Kraven Moorehead

tip of the day

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:52:10 -0500

never buy a bag full of salt water taffy in a heat wave
I now have a 1lb of licorice/banana/cherry /rootbeer taffy

fun time with sista sarah coming soon

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:51:00 -0500

Calif university will allow media at Palin event

June 18, 2010 By The Associated Press ROBIN HINDERY (Associated Press Writer)

(AP) — After months of requests from reporters, a California university has agreed to allow members of the media to attend a fundraiser next week featuring Sarah Palin.

Officials with California State University, Stanislaus said Friday that the June 25 gala at its Turlock campus would be open to the press.

The Associated Press has been requesting access to the event since mid-April.

and the beat goes on

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:42:41 -0500

US military deaths in Afghan region at 1,036
As of Friday, June 18, 2010, at least 1,036 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count. (AP, 7:40 p.m.)

sister Sarah at her best

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:31:31 -0500

When asked by Bill O'Reilly "how to stop" the oil leak,Sarah Palin responded:

The Dutch. They are known... and the Norwegian. They are known for -- for dikes and for cleaning up water and for dealing with spills.

more from the Grand Oil Party

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:22:49 -0500

Michele Bachman strikes

She told The Washington Post: "But if I was the head of BP, I would let the signal get out there -- 'We're not going to be chumps, and we're not going to be fleeced.' And they shouldn't be. They shouldn't have to be fleeced and made chumps to have to pay for perpetual unemployment and all the rest -- they've got to be legitimate claims."

The Grand Oil Party

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:19:31 -0500

Rep. Barton apologizes to BP for Obama 'shakedown'

"I'm not speaking for anybody in the House of Representatives but myself," Barton explained, "but I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case a $20 billion shakedown."

[Photos: Obama meets with BP executives]

Wrapping up, Barton said: "I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words — amounts to a shakedown, so I apologize."

today's joke of the day

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:27:05 -0500

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

it's been a while but

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:25:53 -0500

I'M back and Obushma better be ready

joke of the day ......thanks Julie

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:50:11 -0500

The Irish Bagpiper

As a bagpiper, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery in the remote countryside and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost and being a typical man, did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating lunch but the hearse was nowhere in sight.
I apologized to the workers for my tardiness and stepped to the side of the open grave where I saw the vault lid already in place.

I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long but this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I played out my heart and soul.

As I played the workers began to weep. I played and I played like I'd never played before, from Going Home and The Lord is My Shepherd to Flowers of the Forest . I closed the lengthy session with Amazing Grace and walked to my car..

As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another, "Sweet Jeezuz, Mary 'n Joseph, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

The Big Hate...........thanks Mike

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:44:03 -0500

The New York Times

June 12, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
The Big Hate
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.

But with the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion fanatic, closely followed by a shooting by a white supremacist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the analysis looks prescient.

There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.”

But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.

And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.

Exhibit A for the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism is Fox News’s new star, Glenn Beck.

Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda (although he eventually conceded that nothing of the kind was happening).

But let’s not neglect the print news media. In the Bush years, The Washington Times became an important media player because it was widely regarded as the Bush administration’s house organ. Earlier this week, the newspaper saw fit to run an opinion piece declaring that President Obama “not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself,” and that in any case he has “aligned himself” with the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

And then there’s Rush Limbaugh. His rants today aren’t very different from his rants in 1993. But he occupies a different position in the scheme of things. Remember, during the Bush years Mr. Limbaugh became very much a political insider. Indeed, according to a recent Gallup survey, 10 percent of Republicans now consider him the “main person who speaks for the Republican Party today,” putting him in a three-way tie with Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich. So when Mr. Limbaugh peddles conspiracy theories — suggesting, for example, that fears over swine flu were being hyped “to get people to respond to government orders” — that’s a case of the conservative media establishment joining hands with the lunatic fringe.

It’s not surprising, then, that politicians are doing the same thing. The R.N.C. says that “the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.” And when Jon Voight, the actor, told the audience at a Republican fund-raiser this week that the president is a “false prophet” and that “we and we alone are the right frame of mind to free this nation from this Obama oppression,” Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, thanked him, saying that he “really enjoyed” the remarks.

Credit where credit is due. Some figures in the conservative media have refused to go along with the big hate — people like Fox’s Shepard Smith and Catherine Herridge, who debunked the attacks on that Homeland Security report two months ago. But this doesn’t change the broad picture, which is that supposedly respectable news organizations and political figures are giving aid and comfort to dangerous extremism.

What will the consequences be? Nobody knows, of course, although the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.”

And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.

The Mrs.' joke of the day

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:10:18 -0500

Here is something to think about when negative people are doing
their
best to rain on your parade. Remember this
story the next time someone who knows nothing (and cares less) tries
to
make your life miserable...

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip
to
Rome with her husband.. She mentioned the
trip to the hairdresser, who responded:

" Rome ? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty..
You're crazy to go to Rome . So, how are you
getting there?"

"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"

"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. " That's a terrible
airline.
Their planes are old, their flight attendants
are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome
?"

"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome 's Tiber River
called Teste."

"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks its gonna
be
something special and exclusive, but it's
really a dump.."

"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."

"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. You and a million other
people
trying to see him. He'll look the size of an
ant.

Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."

A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser
asked her about her trip to Rome .

"It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one
of Continental's brand new planes, but it
was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and
wine
were wonderful, and I had a handsome
28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.

And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling
job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in
the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us
their owner's suite at no extra charge!"

"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I
know
you didn't get to see the Pope."

"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a
Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and
explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if
I'd be so kind as to step into his private room
and wait, the Pope would personally greet me.
Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and
shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few
words to me."
"Oh, really! What'd he say ?"
He said: "Who fucked up your hair?"

Reviving American chestnuts may mitigate climate change...........I love chestnut.....thanks Dave

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:43:51 -0500

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 10, 2009 12:42 PM | permalink
American chestnut trees are very fast growing and produce a hard wood suitable for furniture. They're good at sequestering carbon. In the early 1900s a blight nearly wiped out chestnut trees. They've never come back. But Douglass Jacobs, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University, has hybridized American chestnuts with blight-resistant Chinese chestnuts. The tress are 94 percent American chestnut, yet retain the blight resistance of Chinese chestnuts.

200906101241 (Photo by Nicole Jacobs)

Jacobs studied four sites in southwestern Wisconsin that were unaffected by the blight because they are so far from the tree's natural range. He compared the American chestnut directly against black walnut and northern red oak at several different ages, and also cross-referenced his results to other studies using quaking aspen, red pine and white pine in the same region.

In each case the American chestnut grew faster, having as much as three times more aboveground biomass than other species at the same point of development. American chestnut also sequestered more carbon than all the others. The only exception was black walnut on one site, but the American chestnut absorbed more carbon on the other study sites.

"Each tree has about the same percentage of its biomass made up of carbon, but the fact that the American chestnut grows faster and larger means it stores more carbon in a shorter amount of time," Jacobs said.

Jacobs said trees absorb about one-sixth of the carbon emitted globally each year. Increasing the amount that can be absorbed annually could make a considerable difference in slowing climate change, he said.

Three dead in North Carolina ConAgra plant blast....not my Slim Jims

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:51:57 -0500

WILMINGTON, North Carolina (Reuters) - Three workers died when an explosion caused a roof collapse at a ConAgra Foods Inc processing plant in North Carolina, and more than 40 people were injured, the company and police said on Wednesday.

The 500,000-square-foot (46,000-sq-meter) plant in Garner, south of the state capital of Raleigh, employed 900 people in three shifts and made Slim Jim meat sticks, ConAgra said.

Tuesday's explosion started a fire and blew out a wall that fell onto a row of parked cars, crushing them. People at the scene reported a strong smell of ammonia fumes.

The cause of the blast was unknown.

U.S. mortgage demand withers as loan rates spike

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:48:14 -0500

By Lynn Adler

NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Spiking U.S. mortgage rates drove down total home loan applications last week as demand for refinancing shriveled to the lowest level since November, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

The swift rate rise crimps affordability, likely cutting offer prices on home sales and prolonging a housing turnaround.

Borrowing costs have soared as bond yields have risen, even as the Federal Reserve has sopped up hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds to keep rates low and stimulate the housing market.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped 0.32 percentage point in the June 5 week to 5.57 percent. That was nearly a full point, about 100 basis points, above the record low rate of 4.61 percent in March, the trade group said.

"Clearly, 50 or 100 basis points more on mortgage rates is enough to matter. It effects what people can afford to buy," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston.

Oil hits 7-month peak as U.S. stockpiles wither

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:46:50 -0500

By Richard Valdmanis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged to a seven-month high near $72 a barrel on Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed a slowdown in crude imports eating away at inventories in the world's top energy user.

U.S. crude for July delivery rose to a high of $71.79 a barrel before pulling back to trade up $1.04 at $71.05 by 1:20 p.m, EDT. London Brent rose 85 cents to $70.47 a barrel.

The gains came after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported nationwide stockpiles fell by a larger-than-expected 4.4 million barrels last week as imports dropped by 676,000 barrels per day.

"The number that kind of stands out right away is the drop in crude oil imports," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "If imports are going to drop, we're going to see some of the stockpiles erased."

The report also showed a decline in gasoline inventories as refiners slowed production and demand notched higher.