I await the bazillion and one handwringing posts by the MFM about the closed minded left after Keith Olbermann left Kos.

Posted by: eddiebear at 12:24 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

Hazelnuts are one of my absolute favorite foods, and Nutella plus just about anything guarantees a trip straight into my mouth*.  And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way about Nutella.  So why the hell the EU would even begin to consider that doing anything to stop anyone from learning about and inevitably embracing Nutella's creamy, nutty, chocolatey goodness will result in anything other than civil war is a mystery to me.  At least one EU politician has a lick of common sense:

Giancarlo Galan, Italy’s agriculture and food minister, dismissed the proposal as “nonsense” and wrote a tough-worded letter to Brussels asking for a softer approach. “Sometimes, the strict application of rules … reveals their stupidity,” he told reporters

Posted by: Alice H at 09:23 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 160 words, total size 1 kb.

Jindal could make a run for president in 2012 and win just with ads based on this single incident.  The ad copy writes itself.

Posted by: Alice H at 08:46 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

In recent weeks, my Twitter feed has been filled with RTs from one site: FilmDrunk.com.  This brief comment on Karate Kid for example:

It’s currently tracking 53% on RottenTomatoes, which means that, if you were to divorce it from all historical contexts and future implications, the movie itself probably isn’t that bad.  (The most satisfactory movie of summer, said Shrugsworth McWhogivesafuk)  However, as the old saying goes, you vote with your pocketbook, and the last thing I want to vote for is to give more celebrities the ability to buy a movie so that their booger-faced wiener kid can play Celebrity Rockband with some sh*t I’ve already seen 100 times on cable.  But hey, that’s just me.

Marmaduke has a new poster out, and as you can see, it’s a shot across the bow of all other family comedies.  The days of your half-assed, one-animal-in-sunglasses poster designs are numbered.  Marmaduke has changed the game.  Upped the ante.  Raised the bar. Put MORE SUNGLASSES on MORE ANIMALS! (*air guitar*) The world demands it.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 06:05 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 202 words, total size 4 kb.

He attacks Mark Steyn's criticism of the American media's refusal to cover honor killings in the US and Canada by citing a bunch of American media reports of high profile honor killings outside of the US.  FAIL. 

And then Steyn makes Conor his bitch.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:17 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: JoeCollins at 01:33 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 4 words, total size 1 kb.

And it's absolutely a shakedown.

As our three readers know, I work in the plaintiff's side personal injury field.  Thus, I have a slightly different take on this.  Bear that bias in mind while reading the below as well. 

I want to know how the hell Obama decided that he knows that $20 billion is enough for the damages.  I haven't read the details of this plan yet, but I am utterly sure that participation in the fund will require the waiver of any rights to sue BP.  I'm also sure there will be enormous pressure brought to bear on those affected to make the claim through this fund, both due to sheer economic necessity and other forms of persuasion. 

So what does that mean?  That means that some bureaucrat is going to get to decide how much your fishing business is worth, not a jury of your peers.  Of course I'm against that.  Yeah, the jury system may suck but does anyone, anyone at all, trust that this fund will be administered fairly and transparently?  Bueller?  Bueller?  What happens when the fund starts to reach the cap?  Will BP be on the hook for more money or will the claimants be told too bad so sad?  What methodology will be used for valuation?  Will there be any type of appeal process if you don't like the number that is placed on your claim?  Will that appeal process be intra-agency only or will there be any type of court oversight of this process? 

The closest analogy I can come up with is the 9/11 Fund.  The Firm did some pro bono work on those claims and I can tell you from personal experience that it was a hugely complicated and not even remotely equitable process.  At least the 9/11 fund had some colorable claim of necessity, since it involved questions of suits against sovereign entities *koff*  Saudi *koff* that made the existence of an alternate method of recovery reasonable.  But this?  There are ample civil and criminal means of recovery in place right now.

For those who take this as a defense of BP, it's not.  My point is that BP is getting off CHEAP.  Not only is this hugely problematic from a separation of powers point of view, it's also hugely problematic from a plaintiff's perspective.  I anticipate that the next move will be some lawyer attempting to certify a class of all potential claimants to the fund, that class being granted and then the creation of an all but impossible opt out procedure.  So BP was presented with a deal it could not turn down.  Why should it?  If I were BP's counsel I would tell BP to jump on this with both feet and then make sure the actual implementation screwed over as many claimants as possible.

From my perspective, Obama just created precedent to eliminate the jury trial in any type of mass disaster.  That's terrifying. 

I also want to know how this interplays with bankruptcy law.  I know jack about the current US bankruptcy system and less than that about foreign bankruptcy.  Are these funds going to be considered exempt from secured creditors if BP goes down?  If so, then, once again, the entire concept of secured creditors goes out the window.  See re:  Chrysler. 

So, yes, I have tremendous problems with this.  So should everyone else.

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:02 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 568 words, total size 3 kb.

Yeah, this should end well.

Ayoub Khan, Birmingham City Council's community safety portfolio holder, said a detailed consultation ought to have taken place before the cameras were installed.

He said the partnership was now reviewing why this had not happened.

The camera idea was first proposed by Home Office counter-terrorism officers in April 2009, Mr Khan said.

"I was informed that this was to attack anti-social behaviour and various other criminal behaviour with a bolt-on of some terrorism activity detecting too."

Posted by: eddiebear at 09:29 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.

Jim Carrey having anal sex with a mustached man and getting sucked off by Ewan McGregor in the gay caper movie I Love You Phillip Morris just screams “Oscar!”

Posted by: Sean M. at 01:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 55 words, total size 1 kb.

If you haven't read it, I recommend you run out and get Day By Day Armageddon right away.  Not only has J.L. Bourne crafted a visciously addictive first-person account of the zombie apocalypse but is an active-duty U.S. military officer.

Fantastic.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 10:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.

And I'm not referring to his brown-eye.

I'm so sorry for putting that image into your head.  But I suppose it's only mildly worse than S. Weasel contemplating his lack of teeth.

Posted by: Alice H at 06:04 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

I'll admit, I didn't listen to the entire speech Sir Golfs-A-Lot gave regarding the oil spill, because I just can't drink that much and still have a liver.  But I've skimmed enough articles about it now to pretend to sorta have an idea of what was said.  So with that in mind, I have a few thoughts...

I'm not surprised we have an oil spill czar.  What I find surprising, given Obama's previous track record of choosing czars, is that it's not Joseph Hazelwood.  What I don't find surprising is that the oil spill czar is in charge of dishing out other people's money instead of actually working on finding a solution.

I'm not surprised that Obama thinks that "what every American wants and expects is accountability", by which he means a payday.  I wish that Obama realized that what every person wants at the end of the day is the mess cleaned up, and for the feds to do something other than threaten to kick ass and pass out money to the victims of this disaster.  I'd be willing to bet at least a bottle of Val-U-Rite that most of the people out of work due to the oil spill would rather have a living than a payout.

(Updated with an illustration! Stolen once again from MCS.)

Posted by: Alice H at 06:02 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 228 words, total size 2 kb.

But I thought it was the Hispanics who were complaining that those pesky Americans were making Arizona a hostile place for them to be...

About 3,500 acres of southern Arizona have been closed off to U.S. citizens due to increased violence at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The closed off area includes part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge that stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told Fox News that violence against law enforcement officers and U.S. citizens has increased in the past four months, forcing officers on an 80 mile stretch of Arizona land north of the Mexico border off-limits to Americans.

The refuge had been adversely affected by the increase in drug smugglers, illegal activity and surveillance, which made it dangerous for Americans to visit.

"The situation in this zone has reached a point where continued public use of the area is not prudent," said refuge manager Mitch Ellis.

Posted by: Alice H at 05:38 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 185 words, total size 1 kb.

If you look at a small part of a sin wave, you could think it's going up forever, going down forever (stop snickering, this is... ehhh. snicker) or flat.

Take the Sun, our baseline for accurate observations and how it affects the Earth is around 40 years yet nobody ever seems to mention that.
Looking at ice core samples, for instance, can only give gross measurements, the margin for error is huge. It's only since we've had advanced satellites and good computers to parse the data that we could understand it. And even if you go back say, 4,000 years taking Chinese astrologers/astronomers into account, that's less than an eyeblink to the Earth, much less the Sun. Say the Earth is 4 billion years old, 4,000 years is like less than a 100th of that. Probably a lot less.

So the Sun kind of shut down in 2008 and surprised and scared the hell out of scientists. They've been saying, "It'll start up real soon and boy will it go crazy" for about 2 years now, and it just refuses to do what they want.
Well, it finally kind of started and scientists heaved a sigh of relief, until they realized it still wasn't doing what they expected.
Quote
But for the past two years, the sunspots have mostly been missing. Their absence, the most prolonged for nearly a hundred years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise. "This is solar behaviour we haven't seen in living memory,"

It's freaking them out too.
Read the whole thing, notice that it's been in the last 5-10 years that they've had accurate readings with one satellite going up 15 years ago. It's funny how they tapdance around how much effect the Sun has on the climate, but the article is surprisingly fact-ful.

It won't do any good for committed global warmmongers, but it's good for someone who's interested in actual facts and science and stuff.
Saw it at the puppy blender's.

Posted by: Veeshir at 05:21 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 337 words, total size 2 kb.

(source)

Posted by: Alice H at 12:33 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

It really did.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:35 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 7 words, total size 1 kb.

You know things are bad when Michael Barone gets bitchy.

Seriously, I cannot recall any point at which he's really sounded more than mildly peeved.  This reads as if it could have been written by a Moron, lack of profanity notwithstanding.

Someone's a wee bit ticked.

Posted by: alexthechick at 09:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm gonna get you British Petroleum!

Posted by: Alice H at 09:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 14 words, total size 1 kb.

He's being mocked in a text on texts from last night.

The comments are hilarious too, particularly the first one.

Warning:  TFLN can become addictive.  Though it's helpful if you want to feel better about your entire life and life choices.

Posted by: alexthechick at 09:22 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: alexthechick at 08:19 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 8 words, total size 1 kb.