Shocking poll!

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing: " growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam,"
I imagine these same pollsters would be surprised that Americans had "unfavorable" views of Nazis back in 1944.

The end of forums!

Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views): "Cutting through the legaleese here, he's basically saying that anyone who runs a comment section or a forum would be required by law to have the names and addresses of the people commenting. It would also seem to require that hosting companies have names and addresses of anyone using their service to blog.
He's since pulled the bill but watch our blogers!

Auto-flushing Alert!

The Crappiest Invention of All Time - Why the auto-flushing toilet must die. By NickSchulz: "
After a stint of telecommuting, I recently returned to working in a large downtown building. My office shares a men's room with everyone who works on our level. The bathroom sports three stalls, each of which is outfitted with the most uncivilized technology of the modern age, "the hands-free, automatic-flush toilet bowl. "
Maybe Norton Shores will offer these....It is a funny article.

Local Bank bubble ahead?

Bernanke warns community banks on loans:
The rapid growth in commercial real-estate loans made by community banks bears watching, even as these mostly smaller, local banks remain in good overall financial health, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday.
...........'However, more recently, there have been signs of some easing of underwriting standards,' Bernanke said in a speech to the Independent Community Bankers of America meeting in Las Vegas"
Don't forget, FDIC insurance only covers $100,000.

"FreeSpeech" libs show their colors

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - The Inescapable Facts on Public Education by John Stossel: "Teachers unions are mad at me. The New York State United Teachers demands I apologize for my 'gutter level' journalism, 'an irresponsible assault on public school students and teachers.' "
Read the whole article

CNN.com - New animal resembles furry lobster - Mar 8, 2006

CNN.com - New animal resembles furry lobster - Mar 8, 2006: "Divers have discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond fur, French researchers said Tuesday."
AtlantaGuy opines "It just occurred to me that this poor creature may have spent too muchtime playing alone in the deep; and just as Mom warned, he went blindand grew hair on his appendages."

Plus this update: A new species of lobster which is covered with fur is so unusual that it has been placed in its own new family. Desperate couples will adopt just about anything!http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=872

Free Online Pregnancy Test

Free Online Pregnancy Test: "If you're concerned that you may be pregnant, take our free online pregnancy test from the privacy of your own home. No messy 'stick' tests, no waiting, and best of all, our online pregnancy test results are guaranteed!"

via AtlantaGuy

$67,000 aveerage salary?

District again offering teachers an early out: "District officials figure they could save more than $2.1 million over the next three years if 30 teachers take the offer. That estimate uses $67,000 as the average teacher's salary and assumes that 10 teachers would have retired anyway, Savage said. "
Plus $30Gs, plus medical and retirement. Don't we routinely hear about "underpaid" teachers?

The first shoe to drop?

City sewer rate increase approved: "City sewer rate increase approved
The Norton Shores City Council decided unanimously Tuesday to increase the city's sewer use rates 35 percent and bill Idlewild neighborhood residents more than what others pay for water. "
Don't get me wrong. No one likes sewers more than GordoM but is this just the first of the punishments to be handed out to the taxpayers by the NS City Council?

Why do I get the feeling.....

... that the Chronicle doesn't support the mission that Cpl. Smith has so bravely fought for? Perhaps because The Chronicle rarely writes any articles that show the positive results of Cpl. Smith's endeavors. Just the same old crocodile tears.

Marine suffers third wound during tour in battle zone
U.S. Marine Cpl. Jared Smith will be physically reminded of the war on Iraq long after its over.
He was wounded Saturday in the line of duty, the third time he's been injured since he was deployed in September

Send in the prozac!

Molly Ivins: Enough of the D.C. Dems The Progressive: "I don't know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Yikes! When the leading "Progressive" thinkers of the left are this grumpy can a group hug be far behind?

High taxes and low skills dim state's high-tech dream - 03/08/06 - The Detroit News

High taxes and low skills dim state's high-tech dream - 03/08/06 - The Detroit News: "The university commissioned the poll by EPIC-MRA of Lansing, and Bailey unveiled it at an Inforum luncheon in Dearborn. It asked business executives in five states -- Michigan, California, Massachusetts, Illinois and Ohio -- to rank the most important attributes for a state hoping to draw life science businesses.
Topping the list is taxes, and the executives rank Michigan near the bottom in favorable tax policy."

Business executives bring in jobs. Not educators or politicians. Is anyone listening to them?

They needed a survey to learn this?

Worcester Telegram & Gazette AP National News: "The American Medical Association is warning girls not to go wild during spring break. All but confirming what goes on in those 'Girls Gone Wild' videos, 83 percent of college women and graduates surveyed by the AMA said spring break involves heavier-than-usual drinking, and 74 percent said the break results in increased sexual activity"
I guess the geezers at the AMA missed their own spring break because they were studying.

Gotta love the MSM outrage over this.........

Saturday morning cartoons?

Arutz Sheva - Israel National News: "Hamas Launches Web Site Encouraging Kids to Become Martyrs

The Palestinian Authority's ruling Hamas terror group has launched a web site for children, preaching the moral desirability of being a suicide terrorist via cartoons and children's stories. ......
One of the stories on the site quotes a mother saying that when she heard her son had become a shahid, a martyr, she bought dates, candies and coffee to give out.
Dates and candies? I guess virgins aren't high on the list of 6 year old's "treats".

More minimum wage info

WZZM 13 Grand Rapids - Michigan Minimum-wage war flares: "Increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour, they said, would have the opposite effect of what supporters of the move intend - to create more job options and offer workers more opportunities."

This will bring companies to Michigan?

WZZM 13 Grand Rapids - Group petitions for vote to raise amount workers in state are paid: "Nearly two months after Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm called for a minimum-wage increase during her State of the State address, an independent group last week announced plans to get the issue on the Nov. 7 ballot."

$1 Billion?

WOODTV.com & WOOD TV8 - Grand Rapids news and weather - Mississippi official: No preference for Kia plant site: "The Detroit-based Automotive News reported Monday that the Gulf Opportunity Zone legislation would allow Mississippi to offer Kia an incentive package worth nearly $1 billion.
The bill was signed into law in 2005.
While Mississippi will be able to offer a better package because of post-Katrina legislation"
It's tough for Michigan to compete with that post-Katrina moolah.

This is why it's real hard to admire so many athletes

Sports Law Blog: "Sports Illustrated has just posted a story on a new book by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams entitled 'Game of Shadows.' The book examines, in excruciating detail, alleged steroid use by Barry Bonds:"

Holy Red Rock, not Yanni!

Yanni Arrested in Alleged Domestic Dispute: "Yanni Arrested in Alleged Domestic Dispute
45 minutes ago
The musician Yanni was arrested at his home after an alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend, authorities said.
Yanni, whose legal name is John Yanni Christopher, was arrested early Friday and faces a domestic battery charge, according to a police report."
Never play chopsticks with Yanni!

Tight election!

News From The Associated Press: "DeLay Wins Four-Way Battle for Nomination
The Hammer only got 63% in a 4 way race! Yeah, big surprise... to the MSM.

This is gonna be sticky....

County work force diverse, but only in lower ranks, report indicates: "The goal for management at the county should be to think outside of the box when filling higher positions, Nash said. Administrators should ask themselves if their current criteria for hiring, like prior experience and formal training, give women and minorities a fair chance to compete.
Traditional 'glass ceilings' have kept women and minorities out of higher-paying fields, so they often lack experience and training, Nash said. Administrators need to look at other qualities in an effort to bring more of them into the more elite fields, he said. "
If "experience and formal training" (like education?) are out as requirments what's going to replace them?

Happy 70th Birthday to the Spitfire.

Silent Running � Blog Archive � Happy 70th Birthday to the Spitfire.: "Happy 70th Birthday to the Spitfire. March 5th, 2006 "
I missed this.

The real George Bush?

Very funny!
http://www.bradfordleegilbert.com/Files/bushcomedian.wmv

What's up with the sheep sex stories?

WZZM13 GRAND RAPIDS Tuesday, March 07, 2006: "Thelma's wounds are healing now. And yet, when anyone comes close, she gets skittish and mean. Sometimes she'll even ram her head into Lori Wyman, the woman who has raised her since she was just a lamb."....Wyman says someone, with some frequency over the last year and a half, invaded her 20-acre property in rural Calhoun County and sexually assaulted Thelma and another sheep named Louise.
Thelma and Louise?

More mutton!

Carolina Journal Silence of the Lambs: "That's because, journalists say, it would be "offensive" to Muslims to print a cartoon depicting the prophet. Of course, all of us know how touchy-feely the media have been over the years about depicting Christian icons. "Art" of the Crucifix in a bottle of urine and a statue of the Virgin Mary smeared with excrement evoked tears of sadness in many a journalist's eye......
Page One photos of protesters burning the Stars and Stripes here and abroad also pass the journalistic smell test."
The difference is these "sheep" do it to us.....

What would Shari Lewis say?

East Valley Tribune Daily Arizona news for Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale: "A Mesa deputy fire chief is on paid leave after being accused of bestial acts with his nextdoor neighbor's lamb. Maricopa County sheriff's deputies took LeRoy Johnson, 52, into custody at his Gilbert home on Saturday."
"Are ya happy to see me or is that a lambchop in your pocket....?"

AtlantaGuy responds: Baa ... more bad reporting by the MSM. My understanding is that the animal made an illegal ewe-turn and the Deputy was simply conducting aroutine body cavity search for drugs and illegal weapons. It's easy tosit in a pine-paneled farm house and second guess the officer's actions;but things are different out there in the barn yard!

Heh....

Mother of the year?

The Indepundit: "Of course she's not doing it for Casey. Mother Sheehan has already gone through Casey's $250,000 insurance payout like a drunken sailor on shore leave, but her poor son doesn't even have a marker on his grave.
What's up with that, Cindy?"

Cabela's massive tax breaks!

Not enough bang for buck - The Boston Globe: "The place was also built with $32 million in state and local tax breaks and grants.
Massachusetts may soon have not one but two of these monster outdoor megastores within five miles of each other. Cabela's and its archrival, Bass Pro Shops, are both looking to build on busy Route 1. One big difference between the two: Cabela's wants as much as $25 million in tax incentives and grants; Bass Pro Shops says it needs no such incentives at all.

Why does one retailer say it needs tax incentives to move here and the other does not? Because it thinks it can get them.
The two retailers have been playing this shakedown game all over the country as they expand out of their heartland base."
Didn't the "progressives" used to call this CORPORATE WELFARE? Watch your wallets, West Michigan taxpayers!

No surprise here.

Board member gets ticketed for crash with bus: "Muskegon County Commissioner Bill Gill, chairman of the county board's transportation committee, was issued a traffic ticket for an 'improper passing' last week after his car was bumped from behind by a Muskegon Area Transit System bus.
Gill, known for angry outbursts in the past, also became 'loud and threatening' with the bus driver after the minor accident, according to the MATS driver's written report. "
Simply said, Commissioner Gill is a bully and a thug.