Thursday, July 23, 2009

Vegetable Update Day

In the interest of alacrity I am combining both of my weekly updates into one this week. First we'll do our organic garden update.

This week we got the following items:

One zucchini, 1 head of Napa cabbage, one head of green cabbage, a few new potatoes, one broccoli crown, a bag of field greens, a bunch of cilantro (which I gave back to them as we don't care for cilantro in our little nest) and some helianthus.
I did say something about the quantity of stuff today and the person said that the farm is now seeing much more production because of the better weather we are experiencing, and that we can expect much more soon. We'll see.. Check out our report next week. If we eat all of that cabbage it'll be a loud one.


The Topsy-Turvy tomato planters are going like gangbusters. Both plants are hardy and growing like mad. The Roma plant (on the right) has set at least 40 tomatoes so far and the heirloom plant on the left is just now setting fruit. Only a couple of buds there but I suspect that will improve with time. I understand from Bob that Roma plants do produce many more tomatoes than other varieties. Take a look below.



Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Kvetch Updated

I have several complaints to place before you today:

1. It's time for these kooks that say that the President wasn't born in the United States. to STFU. The president has provided his birth certificate (a copy because the original is on file in the State of Hawaii), certified by the appropriate government official in that state, also certified by the Republican governor of that state, and we have seen photocopies of birth announcements from Hawaiian newspapers of the time. Also WorldNetDaily, decidedly the most crackpot of the right wing (ahem) news (read propaganda) outlets have investigated and found nothing to lead them to believe that he wasn't born in the US.

These stupid, xenophobic assh@les simply cannot stand that there is a black president and that they and their corrupt so-called conservative, right-wing, discriminatory (see Jefferson Sessions, R-AL profile in the New Republic) politicians are out of power and that the majority of Americans have had enough of their bullshit. If you'd like to see just how batshit crazy these "birthers" as they have come to be called, have a look what happened at a town hall-style meeting held by Delaware Representative Mike Castle.




2. Republicans in the House and Senate are holding up major legislative initiatives such as health care reform and Defense spending because, in the case of health care they are too stupid and in the pocket of the pharmaceutical and health care mega-corporations to come up with any ideas of their own so their idea is to just delay it until it dies as referenced in an internal RNC memo. And in the case of the Defense bill, the inclusion of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes act that has been attached to the spending bill. Now I am not a fan of attaching unrelated ammendments to any bill but the anti-gay Republicans in Washington would rather stick hot needles into their eyes than to let the Hate Crimes legislation pass. The Dems figured that the Repugs would have to vote for the Defense bill or they could be subject to the same rhetoric that they through around when the Dems wanted to get some accounting of the profligate spending under Bush, i.e. not supporting the troops, etc.

Update: One of the Dems holding up the health care legislation is Senator Max Baucus, D-Montana, who received over $1.5 million form the health care industry in 2007 and 2008 and hosted lobbyists on golf and fishing fundraising weekends to Montana. According to today's Washington Post:
"To avoid any appearance of favoritism, his aides say, Baucus quietly began refusing contributions from health-care political action committees after June 1. But the policy does not apply to lobbyists or corporate executives, who continued to make donations, disclosure records show. "


3. Why is that racist pig Pat Buchannan still allowed on TV? Rachel drilled him a new assh@le last night on her show after Pat said on a previous show that America was built by white folks and that Affirmative Action is discriminatory against white folks. He said that it was 100% white folks who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, fought in the Revolution, Civil and 2nd World Wars, and that therefore whites should not be discriminated against by Affirmative Action. Now I find Buchanan distasteful for many reasons least of all because of the fact that he was Nixon toady and a dyed in the wool Conservative, but this shit takes the cake. Watch Rachel at work destroying Buchanan's lies.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Holy Crimes

Thanks to JoeMyGod for this:

Over the last seven days...

Florida: Pastor Samuel Darin Taylor charged with defrauding his church of over $250K.
New York: Father James J. McDevitt charged with the sexual abuse of six boys.
Russia: U.S.-based Pastor Hio Sun Pak jailed for 18 months for bribing immigration officials to overlook illegal Chinese labor used to build his church.
Florida: Pastor Donnell Dewitt Williams charged with money laundering after probe reveals $400K in loans processed in the names of his congregants.
Tennessee: Pastor John Franklin McCarroll charged with indecent exposure at public park. Bonus: Glory hole involved. Extra bonus: McCarroll frequently preached against gay marriage. Extra hilarious bonus: The motto of McCarroll's ministry is "Come as you are, but don't leave like you came."
Texas: Living Praise Christian Academy Prinicpal Darrell Dean Dunn charged with child molestation.
South Carolina: Pastor Leon Dizzley convicted of money laundering for selling nine luxury cars to drug dealers.
New York: Wife of Pastor Mike Bowers charged with 14 felony counts of defrauding a United Nations fund intended to help women in Iraq.
Maryland: Father Aaron Joseph Cote found guilty of child molestation.
Pennsylvania: Christian songwriter and schoolteacher Heather Lynn Zoe charged with having sex with minors. Bonus: Songs on Zoe's debut CD include Face Down and Over And Over.
New York: "Prosperity gospel" motivational speaker Jeffrey Locker found strangled in Harlem. Police suspect the accomplices of the prostitute that Locker had been patronizing.

This week's winners:
India: Father Thomas Kottoor, Father Jose Puthrukayil, and Sister Mary Sephy charged with murdering Sister Mary Abhaya after she walked in on them having a threeway. Police say the Holy Trinity beat Sister Abhaya with an axe handle and threw her into a convent well where she drowned.
Gay marriage made them do it.

The case for overturning Proposition 8 in California

"There are those who sincerely believe that homosexuality is inconsistent with their religion -- and the First Amendment guarantees their freedom of belief. However, the same First Amendment, as well as the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, preclude the enshrinement of their religious-based disapproval in state law.

"Gays and lesbians are our brothers and sisters, our teachers and doctors, our friends and neighbors, our parents and children. It is time, indeed past time, that we accord them the basic human right to marry the person they love. It is time, indeed past time, that our Constitution fulfill its promise of equal protection and due process for all citizens by now eliminating the last remnant of centuries of misguided state discrimination against gays and lesbians.

"The argument in favor of Proposition 8 ultimately comes down to no more than the tautological assertion that a marriage is between a man and a woman. But a slogan is not a substitute for constitutional analysis. Law is about justice, not bumper stickers."


- David Boies, writing in the Wall Street Journal. Boies and Ted Olsen have filed a federal marriage equality lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8.