Loss of Navy SEALS Hits Home

The loss of 30 Americans in Afghanistan today in the Wardak province hits us all hard.  Two Shreveport families are hit especially hard.  Via The Shreveport Times:

Chief Petty Officer Robert James Reeves and Lt. Commander Jonas Kelsall were both killed today when a U.S. Chinook helicopter crashed in Wardak province...Reeves and Kelsall were both graduates of Caddo Magnet High School where they played soccer together, according to John Kelsall, Jonas Kelsall’s father. Both would join the military after graduation, though Reeves spent a year at LSU first, his father Jim Reeves, said.

Reeves became a SEAL in 1999, his father said, and served on SEAL Team 6. He was deployed many times in his career and earned four bronze stars among other achievments [sic], his father said.

Kelsall was one of the first members of SEAL Team 7, his father said, and received most of his training in San Diego. He attended the University of Texas right out of Basic Underwater Demolition training where he met his wife Victoria Jennings, John Kelsall said. They were married for three years.

Prayers to the families of all those lost today.

Added:  The AP story.

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: The End of Summer Edition

So ends the last week of summer.  I'm back to work tomorrow - Open House on Sunday at 2:00.  I'm not complaining; the way the economy is tanking, I'm glad I have a job.  Of course, everything is going up except my paycheck and I bring home less than I used to but you find ways to cut back. 

It's been a good summer.  Steve and I have taken several little day trips, I've spent lots of time in Minden with my friend Milly Rose, we acquired some nifty antiques for the house, I've learned a lot about my new glass collecting hobby and have enjoying finding pieces that interest me.  My mom has stayed healthy and out of the hospital.  Steve retired.  I've completed a couple of restoration projects on some antiques.  I've read some books.  All in all, I can't complain!

Let's round up some links:

Nothing like a little colonoscopy prep to get things going.  Camp of the Saints was the lucky man.

Legal Insurrection has a post which reminds me (as if I forgot) how noxious Obama is to me.  What a hypocrite he is. 

American Power has coverage of the NATO helicopter tragedy in Afghanistan today.

Pundette rounds up some links on the downgrade that came down last night, as does Doug Ross.  Wyblog asserts that the destruction of America was Obama's plan all along.  At Pirate's Cove, it seems that Matt Yglesias has declared the entire downgrade to be Boehner's fault. Ed Driscoll has a must-read post on the whole thing.

Bread Upon the Waters also has some thoughts on the downgrade.

Grandpa John made me laugh!

Troglopundit is on Favre Watch.  (Speaking of football, I went to a garage sale this morning and the guy was selling two spectacular framed and matted panoramic pictures of Tiger Stadium on a football Saturday night.  They were WAY out of my price range but oh they were pretty!)

Paco has a splendid new opus for your reading pleasure!

Reaganite Republican reports on Michelle Bachmann's call for Timmy "Turbo Tax" Geithner's resignation.

Phineas at Sister Toldjah looks for the silver lining in the downgrade.

Saberpoint introduces you to a new blog in his blogroll.

Political Junkie Mom posts on military retirement and downsizing.

The Other McCain is doing some great reporting from Steve's home state of Iowa.

Pecan Corner reports on Rick Perry's call for prayer.

That's it for now.  Back to bleaching linens and figuring out what to wear to work this week.  What can in fit in to now that I've eaten my way through summer?  Gasp.

Downgraded

The election map in 2010...

 

...is nothing to what it will look like next year.  By 2012 people will be feeling the pain of the downgrade.  Want to build a new house?  Forget it.  Want to sell your house?  Nope!

Quoting Professor Jacobson:

Democrats own the downgrade.  They fought Republicans and Tea Party supporters every step of they way, and forced a deal which was insufficient.  They played class warfare and race politics against arguments that we needed to drastically change our spending habits.

Bride of Rove predicted this a long time ago:

It always takes people by surprise – like earthquakes. A slow multitude of small movements build pressure and people expect that to just continue with, perhaps, some variable accleration easily managed with minor adjustments. Nature doesn’t work that way and financial matters seldom work that way for long. Once a ball starts rolling, once pressure reaches the breaking point, there’s nothing you can do but enjoy the ride and see where it takes you. Be careful what you wish for – especially if it’s the demise of the US dollar. I think, more than anything else, this will be the final bell that wakes Americans up in time to watch prosperity and – with it – freedom flowing off our shores and into the Pacific.

I guess Obama will give the obligatory speech soon; he seldom misses a chance to get behind the microphone these days.  Unless he's too busy packing for Martha's Vineyard.

Added:   Mark Steyn:

We don’t have till 2021. As I say in my column tomorrow, we have till mid-decade to turn this thing around, or it’s over.

U.S. Credit Rating Electric Sliding Away Across the Rose Garden

I've immersed myself in antiquing activities today in an attempt to avoid the glaring headlines on Memeorandum:

That, and yesterday's stock market meltdown.  And today's downgrade of the United States credit rating

Pundette did a great job this morning covering the birthday bash so please be sure to read her post.  Favorite quote?  This one:

"That's when everyone's shoes came off, and things kicked into high gear with barefoot jammin.' Among other dances, guests did the Electric Slide, which impressed Chris Rock so much he tweeted about it..."

The Electric Slide -- isn't that the dance Wall Street did yesterday?

Oh, painful!


You know, all I want to add to the debate is to give Obama's handlers a little (a little) credit for realizing how bad the godforsaken run-over-dog-crazy optics a photo of Obama doing the Electric Slide barefoot in the Rose Garden while the stock market crashes and the credit rating goes down would be.


Are you kidding me?!


The press is bad enough.  The visuals would be devastating.


Of course, the Obama media minions are all ablast calling the Fox Nation headline "race baiting!"  Gasp!  They used the word Hip Hop!  Racists!  They used a photo of Obama with his black guests!  Racists!  Horrors!

Wonkette:

Here is your dumb racist Fox Nation headline screengrab accusing Obama of some kind of secret anti-employment Black Panther birthday celebration, because “hip-hop” is the acceptable derogatory term for “black people things” if you are an old white racist who reads Fox Nation. 

Little Green Footballs:

At Fox Nation, this kind of ugly right wing race-baiting is daily fare.

The Raw Story:

U.S. job growth accelerated more than expected in July, but the top story at Fox News' Fox Nation blog Friday seemed to imply that the economy would have created even more jobs if President Barack Obama didn't have so many black friends.

Nobody begrudges Obama a birthday party.  Grow up, people.  All anybody can hope to expect is that he exercise a little taste.  Apparently that's too much to expect.

Is THIS tasteful, OR tactful:

Give me a ****** break!  I'm so over it.  Why do these people, the media, always want to make this about race?  I don't care if Obama turns 50.  I don't even care if he throws a party at The White House; he wouldn't be the only one.

Why does he have to be so ostentatious about it?  Why, on a day when the stock market plummets and in a time when unemployment hovers at 9.1% (or  9.2%) and people are dependent on welfare, food stamps, two years of unemployment checks, when Americans are in three wars; when our credit rating is downgraded for the first time in history and everyday Americans are scared to death their maxed out credit cards and mortgages are going under water, why does this president feel that it's in good taste to do the Electric Slide across the Rose Garden?

Let me remind you one.more.time. what George W. Bush said about why he quit playing golf:

President Bush said yesterday that he gave up golfing in 2003 "in solidarity" with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq, concluding that it was "just not worth it anymore" to play the sport in a time of war.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. "I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal." 

Optics matter.  Elections have consequences.

One more time, Mr. Obama:  people are hurting and it's going to get worse.  Put up the party hats.  Put away your golf clubs.  Cancel the Martha's Vineyard vacations and the Hawaiian trips.  Rethink this liberal path of destruction and get the hell out of the way of good government.

Maybe Rick Perry is onto something.

God help us until 2012.

Friday's Found Treasures

This installment will have to be called "Saturday's Found Treasures" through May because this is my last Friday off before school starts.  I'll be relegated to Saturday leftovers at estate sales for a while!

As always, if you click on the pictures they are clear and you can zoom.

Only two estate sales on the map today.  One was in the Southern Trace subdivision and I just didn't want to drive all the way out there.  It's about a thirty minute drive from where I am.  So I ignored it.  I went to another, smaller on in Highland which is very near me.

Highland is an older neighborhood and I always find the coolest things in Highland.  That's where I found the antique medicine cabinet and the antique mirror.  Today I found linens and a Fenton cruet.

The cruet is really cute; it's about 5-1/2 or 6 inches tall in a white opalescent hobnail design.  It's not all that old and is fairly easy to find, I think, but I like it.  I'm guessing (without being industrious enough to look it up right now) that it dates to the 50s or 60s.  But, I liked it's little size and so home it came.

I got really excited about linens today.  Like I need any more.  My grandmother and great grandmother both did needlework and my great grandmother left behind stacks of pillowcases with crochet edging, placemats, runners, etc.  I love them all.  I like trying to imagine the time when ladies had time to sit around with their sewing basket in the hot, pre-a/c afternoons and evenings, and do needlework.  A lost art.

First is this adorable little handkerchief with darling handwork in the corners:

 

Look at the tiny needlework in three of the corners:

And one corner has these blue flowers:

And check the delicate edging on this corner:

It's so thin you can see through it.  I've washed it, ironed it and it's in my china cabinet now decorating a shelf.

My favorite find of the day is these two German pillow cases:

The measure about 17 x 14 inches.

The blue one translates to say something about when the cornflowers blossom:

And is adorned, of course, with cornflowers:

 

The red one depicts a charming courting scene and I can't figure out what its translation is.  I'm going to put Steve to work on that.

Look how cute the girl leaning out the window is:

Love the hearts on the shutters!  And her fella, all decked out in his lederhosen and cap:

Love them!  There were two others I'm thinking about dashing back over there to get, but these were my favorite.

I also picked up a really pretty linen runner with gorgeous hand crocheted edging on each end.  It was badly stained with what looked like rust, or brown stains so I'm trying to save it.  It's soaking in my super secret stain solution right now and if all goes well I can show it later.  Worst case scenario I can remove the crochet work and put it on something else.  It wasn't stained.

Steve and I are going to try to investigate a new antique shop this afternoon; I can't ever catch it when it's open so we're going to give it another shot.

If anybody out there knows German, I'd appreciate a translation on the pillowcase!  The online translators I've tried don't quite get me there.

Graphic Graphs

The Dow Jones index has erased its gains for the year:

But hey, not everything is on a downward slide;  food stamp use is way up:

One economic indicator is the production of durable goods, which is down overall:

Obama's approval isn't so great right now:

Blue Knights Texas Chapter VII Donates to Cpl. Breck Scott

Here's another reminder for the Cpl. Breck Scott fundraiser which is now winding down.  We're wrapping up our SIGIS fundraiser in a few days but you'll still be free to send in donations through the Capital One account.  If you want to donate through this blog, the last day is August 15.

I want to give a huge shout out to The Blue Knights Chapter Texas VII.  Mike at A Cop's Watch reports that they were able to hand deliver $500 to the family yesterday.  Mike has visited Cpl. Scott twice now and reports that as of yesterday Cpl. Scott looked good and is in good spirits.  They are expected to release him Friday and send him back to Shreveport.

You can read about The Blue Knights here.  They do a lot of great charity work and are to be commended. 

Mike's personal blog is here.

For new readers, Cpl. Scott has undergone four surgeries now and is facing a long road of rehab and physical therapy.  The SIGIS fundraiser is to help with costs not covered by insurance.

Cpl. Scott is a Shreveport police officer who was injured in a motorcycle crash last April.  Doctors have been trying since then to save his leg which developed a serious bone infection.  The prognosis looks good, now, but he's got a long, painful road ahead of him.  His motorcycle career is over, but he still wants to work at his job.

If you'd like to make a donation, hit the "Donate" button near the top of my sidebar.  If you prefer to make your donation directly to the fund set up for Cpl. Scott, you can make the check out to Breck Scott, put "For Deposit Only" on the back, and reference acct. number 5732676084. The address for Capital One Bank is 333 Travis Street, Shreveport, LA 71101.

Remember, no amount is too small!

Previously:
Cpl. Breck Scott Has a Visitor
Cpl. Breck Scott Recovering From Surgery
The SIGIS Fundraiser for Cpl. Scott Continues
Corporal Breck Scott to Undergo Four Surgeries
Corporal Breck Scott Headed to Houston

How to Pass the Drought

We had a record high of 109 today and everywhere you go people are fussing about the heat.  In truth, a lot of people are just staying home, inside, and still until this broiling weather breaks.  Grass is long dead and small trees and shrubs are not far behind.   Lakes in Texas are drying up altogether!

So what can you do?  Not much, but one Dallas blog offers the Drought Drunk Game:

How to play Drought Drunk
Here's the general concept:

At any point in your day, if you hear people talking about the weather, you drink. You hear someone say, "Ugh! I'm soooo sweaty!" Drink.

More suggestions:

"It's 106! When's it gonna rain???" Drink twice.
(Once for the current temperature update, once for the bitching about lack of rain.)

Lawn or plant updates.
"I just can't water enough." Drink.

The rest is here.

I'd suggest trying this game with water, though.  It'll keep you from getting heatstroke and if you try it with alcohol you'd be over the legal limit in no time at all.

(H/T:  Carolyn)

The "After" Chair

I've finished the chair.  I got a new seat cut at Home Depot but they would only cut a square.  I had to angle it myself.  I finished the sealer this morning, replaced the foam and recovered the seat, installed it back on the chair and we're done.

Now I know why I collect glass.  It doesn't need sanding, staining, sealing or reupholstering.

(To see the "before" chair, go here.)

"Is it still a lousy deal? Of course."

I've been unable, through a variety of interruptions, to blog anything of political substance today, however, Stacy McCain has not had that problem.

Be sure to read this post if you don't read anything else today, in which Stacy channels Hunter S. Thompson and goes on an anti-government "we got screwed" rant of immense proportions. 

Don't miss it.

Raccoon Drama

Here I am all ready to surf today's news when Steve comes in and tells me about an Animal Control truck across the street..."with CAGES!"

We have neighborhood raccoons so this scares me a little.  The raccoons are quite domesticated and eat cat food off our porches.  I can't count how many evenings Steve and I sit outside with two of our neighbors across the street just talking and watching the neighborhood and those raccoons will come out and walk right up to us.  We've had many a laugh watching the raccoons.

One night our neighbor Julie had a pizza box sitting there and a raccoon walked right on up to the box expecting his slice.

We enjoy watching them.  They're cute.  I know the whole "they may have RABIES!" thing.  I get it.  Someone apparently called animal control.  We know who it was.

So I called our neighbor Nancy who promptly goes outside and confronts the Animal Control guy.  He explained that he isn't going to euthanize them and that if he catches our neighborhood charity cat, Peter, he'll let him go.  The raccoons will be relocated.

My money is on the raccoons.  If you've got Iams cat food and a bowl of water on a porch, why would you go into a stupid trap?

Raccoon Drama.

Sanding Wood, Simmering Sauce, and Steaming Temps

I've been offline all day.  I decided to try to recover the seat for this chair that I bought from Milly and it turned out to be a bigger project than I intended!

I started out at Hancocks Fabric Store and found the perfect fabric.  I bought some foam padding to replace what is there.  I got home with my supplies and broke out the Murphy's Wood Soap and started cleaning the chair.  The more grime I got off of it the more I was convinced it needed refinishing.  I try to leave things "as is" as much as possible but the more I got into this chair, it became a rescue mission.

The chair itself is solid and sturdy but the veneer on the upright part of the chair was warping off in the back.  The top of the upright part was becoming vulnerable where moisture could get down in there as well.  As the grime came off I could see the wood is really pretty.  Then I popped the seat off, removed two layers of upholstery and discovered that the wood underneath the batting is warped and cracked.

I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow with the seat to see if they'll cut me a new piece of plywood to replace it.  I've sanded and stained the chair today; will do the polyurethane tomorrow and get the seat finished.

I'll post an after picture when I'm done.  It already looks better!

While I was doing all that, I made the sauce for lasagna and let it simmer while I sanded.  Lasagne in the oven now, chair drying happily on the deck, and it's time for me to pop an Octoberfest and see what is happening in the world.

Currently 106 degrees outside.  Bleh.

Marco Rubio Explains Why People Get "Grossed Out" by Politics

This has been floating around for 24 hours or so and I've just watched it.  If you haven't, do yourself a favor:

Obama Just Needs a Nicotine Fix

In what must surely be a bit of comic relief, Vanity Fair offers the proposition that all Obama needs to become the Paragon of Hope and Change again is a nicotine fix. 

Apparently his irritability, petulance, and indecisiveness have nothing to do with an arrogant nature and being in a job well over his means and experience.  It's a lack of nicotine.  Who knew?

Meanwhile, John Boehner and his nicotine habit are so in control that they've hijacked Washington:

House Speaker John Boehner, who has no interest in quitting smoking, successfully hijacked the legislative process for weeks and secured an agreement that was far more appealing to his ranks. For the sake of the country, can someone get the president a pack of Parliaments?

And all along I just thought he was an amateur politician with a thin resume and an ego problem.

Eric Holder's DOJ Files Suit Against Alabama

Eric Holder's DOJ and the Obama administration have filed suit on yet another state for their attempt to control illegal immigration in absence of the feds attempt to do so.

This time it's Alabama.

"Today's action makes clear that setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility that cannot be addressed through a patchwork of state immigration laws," said Attorney General Eric Holder.  "The department is committed to evaluating each state immigration law and making decisions based on the facts and the law. To the extent we find state laws that interfere with the federal government's enforcement of immigration law, we are prepared to bring suit, as we did in Arizona."

I'm trying to find an example of "the federal government's enforcement of immigration law."  I'll let you know if I find one.

Hey Tea Party: Joe Biden Says You're a Terrorist!

I expect this sort of thing from Politico.

I don't expect a whole hell of a LOT from Joe Biden, but coming from the Vice President of the United States, this is just irresponsible.  It's an outrage:

Biden, driven by his Democratic allies’ misgivings about the debt-limit deal, responded: “They have acted like terrorists,” according to several sources in the room.

Biden’s office declined to comment about what the vice president said inside the closed-door session.  Earlier in the day, Biden told Senate Democrats that Republican leaders have “guns to their heads” in trying to negotiate deals.

Let me remind Mr. Biden what the definition of a "terrorist" is:

ter·ror·ist /ˈtɛrərɪst/ Show Spelled[ter-er-ist] 

–noun

1.

a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism.

2.

a person who terrorizes  or frightens others.

3.

(formerly) a member of a political group in russia aiming at the demoralization of the government by terror. 

Mr. Biden, THIS is terrorism:

And THIS is terrorism:

And THIS is terrorism:

And THIS is terrorism:

And THIS is terrorism:

And THIS is terrorism:

And THIS is terrorism:

This is NOT terrorism:

These people, Mr. Biden, are patriots.  Get used to them.

(H/T:  Memeorandum) 

Update:  Thanks Don Surber for the link!

Is NHS Style Rationing Headed Our Way?

In case you've become so consumed by the debt debate and need something else to read about, check out this post from The Heritage Foundation.  Obama really hopes we get so distracted by all these other disasters emanating from his administration that we forget about Obamacare by the time 2012 comes along.

Not a chance.

Keep in mind that Obamacare desperately wants to be like the British NHS; Obama's Medicare Czar, Dr. Donald Berwick, was widely quoted (including on this blog) lauding the NHS. From Robert M. Goldberg's American Spectator article last year (emphasis mine):

Berwick not only has a role model picked out for a role that sounds a lot like what he would be doing at CMS, he has a soulmate: For the past 15 years he has consulted for -- or, in his words, been "starry-eyed" over -- Britain's National Health Service. In 2008, at a 60th anniversary celebration of the creation NHS, he told a UK crowd, "I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country. "
 
Berwick complained the American health system runs in the "darkness of private enterprise," unlike Britain's "politically accountable system. " The NHS is "universal, accessible, excellent, and free at the point of care -- a health system that is, at its core, like the world we wish we had: generous, hopeful, confident, joyous, and just"; America's health system is "toxic," "fragmented," because of its dependence on consumer choice. He told his UK audience: "I cannot believe that the individual health care consumer can enforce through choice the proper configurations of a system as massive and complex as health care. That is for leaders to do."

With that in mind, look at the rationing currently going on in the British health care system:

* Hip and knee replacements only being allowed where patients are in severe pain. Overweight patients will be made to lose weight before being considered for an operation.

* Cataract operations being withheld from patients until their sight problems "substantially" affect their ability to work.

* Patients with varicose veins only being operated on if they are suffering "chronic continuous pain", ulceration or bleeding.

* Tonsillectomy (removing tonsils) only to be carried out in children if they have had seven bouts of tonsillitis in the previous year.

* Grommets to improve hearing in children only being inserted in "exceptional circumstances" and after monitoring for six months

Heritage points out that we now have the framework in place to go down the same dark path as Britain.

Think that health care rationing isn’t possible in America? Think again. Under Obamacare, a board of unelected bureaucrats known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is tasked with reducing the growth in Medicare spending. With the powers IPAB has under current law, the Board can make changes—without congressional input—that would indirectly reduce seniors’ access to providers and services.

We can see the writing on the wall already. Consider, just as an example, the breast cancer drug Avastin:  just last week the National Comprehensive Cancer Network voted overwhelmingly in support of Avastin as a viable therapy drug for breast cancer yet last month the FDA pulled its support of the drug.  The drug can cost up to $90,000 a year for patients.

Medicare still currently covers Avastin but how long do we realistically expect that to last given the FDA position and Berwick's love of the NHS rationing system?  The same argument applies to the drug Provenge which supposedly is a vaccine against prostate cancer at the cost of $93,000 per course.

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) has expressed concern over the potential for rationing in the power vested in the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB):

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., recently reignited the debate by saying that under the presidentially appointed IPAB, "a bunch of bureaucrats decide whether you get care, such as continuing on dialysis or cancer chemotherapy."

"I guarantee you when you withdraw that, the patient is going to die," he said. "It's rationing."

And with Berwick in charge, who can doubt that it's coming?

Drug shortages are already becoming a bigger problem than ever before.

Heritage Foundation points out:

Americans are generally appalled to hear stories of rationing, but what many don’t realize is that under Obamacare, IPAB is empowered to take actions that could lead us down that very road. There is a better way to lower health care costs and deliver a higher quality of care: introducing competition and consumer choice through the reforms outlined in Heritage’s Saving the American Dream plan.

Despite Obama's hopes that we forget the disaster that is Obamacare by 2012, we won't forget.    The rationing headed our way, however subtle, won't let us.

Update:  Related:  Health Industry Fears Double Whammy in Medicare Cuts

The Week Ahead = Heatstroke UPDATED

Seriously?  This is not even "heat index" crap, people.  Ugh.

Must be August in Shreveport.  Time to go back to school (in one week.)

How's the temperature where YOU are?

Update:  Daughter in Texas emails to report that their forcast kicks our forcast's ass:

 

I feel cooler already!

Chivalry is Alive and Well

Good manners and chivalry are alive and well in Shreveport/Bossier. 

I went to a memorial service this afternoon for the mother of a dear friend.  She was obviously well loved and thought of.  I arrived early because that's just my thing.  I was about twenty minutes early and the room at the funeral home was already filling up.  As the appointed hour arrived, the pews became filled and people started lining the walls and the the back of the room.

Then the gentlemen started getting up and motioning for the ladies to come sit.  Not just the elderly ladies but all of them.  I thought, how nice!  Manners still exist!

And then I saw our Bossier Parish Schools superintendent, D.C. Machen, get up and insist an elderly gentleman take his seat.  Others followed suit.  By the time the service started, the only people that were standing were younger men. 

It was nice on two fronts; Moselle Thomas was so loved that her memorial service was standing room only, and that people still can show manners and chivalry when the need arises.

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: Jennifer's Birthday Trip to Second Hand Rose Edition

We had a fun day at Second Hand Rose Antiques today; it was my friend Jennifer's birthday and she came over to Milly's with a couple of other friends and they made a day of it.  Jennifer and Milly are kindred souls and hit it off famously.  Milly even knew Jen's grandmother.  Small world.

While there I picked up the chair I'd bought and of course found a couple of other small things.  I'm not refinishing the chair but I am going to reupholster the seat.  I'm kind of looking forward to finding the perfect fabric and getting one more project done before school starts.  I have one more week of summer vacation.

I'll scatter a couple of Milly pics through the links:

If the debt debate is getting you down, watch Marco Rubio over at Adrienne's.  You'll feel better.

And as long as you're watching videos, head over to The Daley Gator and watch Rick Perry.

Also on video, American Power has a great Rush Limbaugh clip.

Jimmie Bise has proof that you have not "plumbed the depths of idiocy in the debt ceiling debate."

Speaking of "the depths of idiocy," Pirate's Cove suggests Nancy Pelosi might just be there.

Bread Upon the Waters compares the Reid and Boehner bills.

If you read NOTHING else about the debt ceiling debate, read The Other McCain's post.

Wyblog is back from the beach.

Ed Driscoll reports that Obama is bummed that the markets aren't tanking.

Doug Ross has a list of conservative websites; I guess I'm number 151. 

Be sure to read A Cop's Watch and his report on his visit to Cpl.. Breck Scott.

If you're still trying to keep score in the debt ceiling debate, Saberpoint's post might help.

An excellent post at Bungalow Bill's on Nikki Haley's defense of the Confederate flag.

Political Junkie Mom on Debt Kabuki and Noonan regret.

Paco is still searching for Obama's debt ceiling plan.

So glad someone blogged this; I saw it and didn't take the time.  Tina looks at President Bush's explanation of his reaction to 9/11.

Michelle Malkin has your Saturday Night Kabuki Bickerfest.

Troglopundit takes time to welcome Smitty on his new arrival, as does Obi's Sister who posts the most adorable picture ever.

Legal Insurrection has the best suggestion of the day.

Right on the Left Coast takes a look at the issue of teachers blogging.

The awesome Mind Numbed Robot has proof that Steve Wynn was right.

Okay, that'll have to do it for this week.  It's been a long, long day and this girl is ready for an Octoberfest and some down time.  Happy weekend!

Cpl. Breck Scott Has a Visitor

Mike at A Cop's Watch went to visit Cpl. Scott in Houston yesterday.  Please read his report here.

Cpl. Scott is recovering from his fourth surgery in less than two weeks on his leg which was injured in a terrible motorcycle crash last April.  The good news is that it looks like they've saved his leg, but the has a long, long, long road in front of him.  Cpl. Scott described the surgery to KTBS before he left:

"It's going to be four surgeries. The first three, they're going to go in there and clean (the infection) out and put some antibiotic wash in there," Scott said Thursday at his home in Shreveport. "The fourth surgery, they're going to go four inches down my leg and break it right here and put that apparatus on." That device will stretch his leg and allow the bones to connect again so that his injured leg can become the same length as his other one. "It could take up to two years to go in there and work on that bone and get it to grow and fuse to that ankle," Scott said.

SIGIS has been running a fundraiser to help Cpl. Scott and his family with costs not covered by insurance.  We've got two more weeks running on the fundraiser before I forward all proceeds to the Capital One fund set up for him.

You can donate through this blog by hitting the Donate button at the top of the sidebar, or you can donate directly to Capital One.  Make the check out to Breck Scott, put "For Deposit Only" on the back, and reference acct. number 5732676084. The address for Capital One Bank is 333 Travis Street, Shreveport, LA 71101.

In addition, via KTBS, there will be a benefit golf tournament this month to help with costs as well:

E.G. Huckabay Lodge #3 of the Fraternal Order of Police is scheduled to host a benefit golf tournament in honor of Corporal Breck Scott.Corporal Scott is a Shreveport motorcycle officer who was seriously injured in a crash four months ago.He recently underwent his fourth and final operation at a Texas Hospital.The golf tournament will help with expenses not covered by insurance.The four person scramble is scheduled for Tuesday, August 30th at Querbes Golf Course in Shreveport.The entry fee is $240 per team, prizes will be awarded to the top contenders.Any inquiries should be directed to Corporal Bill Vincent at 318-673-7262. 

Here at SIGIS we've collected just over $100; please consider making a small donation today.  No amount is too small and every little bit helps!  It's good to help others!  Donate!  And to those of you who have made a contribution already, thank you.

Also thanks to Right on the Left Coast for their linkage and participation in helping Cpl. Scott and his family.

Previously:
Cpl. Breck Scott Recovering From Surgery
The SIGIS Fundraiser for Cpl. Scott Continues
Corporal Breck Scott to Undergo Four Surgeries
Corporal Breck Scott Headed to Houston

Tea Party Terrorists and Civil Discourse (Upated with Remarks from House Debate)

Politico has gone over the edge.  In the new era of "civility in discourse" Politico is now calling the Tea Party a terrorist group.

It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House “hostage takers.” But they have now become full-blown terrorists.

They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm on innocent victims to achieve their political goals. A strong America has always stood firm in the face of terrorism. That tradition is in jeopardy, as Congress and President Barack careen toward an uncertain outcome in the tea party- manufactured debt crisis.

And a little deeper in:

Terrorism is a tough term, but, unfortunately, it describes tea party tactics precisely. Their first step was to vow not to vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Be sure to see Pirate's Cove for a complete fisking of the piece.

How quickly we forget.  It was January 2011 when Obama, after the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, said "only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation."

How are Obama's minions following his advice?

Harry Reid this morning accused Republicans of taking America "hostage":

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed today the Senate will act on his plan to raise the nation's debt limit, saying the economy should not be held hostage by recalcitrant House Republicans.

(He also complained:  "What's being done in the House is not a compromise," he said. "It is being jammed through."  He would know all about jamming legislation through, wouldn't he?)

The New York Daily News:

They will emerge victorious from this fight not because they are necessarily right or Americans support their cuts-only approach (they don't), but rather because they are willing to nihilistically sabotage the US economy.

I'm sorry, but who was it exactly that ignored the debt commission report?

Rep. John Larson (D-CT):

“Eighteen times the debt ceiling was raised for Ronald Reagan, eight times for George Bush, because they would never stand in this body to see a default on the full faith and credit of the United States”: Larson said. “We need not go through this ideological hostage situation. Why are we holding the American people hostage? Let's put America back to work. We’re a better nation; we’re a better body than that.”

According to Pelosi, the world must be saved from Republicans:

"What we're trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We're trying to save life on this planet as we know it today."

Hey, at least the Republicans passed a budget.

Steny Hoyer:

"The Republicans are holding hostage the credit of the United States of America."

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT):

Welch charged, “This is the first time a party has used a debt ceiling vote to hold hostage the American economy.”

And on and on. They all got that "hostage" talking point memo, didn't they.

It goes both ways.  Republicans throw their fair share of heated rhetoric as well, but it seems to me there is enough blame to go around for this crisis and the Democrats are unwilling to accept any.  As I mentioned, they saw this coming months ago.  Obama walked away from his own debt commission report.  His position has always been his way or no way.  Compromise isn't a word he has used until lately.

As for the Tea Party, those Tea Party members are the only ones doing what they were sent to Washington to do.  They can't be bought off with earmarks or vague promises.  It isn't their fault that Obama helped create this crisis by ignoring the debt commission and continuing on his job killing, economy crushing, regulation heavy, massive spending policies.

Politico's piece is just fanning the flames and that is what is irresponsible, not the Tea Party.

Update:  Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VT) complaining on the House floor right now about the Boehner bill being "slapped together behind closed doors" in the dark of night.   He calls this all a "manufactured crisis."  By Obama, I might add.

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC)  calls the bill the worst evah!  "We have NO time left in the debate on our side to debate whether we will pass an amendment to the Constitution of the United States that literally holds a gun to the economy of America!"

No terroristic language there.

Update 2:  Barney Frank:  "Speaker Boehner should take as his theme song, 'It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To.'"   He calls it "a flawed bill" brought by "a weakened Speaker."

Well, that was mature.

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD):  "The Republican majority should be embarrassed for the American people."  They are "reckless" she says.  The bill was "hurriedly drafted today just to please the far right elements of the Tea Party."  She says the Republican party is putting "our entire future" at risk "for this garbage."

Garbage in, garbage out.

Update 3:  Rep.  Gerald Connelly says the Republicans are "turning our Founding Fathers into deadbeat dads."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) echos the appeasing the "far right" theme.  Corporate jets!  Close tax loopholes!  Tax the rich!  Eliminate oil company subsidies!

Sheila Jackson Lee:  "This is the worst bill that any American could imagine in the history of this nation!"  Hyperbole.  "We actually have the authority...under the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling."    She says the BBA is "not by majority" and will stop Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.  Hyperbole.  She urges people to call in and say "Stop the madness!"

Update 4:  I see kids in the chamber.  Such rhetoric for such young ears!

Update 5:  Rep. Marcy Kaptur suggests this bill is like pulling the IV tubes out of an ill patient and "shoving them down the elevator chute."

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)  "This Congress is in chaos!"  True dat.  "We must stop this Republican Roulette and get back to a plan that is realistic."  She calls for a clean vote on the debt ceiling and if not then invoke the 14th Amendment.

Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) refers to it as the Republican Default Bill.  "The full faith and credit of the United States will be held hostage..."  There's that word again.  Some applause from the floor when he finishes speaking.

The children behind the podium are waving to the camera.

Update 6:  Rep David Scott (D-GA)  lamenting "drastic cuts" to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  About $1000 per person, he says.

Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA)  "our nation's first ever default is at hand."

Rep.Markey says the Republicans "don't want compromise, they want capitulation."  He says this bill will change the Constitution "forEVER!" 

Nancy Pelosi says "the clock is ticking" - most overused phrase of the day.  "As we continue this debate today, one thing is very clear to me.  If our goal were to find deficit reduction in a balanced bipartisan way, we could certainly do that...we could find a path to serious deficit reduction."  "That is not the goal of the Republicans of the House of Representatives."   Now she's blathering about clean air standards and food safety.  Clean water.  "We can't do that for ourselves!"

Tax subsidies to big oil!  "You're going to pay more for your college loans so we can give tax breaks to people at the other end."   "This bill is going nowhere.  It is a total waste of time," she says.

The Speaker and the Republicans walked away from the table and the stock market dropped 483 points, she says.  I don't think you can totally blame the Republicans for that, Nancy.