Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 5.37

In Orange

Good morning, and the battle is joined. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Nature, apparently, has joined in the War on Halloween and Expansion of Christmas in Denver this week. It's bad enough that at the grocery store candy canes and Halloween candy were on display side-by-side, but a foot and a half of snow, falling over two days, was a little much.

The slower-than-usual rate of the snowfall (inches per hour over far fewer hours is more typical Source: Square State RSS Feed

cracking the whip...,

Washington Post | House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.
7 on defense panel scrutinized
Sanchez sisters eyed by House ethics panel for alleged collusion
Rep. Shuler's land swap deal eyed by ethics committee
The report appears to haveSource: subrealism RSS Feed

Stimulus Spending, Before Your Very Eyes

The government watchdogs at the Sunlight Foundation have released a new iPhone 3GS/Android phone app that uses the phones' "augmented reality" function--which is probably the spookiest technology that exists today, outside the guided-missile acumen of predator drones--to conjure floating representations of stimulus contracts, wherever you are.

Augmented reality
lets users hold up a phone and see, on screen, the world
in front of them as if they're taking a photo--but Source: Marc Ambinder RSS Feed

My Family’s Version of a Barn Raising

In an area where cheap labor is abundant and construction help is prevalent, it’s quite rare in Northern Virginia to see family and friends come together as we did last weekend at my brother-in-law’s house to build a deck.

Many of the townhouses in his Woodbridge neighborhood feature decks. But almost all of them were built by contractors and day-workers rather than homeowners. Not this one.

My brother-in-law had been organizing this project for months with mySource: Bluey Blog RSS Feed

Feds’ Smart Grid Race Leaves Cybersecurity in the Dust

Amid the government-funded rush to upgrade America’s aging electric system to a smart grid comes a strange confluence of press releases this week by the White House and the University of Illinois.

Tuesday morning, President Obama, speaking at Florida Power and Light (FPL) facilities, announced $3.4 billion in grants to utility companies, municipal districts and manufacturers to spur a nationwide transition to smart-grid technologies and fund other energy-saving initiatives as part ofSource: Threat Level RSS Feed

Larry Johnson: A Man of Arts & Letters

Greetings Jack & Jill Nation.

The Powers That Be have been kind enough to give me a blog title shot and I appreciate the opportunity they’ve given me to wow you all with my extraordinary Blackness and astute observations. Both Jack and Jill have, on separate occasions, said “Marcus, without you, Jack and Jill Politics is little more than a black bourgeoisie newsletter floating about the fringes of the internets.”

OK, so pretty much only one of those things actuallySource: Jack and Jill Politics RSS Feed

U.S. Troops Hope Afghanistan Sacrifices Not In Vain

Army Sgt. 1st Class Teresa R. Coble, 27, of Germantown, with the 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment from Fort Bragg, N.C., continues to work while in a bunker at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan on Thursday, during the second rocket attack in a week.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Teresa R. Coble

U.S. troops hope Afghanistan sacrifices not in vain

Doubts, determination to Source: Theodore's World RSS Feed

New Threat For Islamo Fascists

Mourners carried the coffin a victim who was killed in a suicide bombing the day before on Monday in Baghdad - AP

You can always tell who the enemy is of the Islamo Fascists – they bomb their enemy’s innocent citizens into oblivion (they could never wage an up front war as honorable warriors). From Iraq this week we learned who and what is the current greatest threat to Islamo Fascism:

As the floodwater from broken water mains and sewers drained away, workers continued toSource: The Strata-Sphere RSS Feed

Insurrectionists With Pedigree

One takes so much for granted, but not even things we once ‘knew’ to be epochal are fixed anymore. It is a wonder we trust the very stars in the skies, and men do not wander about with reinforced umbrellas. One does not expect to have to perform the Industrial Revolution twice. It is not as if, praise God, the von Schlieffen plan must be fortnightly rebuffed.
But it pleases God for some great advances in the happiness of man, which so many millions once thought to be as dependable asSource: The Monarchist RSS Feed

The Trigger

In case anybody cares, and you shouldn't, I am now officially agnostic on just how important if at all the "public option" is in supporting the eventual health care bill.  I have just heard too many good arguments on all sides of the question to be able to persuasively argue one or the other.

I remain convinced that, in a perfect world, a sweeping single-payer system -- free, universal health care paid for by progressive taxation -- is the best way to go. But as Ghandi said when askedSource: Marc Cooper RSS Feed

Will The Travel Ban Against Cuba Be Lifted?

This weekend the mass media is beating the war drums for the inevitability of escalation in Afghanistan. Soon Obama will see his effigies being reviled not just at rallies of crazed and confused teabaggers but by anti-war marchers all over the world. Yes, the embodiment of Change and Hope, who most of the international community still sees as the much needed antidote to the horrors of Bushism, is on the verge of leaving his pedestal-- a pedestal that includes a premature, at best,Source: DownWithTyranny! RSS Feed

Sen. Levin: Cheney attack on Obama 'out of bounds'

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney has gone too far with his latest attack against President Barack Obama, according to Sen. Carl Levin. "The comments of the former vice president were totally out of bounds. I don't think he has any credibility left with the American people," Levin told Fox News' Chris Wallace.

Cheney accused Obama of "dithering" on making a decision to send more troops to Afghanistan during a speech in D.C. Wednesday. Source: Crooks and Liars RSS Feed

GOP proposes to cut solar technology funding and the clean energy jobs it would bring

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is continuing his effort to limit the scope and spending of a solar technology bill headed to the House floor today with an amendment that would limit the length of the program and cut its funding levels.

Broun has proposed a new amendment to H.R. 3585 that would provide $750 million to the program over three years rather than $2.5 billion over five.

Today’s story by E&E News (subs. req’d) underscores precisely why so many clean energy technologiesSource: Climate Progress RSS Feed

John Kerry: “De Facto Secretary of State”

John Kerry was the obvious choice to become Secretary of State when Barack Obama became president, but Obama found it politically advantageous to get Hillary Clinton out of the Senate, and prevent her from establishing an opposing power base, by offering the job to her. While Clinton officially has the title, when there are international problems, increasingly Obama has called upon John Kerry.

Joe Biden’s move to the executive branch (without Chenyesque confusion as to the role ofSource: Liberal Values RSS Feed

Epoxy to the Rescue

After figuring out the hard way you really need to make sure you’re receiver is properly supported when you’re hammering pins in place, I have managed to epoxy my lower back together. The epoxy I used is a product called JB Weld, which auto mechanics use to fix cracked engine blocks. Hopefully if it’s good for that, it’ll hold together an AR-15 lower receiver under the impulse of repeated firing.

You can see the epoxy along the seam where it broke off. I don’t really knowSource: Snowflakes in Hell RSS Feed

THE OBAMA TREND AND ITS IMPACT ON A FAILED AGENDA

The above graphs were taken from the Rasmussen polling website. Each shows the overall trend of continual diminishing support for Barack Obama since taking office in January. Where Rasmussen differs in its polling from other polling sources is that rather than sampling just adults a Gallop and others do, Rasmussen polls likely voters which in my opinion presents a mush clearer picture than a general poll of adults since likely voters are the key to elections. Which is also whySource: The Liberal Lie, The Conservative Truth RSS Feed

Chicago Bears Throw Away Winnable Game In Atlanta Sunday Night

Matt Forte fumbles at the 1-yard line (William DeShazer / Tribune)

Game was exciting, particularly for the winners, but if you're gonna embarrass yourselves there's no better time to do it than on the road on national television against an equally matched team losing the ball 2 times inside (above) the opponents red zone in the last ten minutes like the Bears did tonight...and those were just the top 2 TOP mistakes the Bears made costing them the game...there were many,Source: Chicagoray RSS Feed

Has the White House Surrendered to Fox News?

Don Surber seems to think so and points to an AP article that starts like this:White House advisers pledged on Sunday to book administration officials on Fox News despite claims by the president’s inner circle that the cable network is a GOP mouthpiece whose programming “is geared toward making money.”Note how a company "geared toward making money" is now considered evil.
Just this morning on the Sunday shows various Obama inner circle-types were declaring that Fox was not a realSource: HolyCoast.com RSS Feed

Can we now cross this one off?

Will the debate NO backers win their bets?

A fair bit of political news in the Sundays but the one most affecting the betting markets is the report by Melissa Kite in the Sunday Telegraph about the inter-leader talks over the formats for the proposed general election TV debates.

There’s been a fair bit of betting not only on whether these will take place but who will be the chair and even which of the leaders, according to post-debate polling, would be “deemed theSource: Political Betting RSS Feed

Caffeinated Thoughts: Latte Links (10/17)

Number of comments: 2

Some articles I’m reading while I watch Iowa play Wisconsin.

BBC: North Korea gulags ‘hold 150,000’ Fox News: All-Male College Bans Women’s Clothing, Sagging Pants NY Times: Pakistan Moves Troops Into Taliban Stronghold Washington Examiner: Lefty anger splits Dems – and may sink them by Byron York Politico:

Source: BlogNetNews.com/Iowa RSS Feed

Republicans Jeopardizing Judicial System Effectiveness With Narrow Partisan Obstructionism

3 evil clowns: Sessions, Kyl, McConnell
You may have noticed that the senatorial obstructionist bloc, also known as the Senate Republican Party Caucus, has been blocking all of President Obama's judicial nominations. Party whip Jon Kyl bragged that he intended to do exactly that even before President Obama was inaugurated. Yesterday CQPolitics pointed to the case of a Dianne Feinstein recommendation to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Edward Chen, whoSource: DownWithTyranny! RSS Feed

Seattle company doing a booming business in Hell

Hell Deeds

KOMO

SEATTLE — With the economy down and foreclosures at an all-time high, a Seattle man was looking for something he could sell without actually owning it.

And that’s how Pandemonium Real Estate got into the business of selling plots in Hell.

"It really started out to be a comedic affair and it’s just gone crazy," said David Cook, who runs the site.

"We’ve had way more than we expected. We just got a call from a celebrity gifting event toSource: The Two Malcontents RSS Feed

Did Cameron’s speech energise Labour?

And could that make it more dangerous for Brown?

The only full post-Tory conference poll, from Populus in the Times on Tuesday, got crowded out of the news agenda because of the developing MPs Expenses saga following ths Sir Thomas Legg letters. Yet I wonder whether the move by Labour to 30% might just indicate a trend?

We’ll need some more surveys, of course, but it was a sharp jump very much against what was expected - particularly the ICM poll in the News of the World onSource: Political Betting RSS Feed

Max Baucus, Genius?

I've been pretty hard on Max Baucus for a while, especially as he spent months and months negotiating fruitlessly while Democratic political capital rotted away. But it's worth pointing out that his plan, assuming he had one, worked perfectly. Three months ago, the main storyline in the press on health care centered on whether Democrats would craft a bipartisan bill (yay!) or go it alone (boo!) Through his painstaking, and often pathetic, desire to reach an agreement with the GOP, BaucusSource: The Plank RSS Feed

Obama Tells a Whopper -- By: Peter Robinson

“I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period.” -- President Barack Obama before a joint session of Congress on September 9

Today on Uncommon Knowledge, political scientist David Brady and economist Daniel Kessler parse the chief executive’s claims.

DANIEL KESSLER: I think the most egregious part of that claim of not adding to the budget deficit is that much of the funding for the insurance expansion is to come from cuts in Source: The Corner RSS Feed

USS New York, Forged With 9/11 Steel, Launched

Sweet!

The USS NY is, in some ways, heading home, even though this is its maiden voyage.

The Navy’s latest amphibious ship was built in Avondale, just outside New Orleans, by shipbuilders who continued working through Hurricane Katrina to get the job done. They knew their mission was special. The ship contains seven and a half tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center after 9-11. It’s at the leading edge of the ship.

This morning, people lined theSource: Stop the ACLU RSS Feed

ObamaCare and Gun Control – All In The Same Package!

ObamaCare and Gun Control – All In The Same Package!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
********************************************
So, you’re a hunter, a sportsman, or just a good citizen who has a firearm in your home for the protection of your family and, YES, even for the protection of your property, which you have worked so hard, all your life, to acquire.
The US Constitution says you have that right – RIGHT? Well, NOT SO FAST! It appears that “what weSource: Faultline USA RSS Feed

Only In Obama & Daley's Chicago, Higher Fares, Less Service, 300 Jobs Lost....(Hope and Change Alert)

Here's some local problems making the Chicago headlines really upsetting already pissed off and overstressed commuters, those poor Chicagoans who already suffer through some of the worst and most expensive daily rush hours coming and going as it is.....thankfully I now work at home and only see that stuff in my memory rear view mirror as a longtime Chicago Trib employee......
I paid my dues in that mess, believe me.
So the news is it looks like Daley didn't get the "Obama Hope andSource: Chicagoray RSS Feed

Open Thread: Nobelympics

This is an open thread so you can talk about anything. And if you can’t think of anything, well … I’ll give you a topic: Obama was denied the Olympics, then he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Each is hilarious and terrible in different ways. Discuss.

Bring the funny, but keep it clean (cough speciallist cough). If you choose to post an image or photo, please properly attribute the source. I created the thread header.

OPEN THREAD

Source: Red State RSS Feed

Navy honors civil rights martyr Medgar Evers

Medgar Evers, NAACP’s first field secretary for the state of Mississippi stands nearby a sign of the state Mississippi in this 1958 file photo

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The widow of slain civil-rights pioneer Medgar Evers fought tears Friday as Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, announced he’s naming a new Navy supply ship for Evers’ late husband.

"I think of those who will serve on this ship and those who will see it in different parts of the world.Source: The Two Malcontents RSS Feed

Tuesday roundup

Bill Bolling is up 17 points in the latest SurveyUSA poll. So why did he release an attack ad? Could it be that SurveyUSA’s numbers aren’t accurate and Bolling’s own internal polling is showing a tightening of the race?

~

There is a Battleground Virginia program airing this evening at 7pm featuring the gubernatorial candidates. The program will air onABC 7/WJLA-TV, News Chanel 8, WSET-TV, and will be streamed live at Politico.

~

Tom Shields,Source: Vivian J. Paige RSS Feed

City to demolish 2 floors of Harlem landmark

From Gothamist:

The landmark Corn Exchange Bank Building on 125th Street in Harlem used to be a picturesque structure, but now it's one of the most visible eyesores in the neighborhood. The building, "an 1883-84 Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival structure," according to the Times, will soon lose its top two floors; a decision recently made by the Department of Buildings who found it unsafe. A "fire caused by homeless folk" already aided in the roof collapsing, and there areSource: Queens Crap RSS Feed

Citizens deserve faithful service from lawmakers and public employees

Commentary by James H. Shott
As if Michigan isn’t having enough trouble with the effects of the recession and the ailing auto industry, some of its citizens are suffering under laws and enforcement policies that simply defy common sense.
Each morning before the school bus comes to pick up kids in Irving Township, Lisa Snyder allowed the children of three of her friends to come to her house about an hour before school to wait for the bus. “Well, we can’t have that sortSource: Faultline USA RSS Feed

This Is Pretty Ironic. I Received this Mailer Today

Here's Joe Knollenberg's empty seat from the forum at Walsh College.
Here's the mailer I received in the mail today, asking What is Gary Peters Hiding?
Answer: Nothing. Gary showed up last night and took questions from voters. Gary even took a question from Joe Knollenberg's son, Marty Knollenberg.

Source: Vote No on JOE RSS Feed

Global Warming: The Forest For The Tree Rings

Updates Below

There has been a shocking discovery in the last week as it pertains to global warming: there may be nothing unusual about the recent warming of the Planet Earth.

This realization has come about because it was discovered that suspect tree ring data used to relate today’s climate to historic trends has been shown to be … let’s say ‘unique’. As noted here, here, here and here it turns out that only a very select set of data from a remote Russian peninsula Source: The Strata-Sphere RSS Feed

Meet The Press: Rachel Maddow Calls Conservatives "Disgusting" For Cheering Chicago's Failed Olympic Bid

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(h/t David at VideoCafe)

I do think that the wingnut glee in the IOC deciding to award Rio with the 2016 Olympics has really been a perfect example to show how reactionary the republicans and conservatives have become. Actively cheering something that would have helped an American city (and American jobs and the economy) just because they perceive it as hurting the president? Serious derangement.

On Meet the Press, Rachel Maddow just Source: Crooks and Liars RSS Feed

Senate Health Care Takeover Bill Covers Abortions: Dorgan/Conrad Pledged to Oppose

The Senate Finance Committee voted 13-to-10 Wednesday to reject a Republican proposal to put in place tighter restrictions on abortions in the ever-maturing health care reform bill.

The vote largely followed party lines, with the exception of Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., voting for the restrictions and Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, voting against.

Well good for Kent Conrad to vote against baby murder. Last August he stated at a Town Hall event he was backed into a corner and had to Source: Say Anything RSS Feed

China Employs Weather Modification

China’s air force deployed a “magic-like” range of chemicals and technology to clear Beijing’s smoggy air for a grand parade marking the 60th anniversary of Communist China, state media said on Thursday.

Female soldiers of the People's Liberation Army march in the National Day parade. When President Hu Jintao reviewed troops, he glided past, protruding from the open roof of a 21-foot-long limousine.

Chemists and officials worked for weeks on the country’s mostSource: DarkGovernment RSS Feed