From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
In the News: The Critters of Maine
The good:
A recent federal report has pinpointed some of the causes of rapid die-off of bee populations from colony collapse disorder, but Maine beekeepers say hives here are flourishing. … "We're in very good shape," said Tony Jadczak, state apiarist for the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. "We have good bees, good bloom. Now we just need some (good) weather." … Colony collapse disorder has killed millions of bees globally and devastated commercial beekeeping in many parts of the world.
The
bad:
The survival rates of fledglings on Maine's two largest puffin colonies plunged last summer, and puffins are in declining health at the largest puffin colony in the Gulf, on a Canadian island about 10 miles off eastern Maine. Dozens of emaciated birds were found washed ashore in Massachusetts and Bermuda this past winter, likely victims of starvation. … Whether dead puffins will continue washing up on shore and puffin chick survival rates will stay low remains to be seen. But there are enough signals suggesting that puffins and other seabirds could be in trouble, said Rebecca Holberton, a professor at the University of Maine who has studied puffins for years.
The
ugly:
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) sounded a dire note of caution Wednesday about the dangers of curtailing the First Amendment, warning ominously that any limits to free speech should serve as a call to arms. LePage was still fuming over an incident at a state Appropriations Committee meeting on May 19, when his request to speak about the state budget was denied by a Democratic legislator. "The minute we start stifling our speech, we might as well go home, roll up our sleeves and get our guns out."
How are the critters behaving in your neck of the woods?
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Note: The Chinese president is coming Friday. Quick---everyone learn to speak fluent Chinese in three days so we can impress him!
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By the Numbers:
Weeks 'til the special election in Massachusetts: 3
Days 'til the Chicago Blues Festival: 4
Drunk driving deaths in 1982 and 2011, respectively: 21,113 / 9,878
(Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Annual sales of caffeine-infused food (i.e. Wired Waffles and Cracker Jack'd), up 50% from 2008: $1.6 billion
(Source: The Washington Post)
Portion of religious Americans who believe in reincarnation: 1/4
Portion of non-religious Americans who believe in reincarnation: 1/4
(Source: Harper's Index)
Number of registered Kossacks as of yesterday: 854,065
(Source: jotter)
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
In many, many animal species, the male and female of the species play complementary roles, with the male dominant in strength and protection and the female dominant in nurture. It’s the female who tames the male beast. … In modern society we are not supposed to point out that children in a two-parent heterosexual nuclear household have a better chance at long term success in life than others. In modern society, we are supposed to applaud feminists who teach women they can have it all---that there is no gender identifying role and women can fulfill the role of husbands and fathers just as men do.
---Erick Erickson at RedState, whose musky scent makes women cling to his pantlegs in mass swoonage.
All together now: 1…2…3…
Classy!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Tips for apartment-dwelling dog lovers via Dogster
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A life well lived.
CHEERS to Frank Lautenberg. He was one of the senators whom I didn’t know a whole lot about and didn't hear much in the way of fiery rhetoric or spotlight-hogging. But I always knew instinctively that he was a good guy and a smart guy and a hard-working guy. He was the proverbial Dependable "D." And although he accomplished a lot of things during his 29 years in the Senate, I give him
a thousand gold stars for this:
A tobacco industry nemesis, Lautenberg helped write the law banning smoking on airline flights in 1987, during his first term in the Senate. He also helped write the law that expanded the ban two years later to almost all domestic flights and led efforts to ban smoking in federal buildings. Call it the zeal of the converted: Lautenberg was once a cigarette smoker himself, as was his mother.
He was 89. Condolences to his friends and family. Chris Christie is appointing his replacement. Try to curb your enthusiasm.
JEERS to lame responses. GOP chairman Reince Priebus went on
Fox News Sunday after his party got its ass rhetorically kicked by 89 year-old Bob Dole the week before. Wbereas Dole said that the GOP should put a "closed for repairs" sign on its door, Priebus said that the GOP is actually
open for repairs. I guess that makes sense, since today's GOP believes that regulations of any kind---like, say, at construction sites---are tyranny. So come on in and help yourself to the welding torches, America! Munch on some asbestos! And, of course, no permit is necessary for your semiautomatic nail guns! (Of course, you ladies need to get permission from your husbands first. Because, hey, we may be new and improved but we ain't crazy.)
P.S. Priebus's sense of timing must be the worst in the universe, because just as he's crowing about how open and welcoming the Republican party is, along come the Milennials in a poll to tell him they think it's actually "closed-minded, racist, rigid, and old-fashioned." On the plus side, they love the wingtips Republicans wear---they remind them of Grandpop.
WHATEVER to the bad penny that keeps turning up. Congress is back in session. I know this because the D.C. hookers are back to buying new jewelry and the House cafeteria staff is back to counting the silverware.
CHEERS to famous firsts. Oh, we Mainers hate to brag, but duty calls:
"Turn, Turn, Turn."
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VolturnUS, the first offshore floating wind turbine in North America [We're #1!!! We're #1!!! –BiPM], hit the water Friday. … The effort to get 20 gigawatts of offshore wind capability by 2030 could bring as much as $20 billion of private investment to Maine and create thousands of jobs, according to UMaine officials.
Maine has 156 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity within 50 miles of its coastline, and this is one of the first major visible steps after years of research toward harnessing that energy, according to composites center Director Habib Dagher, who has lead the project since its infancy
It's interesting that our fossil-fuel-loving tea party governor didn’t attend the historic launch, and has
said nothing publicly about this new exciting chapter in our state's energy production history. Then again he's probably just jealous for being upstaged by an object that actually produces something useful from bluster and spin.
JEERS to chores we hate no matter how easy they are. 102 years ago, the first washer/dryer combo went on sale. It was followed the next day by the first teenagers to totally ignore it.
JEERS to Republican "logic." Before Michele Bachmann was crazying up the House, there were plenty of others getting the job of spewing wackadoodle nonsense done. I came across Exhibit A in the shape of Tom Tancredo, who warmed a seat in Congress from 1999 to 2009, then went on to fall in the mud during his runs for president and governor of Colorado. I ran across this brilliant answer to a Time magazine question from six years ago. Gotta love this:
I have no doubt that global warming exists. I just question the cause and what we can do to ameliorate it. But I wonder why the Sierra Club isn't going crazy about the environmental aspects of massive immigration into the U.S. The fact is, Americans consume more energy than anyone else, so if a person moves here from another country, they automatically become bigger polluters.
Conversely, so the logic goes, if we send Americans to other countries, we'll automatically become smaller polluters. That's why my offer of a free catapult ride for Mr. Tancredo still stands. And I'll toss Bachmann in for free.
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Five years ago in C&J: June 4, 2008
Amazing! CNN got
something right!
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CHEERS to blessed silence. Primary season is over. The voting booths are empty. The delegates are pledged. The airwaves are mercifully free of ads. The yard signs, confetti and champagne bottles are being swept up. And at long last we have our nominee. Our grateful thanks to everyone who entered the race and helped America get re-acquainted with our superior Democratic-brand product: Biden, Edwards, Dodd, Kucinich, Clinton, Richardson and, yeah, even Gravel. You'll each be receiving a consolation prize package worth over 200 dollars, including a gift certificate good for any of the fine products in the Spiegel Catalog and a supply of Necco Wafers. Okay...what the hell do we do now? (You have the instruction manual, right? Right???)
JEERS to the modern definition of progress. Oh look, everybody! In May only 19 of our soldiers and 505 Iraqi civilians died for a mistake. Their families must be jumping for joy at the good news. And that fruity aroma? I'm baking a victory pie!
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And just one more…
CHEERS to The Preeecious. Thirty six years ago, on June 4, 1977, the first personal computer---Apple II---went on sale. I'm guessing that, in today's dollars, it would probably cost around $8,000. Their original ads seem quaint today. Our favorite one stars meta-blogger Ben Franklin. The copy is priceless:
Rather revolutionary, the whole idea of owning your own computer? Not if you're a diplomat, printer, scientist...or a kite designer. Today there's Apple Computer. It's designed to be a personal computer. To uncomplicated your life. And make you more effective. ...
Apple is a real computer, right to the core. So just like big computers, it manages data, crunches numbers, keeps records, processes your information And prints reports. You concentrate on what you do best. And let Apple do the rest. Apple makes that easy with three programming languages---including Pascal---that let you be your own software expert.
Time waiting for access to your company's big mainframe is time wasted. What you need in your department---on your desk---is a computer that answers only to you...Apple Computer. It's less expensive than time sharing. More dependable than distributed processing. Far more flexible than centralized EDP. And, at less than $2,500, downright affordable.
Funny. Windows 8 just gave me a pop-message that reads, "Oh, Apple Apple Apple!!! Give it a rest already!" Ha ha, I'm just kidding---it just sat there and crashed.
Have a nice Tuesday---it's the LAW! Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
If you feel unsafe at the kiddie pool in Cheers and Jeers, you may soon have the right to lie there on a towel with a handgun at your side.
---Pro Publica
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