Category Archives: You have got to be kidding

Mind in the Gutter, Knickers in a Twist

Crime, Humor, Kitchen Sink, Oddly Enough, Plain foolishness, You have got to be kidding

Now, here’s something you don’t see everyday: Flushed Bra Causes Sewer Collapse. This was just so rich I had to quote the article here:

Flushed bra which caused sewer collapse

The bra was recovered from the sewer by engineers

A bra and a pair of knickers have been blamed for a flood and road collapse in County Durham.

Northumbrian Water said the underwear was flushed down a toilet and caused a blockage in a sewage pipe in Middleton-St-George, near Darlington. Heavy rain, together with a build up of grease and fat, caused the pipe to burst and the road above to collapse. The road will remain closed for days and Northumbrian Water estimates repairs will cost more than £15,000. The company has now urged residents to think carefully about what they flush away.

‘Offending items’

A spokeswoman said: “If the underwear had not been flushed down the toilet, this would not have happened. It was very irresponsible behaviour. When we dug down to inspect the damage, we found a bra and knickers had snagged itself across the nine-inch diameter of the pipe. There was also a heavy build-up of grease and fat, which contributed to the situation. We were forced to repair a 2m section of sewer and a 10m section of road was affected. These pipes are not designed to carry bras and knickers.” The spokeswoman said it was impossible to trace the owners of the underwear.

She added: “Unfortunately no-one wants to even touch the offending items. They will remain bagged for a time and then disposed of properly.”

time delay Tom Delay

Government, Iraq, You have got to be kidding

The Doonesbury site has a often-funny “Say What?” snippet off in a corner.  I had to share today’s:

“For the majority leader of the United States Senate, in the time of war, with soldiers dying on the ground, announcing that we have lost the war, is very close to treasonous. I looked it up while we were driving over here, what the definition of ‘treason’ is. It’s the betrayal of trust.”
– Tom DeLay, 2007

“I cannot support a failed foreign policy….President Clinton has never explained to the American people why he was involving the US military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military-foreign policy precedent. Was it worth it to stay in Vietnam to save face? What good has been accomplished so far? Absolutely nothing.”
– then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay, 1999, a month into the US mission in Kosovo 

Mr. Bush, tear down this wall

Iraq, Security Theater, You have got to be kidding

Oh, you have got to be kidding me:

A U.S. military brigade is constructing a 3-mile-long concrete wall to cut off one of the capital’s most restive Sunni Arab districts from the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods that surround it, raising concern about the further Balkanization of Iraq’s most populous and violent city.

U.S. commanders in northern Baghdad said the 12-foot-high barrier would make it more difficult for suicide bombers to strike and for death squads and militia fighters from sectarian factions to attack one another and then slip back to their home turf.

Although Baghdad is replete with blast walls, checkpoints and other temporary barriers, including a massive wall around the Green Zone, the barrier being constructed in Adhamiya would be the first to be based in essence on sectarian considerations.

More details at the LA Times story.  So, how much of this has to happen before the Bush administration admits we’re in the middle of a civil war, and losing?

just taking a stroll

Iraq, You have got to be kidding

Think Progress paints a slightly different picture than John McCain would like:

Sen. John McCain strolled briefly through an open-air market in Baghdad today in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq.

NBC’s Nightly News provided further details about McCain’s one-hour guided tour. He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

McCain recently claimed that there “are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.” In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market today was proof that you could indeed “walk freely” in some areas of Baghdad.

I’m so glad to see that the security situation has improved so dramatically.  I’ll be sure to visit Baghdad for my next vacation, provided I can hire my security force in time.