The leaders of Bolivia and Ecuador are moving with Cuban encouragement and in concert with their mentor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to restrict press freedom in their countries.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa both announced steps to crack down on independent broadcasters within days of Mr. Chavez’s closure on Sunday of Venezuela’s main independent television station, RCTV.

Speaking before an international gathering of leftist intellectuals in Cochabamba last week, Mr. Morales proposed creating a tribunal to oversee the operations of privately owned press and broadcast outlets. Mr. Correa announced over the weekend that he would order a review of the broadcasting licenses of opposition news channels in his country.

Just don’t mess with Univision.  Them Latin folks get testy without their daily dose of variety shows cast with midgets and guys dressed as bumblebees.

“The main adversaries of my presidency, of my government, are certain communications media,” Mr. Morales said at the Fifth World Conference of Artists and Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity, a Venezuelan-backed group supporting “the process of change in Latin America.”

So while these leftard despots down yonder are taking a dump on the notion of open exchange of ideas we have a fat gringo spewing much the same here in the US of A…

On CBS’ “Early Show” with Harry Smith, Al Gore said, ”the first concerns among defenders of democracy arose with radio. And that’s why the equal time provision and the fairness doctrine and the public interest standard were put in place here. Those protections were almost completely removed during President Reagan’s term.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada are being asked to extend vegetarians the tax break currently given to hybrid-car owners for purchasing a vehicle with low carbon emissions.

The request comes from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals founder Ingrid E. Newkirk, who read a University of Chicago report arguing that switching to a vegetarian diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius.

She also cited a U.N. scientific report concluding that the meat industry generates more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transportation systems combined, including cars, trucks, planes and ships.

Maybe if Newkook ate some frakkin’ meat the protein would actually jump start what’s commonly known as a thought process.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Afghan and Coalition forces killed six Taliban militants in a firefight that erupted in an operation early Wednesday in the mountains west of Jalalabad City.

Credible intelligence led the forces to the compound suspected of housing local Taliban fighters.  As the combined force approached the compound, they took fire and quickly responded, returning fire.  The brief firefight resulted in six enemy fighters killed and one slightly injured, with no injuries to civilians or Coalition forces.

Four militants were detained for questioning.

“Taliban militants who choose to engage Afghan and Coalition forces are fighting a losing battle,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force-82 spokesman.  “The people of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan want peace in their country and are supporting their government’s work toward that peace.”

shhhhhhhhhhh

uh ‘nother word

for dim.

*snerk*

..........getting paid to drive around in 90F/not a cloud in the sky...in a Jeep with the top down and Rammstein blaring stopping at beautiful houses to take Labs for walks by a stream and old horse farms with 1 year old Golden Retriever puppies then bemembering at the end of the day that you forgot your super duper pro boxing gloves at the gym last night and dreading them not being there (by mistake, no one would steal them) or having them been tossed under the stinky sweaty boxing ring in stinky nasty bins with all the lost and found/house work out accessories and 83760999.98 miscelaneous cootie strains only to find that your instructor took them and your expensive wrist splint knowing that they were yours and put them in the locked employee closet for me.....

then..........
coming home and having to water 92876735534839 newly planted tenderlings and baskets because the day was sweltering while the temperature drops to heavenly minus a few because of all the watering while sipping organic sparkling lemonade straight from the big glass bottle..........

....is so exhausting..........

* blows whisp of hair from dampened brow*

Mitt Romney yesterday found himself face to face with an angry liberal who declared he would not vote for the Republican presidential candidate because of his faith, the Associated Press reports.

“I’m one person who will not vote for a Mormon,” Al Michaud of Dover, N.H., shouted at Mr. Romney when the former Massachusetts governor approached him inside Harvey’s Bakery in downtown Dover.

Mr. Romney kept smiling as he asked, “Can I shake your hand anyway?”

Mr. Michaud replied, “No.”

Mr. Michaud later told reporters he was not “a right-winger,” alluding to some evangelical Christians who have compared Mr. Romney’s faith to a cult. Instead, Mr. Michaud stated he was “a liberal.”

He said he planned to vote for Hillary Clinton should she win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Al Michaud of Dover, NH is a hateful bigot.

Willie: You’re sure you don’t want a TV dinner?

Eva: Yes. I’m not hungry. Why is it called TV dinner?

Willie: Um… You’re supposed to eat it while you watch TV. Television.

Eva: I know what a TV is. Where does that meat come from?

Willie: What do you mean?

Eva: What does that meat come from?

Willie: I guess it comes from a cow.

Eva: From a cow? It doesn’t even look like meat.

Willie: Eva, stop bugging me, will you? You know, this is the way we eat in America. I got my meat, I got my potatoes, I got my vegetables, I got my dessert, and I don’t even have to wash the dishes.

here’s your sign petard

In 2006, residents of Berzerkeley CA voted their city government a mandate for fascism mandate to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.  City officials hustled to stick their noses up everyone’s sleeves make plans and take action.

-- Residents will be told exactly how many carbon units they’re generating based on the cars they own, the distances they drive, the waste they generate and the energy they consume...
--no incandescent lightbulbs, Wedgewood stoves or gas-powered water heaters…
-- residents forced to ...upgrade all their kitchen appliances… [to] high-efficiency appliances, solar-powered water heaters, insulation in the walls…
-- builders will use only recycled and green materials…
-- Landlords will be required to provide free bus passes to tenants…
-- the city plans to create an assessment district to help residents buy solar panels for their homes…
-- Incentives and legislation will make common many activities only a few practice now—walking to work, using cloth shopping bags, buying locally grown produce, shutting off appliances and reducing their use of nonrecyclable packaging....
-- a car-share vehicle on every block [I have no idea what that is]

...also notes that the city’s method of tabulating emissions seems “fuzzy."… But the accounting details are irrelevant, said Dan Kammen, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resource Group.

“Berkeley is one of the first cities to do this, and I think they’re entitled to some creative bookkeeping,” he said.

Help!  Help!  My reason is being assaulted!

*pulls on hip-waders*

“I want the smartest guy around to be president,” said [some schmuk], in the “Worst President Ever” T-shirt. But, he added, ”how do you convince people it’s okay to feel inferior to their leaders?”