It’s the weekend - time to catch up on sleep

Chinese New Year fan vendor in Beijing

A vendor sells hand-made fans at the Longtan Temple fair during the Chinese New Year celebration in Beijing, China.

AP photo via Time Magazine

Governing from inexperience

Rather than an explanation, conservative lawmakers were given a cryptic, I won as his “reason”.

Was that prompted by inexperience or arrogance?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Inexperience showed in 1961 when 44-year-old President John F. Kennedy carried out the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba.

A similar plan had been discussed, though never carried out, when Dwight Eisenhower was President.

Eisenhower was a professional military tactician. John Kennedy was not, yet he carried out his invasion anyway.

As we all know the invasion was a miserable failure and severely embarrassed the Kennedy Administration.

Speaking about how John Kennedy handled the Bay of Pigs, General Eisenhower said, “A 2nd Lt. without combat experience could have done better.”

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Symbolically speaking, how many “Bay of Pigs” will we see during the Obama Presidency?

Self-propelled rickshaw

(click on picture to enlarge)A farmer drives his rickshaw with the help of his self-made walking robot, near his home in a village on the outskirts of Beijing.

Time Magazine photo

New York City griddle riddle solved

A mysterious, maple syrup-like odor has been drifting over New York City periodically since October 2005.

The sweet odor has been linked to New Jersey fragrance and food additive processing plants.

The smell has attracted media attention and hundreds of complaints from city residents.

The mystery was solved after city agencies matched complaints by their geographic location against information about winds and atmospheric conditions.

Link

Fake parking tickets lead to malicious Web site

CNET reports on a diabolical, yet novel way to spread malicious code to unsuspecting computer users who drive hybrid cars.

In a scary online-offline Internet scam, hybrid cars in North Dakota have been tagged with fake parking citations that include a Web address hosting malicious software that drops a Trojan onto the computer.

More information here.

The error of responsibility

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Phelps suspended by USA Swimming, dumped by Kellogg's

Olympic great Michael Phelps has been suspended from competition for three months by USA Swimming as a result of a photo showing Phelps using a marijuana pipe.

USA Swimming also cut off its financial support to Phelps for the same three-month period.

In addition, Phelps has been dumped by sponsor Kellogg's.

The company put Phelps's picture on boxes of its Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes.

Kellogg's said its contract with Phelps expires at the end of the month.

Link

Raccoons roam White House grounds

Masked intruders have invaded the White House grounds.

The the National Park Service has been in hot pursuit of a pack of raccoons spotted roaming the manicured grounds near the White House, a spokesman said.

Maybe the new Obama White House dog should big enough to keep the critters at bay.

Late night comedians will be saying the coons were just after a bailout.

And there is bound to be at least one comedian using a racist comment about coons at the White House.

Link

Here comes another one just like the other ones!

Just when everyone thought the parade of tax cheats appointed by Obama was over, here comes another one as if right on cue!

Rep. Hilda Solis (pictured) seemed to be on the fast track to be Labor secretary … until it was revealed that her husband, Sam Sayyad, was in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service.

Congresswoman Solis’ financial disclosures listed her husband Sam Sayyad's business, Sam's Foreign and Domestic Auto Center, as one of the couple's main assets, worth between $50,000 and $100,000.

Her husband's liens for unpaid taxes have sidelined the nomination for now.

Solis' husband has now repaid $6,400 to settle the tax liens - but only after the nomination of Hilda Solis was announced.

The tax liens went back 16 years and were on the business that Solis listed as one of their main assets.

Link

Ariz sheriff to segregate illegals in tent city

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has announced plans to house illegal alien inmates in a tent city separate from other prisoners.



Sheriff Arpaio, the self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff in America," said he plans to personally accompany about 200 inmates, along with members of the media, from an area jail to a separate tent city.

"This is a population of criminals more adept perhaps at escape," Arpaio said in a news release. "But this is a fence they won't want to scale because they risk receiving quite a shock, literally," he said, referring to the electric fence that surrounds the area.

Arpaio said housing the illegal immigrants separately would save money, although he did not explain how other than to say it's cheaper to house inmates in tents than at traditional jails.

Segregating the illegals is drawing criticism.

Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said she thinks Arpaio could potentially be violating the immigrants' rights by keeping them separated, and that she'd like to talk to the Justice Department and have staff there issue an opinion.

Link

English only law defeated in Nashville

Voters in Nashville rejected a proposal last month that would have made the country music capital the largest U.S. city to make English the official language of local government.

Wording of the proposal was, in part, “No person shall have a right to government services in any other language.”



Nashville is a city where the immigrant population has increased dramatically.

The proposal was rejected by 57% of voters, but proponents of the measure say it would save the city thousands of dollars in translation costs.

Link

Obama spokesman defends the indefensible

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs (pictured) told reporters, "The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set."

Did he really say that?

Gibbs is defending the indefensible as shown below:

Bill Richardson, Obama’s first choice for Secretary of Commerce, had to be scrubbed as a candidate because of ‘pay to play’ corruption in his recent background.

Timothy Geitner, who was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, was found to be a tax cheat (it was more than just a careless oversight because his tax software told him the tax return had an error but he filed it anyway). As Treasury Secretary, Geitner will be in charge of the Internal Revenue Service, which means he will be the fox guarding the hen house.

Eric Holder, Obama’s choice for Attorney General, is clouded by his complicity in the very controversial pardon or Marc Rich.

William Lynn is Obama’s choice for deputy Defense secretary. This appointment would present a conflict of interest because Lynn was a senior executive for defense contractor Raytheon.

And then there is the case of Tom Daschle, Obama’s choice for the position as head of Health and Human Services Department. Daschle was to be the architect of Socialized Medicine for the administration. Former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle’s tax cheating amounted to over $100,000.

Within hours of when the Daschle appointment was ‘dashed,’ Nancy Killefer announced that she too had not paid $1,000 of taxes and would no longer be taking up her position as government chief performance officer - a new role responsible for increasing government accountability.

Instead of "The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set," it appears more like setting the groundwork for what could be the most corrupt administration the country has ever seen.

Link here and here.

Mall and store ads may be watching you back

Stop and watch an advertisement on a closed-circuit TV screen in a mall or big-box store and there is a growing chance the ad is watching you, too.

Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long.



The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity — and can change the ads accordingly.

That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.

Experiment by standing if front of one of these closed-circuit TV ads and see if the ad changes to something more suited to your gender and age.

Link

Toon showing Daschle changing tune

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Daschle: didn’t have stomach for the fight

In spite of Tom Daschle’s hundred thousand plus dollar tax mishap, Senate leaders and the White House -- especially Obama -- were firm in their support.

Many Democrats grumbled about the position they'd been put in because of Daschle’s non-payment of taxes.

They mostly supported the former Senate leader for two reasons: Obama was determined to push Daschle’s appointment through and they didn’t want to embarrass their president if the appointment failed.

Mr. Daschle disappointed Obama but saved the Democratic Party from another stain by withdrawing, much to the relief of some Democrats.

Even Senate Republicans believed Daschle would be confirmed after getting roughed up a bit.

So why did Daschle bow out?

A source close to Daschle says "he didn't have the stomach for the fight."

Already depressed by the recent discovery that his younger brother is stricken with brain cancer, Daschle wasn't prepared for another week of Senate hazing and damaging headlines.

The double-barreled combination of a blistering New York Times editorial and a front-page story raising questions about President Obama's commitment to ethics reform in Washington convinced Daschle he had to go.

Link

Raise taxes - but don’t pay taxes

Playing through

Australian golfer Peter Lonard waits to play a shot as a kangaroo leaps by during second day of the 2008 Australian PGA Championships.

Friday. December 5, 2008

Czech president attacks Gore’s global warming

Czech President Václav Klaus (pictured) took aim at climate change campaigner Al Gore on Saturday at the World Economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.

It was a frontal attack on the science of global warming by president Klaus.

"I don't think that there is any global warming," said the 67-year-old liberal, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. "I don't see the statistical data for that."

Referring to the former US vice president, who attended Davos this year, he added: "I'm very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.

"Environmentalism and the global warming alarmism is challenging our freedom. Al Gore is an important person in this movement."

The Czech President is probably aware that Al Gore will NOT debate global warming as well as NOT listen to competing theories.

Link

Limo lib cartoon

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Shanghai stock market on a slow day

Ethics drive tarnished by tax dodging appointees

Over the next few weeks, millions of people will be preparing their tax returns before the April 15 filing deadline.

There could not have been a worse time of year for revelations to emerge about unpaid taxes by Tom Daschle and other prospective members of Barack Obama’s administration.

“Tom Daschle, like Leona Helmsley, believes that only ‘the little people’ should pay taxes,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, quoting a notorious New York real-estate investor. “He thinks he’s too important for that, and he gives the word hypocrisy a bad odor.”

Tom Daschle apologized and said he was “deeply sorry.” Though Mr. Daschle didn’t admit it, he was probably sorry that his tax cheating cost him a prize appointment.

The hypocrisy of former Senator Daschle can be found in his own words from a 1998 debate, “Tax cheaters cheat us all, and the [Internal Revenue Service] should enforce our laws to the letter.”

Tom Daschle with his $140,000 (including interest) tax problem and the $34,000 tax problem of Tim Geithner have done much to tarnish the so called ethics drive of the Obama administration.

Making matters worse is the fact that Geithner has already been confirmed as secretary of treasury! In other words, the man in charge of the Internal Revenue Service is an admitted tax cheat.

Just hours after Daschle withdrew under pressure, Nancy Killefer announced that she too had been late in paying nearly $1,000 of taxes and would no longer be taking up her position as government chief performance officer - a new role responsible for increasing government accountability.

As a former chief operating officer of the Treasury department, Ms Killefer was once heavily involved in management of the IRS and subsequently sat on an oversight board that pushed the agency to crack down on high-income tax cheats.

That makes three Obama appointees with tax issues. So much for the Obama ethics drive.

Link

Bowled over by snow in the Uk

A man carrying an umbrella tips his bowler hat as if to acknowledge the 4-inch “paralyzing” London snow as he trudges down a cement footpath in Whitehall.

Hero pilot speaks to Rick Reilly of ESPN

The hero of the Hudson, US Airways pilot Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger (pictured) was interviewed by Rick Reilly of ESPN.

The hero pilot who safely landed a US Airways plane in the Hudson finally broke his silence and said he felt "calm on the outside, turmoil inside" when he realized he would have to splash land in the river.

He described the moment he lost both engines when the plane hit a flock of birds after taking off from LaGuardia airport on Jan. 15 as "surreal" and "shocking," according to ESPN's Rick Reilly.

"It was very quiet as we worked, my co-pilot and I," Sully said during his first interview since the crash. "We were a team. But to have zero thrust coming out of those engines was shocking -- the silence."

The 57-year-old pilot saved 154 passengers and crew members when he set Flight 1549 down in the Hudson River after the plane lost power.

Link

Daschle withdraws under fire for not paying taxes

Former Sen. Tom Daschle (pictured), under fire for his failure to pay more than $140,000 in taxes and interest on time, withdrew his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, saying he had lost the confidence of the Congress.

The article at the link below says:

The decision shocked Capitol Hill, where Democrats were rallying around his embattled nomination, and marked a sharp setback for President Barack Obama.

The previous statement does not speak well for the fledgling Obama administration nor for Democrats in Washington.

Why would they be shocked that a tax cheat would withdraw from consideration? It’s Americans who should be shocked that Obama and Democrat leaders in Washington kept rallying around a man who didn’t pay $140,000 in federal income taxes.

As we have said before, this is not your father’s Democratic Party.

... hmm ...does this mean Daschle paid the taxes he owed for nothing? ... just wondering ...

Link

Apple sued for knowingly profiting from faulty iPhone 3g’s

A class action lawsuit filed in Northern California asserts that Apple profited from the iPhone 3G while knowing it had issues with 3G connectivity.

The suit is seeking damages in excess of $5 million for thousands of class members.

The suit also wants all profits received by Apple from sales for the device (along with interest).

Link

Anti-smoking law in Belmont CA - did they go too far?

Belmont, California, is a quiet city of about 25,000 located 23 miles south of San Francisco that now has perhaps the nation's strictest anti-smoking law, effectively outlawing lighting up in all apartment buildings.

Edith Frederickson, a 72-year-old German émigré who has smoked for 50 years is angry.

“They're telling you how to live and what to do, and they're doing it right here in America.”

Frederickson can no longer smoke in the one place she loves the most: her apartment.

Public health advocates are closely watching to see what happens with Belmont, seeing it as a new front in their national battle against tobacco, one that seeks to place limits on smoking in buildings where tenants share walls, ceilings and - by their logic - air.

No doubt real estate apartment managers are also watching the fallout from the smoking ban which may make multi-unit buildings harder to sell and apartments harder to rent.

Link

Heaviest snow in 18 years hits England

Picture above shows Buckingham Palace in the background. In the photo below a Londoner slogs through the snow past a pair of phone booths.



Our son-in-law Ernest got caught in the UK snowstorm on his way to India on a business trip. His flight from Denver was diverted away from Heathrow and he arrived in London by train.

The snowstorm that nearly paralyzed parts of southern England was only about four inches deep.

Link

Tom Daschle: poster boy for corruption in D.C.?

Former Senator Tom Daschle (pictured) is rapidly becoming a good candidate for the dubious honor of poster boy for corruption in Washington.

Barack Obama promised a "clean break from business as usual" in Washington but it hasn't quite worked out that way.

From the start, he made exceptions to his no-lobbyist rule. And now, embarrassing details about Cabinet-nominee Tom Daschle's tax problems and big paychecks from special interest groups are raising new questions about the reach and sweep of the new president's promised reforms.

Obama promised "change," but as the administration evolves, that "change" looks like more shameless graft, corruption and cronyism than we have ever seen in Washington.

At the second link below is a Power Line report titled. “Tom Daschle: symbol of what’s wrong in D.C.”

Tom Daschle is a man of little ability who, as far as history records, has never had a creative or original idea about any public policy issue.

Nevertheless, through a combination of assiduous delivery of pork to his constituents, slavish devotion to the Democratic Party and ethical flexibility, he rose almost to the top of the heap in Washington, DC.

Daschle has been a borderline crook through most if not all of his Senate career. But that didn't stop the Democrats from electing him their leader in the Senate.

My personal dislike for Daschle stems from the way he deceived his constituents in my home state of South Dakota.

The Aberdeen, South Dakota native promised more than he delivered in the form of legislative benefit to his constituents. However, he brought home just enough “pork” to insure his success at the polls on Election Day. Being a hard-core liberal politician in a conservative state was an oddity.

Link here and here.

Employee free choice act is gift to labor unions

The Employee Free Choice Act is a grossly mislabeled law that will be a gift to labor unions by the Obama administration.

Using words like “bipartisanship” and “compromise,” Obama will attempt to pass controversial legislation that will increase control over the U.S. workforce by labor unions.

The Employee Free Choice Act is one of the Democrats’ top priority legislative items to go after as soon as the economic stimulus bill is completed.

The bill, largely recognized as a “payback” to Big Labor for their work electing Democrats during the past two election cycles, would give labor a leg-up over employers by wiping out requirements for a secret ballot election to organize workplaces in favor of a public signature (called “card-check”).

When trying to organize a non-union business, union organizers could demand that all employees sign a card to check whether they want to join a union or not.

These cards would be signed in front of union organizers rather than in private. It would not be a secret ballot and many employees could be intimidated into voting for the union whether they wanted to or not.

The legislation, however, has a second component just as destructive to the private sector as elimination of secret ballots.

The bill would also require mandatory, binding arbitration by a federally-appointed official in case of failed agreements and dramatically increase penalties for labor law violations.

The article at the link below has more details.

It is Obama’s way of rewarding labor unions for helping to elect Democrats who are always pro-union.

Link

Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow: six more weeks of winter

The world's most famous groundhog saw his shadow Monday morning, predicting this already long winter will last for six more weeks.


Ben Hughes, handler of the weather-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, held the famous rodent up in front of a crowd of about 13,000 witnesses.

The annual ritual takes place on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in Punxsutawney, a borough of about 6,100 residents some 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Link

Incentive to help us loose weight

Amuse your friends by putting this picture on your refrigerator door.



The picture is outrageously photoshopped but it is also really funny.

Daschle: another tax cheat appointed by Obama

Tax cheating by former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle (pictured) is not the only problem surrounding appointees selected by Barack Obama to fill key positions in the administration.

Remember how the main stream media glowingly raved about how the Obama team was being made up of outstandingly brilliant people?

Adding credence to claims of a Democrat culture of corruption, two weeks later we learned of:

Bill Richardson, Obama’s first choice for Secretary of Commerce, had to be scrubbed as a candidate because of ‘pay to play’ corruption in his recent background.

Timothy Geitner, who was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, was found to be a tax cheat (it was more than just a careless oversight because his tax software told him the tax return had an error but he filed it anyway). As Treasury Secretary, Geitner will be in charge of the Internal Revenue Service, which means he will be the fox guarding the hen house.

Eric Holder, Obama’s choice for Attorney General, is clouded by his complicity in the very controversial pardon or Marc Rich.

William Lynn is Obama’s choice for deputy Defense secretary. This appointment would present a conflict of interest because Lynn was a senior executive for defense contractor Raytheon.

And then there is the case of Tom Daschle, Obama’s choice for the position as head of Health and Human Services Department. Daschle will be the architect of Socialized Medicine for the administration. Former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle’s tax cheating amounted to over $100,000.

Daschle suddenly paid $140,000 in back taxes and interest in to “clear” his name so he could be appointed.

Link here and here for the Daschle’s tax cheating story.

A red robin on ice

A red robin lands on an icy tree branch during the winter storm that spread a glaze of ice and snow from the southern Plains to the East Coast.

January 28, 2009 photo taken in Clifton, Ohio (AP photo via The Cincinnati Enquirer).

Barney Frank’s hypocrisy

The Boston Herald had a recent report titled, Barney Frank’s hypocrisy, which is really an oxymoron to most anyone following the political career of Mr. Frank.

Ah, the dirty little secret is out. That $700 billion TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) bill was in part simply a variation on congressional pork - except this time the recipients were banks with friends in high places.

One of those powerful friends was Democratic Congressman Barney Frank (pictured), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The report also points out that one of the recipients of a $12 million infusion of federal cash was the troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston that had already been accused of “unsafe and unsound banking practices.”

Kevin Cohee, CEO of OneUnited Bank had been criticized by regulators for “excessive” pay that included a Porsche.

Frank admits he included language in the TARP legislation specifically designed to bail out OneUnited. He also acknowledges contacting officials at the Treasury Department about the bank’s bailout application.

Frank has never failed to amaze us with his ability to defend the indefensible and to staunchly uphold the double standard. It’s his special talent.

Click on the comments link at the end of the Boston Herald report to read what some of the Boston area people think of Barney Frank.

The Boston Herald story is here. More on the involvement of Barney Frank in the subprime mortgage fiasco can be found here.

Bart Starr in action - Super Bowl I

Green Bay Packer quarterback Bart Starr in action against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Green Bay won the game 35-10.

Len Dawson in action - Super Bowl IV

Kansas City Chief quarterback Len Dawson in action against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV on January 11, 1970, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kansas City won the game 23–7.

Super Bowl nostalgia from 1973

In 1973, during halftime at Super Bowl VII, helmeted bumper cars roamed the turf of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Cool, but what kind of mileage did they get?

Thousands of contestants at ice fishing contest

Looking more like ants from above, thousands of anglers cast lines through holes in the surface of a frozen river during a trout fishing contest in Hwacheon, South Korea.

Emergency Corral

A volunteer helps rescue horses as a wildfire approaches the Joder Arabian Ranch near Boulder, Colorado.

AP photo via boulder Times-Call

Obama’s half-brother arrested on drug possession charge

George Obama, the half-brother of U.S. President Barack Obama, has been arrested by Kenyan police on a charge of possession of marijuana and resisting arrest.

He is being held at Huruma police post in the capital of Nairobi.

Speaking from behind bars, Obama denied the allegations.

George Obama and the president barely know each other, though they have met.

The photo above shows George Obama with some friends in Kenya. George is in the center of the photo.

The Telegraph web news in the UK reported on the finding of George Obama in a ‘shanty town’ in Nairobi, Kenya last august.

The marijuana arrest story is here. Link here for the story of George Obama living in Kenya.