Well, I suppose it could be worse. They could have cross-bred Michael Moore, Oprah and Roseanne and had that hybrid do the munching instead.

(Hat tip to Boortz.com)

From CBCNews.com

Forget herbicides, weed-whackers: get some goats, study says

A study found goats effectively cleared properties of hearty weeds including thistle, hawk weed, dandelion and horsetails. A study found goats effectively cleared properties of hearty weeds including thistle, hawk weed, dandelion and horsetails. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC)

Municipalities across Canada should consider swapping herbicides for goat herds to control weeds on environmentally sensitive lands, a British Columbia study has concluded.

The study, led by University of Northern British Columbia professor Annie Booth, tracked the eating habits of goats for two summers in Prince George. The study found the goats effectively cleared properties of hearty weeds including thistle, hawk weed, dandelion and horsetails.

“As soon as we unloaded them, they turned around and started eating dandelions,” Booth said. “They do their job — which is clear up and clean out the weeds here.”

“We were very pleased to discover that goats do provide a very effective form of weed control, particularly for some tricky weeds that are difficult to eradicate even with the use of herbicides.”

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A most fascinating event and something that only has come to light in recent years as the existence of planets, especially Earth-like planets, has finally been proven by astronomers.

There is something oddly beautiful in the sad and sorrowful artist’s rendition of the collision shown below. Could this be us in the future? Or was it us many millenia ago? It is the unknown factors like those that make space and astronomy so puzzling, fascinating and eventually leads one to think long and hard about existence itself and our place in the universe.

From ScienceDaily.com:

Two Planets Suffer Violent Collision

ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2008) — Two terrestrial planets orbiting a mature sun-like star some 300 light-years from Earth recently suffered a violent collision, astronomers at UCLA, Tennessee State University and the California Institute of Technology will report in a December issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

“It’s as if Earth and Venus collided with each other,” said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and a co-author on the paper. “Astronomers have never seen anything like this before. Apparently, major catastrophic collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system.”

“If any life was present on either planet, the massive collision would have wiped out everything in a matter of minutes — the ultimate extinction event,” said co-author Gregory Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University (TSU). “A massive disk of infrared-emitting dust circling the star provides silent testimony to this sad fate.”

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You know, when I see things like the image to right, (hat tip: Michelle Malkin) the fake Obama Presidential seal from a few months ago, the painting over of the American flag on Obama’s campaign plane, the refusal to place his hand over heart when the National Anthem is played or to even wear something as simple as an American flag lapel…I am reminded of the bar scene in the Star Trek episode, “The Trouble With Tribbles”.

For any of you who have not seen it, the scene is like this. A Klingon officer is lounging in Space Station K-7’s bar with some of his fellow comrades. He starts shoveling out a steady stream of insults about the Enterprise’s crew, the Captain and the starship itself to a few of the Enterprise crew, who are also present at the bar.

After running down the crew with such mildly insulting terms such as comparing Earthers (the term to describe Terrans in the Star Trek universe) to the soft and shapeless, “Regulan Bloodworm”, he then starts in on Capt. Kirk with a steady diet of insulting descriptions such as calling him a “Danebian slime devil”.

And as the capper and the the pier de resistance to this little drunken tirade, he calls Kirk, “an overbearing, tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood. But he’s not soft.”

Seems to me that the Klingon could have just as well have been talking about Obama.

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To take a break from the election campaign which I know has exhausted everybody, is a very cool discovery of massive amounts of dinosaur tracks along the Arizona-Utah state line. I am sucker for such stories as I have always had a deep interest in dinosaurs since I received my first dinosaur book at age 8.

I just hope they did not do the Macarena!

From iol.co.za:

Dinosaurs may have danced to their own tune
October 21 2008 at 12:51PM

Salt Lake City – Geologists say they have discovered prehistoric animal tracks so densely packed on a 3 000-square-metre site that they’re calling it a “dinosaur dance floor”.

The site along the Arizona-Utah state line offers a rich new set of clues about the lives of dinosaurs 190-million years ago.

Back then, large stretches of the West were a Sahara-like desert. More than 1 000 tracks were found in what would have been a watery oasis nestled among towering, wind-whipped sand dunes.

The footprints could provide fodder for researchers trying to understand dinosaurs that survived in what many considered a “vast, dry, uninhabitable desert”, said Marjorie Chan, professor of geology at the University of Utah and one of the authors of a new study of the site.

‘It’s an exciting site and deserving of a lot more work’
“Maybe it really wasn’t as lifeless as we think,” Chan said on Monday.

The discovery adds yet another site to the region’s long list of dinosaur hot spots. The difference, though, is sheer numbers. Scientists estimate there are more than 1 000 tracks at the site, which is in a protected area of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

In some places, there are a dozen footprints in a square metre.

“It was a place that attracted a crowd, kind of like a dance floor,” Chan said.

Researchers identified four different kinds of tracks in the rock but haven’t determined the specific species that left them behind.

‘Maybe it really wasn’t as lifeless as we think’
Some of the footprints – once thought to be potholes formed by erosion – measure 40cm across and have three toes and a heel. Others are smaller and more circular.

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As Rush Limbaugh would say that the Clinton administration was always in “campaign mode”, it looks like the Obama administration will always be in “fundraising mode”.

A new site registered with the TLD domain of www.change.gov is now the home of the Obama “Transition” website. However, it seems that such a site would not qualify for a .gov TLD.

(Hat tip to Michelle Malkin)

From Ed Morrisey

“The incoming administration technically has no status as a government organization or program until January 20, 2009. The “Office of the President-Elect” doesn’t exist within the government.”

Charles Wyble, CEO of Known Element Enterprises has filed a complaint about the GSA’s vetting process of the domain name. Read it here.

Also, it seems just a little more than coincidental that the company that is handling the hosting and site management is also the same one that ran his campaign site. Blue Digital. The same company that disabled AVS checks on credit card donations to the Obama campaign site, which allowed untold millions to flow into the campaign’s coffers.

For those that have gone through the site, here is a screenshot from the site that relates to the “America Serves” program that Obama has been pushing for several months.

(Thanks again to Michelle Malkin for the screenshot)

The text reads:

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. (sarcasm off)

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Newsmax is reporting that former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will not be facing criminal charges in his much publicized involvement in a prostitution ring that forced his resignation last March.

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors announced today that they will not bring criminal charges against Eliot Spitzer for his role in a prostitution scandal, removing a legal cloud that has surrounded the former governor since his epic downfall eight months ago.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said that investigators found no evidence that Spitzer or his office misused public or campaign funds for prostitution. Federal prosecutors typically do not prosecute clients of prostitution rings.

“In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this Office, as well as Mr. Spitzer’s acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter.”

A remorseful Spitzer issued a statement in which he expressed relief that he will not face charges.

“I appreciate the impartiality and thoroughness of the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and I acknowledge and accept responsibility for the conduct it disclosed. I resigned my position as Governor because I recognized that conduct was unworthy of an elected official. I once again apologize for my actions,” Spitzer said.

Spitzer was out of town and unavailable for further comment.

Cannot say that I am too surprised. Just chalk up another Dem sex scandal to “Move along. Nothing to see here.”

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Well, this did not take too long…

Coming to a government school near you…(assuming it has not already arrived)

(Hat Tip – Michelle Malkin for the video link)

Child abuse at it’s worst.

Best comment: (from Mr. Smarterthanyou at Gateway Pundit)

This is affirmative action in action.

This woman probably doesn’t have a 3 digit IQ.

But I bet she has tenure.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin reports that the Cumberland County Superintendent is investigating this.

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