Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
Can someone tell me what they were even voting on? That is a really great headline, though.
If I had known upon creating this blog that none of my fellow "contributors" were going to contribute anything, I would have named it Mustache Thievery like I wanted to.
None of them even READ this blog! You guys are good-name-vetoing jerks!
Mix the ground beef, chopped parsley and grated onion together in a large mixing bowl. Season liberally, with House Seasoning. Form 3 hamburger patties.
Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the burgers and cook until desired temperature, 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare.
Fry bacon in a hot pan until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Set aside.
While burgers are cooking, heat a non-stick pan, over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter. Crack 3 eggs into the pan. Cook until the yolks are just set and still slightly runny and remove.
Place burger patties on English muffins or buns, and if desired, on glazed donuts, as the buns. Top each burger with 2 pieces of bacon and a fried egg.
House Seasoning: 1 cup salt 1/4 cup black pepper 1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Yeah, that's right. It's a burger....with a fried egg....and bacon....ON TWO GLAZED DONUTS!!! Caecus, Rae, and I have discussed it and we all firmly believe that Paula Dean is trying to kill her fan base so that she can harvest their souls and use them as an elixir of youth. Paula Dean is a Soul Harvester. ...That actually makes her sound a lot cooler.
And now, the award for Happiest Dog Wearing an Adhesive Bra on its Butt. Direct from Cute Overload, it's... THIS LITTLE GUY!!!
Over at Shakesville, Mustang Bobby has up this bit about the Florida Senate debating whether or not to fine people with those charming truck testicles. The word "truckyness" is involved, I kid you not.
Ok, and you know what? Say what you will about the band, the song, the costumes, whatever, but honestly, there is no denying the ingenuity and pleasing aesthetics of the video for Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Give It Away":
Argue if you must, but I will defend my position. And it is a very strong defense.
Ok, I guess that's it. Someone ought to leave me a comment. DO IT!
Lou Dobbs rants about race, calling the United States the most racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse and progressive nation in the world (actually, in 2007 The Economist ranked the U.S. 17th in the most democratic countries in the world. I guess Lou hasn't heard about those peskyScandinaviancountries.) Anyway, so, Lou is blithering on about how ungrateful these certain politicians are (Condoleeza Rice and Barack Obama, in particular) and...well...see for yourself:
Oh, Lou, you crazy-ass old man.
Mooooooving on, in the news of the completely irrelevant, we have this little gem about who 50 Cent is supporting in the Dem primary. Because 50 Cent is whom I have always turned to first for political advice.
Last, there's an amusing article [via Feministe] over at the New York Times about literary compatibility and how, let's face it, some of us can be kind of snobbish. But it's ok! Says Sloane Crosley in the article:
“If you’re a person who loves Alice Munro and you’re going out with someone whose favorite book is ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ perhaps the flags of incompatibility were there prior to the big reveal.”
Totally. I do wonder, however, about the veracity of the claim that women tend to be more critical of their partners book choices than men. Maybe that's because I know some pretty book snobbish dudes (and I love you all). Also, I'm guilty of really liking The Unbearable Lightness of Being which is derided in the article by one person interviewed as "trendy, bogus metaphysics" (even though he admits in the same sentence that he knew nothing about Kundera or his work at the time of this assumption and, I think, made up his mind based on that god-awful movie). Anyway, I thought it was kind of a fun article. [Update: Amanda Marcotte has a post about this article, too.]
That's all for now. What random stuff have you come across? Sock it to me, dudes!
I wrote into Feministing the other night about a dumb Taco Bell/Sports Illustrated advertising campaign. It's a weird thing to get excited about, I know, but they posted about it and I got a mention!
Reader Karlen wrote, "What this has to do with lousy 'Mexican' fast food is beyond me." Indeed. So I did a little digging. Turns out, Taco Bell has joined up with Sports Illustrated to promote the magazine's swimsuit issue.
A good (and short) opinion piece by M. LeBlanc at Bitch, Ph.D. on how Americans view medication. From the post:
In the good old United States of America, you have to have a prescription for every goddamned thing. For birth control pills, for the Nuva ring, for Plan B. For antibiotics, for pain medication that doesn't totally suck, for a cough suppressant that's not intended for children, for a pill to treat yeast infections, for an anti-fungal cream, for anything with any potency that might actually work.
I thought about this, as I flopped one foot in front of the other on Boulevard Richard Lenoir. And then I thought about what would happen if all of a sudden, there were no more prescriptions, except for really serious stuff like chemo drugs or morphine or whatever. In America. What would that be like? Ignoring the fact that that would be incredibly unlikely to happen, I imagine tat people would be flocking to pharmacies, picking up medications for all kinds of ailments we didn't have or didn't need to be treated for. Everyone and their dog would be popping klonopin and prednisone for a nightcap.
But hey. Why don't they do that here? Why do I assume that Americans are hungry to get their grubby little hands on as much medication as they can, unlike the French or the Egyptians? They are, aren't they? Why?
Steven Dutch,professor of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, brutally dismembers fallacious reasoning of just about every stripe on his home page. Not only does he take on a variety of topics, he does so in incredibly incisive and entertaining prose. It's rare to find a writer so worthy of citation, and just downright hilarious, but Dutch's no-nonsense style fits the bill.
Khymos.org, a blog about 'molecular gastronomy,' has a fascinating article with some surprising flavor combinations. For adventurous chefs and those bored with the familiar.
One of my favorite rhetorical methods in any evolution debate is to compare and contrast the fruitful research of biologists to the nonexistent research of ID advocates. But we don't have to simply observe, we can model evolutionary algorithms thanks to modern computing. People like Robert T. Pennock, a philosopher now working on the Avida digital organism project at Michigan State University, don't simply debate ideas—they test them. Pennock, and others like him are using Darwinian processes, implemented in computers or in vitro, to evolve complex systems and to provide solutions to design problems in ways that are beyond the power of mere intelligent agents. Check out this page on aigamedev.com, for an overview on the research along with video of some of the virtual organisms .
