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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Spike Jensen « My POV
Hatfields vs. McCoys 2.0
That button on the nuclear thingy got pushed so now it's on I guess. It was just a matter of time. The food fights going down in the US Senate lunch room were getting out of control and something had to happen. I mean when a POTUS cannot get a new butler when he needs one badly even after saying pretty, pretty, pretty please then all bets are off. The GOP really seems to dig throwing procedural fire bombs at anything the prez wants, I mean anything. Like if any elected elephant person found out he was ordering extra cheese on his pizza at Little Caesars they would figure out a way to cut it back to 1/16 of the regular amount just to screw with him. After 5 years of turning the other cheek and getting bitch slapped 24/7 the dude finally told his guys he had enough of bending over so now there are two teams on the playing field.
I am guessing Obama finally figured out some people will never like him no matter how much he schmoozes them. Took him awhile to come to this but now that he has let's hope he has a plan to defend and deal with the counter attack. One thing that is pretty awesome about Republicans is they can take our single punch and hit us back in the face many, many more times. In fact when one of them starts to tire a little there are hundreds more on retainer from Koch Industries and other nifty multinational corporations ready to pick up where things left off. Obviously, the difference between the two sides is paid soldiers tend be assigned shift work with time off while volunteers no matter how impressive their software is often wear down after 18 hour days. That is why I am wetting my pants now thinking about the mid-term elections next fall. I see dead donkey's. A lot of them.
So what will the Senate be like in January 2015? I am scrunching my eyes peeking at the possibility of either Rand Paul or Ted Cruz as Senate majority leader and it feels worse than acid being systematically dropped in my pupils every 14 minutes for 11 days straight. I can hear many now saying there is no way in hell either one of these lunatic rookies could ever vault over all that seniority and be the head cheese of the Senate even if their party takes most of the seats up next November. I mean everyone knows they are both running for President too the next year so why would they waste time wrangling for this job? Well it's called having a soft landing. As far as I know only one person can win the parties nod for president and by the time a new majority leader is sworn in the cash derby for the nomination will have already been won and lost. Other options for Prez like Chris Christie? Two words, GOP Primaries. Not going to happen. So back to the Tea People's two most favorite guys. My take is with all the loot in the western world now available via the Citizen's United decision who can say for sure money can't buy both either the number #1 gig and or consolation prize? If you are saying to no one in particular right now "no way that can happen" then maybe those same words flew out of your mouth a few years back about a first term black US Senator who now happens to be living in the White House. So trust me on this one, it's down to the dude with the dead animal rug on the top of his head or the sorta human who looks like an extra from the Munster's for both of these jobs.
Most are hip to the fact that even if the GOP does clean up in the mid-terms the new rules so far only pertains to Federal judicial and executive nominations. So even if things go way south in the 2016 election due to 7% of the people losing their totally crappy health care plans Democrats can still try and block Sean Hannity from getting a free seat at that Supreme Court place. If you listen to the threats from original gangsta's like Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn in the Senate it sounds like they are about to start a red state-blue state tussle that might end up making the east coast/west coast rapper shoot outs of old seem quaint so you gotta respect the balls of Harry Reid (I can't believe I just typed something about Harry Reid's nut sack) as he's gotta know the payback coming will leave a trail of carnage everywhere and he just said "bring it on bitches." Who saw that coming from this genial 70 something Mormon?
As a member of the donkey team I would much rather my party come out and threw the first right hook for once rather than sit in the corner and complain how the mean Republicans are messing up our government. As stated previously I respect the hell out of the GOP cuz they will slit your throat, bleed you dry and then put lit cigarettes out on your dead body before they toss you in a chipper. Until all elected Democrats grow a pair like old Harry they will continue to get punked every time they raise their hand to be heard. I think the founding fathers pretty much planned for everything when jotting down the rules for this country with one exception, they did not foresee FOX NEWS partitioning the country up via cable TV, thus making our government non functioning. And you conservatives out there can still whine all day about the liberal media but you know in your heart that you can kick their ass anytime you feel like it so that one doesn't fly any longer. Whatever flak you are taking from the liberal media these days is due to your wackness not any bias inherent in the political leanings of the non FOX NEWS press. Let us pray that someday soon our government will return to the period in history where it worked. Not great. Not even sorta ok. At this point in time I think most Americans would settle for barely functioning. Baby steps. Later
Hatfields vs. McCoys 2.0 « My POV
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD has headed outta town for a few days.
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly cloudy and on the cool side.

'Born to Run' Manuscript For Sale
Bruce Springsteen
A handwritten working manuscript of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 hit "Born to Run" will be offered at auction on Dec. 5, with a presale estimate of $70,000 to $100,000, Sotheby's said Wednesday.
The seller was not revealed. The auction house said the document used to be in the collection of Springsteen's former manager, Mike Appel.
Sotheby's said most of the lines in this 1974 version, written in Long Branch, N.J., are apparently unpublished and unrecorded, but the manuscript does include "a nearly perfected chorus."
Springsteen's thought process, written in blue ink on an 8˝-by-11 sheet of ruled notepaper.
There are also some words in the margins: "Wild" and "Angels" and a word that looks like "velocity," with the letter "t'' in Springsteen's curlicue cursive.
Bruce Springsteen

New Housecat-Size Feline Species Discovered
Oncillas
Oncillas are housecat-size felines found throughout much of South America, and are also known as little tiger cats, little spotted cats or tigrinas. But not all oncillas are the same: New research suggests that little tiger cats in northeastern Brazil belong to a different species from those elsewhere on the continent, although they look virtually identical.
Researchers analyzed the genetic material of oncillas in northeastern Brazil, and compared them with nearby populations in the south. They found that there was no flow of genes between the two populations of oncillas, and hasn't been any for millennia, according to the study, published today (Nov. 27) in the journal Current Biology.
This, along with other genetic differences, led researchers to conclude the two populations do not interbreed and are in fact different species, said study co-author Eduardo Eizirik, a researcher at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.
Both species of little tiger cats live in rainforests and savannahs, and sport yellowish-ochre fur with a black rosettelike pattern. Though the cats primarily live on the ground, they are agile tree climbers, and feed on birds and small mammals like rodents, according to the University of Michigan. They are one of the smallest cats in South America, maxing out at 3 kilograms (about 6.5 lbs.).
Oncillas
Court Acquits Pianist
Spain
A Spanish court has acquitted a 28-year-old concert pianist on charges of causing noise pollution and psychological damage to a neighbor.
The court in northeastern Girona absolved professional pianist Laia Martin and her parents of both charges, according to a written ruling issued Tuesday.
The trial this month caused a storm of ridicule and disbelief when prosecutors sought a sentence of seven years. They later reduced this to 20 months.
Martin's neighbor, Sonia Bonsom, complained the pianist practiced five days a week for eight hours at a time between 2003 and 2007 in an apartment building in the nearby town of Puigcerda. Bonsom told the court she now hated pianos so much she can't even stand to see them in movies.
The court said it found Bonsom's claims unreliable and exaggerated. It said there was no proof that Martin's playing surpassed the 30-decibel limit laid down for musical instruments in the town - as the prosecution claimed - or that the playing was the direct cause of Bonsom's problems.
Spain

George Harrison's Sister
Louise Harrison
Before George Harrison died in 2001, the rock icon and former member of the Beatles reportedly saw that his sister, Louise, was given a $2,000 per month pension ? a small sum given his more than $300 million fortune.
In an interview with the U.K.'s Daily Mail, Louise Harrison claims that pension ended after her brother died. Now 82, Harrison still works to support herself. However, she isn't upset about the arrangement.
She told the Daily Mail, "I was never concerned about the termination of the pension, I have found a way to make a living."
She currently manages a Beatles tribute band called the "Liverpool Legends," who frequently perform at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri.
Her brother, often referred to as the "quiet Beatle," lived in Friar Park, a 120-room mansion near London, with his wife and son. Louise told the Daily Mail she doesn't care about money and "doesn't mind not living in a castle because [she] would rather be broke than live rich and heartless."
Louise Harrison
Judge's Ruling
Sriracha
A judge has ordered a plant that produces the popular Sriracha chili sauce to stop emitting annoying odors in a ruling that left some nearby residents worried about a possible loss of jobs at the factory.
Judge Robert H. O'Brien on Tuesday ruled in favor of the city of Irwindale, where Sriracha recently relocated, saying sauce maker Huy Fong Foods must stop any operations that could be causing the odors and make unspecified changes to mitigate them.
The company had no immediate comment, but a few neighbors interviewed Wednesday dismissed the complaints and worried that jobs might be lost if the plant is forced to close.
"I don't want it shut down because I think a lot of people will lose their jobs," said Marta Torres, 47. "In two years it has never smelled as much as now, but I think it's OK."
The judge acknowledged there was a lack of credible evidence linking complaints of breathing trouble and watery eyes to the factory. But he said for residents the odor that could be reasonably inferred to be emanating from the facility is "extremely annoying, irritating and offensive to the senses warranting consideration as a public nuisance."
Sriracha

Defendant Testifies
Bolshoi
A man charged with throwing acid in the face of the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director said the dancer accused of ordering the attack had only asked him to hit the victim and the use of acid was his own idea, a Russian court heard on Wednesday.
Testimony in the trial of three men charged in the attack on Sergei Filin also focused on the size and skills of defendant Pavel Dmitrichenko's girlfriend, a dancer who a previous witness said had been passed over for roles by Filin.
Dmitrichenko, 29, and the other defendants face up to 12 years in prison if convicted for the attack last January that nearly blinded Filin and laid bare bitter rivalries behind the scenes at one of Russia's leading cultural institutions.
Dmitrichenko, who denies guilt, has said previously that he gave co-defendant Yuri Zarutsky the green light to hit Filin and phoned Zarutsky on he night of the attack to tell him Filin was heading home, but had not meant for acid to be used.
That contention was supported by excerpts from a transcript of investigators' questioning of Zarutsky which were read out by the judge on Wednesday in the Moscow courtroom where the defendants were confined to a cage.
Bolshoi
Italy Senate Expels
Oh, Silvio
The Italian Senate on Wednesday expelled three-time ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi from Parliament over his tax fraud conviction, ending his two-decade legislative run for now, but not his political career.
Berlusconi has warned that the unprecedented move would embarrass Italy internationally, and he maintained his defiance even as the Senate voted, addressing a cheering crowd outside of his Roman palazzo a short walk away.
Even though he won't hold a seat in Parliament for at least six years, the 77-year-old Berlusconi pledged to remain involved in politics and urged his followers not to despair - noting that other political leaders are not lawmakers. He has relaunched his Forza Italia party and he still commands millions of loyal supporters.
Supporters, including Berlusconi's 28-year-old girlfriend, who had a Forza Italia flag wrapped around her shoulders against the cold, were treated to a video montage of Berlusconi's greatest political hits from a career that began in 1994 when he first came into power with a political party named for a soccer chant "Let's Go Italy."
Oh, Silvio

Diplodocus Sells For $650,000
Dinosaur
The skeleton of a diplodocus dinosaur that roamed what is now the United States some 160 million years ago was sold for 400,000 pounds ($651,100) to an unidentified public institution at an auction in Britain on Wednesday.
Misty, as the dinosaur was nicknamed, will later be put on public display, the auctioneers said. It was found by the teenage sons of German dinosaur hunter Raimund Albersdoerfer in Dana quarry in Wyoming, in the western United States.
The remains of the 17-metre (56 ft) female are among the few more or less complete skeletons of diplodocus longus ever found. The sons of the German paleontologist came across Misty's fossilized bones after their father sent them to hunt another area because they were distracting him from his own search.
"The children wanted to find their own bits and pieces, so he sent them where he thought they might find a few fragments but nothing really important, and they came back saying that they had found this enormous bone," Fuller said.
Dinosaur
Top 20
Concert Tours
The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. (1) Taylor Swift; $2,012,766; $81.55.
2. (2) Bon Jovi; $1,518,974; $93.32.
3. (3) Marc Anthony; $1,186,546; $85.53.
4. (4) "Honda Civic Tour"/Maroon 5/Kelly Clarkson; $917,976; $51.42.
5. (5) Depeche Mode; $913,053; $64.45.
6. (6) Bruno Mars; $889,945; $65.49.
7. (7) Michael Buble; $879,854; $84.05.
8. (8) Luke Bryan; $683,446; $38.33.
9. (9) John Mayer; $679,425; $51.14.
10. (10) Brad Paisley; $662,573; $60.49.
11. (11) Jason Aldean; $660,743; $38.28.
12. (12) Blake Shelton; $632,906; $39.70.
13. (13) Rascal Flatts; $549,454; $38.36.
14. (New) Keith Urban; $536,147; $59.31.
15. (15) Miranda Lambert; $493,423; $33.80.
16. (14) Steely Dan; $486,111; $87.51.
17. (16) Selena Gomez & The Scene; $451,215; $51.22.
18. (18) Sarah Brightman; $349,384; $100.77.
19. (17) Blue Man Group; $317,816; $50.51.
20. (19) Fun.; $313,398; $38.97.
Concert Tours

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