Yay!

Lazy? Obama calls Americans 'hardest-working people on Earth' - latimes.com

Reporting from Bali, Indonesia—Does president Obama believe his countrymen are lazy?

No, he does not.

I feel better already.

Imagine my surprise

Supercommittee sputters - Manu Raju and Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan - POLITICO.com

The congressional supercommittee appears to be sputtering to a close with no deal in sight after more than two months of high-stakes negotiations...

Who could have seen that coming, huh?

Maybe not if you need some emergency shampoo

Stephen Hawking: Colonize space, or else | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

It does seem slightly pitiful that so many of our great scientific and engineering minds are being wasted on creating fine new ways to pay for your shampoo with your iPhone, rather than on creating machines that can swiftly and safely transport humans to occupy the Planet Yog.

That's OK, we weren't expecting much

News from The Associated Press

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- An assertive President Barack Obama got much of what he wanted during his Asia-Pacific trip because the results didn't depend on negotiating with the world.

He mostly just announced them.

We don't like you, we kill you; we don't need no stinkin' law

Two British terror suspects killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan | World news | The Guardian

Two young British men have been killed in US drone strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal belt, according to reports from the country. The pair, both Muslims from London, are reported to have been killed in separate drone strikes two weeks apart in South Waziristan....

 

I'm not sure I'd bet on that

Kellogg Settles "Toucan Sam" Dispute With Archaeologists - Lowering the Bar

As I reported previously, Kellogg North America sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Maya Archaeology Initiative in July, complaining that the non-profit group was using a toucan on its logo that some might confuse with Kellogg's "Toucan Sam." MAI's lawyer responded that her client shouldn't have to either cease or desist, because of significant differences between the logos and also because it seemed doubtful that consumers would confuse a Central-American-archaeology group with the maker of Froot Loops...

Alabama fights plague of illegal migrant German managers

News from The Associated Press

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- A German manager with Mercedes-Benz is free after being arrested for not having a driver's license with him under Alabama's new law targeting illegal immigrants, authorities said Friday, in an otherwise routine case that drew the attention of Gov. Robert Bentley.

Reflected

iPhone photo: Phil Compton

And they say that like it's a good thing

Fukushima radiation ‘mostly fell in sea’: Japanese study | The Raw Story

Most of the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant dropped into the ocean and began circling the planet, Japanese researchers said Thursday.

Does this mean even the people of Iowa are tired of those mopes?

Livewire | TPM

The Des Moines Register has canceled a Republican presidential debate that was scheduled for December 19, instead partnering with ABC News for a December 10 debate that had already been announced by that network...

I've never been to Iowa but I once saw Iowa on the other side of a river from Illinois, so either it really is there or it's a very clever ruse indeed. I was about to give up on the ruse idea but then I read a story about deep-fried butter at the Iowa state fair so, you know, really. Also I once knew a guy who said he was from Iowa but he was dating a girl from nowhere so what could that possibly prove? I'm sure you understand. Still, you would think it a perfect place for R's to debate, except apparently it's not.

Woohoo! Teddy Roosevelt would be proud

Obama says U.S. to reassert role as Pacific power - latimes.com

Speaking Thursday in the Australian capital, Canberra, Obama pledged to support the dispatch of more U.S. troops, joint training operations and military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region as the Pentagon draws down in Iraq and Afghanistan. He called the commitment to boost the U.S. military presence a top priority.

"The United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay," Obama said in an address to the Australian Parliament.

We could be in for another long winter here

Sugar Plum Fairy Fired for Cursing During Drug Test - Lowering the Bar

The Sugar Plum Fairy was fired [in St. Charles, MO] recently for cursing during a job-related drug test....

You see, the Fairy had violated a section of the Christmas Traditions Code of Conduct, namely the one stating that "Christmas Characters Don't Know Naughty Words."

Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me

Lightning Round - NYTimes.com

[Gail Collins:] I have always had this mystical belief that people in Oregon had the answers, mainly because it is the only state I’ve never been to.

Stinky cheese

As a kid, I used to love eating stinky cheese with my grandfather while my grandmother and my mother sat around saying "ewww." It was just sort of a guy thing. And I still like stinky cheese, which is why, after the guy who lives on the third floor came around last evening distributing samples of an Austrian cheese called Hubaner, saying he certainly wouldn't eat the stuff, I went down to the co-op food store this morning to buy some more. This Hubaner is good. It tastes a little bit like sweatsocks, but really, really cheesy sweatsocks. Yum.

But the stuff costs $20/lb., on sale. So I didn't buy too much. Still, with this Hubaner cheese, it doesn't take much.

I also bought a baguette at the co-op, which my French student sister says makes the best baguettes in town.

The Iraqis didn't nuke us so we are honor bound to nuke ourselves

TSA Declares Banned-in-Europe Airport X-Rays 'Completely Safe' - National - The Atlantic Wire

The TSA is so sure airport body scanners are safe -- the kind that Europe just banned because of "cancer risks -- are safe, that it's cancelling plans for a health and safety study....

Anway, all that safety stuff costs too much.

Drill Baby Ooops

Enbridge-Conoco Pipeline Deal Envisions Flow Reversal - WSJ.com

Canada's Enbridge Inc. agreed to buy a 50% stake in a pipeline currently moving oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Oklahoma, and then reverse the flow—a move that could ease a bottleneck of crude in the Midwest.

The announcement sent U.S. crude prices soaring on expectations that the Midwest glut of oil could soon be released and fetch prices closer to more expensive, international benchmarks....

This story is about how reversing the flow of a pipeline now into Oklahoma is a good thing because it would let us sell more of our oil on the world market where it's worth more, thereby making the price of oil here go up.

Yay!

So, of course, it's MOP

U.S. spends $32 million to make eight 30,000-pound bombs | The Raw Story

WASHINGTON — The US Air Force has a new 30,000-pound bomb in its arsenal designed to penetrate targets buried deep underground, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The Air Force started taking delivery of the giant bomb, the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator,” in September, said Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller.

Bring it

I had my annual physical this morning and got punched full of vaccines and I'm feeling in-friggin'-vincible. Just stand aside.

Also all the machinery seems to be ticking along pretty well.

Corner

How you will know when you're older than dirt

The Associated Press: Chelsea Clinton is hired by NBC News

NBC News President Steve Capus was not available for an interview, the network said Monday. He told The New York Times that he was approached this summer through an intermediary about Chelsea Clinton and asked her in for a meeting.

"Given her vast experiences, it's as though Chelsea has been preparing for this opportunity her entire adult life," Capus said in a statement Monday.

Emphasis mine.

Clinton is 31 years old. Her entire adult life is ten years.

It's not just ketchup any more

Heard on the Hill: Kids, Eat Your Vegetables! : Roll Call News

The [Center for Science in the Public Interest] is concerned that pro-pizza lawmakers will insist...the Agriculture Department, which tells schools what foods count as what in their lunch programs...allow pizza to be counted as a vegetable.

Emphasis mine! W00t! 

Newt, we hardly knew ye

Livewire | TPM

Erick Erickson, writing on his conservative RedState blog on Monday morning, asserts that Rick Perry’s Saturday night debate performance “gets him the complete redemption he needs.”

 

But fortunately, kids, there's still burgerology

Poll finds more boomers working past retirement - Yahoo! News

The Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll found a baby boom generation planning to work into retirement years — with 73 percent planning to work past retirement, up from 67 percent this spring.

Tricks are performed by professional crooks: Do not try this at home

How Members of Congress Get Rich Through 'Honest Graft' - National - The Atlantic Wire

A 60 Minutes report on Sunday examined the ways that members of Congress trade on inside, privileged information to make themselves rich — without breaking any laws. Even though many positions in the federal government are bound by conflict of interest laws, Congresspeople are exempt from insider trading rules and are perfectly free to make business deals based on information they learn through their jobs.

All right then! Sign up for your local protest protest!

Anti-Occupy Wall Street Protest Planned By Downtown Residents

A group of downtown Manhattan residents frustrated with their new neighbors in Zuccotti Park plan to protest the Occupy Wall Street protest at City hall Monday, NBC News reports.…

Of course

Chelsea Clinton Hired by NBC News - NYTimes.com

NBC is to announce on Monday morning that it has hired Chelsea Clinton to become a full-time special correspondent for NBC News.

I never believed in J-schools anyway.

You betcha: Whoever had that broccoli idea?

Herman Cain and the Deep Political Meaning of Pizza - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

The more meat you order on your pizza, the more manly you are, Herman Cain says.

YA war for Obama?

Reports: U.S. Military to Help Fight Nigerian Terrorists | Danger Room | Wired.com

The Pentagon’s shadow war in Africa could have a new front, if reports coming out of Nigeria are accurate. U.S. troops are headed to Nigeria to help local forces do battle with Boko Haram, an Islamic terror group that has killed up to 400 people this year in an escalating campaign of bombings and shootings....

The whole problem with house foreclosures finally solved

Pot growers see opportunity in empty Las Vegas homes - latimes.com

In neighborhoods where residents may be as transient as crowds in a subway station, growers are rarely questioned about dark windows and empty driveways. Those are also hallmarks of abandoned homes, of which America's foreclosure capital has plenty.