Big news here in NY, as our legislative heroes in the State Senate finally passed a budget last night on a strict party-line vote of 32-28. Since the Assembly passed a budget back in June, I guess we finally have a budget, and only four months and a couple days late. Special kudos to our Senate Republicans, whose obstructionist abilities to march in lockstep in objection to everything rivals even those of their big brothers in the US Senate. Good for you, guys. You’re a credit to, um, whatever it is you are.
Sometimes you just gotta give credit where credit is due. Lou Dobbs had this to say about the fake attempt to repeal the 14th Amendment:
“The idea that anchor babies somehow require changing the 14th Amendment, I part ways with the Senators on that because I believe the 14th Amendment, particularly in its due process and equal protection clauses, is so important,” Dobbs said. “It lays the foundation for the entire Bill of Rights being applied to the states.”
So, good for you, Lou. You’re not quite as crazy, stupid, and dangerous as Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Jon Kyl, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, and Lindsey Graham (to name a few).
Today is the President’s birthday. Or is it? As Rush Limbaugh said yesterday, we can’t be sure because we’ve never seen any proof of that (other than Obama’s birth certificate – but who you gonna believe, Oily Taintz or your lyin’ eyes?). Anyhow, on the odd chance that is really is is your natal day, Happy Birthday Barry. Put your feet up and have a smoke and a beer (and fer chrissakes, not a Bud Light, please – though I guess light beer would be quite emblematic of your presidency, which I am in no way disappointed in).
The aurora borealis was visible in the northern US last night thanks to a solar storm over the weekend. Or so I hear. I was in bed, and I think it was raining here. I guess I’ll just have to find a YouTube video of it or something.
I saw the Northern Lights here when I was a kid, though at the time I had no idea what the hell it was. I just remember seeing this weird light to the north, and all of us going, “what the hell is that?”
Oh well, off to bravely face another day. That’s the nice thing about doing something for a living you really don’t want to do anymore. It keeps you from fearing death.
Oh, and as for dinosaurs and oil, I think the relationship was made pretty clear by the TV show “Dinosaurs,” which featured Earl Sinclair, Ethyl Phillips, Roy Hess, and BP Richfield.
Happy 49th, BHO!
:cake: :boobs: :love: 🙁 :gate:
I know how much you folks like our San Francisco wierdness so here you go…
S.F. Eyes Booze Fee To Meet Costs Of Alcoholism
:40: :alc: :blues:
San Francisco doesn’t get the weird award. You want weird, try Texas or Sharon Angle’s angle on Nevada. I could go on but I’ll spare you. Besides, I live in Red Hook where weird is not weird ’cause it’s normal.
Oh, and Happy 90th Birthday to Helen Thomas.
I nickel a drink sounds like a deal to me. That’d add less than a dollar a night to my habit.
Hydrofracking moratorium passes NYS Senate. Hard to believe they did the right thing (though they really just kicked the can down the street to 2011; it should be banned forever and for always). And of course who knows what Governor Blinky will do.
Why I Was Angry
By ANTHONY WEINER
It was frustrating to hear Republicans say these people didn’t deserve more help because, as one put it, “people get killed all the time.†Others called it another big entitlement program. Some said it was a giveaway to New York, or complained that the bill would have been paid for by closing a tax loophole. We responded to each of these arguments over the summer in the hours of hearings and markups of the bill. And the answers are pretty simple.
The truth is that this is a limited program, with a cap, because it is restricted to 9/11 responders and others directly affected by the toxic substances. As we all remember, the victims of ground zero dust came from all over the nation — they weren’t just New Yorkers. And, frankly, I don’t see what’s wrong with trying to close a loophole that lets foreign multinational corporations avoid paying taxes on income they have earned in the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/opinion/04weiner.html?ref=todayspaper
From Sharon Angle:
“I know people are very frightened about what’s going on in this country,” Angle said in an interview that originally aired on April 21 with TruNews Christian Radio’s Rick Wile. “And these programs that you mentioned — that Obama has going with Reid and Pelosi pushing them forward — are all entitlement programs built to make government our God. And that’s really what’s happening in this country is a violation of the First Commandment. We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We’re supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government. And you’ve just identified the real crux of the problem.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/sharron-angle-says-democr_n_670833.html
The opponents of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque tried to get New York City to use its landmark preservation powers to prevent the project from getting off the ground. But precisely the same groups– including the Anti-Defamation League– have a history of arguing in court that local governments can’t use laws like that to prevent houses of worship from being built.
-.-
Oddly, many of the groups leading and supporting the campaign against the so-called mosque have a history of arguing in favor of religious freedom on similar cases.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the legal advocacy group leading the charge, has argued repeatedly and forcefully in federal court on at least three occasions that local land-use laws like historical landmark designations don’t trump the religious and property rights of religious groups to build houses of worship. So has the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which controversially came out in opposition to the mosque last week. The group has filed no less than five amicus briefs in federal court arguing that local governments can’t use zoning laws to prevent the building of churches and synagogues.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100804/pl_yblog_upshot/mosques-opponents-have-taken-opposite-position-in-court-longshot
In a major victory for gay rights activists, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that a voter initiative banning same-sex marriage in California violated the Constitution’s equal protection and due process rights clauses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/prop-8-overturned-gay-mar_n_671018.html
Caroline Giuliani, daughter of former mayor Rudolph Giuliani, was arrested today for shoplifting from an Upper East Side beauty store.
The 20-year-old was allegedly caught stealing about $100 worth of makeup from a Sephora store on 86th Street and Lexington Avenue around 2 pm.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/caroline-giuliani-arreste_n_671013.html?ir=Politics
Any comment I have would be cruel and accurate. I’ll keep quiet.
I’m in Goldendale, Wa and headed to central Oregon tomorrow. There’s a fire in Sisters, so I think the sky will be too fucked up for the new ‘scope. At least there’s rain in the forecast but it may come with lightning.
One for Caroline from Siouxsie P so stupid I’ll just leave it in yesterday where it belongs.