Monday, April 19, 2010

And the Europeans actually voted these people to power!



I couldn't make this stuff up.

The European Union has declared travelling a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidize vacations with taxpayers' dollars for those too poor to afford their own trips.

Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, proposed a strategy that could cost European taxpayers hundreds of millions of euros a year, The Times of London reports.

"Travelling for tourism today is a right. The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life," Mr. Tajani told a group of ministers at The European Tourism Stakeholders Conference in Madrid on April 15. Mr. Tajani was appointed to his post by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.


Link

I mean, is that stupid or is that stupid?

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Gardening for fun and profit and other things


The rabbits and squirrels, either in combination or separately have gutted my garden. They devoured all of my cabbage plants, some tomato plants and some bell peppers. They don't appear to like either the bell peppers or tomato plants, just biting one off at the base and letting it fall. We will see if they give up now that the cabbage is gone or if they hold their noses and eat the peppers and tomatoes.

I am sure they can't wait for the okra to come up. That is if this unseasonably cold weather doesn't rot the seed in the ground.

I threatened rabbit stew as revenge but that entails being up when they come to dine, a time when I am normally asleep.

One of the cousins who came for the funeral advised that if I would put stakes in the ground with streamers the varmints would be scared off.

I gave that a shot. Since she is from PA I must conclude that Southern varmints are much braver than their Northern brethren as the onslaught didn't even pause.

A fence would work, only cost me a few hundred bucks and definitely keep out the rabbits. Of course the squirrels, as they proved two years ago in "The Affair of the Disappearing Green Strawberries," merely do what squirrels do. Climb up and over.

Mostly Cajun has a post on his desire to visit Iceland, triggered by the news reports of the volcano eruption. I have been there and done that and my advice would be to spend your money for a trip to Las Vegas. Then take a sojourn out into the desert. Pour ice water on your feet and gaze at the rocks and sand and you will have somewhat duplicated the other.

Besides. The food is better, the shows are better and the natives friendlier. Especially some of the young ladies you might meet at the bar of various hotels. Some others you might see traveling with their Grandfathers and older Uncles. I have also noticed this phenomena in Hawaii. Ain't kin folks great?

If the ash problem continues I would think that people trying to get home could take surface transport to Spain and from there the southern route to New York. Stopping at either the Azores or Newfoundland for fuel depending on the winds, loads, etc. Of course that would also mean getting additional aircraft into Spain.

That use to be the route we took to get from the east coast to Sicily and much nicer places like Malta and various cities in Italy and Rome.

Not that Sicily isn't nice. It's just hot and windy and windy and hot. I'm convinced that is why the people are known to hold grudges. It was in Catania that I learned how to sit at an outside table and drink Martini and Rossi through the late afternoon and early evening.

Learning such skills are worth putting up with minor inconveniences.




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Global wet




Here's a link that gives some interesting details on water vapour and how it effects global warming.

Hat tip to TnVolunteer1973.

After you read that you may want to read this to tie the subjects together.

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Golfing for the dead


A massive volcanic plume covering most of Europe forced President Obama to cancel a Sunday trip to Poland to attend the funeral of the nation's president. But the last-minute change left an opening in his schedule, so the president headed to the links for a round of golf instead.

On a cool but sun-drenched Sunday, the president and three golfing companions went to Andrews Air Force Base to play 18 holes. It is the 32nd time Mr. Obama has played golf since taking office Jan. 20, 2009, according to CBS Radio's Mark Knoller.


Maybe a White House ceremony instead? Prayers for the dead and their country?

There's an old Southern expression that covers this. "His taste is all in his mouth."

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Monday Morning - Time to go to work!


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