A partial set of dentures used by former British leader Winston Churchill — described as the teeth that saved the world — sold at auction today for 15,200 pounds ($23,723.)

The upper dentures, one of several sets specially made for the wartime prime minister, were crucial for maintaining his distinctively slurred speaking style famous from World War II-era radio broadcasts.

Churchill’s specially made dentures were a bad fit…and intentionally so. The poor fit of the dentures was designed to preserve the distinctive natural lisp in his already well-known speaking voice.

Probably moreso than today, and certainly more than in earlier eras, the speaking voice was the trademark and an integral component of the popular identity of a major figure like Churchill in the age of radio.

Thanx, Melvin.

BP PLC will reduce its contribution to U.S. coffers by roughly $10 billion due to a tax credit the company is claiming it incurred from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The oil giant said Tuesday that it is incurring a charge of $32.2 billion from the Deepwater Horizon disaster response, and as such, it is claiming a $9.9 billion taxation credit.

This is NOT some new issue that nobody could have anticipated. The recent settlement with Goldman Sachs included such a provision, and Congress has in the past complained about settlements that did not include such language. This is nothing more or less than complete ineptitude at the highest levels of the Obama administration.

I can’t help but picture BP’s lead counsel leaning in close to Tony Hayward after the agreement was reached and whispering “Amateurs.”

One can only assume that in their rush to get their hands on, and take credit for, the $20 billion fund the administration didn’t bother to do their homework.

Amateurs indeed.

More details are here.

Something to help those who still have jobs get over the hump, and something to give those who don’t have jobs a reason to get out of bed this afternoon.

Prisoners escape Argentine prison under watchful eye of dummy with soccer ball for  head.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks Paul the Octopus

Mobile phones have 18 times more bacteria than toilet handle

Caught on camera: Photo of ‘extinct’ hairy-nosed otter in Borneo jungle

Garage Sale Buyer Gets $200 Million Ansel Adams Photos — for $45

It’s a jungle out there: Tarantulas breeding in Bolton, a snake found in a washing machine and flying ants across Britain… not to mention the runaway vulture

‘World’s Fastest Pizza Maker’ Crowned in Las Vegas

You’ve heard of cat-sitters, dog-sitters and, of course, babysitters. But chicken-sitters?

David Cameron Goes Full Idiot

By way of background and detail, Cameron, while visiting Turkey, first complained about France and Germany dragging their feet on Turkey’s admission to the European Union, obviously with little or no actual understanding of the ramifications or consequences:

That Cameron blames the Franco-German stance on “anti-Muslim prejudice” is an argument of the intellectually desperate. Then again, what else does Cameron have? As so often, he has failed to grasp just how deep the EU’s federalizing project has already gone. Even if we ignore the phenomenal cost (of which cash-strapped British taxpayers would pay a disproportionate share) of such a scheme, admitting Turkey to the EU would give a country now led by genuinely popular Islamist thug a real say in the everyday lives of the British people. And then there are all those other things that would go with Turkish membership in the EU, such as, oh, the ability of a Turkish court to order the arrest and extradition of a British citizen from the UK to a Turkish jail with little or no judicial review. So much for Cameron, protector of civil liberties.

Under the present leadership, Turkey has steadily drifted toward Islam and away from its modern secular political and cultural societal structure.  The Turkish involvement in the Gaza “Relief Flotilla” also indicates a new willingness of what was once an Israeli ally to engage in Jew hating and Israel bashing, quite possibly in an effort to pander to Islamic fundamentalists throughout the region and jockey with Iran for regional hegemony.

He then gave the speech in which he called Gaza a “prison camp” and excoriated the Israelis for the blockade and for intercepting the “aid flotilla”. Only as an afterthought, perhaps after speaking with an adult from the Foreign Service, did he mention that Israel might have a legitimate interest in keeping the Gaza goons from importing the wherewithal with which to lob rockets and missiles at Israeli schools and hospitals. 

Then it was on to India:

Britain should show ‘humility’ to India, David Cameron said last night as he begged the emerging power to help drag the UK out of recession.

Speaking as he arrived in Bangalore heading the largest UK delegation since the sun set on the Raj in August 1947, the Prime Minister suggested Britain should bend its knee to its former colony.

In an article for The Hindu newspaper, Mr Cameron said: ‘I have come to your country in a spirit of humility.

All this after he angered aging British veterans, and a sizeable slice of the general population, by referring to the U.K. as the “junior partner” in W.W. II despite the fact that the British, for all intents and purposes alone, fought the Germans in Europe and the Japanese in Asia for two years before the U.S. entered the war.

So what does my amended headline mean by “something new in common?”

 Both nations are now led by naive and foolish amateurs with no real grasp of history or international affairs, both of whom are willing to pander to the Muslim world in the absurd hope that somehow it will cause the Islamists to stop wanting to take over the world and kill everyone who is not sufficiently Islamic to satisfy them, both of whom see Israel’s security and continued existence as stumbling blocks to peace in the middle east, and both of whom seem to feel that belittling their own country and its achievements in the presence of foreigners is a good idea.

But I do have to give credit where it is due. At least Cameron didn’t bow to anybody in India.

I suggest you read this article in full for much more information on Cameron’s adventures in Turkey and India.

But since the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy says the world will end in 2012, nobody cares.

Thirty (yes, thirty) rooms have been reserved at a five-star hotel.

It is thought Mrs Obama has booked the rooms at the prestigious Villa Padierna, a golf and spa resort located along the coast from Marbella.

With a reputation as Spain’s most exclusive hotel, room prices start at 250 euros (£210) for a standard double and rise up to 5,000 euros (£4,175) for a private villa within the gardens.

At current exchange rates, that makes the starting price per room per night about $325.

Since most of the thirty rooms are undoubtedly for secret service and staff personnel, who will also have to travel and eat, it looks like the American taxpayers will fork over tens of thousands of dollars for Michelle and Sasha’s “private trip”.

More details are here

Some union members are more equal than others.

“Fair share”. That’s a phrase Obama and his administration officials like to throw around. Everybody should pay their fair share. Everybody should get their fair share. Apparently, exactly what “share” is “fair” varies with the context. For example, among autoworkers at Chrysler and GM plants, after what the Washington Post describes as the “jury-rigged” labor agreement reached during the bailouts, new hires make exactly one-half the basic wage of those already employed, and have significantly curtailed benefits as well. All are card-carrying, dues-paying members of the United Auto Workers.

Among workers building the Jeep Grand Cherokee here, there are few obvious distinctions. Clutching lunch sacks and mini-coolers, they trudge together through the turnstiles at the plant’s main gate each day to tinker with the same vehicles, along the same assembly line, performing the same tasks.

Yet they fall into distinctly unequal classes: About half make $28 an hour or more, while the rest, the recently hired, make $14.

This oddity, which could become the norm in much of the domestic U.S. auto industry, arises from the jury-rigged labor agreement that the United Auto Workers, U.S. automakers and the federal government reached during the industry’s near-death experience last year.

Not mentioned in the Post’s article is the fact that retired Chrysler workers saw their existing retirement benefits slashed in order to facilitate retaining the status quo for current workers. These results, along with the transfer of assets from the actual investors in GM bonds, such as the Indiana teachers and policemen’s retirement funds, to the United Auto Workers, are dramatically different from the result that would have obtained had existing bankruptcy law been applied, instead of the hand-crafted “managed bankruptcy” by which the Obama administration circumvented the law and made the UAW, a powerful union supporter of the Democrat party, the big winner in the bailouts. All, of course, subsidized by the taxpayers.

Also not mentioned explicitly in the article is the fact that $28 is the old base starting wage for the UAW employees. Most make more than that. Many make far more than that, based on seniority. And before the bailout, for the most part the only workers left in GM and Chrysler plants were those with significant seniority.

The two-tier pay scale actually began in 2007, with jobs considered “easy” or “less stressful” subject to the lower starting wage. During the bankruptcy and bailout process the Obama administration insisted on the universal application of the lower wages and stripped-down benefits as a way to lower costs and make the financial maneuverings “work” on paper. The UAW was adamant, however, that it would not compromise on existing wages and benefits. So rather than reduce wages and benefits for existing union members and increase wages and benefits for new workers so as to equalize employee pay and benefits, retirees and new hires will bear the entire cost of making the bailout numbers “balance”.

It remains to be seen whether this “solution” will be workable in the long run. As long as the economy remains in the dumpster, these plants will have no problem finding people who are just glad to find a job, and willing to work for less than half what the guy next to them makes for doing the same job, and the UAW will be willing to go along in order to maintain their grip on the industry. But eventually the economy will improve, and eventually the UAW will expect, and demand, that automakers take steps to “rectify” this situation. Their credibility as a union will require it, and as loyal supporters of the Democrat party, they will expect, and demand, that the Democrats get behind the effort.

The question arises, at that point, will it be the taxpayers, who financed the autoworkers’ bailout and who will most likely be bailing out the long-mismanaged pension funds of American unions in the near future, who get soaked yet again?

Not content with trying to tug at the heartstrings with a tale of illegal aliens forced to sell their worldly possessions and flee Arizona for other states where they hope to live illegally without being “harassed” because they are here illegally, this Reuters article goes on to make the point that “legal residents”  also “scramble to leave.” While this may or may not be true, the “reporting” by Reuters is downright deceptive.

Here are the examples given by Reuters under the heading “Legal Residents Flee” . See if you can spot the slant:

While the law targets undocumented migrants, legal residents and their U.S.-born children are getting caught up in the rush to leave Arizona.

Mexican housewife Gabriela Jaquez, 37, said she is selling up and leaving for New Mexico with her husband, who is a legal resident, and two children born in Phoenix.

“Under the law, if you transport an illegal immigrant, you are committing a crime,” she said as she sold children’s clothes at a yard sale with three other families. “They could arrest him for driving me to the shops.”

Lunaly Bustillos, a legal resident from Mexico, hoped to sell some clothes, dumbbells and an ornamental statue on Sunday before her family heads for Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday.

“It makes me sad and angry too because I feel I have the right to be here,” said Bustillos, 17, who recently graduated from high school in Phoenix.

So what’s the problem here? Well, ”Mexican housewife Gabriela Jaquez” is obviously in fact an illegal alien, not a legal resident. How do we know this? She is afraid her husband could be arrested for driving her around under a provision which prohibits “transporting illegal aliens”. So the “legal resident” fleeing Arizona is apparently her husband, who is leaving because he either married or imported his illegal alien wife. And their kids may or may not also be illegal aliens, depending upon place of birth.

As for high school graduate Lunaly Bustillos, “a legal resident” leaving with her family, Reuters is careful not to identify or describe the status of her family members. Reading between the lines, it seems pretty obvious that she is leaving with her parents… who are illegal aliens.

See? That’s how you effectively slant your news coverage. You have to be subtle. You claim that the law is driving out legal residents without ever mentioning that they are packing up and leaving with their illegal alien families.

The law does not affect legal residents in any way. But if they’ve chosen to live in illegal family arrangements, well, that’s their choice. And choices have consequences.

The White House budget office is now forecasting that the record $1.4 trillion deficit for 2009 will climb to $1.47 trillion this year. That means the government will be borrowing 41 cents of every dollar it spends.  The White House projections also indicate no real reduction in the deficit for 2011, either.

And this, boys and girls, is the federal deficit, not the federal debt.

What that means is, this is not the total amount the government owes, this is the amount it will come up short for just this year alone. In other words, the Obama administration will spend, in 2010, $1.47 trillion more than the total amount of taxes, fees, and all other combined revenue it takes in.

According to these projections, from 2009 through 2011 the federal government will have spent over $4 trillion dollars it did not have.

This is not the “unfunded liabilities” for planned outlays in the future, this is the current actual deficit in annual spending.

We originally commented on this story a few days ago. Now comes word that in a closed-door city council meeting the three highest paid officials, the city manager, assistant city manager, and police chief have agreed to resign. Without severance packages. Looks like the Bell city council members have been studying somebody’s technique for tossing people under the bus to save your own hide. 

But alas, it may be too little too late to save the council members, themselves knocking down around $100,000 a year for their part-time council jobs.  The citizens apparently are not entirely satisfied with the ouster of the three officials:

The crowd erupted in applause after the announcement but immediately yelled out questions about what would happen to the council members. Four of the five are paid close to $100,000 annually. When their questions were not answered, they shouted, “Recall!”

And in another strange twist, it now turns out that while four of the five council members are making around $100,000 for their part-time council jobs, Councilman Lorenzo Velez, who moved to open the meeting to the public but was overruled by the city attorney, is making just a little bit less than the others:

Velez, who makes only $8,076, has expressed shock at the amount his fellow council members are paid. Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo said Velez makes less than the others because he was appointed, not elected. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is looking at the salaries of council members to see whether they violate state law.

This has got to be one of the most corrupt and abusive groups of political hacks in the country. Or is it? Maybe citizens around the country had better start paying more attention to what their “leaders” are up to.

In any event, pass the popcorn. This is the best part of the movie. The angry citizens have just dispatched Igor the evil lab assistant, and now they’re after the monster and the mad scientist who created it.

P.S.   Kudos to the LA Times for exposing this cesspool. Now if only they’d spend a little time looking into the sewer in Washington, D.C.

Corporate earnings are up because costs are down, and the biggest cost of doing business is employees. Many of the jobs that have been lost are never coming back because when companies expand they will be hiring part-time, temporary and off-shore workers whenever possible to avoid new tax and health care expenses.

New documents released by Issa show 173 sweetheart deal loans from Countrywide Financial Corporation were given to 42 Fannie and Freddie employees as the company was negotiating exclusive agreement to sell Fannie Mae billions of dollars in questionable, sub-prime mortgages at a discounted rate.

Among those receiving the sweetheart deal loans were Jamie Gorelick, Vice Chair Fannie Mae, James Johnson, Chairman and CEO Fannie Mae, Daniel Mudd, Vice Chair and COO Fannie Mae and Franklin Raines, Chairman and CEO Fannie Mae.

173 loans to 42 officials. Somebody, maybe everybody, was getting sweetheart treatment on more than just their personal residence.

There’s much more here, including an email in which Coutrywide admits it is making a loan to an official at a loss, apparently in anticipation of benefitting in other ways.

Homeless Man Breaks Into Shuttered California Bar, Starts Selling Drinks

Apparently he was buying booze at a package store across the street and reinvesting his profits, and ran the bar, which had lost its liquor license, for several days before law enforcement officers spotted a newspaper article about the place reopening under new management.

When residents of  that town, with a population of 38,000 and a per capita income under $25,000, found out from the LA Times that their city manager is making almost $800,000, their police chief makes more  than the Los Angeles police chief, and their part-time city council members were collecting $100,000 a year, the angry crowd that showed up at the next city council meeting overflowed out into the street, with those barred from the room banging on the door and shouting.

More details are here. It’s fun reading, if you like harrowing tales of government abusing the governed.

I’m guessing there may be some turnover in city government next election.