9.01.2012
8.31.2012
Strategic reserve? Really?
Millions of dollars in maple syrup stolen – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs
Up to 10 million pounds of syrup was in the warehouse, Canadian media reported, citing a statement from the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which bills itself as keeper of the the global strategic maple syrup reserve.
Sort of like a wife, in other words
The Android app that's arguably one of the best apps of all time turns out to be a productivity app called SwiftKey.
It's an application that tracks the way you write and automatically makes suggestions on what your next word should be. …
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/swiftkey-android-switch-from-iphone-2012-8#ixzz258jT7FVy
Re-hope
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Thursday that no one would be prosecuted for the deaths of a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2002 and another in Iraq in 2003, eliminating the last possibility that any criminal charges will be brought as a result of the brutal interrogations carried out by the C.I.A.
8.30.2012
Hey nobody's perfect, dude
NORFOLK, Va. - The skipper of the USS Porter has been removed from command after his ship collided with an oil tanker just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Lock and load
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Republicans have strengthened the pro-gun-rights portion of their party platform, including a new call for unlimited bullet capacities in guns…
The 2012 platform, approved this week by GOP convention-goers who nominated Mitt Romney for president, also endorses "stand your ground" rights for gun owners.
8 AM, and already it's a funny day
WASHINGTON (AP) — Laying out the first plans for his party's presidential ticket, GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan took some factual shortcuts Wednesday night when he attacked President Barack Obama's policies on Medicare, the economic stimulus and the budget deficit.
Go ahead, tell us what you really think
“We built it” is one of the themes here, at the government-underwritten convention in a government-subsidized convention center in a city that rose on the sturdy foundation of government-subsidized flood insurance. But no taxpayer dollars were expended in the attempt to put together a New Mitt.
None. Really, it was just private corporations and rich people.
War without end
An intentional detonation of a 550-pound World War II bomb found in Munich set off fires late Tuesday that damaged a shop and nearby apartment buildings.…
8.29.2012
Yo Ho Ho
Undernews: Romney hosts party on yacht flying Cayman Islands flag
The exclusive event, hosted by a Florida developer on his yacht "Cracker Bay," was one of a dozen exclusive events meant to nurture those who have raised more than $1 million for Romney's bid.
Or would you rather be a yeast?
Monkeys fed a severely low-calorie diet didn’t live longer than their normal-diet peers, a 23-year study showed, contradicting research that suggests living thin on greatly curtailed food intake extends lifespans.…Since the 1930s, reducing food intake has been shown to boost the lifespan of yeast, worms, rats, flies and some mice.
Bloomberg
Down slightly? Say it isn't so!
WASHINGTON — U.S. banks made $34.5 billion in profit from April through June, a nearly 21% improvement from a year earlier, though down slightly from the industry's first-quarter results, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday.
R blabber wants more home-schoolers like Todd Akins
Conservative talk show host Neal Boortz, speaking at yesterday’s Unity Rally 2012 in Tampa ahead of the Republican National Convention, denounced public schools as “government schools” that are “forced upon us.” Boortz blamed “100 years of government education” for bringing America “to the point that a man like Barack Obama could be sworn in as president of the United States.”
Go ahead, tell us how you really feel
The Republican Party did something remarkable at its convention on Tuesday. It set out on an experiment to see exactly how much unmitigated hogwash the American political system can contain on a single evening. The Republican Party has set out at its 2012 convention in search of the Event Horizon of utter bullshit. It has sought to see precisely how many lies, evasions, elisions, and undigestible chunks of utter gobbledegook the political media can swallow before it finally gags twice and falls over dead, leaving the rest of America suckers all the same. What you didn't see in primetime, from Arthur Davis to Ted Cruz, and from one 2016 contender to another, was the GOP embarking upon the task of seeing exactly how much nonsense it could produce at top volume before democracy screams and gives up, like Noriega in Panama when they played the metal music at him.
8.28.2012
What goes around…
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who has criticized Barack Obama for excessive federal spending, said the president isn’t providing enough funding to cover the costs of Hurricane Isaac.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Jindal-Says-Obama-s-Storm-Relief-Falls-Short-of-3821642.php#ixzz24sIquJ83
No, that would never do
"We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers,” he [some Romney guy] said.
But, hey, that's not going to stop me
Commentary: The Romneys | Michigan Radio
I don’t claim to really know Mitt Romney, who is going to be nominated for president tonight at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.…
Can you spell "fat chance"?
Billionaire Peter Thiel Invests in the Development of 3D Printed Meat
The prospect of lab-grown meat has intrigued both vegetarians and environmentalists for years - can this develop soon, aided by a 3D printer?
For that matter, can you spell "fat"?
Sure, you might wind up eating printed meat some day but if you think I'm gonna do it, you're bonkers.
Can you spell "bonkers"?
8.27.2012
Wait, this is a joke, right?
The bill was sponsored by Arizona State Rep. Kimberly Yee. Yee is also an ardent supporter of drug testing anyone who receives welfare assistance. She is considered by some to be an “extremist”.
Or maybe not.
Can you spell "fruitcakes"?
You can't argue with success
Pat Robertson’s CBN suggests God moved hurricane to protect Republicans | The Raw Story
The religious lifestyle show hosted by televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday suggested that Christians in Florida had convinced God to move soon-to-be Hurricane Isaac away from Tampa, Florida to protect Republicans.…
“We have had lots and lots of people praying around the clock that it would move,” Rev. Jesten Peters explained. “And if you watch from the very beginning where they were saying it was coming up and now where they’re saying it’s going, then it’s really moved a lot for us, and we appreciate God doing that and moving it for us.”
Where it's going is New Orleans, of course, so sort of a win-win.
The R's these days seem to be about as fragmented and screwed up as the D's were back in the late 60's. This might be a good thing if the D's didn't have a candidate running somewhere to the right of Nixon. But as things stand, it's sort of a lose-lose.
The last industry
We Arm the World! US Dominates Global Arms Sales | Common Dreams
U.S. arms exports tripled and reached a record $66.3 billion last year or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, the New York Times is reporting Sunday night.
The US military-industial complex sold 78 per cent of the world's arms in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with just $4.8 billion in weapon sales.
Invisible
America’s poor: Out of sight, out of mind - Salon.com
t’s just astonishing to us how long this campaign has gone on with no discussion of what’s happening to poor people. Official Washington continues to see poverty with tunnel vision – “out of sight, out of mind.”
And we’re not speaking just of Paul Ryan and his draconian budget plan or Mitt Romney and their fellow Republicans. Tipping their hats to America’s impoverished while themselves seeking handouts from billionaires and corporations is a bad habit that includes President Obama, who of all people should know better.
8.26.2012
Please, pot, tell us more
“Today we have seen a repugnant display from a self-centered, career politician,” Florida Republican Chairman Lenny Curry said in a written statement. “While the people of Florida, and thousands of visitors who've traveled here, are facing an emergency, Charlie Crist has demonstrated, yet again, that his political ambition will always come first.”
Smooching Wall Street
When the Justice Department recently closed its criminal investigation of Goldman Sachs, it became all but certain that no major American banks or their top executives would ever face criminal charges for their role in the financial crisis.…New York Times
There may be more civil fraud suits related to the financial crisis, producing settlements and fines. But to date, those cases have rarely named top executives and the banks have rarely admitted wrongdoing. And the fines, even those in the hundreds of millions of dollars, have been small compared with bank profits and banker bonuses.