Taipei Lottery: American lotteries should offer a prize like this...the peace would be priceless!

Boy wins rights to tropical island in lottery

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A 4-year-old boy has won the use of an uninhabited tropical island, with white sand beaches and clear turquoise waters, in a Taiwan lottery aimed at boosting spending during an economic downturn.

Officials said Yeh Chien-wei, who won the prize at Thursday's draw, will get exclusive rights to the tiny plot in the Taiwan Strait from May through September.

Penghu County, an offshore archipelago, will provide food, drinks, water and electricity to the boy. He has been quoted in local media saying he wants to play in the sea.

"Penghu has a lot of islands, and that one has water and electricity, so someone can really enjoy it," said county economic promotion official Lu Yan-chang, explaining why use of the island, which also has a cabin, was offered as a prize.

Counties elsewhere in Taiwan have offered cars, houses and other prizes to encourage locals to spend consumer vouchers worth T$3,600 ($103) that the government gave to every citizen in January to encourage spending to help boost the sagging economy.

Penghu, which comprises 64 islands, is known for its beautiful beaches and water sports.

According to the terms of the prize, the boy and up to seven family members can visit the island five times, for trips that last a maximum of three days.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings, editing by Miral Fahmy)

Art via www.shafferfineart.com/The_Art_of_Walfrido.htm

One Man's Pork is another Man's Stimulus Package: See who is in Hog Heaven!

IT'S OINK TIME AGAIN... AS THE SENATORS WALLOW IN THEIR PERSONAL PORK PACKAGES! AFTER ALL OF OBAMA'S GRAND SPEECHES ABOUT ELIMINATING EARMARKS "BY GOING OVER THEM LINE-BY-LINE" THIS IS OUR REALITY...

By Richard Simon

The Los Angeles Times

''Reporting from Washington -- A massive spending bill expected to be approved by Congress this week is filled with more than 8,500 earmarks -- those pet projects that lawmakers love -- costing $7.7 billion.

Despite the tough economy, mounting federal budget deficit and pledges by President Obama and members of both parties to crack down on the practice, a number of lawmakers have defended their earmarks as important to the nation's economic recovery.'' Click here to see which state is in "Hog Heaven!"

pig image via Google Images

 

Republicans 'Rush' to apologize to their LimBoss!

  

I'm Sorry, Rush
"My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh..."
"I was maybe a little bit inarticulate... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."
"I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking..." Michael Steele.

The parodies of Republicans saying their sorry to entertainer Russ Limbaugh are popping up all over the Web. Here's one site (set up by the Democrats) that allows you to craft your own letter to Russ.

images via Google Images

I've always been an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan...

 Edgar Rice Burroughs
"The Living Dead"
(Carson of Venus series)
© Fantastic Adventures, Nov 1941
Escape on Venus, 1946 (below)
-This book is a rare find. If you have it, then you should hold on to it.

This book is part of the last Burroughs series: "Carson Napier on Venus".

"It reminded me of Alan Burt Akers "Scorpio" series, with the strange flying machines, fantasy-like aliens and clockwork primitive plot. Of course, Akers (pen name of Kenneth Bulmer) imitated Burroughs, but... Akers did it more engagingly, me thinks. Here, formulaic adventure is not as exotic and lush, as one might expect from Burroughs - however, it does contain one of the future staples of space opera: putting our heroes on display (hanging from a hook) in an alien museum, and their subsequent inevitable escape.
It seems the movie is in the works based on "Pirates of Venus" series. Should be a colorful CG experience. By the way, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a term "Sword and Planet" used to describe the whole sub-genre in science fiction. Very convenient; I am going to use it now on a ton of pulp and paperback fiction reviews (Robert Moore Williams, Lin Carter, Akers, etc.) "

images and write-up via darkroastedblend.com

America needs jobs: Not dueling senators over semantics!

I"M SURE TIRED OF THE RHETORIC IN THE SENATE. IT SEEMS OUR POLITICOS CARE MORE ABOUT IDEALOGIE THAN REALITY...I FOUND THIS COLUMN ON THE AMERICAN PROSPECT WEB SITE AND FELT IT WAS VERY WELL DONE. WALDEN CUTS THROUGH THE CHAFF ANDS LAYS THE BATTLE OF WORDS BEFORE ALL TO SEE IN THEIR STUPID ENTIRETY! 

Good Work, If You Can Get It                               

          By Paul Walden

"Every national politician, in good times and bad, will talk about "jobs" -- creating jobs, building jobs, saving jobs, bringing jobs. Or as they sometimes put it, "jobs, jobs, jobs." But as the current debate on the Obama administration's stimulus package has shown, not everybody has the same understanding of what a "job" is. The problem is that philosophy is getting in the way of reality."

Click here for the whole column.

image via Google Images

Little Miss Muffet didn't know this spider sat beside her!

Spiders (not necessarily jumping spiders) may use different mimicry. Some, like crab spiders, may blend with flowers and wait for insects... Do you see the hiding "Yellow Death"?

image credit: Hannes Mitchell)

Experts say that impulsive children could become gamblers!

I ALWAYS TAKE SO-CALLED EMPIRICAL STUDIES WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. THIS STUDY, THAT TOOK PLACE IN CANADA, MAKES AN INTERESTING CLAIM;

from Reuters this morning...

"Children rated as impulsive by their kindergarten teachers appear more likely to begin gambling behaviors like playing cards or placing bets before they hit middle school, Canadian researchers said on Monday.

The study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine is the first to show gambling among children this young, said Linda Pagani, who led the study at Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and the Universite de Montreal.

"The question has always been, 'What comes before adolescent gambling?'" Pagani said in a telephone interview."

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE STORY.

image via Google Images

My 1955 Buick Classic was lot's of fun when I was a teenager

  

A restored classic blue and white 1956 Buick 4-Door Hardtop owned by Leonard O. of California.

The Photo is By Douglas Wilkinson

                                                      By DAVE STANCLIFF                          

In 1968, I was a senior at Azusa High School, and I bought a 1955 Buick off of my Dad for the whopping sum of $300.00! It was a dark Forest Green. I bussed a lot of tables in restaurants to come up with that much loot. I was going to take it on a cross country trip after graduation with several buddies, but it didn't work out. Instead, just one buddy and I toured Canada and the United States for weeks in a Black VW...which I learned to hate for it's lack of room.

One night in British Columbia we were sleeping outside (we camped whenever possible to save money) and a sudden rainstorm hit. It woke my buddy up who - good friend that he was - didn't bother waking me up and he scrambled into the back seat of the VW. When I did awake slobbering wet, my only option was to sit in the front seat and to fold up my long legs like a crippled cricket! The rest of that night was hell.

But, back to the 1955 Buick Classic, which we didn't take on that trip. Gasoline was 24 cents a gallon in 1968 where we lived, and to go to a Dodger game in Los Angeles four of five of us would toss in a buck and it would fill that Buick up! Everything seems so cheap looking back at it, but at the time we thought it was a lot. I smoked cigarettes and would buy them at service stations for a quarter a pack. I didn't quit that nasty habit until January 2000.

I had to sell the Buick however when we ran out of money in Tulsa, Oklahoma on our way back to California. I called my Dad, who bought the 1955 Buick back from me for $300.00 and then sent the money Western Union. We waited for hours on the hot sidewalk outside of the Western Union office before relief came. We gorged ourselves on a steak dinner and hit the road home. Lucky for me, I still had a 1963 Chevy that ran like a top and was even better than the Buick was on gas mileage. It was a peppy six-cylinder with a three-speed transmission that was purchased second-hand from a fleet of Union 76 company cars (with decals on the doors which I had to spray paint white).

The fate of the Chevy will have to wait until another post. I'm outa here....

images via Google Images

You've got to read these Secret ex-president Bush memos!

IF YOU HAD ANY DOUBT THAT BUSH WAS SUBVERTING DEMOCRACY DURING HIS REGIME, THEN THESE MEMOS WILL RID YOU OF THAT THOUGHT.

IT'S INCREDIBLE HOW MUCH HARM DUBYA HAS DONE! CHECK THESE MEMOS OUT YOURSELF AND SEE WHAT YOU THINK. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THEM VIA ALTERNET, VIA HUFFINGTON POST.

From AlterNet....

"Below are previously inaccessible memos written by Bush administration officials outlining their reasons for why the military had the right to warrantless wiretaps and warrantless search and seizures of people in the U.S. they deemed to be terrorist suspects. The Obama administration released the memos." CLICK HERE to read them.

image via alternet.com

Good News? The Feds think so with the new loan program

 DOES THIS MOVE MEAN THAT HOPE MAY BE REPLACED WITH ACTION? THIS BREAKING NEWS SOUNDS LIKE A BREAK IN THE STORM...WILL IT LEAD US TO A RECOVERY? SEE WHAT THE EXPERTS THINK...

                        By Jeannine Aversa/AP Economics Writer

"The Federal Reserve on Tuesday rolled out a much-awaited program aimed at boosting the availability of credit to consumers and small businesses.

The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to spur consumer lending — for autos, education, credit cards and other consumer debt. The money will be used to provide financing to investors to buy up the debt.

The bold program, dubbed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, was first announced late last year and originally scheduled to start in February.

Participants — companies and investors that pledge eligible collateral to back the loan — must request the new government loans by March 17. The Fed will provide the three-year loans on March 25.

The Fed said the program has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion of lending for businesses and households."

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE.

AFP/File photo – The US Federal Reserve Building as seen from the air over Washington, DC.

He's Back! Blago signs six-figure book deal to 'expose the dark side of politics'

FROM TALKING POINT MEMO, VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, DISGRACED EX-GOVERNOR ROD BLAGOJEVICH REBOUNDS AND WRITES A BOOK ON (OF ALL THINGS) THE DARK SIDE OF POLITICS! WHEN IT COMES TO PURE GALL BLAGO TAKES THE CAKE. 

By Don Babwin/AP

"Rod Blagojevich, the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed from office by impeachment, signed a deal Monday to write a book "exposing the dark side of politics," his publicist said.

Blagojevich signed a "six-figure" deal to write a book for Phoenix Books, to be released in October, publicist Glenn Selig said in a news release.

Selig said the former governor "plans on exposing the dark side of politics that he witnessed in both the state and national level."

FOR THE WHOLE STORY CLICK HERE.

image via Associated Press