Paralyzed man bitten by poisonous spider, gets unparalyzed…

…and should never, ever play the lottery again. He’s used up that particular well of luck.

Paraplegic Man Suffers Spider Bite, Walks Again

He has been confined to a wheelchair for 20 years. Now a paraplegic man is walking again, and his doctors call it a miracle. CBS13 went to Manteca to find out how a spider bite helped get him back on his feet.

Fark is waiting for the web-slinging abilities to manifest, but I am going to commit heresy and say that making Spider-Man’s web-slingers biological in origin never suited me completely. I liked the idea of Peter Parker being a gadgeteer, sorry.

Oh, well. Even if he doesn’t get them, Mr. Blancarte’s still ahead of the game.

Moe Lane

PS:

Having gone through the Museum of Jurassic Technology’s website…

…found here – I still haven’t figured out if it’s an elaborate in-joke, California weirdness, both, or neither. It’s definitely real: someone from the Steampunk Workshop has been there, and it’s on my wife’s possible visitation list.

Yes, my wife uses Roadside America as a valuable planning resource. And yes, I am a lucky dog. Knew that already, I did.

Obama’s Power Grab on signing statements.

I am backed up by a recognized scholar of constitutional law on this one, by the way.

President Obama’s decision to use signing statements to modify Congressional legislation directly attacks the ‘checks and balances’ to our government set up by the Founders. He is attempting to ‘accumulate more power in the Presidency’, using the claim that he ‘can basically change what Congress passed’ when it comes to legislation; Obama thinks that he has the right to indicate that he can ‘choose to interpret it this way, or that way’, depending on whether he agrees ‘with this part or that part’. In short, he wants to ‘make laws as he’s going along’, and ‘that’s not part of his power’.

Hey, if you don’t believe me, listen to this guy. He’s pretty vehement on the subject:


(H/T: Hot Air)

Just do it fast, before YouTube takes it down for whatever the excuse is this week. Continue reading Obama’s Power Grab on signing statements.

The latest New York Times did yet another story on Steele…

…only this time it had a very welcome sentence in it.

“Mr. Steele declined a request for an interview.”

Dan Riehl caught this first, and I concur: there are times when you pick yourself up, walk it off, and get back to work – and Steele’s gotten to that point. Yes, the media doesn’t love the GOP, except as a punching bag. And yes, the media loves to see Red-on-Red fights, the latest of which has spent far too much time occupying people’s brains than it should have for the last two weeks. And yes, there are ongoing philosophical issues between the various factions of the GOP that are causing all sorts of dynamic tension / impending meltdown / what have you.

Meanwhile, there’s a race going on up in NY-20. Is that less important to you than whether Steele’s sufficiently pro-life? If it isn’t, Tedisco can always use the help. There’s also a race going on over in IL-05. Are you looking for a better hill to fight and maybe die on than whether or not Rush is going to doom the GOP? If you are, Pulido wants to hear from you. Virginia and New Jersey are having elections for governor this year. Are you tired of the debate over who should be the next Presidential candidate? Then the NJ GOP and the VA GOP would be happy to redirect your interests to something a bit more topical.

I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. There is business that must be attended to, and at this point we are merely amusing the Other Side.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

What a trillion dollars looks like.

PageTutor walks you through the process, starting with a hundred dollar bill, moving up to bundles, piles, pallets, and finally the actual trillion itself. It’s best experienced in full on the site in question; like Arhur Dent, you sort of have to work your way up from the loss of McDonald’s to the earth being vaporized to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

Via American Elephant.

I have a few responses to UN SecGen’s ‘deadbeat’ comment…

…(via Jules Crittenden) it’s just that most of them are foul. Which, by a fascinating coincidence, is precisely the word that I’d use to describe the actions that the UN bureaucracy often finds itself involved in, usually involving children and teenagers.

I will promise this, though: if the President decides to go a little further than ‘unfortunate‘ I won’t stop him.  If he decides that our current economic crisis requires that we delay paying off the UN for a couple of quarters – or years – I promise not to say a word of criticism.  Heck, I’ll even unbend enough to say “Well done.”

Moe Lane

PS: Actually, I do have one semi-witty response: “Ban Ki Moon, do you know what the real estate value is for the land at Turtle Bay?  Because I bet that Mayor Bloomberg does.”

Crossposted to RedState.

What *did* Greenwald mean by ‘people like Chuck Schumer?’

After all, it couldn’t have been ‘swarmy, over-privileged, obnoxiously arrogant would-be aristocrat.’

Which is what I’d mean by that; but Greenwald’s a member of the Online Left, so that sort of thing wouldn’t bug him when it comes to a reliable Democrat.

None the less, Dan Riehl noted that Greenwald isn’t happy about the sudden cratering of Chas Freeman’s career:

Isn’t it rather obvious that at some point, there will be a substantial and understandable backlash as Americans watch people like Chuck Schumer openly boast that anyone who makes “statements against Israel” that he deems “over the top” will be disqualified from serving in our Government, despite a long and distinguished record of public service and unchallenged expertise?

As usual, I don’t directly link to pro-torture sites like Greenwald’s if I can help it; Dan’s got the link. I’d also like to note that the answer is “no, it’s not obvious.” Unlike Greenwald, most Americans don’t hate Jews Israelis Zionists are we still using ‘Likudniks’? I can never keep track. Continue reading What *did* Greenwald mean by ‘people like Chuck Schumer?’