Congrats! Stupidity Award for Debt Ceiling Crisis Comment Goes to Tea Party Congressman

The Washington Post profiled Florida Tea Party Congressman Ted Yoho, who says this about not raising the debt ceiling.

“I think we need to have that moment where we realize [we’re] going broke,” Yoho said. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, that will sure as heck be a moment.

“I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets,” since they would be assured that the United States had moved decisively to curb its debt.

Photo:Wikimedia Commons

That comment won Ted Yoho (above) — who prior to the 2012 election was a veterinarian specializing in large animals — an award from Business Insider!

See story at Learnist

Stay tuned…I guarantee you there’s a lot more stupid comments to come from the Tea Party Toads! They’re not happy with just shutting down the government…oh no..wait till you see the next crazy thing they decide to do!

When the line between movies & reality blurs –‘Hollywood Stuntz’

   Good Day World!

I have nothing against motorcycles.

If I was still physically able to ride one, I would, although my wife would probably make me sleep in the dog house located in our back yard!

This is not a rant against motorcycles. What I’m taking issue with today, is an activity involving motorcycles. It’s called “Hollywood Stuntz,” and as the name suggests, it involves doing wheelies and recklessly darting in-an-out-of traffic at extremely high rates of speed.

There’s been a number of incidents this year involving large groups – one out of Utah had over 3000 members who played this deadly game of chicken on their crotch-rockets! The guy who started the group a year ago don’t even go this year out of fear of what could happen with that many motorcycles doing stunts in heavy traffic.

The most recent case involves a group – or gang – of motorcyclists who chased a man and his wife and baby daughter in their SUV. They were fleeing for their lives when the motorcyclists surrounded them and pulled the male driver out of the SUV and nearly beat him to death.

He was beaten into unconsciousness by enraged motorcyclists and would have probably been murdered if a brave civilian onlooker hadn’t stepped between him and his attackers (he was on the ground not moving).

A man who filmed a video of the violent confrontation between an SUV driver and a swarm of bikers during the motorcycle rally in Manhattan has been receiving death threats, his attorney said.

Kevin Bresloff, whose video went viral last week, has been cooperating with police in the investigation, his lawyer told NBC 4 New York. The video has helped investigators identify suspects and piece together the assault. Bresloff's attorney said he began receiving death threats since his identity became known.

Bresloff took a chance airing his video and now he’s on someone’s hit list. what the hell is going on in our society? Reports of three cops on motorcycles (all out of uniform) and riding with the group watching the whole drama without intervening have been coming in! The last one said one of the cops was “deep undercover,” as if that excused him (he could have called 911).

One of the motorcyclists was seriously hurt when the SUV darted away from the motorcyclists during the initial attack and ran him over. He may never walk again. I’m truly sorry for him and his family, but look who he was riding with!

Danger is a game to this new breed of motorheads. They have no regard for innocent drivers trying to stay out of their way. Something bad was bound to happen, and it did. End of story.

As It Stands, “Hollywood Stuntz”…where insanely violent movies and reality blurs. Adrenaline fix anyone?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

As It Stands: What’s your thoughts on legal suicide becoming more common?

     Good Day World!

Today we’re going to look at a growing trend that may trouble you, but it’s necessary to recognize that legalized suicides are someday going to be available everywhere.

They’re legal where I live in Oregon right now because voters wanted that option. Other countries and US states are increasingly decriminalizing assisted-suicides.

Assisted-suicide is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and four American states (Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana).

“Assisted suicide is a general term for a suicide committed by someone with assistance from another person or persons. It is often confused with euthanasia (sometimes called "mercy killing"), in that euthanasia refers to the killing of another in order to relieve dire suffering, and physician aid in dying, which is a practice in which a physician provides a competent, terminally ill patient with a prescription for a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life.” (Wikipedia)

I can’t help but think of one of the Obamacare myths about so-called “Death Panels,” circulated by the Republican Party. The conversation over when it’s okay to kill someone – if they don’t want to live any longer – is going to enter the mainstream media again, and again, with more emphasis as a political club for partisan politics.

All religions condemn suicide. That isn’t going to change despite secular laws allowing assisted-suicides. Therefore, the subject will always be a point of contention in America, and the rest of the world.

I’ll weigh in and say that I believe WE SHOULD have that choice – to legally end our lives – but with a caveat: I don’t want to see people who are just depressed be allowed to kill themselves. It’s one thing if you’re hooked up to machines that are keeping you alive, and another to arbitrarily end you life because of mental problems.

Recently, there was a high-profile case of a Belgian transsexual who chose to be killed by medical euthanasia after a sex-change operation turned him into a "monster."

According to this article, there’s a soaring number of people in the region electing to die this way – and it has raised fresh questions over the controversial practice.

So what are you’re thoughts on assisted-suicide? If you have a moment, please leave a comment.

Time for me to walk on down the road….

   

I’m really hoping this is the new cover for TIME magazine!

 Sometimes parody comes so close to true life it’s scary! I’m asking Santa Claus to please inspire the editor of Time magazine to publish this front cover.

It’s timely. It’s true. It’s so 21st century politics. Ted Cruz never looked more regal as the real Speaker of the House! Hail Cruz! Hail Cruz! Hail Cruz!

Boehner finally looks happy!

via Deadstate

Will someone tell the flu bug to hold off until this shutdown is over?

        Good Day World!

Aaaaaah! choouuu!

Ominous reports are trickling in that a new flu season may be stalking us but we can’t do crap about it because our government has been shutdown by clowns who don’t care if you have health care!

I like to think there’s a universal justice – an accounting for being a destructive dipshit – and if is, Ted Cruz and his extreme entourage will all come down with a real nasty case of the the flu! I mean the kind where you have such a snotty nose your words gurgle, and you’re dribbling slippery shit into your underpants every step you take!

Come to think about it, those tea party toads hopping around the House probably don’t believe in vaccines so it’s only right they be struck with the worst case possible. 

America’s unofficial flu trackers say they’re seeing elevated reports of flu-like illness in a few states — California, for instance — and they worry about what will happen in coming days and weeks if officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remain on furlough.

“If this flu season hits early and we don’t have the most important national voice promoting vaccination, we will see unnecessary illnesses, some of which could be severe or fatal,” said John Brownstein, a Harvard Medical School epidemiologist who runs FluNearYou, a real-time flu tracking tool.

Google Flu Trends, another tracking tool, is reporting a slight rise in the nation’s flu activity as of Wednesday.

But those sites provide only a tiny portion of the flu picture in the U.S., nothing like the CDC’s robust FluView surveillance system that tracks the nation’s influenza ills. That site hasn’t been updated since the shutdown began on Tuesday, which means the latest data available to the public runs only through Sept. 21.

That’s to be expected with about 9,000 of the CDC’s nearly 13,000 employees on furlough, said CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds. Although the agency is still collecting national flu data, the information won’t be analyzed or reported until the shutdown ends. Whole story here

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

What Happens when a Minority rules the Majority? Democracy Dies!

  Good Day World!

Fair warning…if you think the tea party politicians are doing the right thing in the House by forcing a government shutdown, you better not read any further…

My voice is joined by millions when I say the reason our government is being held hostage is because of the Republican Party – or to be more specific – the tea party. The extreme members in the House who have gathered under the tent of denial that they’re hurting the majority of Americans, should be duck-walked out onto the National Mall and tarred and feathered for all to see!

They’re a blight on our society. Tea party insanity has been backed by big money from the start. Not by a majority of Americans. Take a quick look at the last election. It was a mandate against the likes of those goons in the tea party. The majority of Americans made their will known.

Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland from Georgia, speaking in September ahead of the 2010 elections bluntly told his Republican audience that if the Republicans won control of the House, they would shut down the government. It was a promise to be fulfilled.

Shutting down the government doesn’t bother the tea party punks.They don’t care what the majority wants. They’re untouchable right now because they managed to pull off some redistricting in Republican held strongholds in the deep south – effectively hindering those who don’t vote for them in the area.

What’s worse, in my mind, is these tea party traitors set out to shut down the government from the moment they were elected! Not even terrorists have accomplished that trick!

Knowing they’re a minority, they’ve thrown out the art of negotiating like civilized human beings and have resorted to a scorched-earth policy that would do credit to Adolf Hitler! That’s unforgiveable.

As a veteran, I’m ashamed to see our society held in the grip of an extreme enemy to democracy. I know how this happened. But,that’s not as important as what’s happening now. What are we going to do about this?

Are we going to stand by and watch this minority of cruel clowns run our already fragile economy off the cliff?

Speak out about what’s happening to your country. Write your representatives in Washington and warn them you are not going to vote for them if they can’t do the job! Speak out about your feelings!

Let those damn politicians hear from you in the social media outlets. Let the politicians who are crippling our country know you’ve had enough!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

A Tribute to Tom Clancy: You Were a Thrilling Author!

            Good Day World!

I’m sorry to report that author Tom Clancy has died. He was one of my favorite modern authors, and I really enjoyed his character Jack Ryan. He was so young, only 66 years-old, but his prolific writing will live on forever.

His latest book, the techno-thriller "Command Authority," is due to hit bookshelves on Dec. 3. 

Tom Clancy, hit box-office gold with movies such as "The Hunt for Red October" and "Clear and Present Danger."

His fast-paced thrillers demonstrated Clancy's acute knowledge of the technical intricacies of Soviet weaponry and were mainly concerned with espionage and military tactics employed during and in the wake of the Cold War.

An avid reader, Clancy harbored an enduring interest in the military throughout his childhood, but was barred from participating in it because of nearsightedness.

The author penned 17 No. 1 bestselling novels throughout his career. Jack Ryan, a patriotic CIA agent-cum-politician, was the star of 12 of those books, and his fictional career reflected many of the changes in American foreign policy during the last three decades.

The character managed to transcend the world of books through on-screen portrayals by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. 

RIP…

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Food that will either tickle your tastebuds or make you shake your head

            Good Day World!

Yesterday’s post on unusual liquors was so popular that I decided to expand the subject to include food.

Wasp Cookies (left) are popular in Japan, believe it or not. Read more about this culinary curiosity here.

Ukranian Chocolate Pork Fat,"It's salty on the inside and very sweet on the outside.

It's unusual yes, but it's completely disgusting," says Dasha Khabarova in a BBC article.

Pierre Javelle & Akiko Ida (see their site Minimiam) make very special food landscapes (below) where little people go around their business among the tasty morsels we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Utilizing the variable depth of field, their photography is exceptional in creating the illusion of a miniature world.

 

(images credit: Minimiam,)

Love your favorite anime characters?

Have them with rice!

Asian creativity is put to good use in Hong Kong's fast-food establishments(right).

 It seems no matter how old we are, people worldwide like to play with their food!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

As It Stands: Strange Brews: I’ve got some strong drinks to share with you!

Good Day World!

Are you ready to sample some of the more unusual and occasionally bizarre alcoholic beverages from around the world today?

(top image via)

Just about every culture in the world has a traditional alcoholic drink made from the plants and other ingredients that could be found locally and some of these beverages are very old indeed.

Mead, often referred to as honey wine, can range from mild ale to strong wine in terms of its alcohol content. The origins of mead are lost in the mists of time, but it appears in the history of cultures throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Some regard mead as the ancestor of all fermented drinks.

(Polish Mead, images via 1, 2)

Chicha, a drink derived from maize in several South American countries is one of the oldest beverages on the planet.

Chicha has probably been around for thousands of years, and was consumed by the Inca, but today traditionally prepared chicha is only produced in a handful of small towns and few villages in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica.

(images via 1, 2)

Although maize is most commonly associated with chicha, throughout the Andes the word can also refer to numerous fermented drinks, made from other types of grains or fruit.

Another old drink is pulque, a traditional Mexican alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of the maguey plant. The drink has a long history and this monkey pulque jar dates from the Aztec period. (images via 1, 2)

Lizard wine from China might not sound too appealing, but apparently tastes a little like brandy, improves eyesight and as a bonus can protect against evil spirits.

Another wine with supposed medicinal qualities, helping with everything from coughs and colds to liver disorders, is baby mouse wine from Korea (left). (images lizards & baby snakes via)

Yes, it really does contain newborn baby mice, which are drowned in rice wine, before the bizarre mixture is stored somewhere dry and dark for up to a year before it is considered drinkable.

Just like baby mouse wine, snake liquors from South East Asia are also considered cures for a variety of ailments, including impotence, back and muscle pain and hair loss. These drinks usually contain highly poisonous snakes, such ascobras.

(image of snakes in bottles via)

If snakes aren’t really for you, how about scorpions and spiders?

This distilled rice grain vodka from Thailand, complete with a farm raised scorpion (left), is banana flavored and sweetened with sugar cane.

This Thai rice whiskey (photo left – bottle left) contains a large non-venomous spider (above right) and is apparently an acquired taste. Or how about this Mekong River Eel Wine from Laos (below left image)? (images of Eel Wine & Rice Whiskey via)

If you prefer your liquor devoid of creatures of any kind, Bau Da Vietnamese rice whiskey is made from plain boiled rice and comes in this rather attractive container (right).

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Obamacare goes into effect Oct 1st – I’ve Got the Skinny if You Have a Question!

    Good Day World!

Despite this being the time of year for the annual return of the Screeching Tea Party Loon, Obamacare goes into effect tomorrow.

 If you already have insurance, nothing will change. It’s that simple. No sneaky Democrat is going to force you to cancel your insurance. So take a deep breath. 

 Already have Medicare? You’re golden. Already have a company health insurance plan? You’re good.

Don’t have any insurance plan and are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy? Guess what? This new law is going to help you! Even if you have a pre-existing condition.

If you are uninsured, the key to complying with the Affordable Health Care Act, aka Obamacare, could be the new online health insurance marketplaces, which will open tomorrow  - Oct. 1 - for shopping.

(You can window-shop here now but you can’t buy until Tuesday). Policies will go into effect Jan. 1. Seven million Americans are expected to find coverage there.

Many people will qualify for subsidies to make coverage more affordable You can find your state’s marketplace at www.healthcare.gov.

Each plan covers 10 “essential health benefits,” which include prescription drugs, emergency and hospital care, check-ups, maternity and mental health services, rehabilitation and lab services, among others.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

the last time Republicans caused a government shutdown in 1995..

McDonald’s WTF Menus Around the World!

    Good Day World!

 If you think McDonald's sells the same burgers and fries everywhere in the world, think again.

 Concessions to local tastes is the way McDonald’s has been able to become the biggest fast food business in the world. Here’s just a few examples: 

In Singapore (Left), the national obsession with rice extends to having rice cakes in your burger! Try taking a bite out of this towering concoction!

When in McDonald’s Japan, try some Seaweed Flavored Fries and don’t forget to taste their yummy tentacle snacks! (Right)

Perhaps the biggest WTF menu item (Weird and Troubling Food) that can be found at a McDonald's is in the Philippines (Left).

They have McSpaghetti on the menu, which of course you’d expect in Italy, and the way they make it is rather unusual.

 A Filipino friend explained to me that it was incredibly popular and basically consisted of spaghetti soaked in sugar.

 Ewwww.

(McSpaghetti screen grab, Philippines)

Let me repeat this: Spaghetti - Soaked In - Sugar!

Peas and potatoes make up the patty in the McAloo Tikki at McDonald's in India. Mickey D’s knows that cows are sacred, so they simply adapted. Let nothing stand in the way of making money! 

There’s a great travel site called Trifter which shows more international Mac food variations: among them guacamole (avocado paste) McPollo burger in Chile.

(McAlooTikki image via) (McPollo image via)

Time for me to walk on down the road…