House comes down hard on CEOs

Panel sneers at their use of private jets, asks if they would be willing to take $1 yearly salaries.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081120/AUTO01/811200390/1409

WASHINGTON -- During two days of hearings filled with tense exchanges, one of the most uncomfortable moments took place when Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., asked the chief executives of Detroit's Big Three to raise their hands if they had flown to Washington commercially to ask for financial aid.

No hands went up.

Then he asked if they would be willing to sell their corporate jets and book commercial flights home as a show of good faith. Again, none agreed.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in a high hat and tuxedo," quipped Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y. "Couldn't you have downgraded to first class or something, or jet-pooled or something to get here?"

Ralph Nader asks if Barack Obama will be an Uncle Tom

North Idaho woman faces hard time over spilt soda

Federal prosecutors have charged a North Idahoan with 2 offenses after a dispute over the price of a pop at the Boise VA hospital.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/235/story/506395.html

Charles Barkley vs. Angola

While the Angolans idolized the Americans, it’s safe to assume the opposite wasn’t true. This much was admitted by a U.S. scout, who admitted “all we know is that they qualified for the Olympics and they are from Africa.”

In the end, the Americans demolished the Angolans by a final score of 116-48, and for as bad as that sounds, the game was actually more of a blowout than the score indicates. To be precise, there was actually an insane 13-minute run where they outscored Angola 46-1, but it’s that one point that created a whole lot of temporary trouble for the Dream Team.

More over, the point wasn’t as important to the game as was the play that caused it. For anyone that’s forgotten, it was a free throw that came after a flagrant foul on Charles Barkley, who decided to deliver a message to Herlander Coimbra in the form of a right elbow.

Naturally, there was mild outrage from the fans in attendance. In addition to that, the international media covering the event immediately began referring to the Dream Team as “Ugly Americans” and “bullies,” which got a fair amount of play in the ensuing coverage. The American media was also embarrassed, and even Karl Malone took a shot at Sir Charles, saying “I don’t think we need to go out and do anything that would degrade anybody.”

As for Barkley, his response was quick and to the point, as he simply said “You hit me, I’ll hit you; even if it doesn’t look like he’s eaten in a while.”

http://www.theloveofsports.com/index.php/site/comments/1992_dream_team_versus_angola/

McCain's Mansions

There’s one man’s veto Congress can’t override

From High Country News:

When the Bogeyman goes to sleep at night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris, on the other hand, does not sleep. He waits. He is the reason Waldo is hiding. He uses pepper spray to season his steaks. He uses 8×10 sheets of plywood as toilet paper.

And Norris, the former “Walker, Texas Ranger” star whose purported toughness has spawned an internet cottage industry of made-up factoids, is ready to deliver a roundhouse kick to the face of any Congressman standing in the way of domestic oil production. He has joined forces with Newt Gingrich’s “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign, producing this video encouraging viewers to sign the group’s pro-domestic drilling petition:

http://blog.hcn.org/goat/2008/07/03/theres-one-mans-veto-congress-cant-override/

G8 leaders feast on 8 courses after discussing world food shortages

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4286365.ece

Food shortages and the need to double African production may dominate the G8 summit but even as they discussed the problems of the developing world yesterday, the leaders of the world’s richest nations, joined by several African leaders, ate course after course of fine food.

In a questionable public relations move, the summit’s Japanese organisers proudly displayed to the press the menus for a sumptuous eight-course banquet laid on last night and a five-course lunch a few hours earlier.

The leaders tucked into truffle soup and crab as they discussed Zimbabwe and aid to Africa’s poorest people. The evening feast of 19 separate dishes included diced fatty flesh of tuna fish and milk-fed lamb with aromatic herbs. Tomorrow, after working up an appetite discussing soaring food prices, the leaders will enjoy a £200 dinner of giant crab, £50-a-kilogram langoustine and sweet clover ice cream, prepared by Michel Bras, a Michelin three-star French chef.

It is all in keeping with a summit that has cost a total of 60 billion yen (£283 million) - enough to have bought 100 million mosquito nets to save Africans from catching malaria - and that frequently seems at odds with the Japanese hosts’ professed theme of ecology and environmentalism.