Mood:  chatty

Hitchhiker steals car, then dies in crash

OTTAWA -- A Canadian hitchhiker, who stole an elderly man's car after he offered her a ride, died a few minutes later when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed into trees, police said.

The crash happened near the town of Hawkesbury -- about 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Ottawa -- after the man stopped to pick up 20-year-old Mandy Deschambeault.

"The male driver proceeded to step out of his vehicle momentarily at which point the female jumped in the driver seat, stealing the male person's car," local police said in a statement Monday.

"She proceeded to lose control of the ... car, crossing the other lane hitting trees. The female was ejected from the vehicle and found to be without vital signs."

Deschambeault was pronounced dead in hospital.

Yahoo News ~ Reuters **
Hitchhiker steals car, then dies in crash

Karma.
Sounds like a prime candidate for the Darwin Awards.

Media note: It didn't say in the article ... but I'd be willing to bet ... it was an SUV ... that KILLED her! Now all that needs to happen is for the hitchhiker's family to sue the victim for his defective vehicle.

Too bad John 'Breck Girl' Edwards is running for president. There are a lot of people he could sue on this one. Whoever owns the property where she crashed, the car owner for enticing her to take the vehicle... The manufacturer for failing to install seat belts that automatically get put in place once a person is in the driver's seat. Did I miss anyone? Oh yeah, big oil and Bush... Just because.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 6:07 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 17 May 2007 6:20 PM EDT

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Mood:  loud

Pelosi Gags GOP on House Floor

RUSH: Well, Nancy Pelosi has just instituted a new rule that hasn't been changed since 1822 to effectively shut the Republicans up on the House floor because they're being too successful procedurally. So she's already instituted a Fairness Doctrine for House Republicans.

Pelosi, Dems changed rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority

I read the headline and thought maybe the stitches from her latest face lift let go, but it's even worse... Stalinist libtards have killed "minority rights" once and for all, now that THEY'RE in the majority...

PELOSI LOWERS THE BOOM

After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority.

The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822.

In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour.

Drudge Report.com ** Pelosi Lowers The Boom

So much for minority rights! If the republicans had done this to her, she would have had a hissy fit!
(Another) welched libtard campaign promise to "work together with Republicans"... Bi-partisanship my ass!

Changing 185 years of tradition is no suprise from the crowd that hates all American traditions (and values.)

UPDATE: The Politico ~ Patrick O'Connor ** Dems bend rules, break pledge

Posted by yaahoo_ at 9:13 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:46 AM EDT

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Mood:  don't ask

Al-Qaeda group threatens attacks in France (Regardless of Iraq)

<Excerpt>

DUBAI -- An Al-Qaeda front group in Europe threatened on Tuesday to launch bloody attacks in France in response to the election of "crusader and Zionist" Nicolas Sarkozy as president.

"As you have chosen the crusader and Zionist Sarkozy as a leader ... we in the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades warn you that the coming days will see a bloody jihadist campaign ... in the capital of Sarkozy," the group's "Europe division" said in an Internet statement addressed to the French people.

The campaign will be "against all those who allow themselves to follow the policy" of the US administration, said the statement whose authenticity could not verified.

The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades takes its name from an Al-Qaeda commander killed during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.

Full article at:
Expatica ** Al-Qaeda group threatens attacks in France

I suppose this stupid animal would have been happy if the America hating socialist libtard had won.
AQ... Librtards' best friend.

Are going to land at Normandy again? Well... the dims want to pull out of Iraq and fight al-Qaeda where they are.

But of course, this will be spun as some evil Bush-Rove plot.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:18 AM EDT

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Mood:  silly

9/11 Conspiratards To Appear On The View, no word on whether they're including sane people, too

Confirmed: 9/11 Truthers To Appear On The View

Yesterday's report validated by Rosie's blog entry

Confirming our report yesterday, Rosie O'Donnell has validated via her blog that prominent 9/11 truthers are set to appear on The View and educate an audience of around 30 million on the controlled demolition of the twin towers and WTC 7.

We reported weeks ago that 9/11 film makers as well as experts on the controlled demolition hypothesis would feature on the ABC show and those tapings are now imminent.

Full article at:
Prison Planet ~ Paul Joseph Watson ** Confirmed: 9/11 Truthers To Appear On The View

Related thread at Hot Air

Does Baba Wawa have a shred of credibility anymore? 9/11 "truthers"??? What are they, exactly? Libtard disseminators of propaganda and lies?

Maybe windbag "Ching Chong" Rosie O'Donut can explain why a semi-truck that exploaded underneath a bridge melted the steel, but that could not have happened in the WTC's?

Just think: Alot of these physics whiz-kids are designing the cars, spacecraft, aircraft, and buildings of tomorrow.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:58 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

Iraq Tribal Leader: Tell Dems to Lay Off Bush

RUSH: Story in the New York Sun today: "As Surge Begins to Take Hold in Baghdad, Tribal Leaders Turn on Al-Qaeda." The dateline of this story is Abu Ghraib. "In the aftermath of America's recent troop surge in Iraq, tribal leaders throughout Iraq are turning on Al-Qaeda, and American military commanders are trying to exploit the new development by bringing tribe members into the Iraqi Security Forces."

Now, that's interesting, but listen to the nut of the story: "Despite the rising antipathy," that would be "anger" for those of you who watch Channel 13 in Sacramento, "toward Al-Qaeda, the tribal sheiks in the Sunni regions in particular are very clear that their new alliance with the Americans is merely a tactical one. Sheik Hussein summed it up: 'We would like America, a friend, to rebuild the country. This is what we want, what the tribes want. But to stay here as a military force indefinitely is unacceptable.' For Sheik Hussein, however, the process of a speedy exit is also unacceptable. At a luncheon at a home of one of his cousins," he told the reporter on this story, Eli Lake of the New York Sun, "'Please, tell the Democrats for now to stop pressuring Bush.'"

So an Iraqi cleric, aware of the damage the Democrats are doing to the future of Iraq, has asked a reporter from the New York Sun to go tell the Democrats to lighten up on Bush for now.

NY Sun ~ Eli Lake ** As Surge Begins To Take Hold, Tribal Leaders Turn on Qaeda

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:34 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 15 May 2007 3:40 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

US Cancer Survivability Rates Higher Than Socialized Medicine Countries

Socialists want control, so they'll dump our system.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
(Hillary Clinton Dialect School Parody Commerical)

RUSH: Something in that parody talked about health care. "You have to no gottaa pay-a the health care bill." I was reading Ed Morris's blog, Captain's Quarters. I came across something fascinating. "A new study by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden shows that the American health care system outperforms the socialized systems in Europe in getting new medicines to cancer patients. The difference saves lives, and the existing Western European systems force people to die at higher rates from the same cancers, although the Telegraph buries that lede. The researchers studied Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and the US, as well as 19 European countries, with a total population of 984 million, and looked at access to 67 newer cancer drugs. They found that the proportions of female cancer patients surviving five years beyond diagnosis in France, Spain, Germany, Italy were 71 percent, 64 percent, 63 percent and 63 percent respectively. In the UK it was 53 percent. Among men the proportions still alive at five years in the same countries were 53 percent, 50 percent, 53 percent and 48 percent. Again in the UK it was lower at 43 percent."

The survivability rates beyond five years of diagnosis in the United States are far in excess of all of these socialized countries with socialized medicine. Here's the point, though, and it takes a while in the story for it to show up. Here's the reference in the story about the American system. "Dr. Nils Wilking, a clinical oncologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said: "Our report highlights that in many countries new drugs are not reaching patients quickly enough and that this is having an adverse impact on patient survival. Where you live can determine whether you receive the best available treatment or not. To some extent this is determined by economic factors, but much of the variation between countries remains unexplained. In the US we have found that the survival of cancer patients is significantly related to the introduction of new oncology drugs.' ... The proportion of colorectal cancer patients with access to the drug Avastin was 10 times higher in the US than it was in Europe, with the UK having a lower uptake than the European average."

United States health care saves more lives than socialized medicine, and yet socialized medicine is one of the building blocks of the Democrat Party's agenda, particularly Mrs. Bill Clinton's agenda. Now, it's the same thing with tax revenue that we were just discussing. If current tax rates are producing record amounts of revenue and rapid economic growth, why would you change it? If the US health care system is the best in the world, despite its flaws -- if it's the best in the world and people who come down with deadly diseases survive much longer here because of access to drugs much sooner and much cheaper than people who live in socialized countries have access to it -- why in the world would you change it? Well, there's a simple answer. Socialists want control. They want as much control over us as they can get.  It's about power. It's about enlarging the State. It's about making you dependent, and that eliminates your threatening their power. The less wealth you have, the less mobility, freedom, the less of a threat you are to their power. This is liberalism through and through.

Now you might ask: "How come so many average Americans are liberals and they're willing to give up this power?" Because they're dupes. I'm talking about the leaders. I'm talking about the people in Washington. I'm talking about the think tank leaders. I'm talking about the special interest groups. Liberals in this country, these doofuses that write the hateful comments on Internet blogs, they're just unhappy people in general. They want everybody else to be miserable with them anyway. They're probably jealous of people who do better than them and they want those people taken down a peg or two. They want everything the same. Everything the same. No inequality. No inequity. They want outcome of results. They're sickos and they're miserable and they're unhappy and they want everybody to join them in that. But you talk about ideology? Liberals believe this and conservatives believe this. It's really very, very simple. Conservatives believe in individual liberty and freedom and ambition so that people can become the best they can be, because it is believed that the greatest society and the greatest culture, the greatest country, is achieved by the greatest number of people pursuing excellence. Liberals don't have that faith in people and they don't want that kind of freedom. They want to be in charge. They want to have the power and they want people dependent because that is what enriches them in every which way you can imagine.

END TRANSCRIPT
Read the Background Material...
CaptainsQuarters: US Health Care Saves More Lives Than Socialized Medicine
*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.
Rush Limbaugh.com ** US Cancer Survivability Rates Higher Than Socialized Medicine Countries

Related: SOCIALIST HEALTH CARE ALERT
Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe, British cancer patients more likely to die
UK Telegraph ~ Nic Fleming ** Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:26 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 15 May 2007 3:23 AM EDT

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Mood:  smelly

Fake Snot Makes Electronic Nose Smell Better

By Ker Than

Scientists are using artificial snot to give electronic sniffers a better, and faster, sense of smell.

A human nose contains more than 100 receptors working together to tease apart the molecules it encounters. This ability is further enhanced by a thin layer of mucus that, in addition to trapping particles such as pollen and dust, dissolves scents and causes some molecules to reach the odor receptors later than others. Our brain translates the time delays into a wide variety of smells.

Electronic noses look nothing like a human nose and typically contain fewer than 50 sensors.

Researchers at the University of Warwick and Leicester University in the United Kingdom achieved the same effect by coating an electronic nose with artificial mucus made from a mix of polymers. The man-made snot allowed their device to smell the difference between milk and a banana, something it could not do before.

"Our artificial mucus not only offers improved odor discrimination for electronic noses, it also offers much shorter analysis times than conventional techniques," said study leader Julian Gardner of the University of Warwick.

The team's device is detailed in the journal of the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

Electronic noses are often used by the food industry for quality control and some are being used to sniff out diseases.

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Related:
• How We Smell
• How Your Nose is More Complex than a 747
• Giant Balls of 'Snot' Explain Ocean Mystery

Live Science.com ~ Ker Than ** Fake Snot Makes Electronic Nose Smell Better

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:14 AM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

Dems backing down on promised reforms...

Lobbying Reform Losing Steam in House

Lobbying Reform Losing Momentum in Congress After Democrats Touted It for 2006 Election

House Democrats are suddenly balking at the tough lobbying reforms they touted to voters last fall as a reason for putting them in charge of Congress.

Now that they are running things, many Democrats want to keep the big campaign donations and lavish parties that lobbyists put together for them. They're also having second thoughts about having to wait an extra year before they can become high-paid lobbyists themselves should they retire or be defeated at the polls.

The growing resistance to several proposed reforms now threatens passage of a bill that once seemed on track to fulfill Democrats' campaign promise of cleaner fundraising and lobbying practices.

"The longer we wait, the weaker the bill seems to get," said Craig Holman of Public Citizen, which has pushed for the changes. "The sense of urgency is fading," he said, in part because scandals such as those involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Duke Cunningham, R-Calif., have given way to other news.

The situation concerns some Democrats, who note their party campaigned against a "culture of corruption" in 2006, when voters ended a long run of Republican control of Congress. Several high-profile issues remained in doubt Friday, five days before the House Judiciary Committee is to take up the legislation.

They include proposals to:

Require lobbyists to disclose details about large donations they arrange for politicians.

Make former lawmakers wait two years, instead of one, before lobbying Congress.

Bar lobbyists from throwing large parties for lawmakers at national political conventions.

All appeared headed for adoption in January when the Senate, with much fanfare, included them in a lobby-reform bill that passed easily. But the provisions, plus many others in the bill, cannot become law unless the House concurs and that's where feet are dragging.

The issues are in danger of being dropped from the House version, a Democratic member close to the negotiations said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because sensitive discussions were continuing.

The snags are frustrating to advocates in and out of Congress who want more restrictions and greater transparency in lobbying and fundraising. Early this year, they appeared on the edge of victory.

Within hours of taking control of the House and Senate, Democrats engineered rule changes to bar lawmakers and their aides from accepting meals, gifts or trips from lobbyists or groups that employ lobbyists.

They also made it far more difficult for lawmakers to slip targeted items, known as earmarks, into spending bills without divulging the source. Such "pork projects" have greatly benefited some companies with well-connected lobbyists.

These rule changes are now in effect in the House. But they will not apply to the Senate unless both chambers reconcile a lobbying bill that the president signs into law.

"Members of Congress ignore this issue at their peril," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who chairs his party's 2008 House campaign committee. "The public wants a Congress that is open and accountable."

The chief stumbling block in the House centers on whether to require disclosures of a fundraising practice called bundling. It involves lobbyists soliciting and collecting campaign donations from other people and then presenting them in one package to the targeted candidate.

Under current law, each individual check-writer must report his or her donation. But the lobbyist-bundlers, who use the practice to ingratiate themselves to politicians, often go undetected.

Meaningful disclosure of bundling "is the defining issue of this bill" and must remain in the House version, said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a private group that supports greater transparency in government.

However, resistance from some House members is so strong that Democratic leaders are thinking of dropping the bundling language from the bill, and perhaps allowing proponents to offer it later as an amendment or separate legislation.

Some House members also oppose the Senate bill's tougher restrictions on retired lawmakers who plan to become lobbyists. Under current law, such retirees can immediately begin drawing pay for lobby-related activities so long as they do not contact former colleagues for one year.

The Senate bill would extend the "cooling off" period to two years, and apply the ban to all lobbying activities, not just direct contacts with lawmakers.

Some House members also dislike a Senate provision that would bar lobbying groups from throwing parties in honor of lawmakers at national nominating conventions. Critics call the practice a way for interest groups to ingratiate themselves with powerful officials.

Meanwhile, public advocacy groups want the House and Senate to adopt tougher reporting requirements for groups that hire lobbyists to help organize supposedly grass-roots campaigns to influence Congress. One proposal would require disclosures by lobbying firms that receive at least $100,000 in a quarter for "paid communications campaigns" aimed at mobilizing the public on a given issue.

Groups such as Common Cause and Democracy 21 say massive special-interest campaigns can largely hide their donors' identities because current disclosure laws apply only to direct lobbying of Congress.

But organizations spanning the political spectrum oppose the idea, saying it could discourage citizens from exercising their right to petition the government. Groups urging lawmakers to reject the proposal include the American Civil Liberties Union, National Right to Life Committee and Eagle Forum.

House members and aides said it was unclear whether the grass-roots proposal, which is not in the Senate bill, will be added to the House measure.

The Senate bill is S. 1

ABC News ~ Associated Press - Charles Babington ** Lobbying Reform Losing Steam in House

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:29 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 12 May 2007 2:34 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

Coward Deanpeace told Kansas Gov. Sebelius to not ask for help and lie about Natl Guard...

XM Radio's War Room: Dean Told Sebelius to Lie about Natl Guard

Did Howard Dean order KS gov to lie about FEMA’s response to the Greensburg tornado?

XM Radio’s Quinn & Rose made the allegation that DNC Chairman Howard Dean called Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius early Sunday morning and instructed her not to request federal assistance in recovery from the Greensburg tornado, and to lie about the federal response to date, on their show, The War Room, today. After I discussed the story via phone with both Quinn and Rose today, here’s what they sent me.

PLEASE NOTE: The following is information we have received from a reliable source. We have never been misinformed by this person in the past.

It seems that, on Sunday, a few hours after Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, made her remarks about Bush sending all their National Guard Members and Resources to Iraq, she made a call to Brownback

Sebelius, was calling to apologize to the Senator for making the Political statements that she did. She explained that she did not believe them and that they actually had too many National Guardsmen show up.

Governor Sebelius explained “Sam, you know how political everything is right now and we’re not allowed to let an opportunity like this just pass.” She continued “I made sure not to blame you or Pat (Senator Roberts?) or anybody outside the White House. With his (Bush’s) numbers, you can’t really blame me for usin’ that.”

Then Sebelius explained the path to her comments. After Brownback told her that he was very disappointed in her, She pleaded “You know me Sam, I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t have to.” She declared “Howard (Dean) called me around 5 o’clock (in the morning) and told me not to ask The White House for any help or make any statements until I heard back. Dick (Durban?) called me an hour or 2 later and that’s when he told me we needed to use this ‘n’ said to talk about the Guard all bein’ at war.”

She then explained the thinking; “Speaker and Harry got so much heat on them from both sides over this damn war, ‘n’ they need to get the press on somethin’ else. I didn’t think it was right to use it like this either, but I didn’t see’s I had much choice in this climate, Sam.”

She the[n] apologized a few more times and promised that she’d try to move away from the comment when she and Brownback were to meet up later and tour the damage, but she had to so it without disappointing Dean and Pelosi.

I asked them to characterize their source, and they replied that she or he would be in a position to have knowledge of the conversation between Sen. Brownback and Gov. Sebelius and has never misinformed them before. Sean Hannity has called Sen. Brownback’s office to either verify or debunk the story, but so far the senator has done neither. There is word that the senator may attempt a “limited hangout” strategy this weekend, in which he acknowledges that the conversation took place but won’t remember the Dean angle. Such a strategy, if that’s what Sen. Brownback does, might be an attempt to maintain comity in what has until now been by all accounts a smooth relationship between the Democratic governor and Republican officials in Kansas. Comity shouldn’t come at the price of truth, however.

At this point, I have no way of verifying whether DNC Chairman Howard Dean called Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and instructed her to lie about the federal response to Friday’s devastating tornado. But I will make some calls and see what I can find out. Quinn & Rose’s story does fit the timeline and does fit the Democrat M.O. of late, in which they find a way to blame every single thing under the sun on Bush and on the war in Iraq. Other Democrat governors have pre-emptively blamed the lack of response to disasters that haven’t even happened yet on Bush and the war in Iraq. So on its face the story strikes me as very plausible.

More: Here’s the original post to catch everyone up on Sebelius’ original statements, the WH and Pentagon and Brownback rebuttals, and then Sebelius’ quick climb down. Obama makes his “10,000 dead” gaffe (has anyone seen video of that gem yet?) and Dingy Harry assails the WH long after Sebelius’ original statements had been debunked. **Here’s the Obama gem. Heh. I’d been off the site and missed it when Ian posted it.

Hot Air ~ Bryan ** Did Howard Dean order KS gov to lie about FEMA’s response to the Greensburg tornado?

Dems conspiring to make false accusations? No shocker there... I wouldn't put it past Coward Deanpeace.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 8:42 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 11 May 2007 8:53 AM EDT

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Mood:  special

Revenue Collections Hit Record in April

WASHINGTON -- Federal revenue collections hit an all-time high in April, contributing to a further improvement in the budget deficit for the year.

Releasing its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Thursday that through the first seven months of this budget year, the deficit totals $80.8 billion, significantly below the $184.1 billion imbalance run up during the first seven months of the 2006 budget year.

So far this year, tax revenues total $1.505 trillion, an increase of 11.2 percent over the same period last year. That figure includes $383.6 billion collected in April, the largest monthly tax collection on record.

Tax collections swell in April every year as individuals file their tax returns by the deadline.

For the first seven months of this budget year, which began Oct. 1, revenue collections and government spending are at all-time highs.

However, the spending total of $1.585 billion was up at a slower pace of 3.2 percent from the previous year.

The difference in the growth of tax collections and spending is the reason for the narrowing deficit.

The Congressional Budget Office said that it now expects the deficit for all of 2007 to total between $150 billion and $200 billion. That would be a significant improvement from last year's deficit of $248.2 billion, which had been the lowest imbalance in four years.

The federal budget was in surplus for four years from 1998 through 2001 as the long economic expansion helped push revenues higher. But the 2001 recession, the cost of fighting a global war on terror and the loss of revenue from President Bush's tax cuts sent the budget back into the red starting in 2002.

The administration's budget sent to Congress in February projects that the deficit will be eliminated by 2012 even if the president achieves his goal of getting his tax cuts made permanent. They are now due to expire in 2010.

However, critics say the improvement in the deficits will be only temporary with deficits expected to balloon again with the higher Social Security and Medicare payments needed as 78 million baby boomers retire.

While Bush sought to make entitlement reform the centerpiece of his domestic agenda in a second term, his proposals to bolster Social Security with personal savings accounts has gone nowhere in Congress.

For April, revenue receipts totaled $383.64 billion while spending totaled $205.97 billion, leaving a surplus for the month of $177.7 billion.

Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Martin Crutsinger ** Revenue Collections Hit Record in April

BIGGEST GOVERNMENT EVER! Fed revenue collections and spending at all-time highs
Also at:
Yahoo News ~ Associated Press - Martin Crutsinger ** Revenue Collections Hit Record in April

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:22 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 11 May 2007 8:55 AM EDT

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