Sunday "News on the Run"

Today is not the day it was yesterday, though the weather outside is still almost spring like with just a bite of winter around the edges.  There is a slight chance of some flurries later in the day with temperatures dropping down to 19 degrees...the great days ahead this week will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a predicted high on Wednesday of 61 degrees...shorts any one?  Unfortunately, unless something changes, the forecast for next Saturday's Second Annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade is iffy at best with both rain and snow in the picture.  Let us hope that the weatherman is wrong on that one.

Sunday "News on the Run"

In Republican News...For the Good of the Party, perhaps it is time for Newt Gingrich, and perhaps even Rick Santorum to stand down.  With a huge win in Washington state this weekend, seems that Scrooge McDuck (that would be Mitt Romney) is strengthening his claim on the mantle of Republican Presidential candidate for this fall's election.  Super Tuesday of course is going to tell everyone a lot, and we can make some predictions here at the Mountaindale After Dark blog.  If Newt loses Georgia, look for him to fall into line and suspend his campaign.  If Santorum does not win Ohio, there is a good chance he also will suspend his campaign UNLESS Newt loses Georgia.  Congressman Ron Paul...he's collecting delegates, and may just stay in till the convention so his folks have some say in the Republican Platform.

How LOW can you go...everyone knows that I love Girl Scout cookies, have ordered at least one case a year for decades now.  So imagine my shock this morning when I read on CNN that two men in Texas held up Girl Scouts, and STOLE THEIR COOKIE MONEY!  There should be a special place in hell for any one that would steal money from a Girl Scout.  The thieves got away with about $200, which the Girl Scouts involved are responsible for.   Police are investigating.

In "Who Cares News", Whitney Houston is still in the news...the reason...someone took one last picture of her in her casket.

My thought of the day...why are we spending all this money on state of the art tech toys, paying extra fees to have the fastest internet speeds if every time we want to read a news story we have to watch a 30 second commerical?

It's Ugly Outside, and Friday "News on the Run"

Been outside working, and it's UGLY out...not exactly pellets, but stinging, almost but not quite frozen rain drops pelting down from the gray overcast sky.  If the weather forecast is accurate, look for much the same all day with the sun finally peeking back in on us again sometime Saturday, though the temperatures will remain cold...not frigid, just cold.  All in all, it has been a very mild January for us here in downtown Mountaindale, so no complaints here.

Yesterday saw me officially move the remainder of my stuff out of 60 Main Street here in Mountaindale, bringing to a close my own dream of opening up the "Second Time Around" gallery and the "Second Cup Cafe", though the dream of opening up these enterprises is still alive and well and living in Burbank as I explore other options and avenues that may be  out there on the horizon here in Sullivan County.

Friday "News on the Run"

Fukushima's tragic tale of abandoned animals.  For those of us living in the shadow if Indian Point and other aging relics from the age of the "Friendly Atom", so many sad truths to be learned in the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, none more than the ten if not hundreds of thousands of animals left behind to die slow deaths in the radioactive fallout zone referred to as the "EXCLUSION ZONE".  Cats, dogs (peoples pets) as well as livestock all abandoned, left to die...you will not find these victims factored into NRC's accident formulas, will not find them included in Entergy evacuation plans.  All you will find is a rule that tells us we cannot bring our pets along to the shelters...maybe perhaps because they already know just how inadequate these shelters are in the case of a serious nuclear incident.  Did you know that Entergy, our local, state and federal government can only handle five percent of the citizens at a shelter should a serious incident ever occur at Indian Point...that is why the NRC now wants us to shelter in place.

Yet another far left leaning think tank is trying to disguise AMNESTY for Illegal Aliens...for starters, lets label them what they are...ILLEGAL ALIENS, and lets stop trying to pretend they are NOT CRIMINALS.  They are criminals, they should be prosecuted, where necessary serve their time, and then be deported.  Lets forget about the Dream Act (a nightmare for those who are here or came here LEGALLY), and lets stop saying our immigration policy is broken...our immigration policy is not broken, it is NOT ENFORCED.  Make E-Verify the law of the land, marry that to work place and neighborhood raids, and you would see a large percentage of ILLEGAL ALIENS self deporting themselves, and we solve the whole problem.  Note...I am a liberal, but not when it comes to the issue of Illegal Immigration.

YAWN...yet another Republican Debate last night.  Who cares...seriously, enough with the debates already folks...how many times can we listen to Newt and Romney before we die of BOREDOM?  At least Ron Paul provided us some comic relief.

Company that Mitt Romney was a board member of, guilty of Medicare Fraud...does that make Mitt Romney guilty to some degree of MEDICARE FRAUD?  Oh, silly me, I keep forgetting that people like Mitt are never responsible when things go wrong, when LAWS ARE BROKEN.

Putting Iowa Caucus in Perspective

Will be so glad when Tuesday January 3rd has passed, and we can stop hearing about the importance of the Iowa Caucus...though we will still have to tolerate pundits talking about who comes out of Iowa with the BIG MO.

Lets use numbers to put the Iowa Caucus and the Big Mo in perspective. There are only 3 million people in the entire state of Iowa, or about one percent of America's population base. Of those, the pundits are guessing 125-150,000 will actually participate (vote) in the Iowa Caucus. Pick a candidate, any candidate, and give them 50 percent of this vote. OMG, we should let Iowa dictate who has the BIG MO, who is the odds on favorite to win the presidential nod because they have the support of say 67-75,000 voters in the outback of Iowa?

This whole thing is stupid...New York City has how many registered voters. Pick another state, say Florida, or Pennsylvania, even California...any of those states pick a winner, and perhaps we should stand up and take notice, but Iowa...IT IS A JOKE. Huntsman says Iowa grows corn, and if we are honest, New Hampshire has a catchy slogan, but other than that, giving any serious credence to either states choice to be the Republican Standard Bearer is a joke, and if they are honest, all the major networks know this.

Friday "News on the Run" and Other Things

WOW...where does the time go. There are just NINE days until Christmas, so hope everyone is almost done with their shopping, and for those of you who bake, hope your kitchens smell as delightful as my own. For those that are wondering what Christmas is like for that one percent that the Occupy Movement is railing against, a couple web sites you might enjoy.

Drool over Bentley's latest offering.

There is ALWAYS the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book.

My own least favorite commercial during the holidays...Mercedes Benz with Santa out on the assembly line checking on a gift for a very good boy or girl. What kind of a message does that send to our kids, imagine being that poor child with parents who cannot afford a Mercedes the family that Santa does not present with a new car.  Mercedes is not the only car company playing the Santa Card, just the one I find the most distasteful.

Let's get right to the Friday edition of "News on the Run"

In Republican Primary news I am sure we are all tired and bored with, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is endorsing Mitt Romney for president...as the Church Lady would say, "Well isn't that SPECIAL".  Her reasoning for the endorsement...out of all the Republican candidates, Obama seems most afraid of Mitt.  Scary fact folks...with that kind of reasoning, she is a RISING STAR in the Republican Party.

KGB & CIA Not What They Used To Be

In far more serious news, Moscow has seized radioactive material bound for Iran...the bad news...in an episode worthy of the Keystone Cops, Moscow Security forces seized the materials while allowing the Iranian citizen carrying it TO ESCAPE.  Guess now the Pentagon/CIA does not have to feel so bad about Iran having one of our Drones.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's customs agency said Friday that it seized radioactive metal from the luggage of an Iranian passenger bound for Tehran.

From Japan...after spewing radioactive contaminants into the ocean, air and environment for eight month's, the "cold shutdown" has finally been achieved at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's multiple reactors.  The Japanese government wants too spin this as an important milestone in the worst nuclear accident known to mankind, but if truth be told, it will take CENTURIES for the damage caused to be undone...meanwhile, our own NRC chooses to ignore the lessons of this horrific accident, and push through the license renewal for Entergy's trouble prone accident on the Hudson waiting to happen known as Indian Point. 

Candy "Cain" (I Did Not Sexually Harrass Those Women) Is Not Ready For Prime Time

"The Candyman", Hermann Cain who has denied sexually harassing not one but four different women has dropped from first to third in the Republican Presidential Primary Polls, just two points ahead of the other self destructing political neanderthal Governor Rick Perry. After today's Rick Perry like mental meltdown when answering a question on Libya, look for him to drop down into the cellar of the race where he can at least converse in a sexually harassing way with Michele Bachmann...when asked what ice cream flavor she would be, Cain recently replied, "Tuiti Fruiti".

The apparently new favorite flavor of the week in the ABM (anyone but Mitt) race is "Mr. Vanilla" himself, Newt Gingrich who is now in a statistical dead heat with Mr. "I'm So Rich" Romney. Wonder what is going to happen next week after the political pundits drag all of Newt's dirty laundry out from days gone by...and trust me, there is plenty of dirty laundry to talk about. Could it be that we could still see Ron Paul emerge as the torch bearer for the Republican Party in the 2012 Presidential Campaign? If not, they still have time to recruit Donald Trump.