theCLog

Next president faces record budget deficit:
The next president will face a record budget deficit approaching $490 billion, a Bush administration official said Monday. The deficit is being driven to an all-time high by the declining economy and the stimulus payments that were made to 130 million households in an attempt to keep the country from falling into a deep recession. The deficit is expected to easily surpass the record deficit of $413 billion set in 2004. BBC News

Prominent cancer doctor warns about cellphone use:
Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, the director of University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, has warned his faculty and staff to limit cellphone use because of a possible cancer risk. Dr. Herberman notes while the link between cellphone use and cancer may be unclear, people should take precautions, particularly for children. “Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cellphone use,” he wrote in his memo to staff and faculty. AP via The New York Times

Church shooting suspect angry over job search:
Jim Adkisson, the suspect in a fatal shooting that took place at a Knoxville church on Sunday, was frustrated over being unable to find a job and hatred for the liberal movement, police said Monday. Authorities recovered a four-page letter in which Adkisson described his feelings and motives. CNN

The Dark Knight breaks $300 million record:
The Dark Knight continues to break box office records in the United States, breaking the $300 million dollar mark in just 10 days. The film grossed 75.6 million dollars in its second weekend in cinemas, pushing its domestic total to $314,245,000 dollars. Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man’s Chest held the previous record, which was set in 16 days in 2006. BBC News

Wildfires at Yosemite threaten homes:
A fast-spreading wildfire outside California’s Yosemite National Park has destroyed a dozen homes and burned more than 26,000 acres of dry timber, the state’s forestry department said Monday. CNN

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“Childless, unmarried, fifty-seven years old, and living with her bedridden mother, [Ellen Butterby] had not drunk deeply from life. As a young woman fresh out of secretarial school, she had answered a help wanted ad, appeared in the cavernous lobby of the New York Globe, and was hired at ninety dollars a week. That was thirty-six years ago, and she had been there ever since. What had she accomplished? Like everyone else, she had given everything to the paper, that bottomless pit. She was aware, on days when she scanned the obits, that she wouldn’t merit a single paragraph.”

— Black and White and Dead All Over by John Darton (Knopf, $24.95; available July 31)

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This weekend, I had the (mis)fortune of hanging out with my niece in South Carolina. Sometimes I forget how young she is. But I got a reminder when she was on the Internet at my parents’ house watching a video about Miley Cirus and Selena Gomez, both hot Disney chicks of the moment. They seem to be fighting over one of the Jonas Brothers. I guess in the Disney universe, you must only be able to date the girls also in the Mouse family. (Here’s a story about the rivalry.) And here’s the actual video:

This is the same storyline that Hillary Duff and Lindsey Lohan experienced when they were both young Disney stars? We see how that turned out. Lohan is a tabloid queen and Duff hasn’t made many great career choices. It really makes you wonder what’s going on when the big mouse isn’t looking.

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Mark Englander, owner of Charlotte Energy Solutions, offered CL these gas-saving tips. We didn’t have room in the paper, so I’m posting them here:
1. Buy gas during the coolest time of the day. Gas is dense when cool. You’re charged for volume, not density.
2. Accelerate gently. Jack-rabbit starts waste gas.
3. Go 55 miles per hour to give you up to 21 percent better mileage compared to mileage at 65 miles per hour or higher.
4. Switching to higher gears sooner can save as much as 45 percent more fuel.
5. Put the car in neutral when idling at a standstill. This allows your transmission to cool down.
6. Coast to a stop at lights and stop signs.
7. When approaching a hill, accelerate before you reach it rather than while you are on it. The latter requires more gas.
8. Pump up tire pressure to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewalls of the tire.
9. Drive off-center of the lane. This “ridge riding” lessens resistance by not driving in the traffic-worn tracks of the pavement.
10. Pace yourself to hit as many green lights as possible.
11. Hang back from cars ahead.
12. Combine errands. Cars burn more gas when warming up.
13. Try to park so that you never need to back out of a space. The reverse gear uses more gas than forward gear.
14. Stay about three-seconds of driving behind 18-wheelers. This lets you use them as windbreakers.
15. Buy an automotive computer that shows you in real time your miles per gallon.

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One of the things I miss about being away from home is my momma’s cooking … of Korean food. Cho Won Garden Korean Barbeque & Cuisine (2501 Crown Point Executive Drive) opened up not too long ago, but I’m kind of picky when it comes to kimchee, the staple dish in the Korean diet (pickled cabbage with hot stuff on it). If the kimchee’s off, then the whole meal is all wrong for me. I prefer fresh kimchee; a lot of folks like it sour and aged. Yuck.

If you’ve never had Korean food, I strongly urge you to try it. Most of the places I’ve been to do a community-style meal, where you order one main dish, like kalbi (short ribs), with white rice and you share the side dishes (such as kimchee, bean sprouts, anchovies, pickled seaweed, etc.) My favorite places are the ones that give you a piece of fruit at the end of the meal to help freshen your breath (because let me tell you, kimchee breath is the worst). Also, FYI, be on the lookout for pieces of red pepper caught in your teeth.

Sigh. I suppose I should give Cho Won Garden a try … that, or just make the 3-hour drive to Georgia to see my momma. If you’ve been to Cho Won Garden, let me know how it is.

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File this under: It’s about damned time!

Today Congress is holding a hearing to discuss the issue of impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Granted, it’s not an actual impeachment — yet — but talk about impeachment. Follow that? Either way, it should have come sooner.

Via CBSnews.com:

A boisterous crowd has already gathered for today’s hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on the case for impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

(more…)

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If you watch CNN or read the Cable News Network’s web site, they you know there was this series on this week titled “Black In America.” Touted as a year long investigation that was supposed to show what it really means to be black in America, it actually shows a lot more than that. It also shows how many people are “racist in America.”

Let’s take a look at what some CNN viewers had to say about the program from www.cnn.com:

PLEASE!!!!

Slavery is your excuse!!! How many years ago was that!!!! Most “african-americans” have many more opportunities than “people living in a white world” have!

If you want equality, you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make a life for yourself and not wait for someone to,” oh I’m sorry that your ancestors were slaves…here’s a free ride!”

Have a nice day!
xtyxy
updated Fri July 25, 2008

(more…)

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Now here’s a smart move: Sen. Richard Burr wants to be sure that whacked-out veterans can get their hands on guns. Burr, a U.S. Senator from North CArolina who’s been making moves to ascend the national GOP ladder, has apparently found that one way to do so is to climb right up the National Rifle Association’s butt. This week, he introduced a bill that would prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from declaring veterans mentally unfit to own a gun. Burr said that some veterans were added to the agency’s “mentally defective” list not because they were a risk but because the VA assigned them guardians to oversee their finances — which is what happens when veterans are mentally unable to handle their own affairs. Burr’s bill is irresponsible in that mentally unstable veterans are a high risk for committing suicide, not to mention the fact that no one wants crazy guys with visions of roadside bombs walking around their neighborhoods with loaded weapons. With so many returning Iraq veterans, who have been subjected to long and repeated tours of duty, coming home with mental problems, Burr’s bill seems particularly ill-advised, not to mention grossly butt-kissing toward his NRA buds.

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China is so excited about hosting the Olympics. I’ve heard rumors that they created a huge topiary garden and are training nearly 200,000 cheerleaders to help boost the crowd’s enthusiasm in the numerous venues where the competitions will be held. Though I wouldn’t put anything past them (they are cleaning up smog, algae and probably those pesky locusts in record time) I could only find proof that the New England Patriots’ Cheerleaders are helping to train 200 bouncy bubbly Chinese ladies.

(more…)

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X-Film almost marks the spot

By Matt Brunson

THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE
**1/2
DIRECTED BY Chris Carter
STARS David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson

Perhaps they should have called it X and the City.

Given the phenomenal, $150 million haul of Sex and the City, the makers of The X-Files: I Want to Believe doubtless hope that their big-screen adaptation of a wildly popular (and long canceled) TV series will meet with a similar fate. I’m just not seeing it, but that’s not to say that this film doesn’t deserve to have things (read: the box office) mostly go its way. Although much of the viewing experience has already faded from my mind (hardly a ringing endorsement, I’ll grant), what remains is how the film manages to resurrect the eerie aura that marinated the series during its nine-year run. (more…)

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