Chocolate chip cookies

I have a sister who can not walk past a display of baked goods without buying some, or even so much as look at a list of baked goods on a menu without ordering, but she is apparently trying to watch calories or perhaps sugar these days and so has taken some kind of occult vow not to eat baked goods during this month of April (the cruelest month, as you know) and in consequence of that vow, while visiting the farmers' market this morning, bought a chocolate chip cookie and brought it home to me. I am trying to lose weight myself but unfortunately for the cookie I have negative will power, so I ate it. There was something wrong with it. Some ingredient. Orange juice, would be my guess, or possibly just an orange flavoring or something else, whatever. Somebody must have thought it would be cute to put that in.

Folks, one of the things in this life that should not be screwed around with is the chocolate chip cookie. Chocolate chip cookies are supposed to taste like chocolate friggin' chip cookies and not something else. OK, sure, you can put a few nuts in there if you must. Some people actually like the them that way, I don't know why. But that's it. Anything else is just weird. And wrong. Just plain wrong.

My kinda gal!

I'm walking home from the laundromat this morning and there's this little girl, maybe 4, with a plastic toy shovel digging at the snow on (presumably—she was too busy to talk) her front lawn. The lawn had maybe five or six little spots of snow remaining, each about the size of a soup bowl, and she had decided, one imagines, it was time for that snow to go. I agree. Yea, kid.

But Obama wants to run as a centrist, which means caving in to these guys (again and again)

Robert Reich (Why the Right-Wing Bullies Will Hold The Nation Hostage Again and Again)

The right-wing bullies are emboldened. They will hold the nation hostage again and again.

In a few weeks the debt ceiling has to be raised. After that, next year’s budget has to be decided on....

And I'm just pointing out, let's get it over with and move on, I am no longer interested in voting for people I do not want in office simply because the other guys are worse. So what I'm interested in is watching for people I do want in office and voting for them. Because it's got to start somewhere. Or end somewhere, whatever.

 

"Wisconsin's Supreme Election Debacle"

The BRAD BLOG : WI's Supreme Election Debacle (And What We Should, But Probably Won't, Learn From It)

It's been said that the mark of a "successful election" is when the loser's supporters feel that the election was fair and the results were believed to be on the up-and-up. That is an essential element of democracy. Sadly, we seem to be getting further and further away from that, as the public is moved further and further out of the system, as results are counted in secret, by vote-counting computers that frequently fail, have been proven time and again to be easily manipulated, and in such a way as to be virtually, if not completely, undetectable.

(And from our own Midwest bureau this link to an article in the Sept. 14, 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)

Remembering the good old days

"We will end the practice of packaging
unpopular bills with “must-pass” legislation
to circumvent the will of the American
people. Instead, we will advance major
legislation one issue at a time."

GOP Pledge to America - 2010

(Noted by our Midwest bureau)

Corner Connection

iPhone photo: Phil Compton

Not me

Democrats, Republicans agree on a budget deal - CNN.com

This "is what the American people expect us to do," the president said at the White House. "That's why they sent us here."

Collins on The Donald

Donald Trump Strikes Back - NYTimes.com

Recent polls have shown Trump running second among potential Republican primary voters. I believe this is not so much an indication of popularity as a desperate plea to be delivered from Mitt Romney.

Or, possibly, first

Suburban Guerrilla » Blog Archive » 1937

Second, Obama is the worst goddamned negotiator in the world.

No, and another thing: They did not get home late Saturday night

NATO ‘not apologizing’ for friendly fire incident | The Raw Story

"Fluid" was a word that Harding used repeatedly throughout the news conference to describe the current state of the conflict.

Wait. Brains?

Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study | The Raw Story

WASHINGTON — Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently....

Who said politics is not entertaining?

Wisconsin election worker’s find of uncounted ballots certain to draw scrutiny | The Raw Story

Update: Dems cry foul as massive cache of votes was reportedly stored on a former Prosser aide's personal computer

Cool

Unsolved codes and ciphers from across the ages. - By Elizabeth Weingarten - Slate Magazine

 

Naw, too much to ask

Ludicrous and Cruel - NYTimes.com

Many commentators swooned earlier this week after House Republicans, led by the Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan, unveiled their budget proposals. They lavished praise on Mr. Ryan, asserting that his plan set a new standard of fiscal seriousness.

Well, they should have waited until people who know how to read budget numbers had a chance to study the proposal....

Can you spell "what good luck!"?

Don’t Worry, Congress Will Still Get Paid During Gov’t Shutdown

Just in case you were super concerned about how Michele Bachmann and John Boehner and Louie Gohmert and Joe Barton and the rest of America’s corrupt lunatic wingnut legislators would survive the Government Shutdown, don’t worry! They can still get paid, and they probably will — unpaid furloughs are for the commoners, hahahahahahaha.

Like this would be a bad thing

Nadler: GOP budget would ‘take us back to the 19th century’ | Raw Replay

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) had some choice words for the ten-year Republican budget proposal developed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI).

“This is truly a budget to take us back to the 19th century in every way,” the New York Democrat said Wednesday during a press conference.

 

By Cardiff Council Flat Holm Project (Cardiff Council Flat Holm Project) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

One of those Holmes guys...

...Oliver Wendell, I think it was, said controversy equalizes the foolish and the wise and the fools know it. Lunacy has about the same effect and the loons are out in force. 

Sen. Mike Lee: Obama planned government shutdown | The Raw Story

Freshman Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) said on the Senate floor Thursday that President Barack Obama might have been planning for the government to shut down all along.

 

Surprise!

Wisconsin court race jolted by uncounted ballot find | The Raw Story

But late Thursday, the county clerk in Waukesha, a Republican stronghold, said workers had found 7,582 votes uncounted votes for Prosser.

Taibbi on a roll

Tax Cuts for the Rich on the Backs of the Middle Class; or, Paul Ryan Has Balls | Rolling Stone Politics | Taibblog | Matt Taibbi on Politics and the Economy

Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s latest entrant in the seemingly endless series of young, prickish, over-coiffed, anal-retentive deficit Robespierres...

Corporate education

Charter Schools Outsource Education to Management Firms, With Mixed Results - ProPublica

Contrary to the idea of charters as small, locally run schools, approximately a third of them now rely on management companies to perform many of the most fundamental school services, such as hiring and firing staff, developing curricula and disciplining students.

But it's not about "regime change," where did you get that silly idea?

Clinton: Gadhafi must go before NATO airstrikes stop – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must leave power and Libya to stop the NATO military strikes in the country, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

Ouch

Two decades after Linus Torvalds developed his famous operating system kernel, the battle between Linux and Microsoft is over and Linux has won, says Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin....

"I think we just don't care that much [about Microsoft] anymore," Zemlin said. "They used to be our big rival, but now it's kind of like kicking a puppy."

So if the BBC can figure this out...?

BBC News - What does 'government shutdown' mean?

If the US government shuts down after 8 April, it will mostly be because Republicans believe the government is too costly and inefficient.

But some estimates put the cost of government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 at over $1.25bn - much of it due to inefficiency.

 

Just in case you're wondering how it is the government could be allowed to freakin' shut down...

Local News | How a shutdown would affect you | Seattle Times Newspaper

Members of Congress, the president, presidential appointees and certain legislative-branch employees are not subject to furloughs.

Preview of things to come

UNDERNEWS: Huckabee records as governor destroyed

Mother Jones - Send a public records request seeking documents from his 12-year stint as Arkansas governor, as Mother Jones did recently, and an eyebrow-raising reply will come back: The records are unavailable, and the computer hard drives that once contained them were erased and physically destroyed by the Huckabee administration as the governor prepared to leave office and launch a presidential bid.

Badgers wake up in re-count land

All She Wrote | Talking Points Memo

To borrow from the language of polling, the margin of uncertainty tied to outstanding precincts, absentee ballots and possible tabulation errors is just bigger than the margin separating the two candidates....

Which is something right there. The Supreme Court candidate linked to the Scott Walker guy, endorsed by Sarah Palin, some train called the Tea Party Express, lots of money and—oh yeah, did I mention?—incumbent should have been a slam dunk but, instead, might join the ranks of the unemployed, however briefly, soon. Perhaps time will, as it is believed to do, tell. 

Meanwhile, hooray.

The morning after

It froze last night, as you can see, and there was a howling wind and this morning, well, as I said, you can see. Only the purebred Michigan racing duck and that one in the back with the turban (actually I think it's a towel but anything would work on a morning so icy) are left standing. But the sun is out. Maybe some day the ice will melt.

Blue Horizon

iPhone photo: Phil Compton

Big turnout in Wisconsin...

...we're hearing from Charlie, who notes: "Looks like Wisconsin is taking a supreme court race seriously." Might be more fun than the NCAA Women's finals, tonight on ESPN.

Because, you know, democracy

UNDERNEWS: Hidden news: 100,000 protest new regime in Egypt

In recent weeks, the new regime has increasingly demonstrated that it is just as hostile to the Egyptian people’s democratic and social rights as was the ex-dictator, Hosni Mubarak, throughout his 30-year rule. Under Tantawi’s leadership, the military on March 23 banned all strikes and protests that interfere with the economy or public life...

Hundreds have been arrested, hauled before military courts and sentenced to prison since the military junta assumed power....

And this guy's surprised because...?

The worst idea in Washington - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post

Bruce Bartlett takes a look at the Balanced Budget Amendment all 47 Republicans signed their names to and pronounces it “quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment I think I have ever seen. It looks like it was drafted by a couple of interns on the back of a napkin.”

Too big to jail

Wachovia Paid Trivial Fine for Nearly $400 Billion of Drug Related Money Laundering « naked capitalism

Wachovia was at the heart of one of the world’s biggest money laundering operations, moving $378.4 billion into dollar-based accounts from Mexican casas de cambio, which are currency exchange firms...

Feds want money back

After Maine’s governor removes labor mural, feds demand their money back | The Raw Story

Whoops: The governor of Maine's decision to remove a pro-labor mural from the state's Department of Labor may cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, all because he wanted to "send a message."

Apparently unknown to Maine's recently elected Republican governor, the mural targeted by his ire was initially paid for by a federal grant -- the terms of which he violated by having it removed.

 

Swim, ducks, swim for your lives!

It's been raining hard all afternoon. Thunderboomers, everything. Out back is an extreme expanse of puddles, swarming with ducks, some of them floating to and fro, some just lying on their sides, forlorn (a few of them do not swim well). Meanwhile out in front is a pile of snow. Go figure. It's too weird for me.

Obama, as you may have heard (and if you haven't, you will) is running for re-election (there, now you have)

Obama Reverses Course: No Civilian Trials for 9/11 Plotters | Common Dreams

In a sharp reversal of the Obama administration's policy on trying Sept. 11 suspects in U.S. courts, mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators will be tried in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

Libya: Better than a trade show

Libyan War: A Showcase in the New Arms Race | Common Dreams

Times change, allegiances shift, but weapons companies will always find takers for their goods. Libya won't be buying new kit any time soon. But the no-fly zone has become a prime showcase for other potential weapons customers, underlining the power of western combat jets and smart bombs, or reminding potential buyers of the defensive systems needed to repel them.

"This is turning into the best shop window for competing aircraft for years. More even than in Iraq in 2003," says Francis Tusa, editor of UK-based Defense Analysis.

 

Better be some fabulous kind of more

Obama’s Arguments for Re-election: Economy, Health Care and More - The Daily Beast

 

Three Heads

iPhone Photo: Phil Compton

Gearing up for 2012

UNDERNEWS: Words: Bribery

Today, every politician in Washington takes bribes, from the president on down. Only please call them campaign contributions....

And so we came to a time during the Clinton administration when the Supreme Court actually ruled that a law prohibiting the giving of gifts to a public official "for or because of an official act" didn't mean anything unless you knew exactly what the official act was. In other words, bribery was only illegal if the briber [sic] was dumb enough to give you a receipt.

Persuasion

The Truth About Climate Change, Still Inconvenient - NYTimes.com

...as Upton Sinclair pointed out long ago, it’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

—noted by our Midwest bureau.

Right, and can you spell "fat chance"?

Obama’s Imperial War in Libya Subverts the Constitution - The Daily Beast

Suppose President Obama announced that, in order to protect the nation while carrying out his constitutional duties as commander in chief, he was issuing an executive order restoring federal income tax rates to their Clinton-era levels.

Tomorrow's forecast: Pluvosity

Schott Op-Chart: Pluviocabulary - NYTimes.com

“April showers bring forth May flowers” – that much is uncontested....To aid the discussion of precipitation, we present some of pluvial terms to be found in the inestimable “Oxford English Dictionary.”

Also the only person who complains about potholes

Nebraska woman is mayor — and only resident — of her town | The Raw Story

KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) - Elsie Eiler is the most admired person in Monowi, Neb. She is also the smartest, wealthiest, best-looking and youngest.

"And the oldest," she is quick to add....

Eiler, 77, is the lone inhabitant of Monowi, a village in northeast Nebraska.