Warm temps bring out D.C. cherry blossoms for Easter

After an exceptionally cold and snowy winter, the cherry blossoms are out in Washington in time for Easter.

Seventy percent of the cherry blossoms around the Washington, D.C. tidal basin are blooming.

Is this the real face of Jesus?

Last week The History Channel revealed for the first time a new 3-D image that is believed to be the face of Jesus.

The History Channel used the shroud of Turin as the basis for the photo shown above.

Some skeptics claim the shroud of Turin is a piece of medieval church art or a counterfeit relic.

Link

Happy Easter

In your Easter bonnet…

…with all the frills upon it.

From a pulpit near you on Easter Sunday

“Many of you won’t be back here until next Easter so I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas.”

The Issacs sing :It Is Well With My Soul”

Drunken priest hits mourner in the face at funeral

A French Catholic bishop has apologized after a 'punch-drunk' priest turned up inebriated to preside over a funeral and then hit a mourner in the face.

Father Bonaventure Ouedraogo was told by relatives that they did not want him to preside over the funeral held near the southwestern city of Toulouse.

They then prevented him from getting back into his car because he was too drunk to drive, according to Gerard Tillier, brother of the deceased woman.

At this point the priest fell to the ground, and when a man tried to help him to his feet, he punched him in the face.

Too much sacramental wine?

Link

Last California auto plant closed its doors

The last car has rolled off the production lines at California's sole auto plant.

The plant made Toyota Tacoma trucks and Corolla sedans. The last Tacoma rolled off the assembly lines last week, and Corolla production ended Thursday.

Link

Secret behind greatest student prank of all time

April Fools day is an appropriate time to report on what has been called the greatest student prank of all time.

A team of a dozen engineering students executed what was probably the most ingenious student prank ever.


The year was 1958. The place was Gonville & Caius College which is a part of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.

In June 1958, Cambridge awoke to see a car perched at the apex of an inaccessible rooftop, looking as if it were driving across the skyline.

It was an Austin Seven van that appeared out of nowhere on top of the Senate House roof.

The spectacle made headlines around the world and left police, firefighters and civil defense units battling for nearly a week to hoist the vehicle back down before giving in and taking it to pieces with blowtorches.

The shadowy group of engineering students who executed the stunt were never identified and the mystery of how they did it has baffled successive undergraduates and provided fodder for countless tourist guides.

Now, 50 years later, the group reunited to disclose their identities and reveal how they winched an Austin Seven to the top of the university's 70ft-high Senate House.

A diagram at the link below shows how the stunt was pulled off by the twelve students divided into three groups.

Link

Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam may capsize!

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week that he fears sending additional Marines to Guam, the island will become so overpopulated that it will "capsize" and fall over into the ocean.

Was Congressman Johnson serious? If so he must be about as dumb as a rock.

Was Congressman Johnson was being facetious? If so, taking up half the length of the video to describe Guam as a small island means that he may only be half as dumb as a rock.

TV Weatherman terrified by a cockroach

FBI 10 Most Wanted fugitive list turns 60

The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List debuted on March 14, 1950, and has become a fixture of American culture.

The prototype for what would become the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list began with a newspaper story by reporter James Donovan, who asked the bureau: "Who are the 10 toughest guys you are looking for?"

His article appeared on the front page of the Washington Daily News in 1949 and encouraged the FBI to make the list an official crime-fighting tool.

Since the list's inception in 1950, some 494 fugitives have been counted among the worst of the worst.

Link

Obama still searching for a TSA chief

More than a year into Obama's Administration -- and three months after the Nigerian underwear bomber came close to blowing a U.S. airliner out of the sky over Detroit -- the nation still doesn't have a top cop at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Why is the Obama Administration having such a tough time filling this vital slot?

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding took himself out of the running last Friday.

This was another setback for Obama after his first choice withdrew in January because he faced a tough confirmation struggle in Congress.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (pictured) was selected early as Obama formed his administration.

Is the outspoken Napolitano the main reason for the difficulty in finding a TSA chief? She is the one who said “the system worked” after the Nigerian underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner over Detroit.

Perhaps when candidates learn that their main job will have far more to do with unions like the SEIU than with national security, they tend to shy away from the job.

Senator Jim DeMint pointed out in January, the nomination of Erroll Southers as TSA chief was intended to usher in collective bargaining for screeners.

Link here and here.

Why did Tiger choose the Masters for his comeback?

A report on FOX sports says:

That Tiger Woods chose Augusta National to stage his return to golf is in itself an admission that, for the first time in his career, winning the Masters isn't his priority.

At least that's the conventional wisdom.


If he really wanted a fifth green jacket, the smart money says, he would've played a warm-up tournament.

Most of the savvy golf followers believe Woods chose the Masters because it's the safest place for him to begin what is sure to be a difficult comeback.

The media won't roll over at his Monday press conference but neither is he likely to be savaged with embarrassing questions about sexting porn queens.

The Masters is the only tournament where writers and photographers aren't allowed inside the ropes, giving Woods more breathing room than he would've gotten anywhere else.

He knows, too, these aren't the type of patrons who get thrown out of pubs. Augusta may be the South, but the fans at the Masters aren't rednecks: they're genteel folks who sip lemonade on porches, far too well-mannered to make a guest feel unwelcome.

On the other hand, how much patience will those in the gallery have if Tiger duffs his way through the tournament? They didn’t pay a couple of hundred or more to watch Woods shoot bogeys.

Just in case there happens to be few boisterous rednecks in the gallery intent on heckling, security will have them out on their ear before they can utter the second “boo.”

Besides that, his caddy (pictured above protecting Woods) has promised to silence hecklers when Tiger returns to tournament play.

This cartoon below is by Drew Litton, our favorite sports cartoonist. Drew and his “Littoons” live here.

The FOX Sports report is here. Click here for the “silence hecklers” story.

Chocolate may protect against high blood pressure and strokes

Chocoholics rejoice. If the report at the link below is true, the chocolate Easter bunny just may lower your chances of having a heart problem.

According to a new study, small doses of chocolate every day could decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by nearly 40 percent.

German researchers followed nearly 20,000 people over eight years, sending them several questionnaires about their diet and exercise habits.

They found people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day - or about one square of a chocolate bar - had a 39 percent lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke.

Now, where did I put that recipe for double fudge brownies?

Link

List of cash requested to buy “yes” votes from the Stupak 11

The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak (pictured) who dropped their opposition to health care reform mere hours before the final vote, have requested 3.4 billion dollars in earmarks!

Since the health care reform push hit its final stretch, numerous sweeteners for lawmakers' districts and states have been found inside the package. Earmark requests are made outside of the health care bill, making them a bit more difficult to link to any vote-trading. But it is precisely that kind of tricky-to-catch deal-making that Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said he and other GOP senators would be monitoring for months to come.

Below is a list of the cash payoff amounts to the Stupak 11.

Rep. Jerry Costello of Illinois.: $1,418.7 million ($256.4 million in 2010)

Rep. Solomon Ortiz of Texas: $618 million ($726.1 million in 2010)

Stupak of Michigan: $578.9 million

Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio: $294 million ($305.7 million in 2010)

Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania: $236.8 million ($54 million in 2010)

Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota.: $207 million ($226 million in 2010)

Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana.: $115.4 million ($82.3 million in 2010)

Rep. Charles Wilson of Ohio: $84 million ($62.3 million in 2010)

Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania.: $67.1 million

Rep. Steve Driehaus of Ohio: $33.2 million

Rep. Joseph Donnelly of Indiana: $19.8 million ($11.65 million in 2010)

Link

Brit Hume on a possible value added tax after the Nov elections

What is a Value added tax (VAT)?

A value-added tax is a fee that is assessed against businesses by a government at various stages in the production of goods or services -- usually any time a product is resold or value is added to it.

For tax purposes, value is added whenever the value of a product increases as a result of the application of a company's factors of production, such as labor and equipment.

The tax must be paid by every company that handles a product during its transition from raw materials to finished goods.

For example, tax is charged when a manufacturer sells to a wholesaler and again when a wholesaler sells to a retailer.

On the surface a value added tax may sound innocent enough but when implemented, it will change the price of goods and services significantly.

The worst part of a value added tax is that it is a regressive tax, meaning the poor pay more, as a percentage of their income, than the rich.

The fear that Obama will impose a value added tax is very real. He must find some way to pay for everything from the disastrous ‘cash for clunkers’ to the multitude of bailouts. It’s the pork laden ObamaCare and the costly bribes it took to get it passed that will bring down his financial house of cards without a value added tax.

Colorado woman wins - then loses a $42 million jackpot

Fortune Valley casino in Central City, Colorado has refused to honor a $42 million slot machine jackpot saying it was a machine malfunction.

When Louise Chavez looked at the jackpot total on the slot machine she was playing at the Fortune Valley casino in Central City, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The machine indicated that she'd won $42 million.

The elation didn’t last long. A few minutes later, casino officials told her the machine had malfunctioned and she didn't win anything.

"Everyone who sits in front of a slot machine is well aware of what the top prize is," said Don Burmania, communications director at the state Gaming Division.

"In this case the top prize was $215,000. So it wasn't in the realm of possibility for anyone to expect to win $42.9 million on that machine."

Her brother, who asked that we not use his name, told 7NEWS that investigators need to get to the bottom of the dispute.

“If it was a legitimate malfunction, the company should be able to prove it and not just claim it was a malfunction to avoid having to pay the jackpot amount,” he said.

The machine was sent to a private lab for analysis.

This isn’t the first time there’s been a malfunction with a slot machine in Colorado.

A woman who thought that she’d won a $164 million jackpot at the Canyon Casino in Black Hawk in August of 2008, was also told it was a machine malfunction.

In the Fortune Valley incident, the casino offered to give Ms. Chavez the $23 she spent on slots that day, a free night's lodging and a free buffet.

Link

Plains states brace for grasshopper invasion

Parts of Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Idaho may be in store for costly grasshopper infestations this summer.

Grasshoppers are found across the United States, but outbreaks of pest species are most common in the Plains and Western states.

"They're grass eaters," said Tom Wright, a rancher near Newcastle in northeast Wyoming about 20 miles from the South Dakota border. "They'll eat the leaves and leave the stem. And they will eat the stems finally.

"When they're really thick, people say they'll eat T-shirts on a clothesline," he said as he recalled a time in the mid-1980s when the grasshoppers were so thick that you couldn't put your hand on the shady side of a fence post without squashing one.

More here.

There is a lot to quack about at Duckomenta

Things are just ducky now that Duckomenta has returned to “Duckburg”.

Yes, there is a lot of quacking as the ducks are back at Duckomenta II as a new entries mimic the works of the masters.

The ducks are back at Neuhardenberg, Germany, which is called “Duckburg” during this event.

Following the Neuhardenberg exhibition in 2003, they traveled the world, were celebrated wherever they went and have now returned to their place of departure to show and astound their many new colleagues at Neuhardenberg.

The displays opened in March of this year in Neuhardenberg, Brandenburg, Germany. Duckomenta viewing will continue through June 13, 2010.

Shown below are notable Duckomenta II entries:

Duckfretete - Egyptian Queen Nefertiti

Duckstein - Albert Einstein

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

Vincent Van Gogh self portrait

Link

Keeping both eyes on the ball

Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak eyes the ball as she plays Croatia's Petra Martic during their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, May 28, 2009.

Hurry up and wait: Apple delays iPad shipping

Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer hits U.S. shelves on Saturday, but fans who want the new touch-screen gadget shipped directly to them must wait a week.

The company declined to give a reason for the shipping delay, but said would-be customers can still pre-order the iPad for in-store pickup on April 3, or purchase the device in stores that day.

The iPads going on sale will connect to Wi-Fi networks only and cost $499, $599 or $699, depending on the data storage capacity.

Versions that also can connect to "3G" cellular networks are expected to go on sale in late April for $629, $729 or $829. International releases also are planned for later in April.

Link

News lady: dead man climbs Mt. Everest!

CNN ratings keep sinking

From a New York Times report at the link below:

CNN continued what has become a precipitous decline in ratings for its prime-time programs in the first quarter of 2010, with its main hosts losing almost half their viewers in a year.

The trend in news ratings for the first three months of this year is all up for one network, the Fox News Channel, which enjoyed its best quarter ever in ratings, and down for both MSNBC and CNN.

CNN has long regarded Anderson Cooper as the strongest host at CNN. Yet the New York Times report says his show has suffered badly.

For the quarter, Cooper dropped 42 percent in viewers and 46 percent among the 25-to-54-year-old audience that the news channels use for their sales to advertisers.

We have long said that Anderson Cooper is newscastings answer to cold oatmeal. According to his drop in ratings, a host of others must feel the same way.

The Times report says that CNN’s programs are led by hosts “not aligned with any partisan point of view,” which is not true.

During most of the 1990’s, CNN was known by many as the Clinton News Network for the way they under reported anything negative about Bill Clinton - especially the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the subsequent impeachment proceedings.

The New York Times report is here. Recent cable news viewership numbers can be found here.

Facebook blocks Defriender iPhone app

A company called i-Doodz released an iPhone application recently that tracked your Facebook friend list and would alert you if someone "defriended" you.

It was a 99-cent app that scanned your Facebook friend list each time you ran the program and compared it with the last list. If it noticed a missing name, it alerted you to the wayward friend.

However, only days after Defriender's debut, Facebook blocked the application, and Apple pulled it from the App store.

Link

Ironworker at One World Trade Center construction site

An ironworker unhooks a cable suspended from a crane at One World Trade Center construction site, Thursday, March 25, 2010 in New York.

One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is under construction by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Report: white men walking away from Democrat Party

A report at the link below is titled, White men shun Democrats.

Millions of white men who voted for Barack Obama are walking away from the Democratic Party, and it appears increasingly likely that they'll take the midterms elections in November with them. Their departure could well lead to a GOP landslide on a scale not seen since 1994.

For more than three decades before the 2008 election, no Democrat president had won a majority of the electorate. In part, that was because of low support -- never more than 38 percent -- among white male voters.

That all changed with Obama. He not only won a majority of all people voting, but also pulled in 41 percent of white male voters.

More of this interesting story here.

CNN said dozens at Nevada Palin event - but photos show thousands

CNN must be angry because the latest Sarah Palin rally was held in Searchlight, Arizona - the hometown of Harry Reid.

For whatever reason, CNN downplayed the Palin event in Nevada by saying “at Least Dozens of People” attended.

(click on picture to enlarge)
Politico reports the crowd at more like 20,000 and the actual count was probably much higher.

(click on picture to enlarge)
The crowd photos were taken by the Border Patrol during the Palin rally in Searchlight, Arizona. The photos are dated March 27, 1010.

Link

Beach monsters?

They may look like beach monsters but the photo shows people carrying chairs at the beach of St. Peter-Ording, in Germany,

Is DC going to pot?

A medical marijuana bill in Washington, DC will likely allow users to grow their own in their back yards or basements.

DC lawmakers are discussing adding a provision to a medical marijuana bill that would allow authorized users to grow the plants for their personal use.

A provision for "home cultivation" is being discussed.

Of the 14 states allowing medical marijuana, 13 states currently allow so-called "home cultivation." Most states allow people to cultivate five to six plants.

Link

Palin campaigned for McCain in Arizona

To paraphrase lyrics from a Glen Campbell song, “By the time she gets to Phoenix, he'll be raring (to go.)”

The photo shows Sarah Palin and John McCain campaigning in 2008.

Sarah Palin was in Arizona to help Sen. John McCain who is facing a tough challenge in his re-election bid.

John McCain helped Sarah Palin launch her national political career two years ago. Now, she's trying to help McCain save his.

Friday was the first time the former Republican presidential candidate and his vice president pick will campaign together since the election in 2008.

More here.

Businesses react to higher cost of ObamaCare by cutting benefits

Remember the part in the ObamaCare pitch when they said if you like your current healthcare, it won't change?

Turns out it might.

Companies are already announcing that their healthcare premium costs are going through the roof.

Some are responding by firing people.

Some are cutting benefits.

What will your employer do?

Link

Times online to charge readers $36 year beginning in June

Beginning in June of this year we will no longer link to reports in the London Times (in the UK it is simply called “The Times.”


Why? The Times will begin charging for the privilege of looking at their web editions.

We have no quarrel with the decision to charge for their online content. It’s just that we can’t afford to pay thirty some dollars each to the dozens and dozens of newspaper websites we link to each year.

Rupert Murdoch is chairman and CEO of News Corp. owner of The Times.

News Corp. is the world's second-largest media conglomerate. Included in the holdings of News Corp. are Fox News, Wall Street Journal, and New York Post.

Can charging for Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Fox News online content be far behind?

Link

The Stupak 11 now want billions for their votes

The “Stupak 11” sold their votes. It wasn’t about their pro-life principals. It was all about money.

Congressman Bart Stupak (pictured) and ten other House members, known as the “Stupak 11,” compromised on their pro-life position to deliver the necessary yes-votes to pass ObamaCare.

One day later, the “Stupak 11” released their fiscal year 2011 earmark requests, which total more than $4.7 billion. That’s an average of $429 million worth of earmark requests for each of them!

Like Ben Nelson and others in the Senate, the Stupak 11 sold out for ‘thirty pieces of silver.’

Link

Cable News viewership race for Tuesday March 23, 2010 shown by number of viewers:

Fox News - Bill O’Reilly - 3,185,000
Fox News - Hannity - 2,724,000
Fox News - Greta Van Susteren - 2,613,000
Fox News - Glenn Beck - 2,574,000
Fox News - Bret Baier - 2,445,000
Fox News - Shephard Smith - 1,831,000
MSNBC - Rachel Maddow - 1,457,000
MSNBC - Keith Olbernann - 1,270,000
CNN - Anderson Cooper - 884,000
MSNBC - Ed Schultz - 840,000
MSNBC - Chris Matthews - 839,000

Squirrel hijacks vacation snapshot - revisited

We first posted this last August


Just before the camera self-portrait timer clicked a squirrel found its way into the photo.

Link

The Cathedrals quartet sing Going Home

The Cathedral signing group got their name from American television evangelist Rex Humbard’s Cathedral of Tomorrow TV program.

Glen Payne and George Younce were Cathedral members for many years. The group ended their 35-year career in 1999.

Glen Payne passed away on October 15, 1999 at the age of 72. George Younce passed away on April 11, 2005.

Cathedral tenor Ernie Haase went on to form Signature Sound quartet in 2002. The late George Younce, long-time Cathedral bass singer, was Ernie Haase’s father-in-law.

NY lives up to it’s ‘Naked City’ moniker

New York has been referred to as the Naked City after a black-and-white movie by that name was released in 1948.

Further solidifying the nickname, a 30-minute TV drama on ABC was called Naked City. It began in 1958 and starred craggy-faced actor John McIntire as Police Lieutenant Dan Muldoon.

Now the moniker ‘Naked City’ has taken on a whole new meaning as life-size statues of naked men have been showing up in the city, mostly perched on top of buildings.




Panicked New Yorkers, thinking they are real people about to jump, have called 911 to report possible suicides.


As the last photo shows, they are not all perched atop buildings.

About thirty life-size statues of Antony Gormley's public art exhibition Event Horizon will be displayed in New York City near Madison Square Park from From March 26 to August 15.

The 6-foot tall statues are made of fiberglass and iron that are unmistakably male. The public art installation is the brainchild of British sculptor Antony Gormley, who bares a striking resemblance to the figures. That's because he modeled them after himself.

Bank robbers called ahead to have money ready to pick up

Police in Connecticut say they had ample warning of a bank robbery because the two suspects called the bank ahead of time and told an employee to get a bag of money ready.

Police arrested 27-year-old Albert Bailey and an unidentified 16-year-old boy on robbery and threatening charges Tuesday afternoon at a People's United Bank branch in Fairfield.

Sgt. James Perez says the two Bridgeport residents showed up about 10 minutes after making the call and were met by police in the parking lot. Perez told the Connecticut Post the suspects were "not too bright."

Link

Don’t honk at granny!

Hong Kong smog - surging pollution

Top photo: The Hong Kong skyline is covered in a blanket of smog with air pollution index surging to 479 points in this March 2010 photo.

Lower photo: Hong Kong shown on a clear day in this June 2009 photo.

Convicted murderer found 38 years later operating a wedding chapel

Frank Dryman was convicted of murdering a man who stopped and gave him a ride while hitchhiking in 1951.

After a quick trial in 1955, Dryman was sentenced to be hanged. Later, however, the sentence was changed to life in prison.

He was paroled in 1969 but he disappeared. He was found running a wedding chapel under an assumed name in Arizona 38 years after he skipped out on parole.


The photo on the left was taken in 1955 by the Montana Department of Corrections. The photo on the right was taken March 2010 showing Dryman at the time of his arrest in Arizona.

Link

Just desserts for Madoff?

Bernard Madoff (pictured), who is serving a 150-year sentence in North Carolina for running a fraud scheme that cost investors billions of dollars, was physically assaulted by another inmate in December, according to three people familiar with the matter.

After the attack, Mr. Madoff, who pleaded guilty a year ago and was sent to a federal prison in Butner, N.C., was moved on Dec. 18 to the prison's low-security medical center for treatment.

At the time, the Bureau of Prisons said that rumors of an assault were false and that Mr. Madoff suffered from dizziness and hypertension.

A contradictory report said Mr. Madoff was treated for a broken nose, fractured ribs and cuts to his head and face. This story came from a felon currently at Butner serving time on drug charges who was familiar with his condition at the time. The details of the injuries couldn't be independently verified.

The alleged assault is probably of interest only to investors swindled by Madoff.

Link

Prince Charles inspects a butchery class

During a visit to Westminster Kingsway College in London, Prince Charles is shown with catering students in a butchery class.

He appears to be saying to the seemingly disinterested students, “grill them up proper and make it snappy!”

To Americans, this inspection appears to be meaningless. However, the Prince really needs to do something to take up his time while he is waiting for his mother the Queen to die so he can begin his life’s work.

Looking at the reality of ObamaCare

From an op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times:

Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership have nationalized healthcare by proxy.

Insurance companies are now heavily regulated government contractors.

The Obama administration has turned the insurance industry into the Blackwater of socialized medicine.

The legislation allocates $10 billion to pay for 16,500 IRS agents who will collect and enforce mandatory "premiums."

From a Lucianne commenter:

The Obama administration is moving right along:

ObamaBanks - check
ObamaCars - check
ObamaCare - check
ObamaCarbonTax - that’s next on the list
ObamaAmnesty - coming soon
ObamaUnionCardCheck - coming soon

Is anything missing from the list above?

Link

Teen gets carpal tunnel from texting

A 16-year-old Illinois teen has carpal tunnel syndrome from sending over 100 test messages a day to family and friends for the last year.


Annie Levitz, who lives near Mundelein, Illinois, is paying the price for a texting habit that sometimes reached 3,500 to 4,000 messages per month on an unlimited plan.

She couldn't wait for her day to end at 3:25 p.m. at Lincolnshire's Stevenson High School where students are banned from sending text messages over their wireless telephones at school. So, the minute Levitz got outside she'd fire texts to her friends and kept at it on many days until 11 p.m., with the lone break coming for dinner.

Daily Herald report is here. Video is here.

Report: Stupak's fall from pro-life grace

Barack Obama played Bart Stupak (pictured) like a fiddle and in the process, the Michigan Congressman had his name turned into a verb in the political dictionary:

Stupak.

Etymology: Eponym for Rep. Bart Stupak.

Function: verb

1: In a legislative process, to obstruct passage of a proposed law on the basis of a moral principle (i.e., protecting the unborn), accumulating power in the process, then at a key moment surrendering in exchange for a fig leaf, the size of which varies according to the degree of emasculation of said legislator and/or as a reflection of just how stupid people are presumed to be. (Slang: backstabber.)

Will Mr. Stupak live it down? In political circles the answer is probably “no.”

There were reportedly many donations sent to Stupak’s district to assist his opponent in the November election within hours of his "yes" vote.

The Washington Post report goes on:

Poor Bart Stupak. The man tried to be a hero for the unborn, and then, when all the power of the moment was in his frail human hands, he dropped the baby.

He genuflected when he should have dug in his heels and gave it up for a meaningless executive order.

Now, in the wake of his decision to vote for a health-care bill that expands public funding for abortion, he is vilified and will forever be remembered as the guy who Stupaked health-care reform and the pro-life movement.

More here

Taking Notes

A man removes worshipers' notes from the crevices of the Western Wall in Jerusalem making room for more notes.

Joe Biden’s pre-existing condition

(click on cartoon to enlarge)
Joe Biden makes a return visit to his Shoe-ectomy specialist.

They saved ObamaCare but can Obama save them?

It took all “the kings men” bribing and tweaking laws to make ObamaCare happen. Did they sacrifice their political futures in the process?

Their votes helped deliver President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Now, dozens of Democrats are politically imperiled in a contentious environment where emotions are raw and likely to remain so.

Obama plans to use his political heft—and the momentum of victory—to try to prop up lawmakers who stuck with him during the final days that turned the controversial legislation into the law of the land.

They may need more help he can give them.

Obama promised wavering Democrats, primarily moderates in conservative-leaning districts and states, that they wouldn't be left standing alone if they cast the tough "yes" votes.

In all, 17 Democrats who sided with Obama are seeking re-election in districts that Republican presidential candidate John McCain won in 2008.

They include top GOP targets Perriello in Virginia, Betsey Markey in Colorado, Harry Mitchell in Arizona and Suzanne Kosmas in Florida.

One other moderate Democrat now running for the Senate—Brad Ellsworth in Indiana—voted for the measure, too. He's facing a difficult race in a right-tilting state as Democrats seek to hang onto the seat now held by retiring Sen. Evan Bayh.

The big question is - can Obama save their House and Senate seats?

More here.

Mobile phone at the 1988 winter Olympics

The photo shows skier Frank Piccard using a mobile phone during the 1988 winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Early cellular phones like this were called “brick phones.” They were the size of a brick and nearly as heavy.

Congressman Dingell: ObamaCare will Control the People

There is a short audio clip at the link below.

In this shocking Audio, Democrat Congressman Dingell (pictured) Says ObamaCare Will Eventually 'Control the People'

Link

SS and Medicare bigger rip-offs than the Madoff Ponzi scheme?

A John Stossel report at the link below says:

Bernie Madoff took money from people who thought he'd invested it, gave some to others who thought it was a partial return on their earlier investments and kept much for himself. That's called a Ponzi scheme, and his $50 billion fraud was called the biggest ever. But it wasn't the biggest. Social Security and Medicare are much bigger ones.

Social Security and Medicare are trillion-dollar scams. Medicare has a $36 trillion unfunded liability. Social Security's is $8 trillion. There's no money to keep those promises.

Congress isn't investigating the SS and Medicare scams because congress runs them.

The FICA money the government took out of your paycheck and put aside for your retirement is gone.

There's nothing left but IOUs backed by nothing.

Your money was spent not only on current retirees but on wars, welfare, corporate bailouts, earmarks and all the other stuff Congress wants. For years, this was possible because the FICA tax brought in surpluses that allowed government to pay retirees more than they contributed and still help buy those other things.

Then came the newly retiring baby boomers. In 2008, for the first time, Medicare and SS paid out more than it took in.

So instead of filling the government's coffers and hiding the real size of the budget deficit, the entitlement programs have now begun to drain the treasury.

Part of the "problem" is that we live longer. When Social Security started, most people didn't live to 65. Now we average 78.

Social Security and Medicare right now consume almost half the federal budget.

Now, with the pork-laden ObamaCare monstrosity, it won’t be long before SS and Medicare swallow the entire federal budget.

As Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, points out: "You literally cannot tax your way out of this problem. It's not mathematically possible. ... You wipe out the middle class."

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Former Royal car is up for sale in the UK

The former Royal car is a Jaguar Daimler Majestic V8 LWB - gently used with 14,000 miles on the clock.


The pristine automobile is the former vehicle of Queen Elizabeth II.

The original cost of the car was £65,000 ($97,400) and was used by the Queen between 2001 and 2004.

Jaguar modified the car so the driver's arm rest fits the Queen's Launer handbag in order to keep it upright. Wouldn’t want Her Majesty’s small personal effects spilling out all over the car.

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Did Stupak sell his vote for $726,409 in airport grants?

Three airports in the district of Congressman Bart Stupak (pictured) were awarded $726,409 in grants by the Obama Administration just two days before a vote on Obama’s government takeover of healthcare.

Stupak denies the allegation but the timing of the payoff is impossible to deny.

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Favorability rating: Pelosi 11% - Reid 8%

Graphics from CBS News

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A ring-nosed anti-government protester joins other supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as they protest in front of a major army base in Bangkok, Thailand.

Nice glasses.