Oh that nuclear program

Exclusive: US removes uranium from Iraq


I patiently await a groveling apology from the entire dextrosphere as well as the MSM and every Democrat except Joe Lieberman.

We now resume with our regularly scheduled silence.

Scenes from a marriage

Ever have a zinger that is simply too good to pass up? One you know will get you in trouble but you're powerless to resist lest the moment pass and never come up again? I had one of those the other night.

Eldest has been having trouble getting to sleep at night. If we leave him in his room he won't stay there. Sometimes he'll go in and wake the baby up. Sometimes he sleeps in my bed and sometimes he just wanders around his room getting into all kinds of trouble. I've found that if I lay down w/ him for about 10 minutes Mr. Sandman comes sooner rather than later. Well, I lay down w/ him the other night and I was so tired I was out. My wife left me as she figured I was tired and would wake up on my own. I did but about an hour later. I dragged myself up and into our bed and was out for the night. My wife decided to torment me.

Mrs. Duffy: You missed some hot lovin' last night
Duffy's Brain: Dude, you must return fire. You can't let a hanging curve ball just sit there!
Duffy's Penis: NOOooooooooooo! Do that and she'll freeze me out! C'mon I'm dying down here.
Duffy's Brain: Shut up you! I run this outfit. We're doing this! Full Steam Ahead!
Duffy's Penis: What? Overruled? How the hell did that happen? This is a coup! Attica! Attica! Attica!
Duffy: Really? Who was here?
Mrs. Duffy: *laughs* You're funny.

I'm very lucky she took it with the spirit it was intended.

Advice column

"I have a question that I hope you can shed some light on. I am female, married for 10 years and am puzzled by my spouse's behavior.

It seems that he is always trying to one-up me. It is disturbing to me that he takes my ideas and opinions and claims them as his own. If someone asks me a question when we are in a group discussion he will jump in and answer it in a way that I have expressed earlier as my own opinion, only he will make it look like his. It is extreme to the point of whatever I get involved in or volunteer for he gets deeply involved in and tries to make people think he is the one with the idea or passion, even to the point of his asking about getting employed where I am employed. He will go to the people whom I am intimately involved with and trash my name. It even happens with church relationships. At first I thought maybe I was overreacting, but several times I have changed people groups and tried to have my own interests and volunteer opportunities but this has happened every single time I get involved in anything, even to the point of his considering asking for a job where I work. I would quit if he got hired there...So what I am wondering is, have you ever come across this before, do you have any suggestions and can you shed any light on the psychology of this behavior?"

Duffy's Answer: Dear Mrs. Clinton....

How Hillary can win

Corporate greed

These guys are always raising hue and cry about corporate greed. Somehow they missed this one:

Unable to say exactly how it happened, DFL Senate candidate Al Franken acknowledged Friday that his personal corporation wrongly failed to provide employees with workers' compensation insurance in New York for nearly three years.

According to campaign manager Andy Barr, the accountant for Alan Franken Inc. (AFI) who investigated the case for five weeks was unable to figure out "the exact circumstances that led to the oversight."

However, the accountant "has determined that, in fact, AFI was not in full compliance during the period in question," Barr said in a statement. "Therefore, no further attempt will be made to contest the resolved judgment."

New York state officials said Friday that since Franken had paid the $25,000 court judgment entered against AFI last year, they also considered the matter closed.

Not so state Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey, who said Friday that several questions remain unanswered.

"To this day, Al Franken has remained silent" on a number of issues, Carey said at a state Capitol news conference, including how many people he employed and why he didn't respond sooner to the state of New York.

Labor comes to his defense

Labor unions backing Franken in his bid to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman came to his defense, saying the DFLer had properly addressed the matter.

"He made a mistake, got it investigated, found out he was wrong and did the remedy. What more can you do?" said Ray Waldron, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, which endorsed Franken last week.

Hilarious

Your guide to the Right Wing Blogosphere.

Read the whole thing.

I don't get it

Things I don't get that everyone else seems to like:

1. Arrested Development (weird people and not a single character I can relate to)
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (Larry David is annoyed by picayune things. Lather, rinse, repeat.)
3. American Idol (Marx was wrong. TV is the opiate of the masses and this is the Greater East India Company of the whole shebang)
Survivor (when they give them weapons and it's winner take all, call me)
Season's/Grottos (abominations both)
Light Beer (you need to seriously reexamine your life if you're male and drinking this crap)
The Rolling Stones (They should have stopped them dead in their tracks after Undercover was released)
Rita's Water Ice (C'mon people, it's just frozen sugar water)
The latest/greatest cellphone (I use mine for work and the occasional personal call)
Ringtones (enough. Put is on vibrate already)
Text messaging (it has it's place but sending me Anna Karenina on my cellphone is not going to endear me to you)
Black license plates (have you nothing better to spend your money on)
Golf (If I want to spend 3 hours outside trying to enjoy myself a maddening game isn't what I'm going to do)


more as I can think of them

From the "Heads I win, tails you lose" file

John McCain's reckless machoism.

Is "machoism" even a word? (that's beside the point. Get on with it. -ed)

Anyway...Dana is annoyed with John McCain for not having a protective detail. He's putting himself at risk and blah blah blah. If, however, there was a report touting McCain for availing himself of extra protection the blog post would have read "McCain lives in fear, wastes taxpayer money with unnecessary security" or some such.

Partisanship is boring. Less please.

Presented Without Comment

Upon arrival in Houston International Airport, I was swiftly carted off to an interrogation section, where “Sayid” held a lovely conversation with me something like this:

“So, Mr. Ferriss, what were you doing in Argentina?”
“Just vacation.”
“A two-month vacation?”
“Yessir.”
“And what do you do?”
“I’m a writer.”
“What have you written?”
“Well, I actually just finished my first book, and it’s coming out in April.”
“So, you haven’t made any income from it?”
“Not really.”
“So, what do you do for income, then?”
“I also own a pharmaceutical design firm and a sports nutrition company, but they’re virtual, so I don’t need to be in the US for them.”
[loooooooong pause]
“Mr. Ferriss, you just gave me two completely different answers. I’m going to ask you again: what do you do?”

Putting an end to polls

*Ring Ring*

I look at the phone and see an 888 number. A familiar number as they have been calling daily for my opinion on various things political.

I made the mistake of answering their questions the first time. It was a lark and I gave some serious and some absurd responses. Stupid me. That put me on the "This Idiot Will Actually Answer Our Questions" list.

*Ring Ring*

Mrs. Duffy: Don't answer that!
Duffy: I'm putting and end to this.
(answers phone)

Duffy: Hello?
Annoying Pollster: Hello sir, I'm doing a survey of voters in Delaware...
Duffy (interrupting): Oh, I can't vote, I'm a convicted felon
AP: Oh....uh...is there anyone else there who's a registered voter?
Duffy: Nope. We're all felons here. (SamnEric blast through the room at a full run and at full volume) And some pre-felons. This is a halfway house for predicate felon single fathers and their and their pre-felon children.

(at this Mrs. Duffy's eyes are as large as dinner plates and she's positively slackjawed)

AP: Oh...uh...OK. Wow. Have a nice night.
Duffy: kthxbye

Mrs. Duffy: I cannot believe you just did that.
Duffy: Why?
Mrs Duffy: They're going to think we're felons!
Duffy: Let's hope so.
Mrs. Duffy: That's not funny
Duffy: Sure it is. Trust me.
Mrs. Duffy: Why not just let it ring?
Duffy: Because then they keep calling and I wouldn't get to torment them.
Mrs. Duffy: I give up.
Duffy: The wise choice. Discretion is the better part of valor

LOLZ by Duffy

moar funny pictures



moar funny pictures



moar funny pictures

Daily Roundup

When I was in High School I went to some really bacchanalian parties. Rich kids with parents out of town and a credit card at their disposal. I'll let you imagine the rest. I now know that we were a bunch of pikers compared to this crowd.

78 Things to hate about gaming. I think they got about 70 right.

Funniest trial transcript ever.

The only way I'll ever go to the movie theater again is if the open one of these in Delaware.

Why do I love Larry Niven?

Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants.

“The problem [of hospitals going broke] is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren’t going to pay for anything anyway,” Niven said.

“Do you know how politically incorrect you are?” Pournelle asked.

“I know it may not be possible to use this solution, but it does work,” Niven replied.

“I cannot guarantee I’m going to be a great help to Homeland Security,” Niven said earlier.

He's got brass ones I'll give him that.

Some say the way to make health insurance affordable is to make it compulsory. Is that Constituional? Here's a strong argument that it is not. NB: this has never seemed to slow down the Federal Government before but that's another matter...

Some are calling Hillary's current campaign strategy the Tonya Harding Option. That's a one liner that could be an editorial cartoon.

That this is happening in a place called Carthage is entirely too ironic.

Just a thought...

So, you all remember my whining about the dishwasher, right? Well after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the new one has finally been installed. Yesterday. The bill arrived...a week ago. The salesman had assured me that it would take three days to deliver, a week at the most. Rube that I am, I believed him. It took 9 days. Sorry, nine business days. Weekends apparently don't count. I called and suggested they put the billing people in charge of product delivery and vice versa. He didn't see the humor.

Lastly, The VeryBigDishwasher company and I have come to an agreement on the previous item that gave up the ghost. Part of the agreement was that I not blog about the terms of, or discussion with, said company. The matter was resolved to our mutual satisfaction. I can say that a few key words known well to CSR's were effective. Some of those words may be:

blog
sausage
Digg
automobile
Technorati
dog
EECB
laundry
Consumerist
energy
link
sidewalk
email
Steve Jobs
Delaware

Daily Roundup

Dick Morris declares; "Wright's Rantings Won't Sink Obama" Which can mean only one thing: Wright's Rantings will sink Obama.

Best quote on DC vs. Heller:

"Although I enjoy making sport of the Justices as much as anyone, the question of whether the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right, including a right to self defense, is not that difficult, at least to me. The framers of the 14th amendment assumed that it was one of the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. And if a right is a privilege or immunity of citizens of the United States, it hard for me to conclude that it does not bind the United States as well as the individual states.

Now, as a unreconstructed liberal (I'll show you pictures of my bleeding heart), I don't particularly like this result. But it follows sufficiently strongly from other commitments I have about the Constitution that I must accept it.

Global Warmening (TM) is real. Except for the part about the Earth heating up apparently.

These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis says. So the buildup of heat on Earth may be on a brief hiatus. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."

more here

Don't confuse exposure to and experience with.

My father was a civil engineer. I was exposed to civil engineering for many years. I visited job sites, worked at some of them, saw plans and Gant charts from the time I was a boy. Does that mean I have any experience as an engineer? Flatly, no.

Quote of the Day

I guess you do form a special bond to the person you lose your virginity to. Which is why I have my own private shrine to honor Mary the Escaped Mental Patient. I'll never forget that fateful day (last week) when she ran into my yard wearing nothing but a trash bag and construction worker's helmet. *sigh* It was pure magic. Until she left me for the neighbor's dog. I know where you sleep, Mr. Barksington!

Quote of the Day

"...modified Brits with levels of enthusiasm that would surely qualify them for honorary U.S. citizenship."

Tales from the future

It is with no great modesty that I boldly predict this movie will be an abject failure. The creators and stars probably think this movie is somehow patriotic or will "resignate" with Middle America because it shows the brave, noble soldier against The Evil System Chimpy McHaliburton Regime.

Sorry folks, ain't gonna happen. Unless or until they make a movie that shows the troops in an heroic light like fighting and winning a major battle, Middle America will be staying home.

Picture post

What is beer for?



That's a pretty serious penalty.



SP3 dreams...




Murtha certainly isn't alone but he is proving the old adage of "when buying and selling is controlled by the legislator, the first thing bought and sold are legislators."





I'll get you my pretty....




Photographic proof of water on Mars

Daily Roundup

Over in Turkey, they're rethinking Islam. Key quote: "This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation,". This is something for which people on the right side of the argument here have been clamoring. While I have little hope this will gain any traction outside Turkey I would love to be proven wrong.

Proving that you cannot be on any side of the argument w/o having someone on your side that you really, really don't want. Here's a coveted endorsement. When asked for a response Mr. Obama was said, "Aw crap."

"As chips are progressively able to perform more calculations for less money, and in a package that's continually shrinking, Kurzweil told the GDC audience to look for the price-to-performance ratio of computers to improve a billionfold in the next 25 years. The devices will eventually become small enough, Kurzweil said, that scientists can create fake blood cell-size computers to perform the same functions of natural blood cells."

h/t: Insty

Should this prove correct we'd really be heading into SciFi territory. I read quite a bit of science fiction when I was a kid (nerd alert!) and whenever I read stories that featured computers of impossibly small sizes it took me out of the story. It was like the author was cheating because he needed to advance a plot point somehow and could only imagine doing so with trickery. Perhaps they were more visionary than I am (heaven forfend!).



How do you build a house out of dirt? I think these types of breakthroughs are the type of things the Eco minded crowd should be pushing and pushing hard. This is an excellent free market solution to materials strain that we're seeing nationwide. For any of you who've bought (or tried to buy) drywall or plywood you know what I mean. Rather than harraunging me for driving whatever vehicle I do, how about coming up with more real world solutions like this one?

I've argued previously that the smoking ban in pubs, restaurants and the like is an infringement on property rights that is unAmerican and unconsitutional. I don't smoke, never have and don't like going to smoky bars or restaurants. However, I believe it's the owner's right to decide whether or not to allow it. One pub owner found a loophole in the law. The solution? He has a theater night where every patron is part of an impromptu play. Kudos for creativity. I hope Delware bar owners follow suit.


And you thought your commute was bad.

I missed this one. Salterelli is retiring. Should be interesting to see who fills his shoes. There was something comforting for this native New Jerseyan to have one of our own at the spiritual helm here.

Mexico bemoans our desire to tamp down the influx of illegal immigrants. They even send lawmakers to tell us how wrongheaded and harmful such policies would be to Mexico. I have a deal. We'll mirror Mexican immigration law here. What would that look like? Read here. Open border enthusiasts can explain to me why this is not hypocritical in the comments.

Prediction from 2004:
"An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions."

Yeah I remember the Global Flood of 2005 when we lost Manhattan, New Orleans was subsumed for good and Bill Hicks' Arizona Bay was finally a reality

Can anyone explain how the Clinton's net worth went from <$2MM to >34MM in three frickin' years? Seriously. I know the man gets paid for speeches but that would mean he's making north of a million dollars a speech and has given more than thirty of them in three years. There's something very unseemly about that. How much of that money was given to him as a straw gift to Hillary who might well be the next President of the United States? We've been down this road before with the Lippo Group and the Riady Family. I have zero doubt that many of these contributions would be remembered should She Who Is Called By Destiny make it to the Oval Orafice.

Boston Police are devising new and interesting ways to circumvent the 4th Amendment. Thuggery is much easier than say, actual police work. Am I the only one who sees this as a club that would be used to beat inner city minorities? The poster also notes that even if this effort succeeds at getting some guns you're going to have more kids expelled and possibly evicted from public housing. How, exactly, is that going to help at all?

Investor's Business Daily takes aim at Clinton and Obama for threatening to pull out of a permanent US treaty. Noting that breaking agreements is hardly the way to enhance our standing in the world. I rather liked Mr. Obama's efforts to somehow tie manufacturing jobs going to China with NAFTA. That's the lefty version of complaining about linking 9/11 and Iraq.

How can Democrats unite the country when they're so divisive they have their voters stabbing their own family members?

Ann Althouse is unpacking the debate as only a lawyer can. Note her laser-like focus on rhetorical tricks to equivocate.

In England, fighting the encroachment of Sharia is now an "attack on multiculturalism". If so, hoist the St. George's Cross and have at it.

Democrat, Republican, who cares? As long as I get in office. What principles?

Huzzah!

You paid attention during 100% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

Lileks has a reminder about the National Recovery Administration:

The same page relates the story of the tailor who was arrested for charging 35 cents to press a suit; the NRA rules specified the price at 40 cents. So he was arrested. Consider that the next time someone complains that liberty and civil rights have been eliminated in the last 7 years.


Dumb criminal of the day.. Oddly there's no mention of alcohol in the story.

I hope he rots in jail. Hearing the pain and torment in her voice coupled with the defiant look and jutting chin of the piece of human garbage sitting there is almost too much to bear.

In the Presence of Mine Enemies

(With apologies to Mr. Ayers for the hyperbole)

An event filled weekend. First of all, I did something that I rarely do. I went out for the evening. I'm something of a homebody largely because my job and my kids pretty much run me into the ground by the time the weekend rolls around. I do go out once in a while with friends or dinner with the wife but those are rather infrequent. On Saturday I was invited to a beer tasting. That's enough to get me motivated and out of the house for once. The twist here is that the host of said beer tasting was hosted by Don Viti (Yes I know I'm breaking my own rule but more on that in a moment).

My trip to the Fever Swamp of Delaware Liberalism DV's house started with this guy bringing my trip to a halt. I saw the car in the woods and knew that whoever was in that car was in pretty bad shape. Good thing I don't believe in omens.

I follow ever faithful Google Maps to find the house and turn into the driveway. I park and walk, with some trepidation, to the door. I knock but the number of voices inside tell me nobody is going to hear me. I open the door and go in. I'm greeted by a jovial fellow who introduces himself as DonViti. I pause and can't help but smile and introduce myself. I daresay he was a little surprised. I deposited my contribution next to the others. DV and I chatted briefly and then he was off to attend to his other guests as well as other logistical matters. I chatted with some of the regular attendees and frankly I don't remember anybody's name. I did meet Karmic Jay as well as Dorian Gray. I also met Mrs. Viti and Mrs. Gray. Both were preternaturally nice (and frankly way too good looking for their respective husbands.) The crowd was striking in its diversity. I wouldn't have been surprised to see an eskimo with a harpoon and parka. Hipsters abounded and one of them had to be ironic and brought PBR. Yes, that PBR to a beer tasting. I dispair. Naturally, the rep from Victory didn't come so they press-ganged a regular wine enthusiast into speaking. A nice enough guy but he was clearly not a beer guy. He started off with by telling the attendees that the first beer was a lager (so far, so good) which was top fermented. Sorry, do not pass Go and do not collect $200. I figured he could use some help after that. He broke for a minute to let people taste the beer and when he was reading the sheet on the next beer I mentioned it was an IPA and said he might want to mention the origin of the style. He was very grateful for the help and asked what else he should say. I gave him a few points and he bravely went back out to talk about the next beer.

I know I probably sound like some pain in the ass know it all which is frankly not far off the mark especially where beer is concerned. I'm something of a beer evangelist. I frequently have to restrain myself from giving mini-beer education classes to people I meet. One woman standing behind me said "I don't like beer." An innocuous statement but something that I take as something close to a personal affront. I've met people who say that and I've converted all of them. I guarantee I can find a beer to suit your taste no matter what. I was going to say something but managed to somehow restrain myself as I was also busy with my follically impaired speaker who was introducing the next beer. A Belgian style ale. I gave him the briefs; cane sugar, triple fermentation, higher malt content and high alcohol. Off he went. This continued on until we were done with each of the beers and then things broke up and people began seizing the remaining beer like fratboys looting a liquor store. I was perhaps overoptimistically expecting a more technical affair where I'd be able to ask about hop choice and yeast strains but I suppose it's better it didn't go that was as the crowd seemed more intent of entertainment than education. That's not a knock or a complaint. It was more relaxed this way and given the size of the group I'm not sure it was realistic to expect otherwise. My only regret is that I have yet to meet other DE beer snobs like me where I can get that sort of thing. The search continues.

I managed to speak to DV and Dorian later (DV introduced me). Where DV is demonstrative and animated, Dorian is more sedate and almost pensive. Somehow we (Dorian and I) started talking about politics (go figure) and about two sentences in I was branded as a Michigan Militia member. No, he wasn't serious. He has a hyperbolic sense of humor which while frustrating was pretty funny. We found some sort of common ground in our 5 minute back and forth and left it at that. We mostly agreed to disagree without being disagreeable. The evening wound down and I thanked DV and Mrs. Viti for their hospitality and headed out. It was more fun than I expected especially considering I literally didn't know anyone, not even the host.

Sunday came early and I was going about our routine of refereeing toy disputes, laundry and the like. Around 10 AM I was in the kitchen and smelled....smoke! I frantically wheel about looking for the source. The dishwasher. OK, no problem. It smelled like burning plastic which means something fell onto the heating element. I open the door and steam comes out. No plastic on the element. In fact....it's not really that hot. I close the door and see smoke coming from the vent in the door. Not steam, smoke. Yech. Now the whole kitchen smells like burning plastic. Open the windows and turn on the fan over the stove. Somehow the dishwasher has burned itself out. Fantastic. The damn thing is only 6 years old. Check the manual....5 year warranty. #@$$#@$#@^$#$#^#%&!!!!

Off to the grocery store for paper plates and cups and other essentials. Several hundred dollars later I leave the store with a motorcade of carts that requires a DEPD traffic detail just to get me through the parking lot. OK, maybe not that much stuff but it was a lot.

Back home, unpack groceries and then I have to replace the sliding glass door with my Father in Law. He's a contractor so I basically do what I'm told. The door is, of course, the wrong door. It's left address when it needs to be right. That means, take the door out of the frame, turn is upside down and re-insert. Once that's done we realize the wheels are in backwards so it's door out, wheels off, turn them around, back on and door back in.

Once that's done we now need a new header b/c the frame on the new door is shorter than the old one. The nail fin is different. Lady Luck smiles on me as I have some extra lumber to fit. Once that's done it Tyvek, siding and now the J channel is short. Screw it. I'm not going to Home Depot for a damn J Channel on a Sunday. I break down the frame and carry it to the curb. The old door remains as a warning to the new one what will happen if he doesn't perform as required.