There are plenty of reasons to despise “Blue Dog” Democrats. But now one of these monsters – Arkansas Congresscritter Marion Berry (that’s Berry, not Barry) – has gone too far. On Monday evening, HR 562 passed 359-1. That’s right, 146 Republicans joined 213 Democrats in passing this most vital resolution. The one “nay” vote? Marion Berry. It’s high time we drove deranged Blue Dogs like this out of our government. If you live in Arkansas, I urge you to run against Barry in the next AR 1st primary.
The NY Times says Hamid Karzai’s brother – Ahmed Wali Karzai – is on the CIA payroll (which supplements his income from the opium trade). The CIA denies it, though, and they wouldn’t lie.
A cable on the Bay Bridge in San Fran snapped yesterday afternoon, prompting the closing of the bridge for repairs for at least 24 hours. Should make life pretty miserable for commuters in the area this morning (hope you don’t need to go that way, Vernon). It’s sad, but the way things have gotten in this country, I don’t know that I’d trust any bridge these days.
A car bomb in a Pakistani marketplace has killed at least 90 people (mostly women).
Otherwise, not much going in in the world. Joe Lieberman’s still an asshole trying to get somebody to pay attention to him. In other non-news, those two pilots have had their licenses lifted (I mean, really, you can screw off all you want, but you really ought to keep an eye on all those blinky lights and dially things in the cockpit – plus pay attention to the radio; they might need to tell you that you’re about to hit another plane or something). You have to wonder just what the hell these people are up to when they’re supposed to be driving the bus.
So, just to reiterate: if you have to leave the house today, stay off airplanes and bridges (and away from CT “Independents,” AR Blue Dogs, and Pakistani marketplaces).
As a matter of fact, pj, I took one of my rare trips to Berkeley last night and unknowingly hit the bridge, lower deck, at about the time they decided to close it. Coming home before midnight took 1-1/2 hours via the southern San Mateo bridge for a normally 25 minute trip. Glad today that bridge is not a regular part of a commute for me.
The best thing about this is the video that plays behind him starting about 2:40.
(Toyota) has developed two new flower species that offset CO2 emissions from its Prius manufacturing plant in Toyota City, Japan.
Toyota’s flowers are derivatives of cherry sage and gardenia that effectively absorb nitrogen oxides and remove heat from the atmosphere. This lowers the surface temperature surrounding the factory, which in turn cuts down on energy requirements for cooling.
snip
The Prius production process reportedly generates more CO2 than standard petroleum-powered vehicles, meaning that the flower planting initiative is little more than greenwashing. For its part, Toyota claims that the increase in CO2 during production is quickly offset by the vehicle’s reduced emissions
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/toyota-creates-its-own-flower-species-gobble-harmful-gases?partner=rss
Roger that.
Not that Arkansas and Alaska are that different, but for the record:
AR = Arkansas
AK = Alaska
***
So is that flower bio-engineered???
Why do Rethugs hate the hate crimes laws? :billcat: