snark

In which I'm forced to answer one of those 3 AM calls.

In an amazing display of personal sacrifice our Senators Dole and Burr braved the cold and discomforts of the US Senate Chamber during an all-night filibuster.

More below the fold...(Snark)

They're at it again. The liberal commies in North Carolina are all up in arms again about poor old poor people. The Winston Salem Journal, via the Associated Press, has the story

Dozens of anti-poverty and special interest groups urged budget negotiators Tuesday to keep in place two "temporary" taxes, approve a tax credit for low-income residents and spend more on education, health and environmental programs.

"We urge lawmakers to adopt a progressive, forward-looking and fiscally responsible state budget. It's what we call a 'can-do' budget that aggressively engages the problems confronting the people of our state, particularly the most vulnerable," Bill Rowe with the N.C. Justice Center said at a Legislative Building news conference.

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Coalition members sent a letter to most House and Senate members asking them to keep in place what's left of two taxes first approved in 2001 _ a quarter-cent increase on the sales tax and a higher income tax rate for the state's highest wage earners. The Senate wants the taxes to expire, saying they've been on the books long enough. But House Democrats want them kept on, leaving the sales tax at 6.75 percent and an 8 percent income tax bracket in place until 2009.

Been on the books long enough? What the heck does that mean? The real question should be: How long has POVERTY been on the books? These temporary taxes shouldn't be repealed they should be made permanent. And Joe Hackney should start the negotiations by saying he wants to raise the tax on the highest wage earners by another half percent.

This is the sweet face who usually gets me out of bed every morning.

But, once out of bed, stronger medicine is required. My habit for the last several years has been to drink many warm cups of coffee while doing morning chores; dishes, reading, lunches, writing, taking to school, commenting, getting ready for work, etc. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that when one so set in her ways as I is denied a morning habit, the world -- in that home, anyway -- goes still on its axis. It is Tragedy. There is no other way to describe it. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth. It was a rip in my personal space/time continuum, that moment of realization; today, Leslie H, you will not, can not, have that wonderful creation from Nature’s God, caffeine.

. . . when the first ever Madame Speaker picks up the gavel in Congress, my 90-year-old Libertarian father-in-law emails this punniness, which will put even Greg Flynn to the test:

Butch the rooster

John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called "pullets" and eight or ten roosters, whose job was to fertilize the eggs. The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.

All the hubbub about civil unions, civil marriage, and whatever, will likely fall by the wayside later this month when Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney throws his hat into the presidential sweepstakes. Instead of debating what John Edwards thinks of gay marriage, the national discussion will shift temporarily to (1) every man's fantasy of plural marriage and (2) whether followers of the Latter Day Saints are really honest-to-god Christians in the first place.

The plural marriage business has always intrigued me because it used to be a central tenet of the Mormon faith, but was renounced because of political pressure in the late 19th century.

The Church officially renounced the practice in 1890 when then President of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, issued "The Manifesto," while under extreme political pressure from the United States government while the territory of Utah was applying for statehood. However, there is substantial evidence that the practice continued among some Mormons into the early 20th century. The Church began formally excommunicating polygamists around this time.

It's been fun, folks!

Dear Friends, Supporters, and Lovers of All Things Snarky,

Let me make one thing perfectly clear - we didn't want to make this website. We had to. Under the ideal conditions this website wouldn't have been necessary in the first place. And now, as you've no doubt heard by now, those ideal conditions have arrived. Several years late, but better late than never, and thus completely nullifying our very reason to exist as an Internet entity.

In other words, this site is being put out to pasture.