Blog Heap of Links for the day 16 March 2015

John Kerry summed up in two headlines [see link]

…[Freshman Arkansas Senator Tom] Cotton got 46 other senators to sign this letter in ink. “Because it was an open letter, it was not sent to Tehran but rather posted on Senator Cotton’s website and social-media accounts,” Caroline Rabbitt, Senator Cotton’s communications director, explained to me last week. Cotton & Co. never even dropped an envelope in the mail.

The fact that Cotton and his colleagues created a letter to nowhere seems to have escaped the loudest voices in this national conversation. …

[On CBS's Face the Nation] Bob Schieffer [who is a jerk]: Are you planning on contacting any of our other adversaries around the ‘country?’ For example, do you plan to check with the North Koreans to make sure that they know that any deal has to be approved by the Congress?

Senator Cotton [does not fall for it]: Bob, right now, I and most every senator is focused on Iran getting a nuclear weapon. That’s why it’s so important that we communicated this message straight to Iran because they’re not hearing from Geneva. And remember this is not a parliamentary democracy.

[Video, 0:40, LSUDVM, YouTube]

“I know that the absolute last damn thing in the world you want is to hear from another Irishman, particularly on the telephone,” Biden said, before launching into a yarn about the heroics of Irish immigrants.

“I just hope he wasn’t calling collect.” U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-S. Boston) commented from the stage. “Holy cow, that was painful.”

“Regardless of whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, sometimes you wonder what planet Joe Biden is on,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell.

Hundreds of used syringes and blood vials in biohazard containers ended up in the Arkansas River after a private company was hired to dispose of them… biohazard investigators were working to trace the materials — some of which bear labels with patients' names on them — back to their source…

Authorities say they have arrested two men for allegedly stealing jewelry from the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. …

[If you just had their mug shots to go on, I'm not sure your first thought would be "men."]

An annual report delivered recently to the US Senate by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, removed Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terrorism threats, after years in which they featured in similar reports… [Emphasis added]

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Vice President Al Gore on Friday called on SXSW attendees to punish climate-change deniers, saying politicians should pay a price for rejecting “accepted science.” … "We need to put a price on carbon to accelerate these market trends… And in order to do that, we need to put a price on denial in politics." (Emphasis added)

A bill introduced in the Texas Senate would prohibit the state from providing resources or personnel for the enforcement of Obamacare within the state…. Practically speaking, this would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the federal government to run Obamacare in the Lone Star State. …

The White House is removing a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act, making official a policy under Presidents Bush and Obama to reject requests for records to that office. …

[Notice the brain-twisting linguistic convolutions required for pinning this on Bush.]

…these one-of-a-kind properties are sure to make your visit memorable.…

Teleport Back to the 1950s

Immerse yourself in the iconography and style of the 1950s at the Happy Days Hotel in McAlester. Take your pick of the Elvis or I Love Lucy suite or the James Dean or Marilyn Monroe room and spend the night in themed-1950s comfort. Adding to the overall charm, the lobby is decked out with records on the walls, as well as black and white checkered tile. While you’re there, be sure to have a meal or two at Angel’s Diner. Slide into a booth and travel back in time with every bite of delicious, classic diner food.

…

A federal judge in Oklahoma has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a prominent atheist organization that sought to challenge the presence of a Ten Commandments monument in the state capital.

American Atheists, based in New Jersey, had filed the legal challenge on behalf of a woman who complained about its installment on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol building. The State Capitol Preservation Commission argued that the woman had only seen the monument once and had traveled to the area just to see the display and take offense. … [Emphasis added]

The friendship between Emmett Rychner, a 4-year-old from Minnesota, and Erling Kindem, a [90yo] World War II veteran [c/o The Blaze]

[Video (ad runs first), 1:57, USA Today on YouTube]

Irwin Hasen, the cartoonist and comic-book artist who drew, and helped create, “Dondi,” the widely syndicated comic strip about a lovable, wide-eyed World War II orphan, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 96. [Quoting New York Times]

The U.S. Army says it will soon be sending armored Stryker vehicles on a 1,100-mile convoy through six European countries to show solidarity to allies in the wake of recent Russian actions in the Ukraine and Crimea that have Eastern Europe on edge. …

Thank you for the campaign support @chucknorris ! -@Netanyahu

[Video, 1:07, chucknorris on YouTube]

[Pete's agglomeration for today of works from around the web to make you wiser; possibly angrier; but wiser.]

…There should be a limit to what ambulance chasers can sue for and medical insurance should be available across any state line.We should open all federal land to oil exploration and we need to begin exporting crude to other countries.Ethanol should be done away with so corn can be used for food for humans and animals as God had intended it in the first place.…

Vic's take on the world for the morning begins here.

"On this day in 1915 US troops under General Pershing entered Mexico seeking the Mexican bandit Pancho Villa. After 9 months Pershing was called back as the US entered WWI.…"