The ugly part is my opinion.  It looks like a Mississippi steamboat on steroids.  So top heavy that I'd think twice before booking a passage.

Here's the story.

AP - Helsinki

It's five times bigger than the Titanic, has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a golf course and a 750 seat outdoor amphitheater.  The world's largest cruise ship is finally finished and Friday it began gliding toward it's home port in Florida.

The Oasis of the seas will meet its first obstacle today when it exits the Baltic Sea and must squeeze under the Great Belt Bridge, which is just 1 foot taller than the ship - even after it's telescopic smokestacks are lowered.

To be on the safe side the ship - which rises about 20 stories high- will speed up so that it sinks deep into the water when it passes below the span. 

Travel guide writer Arthur Frommer has railed against the Oasis which he calls a "floating resort" suggesting that voyages on such huge vessels are a "dumbing down of the cruise experience."

Oasis of the Seas is 40% larger than the next biggest ship.  It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members. 

The enormous ship features "neighborhoods" - parks, squares and areas with special themes.  One of them will be a tropical environment, including palm trees and vines among the total 12,000 plants on board. 

In the stern, a 750 seat outdoor theater doubles as a swimming pool by day and an ocean front theater by night.  The pool has a diving tower with spring boards and two 33 foot high platforms.  And indoor theater seats, 1,300 guests. 

The liner features 1,600 square foot luxury suites with balconies overlooking the sea of promenades.

It also has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts and a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children.

 

It would be X rated.

Children wouldn't be allowed to see it.  Even though they hear those stories every Sunday at church.

The incestuous behavior of Lot and his Daughters, alone, would earn the movie a XXX rating.

And the image of fire and brimstone which God reined upon Sodom and Gomorrah would scare them to death. 

The story of the flood would be equally scary and confusing to them.   for example  "Is God killing all the animals and little kids too?  Why?  They didn't do anything!" 

Then there's the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Issac, whooeee!   Too much for little ears.

Anyone who loves children would, naturally, refuse to let them see this movie.

What do you think? 

 

(CNN) - President Barack Obama may have one less problem to worry about.

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that claimed Obama is ineligible to be president because he isn't a bona fide U.S. citizen.

The lawsuit represented the claim by the so-called "birthers" movement that Obama was not born in Hawaii - despite a birth certificate to the contrary - or that if he was, his citizenship was invalidated by living overseas as a child.

In a 30-page ruling, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of California said his court lacked the jurisdiction to rule on a case intended to unseat a sitting president.

Carter's ruling said the plaintiffs were trying to persuade him to "disregard the constitutional procedures in place for the removal of a sitting president."

"The process for removal of a sitting president - removal for any reason - is within the province of Congress, not the courts," the ruling said.

Carter's ruling also noted that the plaintiffs "have attacked the judiciary, including every prior court that has dismissed their claim, as unpatriotic and even treasonous for refusing to grant their requests and for adhering to the terms of the Constitution."

"Respecting the constitutional role and jurisdiction of this court is not unpatriotic," the ruling said. "Quite the contrary, this court considers commitment to that constitutional role to be the ultimate reflection of patriotism."

Student dancers are urged to lose the fat!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/...

Health care providers report  that some people standing in line for an H1N1 flu shot are declaring a pre existing condition or pregnancy in order to get a shot when they are, in fact, lying.

This is forcing health providers to question people more closely who, don' t,  obviously, fall into the target categories.    They are forced into acting as the flu police.

Are you panicked enough to lie for a shot?

Doc Hendley - a bartender who brought a sustainable clean water supply  to 25,000 people in 5 countries.

Brad Blauser -  who provided 600 pediatric wheelchairs to disabled children in Iraq. 

Betty Makoni - a Zimbabwe native who funded Girl Child Network which provides a safe haven for children of sexual abuse.

and 7 others who are making a real difference. 

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS...

Jobs outlook brightens

National Association for Business Economics says more U.S. firms are planning to hire and increase investment in the next six months.

October 26, 2009: 7:10 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In another sign of economic recovery, U.S. companies are planning to hire and invest more in the near future, according to a survey released Monday.

Meteorite-like object falls in Latvia

The object leaves a crater Monday near Mazsalaca, Latvia.

 

(CNN) -- A meteorite-like object has created a crater after landing near a farm in northern Latvia, the nation's official news agency reported.

The object fell Sunday in Mazsalaca, leaving a hole of about 65 feet (20 meters) wide and 32 feet (10 meters) deep, Latvian emergency officials told the LETA news agency.

A fire was reported in the grassy area where it landed, but there were no known injuries, LETA said.

Scientists and armed forces from the northern European nation will inspect the crater and conduct an investigation.

No further information was immediately available.

 

 

Oslo

It's the moment most Norwegian neighbors have been waiting for-the release of official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every taxpayer in the Scandinavian country.

In a move that would be unthinkable elsewhere, tax authorities in Norway have issued the "skatteliste," or "tax list," for 2008 to the media under a law designed to uphold the country's tradition of transparency. 

The tax list stirs up a Media frenzy with splashy headlines revealing oil-rich Norway's wealthiest man, woman and celebrity couple.

The data shows that former cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehile who has eight Olympic gold medals, also has plenty of cash- 29.3 kroner ($5.4 million)

Actress Liv Ullmann earned $17,300 in Norway and has a wealth of $2.5 million.  Income earned or kept abroad is not included.

Pioneering women's long distance runner, Grete Waitz, a nine-time NY City Marathon champion earned $13,500 in Norway and has a wealth of $90,000.

So who's Norway's richest man?  Tobacco mogul Johan Henrik Andersen, worth $2 billion. 

Members of the royal family are not on the list because they don't pay taxes. 

So, what do you think?    How would you feel if your ex wife, next door neighbor or blogging foe knew what you earned?

Most pet owners would leap into action for an injured pet, even if it meant risking dog breath by going mouth to mouth.

58% of pet owners (63% of dog owners and 53% of cat owners) would be at least somewhat likely to perform CPR on their pet in the event of a medical emergency.

Just 20% of pet owners have a pet first aid kit and only 54% have a fire evacuation plan for their pets.

The poll also found that owners also create unsafe situations by feeding bones and scraps from the table to their pets.   30% of dog owners and 22% of cat owners feed their pets from the table.

62% of dog owners and 33% of cat owners let their pets ride in the car unrestrained.  And 11% of owners leave their pets unattended in a car or truck.

Women are more likely to perform CPR on their pets than men are 65% to 50% the poll showed.   GO LADIES!!

So how about you?  Would you go mouth to snout to help your pet?

http://abcnews.go.com/video...

Before you get your torches and start storming Sacramento let me explain.

This is not a permanent tax.  It's more like a loan.  Taxes withheld from salaries will increase by 10% starting in November.  However, that same amount will be refunded by the California State Franchise Tax Board when you file in a year from now in April.

If you don't want to give California an interest free loan, here's what you do.

Go to your payroll clerk and have her/him change your withholding to withhold 10% less from your weekly or monthly check.  You will need to fill out a new W-2.  That will counter what the State Legislators are trying to do to you.

I hope I explained this well enough so you can understand it.  My husband looked like a deer in headlights when I explained it to him.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.”

It passed, 68 YEAs, 30 NAYs, 2 NOT VOTING. 

Those voting no

Ten GOP Senators voted for the amendment, and it passed -- but the 30 others must know how outraged we are that they didn't vote for giving legal rights to rape victims! These senators are: Alexander (R-TN), Barrasso (R-WY), Bond (R-MO), Brownback (R-KS), Bunning (R-KY), Burr (R-NC), Chambliss (R-GA), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Corker (R-TN), Cornyn (R-TX), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Ensign (R-NV), Enzi (R-WY), Graham (R-SC), Gregg (R-NH), Inhofe (R-OK), Isakson (R-GA), Johanns (R-NE), Kyl (R-AZ), McCain (R-AZ), McConnell (R-KY), Risch (R-ID), Roberts (R-KS), Sessions (R-AL), Shelby (R-AL), Thune (R-SD), Vitter (R-LA) and Wicker (R-MS).
 

http://www.milkandcookies.c...

For all you conservatives on the blog who have been upset that Bush didn't put regulations on the bailout money he gave to 21 banks last fall,  GOOD NEWS.  Obama is holding the bank's CEOs feet  to the fire.

 Obama say's "The Party's Over".

And, for those of you who think that the business world should be left to regulate themselves, consider this.

These CEO's would have been out on the street if it hadn't been for the money We gave them.  They mismanaged the funds from their stockholders by taking huge risks but still want to compensate themselves with obscene salaries and bonuses. 

We will probably never get all the bailout money Bush awarded  these greedy idiots but until we do see a respectable  portion of it returned to the taxpayers, these CEO's need to adjust their thinking and put the companies debt to the taxpayers and the profits of the stockholders first and their own salaries and benefits second.

How did these CEO's get so out of touch with reality?    Elizabeth Warren explained it on this morning's  Morning Joe as a combination of extreme arrogance and coziness.   The arrogance comes from the CEO's surety that they are worth the kings ransoms they demand, even while driving their companies into bankruptcies through their own greed and risky behavior.  The coziness is the fact that these bank CEO's sit on the boards of each others companies and, as board members, award each other these fabulous salaries.   It's called cronyism. 

Until the salaries and compensations of CEOs and top executives are given to the stockholders (the real owners of the companies) to decide on this practice will continue.

Gor now, the CASH portion of their salaries will be cut 90%.  They will receive 10% of their salaries in cash and 40% in STOCK.   LOL

http://leahy.senate.gov/pre...

I'll start.

Yellow

Her head is bigger than her pelvis for Pete's sake.

She was fired by Ralph Lauren for not following the dictates of her contract.  (Starvation, maybe).

The picture above was photo shopped.  The model was, understandably, upset at the result of placing her head on a smaller models body.

What do you think?

Modesty

  We learn from Genesis 3 that clothing is not an arbitrary choice on the part of man. The need for clothing is closely connected with man acquiring the knowledge of good and evil. It is also obvious that not every choice of covering is acceptable. Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves into an apron Genesis 3:7. The Hebrew word for the garment is chargorah, which means a garment that covers the midsection of the body, tied about the waist. The same word is translated in other passages as a girdle or a belt. Adam and Eve's attempt at clothing was unsuccessful, because they still considered themselves naked wearing the fig leaf aprons. When God visited them in the Garden, they hid themselves because they were naked. After God issued the punishments to Adam and Eve for their sin, he took animal skins and made tunics for the man and woman Genesis 3:21.

Necessity

Unlike modern humans, Neanderthals may not have been able to sew warm enough clothes to see them through the Ice Age. Neanderthals probably froze to death in the last Ice Age because rapid climate change caught them by surprise without the tools needed to make warm clothes, says an Australian researcher.
Neanderthals began to die out just before the last glacial maximum, 35 to 30,000 years ago and were replaced by modern humans, say archaeologists.
Previous studies have argued that one of the key reasons for this is that modern humans had better hunting tools, providing them with the extra food they needed to survive the cold.
 

Gilligan disagrees that the development of hunting tools was so important to modern humans’ survival over the Neanderthals.  For a start, he says, Neanderthals were already successful hunters, surviving in Europe and Eurasia for over 100,000 years.
He says most of the tools supposed to have given modern humans the edge over Neanderthals were actually more useful for making warm clothes.

The important tools developed by modern humans included stone blades, bone points, and later needles, which could cut and pierce hides to sew them together into multi-layered clothes including underwear, says Gilligan.

“They’re not related to hunting, they’re related to clothing,” he says. “These tools are related to tailored, fitted clothing, what I call complex clothing.”
He says modern humans were more vulnerable to the cold than Neanderthals and developed these tools as far back as 90,000 years ago to cope with cooler parts of Africa, before the peak of the Ice Age.

Gilligan says climatic evidence shows in the lead up to the glacial maximum there was unusually sudden and massive swings in global temperatures over short periods of time.
 

Over brief periods, the average temperature would plunge by more than 10oC and then warm again before plunging once again into ultra-cold territory, says Gilligan.
He says Neanderthals were unable to adapt their clothing in response to such rapid climate change.
 

  The following was "accidentally" deleted from a blog posted by Middlepath.  I was afraid it might meet that fate so I saved it here.  

 If God didn't want Gays why did he make them?

After his initial mistake he compounded his error by not destroying homosexuality in the flood.    He must have let one or two sneak on the boat.   Or maybe they were part of the crew.

Anyway, he's had two chances and blew both of them.

Dumb deity.

This is an "official" deletion free blog. 

It depends on which weather service you tune in to.  However all weather service reports say that this El Nino year is strangely erratic (just like everything else in 2009).  Some weeks El Nino conditions look as though they're fading only to be replaced by updated reports the next week saying that El Nino has returned and is firmly in place.

Here's how one weather watcher described this El Nino year:

Long Range El Nino Winter & Summer Forecast

Weather Summary: November 2009 to October 2010 for Southern California.

We do have an El Nino in the Pacific and this weekend it showed it true colors by producing heavy flooding rains in Chili instead of snow and the Atlantic Hurricane Season has been generally quite due to the high shear atmospheric conditions over the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast.

But the Osculation over the Pacific has been very erratic allowing 15 Tropical systems to form with two cat4 Hurricanes, and all either dissipated or moved west out into the East Pacific and Hawaiian waters.

The warm waters which make up the El Nino Effects of the Pacific are not steady. One week they appear as they are going to disappear and the next week they move back north.

Winter temperatures will be near normal in the north, on average, with above-normal rainfall and snowfall. In the south, temperatures and rainfall will be below average during September and October.

The stormiest periods for southern California we believe, will occur in early November, mid and late December, and late January. Expect the coldest periods to occur in early and late December, with snow levels quite low in the local Mountains. Cold weather will also occur in early January, and early February.

April and May will be cooler and rainier than normal.

This Summer will be slightly Representative of summer 1965 and 1970, cooler and rainier than normal, with the hottest periods in early and late July, early August, and late September with higher humidity levels and dew points well up over 50%.

September and October will be warmer and drier than normal for the entire state.

A more detailed weather forecast will be forthcoming in late October  and please dont plan your vacations around what is in the long range forecast. If the El Nino does fade away, then all current forecast trends will be neutral.
 

So How do you feel about the chance for more rain?

 Here's a fun map to look at while your waiting for the deluge.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Fall is here and it's time to hunker down and start cooking holiday foods.

So, what is America's favorite pie

Washington:

The health insurance industry doesn't want Congress to let you off easy if you decide to ignore a proposed requirement that all Americans must have coverage.

Determined to get as many people as possible covered, lawmakers first proposed fines of as much as 3,800 per family for health insurance.  But they have been steadily scaling back the penalties, with the Senate Finance Committee last week dropping them to 1,500 maximum per family in their version of a health care bill.  The committee also phased the penalties in over five years with no fines at all in the first year and eliminated all criminal and most civil punishment for failure to pay.

The industry- counting on millions of more Americans buying insurance-says the penalties are now so weak they practically beg to be ignored. 

Alissa Fox, a top lobbyist for the Blue Cross and Blue Shied Association, said the senate Finance Committee had "severely weakened" the proposed requirement to buy health insurance.

The proposed new so-called individual mandate requiring everyone to buy health coverage or pay a fine is at the center of all the health care bills taking shape on Capitol Hill.

Subsidies would be provided to help low-income people afford the coverage.  But many Democrats and consumer groups have begun to argue that the subsidies are not generous enough and that middle income people still wouldn't be able to afford health care.

Shroud of Turin is a fraud, scientists say

Rome:  Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin-revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb- and say that experiment proves the relic was man made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.

The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.

Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said.  The group said in a statement that this is further evidence the shroud is a medieval forgery.  In 1988 scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

British chain pulls ads in response to Beck

London:  Upscale British supermarket chain Waitrose said Monday it was pulling its advertisements from Fox News in the U.K. after customers complained about the cable news channel's Glenn Beck program.  The popular and controversial talk show host is already the target of a boycott campaign in the United States after he accused President Barack Obama of harboring "a deep-seated hatred for white people."

Even if the loss of advertising is only a $1 a day, as a symboic gesture this boycott is PRICELESS!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I missed #7, natually.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...

Is everyone in politics, hollywood, religion and television a liar?

Americans deserve better than this.

http://www.politifact.com/t...

There are four pages of liars.  Be sure to check all of them.

I wonder if Michele Bachmann checks under her bed each night for commies and socialists and the boogieman.  Oh My.  She has such a fertile imagination

to wit:

Her latest fear mongering rant addresses a part of the health reform bill which talks about school health clinics. 

She prefers to call them sex clinics.   But judge for yourselves how accurate that description is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.c...

Bottom line is, the SBHC (school based health clinic) will NOT be involving themselves in the sexuality of your Kindergarten.  And they won't be allowed to apply a bandage to a scraped knee without a written directive from the parents.

But all that isn't nearly as fun as Bachmann's depiction of SBHC's. 

White House Calls out Fox and Glenn Beck on Olympics

In a new post on the official WH blog Online Programs Director Jesse Lee calls out Fox News for perpetrating lies about President Obama's push to bring the Olympics to the city of Chicago.

Lee writes that Fox News, and in particular Glenn Beck, continues to ignore the facts "in  an attempt to smear the Administrations efforts to win the Olympics for the United States."

The White House blog continues to delineate what it deems misleading rhetoric on Obama's Olympic efforts.  An example:

Rhetoric:  Beck said Vancouver lost $1 Billion when "it" had the Olympics.  Glenn Beck said,  "Vancouver lost, how much was it? they lost a billion dollars when they had the Olympics"  Transcripts from the Glenn Beck show 9/29/09.

Reality:  VANCOUVER OLYMPICS WILL NOT T AKE PLACE UNTIL 2010.  Vancouver will host the Olympics in 2010 and the Paralympic Games from February 12-28 2010 and March 12-21, 2010.  (Vancouver 2010 com accessed 9/29/09.

I read this in today's BC and it sums up something I've been thinking for the last 12 months.

I'm printing the first half of the article because it can be naturally divided into two separate articles.  There's a link at the bottom for anyone wanting to read the rest of his piece.

Where Did ‘We’ Go?

 

 

 

I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing.

I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995. We had a beer in his office. He needed one. I remember the ugly mood in Israel then — a mood in which extreme right-wing settlers and politicians were doing all they could to delegitimize Rabin, who was committed to trading land for peace as part of the Oslo accords. They questioned his authority. They accused him of treason. They created pictures depicting him as a Nazi SS officer, and they shouted death threats at rallies. His political opponents winked at it all.

And in so doing they created a poisonous political environment that was interpreted by one right-wing Jewish nationalist as a license to kill Rabin — he must have heard, “God will be on your side” — and so he did.

Others have already remarked on this analogy, but I want to add my voice because the parallels to Israel then and America today turn my stomach: I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination.

What kind of madness is it that someone would create a poll on Facebook asking respondents, “Should Obama be killed?” The choices were: “No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.” The Secret Service is now investigating. I hope they put the jerk in jail and throw away the key because this is exactly what was being done to Rabin.

Even if you are not worried that someone might draw from these vitriolic attacks a license to try to hurt the president, you have to be worried about what is happening to American politics more broadly.