Oh my sweet clean lord, it's Scully!

Unbeknownst to me (as I have no TV and thus know nothing about what's going on out there in Entertainmentland), Chris Carter is making a new X-Files movie, starring my erstwhile wife and love Gillian Anderson, the "Dana Scully" half of the Mulder and Scully team of the series.

This is all pretty impressive when you figure that the series had its heydays during Bill Clinton's presidency, and the first movie Fight the Future came out ten freakin' years ago. Still, I guess Chris Carter knew that my passion and fervor for Scully would not be diminished by time, and thus we have a new movie: The X-Files: I Want to Believe.


Geeks like me were always in love with the coolness of Scully: her skepticism, her knowledge of medicine, and her scathing and hilarious disbelieving looks whenever Mulder would go off on one of his crazy theories. Beneath the cool exterior, however, one could detect a warmth and a fierceness of purpose that made her the smoldering center of the show.

One of my favorite Scully moments occurred in the since-banned episode "Home," where she attempts to move a sheep out of her way and finally resorts to saying, "Baa ram ewe..."--a reference to the secret code that Babe the Pig learns in order to make the sheep obey him. Obviously, Scully knew how much I loved Babe! (but not Babe: Pig in the City--that movie kinda sucked) She made The X-Files one of my all-time favorite TV shows. Well, that and Scully's smokin' hawt™ self, of course.

I've seen Gillian Anderson playing various roles in other movies, but she never looked quite as good inhabiting other characters as when she was Scully. The movie premiers Friday, so you can bet your sweet bippy (or your sour one if you want) that I'll be checking out my woman this weekend.

In the meantime, we could always satisfy our Scully craving by looking at her bizarro-stupid-world doppelganger, Dana Perino--courtesy of 'Splainer MattyBoy:
But that would just make me want to throw up (again) thinking about Chimpy. So let's cleanse ourselves and go back to my woman:
Holy hand grenade, she's dreamy.

Not dead yet

but I am working on a big project at the job. I'll be off the bloggy planet for a couple more days, but I'll be back--with a vengeance!--soon. I'll try to catch up on your posts then too.

Letter from a Congressman

Back before the FISA vote disaster I, like many of my progressive pals, made some phone calls and sent emails to my local representatives begging them to vote against the new FISA because of the section granting telecoms immunity from lawsuits. This morning, I got a return email from Sen. Bob Casey, a typical bend-over-for-the-repugs democrat who --at least there's this-- beat Rick "Gays=Man-on-Dog-Sex!" Santorum for senator.

Remember Old Rick?

I can't help myself; this pic always makes me giggle. I know, I'm mean.

And here's Bob Casey:

"Who, me? You want me to suck Cheney's dick? Again? Okay! Anything for a buck!"

I have never liked Casey; back in 2006, I voted for a true progressive dem named Chuck Penacchio but, as a true progressive, he never got the backing of the Big Money in PA, of course, and he lost out to Casey.

So anyway, I got the following generic email reply from Casey this morning:

Dear Ms. Guzman:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about this important issue.

After careful deliberation, on July 9, 2008, I voted in favor of legislation to revise and update the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act of 1978. This bill is not perfect, but it does improve on the legislation hurried into law last summer by the White House when it comes to strengthening civil liberties protections for Americans, enhancing judicial oversight, and providing the intelligence community with the necessary tools and legal authorities to target terrorists who would do harm to the American people.

Despite these improvements, I also believe the bill had some significant shortcomings. For that reason, I proudly voted for the Feingold-Dodd amendment that would have stripped immunity for telecommunication firms that may have cooperated with the President's warrantless surveillance program from the bill. Additionally, I have cosponsored and spoke on the Senate floor in support of the Bingaman amendment that would have delayed these limited immunity provisions until the Congress receives a final report on the President's warrantless surveillance program. Unfortunately, both of these amendments failed to gain the necessary support for passage.

However, I was pleased that the legislation enshrines the principle that the FISA statute is the exclusive authority for electronic surveillance and that the President must obey the FISA statute. It also restores the principle of basic judicial oversight over all surveillance activities and re-establishes the principal of accountability by requiring a comprehensive Inspector General's report on the President's warrantless surveillance program within a year. It is for these reasons I ultimately chose to vote in favor of the final bill.

I have been gratified to hear from so many of my constituents on this issue. Please be assured that I kept your concerns in mind as I deliberated and cast my vote. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.

If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. I invite you to use this online office as a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.

Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator

Well whaddya know about that? He "proudly voted" for that Feingold-Dodd amendment, yet he turned around and voted for the bill even though the amendment was gone. Way to stick to your guns, Bob.

I think my favorite line is this one:

This bill is not perfect, but it does improve on the legislation hurried into law last summer by the White House when it comes to strengthening civil liberties protections for Americans, enhancing judicial oversight, and providing the intelligence community with the necessary tools and legal authorities to target terrorists who would do harm to the American people.

First of all, Bob, the Bush White House has never done ANYTHING to "[strengthen] civil liberties protections for Americans," and yet you list that item first. Nice touch; in fact, I'm sure Cheney felt that touch on his ass as you were kissing it while he listened to our phone calls.

Another of Casey's justifications is this so-called "comprehensive Inspector General's report on the President's warrantless surveillance program [due] within a year." Let's see; the bill passed the other day, so his deadline is July of 2009, seven months AFTER Bush has left the White House. I'm sure BushCo will be deliverying that report right into Congress's waiting hands, just like they turned over those minutes from Darth Cheney's little pow-wows with the Big Oil/Energy folks, lost emails, Rove's ass, Harriet Myers and Josh Bolton, and all the other shit that Congress has asked for.

Don't hold your breath, Bob. But then I suspect you already knew that.

Oh--and thanks for NOTHING.

I'm think I'm gonna need more than one word for this one

(Sidenote, whispered excitedly into your ear) Check me out, posting all over the place today! (read: I finished that part-number thingie!) Of course, there's just so much stupid shit going on today that it couldn't be helped. I know: Pretend I combined all the posts into another "quick-hits" thingie, as you guys seemed to like that. Are you hungry? Because I'm hungry. And I need a Yuengling somethin' fierce. Are we going to happy hour? Sorry, are you trying to read? Sorry.

A big tip o' my Dallas Cowboys cap to The Rude Pundit for this photo:

Attempt #1:
Betrayal.
Well, that keeps to my "one-word caption day!" pronouncement from earlier, and it certainly sums things up in oh so many ways, but there's just so much going on in this photo that I gotta give it another shot.

Attempt #2:
Chimpy: Gee. Ee. Oh. Ar. Uhhhh...
Darth Cheney: Just scribble on the line like I taught you, you fucking moron. No one reads this shit anyway.
Chimpy: Huh? Oh. Yeah. (Scribbling) There! Oh, and this is sure a great victory fer freedom!
Darth Cheney: Nice touch. (Aside) Asshole.

Attempt #3:
Give up. See The Rude Pundit's treatment, because it's damned brilliant, as always.

Try to have a good weekend, my bloggy pals. Involve liquor as necessary to help you in your efforts. Get outside at least a little and enjoy nature. As for me, The Kat and The Kid are out of town, so I'm flying solo this weekend; feel free to drop by and pet Niblet and the kittehs.

It's one-word caption day!

Putrid.



Class.



Floss.



Harpy.

Random question

Tired of thinking today; I am working on a mind-numbing project at work which involves check part numbers online. 3,400 part numbers. Three thousand four hundred partnos. As Matty Boy so aptly put it:

Only I think I have the cross-eyed, from looking at this spreadsheet of partnos.

So here's my question for you, as I look up partnos and listen to music in my tiny cubey:

Who's your favorite singer of all time? I mean, the one you think is the best voice you've ever heard.

Thoughts on July 4th, related on July 9th

"Give me liberty or give me death!" --Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

Thought #1: War! Huh! Good God! Revolutionary War--what is it good for?
Whenever The Kat and The Kid and I take a car trip, The Kid always brings along a book to read aloud to us. We enjoy her reading, and we giggle to ourselves at the words she always mispronounces ("guess-tures" instead of "gestures," Edmund "Daints" instead of "Dantes," among others), and she enjoys entertaining us.

Through the years, we've gone from a kiddie version of The Count of Monte Cristo to The Swiss Family Robinson ("There's nothing these guys won't shoot!") to our most recent book, Ghosts I Have Been.

One of the characters in Ghosts is a sincere Anglophile, lecturing the protagonist and her friend Alexander about the greatness of the British Empire and the mistake America made when it fought a war for independence from Britain. This got me to thinking...

What would've happened if the Founding Fathers had decided to stick with Mother England?

1. No great statesmen like Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, or Washington. I'm guessing they'd have just sat around getting rich. That's a mind-blower right off the bat. Those guys set the standard for true "American" greatness. Would they still have become famous were it not for their desire and sacrifices for freedom?

2. No Civil War. I'm sure we would've still had slaves--the Brits needed the cotton. But I would hope the institution of slavery would've been discontinued at some point. Of course, judging from the attitudes of some modern Americans, maybe not.

3. No Bush. Either of them.


Thought #2: Were the Founding Fathers psychic, or just that smart?
While googling "Founding Father quotes" I read this one:

A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. --Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

I'm always amazed at how prescient some of our grand old revolutionists were. I think they knew how precious and delicate their democracy was, and how easy it would be to ruin the whole fucking thing. They knew their history--that every great civilization has fallen into the same traps and eventually collapsed under its own hubris. I'm sure they hoped and prayed it wouldn't happen to their country. But it has.

We lost our virtue as a people long ago, I fear. The 20th century was one of almost constant warfare, leading the way to the currently endless occupation of Iraq. One terrorist attack on American soil, and America jumped up on that kitchen chair, holding her skirts and screaming, "EEK a mouse! Kill it! Kill it!" Fuck freedom and peace and democracy; it's all about fear, war, and money. My god, what would Jefferson or Lincoln say about the mad power/money grab that has been the BushCo administration?


Thought #3: On the man who gave America her first king, and the man who would be king
Bush: "Yo Blair!" "Yo Harper!" The attempted Merkel shoulder massage. The continual butchering of the language. Complete disregard for the "goddamned piece of paper" that was our Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, and plain human decency. Presidential?
McCain: "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!" "Maybe that's a way of killing them." (on cigarette exports to Iran) Complete support for King Dumbya. Presidential?

Does anyone in the republican party--or politics altogether--have any sense of decency left?

The one where I get an award

A person I've been noticing in the comments windows of several high-quality blogs I visit and even my own little bloggy, Diva Jood has awarded IAOD an um Arte y Pico award! It's really fancy-looking:

in addition to being in Spanish and everything! I'm not sure what "Arte y Pico" means--art and something -- maybe something to do with pico de gallo, which I love, but I doubt it.

At any rate, the rules explain exactly what the award is for:
1)Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico.
Wow--someone thinks my blog is creative and interesting! And that it contributes to the blogging community! *blush*

So I'm kinda pumped! Now to think of five nominees who haven't already been nominated....

If anyone contributes to the blogging community as well as the world around her (and certainly to my world), it's the lovely FranIAm. But she's already gotten the award from Diva Jood herself! Dangit.

Okay--how about Distributorcap in NY? His history posts alone rival anything you'll see on TV or in the movies, documentary-wise, and his biting humor makes his blog a must-read for anyone who wants to understand complex issues like oil, the economy, and our own screwed-up country. But shit! He's already been nominated too; thanks for nothin', Randal! And dammit, that means I can't nominate Randal either, because he's already got one too!

OH HOLD THE PHONE -- Although I don't know whether they will appear at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to accept their awards, I do have two amazing bloggers who make me think, laugh, and sometimes cry:

Jess Wundrun: My favorite Wisconsinite wonders about our world, our stupid president, and everything in between. A day with Wundrun is like a day without books--you just might as well stay in bed.

Pissed off Patricia at Morning Martini: with bonus posts every Friday from Fred, the cat who loves you guys, this is a two-for-one that'll make your day. Make mine a double!

So that's two. Now--for the King of the Scanner™ himself, the guardian of all things graphical and printed, Dr. Monkey von Monkerstein! Consider: his scans of vintage children's books and assorted magazines, his recaptioned New Yorker cartoons, his quirky combinations of his scans and his own ideas, to name just a few of the things I love about Dr. Monkey. Plus he's a movie star, and he REALLY HATES CHIMPY! AND he sent me a CD with a song called "Lucky Rabbit's Foot" that makes Niblet jump around like crazy!

That's three--I can think of one more, and I'd better hurry before someone else nominates her:

Vikkitikkitavi at Bells On. Go there. Read. Every post. Evah. She's that good.

Okay--I'm tapped out, man.

What's on my mind today

Photo by John Russell, from Saving Antiquities for Everyone, a fascinating if heart-breaking organization and web site where you can read this fascinating article

I'm tired of thinking about the massive goatfuck that has been the BushCo administration's Iraq "war"/occupation, and how our tax dollars and our economy and our futures are being squandered on no-bid contracts to corporate fuckers like Halliburton and Blackwater. I remember reading these articles about just how wisely all that money was handled in Iraq: from giant pallets of cash that just vanished to people tossing around bricks of hundreds in the most bizarre games of football ever played.

We still hear a lot about the funding of the war and occupation, and many blogs have those little dollar-counter widgets in their sidebars, tallying the ever-rising cost of the boondoggle in Iraq. However, we don't read too much anymore about the looting of artifacts that took place in Iraq shortly after the initial Shock and Awe (aka "nuke 'em 'til they glow") phase of the Iraq invasion. Here is an article from TomDispatch introducing an excerpt from Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Public, written by my personal hero Chalmers Johnson, about just what was lost in Iraq in those turbulent days--and how much our world has lost in terms of the history of human civilization. Note: I did a review of Chalmers' great book here.)

These lines really galled me:

These events were, according to Paul Zimansky, a Boston University archaeologist, "the greatest cultural disaster of the last 500 years." Eleanor Robson of All Souls College, Oxford, said, "You'd have to go back centuries, to the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, to find looting on this scale." Yet Secretary Rumsfeld compared the looting to the aftermath of a soccer game and shrugged it off with the comment that "Freedom's untidy. . . . Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes."

So one person compares the looting to that of the Mogol hordes; another calls it merely "untidy." In a testament to the BushCo mindset regarding anything remotely intellectual--history, culture, the arts, museums, and so forth--the entire quote was "Stuff happens. Freedom's untidy.... Free people are free to mistakes and commit crimes." (and yet they're still picking up people and throwing them into Gitmo--for what, exactly?) Truly mind-boggling.

We'll never know what all was lost, and what continues to be lost. I almost start crying when I think of that thrilling scene in National Treasure, where they discover among the treasure all the materials from the library at Alexandria--intact. To an old English major like me, it would be like Lancelot finding the Holy Grail.

But that was just a movie. No one will ever recover what was lost during the looting of Baghdad. From Tom Engelhardt:

Worse yet, the looting of antiquity, words and objects, not only never ended but seems to have accelerated. From well organized gangs of grave robbers to American engineers building bases to American soldiers taking souvenirs, the ancient inheritance not just of Iraqis but of all of us has simply headed south. According to
Reuters, more than 1,000 Iraqi objects of antiquity have been confiscated at American airports; priceless cylinder seals are evidently selling on-line at eBay for a few hundred dollars apiece; and this represents just the tiniest fraction of what's gone. The process is not only unending, but in the chaos that is America's Iraq beyond counting or assessing accurately.

Another interesting article, from 2007, from the museum point of view. This was the most recent mention of the looting in Iraq that I was able to find on the interwebs.

FINALLY!

The planets and stars finally aligned and I was able to get a picture of this:
I know it's kinda blurry, and the color is terrible, but gimme a break--I was in a bathroom stall trying not to cause a panic by whipping out my camera phone.

So a lot of the buildings at Penn State have this brand of latch on their bathroom stall doors: HINY-HIDERS. GKL probably remembers these from her time in State College.

Good to know they're taking care of my hiney and hiding it from the rest of the world.

If only Larry Craig had been so lucky.

Some WTF quick hits

Obama, say it ain't so
Obama backs the death penalty? Not liking that. He said, "I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes. I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime."
Admittedly, if anything happened to The Kid, I think I'd probably kill the perpetrator -- well, that is, after The Kat had already killed him. However, that is my personal choice--it's not a national policy. Obama should know how fucked up our justice system is, how biased against African-Americans it is, how disproportionately the death penalty is levied against African-Americans versus whites. And thus he should know that the death penalty as policy is, even for the most "heinous" crimes, morally repugnant. In my mind, the government cannot murder people in the name of the state or the people, no matter their crime. I'm against torture for the same reason -- don't waterboard some guy and tell me it's for national security or freedom or so Cheney can have some good videos to jerk off to at night.



I gotta get me one-a (or four-a) these!
Check out the Cat Genie! Just imagine--no more holding my breath and scooping! No more buying those heavy-ass boxes of Tidy Cat Scoopable! Note the matching bathroom accessories!

Wait--would Clawsie go for this?



Tony Scalia: Legal Scholar he ain't, no matter what robe he's wearing
The guy can't even distinguish fact from fiction anymore, so deeply embedded is he up the collective ass of the Bush Administration/Neocon Body Politic. He might as well go up there in a bathrobe. He's the worst kind of lawyer--one who simply bends reality to suit his own opinion of the case.

The cool part? It's documented forever, as he wrote the dissent.



Letting bygones be bygones, no matter how ugly?
Nineteen years ago this month, a military crackdown on the 1989 Tienanmen Square protests resulted in the murder of hundreds of Chinese citizens in Beijing. Yet in 42 days, the world's best athletes will be flooding into Beijing to compete in the 2008 Olympics. Of course, the Chinese government has figured out a way to avoid any uncomfortable memories or associations between that incident and the Olympics: they barred any TV stations from broadcasting live images from Tienanmen Square. Well, that takes care of that!

I ask again the question I've been asking since the IOC made the abhorent decision to award the Games to Beijing: Why aren't we boycotting?

If I were an athlete, no matter how long I'd trained and how much I'd sacrificed to make the Olympic team, I just don't think I could bring myself to set foot in that city and put aside the memories of what that government did to its own citizens--just so that I could run a race or win a medal. I mean, imagine you're a healthy young athlete, excited out of your mind to finally be at THE OLYMPICS. And you step onto Tienanmen Square to -- what, take pictures? Mug for your friends and their cameras? "Hi Mom! Here we are at Bloody Square!" Nope, I just don't think I could go.

Of course, an administration that condones and encourages torture, blows other countries' cities and citizens to bits, and pretends they're bringing democracy to the world probably doesn't have an issue with what the Chinese government made its military do in 1989.



This is a news story?
This was at the top of the McClatchy page, under "Latest Headlines." What's next, a comparison of their hair?

From the "no shit, Sherlock!" files

Okay, Nancy—I get that you're so fucking gutless and bought-and-paid-for by the corporatocracy that you decided to completely cave to Chimpy and Darth Cheney’s demand for telecom immunity.

As Doctor Monkey von Monkerstein so eloquently said, THANKS FOR NOTHING.

When are you going to get the guts to stand up and say, “You know what? You republicans—you’re on your way OUT. The people elected us democrats to CHANGE the shit that you guys fucked up. This is one of those things. No more giving up our constitutional rights! No more corporate sell-outs! No more cowering in the corners, folks—we dems are gonna kick some ass and do our best to get this country back from the rich white neocon corporate assholes who’ve taken it over!”

I don't wanna be hatin', but I'm guessing you'll never have the guts to do anything even close to that.

But apparently, you've found the guts to agree with the most fucking obvious of notions: that Hillary Clinton faced sexism during her run for the democratic nomination.

Well, shit, Nancy! You’ve got a real pair of brass ones on you! That took some real guts to go to Shakesville or someplace and read the million posts SHOWING the sexist remarks and coverage that Hillary had to deal with on a daily basis! And gees, you're shootin' this wad a whole month after her whole fucking campaign is OVER! Wow, you're a regular Captain Courage, aren't you?

Boy, you’re just my big hero now because you're so fucking brave. If only we had more courageous dems like you!

Oh wait -- we do.

L-R, assholes Nancy "Gutless Wonder" Pelosi and Steny Fucking Hoyer.

A break from work is a good good thing

Take Beckeye's song lyrics quiz. Guaranteed to tickle your brain to def and make it impossible to work for the rest of the afternoon.

Let's cancel this show now.

What I do when I'm not thinking about Gitmo

This is an email from my pal Niki -- it's repeated pastings of a dust mite, magnified like 3 millions times. We send this image to one another when we want to laugh and creep each other out.

On the blue bar at the bottom, if you could read it, you'd see I was listening to Jennifer Holliday singing "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)" from Dreamgirls, and checking out the latest band on Splotchy's "Who's in Charge Here?" blog.

And counting down the minutes until 5 o'clock, mate. Always that.

P.S.--This cleansing post brought to you by Niki.

What do you mean, "I'm under arrest"?

©Jim Boorman

Huge h/t to the World Information Access Project and Sabrina I. Pacifici's beSpacific.com

We bloggers like to joke about ending up in Guantanamo Bay's prison camp because of our not-so-subtly masked disapproval (read: hatred) of Chimpy BushCo and his policies, and our willingness to air these thoughts online.

Some bloggers, however, actually DO end up being jailed. For an average of 15 months. This from a report I found here.

Unfortunately, one way to assess the political importance of blogging around the world is through the growing number of blogger arrests. Since 2003, 64 citizens unaffiliated with news organizations have been arrested for their blogging activities.

The topics of these blog posts vary, as do the kind of criminal charges and punishments handed down. Altogether 940 months of jail time has been served by bloggers around the world. China, Egypt and Iran account for more than half of all the arrests since 2003.

Lest you think this only happens in war-affected or unstable places like Iran or China, it's also happened in the UK this year.

And here, in 2006.

What are these people being charged with? Again from the report:

These bloggers expose bureaucratic corruption or human rights abuses and express opinions about political figures and public policy options. They post reports and photos from social protests. They write about political artwork, or share images and texts that some feel violate cultural norms.

The bloggers arrested in both England and here were charged with violating "cultural norms." The report doesn't say whether that means they did something illegal like post child pornography (which does WAY more than violate cultural norms, of course) or they just posted something about being gay, or being polyamory, or being agnostic. Those things technically violate our cultural norms, but they're hardly criminal activities worthy of jail time.

Learn more at the WIA Project web site. It might become important someday, especially if our government continues its jackbooted march toward fascism under McFossil, should he and his party steal the next election.

P.S.--the only thing I could find about the US blogger who was charged as a pedophile is to a Faux "News" report. I didn't dare google that too much longer lest I be flagged at work or something!

Do women really buy this shit?

Ah -- a trip to JoAnn Fabrics is never without some amusement for me, but this last time I just about got arrested after seeing this display. "The Shirley."

The little old ladies who cut the fabric were not amused at my disdain, and when I pulled out my cellphone camera I think they wanted to throw me out of the store.

"The Doris." Please, Fran's god, tell me that NO ONE actually purchased any of these items, unless it was someone doing her doctoral dissertation in Women's Studies on the fucking assholery of sexist marketing!
And of course, you can't have "woman" stuff without some stupid reference to SHOPPING, because that's ALL we bitchez do! That is, when we're not mouthing off to our hen-pecked husbands and boyfriends!

All I could think was, "Where's Whiskey Marie when you need her? She'd effing GO HOUSE on this shit."

I also found this:
Words fail me. I was so hoping someone would buy one of these; sadly, no one did. Perhaps like me they were appalled at the idea of displaying such grammar faux pas in their gardens.

Finally:

Kidding! I actually found this at the hardware store, not JoAnn Fabrics, but Kat wouldn't buy it for me. Dammit! I know just how Ralphie felt.

You'll put your eye out, indeed.

Loose Ends

Warning: this is going to be another post where I rely on the funny images I've found on the internets, for lack of content. Frankly, I'm exhausted by the whole political climate and the media's "coverage" of it, so these photo-posts amuse me.

1. Separated at birth?

2. The hilarity that is GOP.com:

Exhibit A:

Believe me, repugs--after your performance on immigration, there are NO speakers of Español needing your site translated for them. They already know it says, "If you're not white and rich, get the hell outta here!"

Exhibit B:



What "pledge" is that, exactly? "We pledge to fuck up the environment every single second we're alive! We pledge to drill for oil on every square inch of this planet! We plan to continue the BushCo policy of ignoring climate change and science altogether!"



Exhibit C:

It's hard to see here, but they actually have a little time-clock on the bottom (red stripe) running on the amount of time "since Barack Obama Visited Iraq" -- seriously! Because we got such a fucking ACCURATE portrayal of Iraq from Johnny McFossil, I guess this is supposed to be an impressive talking point? Also note the use of "awkward" photos of the other dem candidates. Um--hello?--with the exception of Hillary, the other three dems have been out of the race for months! Who gives a shit, pugs?

Exhibit D:

Let's just ignore the fact that you're making it seem like Obama is the one who's had "controversial activity" (it's supposed to refer to Obama's VP search committee guy's past) because that's just fucking pathetic. Let's go with taking a look at rhetoric vs. action, McFossil:

--McCain's had how many lobbyists resign from his campaign?

--McCain's wife stands to make a mint from the proposed purchase of Anheuser-Busch by a Belgian company, as Dr. Zaius so eloquently points out.

--McCain seems inherently unable to even USE rhetoric, much less have his actions match it.

HOLY SHIT TIM RUSSERT'S DEAD!

HOLY SHIT!

Dan Rather busts ass on the MSM--UPDATED! Moyers does too!

This post has been UPDATED to include The Great Bill Moyers' presentation at the same conference.

Fellow Texans The Great Bill Moyers and former CBS anchorman Dan Rather had a few choice words to say about the corporate media this weekend at the National Conference for Media Reform hosted by Free Press.




Some highlights, first from Rather:

The Framers of our Constitution enshrined freedom of the press in the very first Amendment, up at the top of the Bill of Rights, not because they were great fans of journalists - like many politicians, then and now, they were not - but rather because they knew, as Thomas Jefferson put it, that, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was and never will be."

In the news and on the news, one could, to be sure, find persons and views that did not agree with all or parts of this official narrative. Hans Blix, the former U.N. chief weapons inspector, comes to mind as an example. But the burden of proof, implicitly or explicitly, was put on these dissenting views and persons... the burden of proof was not put on an administration that was demonstrably moving towards a large-scale military action that would represent a break with American precedent and stated policy of how, when, and under what circumstances this nation goes to war.

And these questions are met with what is now called, euphemistically and much too kindly, what is now called "message discipline." Well, we used to have a better and more accurate term for "message discipline." We called it "stonewalling."

But when a tough question is asked and not answered, when reputable people come before the public and say, "wait a minute, something's not right here," the press has treated them like voices crying in the wilderness.

But it is rare, now, to find a major news organization owned by an individual, someone who can say, in effect, "The buck stops here." The more likely motto now is: "The news stops... with making bucks."

One might ask just where the news fits into this model. And if you really need an answer, you can turn on your television, where you will see the following:
--Political analysis reduced to in-studio shouting matches between partisans armed with little more than the day's talking points.
--Precious time and resources wasted on so-called human-interest stories, celebrity fluff, sensationalist trials, and gossip.
--A proliferation of "news you can use" that amounts to thinly-disguised press releases for the latest consumer products.

Ensuring that a free press remains free will require vigilance, and it will require work. Please, take tonight's energy and inspiration home with you. Take it back to your desks and your workplaces, to your colleagues and your fellow citizens. magnify it, multiply it, and spread it. Make it viral. Make it something that cannot be ignored - not by the powers in Washington, not by the owners and executives of media companies. Write these people. Call them. Send them the message that you know your rights, you know that you are entitled to news media as diverse and varied as the American people... and that you deserve a press that provides the raw material of democracy, the good information that Americans need to be full participants in our government of, by, and for the people.

Then from Moyers:

"As journalism goes, so goes democracy," renowned PBS host Bill Moyers told the
crowd at the National Conference for Media Reform.

[Media consolidation is] …a corrosive social force. It robs them of their voice in public affairs, pollutes the political culture, and turns the debate over profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered.

So it is that democracy without honest information creates the illusion of popular consent while enhancing the power of the state and the privileged interests protected by it.

This is the role in which Rather can continue to make a difference: as critic of the MSM and a motivator to the public for action against the corporate media. I see this as more of his penance for playing Bush-lapdog (as most journalists did) for those years in the anchor chair at CBS Evening News. His piece on electronic voting machines was another bit of his penance, another "Our Father" hurled at the devil that is the corporate-owned media and its slavish devotion to BushCo.

Moyers has spent his career speaking truth to power; his Journal series was telling the truth about BushCo's lies and the media's peddling of those lies over a year ago. He didn't need Scotty McLellan to tell him Bush was lying.

I hope we keep getting more from Rather and Moyers--a couple of classic newsmen who still realize the importance of protecting the public from a hostile and controlling government. And I hope their example inspires a new generation of journalists to take the responsibilities of their profession as seriously as Rather and Moyers do.

And now...

...for some photos I've been as yet unable to use because I can't seem to build a good post about them.

1. Count Pasty takes a bite out of repuglicanism.

"I vont to suck your wallet!"

2. Cindy McCain really should've told her husband that having brown Chiclets for teeth is not that "presidential."

"Does this job come with a dental plan, my friends?"

3. Worst-case-scenario McCain VP candidate Condi's feeling it this morning.

Man, I knew I shouldn't have partied with those guys from KISS.

Hillary, this one's for you

From The Great Gatsby, copyright F. Scott Fitzgerald:

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning----

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

It's time, Hillary. It's time to step aside, to accept that no matter how close you were, you didn't make it.

As hard as that fact is to accept, accept it you must. It's Obama's time now.

Honoring a soldier

Ron Edmonds / Associated Press
President Bush looks on after presenting the Medal of Honor to Tom, left,

and Romayne McGinnis, the parents of Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis of Knox, Pa.

President Chimpy awarded a Medal of Honor to a fellow Pennsylvanian, Pfc. Ross A. McGinnis, for saving the lives of four comrades by jumping on a grenade and absorbing the blast himself. He was killed, but his four comrades lived.

How many of us would choose such a fate? Luckily for me, and for my family, I don't have to make that choice. I chose not to sign up for the military, back when I was young enough to do so. Now, I don't have to go to Iraq to serve in an illegal occupation of a once-sovereign nation.

Pfc. McGinnis had a choice too, and he chose to serve--and serve bravely. For that, he deserves the Medal of Honor and our eternal thanks for his sacrifice.

What he does not deserve is to have that medal presented to him by the man who started this illegal war, who continues to pour soldiers' lives and our nation's future into an abyss, and who didn't even have the personal courage to go to war himself. Instead he played around in the Texas Air National Guard, going AWOL for up to a year and avoiding combat altogether.

From the LA Times article: "During Monday's ceremony -- only the fourth time the Medal of Honor has been presented for exceptional valor in the Iraq war -- Bush was noticeably choked up." (way to glorify the Idiot, LA Times.)

I bet he was "choked up."

I bet he cried like a fucking baby, thinking about this soldier's sacrifice. After all, this is the same president who claimed earlier this year, when speaking with American troops in Afghanistan,

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

How romantic and exciting and fantastic--right, Chimpy? If he'd ever been to war, he'd know what a fantasy world he's living in. He'd know what all soldiers know: that war is hell..

This 19-year-old kid probably wasn't thinking any of those idiotic things when he saved his fellow soldiers' lives; he probably wasn't thinking about making history.

How romantic and exciting and fantastic it would be to have Bush make some history of his own and turn himself over to the authorities for war crimes.

But we all know that's not going to happen. Instead, he'll continue his war of aggression, his occupation in various countries the world over, his complete divestiture of our nation's wealth and future.

In a bizarro world somewhere, the true George Bush--the one who knows what a fuck-up he is, and knows how he's driven this country into the shitter--really IS crying. Real tears, not that fake acting bullshit he pulls in front of the media when his handlers tell him to think of something sad, like his puppy dying, so the reporters will get a good shot of him.

In that bizarro world, Chimpy would cry because he would know--deep down inside that chicken heart of his--that he never even came close to giving his life in military service for his country. He would know he's a spoiled rich-boy coward whose family name and money got him his sweet little Guard duty instead of a tour or two in Vietnam.

He would know he's no fighter jock; he's a stuffed jock.

He would know he's not the real elected president; he's a C student whose father's political connections bought him the White House.

He would know he doesn't deserve to stand on the same stage as Pfc. McGinnis' parents.

He would know that he should be apologizing to them every single day from now on for starting this whole war and occupation that led to the death of thousands of American soldiers like McGinnis, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens.

Too little, too late

The Washington Post's photo of Scott McLellan, paired with their story on his new book -- what a beautiful example of photo bias! Way to cast this asshole into the darkness of his own soul, WaPo!

Seems little Scotty "they told me what to say!" McLellan thinks he can put out a book claiming that President Chimpy "misled" the American people about the Iraq debacle.

WOW. Tell me something I don't know, Scotty. For instance, tell me how you woke up every day and faced your own lying self in the mirror. Tell me how you somehow managed to cash your paycheck every week, despite the fact that you KNEW your boss was, in your words, creating a "poisonous atmosphere in Washington" by using propaganda and lies to sell a war. Tell me all about the emotional toll of standing by and defending Bush, Cheney, and LeCondel, even as they spun their webs of lies and took this country into the shitter.

My heart fuckin' bleeds for you, Scotty.

Sadly, like all the political tell-alls that inevitably follow resignations, it's just a little too little, a little too late.

Playing with the maths--on the highway

I’ve been wondering for the last few years about gas prices, income, and the cost of getting to work, but I’ve never actually done the numbers. I guess I was too afraid, or I figured that predictions of $10/gallon gas were unrealistic--not because it couldn’t happen, but because Bush would be out of office before it would happen, and the American people would elect someone who could figure out how to get us off oil before gas prices got to that ridiculous figure.

This morning, though, after seeing gas go up yet again at my local corner store ($3.89 last night, probably higher by end of today, given the holiday weekend) and after reading DCap’s brilliant post, I decided I needed to do the numbers—just to see what would happen.

The question I’ve been asking in my mind, but avoiding doing the numbers for, is this:

At what point would gasoline become so expensive that people would consider it impossible (or useless or stupid or whatever) to even go to work?

Let’s say that you make, oh, about $35K a year (don't cry for me, Argentina--many people in my area make less than that). If you work for your average American corporation or whatever, then after your company fucks you for insurance coverage and other benefits, and after the government fucks you for tax money to finance their ridiculous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan (and the rest of the world), you take home about $22,500 a year. (Remember, this is only an example. Random. Not at all in any way related to my little paycheck. Really. Seriously. I mean it. Okay, just read the post already.)

Let’s put some numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, then, shall we? First, we’ll put in the price of a gallon of gasoline, then the number of gallons I use per week (I'm going to use the best-case estimate of 20 gallons), then we’ll do some mathin’:

So when gas hits $4 a gallon here in Central PA, which is only 11 cents away, I’ll be spending almost $80 a week to fill my tank. (I drive a Saturn Ion that gets about 33 miles per gallon on my mostly small-highway route to work and Kat’s school. We commute together, as we only have the one car.) $80 a week over 12 months = $4,357. That’s almost 20% of my sample take-home pay spent on getting myself to work and Kat to school, plus trips to the grocery store and such (all carefully planned to use the minimum amount of gasoline, by the way).

Well, 20% is a lot, but it's not going to make me think something crazy like I'm paying more to get to work than I'm making, or whatever. But let's fill those cells with a little bit of future pricing and see what happens:

So if gasoline were to hit $10 a gallon anytime soon, I'd be spending fully HALF my take-home income just to drive my car. (We won't even factor in the cost of insurance and maintenance.)

Want to really get sick?

These prices are not that far off. Should the country go insane and elect McNutJob (or should the repugs continue their now traditional practice of stealing the presidency and install McNutJob as our next Decider Guy), you can pretty much bet that these prices will be here within a year of the geezer's taking office.

Math hurts sometimes.

alternative energy plan

Oil for "civilian" nuclear technology--to the SAUDIS?

Did anyone else see this? I found it in an Israeli online newspaper; it claims it's from Reuters but I couldn't find it on the Reuters site:

U.S. President George W. Bush, visiting the Saudi capital on Friday, hoped to normalize new agreements that would give the relationship between the two countries a boost. Among them was an agreement for the U.S. to assist the kingdom in developing civilian nuclear power. Another agreement involves U.S. promises to help protect any Saudi nuclear infrastructure with training, the exchange of experts and other support services as needed. Hadley said it would not involve U.S. troops.

Assuming this is true---Let me get this straight:

1. Mr. Anti-turrist goes to Saudi Arabia, fake cowboy hat in hand, to beg for oil.

2. He promises "civilian" nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, home country of ALL FUCKING 19 OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN 9/11.

3. He claims that the US will "help protect any Saudi nuclear infrastructure" without any US troops.

Now this ain't Mathman's or Matty Boy's blog, and it's not Mathy Wednesday, but let's add up these numbers anyhow:

1 + 2 = any future Saudi-based/Saudi-funded terrorists will have access to nuclear material. Fuck shoe bombs and learning how to fly jumbo jets. That's gonna be old school to future pissed-off Saudis.

2 + 3 = Blackwater's mercenary murderers will continue to bilk us out of billions of dollars by "protecting" these nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia, and Halliburton will continue to bilk us out of billions of dollars by agreeing to build these facilities (but of course, they won't build a goddamned thing).

1 + 3 = Mr. Oil-Chimpy is fucking INSANE.

I tried to google again to find out what other sources are publishing this oil-for-nuclear-technology story. Here's what a google search at 4:28pm Eastern time showed:

Those are hits from the Jerusalem Post (the same outlet that published the story about Bush planning to bomb Iran before he leaves office), Al Jazeera, Voice of America, and --okay--Firedoglake--who's also asking what the fuck?

What the fuck indeed.

My rant against the media

I’m so sick of the mainstream media I could just burst. It seems like there’s virtually no major media outlet where we can get unbiased coverage of events anymore. The MSM has completely abandoned journalistic principles in favor of “what sells” or “what the corporate bigwig boss tell us to do.”

Even NPR, which is the only mass media outlet I listen to daily, has gone downhill.

Yesterday during “All Things Considered,” Melissa Block was discussing with a reporter the Clinton/Obama race, and they just couldn’t help but inject their own oversimplified and idiotic “analysis” into it. A reporter in Oregon claimed that if Clinton had gotten the kind of landslide victories she won in West Virginia earlier in the primary season, we'd have a different campaign now. To me, that makes it seem like the whole thing is about the MSM-supported idea of momentum and hype, instead of who has the best ideas and is the best candidate for the job. Now I know there are sheeple in this country who buy whatever spin and hype the MSM puts out there, rather than taking the time and trouble to do a little research on the candidates and make an informed decision, but the idea that it’s all about momentum or hype, that it's all dependent on the primary schedule and who wins big early, just pisses me off.

Then they continued to talk about how Obama will win in Oregon because of the "Starbucks democrats"--white, educated, and monied--while Clinton will win in Kentucky because of "Walmart democrats"--white, uneducated, “working class.” At this point I had to just turn the radio off. I hate the way the MSM oversimplifies and pigeonholes Clinton's (and Obama's, for that matter) base! If this is such an accurate analogy, just where do I fit in?
1. I support Hillary.
2. I been boycotting WalMart since 2002.
3. I am firmly rooted in the middle class, with a mid-level marketing job.
4. I'm hispanic.
I soooo hate the MSM's idiotic generalizations and the way they push for Clinton to drop out, instead of giving every state the opportunity to have a say. You'd think the media controlled the race, instead of us voters.

While I’m on my media-induced rant, get a load of this, from Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen:

That Clinton will lose this time is a foregone conclusion. That she deserves to
lose is a widely accepted opinion, strongly held by women as well as men, which,
you would think, should mute the growing chorus that Clinton is the victim of
vicious misogyny. Anyone who thinks this ought to scan the bookshelves for the
yards of anti-Hillary books written by women or read the op-ed pages, where
women go after Clinton without, to say the least, sisterly restraint.

Oh, I get it now! If any woman writes something that “goes after” another woman, then anything the men say just can’t be misogynist! Ass-wits like Maureen Dowd write stupid shit about Clinton, so we can just give all the men who've written misogynistic crap about Clinton a pass! It’s a good thing that smart men like Cohen are here to explain this stuff to women like me.

Fucking idiots.

Pardon my absence...

...but I was finding out just how many cannibals I could feed:

So if we're ever stranded on a desert island or in the snowy mountains of Peru, remember:

I'm meaty.

Just when I was finally getting over that cough...

...I've been infected with a new virus: iSplotchy Storyformia. Thanks a lot, FranYouAre, for that sip of bourbon from your shot glass. Who knew I'd come away with more than just a burning sensation in my throat?

Splotchy's ominous beginning:
"I had been shuffling around the house for a few hours and already felt tired. The doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw a figure striding away from the house, quickly and purposefully. I looked down and saw a bulky envelope. I picked it up. The handwriting was smudged and cramped, and I could only make out a few words."(Splotchy)

FranSheIs continues, heightening the tension:
Despite the throbbing pain in my knees and the dull ache in my lower back, I bent down slowly and picked up the envelope...

Oh no. It did not say this, did it?

Oh yes, it did. It did.

The handwriting was familiar in a way that inspired a cold sweat and a bout of nausea. It was the penmanship of my former husband. You know - the one that was presumed dead.

He disappeared in a suspicious blogging related accident a number of years ago and was never heard from again. I was devastated. I had hated the blog, loathed the thing. What began as a hobby that took but a few minutes a day had morphed into an addiction, the proportions of which could not be measured. It was pure evil.

The blog turned into a cruel and demanding mistress and her siren song was more than I could compete with. One day he left for an evening event, never to return again.

All fingers pointed to one blogger, but I could never get the charges to stick. That one is slick- slick, slick, slick. He can talk a good game and write like nobody's business. But there is something about him, it just is not right.

So my husband was gone, that other one kept blogging and I had to rebuild my life, which I did.

So I finally had the bastard declared dead. And now this. (FranIam)

My contribution:
I took the envelope inside and got out a magnifying glass. I studied the scribblings on the front and made out the words “This is for you. You KNOW why” just above the undead bastard’s name. What the hell?

What could it be? What did he mean, I “KNOW” why? What did I do? I had never been anything but faithful to him and his "interests." I followed his stupid blog as it meandered through the vapid expanses of his small mind, trying my best to be polite when he talked about some comment he’d gotten on a particular post, or a funny link he’d dropped into a post.

Just thinking about it made my stomach hurt.

Despite a fleeting fear that there might be anthrax powder in the envelope, I opened it and pulled out the contents. (dguzman)

- - - - - - - -
And so, dear readers--who will continue? I'm going to cough on the following people and spread the virus:
Jess Wundrun
Matty Boy
PissedinNY
getKRISTYlove
Better get out the Nyquil, folks--this one's gonna be rough.

One of these things is not like the other

Gandhi: went on several hunger strikes as nonviolent protests against British rule as well as religious and ethnic persecution

Mother Teresa: dedicated her life to serving the poor and downtrodden of the world

GW Bush: gives up golf because "playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal"

Tag, I'm it.

Somehow I wandered onto the playground and into the middle of a game of Tag with the Bad-tempered Zombie from Canada.

I hear she’s pretty tough, even pulling a spike out of her own head, so I figure it’s safer to just play along. However, I’m not tagging eight people—I barely know eight people!

Remove one question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list. List them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged. Whoever does the tag will have blessings from all.

1. Who is your all-time inspiration?Boy—that changes a lot as time goes on, but I think there’s a common thread. When I was a kid, I was inspired by Jacques Cousteau, Carl Sagan, Galileo, and Neil Armstrong. Later, it was Quincy, the Jack Klugman character who was a medical examiner. Then I started watching all those crime investigation shows and was inspired to gut it up and get a degree in forensic science (still in progress). In short—I think I’ve always been inspired by scientists, because they discover so many new things and never stop learning.

2. Have you given your first kiss away?
Uh—not sure what you mean here. Do you mean have I ever kissed anyone? Good god, yes, man, I’m 43 years old!

3. If you were stranded on a deserted island, who are the three blog buddies you'd take with you and why?wow—only three. I’d probably take Julie Zickefoose, so she could Science Chimp stuff and make sure we don’t eat poisonous berries or anything. I’d also take Dcap, because I’m sure he would keep me entertained with his considerable intelligence and humor. Third, I’d probably beg Matty Boy to come with, so he could ‘splain everything.

4. Where is the place you want to go to the most?Anywhere but work.

5. If you could have one dream come true, what would it be?The one where I win the lottery and get to bird and goof around with friends and travel whenever I want.

6. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?In the scientific sense, no—the sun doesn’t always come out after the rain stops. In the optimistic sense, no as well—it seems like just when the rain stops, another monsoon comes in.

7. What are you most afraid of losing right now?My parents.

8. If you win one million dollars what would you do?Put it someplace safe like a bank where it can draw a decent amount of interest, then I’d quit my job and just live. I might open a little café/bookstore place, but we’d have to move to a better area first--where there are people who would appreciate and frequent such a place.

9. If/when you meet somebody that you love, would you confess it to him/her? That’s basically what I did to get Kat, so yes.

10. List out three good points of the person who tagged you. Barbara:
--lives in Canada, that lucky dog
--still loves music in a way that I just don’t anymore
--has survived a spiky tree attack

11. Three weird facts about yourself
Oh gees—I don’t know how weird these facts are, but:
--I don’t really like chocolate. It’s just not that good to me.
--I hate to try on clothes. If I can’t tell whether it will fit just by looking at it or checking the size, I just don’t buy it.
--I like studying.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?
The kind who refuse to learn new things outside of their narrow frame of reference.

13. If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point it out to you or would you rather they keep quiet? Well—yes, I’d rather they said something, but in a kind and gentle way. That is, of course, if I had any faults.

14. What do you think is most important in life?Learning new things and sharing them with people you love.

15. Are you a shopaholic? Definitely not. I hate shopping for everything except groceries (that’s just fun).

16. State one of your desires.To be able to go to school full-time, so I can move on to career #6 or 7 (I lost count).

17. Which part of your character would you like to change?I’d like to have more discipline and desire when it comes to exercising. I’ve gained weight, and I just have no motivation to work it off – I just find myself expecting it to melt away all by itself while I’m planted on the couch reading Harry Potter.

18. What have you been putting off doing lately? Exercising.

19. What's your favorite smell? Flowers--especially orange blossoms.

20. Describe yourself in three words.
Um. Does that count as one? No? Okay. Uh… dangerously desperately curious

As for tagging, I’ll go with… anyone who wants to play!

And just how cool is FranSheIs?

This cool.

Thank you, friend.

Win some, lose some

As you probably know, Obama won big in North Carolina (which surprised me) and Clinton pulled out a victory in Indiana. Of course, there are now rumors buzzing about that Clinton will be dropping out after the West Virginia primary -- to end things on a high note.

I don't know what will happen; this theory sounds plausible. I only know that an "Obama-Clinton" ticket would be stronger than an "Obama-anyone else" ticket.

I've watched the MSM's eager dick-licking of McGeezer this year, and I fear that many people will vote for him just to NOT vote for Obama, despite the fact that they'd be voting for a continuation of the ruinous policies of the Bush-Cheney era. Just this morning, I heard yet another pundit calling McCain a "maverick" and "an independent thinker," both of which are complete falsehoods. McCain is GWB with a war record, plain and simple. He's a traditional repug, supporter of American Empire, believer in war war war as the solution to all problems.

And where does that leave us? On the brink of ruin, with a bankrupt economy, no real manufacturing, dependence on foreign oil and goods, and a rotten broken system that's so corrupt as to inspire nothing but disgust from the rest of the world.

I think there are many Americans who still believe in the Politics of Old White Guys--that rich old white guys actually give a shit about regular people like you and me. They deny the evidence all around us that those old rich white guys in government really don't give a flying fuck about us, about our kids, or our schools, or our futures, or our jobs, or anything else. They only care about living here:

and really couldn't give two shits if you're this guy:

What do you think of an Obama/Clinton ticket? Do you want that? Do you think they'd win?

Mission Demolished

Compare and contrast:

MAY 1, 2003

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.... The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on."

--Commander Codpiece von Fucker

MAY 1, 2008:

courtesy of Newsmeat