Jim Blakeway's Blog: Flatsnake - From Scratch - Posts Tagged "seattle"
Altruistic Rats
In the “unlucky criminals” category last week: The man who tried to mug a UFC fighter. Seems he ended up shot with his own gun and severely pummeled. Ouch! Also, the man overwhelmingly apprehended in Wal-Mart’s distribution area stealing electronic gear. “Shop With a Cop Day” was not the ideal time for this venture.
Interesting news from the University of Chicago. In experiments, rats worked diligently to free another rat whether they were acquainted or not. Usually the release ended with an impromptu celebration. High-fives all around! Furthermore, the free rats would often save food for their trapped brethren. Hmmm, the rats in Congress may not be the most advanced of their species.
Sadly, Brandon Roy is retiring from the NBA at the tender age of 27 due to injuries after five seasons. An All-American at UW and 3-time NBA all-star with the Portland Trail Blazers, Brandon, we will miss you. We all loved watching you play.
“When the Leaves Fall Early” an e-book from Flatsnake Publishing, is on sale for 99 cents during the holidays. A riveting story of a rekindled romance threatened by a psychopathic killer’s increasing obsession. Available from Amazon.com for Kindle, B&N.com for Nook, and many other formats including PDFs and IPods using Smashwords.com. Go ahead, splurge!
Headline from the IBTIMES: “30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010”. Twenty nine of these well known corporations paid no taxes at all. Think of that when you buy your next GE engine, Boeing plane or fulfill your contract with Verizon Communications. How does expending $84 million on lobbying grab you when the same company is paying a federal tax rate of negative 45% on more than $10 billion in profits?
In Afghanistan a few weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai pardoned a woman who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for having sex out of wedlock when she was raped by a relative. The condition of her release is she marry the man who raped her. On how many levels is this wrong? These countries with abysmal women’s rights are the ones most likely to spawn groups out-of-control machine-gun-toting crazies. Maybe letting the women have more control would temper some of these problems before they turn into teenagers with guns.
And driving automobiles would lead to Saudi women losing their virginity? If you say so. Got to save up those virgins for the misled martyrs.
Bless you all anyway.
When the Leaves Fall Early
Interesting news from the University of Chicago. In experiments, rats worked diligently to free another rat whether they were acquainted or not. Usually the release ended with an impromptu celebration. High-fives all around! Furthermore, the free rats would often save food for their trapped brethren. Hmmm, the rats in Congress may not be the most advanced of their species.
Sadly, Brandon Roy is retiring from the NBA at the tender age of 27 due to injuries after five seasons. An All-American at UW and 3-time NBA all-star with the Portland Trail Blazers, Brandon, we will miss you. We all loved watching you play.
“When the Leaves Fall Early” an e-book from Flatsnake Publishing, is on sale for 99 cents during the holidays. A riveting story of a rekindled romance threatened by a psychopathic killer’s increasing obsession. Available from Amazon.com for Kindle, B&N.com for Nook, and many other formats including PDFs and IPods using Smashwords.com. Go ahead, splurge!
Headline from the IBTIMES: “30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010”. Twenty nine of these well known corporations paid no taxes at all. Think of that when you buy your next GE engine, Boeing plane or fulfill your contract with Verizon Communications. How does expending $84 million on lobbying grab you when the same company is paying a federal tax rate of negative 45% on more than $10 billion in profits?
In Afghanistan a few weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai pardoned a woman who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for having sex out of wedlock when she was raped by a relative. The condition of her release is she marry the man who raped her. On how many levels is this wrong? These countries with abysmal women’s rights are the ones most likely to spawn groups out-of-control machine-gun-toting crazies. Maybe letting the women have more control would temper some of these problems before they turn into teenagers with guns.
And driving automobiles would lead to Saudi women losing their virginity? If you say so. Got to save up those virgins for the misled martyrs.
Bless you all anyway.
When the Leaves Fall Early
Dueling Headlines
Board urges Cell Phone-Driving Ban
Criminal Code is Overgrown, Legal Experts Tell Panel
Last week, in an announcement designed to hamper human evolution and slap the face of any competent driver, the National Transportation Safety Board asked states to prohibit the use of cell phones and other electronic devices while driving, even hands-free devices. Does this mean Prius and Volt drivers in general? On the next page of the newspaper was another headline where legal experts say “The federal criminal code has grown so large it ensnares everyday citizens who have no idea they are violating the law.”
Hmm, I wonder if the headline heralding a report in the Journal of Pediatrics stating that “30% of Americans are arrested by the time they are 30 years old” had anything to do with the above? Land of the Free.
From Scratch brings you a new feature, Local Standouts, highlighting some of the interesting facets of local life here in Washington State:
Steve Rodriques sells the Kalakala for $1 to a buyer who promised to restore it to its original luster. Some guy in Oklahoma I believe. Clay something.
After protesting and bleating that stop-light cameras are for safety and not revenue generation, a local city coming under a budget shortfall immediately raised the obscene fine amounts for said camera traps. Hmm.
For those jumping on the hate Bill Maher bandwagon for his humorous statement about Tebow losing his Christmas game; Please remember Bill is a comedian. Comedians can be offensive, it’s part of their job. Well, apart from Bill Cosby who can be hilarious while not offending anyone.
Finally, in the Thinking Small category, a quote from Western Union president William Orton in which he rejects Alexander Graham Bell’s offer to sell his struggling telephone company for $100,000. “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”
Criminal Code is Overgrown, Legal Experts Tell Panel
Last week, in an announcement designed to hamper human evolution and slap the face of any competent driver, the National Transportation Safety Board asked states to prohibit the use of cell phones and other electronic devices while driving, even hands-free devices. Does this mean Prius and Volt drivers in general? On the next page of the newspaper was another headline where legal experts say “The federal criminal code has grown so large it ensnares everyday citizens who have no idea they are violating the law.”
Hmm, I wonder if the headline heralding a report in the Journal of Pediatrics stating that “30% of Americans are arrested by the time they are 30 years old” had anything to do with the above? Land of the Free.
From Scratch brings you a new feature, Local Standouts, highlighting some of the interesting facets of local life here in Washington State:
Steve Rodriques sells the Kalakala for $1 to a buyer who promised to restore it to its original luster. Some guy in Oklahoma I believe. Clay something.
After protesting and bleating that stop-light cameras are for safety and not revenue generation, a local city coming under a budget shortfall immediately raised the obscene fine amounts for said camera traps. Hmm.
For those jumping on the hate Bill Maher bandwagon for his humorous statement about Tebow losing his Christmas game; Please remember Bill is a comedian. Comedians can be offensive, it’s part of their job. Well, apart from Bill Cosby who can be hilarious while not offending anyone.
Finally, in the Thinking Small category, a quote from Western Union president William Orton in which he rejects Alexander Graham Bell’s offer to sell his struggling telephone company for $100,000. “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”
The War on Women
Interesting dance in Mukilteo, regarding the rights of citizens. Seems the citizens voted to ban the insulting red-light cameras in their fair city. However, in a surprise turnaround, we find Washington State has a specific clause in their legislation that gives the local municipalities exclusive rights to control this feature. What? I wonder when that little gem got placed into the RCWs. Hey Tim, maybe it’s time to go statewide on this before the mechanized revenue grabbers take root all over.
Rush Limbaugh gets so used to the fact that nobody with any intelligence listens to him that he forgets his homegrown Taliban rants are sometimes heard by people with a full set of teeth. However, last week, in his personal PSYOPS salvo in the GOP War on Women, Rush finally achieved the level of attention he craves with his Sandra Fluke ‘slut’ ravings. Never one to be bothered with facts, the spinning airbag managed to offend a good portion of the electorate. I can’t figure out whether the assault on women’s medical options is a race to the dark ages or just plain ignorance and short-sightedness.
Sooner or later the righteous slip up. Don Imus loses traction with his classless description of the Rutgers basketball team. Gay-bashing legislators are found with their hands in some other guy’s pants. The televangelist who succumbs to the evil temptations he has railed against. The list goes on.
On the same subject, it looks like Doonesbury’s Monday strip is being relegated to the editorial page in many places and just plain yanked from much of the “liberal press.” Trudeau takes a swipe at the Texas shaming rooms and The War on Women regarding sonograms and the closing of many women’s health clinics in the Lone Star State. I thought we settled these issues many years ago.
Well keep on voting for these bozos, but don’t be surprised when you see your daughter being chased down the street by a group of sick old men in robes waving canes and calling her a slut because her legs are showing.
In the Thinking Small category, remember with me the words of Decca Records when they rejected an act called the Beatles in 1962. “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.”
Rush Limbaugh gets so used to the fact that nobody with any intelligence listens to him that he forgets his homegrown Taliban rants are sometimes heard by people with a full set of teeth. However, last week, in his personal PSYOPS salvo in the GOP War on Women, Rush finally achieved the level of attention he craves with his Sandra Fluke ‘slut’ ravings. Never one to be bothered with facts, the spinning airbag managed to offend a good portion of the electorate. I can’t figure out whether the assault on women’s medical options is a race to the dark ages or just plain ignorance and short-sightedness.
Sooner or later the righteous slip up. Don Imus loses traction with his classless description of the Rutgers basketball team. Gay-bashing legislators are found with their hands in some other guy’s pants. The televangelist who succumbs to the evil temptations he has railed against. The list goes on.
On the same subject, it looks like Doonesbury’s Monday strip is being relegated to the editorial page in many places and just plain yanked from much of the “liberal press.” Trudeau takes a swipe at the Texas shaming rooms and The War on Women regarding sonograms and the closing of many women’s health clinics in the Lone Star State. I thought we settled these issues many years ago.
Well keep on voting for these bozos, but don’t be surprised when you see your daughter being chased down the street by a group of sick old men in robes waving canes and calling her a slut because her legs are showing.
In the Thinking Small category, remember with me the words of Decca Records when they rejected an act called the Beatles in 1962. “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.”
Flatsnake - From Scratch
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