Last Call

And it wouldn't be a week without a ridiculous false equivalence from George F. Will.

“That’s modern liberalism: They delight in bossing people around,” Will complained to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “What Bloomberg is saying [is] the government helps with your health care, the government’s implicated in your health. Therefore, we own you. Therefore, the government can fine tune all the decisions you make pertinent to your health.”

“This is one of the reasons liberals are so enamored over the issue of climate change,” Will continued. “They say all our behaviors in some way effect the climate, therefore, the government — meaning, we liberals, the party of government — can fine tune all your behavior right down to the light bulbs you use.”

That's right, Bloomberg's proposed soda ban in NYC = Obamacare = climate change!  Liberals are stoopid and all three are the same!

Meanwhile, what hasn't changed is George Will is still ignoring the hundreds of state bills where Republicans tell women exactly what they can do with their uteri, allowing insurance companies as the last resort in death panels, and throwing away science in favor of running a theocracy.  Funnt how that works.

National Geographic Photo Winners

If you have a moment, you should check out the top pictures from National Geographic photography entries.  From heavy cream drops colliding to rain drops standing on petals, there is no doubt that this is nature at its finest.

This is my favorite.  It was closely tied with the flowers, but there was something so pure and powerful about this one that I had to give it my vote.

Video Goodness: Surprise Fail

They couldn't have done it any better in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Enjoy!

WTH? Mom Drives Off With Baby On Car Roof

We've heard of it happening, to the point that it has become an urban legend of its own.  A young mother, stoned and stupid, drives off with the car seat on the top of the car, while horrified witnesses try to flag her attention.  It's been around as long as car seats.

Now we know for sure it's happened.

A Phoenix, Ariz., woman put her 5-week-old baby on top of her car in his car seat and drove away, apparently forgetting he was there, not even noticing when the seat fell off the car and landed in an intersection, police said.

Neighbors discovered the baby on the roadway, still strapped to his safety seat, which was lying on its side. Luckily, the baby was unhurt.

The baby’s mother, 19-year-old Catalina Clouser, who allegedly had been smoking marijuana, was arrested and charged with aggravated driving under the influence and child abuse, police said.

Clauser, her boyfriend and their friends had been smoking marijuana earlier in the evening at a nearby park, but the boyfriend was arrested on suspicion of aggravated DUI when they went to a store — with the baby in the car — to get beer, according to police.
Upset that her boyfriend was arrested, police said, Clauser went to a friend’s home and smoked more marijuana.

Clauser left around midnight and apparently put the sleeping baby on the roof of the car and drove off, forgetting he was there, and continued driving after the baby fell off the car, Holmes said.

She came back looking for her child.  The child is currently with Child Protective Services.  

War On Drugs: Endgame

With Spice, K2 and bath salts becoming a more common problem, drug enforcement is struggling to keep up.  These drugs are able to stay ahead of the law, replacing banned ingredients with something new.  The data is coming in and it doesn't look good.

The Miami Zombie case has now broken mainstream news.  Police suspect the attacker was high on bath salts, and that is what made him eat another man's face.  It may have had something to do with the fact that he took multiple gunshots and didn't bat an eye.

Whether it was by accident or design, this is likely to be used to the advantage of pro-marijuana legislation.  It truly does make sense now to legalize a mostly harmless drug and use our diminished resources to track the product that is causing face-eating, mother-beheading, carjacking good times all around the country.

You can read one man's story of overdose here.  It falls into line with thousands of similar stories from all over.  This man was lucky, he didn't hurt himself or anyone else when he parted with reality.  Not everyone is so lucky.

Hell, this stuff makes crack look good by comparison.  I can't think of a more terrifying description than that.

Greek Fire, Part 58

What a difference a week makes when I said last Monday that the biggest risk of another bailout was Greece right now. It seems there's a late dark horse entry in the EU Bailout Race that might beat both Spain and Portugal to the line to join Ireland, Greece and Italy:  tiny Cyprus is reportedly very close to having to officially petition the EU for money before the end of the month.

Cyprus looks increasingly likely to have to ask for EU bailout money to help rescue its troubled banking sector, the island's Central Bank governor has said.

Panicos Demetriades said that Cyprus, which is part of the 17-country eurozone, is struggling to find €1.8 billion ($2.23 billion) to inject in the second-largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank, by a June 30 deadline.

"Clearly, the closer you get to the deadline, the less unlikely (asking for EU bailout money) becomes," Demetriades told the Financial Times in an interview.

The bank is the most exposed to Greek debt and suffered huge losses after writing down the value of its Greek government bond holdings.

The government last month underwrote a €1.8 billion equity issue to help the bank raise capital from private investors, meaning it will have to put up the cash itself — an amount equal to a tenth of the island's entire economy — if the bank can't find the money.

However, state coffers are running dry because Cyprus is unable to borrow from international markets after two of the world's top three credit ratings agencies downgraded the island's creditworthiness to junk status. Cyprus is relying on a Russian loan just to pay its bills this year.

And yes, the little island that could ran headlong into the unquenchable flames of the Greek Fire and has been burned badly.   With a much smaller economy and only a few banks, Cyprus is facing a rocket sled to the bottom here and doesn't have a whole lot of options considering how deep the the country is in Greek debt...and Russian loan payments.  The country is all but junked in the bond ratings and can't get anyone but Putin's boys to loan them the cash they need.  An EU bailout HAS to be better terms then to have Igor and Vlad knocking at your door with a torque wrench.

It's been lost in the news with Greece all but falling apart right now, but if Cyprus makes the call, you'd better believe everyone will be watching to see what kind of deal they get with Spain and Portugal next in line.

We'll see.

Fire Walker With Me

The final Public Policy Polling count ahead of tomorrow's recall election shows a slight Walker lead in a race that's tightening up in the final hours.

PPP's final poll on the Wisconsin recall finds Scott Walker ahead, but also a race that's tightening. Walker leads Tom Barrett 50-47. That's down from 50-45 on a PPP poll conducted three weeks ago and it's also down from a 52-45 lead that Walker posted in a Marquette Law poll released last week.

Barrett is actually winning independent voters by a 48-46 margin. The reason he continues to trail overall is that Republicans are more excited about voting in Tuesday's election than Democrats are. Our projected electorate voted for Barack Obama by only 7 points, even though he took the state by 14 in 2008. If the folks who turn out on Tuesday actually matched the 2008 electorate, Barrett would be ahead of Walker by a 50-49 margin. It's cliche but this is a race that really is going to completely come down to turnout.

Needless to say, if you'd like to help out with turning out the vote, you can help out with phone banking here.  Today's the day we need you to help.  It's crunch time, and you can make calls from your own home.  It's easy and simple.  This race is winnable, folks.

Fire Walker with me.

StupidiNews!

• A small jetliner in Nigeria crashed into a residential block in the capital of Lagos, killing 153 aboard and at least ten more on the ground.
• Murder suspect George Zimmerman will face a new bond hearing today after returning to jail with his bond revoked by a judge on Friday after lying about his finances.
• Protests over the life sentence of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak continued over the weekend as tens of thousands demonstrated against what they see as a laughably light sentence.
• AIG chief Robert Benmosche says that he sees European retirement ages rising as high as 80 in the wake of Europe's financial crisis.
• With the company suffering its first yearly loss since the introduction of the original NES, Nintendo unveiled its newest console, the WiiU at this year's E3.