An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Morning Coffee 08/27/08
Lack of support leads TDOT to shelve toll road
A lack of public support for the Hadley Bend Connector led the Tennessee Department of Transportation to cross it off the list of possible toll projects to present to the General Assembly in January. What started as eight proposals is down to three.
The 6.4-mile road could have cost as much as $400 million, crossing the Cumberland River three times and linking Vietnam Veterans Boulevard and Gallatin Road in Hendersonville and Briley Parkway in the Music Valley area.
A 2007 state law requires the Tennessee Department of Transportation to propose one new roadway and one new bridge to be built as pilot projects in the state’s proposed tolling system.
One of the more ridiculous ideas anyone could come up with is toll roads! They do NOT prevent congestion, they create it. They don’t save gas, they cost more because you have to sit and idle while waiting to pay your ridiculous toll. Tax dollars already pay for roads. Please remove thy heads from they hinders! Y’all wanna build some roads? How about finishing the ones already started….like say….U.S. 64!
North Korea Halts Nuke Program Dismantling
Less than two months after North Korea blew up the cooling tower of its main nuclear plant in a televised spectacle, the government yesterday announced it had suspended the dismantling of its nuclear program.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it was responding to American delays in removing it from a list of “terror-sponsoring” states. The ministry said the suspension began August 14 and that the regime would next consider restoring some of what had been dismantled already at the main nuclear compound in Yongbyon.
President Bush asked Congress on June 27 to remove North Korea from the terror list, but the administration also has said that the measure wouldn’t go through until America could verify a 60-page inventory North Korea had submitted of its nuclear program.
Take it apart, get removed from list. Seems rather simple to me. Honestly, I’d think long and hard before removing them from that list. It’s not exactly like the Chia DICtator is all that stable.
Flight Delays Improve Nationwide After Software Glitch
An electronic communication failure Tuesday at a Federal Aviation Administration facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S. caused mass delays around the country. The Northeast was hardest hit.
But by early evening, the FAA said that the situation around the country was returning to normal, with delays remaining in Atlanta and Chicago.
They damn sure better get all the bugs worked out by 29 October! We’re going on a BIG trip, and have to go through Atlanta! They can have delays on the return trip, but I wanna get there! In one piece, and sane! 
Board members quit, suspends government in NY town
Dias has asked Gov. David Paterson to appoint at least one councilman so the board has a quorum and can conduct business until replacements are chosen by voters in the fall.
Ancram is a rural Hudson Valley town of 1,500 people once known for its lead mines. Located 90 miles north of New York City, it and other Columbia County towns are experiencing gentrification that is causing friction between families who have lived there for generations and Manhattanites buying weekend and vacation homes.
Don’t ya just love the arrogance of the ‘city folk’…coming in, turning everyone’s life upside down? Seriously, if people moving in to the town are moving there because they liked the small town flavor, why are they trying to change it to what they left behind in the big city? I’ll never understand that! Other than essential services, why does any place need a gubmint?
Chinese Government Bank Denies It Aided Hamas
More than 100 terror victims and their relatives charged in a Los Angeles court last week that the Bank of China “knowingly assisted Hamas and the Islamic Jihad” between 2004 and 2007 and that the money was used to finance attacks.
The alleged bank transfers were initiated in the Middle East, sent to American branches and then transferred to terrorist organizations’ accounts in China. From there, the money was wired to Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in Israel, including Judea, Samaria and Gaza, according to the lawsuit.
Israeli counterterrorist personnel met with Chinese officials in 2005 to demand it cease from transferring more money, but the bank, with the approval of the Chinese government, continued to wire the money, said attorneys for the terror victims.
Whoa. A government bank, any government, whose financial institutions knowingly supports terrorism? Not a real good idea.
Hillary Clinton Endorses Obama, and That’s All
Much of the speech was about Clinton herself — the “privilege” of meeting voters on the campaign trail and hearing their stories: “You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and — you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine,” she said, according to the text of her speech.
Clinton talked about the people she will “always remember,” and the people to whom she will “always be grateful.”
“To my supporters, my champions — my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits – from the bottom of my heart: Thank you,” she said, as a beaming Bill and Chelsea Clinton looked on.
And she ran over into our local news. Long winded woman who says little of substance…..just like most Democrats!
Pakistan: Bomb attack targets restaurant in capital
At least seven people were killed and 20 others injured in a suspected bomb attack late Tuesday on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Police initially thought the blast occurred when a gas cylinder accidentally exploded outside a street cafe where about two dozen people were eating. They later said the blast was caused by explosives.
The attack came hours after a US diplomat narrowly-escaped an ambush in the country’s volatile north-west.
Psst! I don’t care what Bush says….these are NOT our allies! Until they get their act together, and start stomping down the terrorists, I don’t wanna hear jack about how they aid us in the war on terror. They are PART of that war!
Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks
“It’s academic immersion,” explained Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, chief of staff at Fort Jackson, home of the Army’s largest basic training school. “Our studies show that with only three out of every 10 people of military age being capable of joining the Army, we are going to have to do something different.”
That includes turning six World War II-era buildings at the base into a mini-campus of spartan classrooms and barracks. Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.
This is actually a pretty good idea. There are a lot of reasons that kids end up dropping out of school, and not all of them are lazy, druggies, or some such thing. To give such kids a chance at a future, is a terrific idea. If they took 16 year olds, I can think of one particular person who would gain a great deal from such a program. Education and discipline. Great combination.
UK urges tough response to Russia
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on the EU and Nato to initiate “hard-headed engagement” with Russia in response to its actions in Georgia.
In a speech in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, he urged them to bolster their allies, re-balance the energy relationship with Russia and defend international law.
Turning on the snark here: What are the Brits gonna do, suggest that the Georgians disarm? Take away their knives so the Russian won’t shoot them? /snark off Sorry! My respect for the Brits has dropped quite a bit recently. I still like ‘em, generally, but honestly….I’m starting to see them as English speaking French. The gubmint, not the real folks! There are still some REAL “men” in Britain.
Whether they are raised conventionally or organically, one thing cows have in common is that they burp and fart to their hearts’ content. Like all ruminants, cows are constantly emitting methane — a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — from both ends. As malodorous as pigs may be, it is the gaseous emissions of billions of cattle, goats and sheep that are contributing to global warming.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Cows have been doing what cows do…..for a VERY long time. And these people think that because a cow farts, the temperature will rise. I wonder how that worked during the “little ice age“? There were all kinds of bovines, all over the world, even if they weren’t aware that so many buffalo roamed in the New World!
Catholics rap Pelosi’s abortion remarks
Mrs. Pelosi’s contention that it does not brought down the wrath of the 433-member U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on her head. On Tuesday morning, they chided the California Democrat on Tuesday morning for “misrepresenting” the Catholic Church’s views on abortion when she told NBC’s “Meet the Press” two days earlier that “over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition” of when life begins.
When reminded by anchor Tom Brokaw that church doctrine states human life begins at conception, the speaker replied the church had only arrived at that conclusion in the past 50 years.
Classifying herself as “an ardent, practicing Catholic,” she added that St. Augustine guessed around the year 400 the fetus received a soul at three months’ gestation but, “We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.”
It’s becoming more and more apparent that “Catholics” holding public office are totally clueless about their own church doctrine! I’d like to point out that even before the beginnings of the ‘church’ 2000 years ago, that life began at conception: Jeremiah 1:5 – Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Pelosi is an idiot!
A lot of Catholics do not know the basics of their faith and doctrine. I can speak on this. I was a ‘devout’ Catholic; until I found out about Jesus.
Great scripture to rebut this also.
The cows – oh I’ve heard that one before. One guy is trying to bottle it up to run cars I think.
@Pastor John:
Wouldn’t ya think a church founded on ‘the Rock’ would have more information available? Criminy!
Yeah, that bovine flatulence business is a hoot!