years ago?

Actually, Lieberman is trying to protect the healthcare insurance companies with home offices in Connecticut because a government-run health option could be devastating to private healthcare insurance companies.

Link

Nov 15, 2009

The most vulnerable Democrats in 2010

With the Obama administration moving the country to the left and making the federal government bigger, many Democrats will be vulnerable in the 2010 elections.

Listed below are the ones with the highest risk of defeat:

Chris Dodd (Connecticut)
The Obama seat (Illinois)
Harry Reid (Nevada)
Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania)
The Biden seat (Delaware)
Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas)
The Salazar seat (Colorado)
Byron Dorgan (North Dakota)
Up to dozens of House seats

More of the story here.

Dirt bike backflipping over hovering helicopter


Travis Pastrana (top) of the US performs an FMX backflip on his dirt bike over a hovering 43-foot (13-metre) helicopter (below) in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Pastrana has performed other stunts around the world, including jumping out of a plane with no parachute and jumping off his motorbike into the Grand Canyon.

200 protest Gore climate change presentation

The Palm Beach Post reports:

Confused Palm Beach County voters helped thwart Al Gore's 2000 bid to become president of the United States, but he was introduced as "president of the planet" when he returned here Saturday night to deliver an environmental lecture.

Former vice president Al Gore spoke on climate change at the Mizner Park Amphitheater to a crowd of about 800. However, more than 200 protesters gathered across the street from the event, and their boos and chants could be heard inside the amphitheater as Gore began his presentation.

Link

His home was made into parking lot while he was abroad

He returned home from a trip to find his house had vanished. The land where it stood had been turned into a parking lot for the hotel next door.

Neville Presho, a 61-year-old Northern Ireland filmmaker, has won a $69,000 damage suit after a judge ruled that his Tory Island home was transformed into a parking lot while he was overseas.

Link

A boy learns martial arts in Palestine


Ouch! A Palestinian boy stands on a bed of nails during a class at the Red Dragon martial arts club in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.