Cardinal framed by tree branches

This photo was uploaded to a Weather Underground gallery.

Cherub moves hourglass on astronomical clock

Every hour a cherub moves the hourglass part of this astronomical clock in the Strasbourg cathedral in eastern France.

It's the week end - you can come outside and play now

New York Godfather movie house for sale for $2.9 Million

The New York mansion (pictured) used in the 1972 mobster epic, "The Godfather," is for sale.

The owners of the Staten Island home are asking $2.9 million. Maybe someone will make them an offer they can't refuse.

The movie starred Marlon Brando as the fictitious mobster Vito Corleone and turned actors Al Pacino and Robert Duall into household names.

The owner says his mother kept many artifacts from the movie, including Brando's cue cards.

The house features eight bedrooms, two fireplaces, a basement pub, a four-car garage and an in-ground pool.

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Giant football player Antrel Rolle rips fans for booing

Antrel Rolle (pictured) admits he is a "bigmouth" and is unapologetic about it.

Thursday, however, the Giants' safety went over the top when he criticized fans by comparing the booing of football players to booing soldiers coming home from Iraq.

For Mr. Rolle's information, hard-working fans who pay 60 bucks and up to watch multi-millionaires hit each other on a football field, have every right to boo all they want.

We have two words for Antrel Rolle:

HISS BOO!

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YouTube launches skippable ad feature

YouTube has launched its new TrueView ad format, allowing site visitors to avoid watching ads they're not interested in.

Users will now be able to look for a countdown button that will let them skip an ad after it plays for five seconds. In some cases, viewers will be able to select which ad to watch out of three pre-roll options.

TrueView by YouTube has a notice along the top of video clips telling you about the nifty ad-skipping feature.

More here.

Mary Poppins was right - a spoonful of sugar…

A spoonful of sugar can not only help the medicine go down, according to a report in the London Daily Mail:

High sugar levels can help control aggression and prevent loss of temper, researchers have found.

Their study compared the behavior of sugar-starved volunteers with those who had been given a sweet drink, and concluded the latter were less inclined to snap.

The simple sugar glucose is thought to stem aggressive behavior by providing more self-control.

More here.

Pelosi's climate panel died on election day November 2

Congressman James Sensenbrenner (pictured), top Republican on the climate panel, said Republicans will eliminate the House committee created by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to highlight the threat of climate change.

In one of her first acts as speaker in 2007, Pelosi, a California Democrat, created the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to draw attention to climate-change science and showcase how a cap on carbon dioxide needn’t be a threat to economic growth.

Republicans, who took control of the House in the Nov. 2 election, have opposed legislative efforts to regulate carbon emissions as a thinly disguised tax on energy.

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Rangel censured by overwhelming House vote

The photo shows Congressman Rangel making is way to the House floor on Thursday.

An Associated Press report at the link below describes the censure of Democrat Congressman Charlie Rangel.

Veteran Rep. Charles Rangel, the raspy-voiced, backslapping former chairman of one of Congress' most powerful committees, was censured by his House colleagues for financial misconduct Thursday in a solemn moment of humiliation in the sunset of his career.

After the 333-79 vote, the Democrat from New York's Harlem stood at the front of the House and faced Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she read him the formal resolution of censure.

It was only the 23rd time in the nation's history that a House member received the most severe punishment short of expulsion.

Rangel committed ethical and fundraising violations of House rules, including submitting misleading financial statements and failing to pay all his taxes, the chamber's ethics committee determined last month.

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What does Rhode Island DOT have against Cranston?

The mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island is conducting a preliminary investigation into how nearly 700 stop signs, not approved by the city, were installed.

Most if not all of the 692 stop signs on city roads intersecting state roads were placed by the state Department of Transportation.

City officials revealed the questionable signs last week after a months-long investigation that had three city employees driving around the city armed with color-coded maps that indicated the location of the 1,903 stop signs approved by the city.

The employees logged 692 stop signs on city streets that were not approved by the city for posting.

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Report: Reid and Pelosi are sitting ducks and GOP taking aim

From a report at the link below:

Congress might be in what's technically referred to as a lame-duck session, but it's looking more like a game of political chicken.

In this lame duck session, Reid and Pelosi (pictured) are sitting ducks and Republicans are taking aim.

In perhaps the brashest legislative strong-arming Republicans have mustered in months, all 42 current members of the GOP Senate conference signed a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid threatening to block his last-minute leftist agenda if it doesn't stick to issues that include tackling taxes and spending.

The letter to Reid calls for a filibuster of any legislation not directly related to time-sensitive votes that would prevent taxes from going up for all Americans.

This includes extending the Bush tax cuts and the passage of a budget, things that Democrats have long delayed doing.

By asking Democrats to focus not on their favorite social causes but the one issue Americans care about most — the one in their wallets — this letter serves as a dose of tough love for the left.

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Which carrier should you trust to ship your Christmas packages?

At the link below Popular Mechanics tested USPS, UPS and FedEX to see which would be kindest to your packages.

PM mailed packages containing sensors to find out which shipping company is the most careful with packages.

Click here for the tests and results.

Report: Andy Griffith misleading ads cost taxpayers $3Million

From a CNS News report:

The federal government spent $3.1 million on TV ads featuring actor Andy Griffith (pictured) touting the new health care law that a non-partisan watchdog group says are misleading.

The first ad, entitled “1965,” featured Griffith saying, “This year, as always, we’ll have our guaranteed benefits. And with the new health care law, more good things are coming.”

But the non-partisan FactCheck.org says some 10 million Medicare Advantage recipients will see their benefits cut by about $43 a month.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch said “Even Barney Fife would see that these ObamaCare ads are bogus,” referring to the bungling Mayberry deputy sheriff character in the Andy Griffith show.

The Obama administration spent a total of $3,184,000 on three ads, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Link

50,000 inmates with no wages received tax refunds

Nearly 50,000 prison inmates claimed more than $130 million in tax refunds this year without providing any wage information to the IRS.

A report by the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration stops short of saying the refunds were fraudulently claimed.
It does, however, say the Internal Revenue Service should investigate further.

Link

Obama and his forced unionization agenda

Despite having its forced unionization agenda rejected just a few weeks ago, the Obama Administration refuses to take no for an answer.

It is continuing its push to unionize whatever industry it can, wherever it can, whenever it can get away with it. The most recent target is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Despite bipartisan warnings from elected officials and industry experts, the White House appears more interested in rewarding union bosses than advancing the security of hardworking, everyday Americans.

The effort to “payback” Big Labor at the expense of travelers doesn’t stop with the TSA.

Just last week, Big Labor continued its efforts to unionize Delta Airlines, something they’ve been salivating over since its merger with unionized Northwest Airlines.

The workers at Delta Airlines have voted against forming a union eight separate times yet Obama is determined to force them into unionizing.

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State Department on damage control after WikiLeaks

Hillary trying to clean up after WikiLeaks embarrasses State Department.

Glowing trees may replace street lamps

A Discovery News report says that biologically based LEDs could be used to make trees illuminate sidewalks.

The golden glow of street lights could soon be replaced by the green fluorescence of tree leaves. Scientists from the Academia Sinica and the National Cheng Kung University in Taipei and Tainan have implanted glowing, sea urchin shaped gold nanoparticles, known as bio light emitting diodes, or bio LEDs, inside the leaves of a plant.

The new nanoparticles could replace the electricity powered street light with biologically powered light that removes CO2 from the atmosphere 24 hours a day.

As with many other green pipedreams, this one is, as the article says, "a long way away."

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Bill Clinton dinner has few takers

Former President Bill Clinton is auctioning off a private dinner with the proceeds going to the Clinton Foundation.

The menu might be somewhat boring now that he is on a more healthful diet.

The opening bid is $25,000.00. The auction ends tomorrow Dec. 2.

Included in the price of the dinner is a tour of the Clinton Library.

The advertisement says you will also get a view of the Arkansas River and won't that be exciting!

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Alcoholic whipped cream

Called Whipped Lightening, this is a booze-infused product whipping up serious interest from public-health experts.

With Four Loko making its way off shelves, regulators have a new favorite college binge drinking tool to look out for: alcoholic whipped cream.

A source told the Boston Herald that the Massachusetts Alcohol Beverages Commission will be closely monitoring the alcoholic treat, which has been on shelves since April and is becoming increasingly popular.

More here.

Democrat state lawmakers defecting to GOP after elections

From an Associated Press report at the link below:

Staggering Election Day losses are not the Democratic Party's final indignity this year.

At least 13 state lawmakers in five states have defected to Republican ranks since the Nov. 2 election, adding to already huge GOP gains in state legislatures. And that number could grow as next year's legislative sessions draw near.

The defections underscore dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party — particularly in the South — and will give Republicans a stronger hand in everything from pushing a conservative fiscal and social agenda to redrawing political maps.

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