News from North of the Border

Despite being fully integrated economically the media seems to ignore stuff north of the 49th parallel. I live a few hundred miles south and get the CBC on TV. I warn you that this report is disturbing. First, if you are crossing a border into the USA you are a suspect. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will investigate every last word ...

OTB Latenight – Pet Shop Boys

This song has been covered by many groups. The Village People sued to keep their version not-free, so the Pet Shop Boys do an equally good version. Lots of Commie symbolism. As a westerner this song has meaning that wasn't intended by the authors. It is Horace Greeley. I wrote in my 2002 journey when I saw a western sunset, ...

PNW Winter in June: Not Since 1894

The weather has been blustery Now almost a week and a half into June, the weather is acting like winter or early spring. A vigorous area of low pressure has been bringing showers, thunderstorms and strong winds to the region. But even stranger is the snow. Numerous winter warnings and advisories are up for the possibility of heavy mountain snow. ...

American Soldiers’ Views are Illegal?

"Surprising Political Endorsements By U.S. Troops" - ABC News Why not "Government Employees Cannot Participate in Partisan Political Activity"? Or how about government employees are not allowed to state who they support politically? How about government employees are NOT allowed to vote? How about UNION government employees are not allowed to vote? Though the military is not supposed to engage ...

Utah: Behind the Zion Curtain

Just when post-Mitt Romney everyone says Mormons are normal, Wine coolers to be banished from grocery stores SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Gov. Jon Huntsman has signed a bill into law that will ban wine coolers from grocery stores. Huntsman says he doesn't like the law, but he signed it Wednesday because it also increases the size of the standard shot of ...

Celebrity Endorsement Face-Off Obama vs Clinton

David Schmader takes a clever look at the celebrities endorsing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: via roving correspondent Richard Gardner

Next Up, The WA Caucus AND Primary

Guess it isn’t over until it is over, at least for the Democratic Party. WA State has Caucuses on Saturday, and a primary vote on Tuesday (you have to sign a statement saying you are only doing one, and not for the other party. Clarification, you can caucus and vote in the Primary, so long as they are the same ...

PNW Snow – A State of Emergency

As I’m writing this, there is no dependable land route out of the maritime Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland). All Interstates are closed. I-90 costs $20M/day in economic costs per day it is shut down. I-5 and I-84 are also closed. These are ALL the interstates highways serving the PNW. We are isolated. The US highways are likewise closed. The ...

RIP, Julia Carson (D-IN)

A Congresswoman from Indiana has died. I’ll readily admit I was not familiar with her (like another 300 members of Congress). I came across her death searching for Fort Carson on Google. She seems respectable person . Then I came across the hagiography from the Brady Bunch I consider the Brady Campaign to be loathsome vultures on the death of a ...

Military Soft On Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?

Wow, some Military Members are Gay. "60 Minutes" must be scrambling for ratings in its latest “don’t ask, don’t tell” report. A gay soldier says he disclosed his sexuality to his superiors, even offering graphic proof, and was neither discharged nor reprimanded, despite the military’s "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality. What, the military isn’t a lockstep organization, with ...

Unhappy Thanksgiving for the USS Kitty Hawk Strike Group (UPDATED)

At the last minute, Chinese officials have REVERSED course and pulled long-approved permission for the USS Kitty Hawk and accompanying vessels to conduct a port visit in Hong Kong over Thanksgiving. Instead the family members that flew there at their own expense will be without their Sailors, while the Sailors will be aboard their ships going in circles in the ...

(Military) Home is Where the Heart IS

For a military family, where is home? You move every three years, possibly to other countries (Korea, Japan, England, Germany, Germany, Germany [because so many were stationed in Germany]). Maybe the Philippines, maybe diplomatic schools in Burkina Faso. I lived in Iceland. The children have disruptions of changing schools. But for some, it doesn’t matter because your family hasn’t ...

Por que no te callas

Juan Carlos' words conquer the net The reporting on the Summit of leaders of the Latin Countries is exceedingly horrible. Five words - "Why don't you shut up!" - have catapulted King Juan Carlos, the Spanish monarch, to Internet stardom, and driven Spain's relations with Latin America to a new low. ORLY? A new low? I thought that happened ...

When Cows Fly

Since today was an election day (I voted, did you?) I guess that the normal "when pigs fly" must be adjusted to "when cows fly" to accommodate the hyperbole of the local elections. In this case a young cow flew (fell?) off a cliff onto a moving minivan. A Chelan County fire chief says a couple were lucky they weren’t ...

General Paul Tibbets, Pilot of Enola Gay, RIP

Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, best known as the pilot of the Enola Gay that dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb onto the Japanese war-supporting city of Hiroshima, has died at the age of 92. In recent years he has made the news about being unrepentant over what some vocal (revisionist) critics consider a war crime. Paul Tibbets, who etched his ...