My second thought was, "Wow, what a hatchet job on Jarrett, Gibbs and Axelrod!" Since Rahm is obviously feeding this to Milbank, that is very revealing. You don't throw these kinds of bombs unless you've already lost. This is an act of desperation. It's bound to make mortal enemies of these people inside Obama's inner circle. You can't really work with these people anymore. That means you're already finished there.
...
Let's hope we'll see something resembling leadership from the White House in the future.
A coupla weeks ago I did a post on Aspartame. Here's an article in the EssEffChron on sugar and artificial sweeteners that may answer some questions if you have any.
One of our readers brought up agave syrup, which I hadn't heard of.
The sweetener that comes from a Mexican plant - the same one used to produce Tequila - is making quite a stir. Agave syrup or nectar is being used to sweeten teas, energy drinks, protein bars and pastries.
Its calorie and carbohydrate content is similar to that of sugar, but because it's about three times sweeter, you can use less. Unlike sucrose, agave can be up to 90 percent fructose, depending on how it's processed. The higher it is in fructose, the less likely it is to raise blood glucose levels, which is helpful to diabetics.
Oddly, scientists believe that fructose has the lowest glycemic index, a ranking system for carbohydrate foods based on their effects on blood glucose levels, of all sugars. This seems somewhat contradictory given that fructose is so often linked to obesity.
Although agave may seem like a safer choice for diabetics, experts warn to use it with caution. There is not enough scientific evidence yet to recommend it as a dietetic substitute.
While agave is seen by many consumers as a healthful alternative to sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup, experts say don't let it fool you - it's sugar, plain and simple.
Its flavor benefits are that it sweetens without changing the flavor of other ingredients. And while it doesn't work with everything, agave is a fine substitute for sweetening tea, cereal and yogurts. Its best use that we know of: replacing the simple syrup in a margarita.
Sounds OK to me. They sell it at Costco and it's on our shopping list.
I don't usually do recipes, but as long as we're on sweet food, here's one for a Guadalajaran enchilada dish that's got my mouth watering! Enjoy.
Lydia Scheltes woke up in her bed at Bethesda Retirement Center one morning with pinkish hair, a tattoo on her arm and a hangover. Not a typical morning for the 90-year-old.
“Seniors are more fun than you’ll ever know,” she said.
You be careful, honey. Everybody's got a video camera. Heh.
Scheltes wasn’t alone: Seven ladies and one dude – aged 65 to 97 – all had a similar hazy look in their eyes after they hung out with bikers at the Evil Olive bar in Wicker Park on Feb. 11.
ABATE is a state-by-state nationwide motorcyclists' rights outfit. Acronym of A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments against mainly custom bikes.
“One of our residents, Katie, just turned 97, and she got up with her walker and shook her booty," Kaplan said. "She shook it good."
The one thing the women didn’t get a chance to do was ride on a motorcycle, because it was too cold.
But that’s coming.
Better late than never. Have fun, ladies and gents. You've earned it.
Breaking with the national Republican Party for the second time this week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) told reporters Monday that GOP attempts to stall health care reform were out of line.
"I think any Republican that says you should start from scratch," with health care, "I think that's bogus talk, and that's partisan talk," the governor told reporters.
'Bogus' oughta be the Repugs' middle name.
On Sunday, Schwarzenegger told ABC's This Week he was proud to accept stimulus dollars for his state and praised the program for creating or saving over 150,000 jobs.
Schwarzenegger also lashed out at GOP politicians who voted against the bill then took credit for benefits provided to their states on Sunday.
"Well, you know, to me I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around and pushing back on the stimulus money and saying this doesn't create any new jobs," said Schwarzenegger. "Then, they go out and they do the photo ops and they are posing with the big check and they say, 'Isn't this great?'"
To what do I ascribe Ah-nold's breaking with the Repugs and telling the truth? Since it's a well-known fact that truth has a liberal bias, the only thing I can think of is sleeping with Maria Shriver. I've heard of gettin' yer brains fucked out, but this may be the very unusual case of gettin' some brains fucked in.
And if anybody could un-shrivel Ah-nold's 'roid raisins and restore some sack, she could! Keep up the good work, Maria!
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the "Stop Outsourcing Security Act" on Tuesday. If passed, the act would force the United States to phase out its controversial use of private security contractors in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.
While the bill is likely to meet stiff opposition from the Pentagon and the defense industry, it's certain to be well received among progressives and peace activists, who have watched with alarm as the use of private contractors in war zones has skyrocketed in recent years.
In an interview with Russia Today earlier this month, Schakowsky said that the use of private contractors "masks the scope of our involvement" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"When the President asks for a 30,000 troop increase in Afghanistan, we are talking about at least that number of contractors too, which makes the mission much bigger. We don’t even count them when they get killed,” she said.
Schakowsky added: "We have seen these private hired guns, mercenaries if you will, actually in situations that have jeopardized the mission of the United States, have put our own troops at risk, have killed private civilians, really raising the question, can these private companies that don't seem to be part of the chain of command [or] have the same transparency or accountability as our military, can they actually get away with murder? And so far the answer has been yes."
Notice the unusual use of the word 'mercenaries'. Tell it like it is, sister!
Our military has been allowed, on purpose, to deteriorate in favor of for-profit companies to the point where our troops can't do the basic stuff like feeding themselves, guarding convoys, maintaining their own weapons, and providing security for our diplomats.
This is our tax money paying for this, and it's one tax the Repugs love because it goes to the private sector in pallet-loads for things that the military ought to be doing a lot more economically and with rigid accountability in cases of abuse of the system, unlike paying top dollar for waste, fraud, abuse, and even murder.
This is a bill that I hope passes even while I pretty much know it won't. Hats off to Senators Sanders and Schakowsky for trying.
Our government poisoned our Vietnam veterans with 'Agent Orange' defoliant. In this war, it's the 'burn pits':
they are killing our soldiers....slowly...painfully...horrifically.... it's time we start talking about them. it's time we stop them. it's time we start talking about the toxic hell we are leaving behind for the iraqi people to suffer through, too.
...
And, like Vietnam, they'll deny any responsibility until most of the guys who suffer from symptoms are dead and then grudgingly give care to the remainder.
We reported on Boardercross four years ago, here and here, the breakout event of the Torino Winter Games. This year, Skicross was featured as well. These are sideshow events to the major skiing and boarding events, but mucho fun to watch.
NBC pissed me off. They showed the individual qualification runs, the semi-finals, and the final, but not the first heats, so I only got to see Errol once. He came in ninth.
Update: Mrs. G informs me that they showed the heat races during the repeat waaaay late at night.
My hat's off to this kid. Being of Jamaican descent and having dual citizenships, he managed a productive, er, snow job on the Jamaican ski association and got hisself into the Olympics when he never would have otherwise. Here's his site.
This vid will tell you a lot as he introduces himself in an interview and talks about the NBS which provides scholarships for athletes of color. That's Lake Tahoe in the background. Enjoy.
Thanks to KQSWproductions. They've also got a video of another Olympian Skicrosser, champion skier, and homeboy Daron Rahlves riding motocross. More good stuff too.
On Thursday, Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall (R) spoke at a press conference against state funding for Planned Parenthood. He blasted the organization for supporting a women’s right to choose, saying that God punishes women who have had abortions by giving them disabled children:
...
“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”
Marshall is also fighting against health care reform, saying that “Obamacare” is trying to take “your soul.” Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has been pushing back against high-profile figures and entities who have been attacking people with disabilities. Will she speak out against someone in her own party?
Shorter: No. Even if she wanted to, which she probably doesn't and wouldn't if she did, Ailes wouldn't let her.
Go read the comments about the despicable Repug fuck in VA.
Long a fixture among young people, use of the country's most popular illicit drug is now growing among the AARP set, as the massive generation of baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s and '70s grows older.
Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age. For many boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations, and they tried it decades ago.
Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change the laws.
Us Olde Phartes VOTE! We're going to get the chance later this year in California.
I left 'em a comment. 'Gordon' was already taken so I posted as '4Stroke', which I do sometimes. Reference is to motorcycle engines, not sexual endurance. Heh.
I'm 64 and started smoking weed in 1967. Most of my friends used it then and still do, and their kids grew up thinking smoking pot was something 'old people' did. I know people well into their 80s who use it daily.
I've been advocate for the legalization of marijuana for over 40 years and I see the day coming at last. The stuff is lemonade compared to harder drugs like heroin and alcohol, and the removal of the originally racist and later generational sanctions against it has been creeping forward for years. Legalization will turn an entire 'criminal class' into the law-abiding citizens they otherwise have always been, save a lot of money wasted on the failed War On Some Drugs and free up anti-drug resources that could be better used elsewhere, and generate some tax revenue.
Definitely an area where government needs to get out of people's freedom of choice.
Oh, by the way, since I got my iPod, I smoke the devil weed out of my ear trumpet. The smoke gets a good head start, great rush! Old folks rule, you whippersnappers!
So there...
Update:
My comment appears to be gone from the site. Harrumph.
Update II:
The comment is back. Twice. Must be gettin' old...
From P.M. Carpenter writing about CPAC (Crazy People Acting Crazy):
Republicans' worldview, on the other hand, necessarily contains the seeds of our own destruction; one simply cannot achieve progress through regression, any more than we can screw ourselves to virginal innocence, as "conservative" luminaries implore.
But knowing all of that, you still chose to crash your airplane into an IRS office building. You chose to go out in a highly newsworthy way, you arrogant little fuck, and in so doing, you will end up triggering even more restrictions on the rest of us who fly. You couldn't go rent a Ryder truck and stuff it full of fertilizer soaked in diesel fuel, for that's been done before. You couldn't just shoot the folks you were angry at; that would rate 30 seconds on the national news, at best. You couldn't just torch the building, that's old news.
"I know, I served, in fact, in combat with individuals who were gay and who were lesbian in combat situations. Frankly, you know, over time you said, hey, how's this guy shooting or how is her analysis or what have you?" explained Petraeus.
...
When it comes down to brass tacks, proficiency matters and that's about it.
Funny how we always have to hear about this kinda shit from foreigners, huh?
The outrage that was Peekskill - September 4th 1949.
In 1932 Robeson had stated to the Daily Express in London that the modern white American was amongst the lowest form of civilization in the world. Apparently by 1949 not a lot had improved!
Nor by 2010, seems like. Teabaggers have gone by many names.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has announced that he plans to hold House Judiciary Committee hearings on the Bush administration lawyers whose legal memos justified the use of torture on terrorism detainees.
Conyers' announcement Friday follows the release of a report by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility which criticizes lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee for "poor judgment" but concludes that their actions did not rise to the level of professional misconduct.
Conyers, however, is not satisfied with allowing the matter to drop. He has posted a full set of documents at the Judiciary Committee website, including both preliminary drafts and the final Justice Department report, Yoo's and Bybee's responses, and Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis's memorandum explaining why he did not feel that Yoo's and Bybee's actions amounted to "professional misconduct."
"For years, those who approved torture and abuse of detainees have hidden behind legal memos issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel," Conyers stated. "The materials released today make plain that those memos were legally flawed and fundamentally unsound, and may have been improperly influenced by a desire to tell the Bush White House and the CIA what it wanted to hear."
"Improperly influenced by a desire to tell the Bush White House and the CIA what it wanted to hear." That's pretty much what The Dick admitted the other day when he said those alleged lawyers had "done what we asked them to do".
"The Office of Legal Counsel has a proud tradition of providing independent, high quality legal advice to the executive branch," Conyers' statement continues. "The materials released today make clear that the lawyers who wrote the torture memos did not live up to that tradition. ... Given the serious nature of the issues raised in this report, the Committee intends to hold hearings on these matters in the very near future."
These torture- and war crimes-enablers are protected from on high so hearings probably won't do much good, but I'm glad Conyers is doing them anyway. More light on the Cheney Darktime can't hurt.
His hardscrabble life Started off in obscurity Instead of Homeland, he Got maximum security.
Not high enough in the Repug food chain to avoid it, I guess, but that's what underlings are for - to take the hit for the Bigs, especially when they have the audacity to commit crimes on their own that aren't part of the agenda.
His real crime was embarrassing Giuliani out of viability as a presidential candidate. Thank you, Bernie.
And Bernie, don't worry about Rudy. He's managing to embarrass himself quite nicely without you.