(2007-08-04) — With child health care bills emerging from the House and Senate each relying on increases in the federal cigarette excise tax to help provide $7 billion a year or more, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, today offered an amendment designed to “guarantee an un-ending funding stream for children’s health by encouraging older Americans to take up smoking.”
“Without a growing population of smokers,” Sen. Reid said, “We won’t have enough cash to fund these increases in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and we would have to raise other taxes. This bill would provide federal matching dollars to create an advertising campaign through the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to get more seniors to consider the joys of tobacco in their waning years.”
“Kids know that smoking is bad because it cuts life short,” said Sen. Reid. “But if you’re almost at the end of your days anyway, why not smoke? Not only will septuagenarians get the satisfying buzz of nicotine, but they’ll have the warm feeling of knowing their addiction is helping to keep poor kids healthy.”
The majority leader said he envisions “a thousand points of light, as grandmas and grandpas ignite a movement toward better health for children.”
141 responses so far ↓
1 Just Ranting // Aug 3, 2007 at 6:38 am
Smoke’m if you got’em.
2 Just Ranting // Aug 3, 2007 at 6:47 am
God Bless America!
3 Maggie // Aug 3, 2007 at 7:12 am
Good Morning All:
Got my cup of coffee and my old trusty zippo and am now lighting up a stogey………coff….coff …….coff……
4 izzy5 // Aug 3, 2007 at 7:16 am
Also, by killing off the elderly sooner, even more money will be saved for old age programs such as Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
All in All, a win-win for everyone!
5 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 7:17 am
… it’s for the children!
6 Shelly // Aug 3, 2007 at 7:40 am
It’s for the 25 year-old children of parents making $82,000 a year! Hard to believe cold hearted Republicans don’t want these poor souls taken from their private plans and put into inferior government plans. They must hate children.
Speaking of hate, anyone see O’Reilly last night? I am considerably grateful to be part of an internet community that is so amicable and sincere. We can share laughs, hopes, fears, and joys without leaving basic decency. I credit Scott Ott and all the regulars here for your decorum. I am blessed to “know” you all, and I thank you.
7 conserve-a-tips // Aug 3, 2007 at 7:54 am
Seriously, our governor (a democrat) bragged that adding a dollar a pack to cigarettes would provide a two-fold purpose - it would provide money for a trauma center in OKC that was struggling to keep its doors open and it would encourage people to stop smoking. Our first thought was, “Ok, if you get people to stop smoking, then where is that revenue for the trauma center?” We already knew the answer which was that they knew it wouldn’t do a thing to stop people from smoking and that the poor in our state would be funding a trauma center. It passed.
8 beekabok2 // Aug 3, 2007 at 8:32 am
Trouble swallowing pills? Can’t seem to remember if you took your vitamins or not? Never fear
In co-operation with Phillip Morris and and the manufacturers of Centrum Silver we would like to introduce you to the NEW
Marlboro 50+ Silver
Not only do you get the nicotine that your body craves, now you can get all the vitamins and minerals that your decrepit body needs.
(recommended by St Jude Children’s Hospital - Your results may vary)
And keep a look-out for Geritol Lights In a store near you soon
9 beekabok2 // Aug 3, 2007 at 8:49 am
wow i got my comment deleted. Guess there were too many brand names mentioned. I will try a generic version.
Trouble swallowing pills? Can’t remember if you took your daily vitamin today? Never fear
In a joint venture with (that company that makes tobacco products) and (that other company that makes vitamins for seniors) we are proud to introduce:
(insert brand name of some kind of cigarette here) _____
Lights plus Iron.
Not only due you get the nicotine that your body craves, but you also get a full dose of all the vitamin and minerals you decrepit body needs!
Recommended by (insert name of any children’s hospital here)_______. You results may vary.
Is this better Scott?
10 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 8:59 am
Finally, a reason to live.!
11 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:01 am
beekabok2
You didn’t get deleted on my computer
12 MargeinMI // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:29 am
Maggie,
YAY! I’m sure you’ve always been a ‘great’ grandmother, but now it’s official. Maybe we should add another adjective-now you’re a SUPER Great Grandmother! Congrats!
13 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:40 am
I see I haven’t kept up my end of the bargain the last five decades. Apparently I have some catching up to do … for the children! Now where are those Lucky Strikes™ …
14 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:45 am
Centrum™ Malboros? Now that’s pretty funny beekabok2.
Maybe Nicorette™ will start using nicotine-enhanced cigarettes to try and get people back on to tobacco bandwagon!
15 debass // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:52 am
Why not get children to fund their own health care? No child has ever died from smoking.
16 Tinman // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:11 am
When they make abortion illegal, that’s when I may believe they give a wit about the children.
17 RedPepper // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:16 am
As a fairly recent ex-smoker, I’d just like to point out that, as the decades-long anti-smoking crusade continues to reduce the number of active smokers, federal & state revenues from cigarette taxes will also continue their downward spiral.
Take heed, fast-food lovers! Your wallets are next!
18 beekabok2 // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:25 am
I heard a fact the other day (true/untrue - not sure) that on average, 7% of Americans as a whole, eat at McDonald’s daily. I assume it is not always the same 7%. In Indy, we already have a couple of extra cents on fast food (really any that is already prepared fast or otherwise) to pay for our stadiums.
19 boberinyetagain // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:26 am
You can get the old folks to smoke but then the kids won’t be allowed to visit what with the evils of second hand smoke. Heaven forbid a child (or many whiny adults for that matter) ever smell a whiff of smoke, they are likely to “stroke out” on the spot.
Never mind that we all merrily go around breathing exhaust (a few whiffs of which actually will kill you dead, I have been unfortunate enough to witness the results first hand) and no one suggests that we stop driving. If I were king I’d mandate a harmless additive that made exhaust visible. We would cease all driving within a week.
I’m doing my part (except for the taxes part, I roll my own for $.70 cents a pack)
20 sourdough // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:26 am
My most humble apologies for quitting 30 years ago. Now I realize how selfish I have been and at 65 will resume my old habit with gusto.
Let’s see I was smoking 3 packs a day at age 35 so I owe our American children 30 X 3 X 365 1/4 packs. Does anyone have a calculator handy?
In another story Republicans are suggesting taxation of welfare benefits and candy bars and potato chips bought on food stamps.
21 boberinyetagain // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:27 am
Red, you quitter you!
Any wimp can quit, it takes a man to face cancer/emphasema!
22 Shelly // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:58 am
Speaking of Congress, make sure you visit Michelle’s site to see what the Dems did last night in the House. They actually had to cheat in order to give illegals our money. Wonder how low the next poll will put their approval rating?
23 conserve-a-tips // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:09 am
OK, seems like this calls for a song:
Tobacco Toke (to Tobacco Road by Jefferson Airplane)
I was born in a funk
Mamma cried and my daddy got drunk
Didn’t have insurance you know.
You need to take a Tobacco toke.
Pa makes but 80 thou’
And with three kids that’s a poor wage now
Only you can lift our load
By having a Tobacco Toke.
You can puff
And pay a doc to treat my stuff
Only you folks who are old –
Tobacco toke!
I’m gonna have all the things I like
If you’ll pick up a cigar or pipe.
Who cares if I’m illegal and broke
Just take that Tobacco Toke.
I turned 21 today
Gives me years where I don’t have to pay.
25 is the limit they spoke
So take your Tobacco Toke!
You can puff
And pay a doc to treat my stuff
Only you folks who are old –
Tobacco Toke!!
24 RedPepper // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:35 am
boberin #21: Actually, bob, in my case it was a pair of strokes made me quit. Anyway, if I want cancer, I’ve got 7 or 8 variations in my family medical history - just how careful do you think I oughta be?
As some old rock-n-roller (Jim Morrison?) once said, “No one here gets out alive.”
25 boberinyetagain // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:53 am
Red, I’m truly sorry to hear that. My own heart problems made me quit smoking and drinking for a year and a half a few years back. After all that time I felt exactly the same as previously and missed both things dearly the whole time. So, I “bucked up” and began both again (both in more moderation perhaps but not by much) and, 5 years later I’m still chugging along. Personally I’d rather die young (not that this is possible any longer) than give up either thing.
Think of the children and light up!
26 da Bunny // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:15 pm
The crushing guilt of knowing that I’m not doing my part in this in order to “help the children” is more than I can bear!! I’m going downstairs right now to bum some cigarettes from my highly addicted neighbor! No time like the present to take up smoking! Although I’m nowhere near the age that most would consider to be the end of my life, taking up smoking would definitely hasten that process!! Plus, the added bonus would be that I could stop “whining” about being exposed to second-hand smoke!! It’ll be a “win-win!!!”
27 da Bunny // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:20 pm
beekabok2…comment #8 was a “stroke” of brilliance on your part!!
28 gafisher // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Glad you dropped the habit, Red; I’d like to see your comments here for a long time to come.
But … regarding the cigarettes, maybe it’s time to privatize this: include a certificate for five minutes of health care with each pack of cigarettes, which the purchaser can keep, give or sell as they see fit. Sort of like Cracker Jacks, except this prize keeps you out of the box.
29 conserve-a-tips // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Gafisher: Always lookin’ ta make a buck, you evil conservative!!
30 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Anybody got a Chesterfield?
c-a-t
Ya got the tune down (cough) but I’m confused, because it is the Jefferson Aeroplane, what exactly am I suppose to puff on.
31 Health, Fitness, and Beauty Issues » Blog Archive » Many babies show signs of maternal overfeeding within a few hours or // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:07 pm
[…] <b>Health</b> Bills Promote Senior Smoking to Fund Kid Care […]
32 healthfitnessbeauty4life.com » Blog Archive » So long as there are enough fuel and food, but not too much, and so long // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:10 pm
[…] <b>Health</b> Bills Promote Senior Smoking to Fund Kid Care […]
33 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Actually, cigarette smoking is healthy for you. If you’re willing to walk a mile for a Camel™, think of all the aerobic exercise you’d be getting trying to smoke two packs a day! I mean, that’s twenty miles a day though maybe bober’s and RedPepper’s tickers might not last the month of such a healthy habit. And speaking of a habit, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was a nun smoking a cigarillo.
More on the New Republic’s Private Beauchamp’s storytelling here. Nothing of what he claims has been verified and he’s actually had to backtrack on one claim that he said occurred in Iraq when it actually happened in Kuwait … and even that hasn’t been verified! A real Emily Latilla moment … oooops, oh never mind!
34 conserve-a-tips // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Ms RightWing, Ink: Good point. I understand your confusion.
35 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Hmmmm, excuse the new math, for two packs that would be forty miles a day.
36 boberinyetagain // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Hank, I thought the link would take me to the picture!
37 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:52 pm
They should never have legalized cigarette filters, if you ask me.
38 RedPepper // Aug 3, 2007 at 3:20 pm
JL3: Never shoulda allowed those dern machine-made cigarettes neither. It’s all gone straight to [bleep!] since folks stopped rolling their own …
39 camojack // Aug 3, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I like to indulge in a good cigar, maybe once a month or so. However, since I’m a naughty boy who prefers illicit Cuban cigars, any taxes on ‘em don’t go into the U.S. coughers…er, coffers.
40 boberinyetagain // Aug 3, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Red, amen to that. there are some 500 or more “ingredients” in those things they make nowadays. The ones I smoke have 2, tobacco and a snap of menthol. I much prefer them to whatever it is they seel for $5-$7/pack and, as I mentioned, mine cost 70 cents/pack and it takes me about 2 hours to roll enough for the wife and i for the week (while I watch a ball game anyway)
A beautiful thing
41 conserve-a-tips // Aug 3, 2007 at 4:50 pm
boberin - I hate to tell you, but as a former tobacco grower, I can tell you that you don’t just have tobacco and menthol in those ciggies. There’s a bunch in there before those bales ever reach the factory.
42 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 3, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I find all of the cigarette tobacco additives quite nutritious.
Also: It keeps the snobs from swarming me during intermission at the piano recital.
43 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 3, 2007 at 5:20 pm
RE: #42~~
“It” refers to the smoking of cigarettes for their nutritional value.
44 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Chesterfield was also the preferred brand of Humphrey Bogart and contributed to his death from throat cancer at age 57.
But, still for my money the wasn’t a thing scarier than the dancing Old Gold Cigarette packs back in the day. Kinda spooky if you ask me.
45 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 6:21 pm
er, their wasn’t a thing scarier—-
46 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 6:21 pm
well, what gives here?
47 conserve-a-tips // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Ms Rightwing, Ink: Do you remember, “Cigars, cigarettes, tiparillos.” I always wondered how those ladies got into those outfits.
Chesterfield was my grandfather’s cigarette of choice. They killed him too.
48 Beerme // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:43 pm
All this a mere month after I stopped using Kodiak! Well, I ain’t gonna start chewing again-kids or no kids! If they want health care let chew their own snuff, I say!
49 Beerme // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:50 pm
My mother’s cigarette of choice was Pall Mall unfiltered. Dead from lung cancer at 56. Forty years of smoking but she missed out on all those grandchildren. I miss her terribly after 22 years. I’m still cussing those Pall Malls…
Now my two kids and wife smoke. Me, I quit smoking in 1980 or so, but chewed tobacco on and off for the last four or five years. No more, though!
I will smoke a good stogie like Ahnold oncet in awhile…Camo, hook me up at the scrapplefest, I’ll bring the beer (legal homebrew, of course)!
50 hwy93 // Aug 3, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I’m doing my part. A half a pack a day and I could probably quit if I wanted to. But I really enjoy a smoke after a meal or with a beer. I really wish just once during a sin tax debate someone, anyone, would ask the simple question, “Once smoking is no longer economically viable, Where do you plan to get the revenue for these new entitlements?” I would just love to watch them dance around that one. They take a dollar, give you back a dime, and expect you to thank them for it. (shakes head, makes look of disgust)
51 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Here ya go, bober, your wish has now been fulfilled. Now go to bed and don’t be smokin’ under the sheets.
52 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:39 pm
P.S. If you do smoke under the sheets, don’t be surprised if you get a visit from PETA for putting the bed bugs at risk with your secondhand smoke.
53 camojack // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:51 pm
I will smoke a good stogie like Ahnold oncet in awhile…Camo, hook me up at the scrapplefest, I’ll bring the beer (legal homebrew, of course)!
Comment by Beerme — August 3, 2007 @ 9:50 pm
I might could see my way clear to do that; I gave boberin one not so very long ago…
54 Darthmeister // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:56 pm
It was only a matter of time before some moronic Donk blames the Bush Administration for the I-35 bridge collapse in Minnesota. From Powerlineblog:
Mainstream Democrats are now joining in the effort to blame the Bush administration for the fact that a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Ridiculous, you say? Not too ridiculous for Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, as reported by Reuters:
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, suggested Bush administration spending on the Iraq war may have crimped funding for domestic projects such as road and bridge construction, and for such infrastructure projects as new levees for New Orleans.
“We’ve spent $500 billion (250 billion pounds) in Iraq and we have bridges falling down in this country,” Klobuchar told MSNBC. “I see a connection between messed-up priorities.”
The simple fact of the matter is that no funding was ever cut regarding bridge and road repair because of the Iraq war or the war on terror. This is your typical, left-wing, whiney rant that is usually trotted out to explain public education failure, failure at the state level in dealing adequately with natural disasters, and now bridges which are the responsibility of the individual states. Minnesota has been running a budgetary surplus close to $2 billion dollars each year under the Bush Administration.
A better question the Senator ought to ask is why Minnesota highway authorities weren’t using that surplus money to adequately address infra-structure problems. Also, how many hundreds of millions have been spent on the hoity-toity let’s-be-like-Europe light rail that runs at quarter capacity in the Twin Cities? Now that’s a colosal waste of taxpayer money.
55 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Let Garrison Keillor fix the bridge-after all he has turned away from the sacred values of storytelling and become a rambling fool for the Minnesota Public Radio liberals. Which brings me to the point-forget funding for Pubic Radio (not a misprint) and put it into bridge repair.
56 Darthmeister // Aug 4, 2007 at 6:55 am
I like this new public virtue, smoke and abort your children … for the children! Just look at what we’re teaching our posterity with the new tax-based government virtue programs - you can abort, smoke, engage in homosexual behavior, and save spotted owls on your way to building a better utopia. All praise to the State! [from THX 1138]
57 Darthmeister // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:02 am
It’s Official: Beauchamp’s Claims Debunked by Army Internal Investigation.
Leftist creep. Apparently the American military is full of lying traitors like this. But then again Beauchamp was only following in the footsteps of one John “Genghis Kahn” Kerry. Of course the anti-war true believers will whine about some military coverup conspiracy. Typical MO of these lying military haters who believe every insidious charge leveled against our fighting men and women. I wonder when John Murtha (D-Moon) will apologize to the Haditha Marines for acting as a kangaroo court in condemning them for war crimes they did not commit?
58 Darthmeister // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:03 am
Well color me purple! Must be all the cigarette smoke.
59 Maggie // Aug 4, 2007 at 8:16 am
Good Morning Everybody,
Remember this ….LSMFT and this song…….?
“Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette.
Smoke smoke smoke until you smoke yourself to death.
Tell St.Peter at the Golden Gate that you hate to make him wait,
but you gotta have another cigarette”.
Hi Marge…… re #12
Thank you so much for the cudos.I’m anxious to get my hands on the sweet little “oodybud”.
60 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 10:20 am
Maggie, good morning!! I was humming that all day yesterday as I would stop by Scrappleface to read the latest smoke. I went to bed humming it. I hate when I do that.
61 Beerme // Aug 4, 2007 at 10:43 am
As kids, a Lucky Strike pack on the sidewalk was an opportunity to slug the guy next to you (in the arm, good-naturedly, of course), while singing, “Lucky Strikes, no strikes back ’til you get another pack”!
You had to step on the pack first, though. Surprisingly, there were a lot of opportunities to do this on a mile-long walk to the “Six Mile” Movie Theater on a Saturday afternoon.
What does that say about the amount of trash on the sidewalks in the late sixties?
62 hwy93 // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:26 am
Beerme, I don’t know about sidewalks in the sixties, but here in SC we have anti butt laws. If the local law enforcement catch you flicking your butt, especially from a moving vehicle, you can be charged $435.00. And in the tourist areas the Butt busters are extra zelous. We have clean sidewalks, but you really have to watch your butt.
63 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:26 am
Okay folks I did all the work for you, now you tell me that the tobacco companies were not out to soft sell your life away. Yes, I too stupidly hacked away on Camel filters, Pall Malls and Lucky Strikes until I was 24.
These are all worth watching but the Flinstone commercial reminds you who the suits were trying to reach.
Take a few minutes- recall and think!
Chesterfield ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhvHB62ph8
Flinstone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAExoSozc2c
Lucky Strike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU49DSS1ibc
Steve McQueen ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ogu3773PFE
Kool cigarette ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCxff1Dyy2w
Camel Cigarette ad 1970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyppql4-ngg
Kent Cartoon ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33fSU2Q_ZUY
L&M ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5bVXTGAkV0
Opera singer Camel ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq_Coy3uq7c
Doctor says Camels are best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI
Then finally that good Smokin’ song complete with (cough) ads
64 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:28 am
oooops, I forgot the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIN8MmMloZE
65 Possumtrot // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:31 am
And I had to light up a Marlboro just to work my way through this story. They cost way too much for the brand name, but you have one, and you know you smoked a real cigarette.
66 Possumtrot // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:45 am
Maggie, I think the author of that song is running for Govermor of Texas. If my faulty memory serves well, it was Kinky Freidman and the Texas Playboys who wrote “Smoke That Cigarette.”
It’s one of the great Texas swing tunes of all times. I support Mr. Friedman for Governor of Texas, and I whistle his classic song every time I fire up a Marlboro.
67 EXT // Aug 4, 2007 at 12:24 pm
While Kinky has done some great songs like “Sold American” and “Waitress, oh Waitress”, it was not he who wrote “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette”.
Merle Travis wrote it for Tex Williams whose career was winding down at the time. Travis also released a version but the most commonly heard version was done by Phil Harris.
Also, Kinky’s group had a different name. I’m not gonna post it because, though real, it might offend some of our more politically correct regulars. If you wanna know, cut and paste this one:
www.kinkajourecords.com/kinkyfriedman.htm
No, I’m too lazy to turn it into a link.
P.S. He didn’t win the Texas election but he did make believing Christians out of some of his detractors…..
68 EXT // Aug 4, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Amazing!
I didn’t turn it into a link; it happened by magic or divine intervention….
69 Beerme // Aug 4, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Possum,
Kinky’s Kool (pardon the cig reference), but Merle Travis wrote that song for Tex Williams, who-you guessed it-died of lung cancer after smoking all his life.
It was Texas Swing, tho’!
70 Beerme // Aug 4, 2007 at 12:29 pm
The Texas Playboys were Bob Wills’s band-the inventor of Texas Swing!
71 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Oh, here is one I forgot-Perry Como and his group of scientific smokers. Ahh, them Chesterfields, they kill with grace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJNOISmZSoY
72 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Gee, I lost a post, asking if anyone watched the many commercials, especially The Flintstones.
I used to think “big tobacco,” was just a liberal come on, but my walk through time reminded me of so much propaganda once used to sell you a casket that I say to the big boys-”shame on you.”
73 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 1:30 pm
lost again
74 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Is there any harm in Candy cigarettes? I use to love them as a kid, maybe I should take up the habit once more
75 Beerme // Aug 4, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Ma RW Ink.,
I loved the Chesterfield ad, especially the shill for the Renco Drive-in Movie theater!
For the most part, I think it was sheer ignorance about the health risk of cigarettes that drove those early commercials. The Flintstones, in particular, are used as an egregious example of marketing to children but, in reality, the Flintstones-much like the Simpsons of today-was targeting an adult audience. I’m glad we’re all smarter today about the dangers of smoking, though many of us continue to use tobacco.
I feel particularly bad about the many people I loved that are no longer with us today, primarily because of tobacco. Sad and avoidable…
76 Possumtrot // Aug 4, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I’m very easily lost and confuzzled. I just remember the tag-line of smoking a cigarette at the Pearly Gates. Last time I checked, Kinky Friedman is running for Governor of Texas.
Whoever wrote the song, it’s a cool take on smoking. I should quit the nasty habit, but I need a nerve-calming nod to addiction every so often.
77 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Possum, try Good ‘n Plenty’s. They’ve been my addiction since childhood. I was thrilled when they brought them back onto the market. They keep me sane.
78 Beerme // Aug 4, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I’d rather fight than switch!
A silly millimeter longer, 101
You’ve come a long way, baby!
Whaddaya want, good grammar or good taste?
79 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Beerme, you watched too much tv when you were young!!! Just remember, “a little dab’ll do ya.”
80 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Hows about an Antony and Cleo (cough) Patra cigar (cough I’m dying)
81 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I was so glad when that election was over and I didn’t have to look at that dude’s smug, gnarly mug every 5 minutes any longer. Politically, he’s, like, practically the antichrist compared to me. His incessant, poorly-produced, ignorance-laden and nearly-blasphemous ads were a source of great annoyance to me.
But, of course, after all, well, you know…..I am a Buckeye.
82 gafisher // Aug 4, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Beerme #75: “For the most part, I think it was sheer ignorance about the health risk of cigarettes that drove those early commercials.”
I really don’t think so. Cigarettes were called “coffin nails” before many of us were born; I have a woodshop book from the late 1930s which includes a cigarette box shaped like a traditional coffin in recognition of that nickname. (Another project in that book is a Donkey Cigarette Dispenser which, when the tail is lifted, ejects a cigarette from, ahem, beneath the tail.)
I’d agree regarding the Flintstones, though; it was originally a prime-time show which emulated Jackie Gleason’s “The Honeymooners” using animated characters primarily to widen the field for sight gags. In other words, not a “kid’s show” although kids might enjoy parts of it. My folks didn’t like it because they thought it promoted lodge membership.
83 gafisher // Aug 4, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Speaking of nanny-state obsessions, Drudge links a report that the next season of 24 includes “global warming” as a plot element. Jack Bauer, we ‘ardly knew ye.
(Maybe we’ll get to see cameos by Frosty the Snowman and the Inconvenient Truth Fairy.)
84 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 9:57 pm
gafisher, when I was a kid, my parents and my siblings and I all sat around the tv every Saturday night to take in the Jackie Gleason show with the Honeymooners, Crazy Guggenheim, etc. My favorite part, though, and what I couldn’t wait to see, was the June Taylor Dancers and their famous geometric figures viewed from above. Those were the days.
85 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:47 pm
conserve-a-tips
Ditto on the above. I use to go into the basement, pull out my suitcase record player and imitate everything I just saw the dancers perform on the old black and white TV.
As for the Flintstones, our family all sat around the TV and watched the weekly cartoon. I had no problem understanding their comedy, after all what is so hard about laughing at the 100 pound rack of ribs that upset the car.
We all watched Huckleberry Hound and all the other Hanna Barbara cartoons. My dad use to crack up at the dog who ate the biscuits then fell divinely in love with his treat.
86 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:48 pm
You have to watch this video of a soldier standing up for what he and his comrades have been doing in Iraq, at the Kos convention. I am proud of the young man, and the rest of them are a bunch of nazis.
87 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:51 pm
gafisher: I had a comment about the Honeymooners, but it got eaten, so I will try again. I just said that I remember as a kid growing up, Saturday night was always spent around the tv with my entire family glued to the Jackie Gleason show, with the Honeymooners and Crazy Guggenheim and his squashed hat. My favorite, though, and what I looked forward to the most, was the June Taylor Dancers with their geometric formations of arms and legs, seen from above. Those were the days.
88 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Well, huh. There it is. Never mind.
89 conserve-a-tips // Aug 4, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Ms Rightwing Ink: How funny! That was my dad’s favorite character too! The dog’s name was Precious Pup. He’d hug himself and ‘ummmmm’ himself all the way up off the ground. Mine was alway Pepe LePew. My leettle rose blossom.
90 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 5, 2007 at 7:52 am
Hanna-Barbera was really raking it in there (in prime time) for a little while.
The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show were all prime time hits, if I remember correctly. I was in my early 10’s at the time.
91 MargeinMI // Aug 5, 2007 at 8:14 am
Mornin’ all! Courtesy of yesterday’s Opinion Journal, John F’n Kerry, full of ‘nuance’:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010427
Be sure to read the Readers’ Responses too. It’ll help to cleanse your brain, and be a tasty treat this Sunday morning.
92 conserve-a-tips // Aug 5, 2007 at 8:22 am
Marge, that was a treat this morning. I have renewed faith in the intelligence of my fellow Americans out there. They really responded in very logical and concise arguments. As to John Kerry: What a maroon.
93 Fred Sinclair // Aug 5, 2007 at 2:28 pm
“Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea” with Walter Pidgeon, Barbara Eden and Frankie Avalon, Joan Fontaine, Peter Lorre.
It’s all so clear now. Every thing Algore has said about “Manmade Global Warming” is plagerized almost verbatim from the movie script.
Algore must have seen the film and believed it to be a documentary - not understanding that it was a Sci-Fi movie thriller.
It could be that he also saw “Miracle on 34th Street” and believes that the existance of Santa Claus is now a confirmed fact.
Heirborn Ranger
94 Darthmeister // Aug 5, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Bill Kristol:
For the Iraq war’s opponents, July began as a month of hope. It ended in retreat. It began with Democratic unity in proclaiming the inevitability of American defeat. It ended with respected military analysts-Democrats, no less!-reporting that the situation on the ground had improved, and that the war might be winnable. It began with a plan for a series of votes in Congress that were supposed to stampede nervous Republicans against the continued prosecution of the war. It ended with the GOP spine stiffened, no antiwar legislation passed, and the Democratic Congress adjourning in disarray, with approval ratings lower than President Bush’s. It began with Democratic presidential candidates competing in their antiwar pandering. It ended with them having second thoughts-with Barack Obama, losing ground to Hillary Clinton because he seemed naive about real world threats, frantically suggesting that he would invade Pakistan.
July also began with the liberal media disparaging the troops. It ended with the liberal media in retreat.
So here is where we are: In terms of U.S. national interests-and in terms of its own political well-being-the Republican party faces a moment when, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, honor points the path of duty, and the right judgment of the facts reinforces the dictates of honor. General Petraeus will deliver the facts in September. If Republicans can keep their nerve under media and elite assault, then they will have the honor of following the path of both duty and the right judgment of the facts. I suspect all will come out well. Americans can sometimes be impatient and short-sighted. But when a choice is clearly presented, they tend to reject the path of defeat and dishonor.
95 Darthmeister // Aug 5, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Cigarette butts, particularly the ones with filters, were a total eyesore in the 60s and 70s. Gave new meaning to the term “trash” … wink, wink, nudge, nudge. But how about all those pull tabs that ended up in shopping market parking lots? Not much use for them except making hippy necklaces or dropping them into the can after you pull them and then cutting your lip or actually swallowing the things. I heard it was the lawsuits over pull-and-discard tabs which made the canning industry come up with the present design which is retained on the can and not the fact they were the pollution nuisances they clearly were.
I still remember those Shasta™ cream soda steel pop cans with pull tabs. That was some smooth sody pop when it was 98 degrees and 90% humidity deep in the heart of Texas!
96 Darthmeister // Aug 5, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I just purchased the Second Season DVD set of VTTBOTS and they reworked the movie into an episode. I haven’t had a chance to watch any of the DVDs yet.
Fred, at least the 1961 movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea got it right about the UN being populated by a bunch of clueless, posturing boobs.
97 Fred Sinclair // Aug 5, 2007 at 7:54 pm
A NY man retired. He wanted to use his retirement money wisely, so it would last, and decided to buy a home and a few acres in Portugal.
The modest farmhouse had been vacant for 15 yrs; the owner and wife both had died, and there were no heirs.
The house was sold to pay taxes.
There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut. Nobody wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn’t complimentary to the property anyway……so, nobody made an offer on the place.
The NY guy bought it at just over half of the property’s worth, moved in, and set about to tear in to the barn…….curiosity was killing him.
So, he and his wife bought a generator, and a couple of grinders…….and cut thru the welds.
What was in the barn……………?
Go to; www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm and start wishing it you had bought the place.
A NY man retired. He wanted to use his retirement money wisely, so it would last, and decided to buy a home and a few acres in Portugal.
The modest farmhouse had been vacant for 15 yrs; the owner and wife both had died, and there were no heirs.
The house was sold to pay taxes.
There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut. Nobody wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn’t complimentary to the property anyway……so, nobody made an offer on the place.
The NY guy bought it at just over half of the property’s worth, moved in, and set about to tear in to the barn…….curiosity was killing him.
So, he and his wife bought a generator, and a couple of grinders…….and cut thru the welds.
What was in the barn……………?
Go to; www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm and start wishing it you had bought the place.
Heirborn Ranger
98 Fred Sinclair // Aug 5, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Oops! I didn’t notice the double - my bad
Heirborn Ranger
99 gafisher // Aug 5, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Fred re #93, I’m afraid you’re mistaken. After living Love Story but before inventing the internet, Al Gore spent time giving Jaques Custeau swimming lessons, which of course inspired the writers of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.” It’s they who plagiarized him.
100 The Great Santini // Aug 5, 2007 at 9:41 pm
“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”-an apt name for Lurch’s ‘04 campaign, especially after the Swifties shelled, torpedoed, and depth-charged his ship of state, “The Windsurfer”. Deep-six me, Scottie!
101 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 6, 2007 at 7:33 am
Mucho grande rain falling on the bunker yesterday. In the last two weeks we have seen the grass go from straw to mow-able, lush green pastures. But, oh how I hate those “buts,” not butts, we are hovering in the low 90’s so the bunker is on Malaria gaurd.
The Goodyear blimp covering Firestone Golf Classic disappeared at 5000 feet. I heard it was so muggy the pilots got out and walked down to the ground.
102 Darthmeister // Aug 6, 2007 at 8:26 am
Iranian purges that the lamestream isn’t reporting. Of course President Ahmadaboutjihad is a “moderate” whereas President Bush is the “terrorist”.
103 Darthmeister // Aug 6, 2007 at 8:38 am
The Great Santini, that Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea would also co-star John McCain reprising the role of goulish Captain Krueger in “The Return of the Phantom” … airdate: March 20, 1966.
Straight Talk Express just went straight down to the bottom: Ahoooogah! Ahoooogah! Batten down all hatches! Prepare for crash dive! Dive … dive … dive!
Aye, shiver me timbers ya scurvy dog. Shout out to Davey Jones on ta way down, me matey. And watch out for ta 100 foot squid and don’t let the barnacles bite ya on ta butt!
104 conserve-a-tips // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:24 am
Darthmeister, are you, Fred and the Great Santini insinuating that the Dems might just be deep sixing?
That’s weird. After I typed in my link, the preview stopped showing it and anything I typed after the coded link. Hmm. I guess we’ll see if it shows up correctly.
105 conserve-a-tips // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:25 am
Well, it worked. Go figure.
106 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 6, 2007 at 2:48 pm
What, no more cigarette commentary
107 conserve-a-tips // Aug 6, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Ms Rightwing, Ink: I think we were all just blowing smoke and got a bit choked up.
Are your plans still on for the weekend?
108 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 6, 2007 at 4:55 pm
[cough]
109 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 6, 2007 at 6:38 pm
re:107
Plans for a southerly launch are still in place for Saturday. Hope to find The Famous Flying Pigs on Sunday. That is all. Roger Out
110 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 6, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Generally speaking, I prefer the word “leftist” over the much-used “liberal” to describe anti-American groups such as the Democrat party, al-Qaeda and the Communist party (among others).
This sort of describes why.
111 conserve-a-tips // Aug 6, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Ms Rightwing, Ink: Roger that. Are you saying that you’ll have fun “when pigs fly?”
112 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 6, 2007 at 11:00 pm
re:111
The reason Cincinnati is The Flying Pig Capital
History: If there is one question asked more often than others about the Flying Pig Marathon, it’s “Why a Flying Pig?” Even Greater Cincinnatians who cherish the pig, may not know it’s storied past in the history of the Queen City.
In the 1800s, when riverboats plied the Ohio River, Cincinnati was a center of Western commerce. Since agriculture was a prime source of revenue in this area, boats filled with livestock and produce would dock in Cincinnati to sell their wares. Hogs were a major source of income for farmers here, as well, so pigs that were brought in by boat, or herded into town from area farms, were marched through the streets of Cincinnati to the processing plants. So many, in fact, that Cincinnati came to be known as “Porkopolis.”
Fast forward to 1988, when Cincinnati celebrated its Bicentennial. To mark the occasion, the city decided to renovate its riverfront area to include a “Bicentennial Commons” park. Noted designer Andrew Leicester, was commissioned to design the commons, which was to reflect the city’s past. When he submitted his plans, one signature feature caught everyone’s attention: The entrance to Bicentennial Commons would be four smokestacks, for the city’s riverboat heritage, with four flying pigs on top, reflecting, according to Leicester, the spirits of the pigs who gave their lives so that the city could grow.
After much outcry in City Council, who donned pig noses to debate whether the swine symbols would make the city the laughing stock of the country, the project was approved and the pigs became the signature sculpture of the new Cincinnati Riverfront.
113 RedPepper // Aug 7, 2007 at 12:22 am
Hey there folks, just want you to know I may not be around for the next week or so ; I’m traveling up to northeastern New Hampshire, where some relatives of mine have a camp on a small lake. See you when I get back! - RP
114 Darthmeister // Aug 7, 2007 at 6:12 am
Ms. Rightwing,
As Jim Carey’s character in The Green Mask was fond of saying, “Smoooookin’!”
If nothing else there were some very creative special effects in that film, particularly where he turns into cartoon characters.
Way off topic. Be sure and check out the following neat links. I just received an excellent DVD that I’ve had on backorder for the last four or so weeks. It’s titled Mach 3 and is a four hour chronicle (well actually it’s 3 hours and 55 minutes) of the XB-70A program which began in the late 1950s and culiminate in the coolest, most outrageous triple sonic military aircraft ever designed. If you think the SR-71 is way cool, this marvel of 1950s and 60s engineering is simply breathtaking. Here’s a YouTube tribute to the SR-71.
Originally the B-70 was tasked with the mission of taking nuclear weapons deep into Russia at altitudes above 70,000 feet at speeds above 2000 mph, but when missile guidance technology and heavy-lift capability were demonstrated in the late 1950s, as well as the shoot down of Gary Powers in his U-2 in the early 1960s, the B-70 concept was considered too expensive and not viable enough in an increasing hostile environment over the now defunct Soviet Union.
All the footage is in color, probably shot in 16mm, and a lot of it has no sound since it was documentary film. It was digitally remastered in its transfer so the final image is pretty clear and far less grainy then most of the stuff (all of about thirty minutes I think) that has been in the general domain for the last forty years about the B-70. However, it appears no attempt was made to digitally remove film imperfections, dust spots, enhance colors, balance colors from shot-to-shot. Lot of neat in-cockpit stuff, too, particularly when the B-70 goes triple sonic the first time and you get to see the Mach meter.
At $19.95 the DVD is well worth every penny for anyone who has an interest in high-performance aircraft. Here’s a YouTube tribute to the XB-70 Valkyrie. Valkyrie 2 crashed in an unfortunate mid-air collision during a photo shoot by GE. About 15 years ago I saw the last remaining Valkyrie (#20001) at the Wright-Patterson Airforce Museum in Dayton, OH. It’s still there today. Well worth the entry fee just to see this engineering marvel. They also have an SR-71 in the same hangar. There must be at least several hundred static displays there of rare and general production aircraft.
115 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 7:34 am
Ms Rightwing, Ink - Thanks for the history lesson. Ya learn sumpin’ new every day!
Darthmeister - I guess you saw that the weenie in Iraq who was writing all the stories for the liberal New Republic has recanted his tales. Of course, that’s now a conspiracy.
116 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 9:34 am
Wow, hell hath no fury like a journalist scorned.
117 Darthmeister // Aug 7, 2007 at 10:57 am
c.a.t., I’ve been posting links with respect to Private Beauchamp and his slander/libel against his band of brothers.
If you go to the milblogs like BlackFive and MudvilleGazette you pretty much divine that soldiers like Beauchamp are despised by their comrades-in-arms. And if you dig enough you find out that these anti-war soldiers who link up with left-wing nutcases like the KosKidz and Moveon.org are generally disliked by those soldiers who either have served under them or with them … i.e., they aren’t very good soldiers in the first place.
Apparently those serving in Iraq have the advantage of being able to track down what units some of these higher profile anti-war soldiers served with, speak to those who served with them, and then they pass that information along on the comment threads at the milblogs how these kinds of soldiers have either demoralized their fellow soldiers or acted in other chicken$h!# ways.
That’s not to say all those soldiers who are against the war as a matter of honest conscience are like that, but it’s surprising the number who are and who then come home to trash their Commander-in-Chief and the mission in a way that in earlier days would have been considered seditious. Remember, about 20% of the various military branches are populated by dyed-in-the-wool leftists who more often than not saw the military as an opportunity to get a free education or as a means to enhance their resume. I’m sure some conservative soldiers are similarly opportunitistic, but by-and-large, from my own personal experience in talking with hundreds of veterans over the last thirty-five years or so and from what I’ve read at the milblogs, there is, first and foremost, a certain patriotism and sense of duty most conservative soldiers bring to the military.
118 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Send out the life rafts, NE Ohio is sinking. Please turn off the rain machine-enough already
119 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 7, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Nothing worse than trying to light wet cigarettes. cough, blub, blub cough
120 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Boy. It sure is quiet today. The heat has got us all laid out here, Ms Rightwing Ink is trying to keep her head above water, let along her Chesterfields.
What about the rest?
The PGA tournament is going on in Tulsa right now and I just heard a blurb on the local news, “Heat Is A Concern For The PGA Tournament”. Right. It’s not like Oklahoma isn’t an Easy Bake Oven during August. Duh. I guess they’ll just have to toughen up. I know I’m staying tough - right here in my air conditioned home sweet home.
121 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 2:17 pm
That should have read, “let alone”.
122 Darthmeister // Aug 7, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Heat index over 104 in the People’s Republic of Illinois. I guess Mother Nature is trying to make up for our extraordinarily cool July.
REPORT: NEW REPUBLIC’S ‘Baghdad Diarist’ admits exaggerations and falsehoods…
Say it ain’t so! You mean there’s another left-wing Bush-bashing anti-war liar?
Gore: Polluters Manipulate Climate Info…
Given that Goracle himself deals in intellectual pollution, I guess he’s right about this one.
UN: Early 2007 saw record-breaking extreme weather…
First it was Global Cooling … then it was Global Warming … then it was Climate Change … now it’s Extreme Weather. Quick, everyone to their bunkers! Now how does that parable about the boy who cried wolf goes?
123 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 7, 2007 at 3:13 pm
conserve-a-tips
Sorry I missed your phone call but I was creating another ceramic masterpiece at my class. Truth be known it is starting out to be a disaster since I can’t do much with the clay. sigh. Can’t figure out why, maybe it was to dry.
I wouldn’t worry about the PGA since it was in town last week and it was over 90 with humidity somewhat comparable to New Orleans. Of course, my man Tiger won
124 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Ooo. Cool, Ms Rightwing, Ink - I’ve always wanted to throw pots. My degree is in Fine Arts with a major in painting and a minor is sculpture, but I never got to take any ceramics. Oh, and I got your email.
According to Drudge, 18 people have been treated at the tournament for heat illness (whatever that may entail) as if this is something new. I remember in 2001, when we moved the oldest into her dorm at her university west of us, it read 116 on the bank and that was normal for that time of year. Are people’s memories that short or are their agendas that long?????
125 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Heh, does this mean that I can give up my treadmill? Do I get to lay around on the couch, watch soap operas and eat bon-bons? Oh wait. It says that I have to stop eating too. Never mind.
126 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 7, 2007 at 6:15 pm
If it’s negative, it’s Bush’s fault, whatever the scenario. Utterly puerile.
It’s quite warm here, also. It’s 96° here at 1754 CDT; THI was 104° today. This is normal here, though, and now that the cool weather ( the last two months have been 10° cooler than last year and I’ve only just this week begun to run the sprinkler) is gone it will be the same thing day after day here for the foreseeable future. I do not miss the incessantly overcast/rainy (or cold/snowy) days of my youth in Columbus OH.
Oh, yeah, and those folks falling out at the tourney…..they should try hydrating with something other than Jack & Coke.
127 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 7, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Fred Thompson’s Weekly Update email says:
“Fred Thompson continues to poll as well as, or better than, other candidates who have been running for months-both nationally and in key early primary states.”
Yeah. Well…..AND!?!
Should I applaud or …..
[stifling a yawn behind back of hand (and doing a breath-check)]
A waning of the suspense is beginning, I sense, and resuscitation may be in order-a surprise announcement on his web site in the middle of the night would be cool for a jump-start.
128 JamesonLewis3rd // Aug 7, 2007 at 8:08 pm
The scoundrel’s methods are wicked,
he makes up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
But the noble man makes noble plans,
and by noble deeds he stands.
~~Isaiah 32:7-8
129 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Well, James, I’m yawning at all of ‘em. Today, the scuttlebutt was that Rudy is a shoe in for the nomination and is the only one who can beat Hillary. Maybe so, but he won’t be getting my vote. He said that if he got the nomination, John McCain would be his vice president. ‘Nuff said.
It’s kinda funny, but the hubby and I have had tiffs over the voting issue if I say that I am just staying home from the polls. Tonight, with the above mentioned revelation, he announced that he may be staying home on election day. The Republicans had better wake up or else they are going to get woken up.
130 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 9:37 pm
James, I responded to your post. Where did it go???
131 conserve-a-tips // Aug 7, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Huh. There it is.
132 Darthmeister // Aug 8, 2007 at 7:27 am
Writing at Climate Progress, the global warming blog of CAP, Joseph Romm - who served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1997 and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from 1995 though 1998 - stated in a piece entitled ‘Did Climate Change Contribute To The Minneapolis Bridge Collapse?’
Buwahahahahaha! You can’t make this stuff up. To use an engineering tragedy to advance the religion of Global Warmism is irresponsible and despicable. This is pathetic.
From Rush Limbaugh yesterday:
“Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, a leading environmentalist has calculated. Food production is now so energy-intensive that more carbon is emitted providing a person with enough calories to walk to the shops than a car would emit over the same distance. The climate could benefit if people avoided exercise, ate less and became couch potatoes.” This is not ScrappleFace. This is not The Onion. This is not a parody. This is the UK Times. It’s by Dominic Kennedy. Do you people realize the absolute total absence of anything intelligent, reasonable, or substantive in this whole discussion of climate destruction, weather, and the environment? So now you’d be better off driving. You contribute more to global warming walking to the mall than if you drove there!
I bet the heads of the enviro-whackos are hurting right now. Probably ready to explode. I can see the new bumpersticker: Save the Planet, Don’t Walk, Drive
133 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 8, 2007 at 7:59 am
phew. it is 81 degrees already and shooting for the stars. Sure wish this “normal” global warming would go away*
*at one time referred to as the Dog Days of Summer
**if it dipped down to 59, then that to would prove global cooling
134 Darthmeister // Aug 8, 2007 at 8:49 am
Ms RightWing, we need to break out the iceblock and fan for some real old-fashioned air conditioning.
Michelle Malkin finds the same phenomonenon of John Kerry’s Winter Soldier seditions at work in the the fabulations of the New Republic’s Baghdad Diarist:
Ever since John Kerry sat in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and accused American soldiers of wantonly razing villages “in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan,” the Left has embraced a small cadre of self-loathing soldiers and soldier wannabes willing to sell their deadened souls for the anti-war cause. Think Jimmy Massey, the unhinged Marine who falsely accused his unit of engaging in mass genocide against Iraqis. Think Jesse MacBeth and Micah Wright, anti-war Army Rangers who weren’t Army Rangers.
Winter Soldier Syndrome will only be cured when the costs of slandering the troops outweigh the benefits. Exposing Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his brethren matters because the truth matters. The honor of the military matters. The credibility of the media matters. Think it doesn’t make a difference? Imagine where Sen. John Kerry would be now if the Internet had been around in 1971.
Yesterday Michael Goldfarb reported that he has interviewed a military source close to the Army’s investigation into Beauchamp’s “Shock troops” column and that Beauchamp has recanted his New Republic articles in a sworn statement signed as part of the Army’s investigation. Consistent with Goldfarb’s report, the Army investigation has into Beuachamp’s column has reached the conclusion that Beauchamp’s allegations are “false.”
BTW, like Dan Rather, the New Republic is determined to bluster their way through the mounting scandal their journalistic lies have created. They continue to insist on standing by their source (Private Beauchamp) and I imagine they will continue to stand by him even if honestly and publicly admits his embellishments and crockery. Of course the editors of the New Republic could prevail upon Beauchamp to recant a second time and claim he was forced by the military to deny his charges or to claim any statement by the military he recanted in the first place is bogus. But at this date it appears that under oath and under penalty of law Beauchamp was checkmated and had to come clean with military authorities that he simply made up some stories to feed to media scandalmongers and things simply got out of hand. Well, duuuuh!
135 Darthmeister // Aug 8, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Just saw this over at AmericanSpectator online:
Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp attended the University of Missouri-Columbia from 2002 to 2004, where he was the editor of a lefty campus magazine called Prospectus.
Beauchamp seems to have joined the Army for an unusual reason. His badly written blog, kept while he was stationed in Germany, contains a declaration that “i’ll return to america an author,” a reference to “wanting to be in [a war] just to write a book,” and a confession that, while he feels like he’s “a tool for global corporations,” he clings to the idea that “this army experience… will add a legitimacy to EVERYTHING i do afterwards, and totally bolster my opinions on defense, etc.” Beauchamp, then, seems to have decided to write an antiwar book, and then decided to enlist so that he could write from the perspective of a veteran. Strange.
Private Beauchamp was once a Private First Class; at some point, he was demoted. A milblogger at The Foxhole exchanged emails with the First Sergeant of Beauchamp’s company; while the First Sergeant’s reply has been taken down at his request, it mentioned that Beauchamp has other “issues.”
Figures. Typical leftist. Did I peg this guy?
136 gafisher // Aug 8, 2007 at 1:57 pm
The lefties are insisting that no-champ Beauchamp’s recant was a “forced confession” made under duress. Seems to me he would have stuck to his guns (pardon the expression) in the sure knowledge Obama-Nabal would pardon him, but the only thing lefties hate worse than lies is anything else.
137 Harry Daschle // Aug 9, 2007 at 12:00 am
Gonna need ALOT of money to pay for all the healthcare for the ILLEGAL alien offspring!
138 Harry Daschle // Aug 9, 2007 at 12:05 am
BTW, here in INDY, The local Red Cross received a grant from a smokeless/spitless tobacco company to buy a four wheeler to drive around the Indiana State Fair in, and keep after wards.
I guess you can buy integrety relatively cheap now adays?
Shame on the Red Cross!
139 conserve-a-tips // Aug 9, 2007 at 7:36 am
I don’t know Harry…the likes of Obama, Hillary, John Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, and especially Al Gore have been paying big bucks for integrity. Obviously, they all got ripped off because they ended up with only the appearance of integrity.
140 Ms RightWing, Ink // Aug 9, 2007 at 12:41 pm
oops, Scrapple has moved on
141 Darthmeister // Aug 10, 2007 at 7:20 am
Taliban says it will not kill Korean hostages until meetings
Another fine example of the religion of peace in action.
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