Xerox has named Ursula Burns as its new chief executive officer, making her the first African American woman to run a Fortune 500 company.
Burns will take over on July 1, 2009, replacing Anne Mulcahy.
The 50-year-old new boss worked her way up the corporate ladder from a summer internship in 1980 to the CEO position. She has also been a member of the board of directors since 2007.
Invent a time machine and go back to June 2005. Make bets with people that in four years’ time we’ll have a black Democratic president with the middle name “Hussein.” Then up the ante by predicting that the Democrats will have 60 seats in the Senate. Then top if off by betting that one of those seats will belong to Al Franken.
I mean, four years ago, I would have been too ashamed to post such a prediction anywhere, even if I were anonymously trolling over at Red State. Times do indeed change.
Last year, Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern (R) drew well-deserved criticism for an outlandish rant against the gay community, in which she compared homosexuality to “toe cancer” and said “it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.” “Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell of this country,” said Kern.
Kern is now pushing a “Oklahoma Citizen’s Proclamation for Morality” that blames America’s “economic woes” on “abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse ,and many other forms of debauchery”:
WHEREAS, we believe our economic woes are consequences of our greater national moral crisis; and
WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and many other forms of debauchery;
Our 'economic woes' were caused by the other end of the Repuglican't party, but it will never do to place the blame where it properly resides or people like this would never get elected or re-elected. The money comes from big biz, the votes come from small minds.
Only one of the bidders for the eight contracts to run oil and gas fields in Iraq has accepted oil ministry terms.
Six oil fields and two gas fields were available in a televised auction that was the first big oil tender in Iraq since the invasion of 2003.
BP and China's CNPC agreed to run the 17 billion barrel Rumaila field after Exxon Mobil turned it down.
Well of course Exxon Mobil turned it down. BP and CNPC are only going to get $2 per barrel and Bush told ExMo they were going to get it all after he killed 4000+ soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to steal it for them. Who knew the Iraqis would figure out it was theirs? .
I've eaten at Taco Bell, but a) it bears no relation to Mexican or food whatsoever and b) the can of war surplus life raft rations that I've had in the garage for forty years is probably more nutritious and better tasting.
Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group yesterday discussing Sanford. Heard it with my own ears, paraphrased it in between them:
"Hockey players began using protective cups in the 1870s but didn't start wearing helmets until the 1970s. That should show where men's priorities lie!"
Some of you youngsters might not remember Gale Storm, but I sure as shit do. We got our first TV set in about 1953. In those days Los Angeles only had seven stations and if it was snowing on Mt. Wilson, it was snowing on the TV too. There weren't many viewing choices, but My Little Margie was a good one and we watched it each week without fail.
I don't watch sitcoms much any more because most of 'em are not-very-funny crap, but those were simpler times, gentle innocent humor that wasn't all put-downs like it is now. Stuff that wouldn't cut it today was terrific back then.
Gale Storm, who shot to the top on television as the vivacious star of two popular 1950s situation comedies, "My Little Margie" and "The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna," has died. She was 87.
A summer replacement for "I Love Lucy," "My Little Margie" ran from 1952 to 1955, with Storm starring as the plucky young Margie Albright and Charles Farrell as her widower father, Vern. Although critics generally panned "My Little Margie" as a lightweight farce, the public fell in love with the mischievous Margie. A 1953 poll of the most popular TV stars listed Storm at No. 2, behind TV comedy queen Lucille Ball.
After "My Little Margie" ended, Storm starred in "The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna," in which she played social director Susanna Pomeroy aboard the luxury liner the SS Ocean Queen*. The situation comedy, featuring Zasu Pitts as the ship's flighty beautician Elvira "Nugey" Nugent and Roy Roberts as Capt. Huxley, ran from 1956 to 1960.
*Homeported at Fire Island, perhaps? The reference would never have crossed anybody's mind back then. ZaSu Pitts was funnier'n shit. My folks remembered her from silent movies.
I didn't know about this but I can relate:
In 1980, she returned to the limelight as the commercial spokeswoman for Raleigh Hills Hospital, the now-defunct alcohol treatment chain where she had been treated for a serious bout with alcoholism.
I beat alcohol when I was in my fifties as well. Good for you, lady.
Her obit has a pretty good account of her life. Please go read about her.
The title of this post is from a 'comment' at Think Progress, links, videos, comments, the works. Hit 'em all! I'm callin' Maximum Liquid Alert! Put your drink in the next room!
Fox Nation Pushes ‘Satire’ Site’s Article About Ridge Attacking Limbaugh As Fact-Based Truth
On his radio show, Limbaugh responded to Ridge, saying, “I must have missed something, because I remember that Colin Powell endorsed the Democrat, Barack Obama, at a strategic point in the campaign in 2008.” The blog, Elective Decisions, which features “the satire of Chris Davis,” then wrote up a post saying that Ridge responded to Rush by challenging him to a fight:
So this morning, Ridge went back on Washington Journal, responding to Limbaugh’s rhetoric. “I’m so sick of Rush Limbaugh. He’s the reason we lose elections. He needs to get the hell out of the Republican Party. As far as I’m concerned, he isn’t a Republican anymore. The man’s running. The man’s hiding. He’s too scared to face me!”
Ridge continued his rant, threatening Limbaugh. “Meanwhile, he sits there in his ‘Southern Command Post,’ and destroys the Republican Party! I’d like to just have three rounds in a boxing ring with that guy so I could shut him up! I’m caling (sic) you out, Limbaugh. Let’s see if you have a big enough set of marbles to back up your crap!”
Though the “Elective Decisions” blog is clearly marked as “satire,” the Fox Nation linked to the post and promoted it as if it were based on reported facts: ...
This isn’t the first time Fox News has promoted a parody as truth. In 2007, the network aired at least eight segments on a purported “news” story that was actually a parody article written by a publication similar to The Onion.
None of this is surprising given that there's no distinction drawn at F**Noise between fact and fiction, but Jesus Christ, Ridge, three rounds? There's a little old lady who takes ten minutes to walk her Chihuahua past my house every day using two canes and a walker that could take that fat pile of crap in one!
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.—The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile Monday from the California coast to an area in the Pacific Ocean some 4,200 miles away.
I think the operative word that makes what used to be a common event newsworthy is 'successfully'.
My in-house missile launch expert is Mrs. G, who grew up fifteen miles north of Vandenberg. She says the Minuteman launches were boring because they were too fast. It took a little while for the shock wave to get to her house and by the time the windows rattled signifying a launch and she'd rush to the window to watch, they were gone.
The Titans were a lot slower and she had time to watch the rocket exhaust going up with a flame at the top.
The best ones of all could be seen from Los Angeles to Frisco and perhaps even farther away. Those were the night launches that went awry. The contrail, lit up brilliantly in shades of green by high altitude sunlight, would make patterns in the sky ranging from a series of 'Z's to a macramé-looking bunch of loop-the-loops.
The best part of all was when the operators blew it up. For just an instant, you coulda read a book by the light all along the West Coast, and then the glowing and contrails of all the pieces would blossom out and up and down like the 4th of July. All this light would hang up there for quite a while, broadening out until it dispersed. Wow, like, totally bitchin' light show, dude! The entertainment was a great use of taxpayers' money.
Afterthought:
I wonder if I posted this as some kind of subconscious reaction to this morning's aftermath of the events of yesterday? Maybe something having to do with a stream of fire shootin' out my...
NYC Drivers Voted Angriest, Most Aggressive Celebrate victory by roughing up police, burning taxicabs.
Rep. Bachmann: Census Could Be Used to Put People in Internment Camps Her thesis: census takers hired by ACORN identify God-fearing patriots, report them to liberal authorities who arrest them or have them thrown in a wood-chipper or, in her case, examined by a team of psychiatrists.
Book: Great Works of Literature Reduced to Tweets Cliffs Notes reduced to three syllables.
American troops begin leaving Iraqi cities for the oil fields the more rural areas, turning over security duties to the Iraqi Army and police tomorrow. Now that we've fucked their country to Hell liberated the Iraqis from a tyrant, after 6 years of crusade and occupation regime change and winning hearts and minds, what do you think is gonna happen?
Is it gonna be an all-out civil war between sectarian interests or will the Iraqis step up and keep the militias in line? Or maybe a little of both? What do you think we have to look forward to from here out?
MEXICO CITY — The Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted by the army on Sunday after pressing ahead with plans for a referendum that opponents said could lay the groundwork for his eventual re-election, in the first military coup in Central America since the end of the cold war.
We're going today to the Truckee Chili Cook-off which is being held at Truckee River Regional Park three blocks from my house. I have no idea what to expect since it's the first time this has been done, but I've been to chili cookoffs before and they're fun. You get to sample different kinds of chili which can be a little risky vis-a-vis highly incendiary gut bomb fare, but they're usually pretty good.
One of the highlights will be the presence of the Railroad Regulators 601, a local western re-enactment group composed of many of our leading citizens.
Now, with more than 30 members, the regulators put on such events as Railroad Days and Windows on History, to entertain and educate locals about the rich history of this little mountain town. Apparently, Truckee wasn’t as sleepy in the 1800s as many believe it to be.
Even their name, the Regulators 601, is historic, borrowed from other groups that lived in Truckee near the end of the 19th century.
These groups' main tools were tar, feathers, and nooses. Called by some these days 'supplements to law enforcement', they were vigilantes who would often settle personal scores with their quasi-official status along with legit public safety incidents.
To keep in line with the times, Deveney says its important for this "bunch of old guys playing cowboys" to have their own corruptible politician at hand, namely Susman. "He can’t be bought, but he can be rented damn cheaply," Deveney jokes.
Well, that's some historical accuracy that persists today! Mr. Susman is a real nice guy and a former Mayor of our town. Go read about these folks at the link.
One of my oldest friends in town, Dennis Cook, is one of the ramrods of the Regulators. A Vietnam Navy UDT Vet who still has to kill you after he tells you where all he went from Vietnam, and bail bondsman. I've worked for him on occasion going after bail skips. Pretty boring, not at all like 'Dog the Bounty Hunter', although when Dennis hands you a snubnose .38 and tells you to watch his back, it gets real interesting real quick!
The Regulators go to all our local events, and put on a good, fun show. The best one I saw was when they were staging a ten-participant shootout and one of 'em didn't quite get his old-fashioned .45 hogleg out of the holster before it went off and got himself right in the foot with a blank! Extremely entertaining! We're talkin' dumbass country fuck type fun here, folks!
I'll either find ya a video of these gents in action or maybe I'll take one myself. See yas later.
Update:
We're back. The event was a lot of fun. We were there for about an hour and a half, and in that time there was a band doing '60s tunes and an a cappella men's chorale in proper western dress.
Did I mention there was chili tasting? Admission was free, but tasting cost ten bucks. Well worth every penny, and the money went to the local Rotary Club.
There were 16 different chili cooks there. The basic load-out was a 4oz. cup from each one, but you could have all you wanted. You do the math, I'm afraid to. It's doable, but the jury's still out on the wisdom of it. I'll let ya know. Realistically, I scarfed down somewhere around a quart of some really good chili, from hot sauce with hamburger in it to granola bar tofu chili with added soybeans and lime, and everything in between, most of it recognizable as chili. It was all good.
I hope the term 'cook-off' isn't prescient. If a coupla o' them 16 chilis get ta arguin' in my innards, a 'cook off' is not out of the question. So far, so good...
Most of the cooks were locals, such as the local firefighters, the aforementioned TDPUD, and some restaurants. There was "Old Fart's (sic) Makin' Chili" and one eerily titled "A Journey's End". Go see. Cynthia had never considered the dark irony of naming a chili that until I brought it up. Cracked her up. Heh.
My favorite display was "Gilmore's Garage Chili". Click the pic and blow it up. Note the display of air fresheners, jumper cables, fan belts, and funnels, all essential accoutrements for serious chili eaters.
I sorta missed the very beginning of the Railroad Regulators act with the camera. These were the only ones who showed up. Two of the old farts pushed each other around and insulted each other quite comedically and brandished foot-long Arkansas toothpicks at each other. And then the sheriff stepped in and...
The Great Truckee Chili Cook-off Shootout
Just as an aside, the early '50s Chevy pickup was for sale, asking price $22,000. That's an awful lot for one of those. Mrs. G's niece just picked up a '50 one of those, one owner with an actual 100,000 miles on it for $8000 (deductible as business expense, her husband owns a supermarket), and I thought that was a lot. When I think of the ones I've bought for $250, got runnin', and sold for $500 and thought I was gettin' over...
We had a great time. This was the '1st Annual' one of these deals, and we'll be there at the second and beyond. There's always stuff like this goin' on in small towns and all ya have to do is get off yer ass and go to have some fun.
Having been on the PTSD rollercoaster for 5 years of my life, I can spot the signs. It's time to get Michael Ware out of Iraq and find him some help. I love the guy and the job he's done over there, but for the last few months it's been obvious (to me anyway) he's losing his grip. I'd hate to see such a capable, talented journalist (there are so few of them as it is) completely come apart at the seams.
Scientology is illegal in Germany; thought of at the same level as Nazism. Via Digby, a 3-part report on the inner workings of the cult. Should be illegal here too.
I realize your average, run-of-the-mill, man-on-the-street wingnut is generally a moron (the smart ones don't believe their own bullshit and are just in it for the money) but this hate letter to Kos seems too dumb.
dear socialist fuckstick,
i am well awear of the fact that liberals are immune to logic and reason, but allow me to try to prove to you that you are communist scum thrugh something called the scientific method:
1 a) FACT: you suck obamas cock every chance youget. you defend everythign he does and says and you are nothing more than an apologist. this makes you complicit in obamas actions.
1 b) FACT: obama is a well known socialist. this is evident his policies and his love of SELFDESCRIBED COMMUNISTS LIKE BILL AYERS!!!! so dont thinkthat he can hide his true nature for much longer. he will eventully be exposed and impeached. SOCIALISM CANNOT WORK OR RUSSIA WOULD STILL EXIST AND THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE LOST THE COLD WAR TO REAGAN!!! retard.
1 c) you are thusly a pro forma socialist; whether you like it or not. logic dictates this.
(2) FACT: you, sir, are a illegal immigrant. i dont give two shits whether you are an american citizen or not: you came here on taxpayer expense and you continue to drain our limited resources. you should be ashamed and go back to guatemala or whatever fucking middleeastern asshole you came from and try to sell yor leftwing bullshit there.
(3) FACT: you are also OBJECTIVELY ANTIAMERICAN!!!!!!!! dont even try to deny this for there is ample prof: in 2004 you openly supported the murder of four brave american soldiers in falluja. you tryed to weasel out of your responsiblity, but you cant hide the fact that you hate america and american soldiers and you love al queda and other muslim terrorists who have killed THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS!!!! and will never stop unless they are killed. and whose going to kill them? you? LOL you dont even own a gun because you leftofascists want to repel the second amendent.
(4) FACT: it is clear that you are a socialist illegal immigrant america hater. there is prima facies proof as above. and if logic and science says you are scum then you are scum (remember global warming? no proof, just science and that makes it true for you liberals) no matter what you think. however, i dont think you are a homo, just a homo enabler.
this doesnt mean that we cant have common ground. if you stop publishing antiamerican communist screeds, then i will stop hating you. fair?
sincerely yours
glenn
Do you believe it's real or a lefty doing a parody? Vote.
This is my favorite line: "remember global warming? no proof, just science and that makes it true for you liberals". Heh ...
This is my second: "... OR RUSSIA WOULD STILL EXIST AND THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE LOST THE COLD WAR ..." I don't know about Russia being gone. I'll let you all know when I get to St. Petersburg next year.
In my never-ending and always-fun attempt to reconcile Fixer's and my widely disparate musical tastes even just a little bit, I proudly present:
The Lovell Sisters perform at Bonnaroo 2009 on "This Tent" Stage!! Song: Bleeding Heart (written by Jimi Hendrix) | For more information about The Lovell Sisters, visit: www.lovellsistersband.com
Around here anyway. Backstory: Mrs. G needed a new washing machine to replace her 25-year-old Kenmore. Serendipitously, as Social Security recipients we received a one-time (so far) federal stimulus of $250 each last payday, which is the 4th Wednesday of every month. So, half a large of returned tax money in hand, a-shopping we did go.
We wanted to spend the money locally as opposed to going to a chain store in Nevada, so first we went to the only long-time independent appliance dealer in town. They had a machine Mrs. G liked, but then they wanted to charge us $75 to deliver it one mile, along with $25 to haul the old one away and properly dispose of it. That was the deal breaker. I told the salesman he'd just scared us off and we left. Those guys were the only game in town for forty years and it shows in their attitude: pay what we want or drive for an hour. I'm not the only one displeased by it. Read their review at the Sears link below. Heh.
We were all dejected about probably having to go out of town to get a machine, and we made it all of a block before the light went on in my head: our town has a pretty new Sears Hometown Store! We'd never been there before, but, gee, I think Sears sells appliances...
It ain't yer father's Sears. It's not a big department store like Sears stores used to be, maybe still are, I don't know. Pretty small, but well stocked with home appliances and yard stuff, no clothes or hand tools, but you can order those.
We got about two steps into the store and a young salesman was on us like white on rice. I pointed at Mrs. G and away they went. He showed her every washing machine in the joint and she decided on one and the deal was done. They had other brands, but she chose our third Kenmore. I guess we're in a rut. It was the one that had all the features she wanted and was 'energy star' qualified.
Speaking of 'energy star', this thing is so much more efficient than our last one that our power company is going to send me money! The trade-off is that, just like TV sets, the new appliances don't last as long as the old ones. That's progress for you.
They wanted $50 to deliver it and the standard $25 haul-it-away fee, but they were to be refundable from Sears corporate. It was delivered a few days later exactly 5 minutes before they said they'd be there.
Just as an aside, the delivery guys didn't wheel it up to my house on a dolly. Since they had to walk about 100 feet through the forest clearing that passes for my back yard, they put straps under it and walked it all the way up from the street. They said that's pretty normal around here. The head (driver and paperwork guy) delivery man's assistant turned out to be a Mexican-American biker dude about my age from Bakersfield. We shot the shit and let the white kid do all the installation work. Heh.
The thing works fine and all is well. For the technically curious, it's a Kenmore 2982.
I wrote a check for $648.76, which breaks down as follows:
$526.99 - Cost of the machine, on sale at $80+ off list . 46.77 - Sales tax @ 8.875%. Fuck you Ah-nold. No, no, no, fuck you Gor-don . 75.00 - Delivery and get-that-fuckin'-load-outta-my-sight fee $648.76 -100.00 - Power company rebate for 'energy star'. Actual money, not a credit on my bill. - 75.00 - Delivery fee refund 'gift card' from Sears, just like money $473.76 - Actual cost, said and done
Leaving me with $ 26.24 to fritter away as I please! Thank you, Barry.
Went back to Sears yesterday and frittered ten bucks of it away on one of these (roll over the picture. Wow.). First one, always used analog. Half-price sale.
We spent our stimulus responsibly as we were supposed to, and we spent it locally for something we needed and we have enough left over for a down payment on a pizza. We're so proud of ourselves we could just shit.
And our Sears store has a coupla satisfied new customers.
