From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Maine Tea Party Governor Runs Away from Science…Literally
Bwok.
Bwok Bwok.
Bwok Bwok Bwok…
And also a Bwok Bwok.
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Gov. Paul LePage pulled out of a long-planned energy forum at the last minute Friday, surprising organizers in a move he attributed to miscommunication but that others called a calculated political maneuver. LePage and his opponents in the governor’s race, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler, all had previously agreed to speak and answer questions from a group of more than 250 members of Maine’s energy and environmental sectors gathered at the University of Southern Maine. However, LePage refused to participate after his campaign staff arrived at the event early Friday and learned that he would share the stage with Michaud and Cutler.
“There was a misunderstanding in the format. We thought we were going into a format and at the last minute there was a different format,” LePage said later Friday morning at another event in Portland. Both Michaud and Cutler, however, said they were not at all confused about the process outlined by event organizer E2Tech, the Environmental & Energy Technology Council of Maine.
LePage was just feet away from the auditorium. Then he peeled out of the University of Southern Maine parking garage and went to
a NASCAR event instead. To christen "a race car that gets about 5 miles per gallon."
Bwok Bwok Bwok Bwok.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, September 15, 2014
Note: Always get anything agreed to on Monday in writing. Can't trust that day.
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12 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the midterm elections:
50
Days 'til the
Corvallis Fall Festival in Oregon:
12
Years it will take to clean up the worst toxic sediment sites around the Great Lakes at the current pace the project is going:
72 years
Years ago that the most contaminated sites were first identified:
25
(Source: EPA)
Number of states (MO, AR, MS, ND, SD, WY) with only one abortion clinic:
6
Portion of women who have to travel 300 miles or more to get to one:
1-in-10
(Source:
Meteor Blades)
Percent of Americans who say they've never been on a diet:
30%
(Source:
Parade survey by NPD Group)
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NEW! Your Monday Robin Williams Moment
The Second Amendment says we have the right to bear arms, not to bear artillery.
Cricket is basically baseball on valium.
I believe Ronald Reagan can make this country what it once was... a large Arctic region covered with ice.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: When Terry met Rottie
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CHEERS to the little rover that could. As we start a new week of war and climate calamity and mayhem here on planet Earth, let's start the day by gazing yonward to Mars, where spunky little Curiosity is keepin' on keepin' on:
The Curiosity rover
Having reached Mount Sharp, Curiosity can begin investigating it layer-by-layer. One of Curiosity’s main goals is to learn about the Martian environment in the distant past. Going up the slopes of Mount Sharp will provide an opportunity to study multiple geological strata in a relatively compact area. …
If Curiosity can find evidence of ancient life on Mars, this is where it will happen.
Here on earth the Blopznork rover "Theeeeng 7," having found evidence of ancient life, will now begin taking samples from the top of Mount McCain. I dearly hope it's got plenty of spare drill bits.
JEERS to the war profiteers. Something weird happened Friday when the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department all started using the term "war"---or, more accurately, war "in the same way that we are at war with al Qaeda"---for the military actions President Obama is taking against ISIS. I don’t know WTF to make of that, but I figure they must be prodding Congress into some kind of corner to get their buy-in. Meanwhile, the merchants of opportunism have started crawling out of the woodwork. You can cut the déjà vu---and the shamelessness--- with a knife:
Can yellow-ribbon car magnets be far behind?
CHEERS to the very large Republican who actually did have a shot at becoming president. Happy 157th birthday to William Howard Taft. At 325 pounds, the 27th President (who later served as Chief Justice) was also our, um, "biggest boned." It's believed that his weight contributed to the fact that he was habitually sleepy. From Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents by Cormac O'Brien:
Not to be confused with
the Monopoly game dude.
William Taft had an alarming habit of dozing off at the drop of a hat. And nothing was so important that it couldn’t be slept through---including cabinet meetings, funerals (he was in the front row of one when a catnap came over him), and campaign engagements. He once slept through a campaign motorcade in New York City---his open car cruised the streets, the great man snoring for all the city to see.
Pay
your respects here. And I doubt the old man would complain if you tossed him a bucket 'o ribs.
JEERS to Bardarbunga, American-style. Iceland may be getting all the hot press now over their volcano-related program activities, but if they think they've got the United Exceptional States of America beat, they've got another thing coming:
"Well, I guess we know what your
'what I did during summer vacation'
report will be on this year, Tommy."
Geophysicists developed a computer model of a Yellowstone “super eruption” that would spew 330 cubic kilometers of volcanic ash into the sky. The resulting ash cloud, depending on wind conditions, would blanket the continental United States in ash deposits of varying thickness… New York and Washington D.C., would get a light dusting of ash measuring roughly one-tenth of an inch, while San Francisco and Seattle would get a heaping 2 inches. Billings, Montana, meanwhile, would have to dig out from a 70-inch pile up.
To put that into perspective, when it's all swept into one ash heap, it would equal the size of the one consisting of Republican policies that have never worked. Well, almost.
JEERS to today's boring Fox News correction:
In a statement, Fox News management says it has reprimanded the chyron director for not correctly labeling it Italy.
CHEERS to Passion of the Pigskin. On this date in 1920, the National Football League was formed in Canton, Ohio. A new study says that, even with advances in safety equipment, you have a twenty-five percent chance of developing a serious brain injury or disease if you're a player in the NFL. Even worse, that goes up to one hundred percent if you become the head of the NFL.
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Five years ago in C&J: September 15, 2009
JEERS to an icky day to take your kids to the mall. It was "All Hitler All the Time" over the weekend in our nation's capitol, as the teabaggers, gullibly following the orders of their astroturf masters, Dick Armey and the Fox Opinion Channel, assembled to hate the president for stuff he hasn’t done and things he hasn’t said under the bogus guise of caring about the deficit. When it was all over, organizers claimed that over a million people were there, even though the actual number was closer to 60 thousand. They later admitted that they had confused the number of attendees with the number of spelling errors on their signs. No biggie.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to riches beyond measure. Tomorrow at 9am ET the starting gun (okay, bazooka) will be fired. Launching thje 2014 Netroots Nation Fall Online Auction. But until then they're still gathering items for the auction block. Proceeds go to support the annual convention and the regional events. If you can rustle up some items to donate, they'll love ya to pieces:
Art, jewelry, political collectibles, sweets, tickets to special events…what do you have to offer? Click here to donate. If you have any questions or need help uploading your item, don't hesitate to email Karen Kolber at Karen [at] netrootsnation.org. She'll be happy to help you. And thank you so much for your continued participation. Looking forward to seeing what special item you donate!
I've been perusing our neighbor's back yard for something cool to put on the block. Anyone interested in a chunk of drainspout?
Oh, and I believe today's the day self-employment taxes are due. Or as I call it: National Pound of Flesh Day. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
A Washington DC schoolgirl has prompted laughter from the US President after admitting that she had hoped the special guest visitor to her school was going to be Bill in Portland Maine. First Lady Michelle Obama also agreed that she would "rather see BiPM."
---BBC News
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