After The Gold Rush

Well, I dreamed I saw the knights
In armor coming,
Saying something about a queen.
There were peasants singing and
Drummers drumming
And the archer split the tree.
There was a fanfare blowing
To the sun
That was floating on the breeze.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the nineteen seventies.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the nineteen seventies.
(Neil Young, After the Gold Rush, 1970)

Others have noticed that the media is not playing nice with Nancy Pelosi. The honeymoon lasted a bit over a week and now the knives are out and suitably sharp.

Nancy Pelosi may have gotten the kid-gloves treatment from the media during the election, but now the gloves are off. Her championing of Murtha for Majority leader (and her simultaneous abandonment of her former deputy, Hoyer) seems to have struck a nerve.

We expected her stand to offend Republicans; that's not news. But it offended Democrats as well, not to mention Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, previously labeled "…probably the most anti-Bush reporter currently assigned to the White House by a major news organization" by John J. Miller of National Review.

Milbank doesn't sound all that fond of Pelosi's track record so far, either; he seems to think this Speaker might do well to do less Speaking and just STFU.

And it's hard to blame him, or those Democrats who are angry that Pelosi's misguided boosting of Murtha put a damper on their victory party as well as their party unity. And then there are statements by Pelosi such as the following, made after Murtha's defeat; it's almost beyond parody:

Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with us. Let the healing begin."

Ah, yes. Let there be peace on earth. The queen, after all, has ordered it to be so. Somehow, the queen's mantle is looking a bit threadbare at the moment, however. The festivities among the peasants have been dampened a bit. And the lords and ladies in the gilded chamber of the privileged elite are not at all happy. And others are noticing. Many others.

After the gold rush ends, there is a crash.

Truth In Advertising!

We have heard, repeatedly, about the dangers of eating fast food. We have been lectured incessantly about the plague of obesity that has swept America. We have been screeched at, over and over and over, by the would-be nannies and the self-appointed health police about the danger we are all in and the impending collapse of the world as we know it unless we, as a nation, slim down. So a restaurant comes out with absolute truth in advertising about its products and warns exactly what risks eating their food entails and what happens?

They get attacked. For telling the truth apparently.

 WASHINGTON (AFP) – A restaurant in the southwestern US state of Arizona that proudly admits to trying to finish off its customers has introduced a new item on its menu — the "quadruple bypass burger".

The burger at the "Heart Attack Grill" restaurant is stacked with four beef patties, cheese, onions, tomatoes and fried bacon, and weighs in at only 8,000 calories, more than three times what the human body needs in one day.

Patrons who have no appetite for the "quadruple bypass burger" can opt for the "triple" or "double-bypass".

"It's not good for one's health but it's only a joke," John Basso, who opened the restaurant 10 months ago, told AFP.

Customers who have room for more can also order French fries "fried in pure lard" and can purchase cigarettes off the menu. As a courtesy, the restaurant offers its "best customers" a wheelchair service to their cars by waitresses dressed in slinky nurses' outfits.

The idea, however, has not gone down well with the Arizona State Board of Nursing which has expressed concern that some patrons may confuse the waitresses with real nurses.

To avoid any confusion, Basso has posted a long message on his restaurant website saying that his employees in no way are medical professionals.

The website for the Heart Attack Grill has the entire controversy detailed. It is really, really funny. Especially the anti-grill nurse who:

….publicly equated the Grill with Hitler and the Klan when she lashed back with this response in defense of her alleged crusade, "…if we don't like (imagine we live in a different time) Jews going to death camps or blacks being lynched should we just change the channel and hope all will get better?"

Arizona, land of limited senses of humor, apparently. I'll have an order of the Flatliner Fries, please. Hold the defibrillator. Just send a nurse.

This Is Going Too Far!

It has been a long standing tradition for immigrants to this country to work, earn money then send some of the money back home to the families they left behind when they came here. Sometimes it is to provide those left behind with the funds to come over here eventually, sometimes it is just to support the folks "back home". We also know that there are millions of immigrants, legal and illegal in this country who are doing just that today. But this can be taken a bit too far, too.

When they send the Appalachian Mountains back to Mexico, it's time to say "enough!"

A section of the Appalachian Mountains discovered in Mexico is forcing scientists to redraw their maps of ancient Earth.

The Appalachians are a series of mountain ranges in eastern North America that extend from Southern Quebec in Canada to northern Alabama. A piece of the chain was recently uncovered in a large Mexican outcropping of rock, known as the Acatlan Complex.

Analyses of the rocks revealed they were formed on the ocean floor, and dating showed they were much younger than previously thought.

"This will change the way geologists look at Mexico," said study leader Damian Nance of Ohio University.

It also challenges current theories about the creation of the Appalachians, mountain ranges that have revealed valuable clues about the planet's early geography.

Previously, scientists thought that 420 million years ago Earth contained two main land masses that were separated by a large expanse of sea, called the Rheic Ocean. In the south was Gondwana, a supercontinent consisting of South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. And to the north was Laurussia, made up of North America, Greenland, Europe and parts of Asia.

They have a fascinating animation at LiveScience that shows how the "super continents" are thought to have fit together until they broke apart.

This Video Game Is A Riot

Or, more accurately, this video game system is causing a riot. Or three. The Sony PlayStation 3 made its long-awaited debut in sores, only to cause more than one scene of chaos as people tried to get their hands on one of the scarce systems. There was also one person shot in Connecticut, but that was a robbery attempt on people waiting in line for a chance to buy one of the game systems. But have no fear, American entrepreneurship is alive and flourishing. Some people who actually got their hands on one are re-selling them at an enormous profit.

In Putnam, Conn., two gunmen tried to rob people lined up for the console, and shot one who refused to surrender his money. Michael Penkala, 21, of Webster, Mass., was wounded in the chest and shoulder. He was in stable condition Friday with injuries not believed to be life threatening, according to Connecticut State Police.

In Fresno, Calif., police arrested two people and threatened to use Tasers to break up a crowd that rushed a store and trampled people in the parking lot.

To get the attention of an unruly crowd of about 350 people, police fired a paint ball at the ground outside a Target store in Henrico, Va.

Sergio Deynes, 26, who had camped out at a Best Buy in New York since Monday to get his PS3, said the people with him at the front of the line were "beautiful."

"It was the people in the back who were desperate who messed things up for a lot of us," Deynes said.

The market for second-hand PS3s flourished: Deynes' cousin, who camped with him, immediately sold his PS3 for $2,500.

On eBay, the two PS3 models, which cost $500 and $600 in the stores, were selling for between $1,000 and $3,000.

"Hearing all these numbers definitely made me very conflicted," Deynes said, but "thinking of all that I went through, I'm not getting rid of this thing … Last night the rain messed up our tents and we got soaked and we had to sleep in the freezing cold."

In Los Altos, Calif., Justin Kwong was looking at an unopened PlayStation 3 box and finding that the money outweighed the pleasure of being one of the first with a PS3. He bought it Friday morning after three nights in a sleeping bag outside the Mountain View Best Buy.

"I've seen what they're going for … so I'm thinking probably of selling, because it's such a large profit margin," he said.

Of course, some people use all their political clout and get a flunky volunteer to handle it all for them, even if that means trading with the "vile and beastly" retailer he has been railing about. But there's that "two Americas" thing. There are rich elitist politicians and everybody else.

Media Dilemma

Jed Babbin takes a look at the outcome of the elections and the effect the media had on the outcome. It is a very interesting take on what happened.

Like the sorcerer's apprentice, some in the media are desperately trying to control the destruction wrought by the product of their labors. The 527 Media – those politically-activist media who present campaign ads as news — worked long and hard to convince the nation that the Democrats weren't wild-eyed liberals. The Democratic congressional candidates including their leaders were, according to the media script, trustworthy moderates. But the Dems have read too much into the election results and while they've hit the ground running, their media pals are icing their path hoping to slow them down (and in the case of Jack Murtha, stumble). How could it have gone so wrong? It didn't: the predicament was predictable.

Only nine days out, it's hard to reach many conclusions about the election that will withstand history's analysis. But we have to admit the possibility the president was right: it was a close-run thing. It's important to separate that thought from Republican rationalizations about losing by small margins which matter not at all when the votes will be taken on the House and Senate floors. But losing small in the battle of ideas – if that's what happened – is enormously important from now through 2008.

I think this one is worth reading all the way through. Because it does explain rather a lot about what you are seeing going on today. The media has an agenda and that agenda includes stopping the hard tilt to the left among the Democrats that would sink Hillary Clinton in 2008. That is why you are seeing a number of likely contenders suddenly being torpedoed from various media outlets. That is also why the media is actively undercutting Nancy Pelosi right now. The last thing they want is an iron-handed speaker who can actually rein in the committee chairmen. The media is counting on a three-ring circus of investigations and wall-to-wall manufactured media drama.

It matters not at all to them if that wreaks damage on the nation, either. Their agenda is more important.

Midwest Hotel Chain Pulls Plug On CNN

A small chain of ten hotels in the Midwest has pulled CNN and CNN Headline News from their guest rooms and public spaces in response to CNN's airing of Islamist propaganda. The president of the company says that guest comments on the decision are running at 3 to 1 in favor of the chain's actions.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A Midwest hotel chain with several properties in Illinois has pulled CNN and CNN Headline News from its guest rooms and lobbies in response to the cable network's broadcast of an insurgent video showing Iraqi snipers shooting at U.S. troops.

The Oct. 18 CNN broadcast, which featured edited portions of a tape the network said it obtained from the Islamic Army of Iraq rebel group, crossed the line from journalism to propaganda, said James Thompson, president of the Iowa-based Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp.

"It was shocking and repulsive," he said. "Their actions supported terrorism."

Guests at the Stoney Creek Inn's 10 properties in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin can still view Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and other cable news channels, Thompson noted. Supportive comments from guests have outnumbered complaints by a 3-1 margin, he said.

In Illinois, the Stoney Creek Inns are located in Galena, East Peoria, Moline and Quincy. It also has locations in Columbia and St. Joseph, Mo.; Des Moines and Waukon, Iowa; and La Crosse and Wausau, Wis.

A network spokeswoman did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Thursday. A CNN producer previously defended the report as an attempt to show the "unvarnished truth" about the Iraq war.

Good for them. In case you care to visit one of these Inns next time you're heading out that way here's their website. They sound rather nice, by the way.

And they are owned by people who back our troops. That's a plus.

Allies

The Senate approved the nuclear deal that President Bush has reached with India last night. The agreement would have India certify part of its fleet of nuclear reactors as civilian and open those reactors up to international inspection. Other reactors would remain under military control. In exchange for splitting their reactor programs, the US would be able to supply nuclear fuel and reactor parts to India.

By a vote of 85 to 12, senators agreed to a program that would allow the United States to send nuclear fuel and technology to India, which has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The agreement, negotiated by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India in March, calls for the United States to end a decades-long moratorium on sales of nuclear fuel and reactor components. For its part, India would divide its reactor facilities into civilian and military nuclear programs, with civilian facilities open to international inspections.

Critics have been unwavering in arguing that the pact would rally nations, such as North Korea and Iran, to press ahead with nuclear weapons programs despite international complaints and threats. Opponents of the measure also warned the deal would allow India to build more bombs with its limited stockpile of radioactive material, and could spur a regional nuclear arms race with Pakistan and China.

Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hailed the measure’s passage as “one more important step toward a vibrant and exciting relationship between our two great democracies.”

His endorsement was significant, coming from a Senator respected for efforts in nonproliferation and whose name is part of sweeping legislation to secure nuclear bomb-making materials in the former Soviet Union. He also expressed “thanks for a truly bipartisan effort” to Senator Joseph R. Biden, the Delaware Democrat set to become Foreign Relations chairman with the new Congress.

While advocates of the measure said it would be an incentive for India to refrain from further nuclear tests, denunciations came quickly from a minority of Senators who opposed it, as well as from critics in the House.

Frankly, I think this is a good idea. The fact is that India is a nuclear state and has had their own working system for some time. The genie isn't going back in the bottle, so it is better we keep the strong democracy of India aligned with us, rather than pushing them away. Anything that helps us bind India more closely as an ally right now is an overall good thing.

Bull Moose Taking A Break?

It looks like the Bull Moose is taking a hiatus. But the moose works in mysterious ways as he notes. So who knows when he'll rear his antlers again.

The Next Generation Lion

Thanks to TC over at Leather Penguin for sending us this vital alert about the Animal Uprising™. It seems that National Geographic has stumbled on the secret laboratory where the next generation of killer lion is being developed, located on an island in Botswana's Okavango Delta. The animal beastmasters have developed a swimming lion that can take down a full grown buffalo!

Fearless, ferocious and mightier than the world has ever seen, this is the new breed of super-lion.

Only one species of prey holds its attention: the buffalo — and in order to bring its powerful foe to the ground, it will take to deep water, use sophisticated hunting techniques and then silence the gigantic beast with a single swipe of a savage paw.

In a remote corner of Africa, an extraordinary evolutionary tale is unfolding, uncovered by the actor Jeremy Irons and an award-winning documentary team. A new film, Relentless Enemies, will tell the story of the emergence of a distinct subspecies of big cat on a tiny and isolated island in the Duba Plains of Botswana's Okavango Delta.

It also delves into a dark secret at the heart of this special community of lions. For during the investigation into the Duba lions, it emerged that a killer is embedded in their midst — a threat which might eventually spell the end of this incredible biological journey and the lion's quest for survival.

Irons, who most famously starred in the TV series Brideshead Revisited, describes the scene in this 'magical world', where two great warriors live side by side in the most beautiful terrain.

"There is an unusual pride of lions stalking these swamps," he says. "They are cats that live in water and hunt a single herd of Cape buffalo. Evolution favours predators that can hunt a range of prey. But these lions are defying that trend by becoming specialists. These huge lions are adapting and breeding in isolation on an island in a river that goes nowhere."

So how has this new strain of lion developed? To answer this question, the South African husband-and-wife film-makers Beverly and Dereck Joubert spent two years tracking their prey in order to capture evolution in the making.

"We discovered this tiny sandy island in the Okavango," says Dereck. "It is extraordinary because it became totally isolated from the mainland 15 years ago when the course of the river changed, and a huge herd of buffalo and lions were trapped on a piece of land measuring 200 square kilometres."

You've all been to zoos where the lions are separated from people by a moat. That won't work anymore, will it? Read the whole thing. There may be a human sympathizer among the monsters trying to save us all!

Trouble With A (Capitol Building) “T”

Nancy Pelosi has more trouble than I realized earlier today. Not only is the media firing warning shots, but she has an incipient rebellion on her hands that could fracture her ability to lead. This one could be a train wreck.

Eighteen members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative House Democrats, wrote Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday imploring her to choose Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) to chair the House Intelligence Committee next year.

"Congresswoman Harman has served as Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee with skill and distinction. … She has helped lead the bipartisan reorganization and reform of our intelligence community and has served as a strong voice for Congressional oversight of the Administration and its national security policies," wrote Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and others. "Both our Caucus and Party have counted on Congresswoman Harman to answer forcefully and credibly to partisan critics who have questioned Democrats’ commitment to protecting our nation."

….

Hastings’ candidacy may soon get a boost from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). At a luncheon Wednesday, the CBC voted to back Hastings for the post. The group is drafting a letter to send to Pelosi, an aide said.

The dueling letters will likely raise the stakes for the Speaker-to-be. Coming on the heels of a divisive race for majority leader, her decision has the potential to alienate one of two powerful groups: the 44-member Blue Dog Coalition or the 43-member Black Caucus.

There is, I think, a way to make a save on this potential disaster, but it will take a lot of skill and a lot of persuasion. Somehow Pelosi has to get Hastings to withdraw himself from consideration. If she can, she can get out of this. If not, she'll be in trouble with one or both powerful blocks she needs to be effective. So far, despite all the congratulatory hype up until now, she has not shown herself to be adroit enough to pull this one off.

The Last (Nut)House On The Left

Way back in 1972, Wes Craven released a film titled The Last House On The Left. The promotional catch phrase they used for the movie was: "To avoid fainting, keep repeating "It's only a movie…It's only a movie…". This advice would be still valid for these folks.

With their vast intergalactic knowledge and ability to harness the Force, the task of convincing UN officials to recognise their cause should be a walkover for a pair of Jedi Knights.

But self-proclaimed Jedis Umada and Yunyun, better known as John Wilkinson and Charlotte Law, have adopted a more conventional approach in their pursuit of recognition – delivering a protest letter.

The unconventional pair are calling for the UN to acknowlegde what has become Britain's fourth largest ‘religion’ with 390,000 followers.

The UN International Day of Tolerance, which takes place annually on November 16, is aimed at emphasising the dangers of intolerance and promoting integration and cohesion across the globe.

Umada, 27, and Yunyun, 24, both from London, want the day to be renamed the ‘Interstellar Day of Tolerance’ to reflect millions of people across the globe who have chosen to follow the Jedi code as a religion and truly reflect social diversity.

For the protest in Whitehall, the couple will wear full Jedi Knight robes and will be accompanied by a host of supporters including Star Wars favourite Chewbacca with a placard reading ‘Tolerance for Jedis’.

When Umada can lift a space ship out of a pool of mud with his mind, then we should pay serious attention to his, ahem, beliefs. Or if he brings around a real wookie instead of the guy in a suit. Everyone knows Star Wars is just a series of movies with a made up ancient religion. Unlike Star Trek, which is obviously quite real…….Just ask a Trekkie.

UPDATE: Dr. Rusty Shackleford: Best wishes on getting out of Mom's basement and on your lovelife! Hot Air: Someone is going to get rich! Say Anything: Hey! That chick is hot! 82nd Chairborne Division: Those wacky Brits. Below the Beltway: Life. Get one. Brendan Loy: Tolerance! Done With Mirrors: Yoda, an appearance, had to make.

Oh. My. God. There's a WEBSITE.

Snakes In A Bed!

A British woman awoke after a good night's rest only to find it hadn't been that good a night after all. Her left leg hurt but she had no idea why. A couple of days later, however, the leg swelled up and bite marks appeared. When a doctor examined her, it was apparent she had been bitten by a snake. A poisonous adder, in point of fact.

Mrs Hall said: “The fact that I’m still breathing is a good sign but I have two children and if they are bitten it could be a different thing.

If we don’t find it soon it means there is a snake on the loose somewhere.”

Mrs Hall woke last Friday with pain in her left leg.

By Sunday the pain had increased and marks had appeared.

A colleague convinced her to seek hospital help on Tuesday, by which time she was in serious pain.

Consultants put her in touch with a reptile expert, who said she had been bitten by a snake.

She went to the Royal Preston Hospital and blood samples were sent to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Doctors said the poison had dissipated itself and sent Mrs Hall home.

The RSPCA said: “Snakes can escape quite easily.

“Adders are poisonous and their bite could easily put a person in hospital. We would advise people not to handle it if they see it.”

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard believe, for no apparent reason other than our obsession with the Animal Uprising™, that this was not, in fact, an escaped pet. We believe it was an assassin sent by the evil animals. They have even bred a new type of murderous reptile, apparently: the Venomous Nocturnal Sheet Snake. Or in fancy fake Latin terms, the bitus nightus.

Global Arachnophobia!

Britain, not wanting to be left out on the global biting spider craze, is widely publicizing the case of a man who was bitten by a false widow spider. Now a false widow isn't actually all that dangerous, which the article admits. But they managed to get one man who might have had a worse than normal reaction to trumpet! The Telegraph explains:

The false widow spider, a relative of the black widow, bit Jason Fricker, 34, three times on the chest and stomach after it fell down the front of his shirt a week ago. By Sunday, after treatment as an outpatient the previous day, Mr Fricker, a father of two from Dorchester, was admitted as an emergency by doctors who believed the venom was attacking his nervous system, causing a heart attack.

The creature that caused such damage, Steatoda nobilis, is the only species of spider in Britain capable of biting humans. Although it has been known in Britain since arriving in Torquay in bananas from the Canary Islands in the 1870s, its numbers and range are now growing because of the milder climates.

While it is not nearly as venomous as the black widow, in recent years it has spread from the West Country across southern England as far as Sussex and is now migrating north through Surrey.

Stuart Hine, the manager of insect services at the Natural History Museum, said: "It is moving further northwards and is thought to be in London now. That's to do with the general warming up of winter temperatures because they are able to survive the winter and breed.

….

Doctors say that, in the vast majority of cases, the spider's bite should be no more painful, and the medical consequences no more serious, than a wasp sting.

Remarkable how everything is attributed to global warming, isn't it? There are, of course some other things that may be responsible such as a cleaner environment and less use of pesticides. It's not like we haven't seen those things come into play, is it?

No Castro At Birthday?

Cuban television described the plans for the delayed celebration of Fidel Castro's birthday but pointedly did not say he would attend. In fact, they said his ideas were more important than his presence.

The nightly "Mesa Redonda" show, often used by the government to disclose news, was devoted entirely to the December 2 event, but its participants stayed away from the topic of Castro's health.

Moderator Randy Alonso said in a closing statement that "more than the physical presence, the ideas of Fidel, the ideas of the revolution" were important to the celebration.

Castro had intestinal surgery for an undisclosed illness and temporarily turned over leadership to brother Raul on July 31.

He has not been in public since, but an October 28 video showed him to be gaunt and frail, raising questions about whether he would recover enough to return to power.

Maybe there will be another celebration soon.

Frankengone

Air America Radio, sewn together out of various obscure little AM radio stations, needed whatever star power Al Franken brought to the table in order for the bankrupt enterprise to find a buyer. Brian Maloney reports that won't be happening. Franken is leaving the financial ruin of "progressive" talk radio.

Is this the end for Stuart Smalley on the airwaves?

We're hearing that Al Franken is leaving Air America and giving up on talk radio, most likely for good.

His last day on the air will apparently be December 8. Already, a few libtalk stations have begun to leak word of Franken's impending exit.

One is KQKE Radio in San Francisco, which recently cancelled Franken and replaced him with Thom Hartmann, a more obscure "progressive" who airs in the same time slot. A check of Franken's site Thursday evening did not turn up any mention of a departure and the company itself has as of yet said nothing.

This confirms rumors we'd been hearing for weeks from industry sources and Air America listeners that are now backed up by these on- air announcements. What A Mockery, a liberal blog site, captured the audio of KQKE Radio's announcement here. Its main page is found here.

All that's missing is villagers with pitchforks and torches.