Hot dogs may lose to communism

I tell ya, there are too many studies being conducted today. One example of doctors and scientist have entirely too much time on their hands is a new policy statement from a pediatric group stating that the hot dog is a hazard for kids. You heard right, the all-american hot dog. Many regard the hot dog as a ballpark mainstay, a perfect partner to the hamburger or, for a hot-dog eating champ, a little snack. But of all snacks, the hot dog has proven most treacherous, causing about 17 percent of food-related asphyxiations. About 10,000 children younger than 14 are rushed to the hospital each year after choking on food, and up to 77 young people die is what the group states.

All of this may be prevented,according to these braniacs, with warning labels on packaging for hazardous foods, recalls on foods known to cause choking, and even the "redesign" of risky products like the hot dog. Some food packages that already feature warning labels could spread the trend, with voluntary help from the industry and the USDA, which has jurisdiction over meat products such as hot dogs. The Food and Drug Administration said it would review the group's statement recommendation for recalls.

That leaves a lingering question: How does one redesign the hot dog? One way to cut down on a frank's choking risk would be to eliminate its cylindrical, potentially windpipe-lodging shape. The group's policy statement suggests cutting foods that present a risk to children in a way that changes their spherical nature, such as quartering grapes and slicing hot dogs into lengthwise strips. Strips? Yeah, that'll be the new ballpark and grilling sensation.

Finally!!!

All I can say is it is about time! Frustrated by term-limited Mayor Ray Nagin's leadership of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, voters elected Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu to succeed him Saturday. Landrieu is the city's first white mayor since his father, Moon, left the post three decades ago.Landrieu's victory party was a nod to both: the ballroom of a the Roosevelt hotel - recently reopened after a post-Katrina restoration - was festooned with Saints-themed black and gold balloons. A roving brass band played Mardi Gras tunes and he prefaced his victory speech by leading the crowd in the Saints' "Who Dat" cheer. "We're all going together and we're not leaving anybody behind," he shouted to a jubilant crowd as family members, including his father and his sister, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, stood beside him.With all of the precincts reporting, Landrieu had 66 percent of the vote. The campaign also focused on the city's violent crime and slumping finances. Landrieu, who lost to Nagin in a runoff four years ago, was a welcome change for some voters who grew frustrated with the city's current mayor. Little known outside New Orleans before Katrina, Nagin became a central, and sometimes controversial figure, in the city's struggle to recover. Though he won re-election as he courted black voters in the 2006 campaign, Nagin notoriously pledged after the hurricane that New Orleans would be a "chocolate city" again, offending many whites. Polls showed his popularity fell sharply in the years after the storm.

India tells Al Gore to "shove it"

In this new century full of talk about global warming and how any day now Arizona really will have oceanfront property, we get a breathe of fresh air. You see my friends, the Indian government has moved to establish its own body to address and monitor science surrounding climate change, saying it "cannot rely" on the official United Nation panel. What that really means is that they don't want the world sticking its nose into Indian affairs. Who can blame them?

The move is a severe blow to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) following a claim of the UN that the Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. Sounds like vintage Al Gore doesn't it? But this claim was not repeated in any peer-reviewed studies and was completely rebuffed by scientists. India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced that the Indian government will establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology to monitor climate change in the region. "There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism," Ramesh said. "I am for climate science."

I like the term "climate evangelism".... it has a nice ring to it and is fairly true. That has been the basic theme of all this global warming nonsense, spreading a false gospel and predicting the end of the world. At least India, a third world nation that this IPCC is supposed to be helping, woke up to the realities. What India also failed to mention is that they would like to continue the industrialization of their country, without the bothers of "cap and trade" type legislation. They also would like to continue building coal fired power plants at their current rate or faster to support that industrialization. That is something the big bad UN would frown upon.

Its too bad that our President can't see the UN for what it is, but then again he's beholden to the "climate evangelists" until the next election in 2012. Perhaps he should take a look outside the window of the White House and see the effects of one of the coldest winters in 25 years. Then tell me, Mr. President, that the Earth is getting hotter. But just in case, I think I'll buy some more land in South Georgia, as that will be the new Gulf Coast in 2035, according to the UN.

You just gotta love our elected officials.....

You know some things are just beyond belief. It seems that news has broken saying that our dear Gov. Perdue wants to make a drastic change to our state government. Sure, he has proposed some whoppers before, but this one takes the cake, literally. It seems that he no longer feels that we poor, ignorant, uneducated, tax payers are worthy or qualified to vote or campaign for four top level positions in our state government. He feels that it is best that these individuals be appointed by the Governor, instead of being elected at large. The four are state school superintendent, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner and insurance commissioner. Mighty funny how these positions are up for grabs in this election, and have active candidates whom the public can investigate and get to know before they give them that position. If the Governor has his way, you'll no longer have that chance. And you though cronyism was bad now, wait until those posts are given to the best friends or contributors of a sitting governor.

Now this change will require two-thirds approval in each house of the Legislature, and will have to be ratified by the state's voters. The governor elected in 2014 would be the first to appoint people to the four positions. Appointments would require confirmation by the Senate. But its just plain scary that, with all the things our State SHOULD be working on, this is what they come up with. Just whose side are they on anyways?

Harry Reid puts his foot in his mouth....Again!

It seems that the Democrats have a bit of an ego problem. First we had Al Gore claiming he invented the internet. Then we had President Obama acting as though he were a King and above criticism. And now we have the wonderful Senator from Nevada. Sen. Harry Reid, who last month apologized for privately praising President Barack Obama's lack of a "Negro dialect," posted a Black History Month essay on his website Monday in which he takes credit for racial integration in Las Vegas.One problem: Some local black leaders and historians don't remember him having had a significant role in that effort and the senator himself made no reference to it in his 2008 memoir.

It just shows, beyond, question, how far Democratic leaders are from reality and how distorted their views of themselves are. Perhaps Sen. Reid was trying to over-compensate for his remark regarding the Presidents' "dialect". Perhaps he was trying to pander to his constituency in Nevada to shore up his chance in an election year. Whatever his personal reasonings, the point to be taken by Americans young and old is clear. "If you have to tell a lie, the bigger it is, the more people will believe it." Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf". And todays message from history, boys and girls, was brought to you by Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.

Our energy policy

My how the American public has a short attention span on important issues. It was just a short year ago that gas prices were at an all time high, ethanol was becoming the fashionable rage, and "drill here, drill now!" was the chant of the marching public. But isn't it interesting how when the prices get lowered, the public gets comfortable again, and all the protesting is put to rest. Yes readers, today I'd like to talk about the energy policy of our country; how we got here, and where we're going with it. Yes, we all know that this country seems hopelessly dependent on foreign oil, but did you know that this is the result of a well thought plan by our very own State Department?

You see, during the Second World War, the bean counters in Washington realized that this country was supplying 85% of all oil for the Allied war effort, and at that rate our natural resources would be depleted within 60 years. So they came up with a brilliant idea, and it was at the time. Develop and use oil resources from other nations, and thereby conserve ours. This would, and has, left us with a large natural supply for any forseeable national emergencies. This plan worked brilliantly for 30 years, until the arrival of the oil embargo in 1973 and the formation of OPEC. Unfortunately, it seems for us, the "other" nations got smart. They began to realize that oil gave them power, and when the prices shot up and severe shortages hit America in 1973, they realized just how much power we had given them. Our world has never been the same.

With the wealth received from oil revenues, small and unimportant tribal kingdoms suddenly became major players on the world stage. Half-pint, would be dictators built up large armies to terrorize their own people and neighbors, thanks to oil revenues. They also privately financed bands of forgettable Islamic terrorists to execute their vendettas on the West and Israel, and we are still reaping this whirlwind from groups like al-Queda. What does this mean? It means, dear friends, that our current energy policy could be considered "aiding and abetting" the enemy.

To change we must continue pressuring our leaders in Washington to reinvent our energy policy, and not get complacent when gas prices go back down, because they will eventually come back up. And never forget that high gas prices are the surest way to destroy a vibrant economy, and I consider it to be a huge factor in our current recession. But the answer is not returning to an era of bicycles and horses and candlelight, its called letting industry do what they do..... Innovate! American industries should be allowed to develop our own natural resources in fossil fuels, while continuing to fund and develop efficient alternatives. Instead of hamstringing our automakers with rules and regulations, why not offer liberal tax and financial grants to fund research in battery and fuel technologies, much like we do for defense contractors. The return on our investment would be staggering, and would carry over for another century perhaps. We may very well find ourselves eventually using gasoline for nothing more than powering classic cars. At the least, without a need for oil, it would turn the Arab world back into the impoverished wasteland it was, and take a major thorn out of our sides.

We need to also stop handicapping public utilities with guidelines that can't always be met. I'm sorry, but Georgia is not a choice candidate for renewable energy sources, and we must therefore rely upon coal and nuclear for our main power sources if you want cheap electricity. And cheap electricity is a must if you seek industrial growth and quality of life for your family. Perhaps one day, when our nation revamps its utility grid, vast solar farms in the deserts out west can light up Atlanta, but not today, nor in the next decade.

In short, the answer is to continue looking to the future and let industry lead the way, not government. Let energy conservation be gained through technological improvements, and not through government imposed rationing. Let the consumer dictate what kind of cars should be built, and not officials in Washington. Let cleaner air come through industrial innovations, and not "cap and trade" style legislation. This country has always been the greatest innovator thanks to our industry and a "hands off" approach by government. So let America be American, and let's solve our energy problems in an American way.

The President seeks to CUT the budget?

See I told ya. Never underestimate the politician Obama when it is an election. When your party loses an important election in Massachussetts, what do you do? You spin around a appear to stand for what your opponent does to win the next election. Apparently thats what President Obama is currently trying to do when it comes to the budget. After giving us record setting deficits, and running up a natgional debt that cannot be repaid any time soon, Obama is calling for budget "cuts". Yes, you heard me right.

But after you rule out spending freezes and big reductions to defense, Social Security, Medicare and other big-ticket "nondiscretionary" items, what is there left to cut from the federal budget? How about grants to manufacturers of worsted wool products? That's a savings of $5 million a year. Stop broadcasts in Croatian, Greek and Hindi on the government-run Voice of America and you save $3 million. And if every worker in the Department of Labor remembers to turn off their computer at the end of the day? That's a whopping $727,000 over five years. If those and $23 billion worth of other cost-saving measures detailed in President Barack Obama's 2011 budget proposal don't seem to add up to much in a $3.8 trillion spending package, just wait. Once our Congressmen get a hold of them, the actual spending cuts are likely to be smaller. Of the 121 programs the president sought to end or shrink in his 2010 budget, for a projected one-year savings of $17 billion, Congress only approved $11.5 billion, or 60 percent.

This year, Obama wants to terminate, reduce or find savings in 126 areas. Some of his ideas are virtually cut-and-paste items from last year's budget.Take the C-17. The Pentagon stopped requesting more of the cargo planes in 2007 because it had all it needed. That didn't go over well with lawmakers from the 43 states where the aircraft provided jobs, and every year since, Congress has insisted on buying more. Once again, the 2011 budget calls for an end to the program for a savings of $2.5 billion over the next 10 years. Smaller programs are just as difficult to kill. Last year, the administration tried to eliminate the Rural Community Facilities program within the Department of Health and Human Services, arguing that it duplicated wastewater treatment programs run by other federal agencies. Congress ignored the proposal and kept the $10 million program, which again is slated to end.
Still, the president has called for a three-year freeze on nonsecurity discretionary spending to save $250 billion over 10 years. To help achieve those savings, his budget identifies inefficient, redundant or outdated programs ripe for elimination. Some, like canceling NASA's $3.5 billion return mission to the moon, are big-ticket items. Others, like zeroing out a $1 million college scholarship program for Olympic athletes, are not. Here are other items on the chopping block or due for some paring, in no particular order:

......A long-discussed and controversial plan to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The proposal to eliminate $197 million for the project will have a powerful ally on Capitol Hill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
.......Subsidies to wealthy farmers, a perennial budget target that has avoided getting hit in the past. The proposal would cut the cap on direct payments to wealthy farmers from $40,000 to $30,000 and reduce income eligibility to save nearly $2.3 billion over the next 10 years.
.......A program that pays states to clean up abandoned coal mines that have already been cleaned up. Savings: $115 million next year and $1.2 billion over 10 years.
.......A $5 million Forest Service economic development program that funded, among other things, "a water musical festival."
.......A planned $20 million refurbishment of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center in New Mexico. The linear accelerator was built 30 years ago and no longer plays a critical role in weapons research.
.......A $120 million program that allows low-income people to get their Earned Income Tax Credit in advance. About 80 percent of those receiving early payments were later found ineligible.
.......An $18 million program to clean up and redevelop "brownfields" -- abandoned, idled and underused industrial and commercial facilities in urban areas.
.......A $761 million reduction in spending on construction of housing for low-income elderly and those with disabilities.
.......Pet congressional health service projects worth $383 million that are not subject to the usual competitive or merit-based process for funding. Included in the cuts would be proposed health care clinics in Alaska and Mississippi.
.......A $12 million program to give grants to improve security on inter-city buses.
Two National Park Service programs to restore historic buildings and promote heritage tourism, for a savings of $30 million.
.......An exchange program for Alaska Natives, native Hawaiians, children and families living in Massachusetts and members of Indian tribes in Mississippi that have historic links to whaling and trading.
.......Grants to art organizations in the nation's capital, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, for a savings of $5 million.The budget proposal includes around-the-edges savings culled from ideas submitted by federal employees through the SAVE Awards program. Among the ways federal agencies are proposing to do their part to reduce red ink:
.......The Social Security Administration could save $150,000 next year by allowing applicants to make appointments online.
.......The Air Force could save $2 million in 2011 by tailoring more than 12,000 cell phone plans to actual usage.
.......The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates $2 million in savings next year by allowing veterans to keep their medications instead of throwing away leftovers when they are discharged from the hospital.
.......The Treasury Department sees $2 million in annual savings by eliminating paper pay stubs for more than 100,000 workers.

Big or little, many of the reductions will be tough to push through a Congress that traditionally refuses to go on a no-pork diet when it comes to spending. In introducing his budget, the president alluded to the standard operating procedure when it comes to budget time."In order to meet this challenge, I welcome any idea, from Democrats and Republicans," he said. "What I will not welcome -- what I reject -- is the same old grandstanding when the cameras are on, and the same irresponsible budget policies when the cameras are off. It's time to hold Washington to the same standards families and businesses hold themselves. It's time to save what we can, spend what we must, and live within our means once again." Strange words indeed for a man as spend friendly as the President is.