Cheney’s Cat

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

Credit to Fukung.net where I found it, and Joe-KS.com where it apparently originated.

Tags: cheney, Humor
Posted in Economy, Humor, Internet, Politics | No Comments »

1 Billion Gals of Toxic Sludge Oozes Towards River

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

In case you missed it on Dec- ember 21st a TVA levee wall burst in Oak Ridge, Ten- nessee. But it wasn’t water in the retention pond, but rather 1,000,000,000 gallons of coal ash sludge, a byproduct of coal fired power plant.

Initially TVA estimated the spill at about 350 million gallons, but had to up the spillage estimate to 1 billion gallons upon closer examination. The sludge spill roared downhill and reached depths of 6′ burying cars, porches and even downing power lines. (Source)

So what’s in a billion gallons of coal ash sludge? Well concentrated levels of mercury and arsenic, according to environmental experts. TVA experts claim there’s no danger to humans from the chemicals. This claim despite hundreds of fish turning up dead in nearby waters. (Source) Naturally many local residents aren’t too comforted by the TVA’s assurances.

The spill is working it’s way into the Tennessee River, the source of drinking water for 1 million Tennesseans. TVA has built a rock wall to try to stop the sludge from oozing in.

“You have acute problems we are dealing with today, but we’ll have chronic problems for a long time. This whole area has been devastated environmentally.” - Stephen Smith of CleanEnergy.org (Source)

Tags: Coal Ash, Oak Ridge, Sludge, TVA
Posted in Crime, Economy, Environment, Internet, Sports, Weird, news | No Comments »

Focus on Family’s Naughty & Nice List

Monday, December 1st, 2008

That fun loving gang that poured $600,000 into California’s Prop 8 campaign, Focus on the Family, is back. FotF has released their Naughty and Nice list for holiday shoppers. This list is composed of national retailers and is based on their holiday ads, and whether the word “Christmas” is featured prominently and consistently.

Retailers that wish you “happy holidays” sometimes and “Merry Christmas” other times, are on the “Christmas-negligent” retailers list and include stores like Barnes & Noble, Gap and Kmart. But that’s not the worst list for FotF followers. No that list is the “Christmas-offensive” retailers.

The Christmas-offensive list is reserved for “happy holidays” only retailers, i.e., no mention of “Christmas” per se in their ads. Who’s on this list?

American Eagle
Banana Republic
Bloomingdale’s
Lane Bryant
Old Navy

I’ve linked to them for your shopping convenience.

Tags: Christmas, Dr James Dobson, Focus on the Family, Shopping
Posted in Economy, Politics, news | No Comments »

Obama Announces Recovery Advisory Board

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

President Elect Obama announces the Presidents Recovery Advisory Board, “made up from experts from Business, Labor and Academia and others” he said today. The PRAB will be chaired by Paul Volcker. Volkcer was chairman of the Fed in 1979 in the Carter administration. Additionally Obama’s economic advisor, Austin Goolsby, was named to the PRAB.

Obama intends to announce the remaining PRAB members in the coming weeks.

Tags: Economy, Obama, PRAB, Presidents Recovery Advisory Board
Posted in Economy, Politics | No Comments »