Hear it now?  uh huh.  That’s the sound of millions of Obama bumperstickers being scraped off.

I got this email from one of my most rational wombat pals today:

Gubbmint and How Gubbmint Works

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.” So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without
instruction?” So they created a planning department and hired two
people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do
time studies.

Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the
tasks correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and
hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports..

Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So They
created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer,
Then hired two people.

Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”
So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an
Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal
Secretary.

Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one
Year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost.”

So they laid off the night watchman.

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of
the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.... during the Carter Administration?

NOW slowly, let it sink in.

Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.

Anybody?

Anything?

No?

Didn’t think so!

Bottom line. We’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of
an agency...the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!

Ready?? 
It was very simple...and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977. 
TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

AND NOW IT’S 2009—32 YEARS LATER—AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS “NECESSARY” DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, “WHAT WAS I THINKING?”

Ah, yes—good ole bureaucracy.

AND, NOW, WE ARE GOING TO TURN THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?
HELLOOO!  Anybody Home?

They had been waiting for more than 24 hours, camped out on the pavements in a frigid Michigan chill. Stepping off her bus, in four-inch heels, black skirt and red blazer, came their heroine — clutching baby Trig. A roar went up…

The U.S. Army said Friday it would open former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s appearance on Fort Bragg to media, a reversal from earlier in the week when the military wanted the event closed out of fears it would prompt political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.

The attempt to ban media at the event scheduled for Monday was met with protests from The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer. The military then proposed limited media coverage, but lifted that plan Friday.

~ * ~
The Army now plans to allow any interested media to cover Palin’s appearance, including allowing interviews with people who attend the event and rotating journalists into the building where Palin will be signing books…

I think I’m having as much fun with all of this as she is :)

I went ahead and purchased a bunch of misc air fresheners to toss into the boxes. A few “trees”, a few Renuzit (?) gel cone deallios and some cool scented sticks that hang from a string. I’m still looking for those “stick ups” that brodie mentioned in comments and will find them. I figured a little selection for different situations couldn’t be a bad thing.
It’s looking like we’re going to be sending a heap load of these warmers already....so I’m thinking.... They have cases of TOE warmers at Costco and I didn’t know they even existed.
Is there anyone out there in the know that could tell me if these are something they might not know about either and could use too?

Other than than how incredibly awesome you all are, that’s the update for now.

The guy at the post office was very helpful and we figure I can fit a box of 40 handwarmers ($15 at Costco/40), unopened with room to stuff a few loose ones in one of those flat rate boxes perfectly....and if I purchase and print out the postage online we can mail them for about $10 a box.
Bottom line, $25 will get you one full box. AnnoyingMike said they also appreciate air fresheners and I could, instead of loose handwarmers, jam a whole bunch of them in each box. I haven’t looked into any bulk ones but I can if you all think that’s a good idea.

I still haven’t heard back from my contact about piggy-backing a part of the shipment via the ARMY. This would obviously save us a bunch of money but working out these things takes a little time and it would ship a LOT slower (we’re dealing with the US government here :) and we’re really cutting it close with time so I would like to get started accumulating the funds as we work out the final stuff. But like I said, bottom line/top dollar $25 per box plus maybe a couple bucks extra for the air fresheners. The postage remains the same no matter what fits inside the box. If we mailed them regular postage the case of handwarmers would cost about $20 to ship so this is a pretty good deal.

Same as usual, put “little hotties” in the description line if you go the PayPal route or e-mail me for my PO Box addy.
Just for knowing, I pay $1 for each piece of mail I get there (it’s a nice courtesy so I don’t have to pay for and maintain a monthly box fee in between support endeavors and my birthday and stuff :) so.......I know a lot of you hate PayPal but it’s a real convenient service and costs less that what I have to pay for my mail. I’ve actually been pretty happy with it.
But I understand if you won’t/don’t/can’t bring yourself to use it.

I’ll probably nudge you and this post up every couple of days until maybe the Friday after Thanksgiving and then we’ll see what our options are and get them sent.

Send our fighting men and women some Little Hotties!

Breitbart: Not only are there more tapes, it’s not just ACORN.  And this message is to Attorney General Holder: I want you to know that we have more tapes, it’s not just ACORN, and we’re going to hold out until the next election cycle, or else if you want to do a clean investigation, we will give you the rest of what we have, we will comply with you, we will give you the documentation we have from countless ACORN whistleblowers who want to come forward but are fearful of this organization and the retribution that they fear that this is a dangerous organization.  So if you get into an investigation, we will give you the tapes; if you don’t give us the tapes, we will revisit these tapes come election time.

H/T WZ

Well, this story is certainly getting some legs.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/19/breaking-news-story-hadley-cru-has-apparently-been-hacked-hundreds-of-files-released/

ORLY?

it appears that University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit has been hacked and many many files have been released by the hacker or person unknown.

Oh just a bunch of tweedy climate wonks jawing back and forth about their twenty-sided dice collection and Seven of Nine’s boobs, right?

Dear Ray, Mike and Malcolm,
Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or
first thing tomorrow.
I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps
to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from
1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.

...

burton, in comments

Eggos! aaaargh!

Not bad enuff?

Libby Canned Punkin

Srsly.  I’m gonna have a mutiny of 30 on my hands with no punky pie…

Apparently the job of a “bookseller” in and around San Francisco is not so much to sell product, but rather to give comfort to like-minded individuals and convert the remaining unwashed masses to lockstep ideology. Politics trumps profit, even though profit generates the much needed tax revenue, job growth, and consumer spending this state dearly needs....

“Our customers are thinking people,” said Nathan Embretson, a bookseller at Pendragon Books in Oakland. “They’re not into reading drivel.”

”Anything like that we wouldn’t carry,” said clerk Emily Stackhouse at Cover to Cover Books in San Francisco. “We’re a small store and it would probably gross us all out. Some things you carry because of freedom of speech, but a book like that is just gross.”

Thanks to the dedicated staff of Capital Medical Center and the cooperation of the U.S. Army, an army sergeant stationed in Iraq was able experience the birth of his second child via the Internet using Skype, a real-time video and audio program.

The sergeant was able to communicate with his wife throughout labor and delivery with the use of a laptop computer at the woman’s bedside. He watched as his new daughter got assessed and bathed; got to see her long eyelashes, and know that everyone was healthy.

Special kudos to Laurinda Elgin, the hospital’s neonatal nurse practitioner and military wife who has expertise in computers. She spent many hours talking with Army staff and Capital’s information technology staff to arrange this feat.

As a registered nurse in this department, I feel it is an honor to be involved with the administration and staff that supported this event and enabled it to happen.

Our troops deserve it.

MELINDA HARRIS-MOULTON, Olympia

I can do 33 real push-ups in a row without stopping...and I’m almost 20 4/5th years old! My goal is 40 by the new year. Pushups!

Santa Claus with his Reindeer and sledge in Rovaniemi’s Christmas theme park in Finnish Lapland. Santa has promised children he would travel around the world to bring them Christmas presents despite the global swine flu pandemic.