pinions of buddy don: innertainin news

the news has been verr innertainin of late. tiz part of the reason that stories end once they git to happy ever after on a counta that aint all that innerestin. fer the same reason, have ye notissd how folks has verr good idees whut hell is lack but caint hardly say whut heaven is? corse, thay is this. thang is, the money line frum that song is "Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens."

but thangs is a'happenin in the news lack crazy. sentimentull favert is this here story bout a vespa-ridin mayor name of A Mayor on a Vespa, And Other Ways to Set Energy Examples. dont that putt ye in mind of that son of red molly n his vespa projeck?

ye mite could thank such trublesum times in terms of energy wood be bad news fer them that has to compete fer preshus supplies, them oil cumpnies fer instunts. as ye know, they been claimin lack nobidys bizness how they aint gougin, so tiz jes thar good luck that these stories has cum out. furstn is Exxon Mobil Profit Soars 75%:

High prices for crude oil, gasoline and natural gas helped Exxon Mobil Corp. to its highest-ever quarterly profit, $9.92 billion, up 75 percent from the third quarter last year, the company said yesterday.

Profit in the third quarter at the world's largest publicly traded oil company set an industry record, and its sales of $100.72 billion were the highest in a quarter by U.S. company, according to Standard & Poor's.

Other oil companies have reported soaring third-quarter profits this week. Royal Dutch Shell PLC, based in the Hague, said yesterday that its third-quarter profit was not far behind Exxon Mobil's: $9.03 billion, up 68 percent. London-based BP PLC reported profit of $6.53 billion, up 34 percent.

but thar luck aint no big thang n we shouldnt git the lease bit upset by it, as splaind in this articull name of Oil Industry Seeks to Cast Huge Profits as No Big Deal:

By most familiar comparisons, the $9.92 billion profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corp. in just three months is almost unimaginable. It would cover all Social Security benefit payments for three months. It would pay for an Ivy League education for about 60,000 kids. It would pay the average list price for more than 160 Boeing 737s. It would fund the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than two months.

Yet oil industry representatives and Exxon Mobil yesterday made a game effort to cast the record profit, earned during a quarter in which the Gulf Coast was shattered by hurricanes and gas prices rose well above $3 a gallon, as middling at best.

That's the exact opposite of what most companies do during earnings season. They usually go to some length to put their performances in the best light, highlighting certain numbers that show marked improvement while downplaying less flattering measurements.

how bout sum good news? this articull name of Voter ID Law Is Overturned; Georgia Can No Longer Charge For Access to Nov. 8 Election
is the best of the day in my pinion:

In a case that some have called a showdown over voting rights, a U.S. appeals court yesterday upheld an injunction barring the state of Georgia from enforcing a law requiring citizens to get government-issued photo identification in order to vote.

The ruling allows thousands of Georgians who do not have government-issued identification, such as driver's licenses and passports, to vote in the Nov. 8 municipal elections without obtaining a special digital identification card, which costs $20 for five years. In prior elections, Georgians could use any one of 17 types of identification that show the person's name and address, including a driver's license, utility bill, bank statement or a paycheck, to gain access to a voting booth.

Last week, when issuing the injunction, U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy likened the law to a Jim Crow-era poll tax that required residents, most of them black, to pay back taxes before voting. He said the law appeared to violate the Constitution for that reason. In the 2004 election, about 150,000 Georgians voted without producing government-issued identification.

meanwhile, ye gut to wunder how jesus wood git along today when ye thank bout how he lacked to hang out with sinners -- publicans, tax colleckters, fallen women, lepers n such. thays been a trucklode of progress since then on a counta yer modern christchuns knows better, witch ye kin read bout one of em in this articull name of Case of Gay Worshiper in Va. Splits Methodists:

The man had been attending a Methodist church in South Hill, Va., for several months. He sang in the choir. He owned a business and was well known in the community. But when he asked to become a formal member of the church, the pastor turned him down, because he is gay.

i aint writ nuthin on the harriet miers thang on a counta i caint figger out whuts a'goin on. is it sum kinda trick? i herd twuz on rachel maddows show this mornin, a setup to make it easier fer bush to push thru a much more hard rite winger to the spreme cort. dont know ifn i kin bleeve that, but this here bit of punditry name of A Departure's Lasting Damage by E. J. Dionne, Jr., seems to be rite on the mark (ye orta read the hole articull on a counta tiz sum of the bes punditry by one of our best pundits):

Republicans had railed against Democratic efforts to press court nominees (including Chief Justice John Roberts) for their views on legal issues. Back in July The Post disclosed a planning document circulated among Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The document said nominees for the Supreme Court should avoid disclosing "personal political views or legal thinking on any issue." Liberals were terribly gauche and inappropriate for wanting to know someone's opinions before awarding that person life tenure on the nation's most powerful court.

But it was neither gauche nor inappropriate for conservatives to de mand that Miers clarify her views on a slew of issues, notably Roe v. Wade . When liberals asked for clarity, they were committing a sin. When conservatives asked for clarity, they were engaged in a virtuous act. Thus are conservatives permitted to alter their principles to suit their own political situation.

There was also that small matter of a nominee's religious views. Conservatives condemned liberals who suggested it was worth knowing how Roberts's religious convictions might affect his judging. But when Miers started running into trouble with conservatives, the Bush administration encouraged its allies to talk up Miers's deep religious convictions to curry favor among social conservatives. I guess it's okay for conservatives to bring up religion whenever they want, but never appropriate for liberals to speak of spiritual things.

Even the manner of Miers's exit was disingenuous, not to mention derivative. In announcing her withdrawal, the White House said that "it is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House -- disclosures that would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel." Miers's decision, the statement said, "demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers."

The White House was following, almost to the letter, the exit strategy outlined last week by my conservative colleague Charles Krauthammer. But Krauthammer was honest enough to admit what the White House could not: that all this verbiage was about saving face. The president had to know when he named Miers that her lack of a judicial paper trail would make her advice as White House counsel all the more important for the Senate to know. Bush figured that conservatives would do what they have so often done before: roll over, back him up, resist requests for documents and help him force Miers through. Bad call.

finely, have ye ever wunderd why them publicans seems to luv illegal aliens so much? oh, i know they give a lot of lip servus to keepin em out, but fack is, they lack havin em on acount ye dont half to pay em even minimum wage n they dont ast fer thar rites (ifn they know whut they are). corse, my bleef on this is based on whut they do n not on whut they say. tuther day we larnt they wuz usin illegals to rebuild new awlins, witch i shore am glad they deecided to go back to honorin set law (davis bacon) on a counta fer that kinda money, them folks doin the hirin wonts legal wurkers. but thays sum that lacks to doot even today n fer whut? makin the MREs our soljers eats! aint much more to say bout them hirin hunnerts of illegals, but ye kin check it in this story name of Texas Co. Hired Illegals to Make MREs:

A Texas employment agency was sentenced to five years of probation for hiring illegal immigrants to work at the nation's top producer of military battlefield rations, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The Tollin Group was also fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $414,000 in civil penalties Wednesday. It has been barred from Department of Defense contracts for three years.

The San Antonio-based company, which does business as Remedy Intelligent Staffing, pleaded guilty in January to hiring illegal immigrants and trying to cover it up by falsifying employment eligibility forms. The workers were hired for Wornick Co., which makes MREs -- or ''meals ready-to-eat.''

i hope everbidy has em a grate weekend. mayhap the news will be borin ... or not!