DD Versus THD

Bit finally wrote a subject which I can weigh in on:

I’ve always liked Tim Horton’s, myself, Michelle.

I believe Michelle has a rather good reason to patron Dunkin Donuts rather than Tim Horton Donuts, lack of choice.   There simply are no THD in Maryland.   You can’t eat what you can’t get.

Living amongst what seems like dozens of THD’s, it is hard to remember that Tim Horton only has a regional and not national presence here, south of the border.   THD only operates in ten states.    Poor Michelle would have to drive to either Pennsylvania or West Virginia to get a THD donut.   I mean I like em, but not that well.

As for myself, which do I prefer, DD or THD?  Well it depends which store  I am in.   I like both DD and THD coffee.   I like the DD combos better.   However THD has a wider menu, to include Chili.

Then if you want to resolve the question for yourself, Gates offers the perfect location.   The intersection of Howard and Buffalo Roads, has a THD on the Northwest corner and a DD on the Northeast corner.  Been to both.   DD has a wonderful lounge chair, into which you can really sink.

Hat tip photo: Simpson Trivia.

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Armbinder last night says it pretty well:

Forget the horse race numbers for a moment: if the surveys are accurate, the polarization within the Democratic Party has reached critical levels. Nearly six in ten Obama supporters in Indiana say they would be dissatisfied if Clinton were the nominee — that’s (I believe) the high percentage of Obama supporters who have ever said that.

In both IN and NC, two thirds of Clinton supporters say they’d be dissatisfied if Obama were the nominee — I believe that’s the highest number recorded for that question, too.

The percentage of Clinton voters who say they’d choose McCain over Obama in a general election is approaching 40% in Indiana. Put it another way: in North Carolina, less than HALF of folks who voted today for Hillary Clinton are ready to say today that they’d definitely vote for Obama in a general election.

That’s the real result of the Democrat primary; John McCain won last night.

Longtime readers will know that I find that point ironic, given he’s more a Democrat than anyone who has run under GOP colors for some time, including George W. Bush, which is saying something. It’s a sad commentary on the state of things, when McCain is the best choice, but there it is; The best reason to vote for John McCain is… the Democrat contenders. These exit polls Armbinder cites suggest even rank and file Democrats are beginning to figure this out.

Update: (Bit) Welcome Real Clear Politics Readers

Jeff Poor, Business & Media Institute “ Gore Calls Myanmar Cyclone a ‘Consequence’ of Global Warming:”

Using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a strategy for many global warming activists, and it was just a matter of time before someone found a way to tie the recent Myanmar cyclone to global warming.

Former Vice President Al Gore in an interview on NPR’s May 6 “Fresh Air” broadcast did just that. He was interviewed by “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross about the release of his book, “The Assault on Reason,” in paperback.

Jeff Emanuel, Red State asks, “So tell me, Al, what caused all those *other* storms in Earth’s history?

It’s so easy, too. All Gore has to do is wait for any day that feels a little warm or a little cool, or a day when the sun shines or is obscured by clouds, or when there is hail or sleet, and say that it was caused by his personal bugaboo, AGW. His *real* money is made, though, when a storm comes.

That’s right, a *storm.* Just like Earth has had for, oh, the entirety of its existence. Remember thunderstorms, tornadoes, cyclones? Thought so — because they happened when you were growing up, just like they did when your parents were growing up, just like they did in the days before the internal combustion engine (called the “greatest threat facing our planet” by Gore in his 1980 book Earth in the Balance).

Al Gore learned well, stealing a page out B.J Clinton’s shoot first, ask question later, playbook, Armstrong Williams, BNET:

That is just the kind of absurd leap President Clinton is making, while trying to turn the heartland’s loss into his political profit. Clinton has quickly descended from one of the loftiest points in his presidency to one of his lowest with remarks assigning responsibility for the Oklahoma City bombing to talk radio. Citing “loud and angry voices” spreading hate over the airwaves, the president has tried to tag his critics as accessories to the heinous attack.

Old play, bad play Al.  The play didn’t work for B.J in 2005 and it’s not going to work for you.  :Life can be rough for a college drop-out?

Swamp Stomper Ring Forward: (Art Smith/Conservative Reader)

Books for Soldiers (booksforsoldiers.com) needs financial help.  This is an organization that provides books and other media (donated or financed by members such as myself) to members of the US Military who are on active duty.  I have personally had a positive experience with this organization.  They know what they are doing when working with the troops and site members, and provide excellent controls throughout the process.  They lack only sufficient funding to maintain an excellent program.

Early on in the life of this blog we began promoting two non-profit organizations: Kiva and Books For Soldiers.  BFS means a lot to me, and I will be providing a financial commitment to help keep them operating.  Anything you can do, I appreciate.  You can click the badge on The Conservative Reader sidebar (near the top) to go their site and donate.

Below I have the content of an email we received today from BFS (I have verified at their web site that this email is legit).  Please read and do what you can to respond.

Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2008 2:34 PM

Subject: [Books For Soldiers] 2008 Fundraising Update Newsletter April 2008

Books For Soldiers
2008 Fundraising Update Newsletter April 2008
___________________________
It Is A Bad Economy

Starting at the first of this year, BFS started a robust fundraising campaign here in North Carolina. We contacted small companies and some large companies you probably have heard of. To date, we have received a stack of letters that begin with “we deeply regret not being able to donate this year” and no cash. From our corporate donation campaign we have received a tad under thirty dollars from a philanthropy grants group in Winston Salem, NC. That was it, nothing else.

Times are tough for all non-profit groups, food banks from all around North Carolina and across the nation are suffering from a lack of donations and a sharp increase of those in need. The article below arrived in my email today about a women’s shelter closing because of a lack of donations.

http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/1356/
___________________________
The Next Step

The BFS Board of Directors have discussed this problem for some time and have decided to have another go at fundraising. We are working on a different campaign aimed at companies in larger states – California for example. Every time we want to do fundraising in a state (cold call, direct mail, advertising) we need to file with that state’s Secretary of State – filing in all states if prohibitively expensive so we have to pick and choose.

In our last newsletter, we reported on the hacker attacks that coincided with our 5th Anniversary. Those DNS attacks didn’t help our balance sheet. Our final IT bill from the datacenter for that week was a tad over $11,000. If you recall, the hackers brought down the whole datacenter just to try to kill us.

The Board set a goal of $70,000 to raise by November 1st of this year. If that amount is not raised, the site will close on December 31st, 2008.

If we cannot make the fundraising target, the Board will seek to sell the site to another 501(c)(3) and any new owner will need to be qualified – have the IT talent to run the site, the funding to keep it going and the funding for the required upgrades, both software and hardware. We would also stop accepting new OVs on November 1st and stop accepting new books requests from soldiers on December 1st, 2008.
___________________________
What Does It Take?*

It takes a lot to run BFS on a monthly basis. The monthly funds required to run an operation like BFS are large. Here is a partial summary of where the donations go.

All figures are a monthly average for 2007.

Books, DVDs, other carepackage items	$1153
Postage	$812
Rent	$1600
Utilities	$277
IT Services (server farm, hosting, bandwidth)	$4258
IT Maintenance Contract	$1500
IT Security Software License Fees	$350

There are other things like broken computers, the occasional software purchase, insurance, pencils, toilet paper for the bathroom, etc. that we purchase.

No one at BFS receives a salary.

The BFS presence on MySpace, Flickr, YouTube are all free. Our presence in Second Life has also been donated.

We will be disabling the uploading of photos in the next few weeks to save bandwidth. Please post your photos to the Flickr BFS Group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/booksforsoldiers) and include the Flickr link to the photo in your forum post. If you want keep your photos on BFS, place them on Flickr and post the code in your post. Instructions can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/help/photos/#68

My hopes is that eventually we can raise more than the $70k survival goal. Last year our goal for 2008 was to move to a website design where the cumbersome OV process was performed online and searching and finding soldiers would be a breeze – subscribing to soldier requests is my favorite new BFS feature. Now we are just struggling to stay open.
___________________________
How You Can Help

The ONLY reason we are open today is because of the OVs that have donated so far this year, but now I need to ask more of everyone.

1) Office party fundraiser – Coordinate a “Save BFS Day” at work and urge, beg, cajole your co-workers into coughing up something for BFS.

2) Have your company cough up some cash. We will send your company a formal donation request, just send us the company name, contact name and address and we will get it out right away. Send these requests to me personally ([email protected])

3) Have your place of worship pass the plate (hat, kippah, whatever) for BFS. Consult with your church’s leader about holding a “Save BFS Offering” one day this month. Checks should be made out to “Books For Soldiers.” If they have any questions or concerns, please contact me directly to set up a call.

4) Visit our donation page and give what you can.

http://booksforsoldiers.com/donate.php

or by check

Books For Soldiers
2008 Fund Drive
353 Jonestown Rd #123
Winston Salem, NC 27104
___________________________
In Closing

I started BFS five years ago and fully expected it to be online for only six weeks, that is the length of time I thought it would take for our troops to finish up in Baghdad and come back home. I am also terrible at predicting who is going to win the next NASCAR race.

If worse come to worse, it has been a good run – a great run in fact. In the first 6 months of operation, we collectively shipped over 400 tons of packages to the Middle East, that is when I stopped counting. We also built the largest English library in the Middle East – together with US soldiers at the Baghdad International Airport in the months following the fall of Baghdad.

We have done a lot of tremendous work, made a lot of great friends and even a wedding or two! We have also lost a lot of friends and we have received way too many memorial flags. Either way, you can all be proud of what we have achieved.

I promise that we will do everything in our power to meet our fundraising goals and will appreciate any help from you.

Thank-you for your support, patience and hard work over the last 5 years.

And most of all thank-you for your support of our troops.

Storm Williams
Founder
Books For Soldiers

*Legalese: BFS is exempt from filing IRS Form 990. Any financial information found here should not be considered as a replacement for IRS Form 990 or a supplement to an IRS Form 990.

Update: clarification on sidebar badge location.

• Yes, dear reader, I know I often write the Rambles so you MUST click on the links to see what the subject is. That’s the idea. That said, let’s get to it.
• Not often in the last cycle did we see the fact that Obama won Guam by only seven votes. I suppose you can guess for yourself why. How sad is it when the outcome of a nomination is still in doubt by the time Guam comes along? How sad is it when one Democrat wins by only 7 votes?
• A pretty good idea, actually, Billy. But just so you knw, polar bears don’t come that far south, usually.
• While I have you, Billy, I wonder if you and Karen aren’t each viewing betterment of that publication in opposite directions. IOW, what she would consider better, you’d consider worse. Though, come to think of it, it’s hard for me to see how it could get worse, shy of hiring Jimmy “The Snake” Carville, Jerimiah Wright, or someone similarly gifted in what passes for reason, any more.
• So, now we see a charge that we as a nation over-medicate our kids. On what do they base this? The fact that as compared to the UK, we give our kids six ties the medication.  Boortz is screaming about this one this morning, I see. But hang on a tick… The quality of the healthcare system in the UK is lower than whale poop, anyway… as Boortz has been pointing out… and correctly… for years. So explain to me how this can be even close to a valid conclusion. Sorry, it just doesn’t.
• Bruce, you’ve discovered what passes for objectivity in the press these days.
• I’ve always liked Tim Horton’s, myself, Michelle.
• Personally, I’d like to see people in Obama audiences carry placards of that Ayers photo… the one where he’s stomping on the flag. I figure that’s the best symbolism possible for Obama, anyway.
• Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time will understand that nobody much likes unions. The Teamsters are a classic example of why.So I suppose we none of us, are shocked and suprised to find both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama… particularly Obama, kissing their backside, promising to call off the enforcement agencies from their investigation of the Teamsters. Is it any wonder Obama got their support in this election?
• Rich… that’s “Jumped the Land Shark“, OK? You’re welcome.
• I may write about this at length later, but am I the only one that’s annoyed McCain is talking ‘open borders’ again? What an IDIOT. And yes, I don’t want to hear any nonsense about how I’m in McCain’s pocket, here. Anyone who’s read this blog for any amount of time will know better.
  
• I see a lot of noise about Jindal for VP. Frankly, I don’t see it happening, now. I mean, I wouldn’t mind it it did, but it doesn’t sound like it’ll work, just now. And yes, I know what I said before. I just didn’t figure on this cycle. I still don’t, really.
• Francis has an apology to make. (Cue “Pleasures of the dance, A collection of Norwegian carpenter’s songs compiled by Oscar Trict”.)

Guns don’t kill people… small cars do.

Let’s break this down:

1. Had Bill Clinton not vetoed ANWR drilling back in 1995, our supply of available crude would be at least 20% higher than it is today.
2. That is one of several examples of our being prevented from drilling where the oil is. There are countless offshore examples, off California, and Florida.
3. We have more crude oil available to us here in these not-so United States than is in the whole of the Middle East. However environmentalists make it their business to prevent us from getting to it.
4. As a direct result of our environmentalist wing, we now have food shortages (Ethanol production) and an economy that is threatening to dive into the tank.
5. If the world-wide left had wanted to ruin our economy, they could hardly have picked a better way to do it.

Here it is, gang: In this country, the problem comes down to Democrats.

“We’re going to go right at OPEC,” she said. “They can no longer be a cartel

Ben Smith.

Sure Mre. Clinton.   While you are at, why don’t you repeal that pesty law of gravity.   Serious times, require serious presidents.   The Clintons are not serious.

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A while ago, and once again, earlier today, I pointed out a salient fact that nobody seems to notice:

According to CNN Money, Exxon total “profits” if you don’t count exploration costs, were $40BUSD, in 2007. Their taxes, however, were $100BUSD.

With this huge disparity in mind, let us contemplate what a real gas tax holiday would mean:

Multiply this by the number of gas and oil companies there are around, and you’ll geta  rough estimate of how much is being paid by Americans in taxes, through their energy purchases.  Does anyone really think that the federal government is going to proclaim a real tax holiday by removing this tax load? I don’t think so, either.

Does anyone think they’re put in a bind when they talk about dropping 20 cents a gallon off the federal tax bill at the pump? I don’t, either.

Yet, we’ll all be told repeatedly about how much money the oil companies are making. You’ll forgive me if I don’t take any of the candidates, particularly the Democrats, seriously on this. They don’t have the guts to promote a real  gas tax holiday and really help the American people. Not a one of ’em. So spare me the bull, OK?

Some of you may have noted elements of the blog that were missing around 7pm to 730pm eastern tonight.

I had a software update blow up on me, and I had to revert to tape. We never went down outright, but some features were not available while I fixed things. Sorry about that.

• Oh, sure, Billy, I’ve gone out and given more than I thought I had, while doing a show. Even occasionally, a radio show. And you know, it’s not a physical thing, as much as it is a tension and mental strain that drains you so. And I’ve found that’s a good thing. Over the years I found myself eating those tensions like candy, and feeding the energy back into what I was doing. It got toa point there where I got a reputation as a bit of a madman on the hotter jobs. I know what you mean, Bro. It’s good, ain’t it?
• Oh, by the way, Billy; Visualize Whirled Peas. That snark aside, I dare to suggest to you the elightenment would not have been possible without the cultural framework, and in particular the reverence of each human life that Christianity and it’s values provided.
• It’s the truth, Gaius, that’s for certain. But it’s kind of like Congress passing laws thinking they’re going to do something about whatever the problem is. The law mostly will not solve the problem, but they can always say to themselves that they doing good because they were doing SOMETHING. It’s a crock, of course, but there it is.
• I mentioned the other day about Boris Johnson, the new mayor of London. Apparently, he’ s got Muslims upset simply by breathing. They couldn’t wait to post photo ops of him standing with Jewish people.  Explain to me how we’re not dealing with a blind hatred akin to BDS. Or, perhaps more correctly, how the Muslim Jihad isn’t like BDS.
• The Jawas point out the Rasmussen poll showing 58% of people polled think that Obama’s statement disowning Reverend Wright was a political move, not a reflection of actual outrage on his part. I wonder; does that push him higher in negatives than Hillary Clinton?
• Microsoft has supposedly given up on it’s bid to buy Yahoo. We’ve seen this often enough before to know full well that this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this.
• CBS apparently feels it’s not done enough complaining about the war in Iraq, and promoting Democrats. So now, they drag Mary TYillman out of her relative obscurity to try again. Sorry, Mary, but I get the feeling your son wouldn’t approve, and for the same reason Casey Sheehan wouldn’t approve. And yes, I equate the two. there’s a point beyond which you stop. You passed that long ago.
• An interesting resource for video of old TV shows and whatnot, including some newer stuff and even hi-res stuff… HULU.COM.
• Vegetable rights? Well, look, you knew it was coming, right?
• I see by way of Michelle that American Thinker is doing a donation drive.
• The ultimate platform for people who can’t make up their friggin’ minds… Let’s see… buying an Intel based Mac, to run Gnome/KDE on?  Ummmmm why?
• I see PETA is busy running it’s mouth about the Derby… as I thought they would.  At some point, you have to stop taking these morons seriously, America.
• Yes, I saw Howard Dean over the weekend. Wallace basicly chewed him up and spit him out. Is there any remaining doubt in anyone’s mind why the Democrats are in such serious trouble?

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Look out for the idiot behind me

From the UK Express:

CHUNKS of flesh from a murder victim were found simmering in a stewing pot at the home of the first Mr Gay UK, Anthony Morley, it emerged yesterday.

Chef Morley, 35, has been charged with murdering gay advertising salesman Damian Oldfield, 33.

It appears cannibalism may also have been involved after cooked segments of human flesh were found at the alleged murder scene.

Is it just me, or does this seem to happen rather a lot more often among, shall we say, certain lifestyles?

The Telegraph:

Police believe Mr Oldfield, an advertising executive for gay lifestyle magazine Bent, was stabbed to death on Wednesday or Thursday of last week.
….
Anthony Morley, 35, from Doncaster – who won the Mr Gay UK competition in 1993 aged 20 – appeared in court earlier this week charged with Mr Oldfield’s murder.

We now have to rather identical points on the map to draw one to the other, from Dalhmer to Morley while investigating this.  There’s an amazing amount of papers being written about Dalhmer, even to this day.  A quick and dirty search on Google turns up a few hundred. With at least two such cases, being famous, or infamous, perhaps we will now be gutsy enough to identify the trends, here.

Noted a resturant review over the weekend in the New York Times… and wouldn’t have said much at all, except that it got so bad with it’s left-leaning, that even left leaner, Ezra Klein can’t stand it anymore.  Yes, that’s really saying something.

They decided to use their perch at the Times, to unload on one of the larger and more visible symbols of Corporate America… the Chain restaurant.  It’s amazing, what happens when the left gets on it’s high horse about such things… the kind of amazing that can only be associated with a train wreck. You know how it’s going to come out, but you can’t take your eyes away.

Look, understand the depth of this thing; Klein and I agree on abut 1% of what comes out of his mouth. So, on those rare ocasions when even Klein is forced into reality, I consider it noteworthy, and this is one such occasion.

Klein:

I can see why people who like knowing exactly what to expect — especially children, who are comforted by the familiar — enjoy going to Applebee’s.

So there you have it: Adults who like Applebee’s are like particularly simple-minded children. Christ. You’re writing in public, folks. Have some manners.

But there it is, gang. I am convinced that what this is, is a symptom of illogical protest against what the left views as American excess. Again, Klein:

This next revelation, delivered like it might result in the author’s excommunication from Manhattan, also made me laugh:

True confession: I had a great meal at the Cheesecake Factory in White Plains.

So, what is supposed to be the bigger shock, here? That a there was a great meal to be had at the epitome of their arch enemy, the corporate restaurant, or that the lefty writing for the New York Times, actually admitted it?

Now, I grant that this seems a small thing in the affairs of mankind. Taken of itself, I’d be inclined to agree. But what if we take this kind of instinctive anti-American success nonsense and apply such to their choices in politics… where they’re ashamed to admit the truth of things because it’s not ‘cool’ and doesn’t fit in with the elitist notions spread by the group they’re trying to fit in with?

You need to understand the insidious nature of what I’m talking about here, to grasp what I’m asking. In that direction lies Hollywood, for example, where one’s career can ride on their being accepted by the group. Which tends to explain Tom Hanks yesterday, and on the other hand, why Chuck Heston wasn’t filming for the last 20 years of his life.

Now, I should make note of the idea that Klein doesn’t mention any of this. In an apparent act of self-preservation, he avoids such issues outright.  Then again, I’ve never figured him to have the integrity of jello in any event. But you know it’s getting bad indeed, when such a person has to come up for air, as he does here.

Update: Joyner adds some thoughts, and I add some discussion there.

Listen as BO states that when a person loses his job, ho loses hiis sense of dignity, video:

[wp_youtube]dNe0U_1SgUM[/wp_youtube]

BO professes to be a Christian.  Yet no Christian would believe that his dignity somehow depended on his job.  However Karl Marx would be.  Who owns your dignity, you or the state?