I'm Just Barely Old Enough...

...to be able to say I lived through some of this change and can remember it.  

Kids who have known nothing but a cellphone world have to be shaking their heads at how telecom providers would be able to hold customers hostage to their devices and plans that are often tantamount to financial rape.

Oh wait a minute...

Jimmy Buffet Performs "Who's the Blonde Stranger" (Live)

I hadn't heard this in years until the other day when I came across it on Sirius and thought I would post up some Buffet on this nice summer day.  Mildly obscure, but a fun little ditty...as you've come to expect here.

YouTubeGoogleCNN Calls GOP Candidates' Bluff

Since Jester-candidates Ron Paul, John McCain (yep, he's off the major candidate speed dial) and Tommy Thompson had agreed to the September GOP version of the CNN/YouTube debate, the organizers are pledging to reschedule it.

The main candidates primarily cited "scheduling conflicts" so if that's the case, surely an agreeable time can be found.

This is an only-mildly bit of interesting theater.  Everyone knows that it was not really a scheduling conflict that kept them out of it.  While I don't think the format was all that wildly-innovative or different (CNN still filtered the questions, so who 
cares who actually verbalizes the questions!),  it was clever for CNN to try and toy around with them a bit.

Archie Russert

Funny little aside from Meet the Press this morning...towards the end of an all-star roundtable, host Tim Russert referred to A.G. Alberto Gonzalez as a political 'pinata.'

That was an interesting choice of metaphor.

I'm going back through transcripts to see if he said that Congressman William Jefferson was going to be cooked up like a plate of fried chicken when the FBI is done with him.

Huge Panoramic Image: 13 GIGAPIXELS, Harlem NY

New York artist Gerard Maynard worked together with Kolor Company to create a huge stitched-together panorama of Harlem.  The level of detail in this photo is very cool.

The Great Divide

There was a mildly amusing scene in Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm a while back.

Larry is coming back to his seat at the movies with some popcorn and a woman in front of him, who is both blessed and dressing in a way to accentuate God's greatness, loudly scolds him for glancing at her breasts.

"You wouldn't have worn that kind of outfit if you didn't want to draw attention to them," he snorts back.

Nothing that the Clintonistas do in public is an accident, so I'm watching with some amusement the faux disgust and surprise Hillary's campaign is displaying after her initial (modest by about anyone else's standards) display on the Senate floor.  The public noticed that her tops got more low-cut and she's shocked that anyone would dare discuss it.

Actually, Counselor, Have You Considered That We Might Just Not Be Paying Much Attention to You?

John Edwards, relying on his finely-tuned Atticus Finch schtick is out with a Youtube this week that's doing what it was supposed to.

It got him the top story on Drudge, at least at this hour.

Ben Smith at The Politico covers the new video, with Johnboy talking with Just-Folks at a little meeting how the anonymous power structure 
in this country is trying to shut him up.  They don't want the people to hear what John has to say about poverty and class in this country.

But rest assured, Mr. and Mrs. Previously-Unaware-That-Some-Of-Us-(including Edwards)-Are-Better-Off-Than-Others, he will not be silenced.

Logically, of course, Edwards' point is ridiculous.  People were scared of John Kerry running on his military record, so they Swiftboated him.

Edwards, on the other hand, seems to have cricket sound effects around him.

But, again, he got Drudge talking about him and he got me to post something other than a quirky music video on a Saturday.  And I do have to give him the comeback of the week award, too.  If you saw the debate on Monday night when he decided to make himself a hero, telling viewers,

"If you won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman and Barack because he's black, please don't side with me;  I don't want your vote."

paraphrasing John Edwards at the 7-23 CNN/YouTube Demoratic Debate

( in Henry Hill voice...):  Puhleeze!

Whatever Floats Your Boat

The Cleveland Institute of Art, which is in the nearby University Circle neighborhood, has a really nice cinema program and they show a lot of indie/artsie films.

I glanced through the upcoming schedule to see what was playing and there's one that, after caredful consideration, I decided not to see.

Zoo.

(from the wiki entry linked above)

Zoo, a film by The Stranger columnist Charles Mudede and director Robinson Devor, and executive producers Garr Godfrey and Ben Exworthy, is a documentary on the life and death of Kenneth Pinyan, a Seattle area man who died unusually through a fatal accident while engaging in sex with a horse. The film's public debut was at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007, where it was one of 16 winners out of 856 candidates,  and played at numerous regional festivals in the USA thereafter.  Following Sundance, it was also selected as one of the top five American films to be presented at the "prestigious" Directors Fortnight sidebar at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

First Apple Ad

They've come a long way.

Craziest Captchas on the Web

These are quite funny.

Random Funny for the Webbies

Johnny Cash Performs "One Piece at a Time"

We all miss the Man in Black.

I Hate to Stick Up for the Bad Guys...

...but this helicopter crash out in Arizona yesterday seems to be going in a direction I feared when I first heard the story.

Basically, another yahoo jackass took police on a high speed chase through a populated area.

Okay, it's stupid and he'll get in trouble.

But, predictably, two yahoo jackass local "news" stations decided that this was important news for the community and were following him around in helicopters from the sky.

One or both of the helicopter operators acted irresponsibly, they crashed into each other and all four individuals in the 'copters is now dead.

Well, officials are openly speculating about charging the car chase guy with these four deaths.

While it seems likely that this will happen, and I can understand how and why, I don't think that's right.  This was not exactly an event that the networks had to be covering for the public good.  It was sensational and attention-grabbing, but at the end of the day, it's not like these were couple of Ernie Pyles out there risking it all to set the truth free.

My heart goes out to the families, but let's give it a rest with making members of the media into martyrs...particularly when there was nothing more noble about their last assignment than if it were to cover Ms. Richie's pregnancy.

Dina Lohan Upset by Gratuitous Coverage of her Family

Dina Lohan expressed anger at the press yesterday for continuing to find her family so interesting and worthy of reporting on.

All Ms. Lohan wants, you see, is to be left alone as a private citizen. This damned press, running around showcasing her family, just sickens this Plain Jane Mom to the core.

Letting the Panthers Guard the Hen House

The recent betting-referree NBA scandal has not escaped the eyes of the US Congress, in particular Bobby Rush (D-Chicago's South Side).

The Congressman has written to NBA Commish David Stern to inform him that he's "monitoring the situation."

Well this is a fine state of affairs. As disappointing as it might be for me (if, that is, I gave a hoot about the NBA) to know that some officials in the NBA were up to no good, do I really sleep any better at night knowing that one of the founders of the Chicago Black Panthers is the one "fixing" it?!

Pshaw.

Doritos Social Science

There's a neat opinion piece in the Washington Times I thought I would direct you to.

Capitalizing on the success of Michael Moore's Sicko, a Congressional committee (which incidentally would have no jurisdiction over the legislation that some of the testimony was clearly intended to act as support for).

They had two Harvard professors, David Himmelstein and Elizabeth Warren, present evidence that about half of all bankruptcies are medical-related.

Now if the inference that one might draw from reading that headline were true, we would really have to consider the possibility that something needs to be tweaked here.

Problem is, of course, it depends on how you define "medical."

The distinguished professors include gambling problems, birth and adoption.  While these most certainly can at times be related to, or one in the same as a medical problem, it's undoubtedly deceptive to just lump them in without some sort of explanation.

Tawana Brawley Redux

Now that Nifong has admitted that the whole case against the Duke players is bunk, will the Reverend Al apologize for his ranting and raving?

If the Tawana Brawley case, which is basically what this is a replay of, is any indication, I wouldn't hold your breath...

Attention-Grabbing Headline on Politico

Take a Hike!

My boy, Cody did me a solid the other day and sent up a link to a very cool National Geographic podcast directory.  The shows are of walking tours through major world cities.

On the way to work yesterday, I listened to the Minneapolis one (which, as Cody points out, includes a nice discussion of the distinction between quaint Saint Paul and its hipper, Prince-town sister city) and it was really cool.  They employ the NPR-like technique of nice surround sound of the goings on in the city while explaning the history behind a lot of the bridges and buildings along the river.

There's a good 20 or so other cities currently out there and I think you may enjoy them, too.

More Lindsay

I was trying to imagine what it would be like, listening in to Lindsay discussing her current situation with her lawers and trusted advisors.

She's now denying that anything illegal really happened.

Part of me thinks that it must be just like the scene in Animal House when Flounder is trying to explain his wrecked car to his brother.

Not a huge stretch....

Just change Flounder's name for LL and I think you'll catch my drift....

D-Day: Hey, quit your blubberin'. When I get through with this baby you won't even recognize it.

Otter: Flounder, you can't spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You f***ed up - you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it! Maybe we can help.
Flounder: [crying] That's easy for you to say! What am I going to tell Fred?
Otter: I'll tell you what. We'll tell Fred you were doing a great job taking care of his car, but you parked it out back last night and in the morning, it was gone. We report it to the police, D-Day takes care of the wreck, the insurance company buys your brother a new car.
Flounder: Will that work?
Otter: Hey, it's gotta work better than the truth.
Bluto: [thrusting six-pack into Flounder's hands] My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
Otter: Better listen to him, Flounder, he's in pre-med.
D-Day: [firing up blow-torch] There you go now, just leave everything to me.

A Sad Day

Dr. Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) died yesterday in New York at the old age of 93.

I was a psychology major in undergrad at Loyola and was immediately smitten with RET when I first read about it in my clinical pych. class.

Believing, contrary to the Freudians, that neurosis was "just a high class term for whining," Dr. Ellis used confrontational methods to force his patients to examine their irrational thoughts that led to irrational actions.

We are all self-interested actors, but sometimes don't choose the best actions to achieve the outcomes we desire. Ellis' method, rather than looking back to childhood conflicts for years on end (as the dominant Freudians pushed for at the time) cut right to our current actions and the thoughts behind those actions.

Oddly enough, I had just picked up another of Ellis' books recently. His contribution to "talk therapy" should not be overlooked by history.

test

I just wanted to see if I could embed video from X-17.  It's actually pretty easy.  I would think they would either make it like youtube and post the code in an easy-to-paste way, but they don't.  So you have to look at the page source, but after that, it's easy...not blocked or anything.

I don't find this Lindsay story all that amusing...it's sad the number of sycophants surrounding her and letting this go on, but she's got to face up to some consequences, I guess.

Maybe I'll get some video of Matthew Mcconaughey playing frisbee on the beach.  ;-)

A Reason to Start Tuning in to CNN

I give CNN a hard time now and then, but here's a reason I might have to consider tuning in now and then.

Campbell Brown is jumping from the Peacock to the Peachtree Network.

Joe Biden Says the Darndest Things...Vol II

Well, I have to hand it to old Joe for saving the best for last during the CNN/YouTube debate tonight from South Carolina.

While I can't find a posted video of the response yet, the question is below.

After the man was done asking about his gun, Biden said (paraphrasing):

• If that's his baby, he needs help.
  
• I don't know if he's mentally qualified to own a gun
• I hope he doesn't come looking for me!
  

Now I don't really disagree with anything the Senator from Delaware said, but ... it was just so Biden.

And we love him for that.

Cleveland Councilman Mike Polensek...Our Hero of the Day

Cleveland City Councilman Mike Polensek is making a bit of a name for himself and I'm proud to post his story up here.

The 11th Ward Cleveland native was fed up with a punk in his neighborhood who has been causing a lot of problems 
there,most recently an arrest for selling crack near a convenience store in the neighborhood so he decided to write him a little letter.

Rather than dance around the issue, Polensek referred to the recipient in the letter as a 'crack dealing 
piece of trash' and closes with a bid to 'go to jail or the cemetary soon.'

Predictably, the recipient's mother has turned this into a racial issue (the letter, you see, also referred to the youngster as 'dumber than mud' and, mud being dirty and black, the letter was clearly a racially-inspired death threat) and is calling the well-known arbiter of truth, Rev. Albert Sharpton, to intervene.  He's proven himself very good at sniffing out bigotry in siutations like this.

I hope this young man gets his life back on track, I really do.  But I have to believe that if I was causing this much ruckus and someone in my community gave me the finger, I would hope I'd have enough decency to, at the very least, shut the hell up instead of trying to turn MYSELF into the vicim!

While I don't pay as much attention to local politics as perhaps I should, this was a refreshing story for me.  Too often around here, people move out to the suburbs and let this city go to the rats.   It's a real shame because if more people inside the city of Cleveland would be willing to stand up and do the right thing now and then, rather than spinelessly pandering to thugs and idiots, the city might be able to reclaim a little bit of its once-proud reputation.  Instead, it remains a well-kept secret that this is not that bad a place to live at all.

FWIW, this is not the first such letter that Polensek has penned.

Home Depot Slo Mo

This is a really cool flash mob video...

Netflix to Cut Prices

In a mildly-interesting move, Netflix is dropping the price of its 3-at-a-time package from $18 to $17 a month.    

They're in a heated battle with Blockbuster for the marketspace, so I'm curious to see if they can 
demonstrate that there is enough price elasticity to prove that this was a wise decision.

It seems hard for me to believe that this will make as big a difference as Blockbuster's built in brick-and-mortar advantage, but then again maybe that's why these guys make the big bucks.

It's Time for Me to Get a New Wallet

This is just great.

Crafty Little Bastids, Ain't They?

Thanks to Ms. Ha for this one...

I'm Torn on This One

Well, despite all the news and personal stories about brisk Harry Potter sales (I was talking with a friend last night and was amazed that by then she was up through the 6th chapter), you won't find it on the New York Times Best Seller List, apparently.

The Times has ruled that since this is a children's book,  and they have their own list, the Potter books won't make it to the general fiction listing.

My Simultaneous Reactions:

1)  Who give a crap?  These books don't interest me in the least.  
2)  Ms. Rowlings probably doesn't care, either, because she's made all of her money and I can't quite see anyone making their purchase decision on this book from its position on a Times' sales chart.
3)  This is typical New York Times elitism.

Unnecessary Censorship

I'm usually asleep long before Jimmy Kimmel comes on...which is a pity.

I was unfamilar with this segment, but it's quite funny.

He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

New York Times Magazine Write-up on Ron Paul

It won't be the first time in my life people will think I've gone a little batty, but for the moment, among the current crop of Dems and Repubs who've announced (or are likely to), I'm throwing the much sought-after Dan endorsement to Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.

This endorsement is subject to modification with changes on the political landscape which will, of course, be monitorited here closely through the 2008 general election.

He's essentially a Libertarian and the only one of the Republicans with enough balls to say that Quixote Bush has us engaged in the wrong quest over in Iraq.

The NYT Sunday Magazine has a nice little article on the Congressman this morning.

Tell Me Again Why the Rest of the World Hates Us?

In-n-Out Burger is the best fast food restaurant chain, hands down.

There has long been a not-so-secret menu the place had, where you could get specialty combinations/styles of burgers, fries and shakes.

Here's a quality compliation of all the in-the-know menu items and it's kind of interesting.

There's also a picture that's spreading rapidly around about some protein nuts in Vegas who ordered...get this...a 100 X 100!

Ay  caramba.

My God is Better than Your God

This is really interesting...pulled from der Spiegel...

Click to see it bigger.

Cynthia McKinney Redux?

The normally mild-mannered Republican Congressman from CT, Christopher Shays, got himself in a little hot water the other day.

He was showing a tour group through the Capitol and wanted to use a doorway that visitors are not usually allowed to use.  When the cops reminded him of this, he allegedly started exercising quite the potty mouth!

While there are no allegations of physical force on his part, the story too-closely resembles the run-in Rep. Cynthnia McKinney (D-Mars) had with the Capitol Police last year to pass quietly.  

Expect commentary and trouble from race-bating bigots like Al Sharpton in the week ahead as this story gets its legs.

This is Your Brain on Drugs

It's tragic and funny at the same time...

"Sing it, baby."

Google Continues its Bid to Take Over the World

I grew up with a kid whose parents had a doberman.

When it was just a puppy, they thought it was cute to let the little thing jump on the bed and sleep.  It was fun to toy around with him and the warmth on their feet probably made a few winter nights more tolerable.

Unfortunately, as the dog got older and much bigger, this became quite a problem.  Sleep and the performing of certain marital duties became complicated, to say the least, since the standard became practically irreversible.

Google, pending a few perhaps-minor conditions, is set to get in on an upcoming government auction for ownership of radio frequencies.  The airwaves are going to be cleared as television stations begin going digital and will be available for the building of more wireless networks.

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

Good News on the Movie Release of HST's The Rum Diary

I started following some of my own links around after the Hunter S. Thompson birthday post the other day to check up on the scoop for the movie version of his novel, The Rum Diary.

The project has languished in a pre-production state for the last few years.  Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, who starred in 
Thompson's other movie adaptation, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, are said to be involved.

Variety reported in April that a new production company has picked up the project.

Hope springs eternal.  Rarely have I anticipated a movie release like this one.

I'm generally not the biggest fiction fan in the world, but if you have any interest in this sordid tale, and a nice primer to the Doctor's style, I give it five stars.

Here's a little video of Hunter talking with Charlie Rose about the novel.

Going to See Arlo Guthrie On Saturday

Will be heading up to the Democratic People's Republic of Cleveland Heights on Saturday to check out Arlo Guthrie in concert.  This is a perfect setting for him, the weather should be nice and there's a neat little S.E. Asian restaurant (Mekong River) across the street.

What could be better?

Let's all just chill out a bit and listen to the full version of Alice's Restaurant... (sorry, realized after posting that the Youtube poster had disabled embedding, so you have to click over)

Billo...He's Ready for Some Beauty Queen Booty!

"Was it a negligee situation?"

Ewwwwwwwwwwww.....

This is the best-quality clip I could find, but it's a bit long.  FF to the 2 minute mark for the goods...

The Duplicitous Elizabeth Edwards

Yesterday, I lamented that few people seemed to be treating Liz Edwards like a grown-up.

Slate columnist John Dickerson is not one of the hombres I'm complaning about.

He took issue with a recent Edwards campaign ad with Elizabeth making a not-so-thinly-veiled reference to her cancer...after, of course, the campaign went out of its way to say that people should not give him a sympathy vote.

Mrs. Edwards is now feigning dumb and pretending that anyone who inferred that their ad claim (That John can "can stare the worst in the face and not blink") referred to her cancer is either mistaken or cynical.

Shame on them.

Random Funny from The Politico

I was reading an otherwise-unremarkable article about why Barack Obama would be wise to attend the Iowa State Fair next month and eat everything he can on a stick when I got to the bottom.

Politico lets registered users post up comments on their articles.

Interpid1, a Republican who doesn't want to let us know where (s)he lives has the whole thing figured out...

Wow, no mention of Obama wanting sex-ed for pre schoolers.Plus
wanting universal free abortion care.The MSM can run all the fluff peices on
Obama they want but the you know what is going to hit the fan over this sex ed
for preschoolers. The liberals want little kids sexed up so they can become as
depraved as they are when the get older and become democrat voters.. Once again this is the government acting as sustitute parents,chiseled out of the liberal
template.When the hell are people going to wake up to these people's agendas?

Remember What Happned to This Pooch Who Misbehaved?

This lady's dog is so mischevious it took $800 out of her purse and ate it!

Franken for Senate

Huffpo has an article above the scroll first thing this morning on Al Franken's money raising prowess in his bid to remove "Republican" Norm Coleman from his Minnesota US Senate seat.

Al's been doing well, predictably, with the entertainment crowd. Rosie O'Donnell is one of his benefactors. He's doing so well, in fact, that he outraised Coleman during the 2d quarter by a small margin.

I was a graduate student at the U of MN between 1996 and 2000, so I have some experience in the area of voting for a celebrity candidate (who went by the nickname, "The Mind") for a major seat in Minnesota. I'm watching this race with some interest.

Franken's radio show on Air America appears to have been good for him not only in further-cementing his name association, but also with being able to articulate his positions and tell good back stories. While I can't link him from work, check out some of the Youtube content on him. He's clearly comfortable talking about what government can do for people.

I certainly see him as a more serious person than Ventrua ever was, as well as smarter, but it will be interesting to see how much the RNC decides to fight for Coleman.

Do We Really Need an Update on This?

Seems that the original story had most of the information we needed, here.

Happy Birthday, Keith Richard Godchaux

Today would have Keith Godchaux's 59th birthday.

Keith was the second (of four, eventually) keyboardists for the band nearest and dearest to my heart, the Grateful Dead.

He was with the band from 1972 to 1979. In Dead history, he is probably overshadowed by his gifted wife, Mrs. Donna Jean Godchaux, who was a vocalist with the band around that time.

A few months after leaving the band, Keith died in a car accident up in Marin County, California.

"Vapid and Condescending?"

I know, I know. I'm as shocked as you are.

But that's what the reviewers are saying about Vikki Beckham's new "reality" TV show.

I love seeing people fail.....

The Wonders of Science

London, July 14 (ANI): University of Zurich researchers have created a (nasal) spray that can relieve people of shyness, and help them socialise with others.

Imagine that...something you can put up your nose to get over social anxiety.

O for O

Well, I just cruised on over, for the first time, to Oprah.com.

This is an interesting place to be.

Most places have at least a somewhat limited scope in their brand promise. Consider Amazon, for instance. Its header reads:

Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more

Oprah is a bit more ambitious. Is there any human endeavor not covered in her site's header?

Oprah.com is your leading source for information about love, life, self, relationships, food, home, spirit and health.

Anyway, the woman who can do it all for you also hopes to do it all for her favorite candidate...Barack Obama. She's hosting a fundraiser for him in September out in Santa Barbara.

We're Screwed

That's pretty much the only thing approaching a coherent thought that came to mind this morning as I perused the front section of this morning's New York Times print edition.

The top of the page has more splashes, this time from folks close to Shrub, basically saying that we have not made a hell of a lot of progress...and may even be worse off than we were...in the last 6 years.

Something big's about to happen, kids...I can just feel it.

The charming and beautiful Ms. Dowd says it better than I can. Copied below for those without full access to the site.

Hey, W! Bin Laden (Still) Determined to Strike in U.S.

Oh, as it turns out, they’re not on the run.
And, oh yeah, they can fight us here even if we fight them there.
And oh, one more thing, after spending hundreds of billions and losing all those lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re more vulnerable to terrorists than ever.
And, um, you know that Dead-or-Alive stuff? We may be the ones who end up dead.
Squirming White House officials had to confront the fact yesterday that everything President Bush has been spouting the last six years about Al Qaeda being on the run, disrupted and weakened was just guff.
Last year, W. called his “personal friend” Gen. Pervez Musharraf “a strong defender of freedom.” Unfortunately, it turned out to be Al Qaeda’s freedom. The White House is pinning the blame on Pervez.
While the administration lavishes billions on Pakistan, including $750 million in a risible attempt to win “hearts and minds” in tribal areas where Al Qaeda leaders are hiding and training, President Musharraf has helped create a quiet mountain retreat, a veritable terrorism spa, for Osama and Ayman al-Zawahiri to refresh themselves and get back in shape.
The administration’s most thorough intelligence assessment since 9/11 is stark and dark. Two pages add up to one message: The Bushies blew it. Al Qaeda has exploded into a worldwide state of mind. Because of what’s going on with Iraq and Iran, Hezbollah may now “be more likely to consider” attacking us. Al Qaeda will try to “put operatives here” — (some news reports say a cell from Pakistan already is en route or has arrived) — and “acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material in attacks.”
(Democrats on cots are ineffectual, but Al Qaeda in caves gets the job done?)
After 9/11, W. stopped mentioning Osama’s name, calling him “just a person who’s now been marginalized,” and adding “I just don’t spend that much time on him.”
This week, as counterterrorism officials gathered at the White House to frantically brainstorm on covert and overt plans to capture Osama, the president may have regretted his perverse attempt to demote America’s most determined enemy.
W. began to mention Osama and Al Qaeda more recently, but only to assert: “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th.” His conflation is contradicted by the fact that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, as the Sunni terrorist group in Iraq is known, did not exist before 9/11.
Fran Townsend, the president’s homeland security adviser, did her best to put a gloss on the dross but failed. She had to admit that the hands-off approach used by Mr. Musharraf with the tribal leaders in North Waziristan, which always looked like a nutty way to give Al Qaeda room to regroup, was a nutty way to give Al Qaeda room to regroup.
“It hasn’t worked for Pakistan,” she conceded. “It hasn’t worked for the United States.”
Just as we outsourced capturing Osama at Tora Bora to Afghans who had no motive to do it, we outsourced capturing Osama in Pakistan to Mr. Musharraf, who had no motive to do it.
Pressed by reporters on why we haven’t captured Osama, especially if he’s climbing around with a dialysis machine, Ms. Townsend sniffed that she wished “it were that easy.” It’s not easy to launch a trumped-up war to reshape the Middle East into a utopian string of democracies, but that didn’t stop W. from making that audacious gambit.
The Bushies, who once mocked Bill Clinton for doing only “pinprick” bombings on Al Qaeda, now say they can do nothing about Osama because they can’t “pinpoint” him, as Ms. Townsend put it. She assured reporters that they were “harassing” Al Qaeda, making it sound more like a tugging-on-pigtails strategy than a take-no-prisoners strategy.
We’ve had it up the wazir with Waziristan. Surely there are Army Rangers and Navy Seals who can make the trek, even if it’s a no-man’s land. If it were a movie, we’d trace the saline in Osama’s dialysis machine, target it with a laser and blow up the mountain.
W. swaggers about with his cowboy boots and gunslinger stance. But when talking about Waziristan last February, he explained that it was hard to round up the Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders there because: “This is wild country; this is wilder than the Wild West.”
Yes, they shoot with real bullets up there, and they fly into buildings with real planes.
If W. were a real cowboy, instead of somebody who just plays one on TV, he would have cleaned up Dodge by now.

Happy Birthday, Good Doctor

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson would have turned 70 years old today.

While his writing undoubtedly slipped in the last few years of his life (he reminded me of tapes of Jerry Garcia towards the end...you could hear him scratching at old tricks that used to work but ended up sounding like someone trying to imitate himself...not-so-successfully), Hell's Angels, On the Campaign Trail '72, Rum Diary and innumerable magazine articles endeared him to many, including yours truly.

No one else compares in expressing the disappointment and anger that some of us see when looking at the state of this country.

I might just have to dust off my copy of Fear and Loathing tonight.

Rest in peace.

Will Someone Please Start Treating Elizabeth Edwards Like a Big Girl?

I'm no expert on warefare, but I know that it's pretty much considered to be a human rights violation for an army to fire out of a preschool, church or crowded shopping mall, for instance.

The argument being, of course, that you are engaging in just as nasty a game as the other guy, but you are banking on the other guy being decent enough to not fire back into the school.

If The Fonz were here, he'd tell us that that's not cool.

The Edwards campaign, however, is just the latest group to do the metaphorical equivalent in their campaign. They send poor, inoperable-cancer-ridden Elizabeth out to campaign events, to take on that wench, Ann Coulter and now to claim that her husband cares more about women than does Hillary Clinton. And her ramblings, with limited exception, are immune to any scrutiny because of Elizabeth's protected-class status.

Frankly, I don't care if John Boy or Hillary are better for women in this country. My point is that it's high time the other candidates take off the gloves and stop treating this woman like the Virgin Mary.

My heart goes out to the Edwards clan and what they must be going through on a personal level, but as for her public life, she's a willing participant in the bloodsport just like everyone else and I've grown weary of the soft tones and sensitive manner in which the press speak about her. Again, without having walked a mile in her shoes, THAT seems to be demeaning to people suffering illnesses.

Okay, Enough Negativity Out of Me

Well, I've been jumping on the Church pretty hard the last few days.

What better way to get off of my moral high horse than with a little Frank Zappa interlude.

From the rock opera, Joe's Garage, please enjoy this downright awful Youtube of Catholic Girls....air guitar and all!

Just remember, 'the white zone is for loading and unloading only.'

The Church Misses The Mark Again

The Vatican is out today, after their $600M payout the other day to cover sex abuse in California, talking about how everyone else needs to worry about sex abuse, as well.

The statement carries on about how we need to work together to avoid such "wickedness" in the future.

While not untrue, this statement clearly reflects either a complete failure to understand what we're talking about or another outright attempt at deception.

The ordained priests who engaged in this behavior are the first ones at fault and guilty of first-class sins.

But my take is that the problem lies at least equally, if not moreso, with the structures within the Church that acted to cover this up on such a wide scale.

The persons who did this are individually responsible for their own sins and should pay a price, but one has to accept at least the possibility that they are damaged individuals giving in to things that no healthy individual would take part in. They're sick.

But what's to be said about the power structure of the church, presumably-fit individuals, who let this carry on? They acted as enablers and are, in my opinon, much more to blame than anyone else.

Shame.

Harry Reid to Make the Senate Stay Up Late

In yet another installment of my annoying "setting the news to music"  habit...

Harry "The Stormin' Mormon" Reid has had it up to here with GOP dilly-dallying on the war, so he's threatening to send the Senate to the mattresses and force and all-night session to get an up or down vote on troop withdrawl.

In recent history, these sorts of threats by both sides have been squelched before we got to a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington scenario, but this is by far the most important issue this government has faced in the last 30 years.

Here's some Talking Heads comin' atchya...Stay up Late, kiddies...

Meet the Press Smackdown!

Russert usually has tighter control over his panelists, but thankfully, yesterday morning, he let men be men and duke this one out.

I watched it on the television and had been waiting for someone to cut it to Youtube.

Basically, Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and James Webb (D-VA) wrapped up their appearance together talking about what the future holds for Iraq.

Tempers boiled over when Graham used re-enlistement rates as a proxy for military support for the action and justification for continuing  the surge.  "Let them win!" became his mantra.  This set fellow military veteran Webb over the edge (and rightfully so, in this civilian's opinion).

Pic of the Day

I've been on a Clapton kick lately....at least the stuff before he had his sex change operation.

I Don't Often Hope for a Vengeful God

...especially given the slightly-less-than-saintly-track-record I've managed to cobble together.

I find exception to that whenever I come across these rats in gowns that aren't imprisoned under some sort of RICO crackdown.

I like to joke here and there about the mafia trials going on, but if you want to talk about an organized criminal conspiracy going on in this country, you need look no further than some of the powerful folks in the Roman Catholic Church.

The people who like to tell you that they have a good handle on how God thinks you should live your life and allegedly hold the power to forgive YOUR sins are agreeing to pay out over $600M to compensate for their priests' raping of our children.

Peace be with you.

It's Getting to be Ri-God-Damned-Diculous

I am not sure of the date or location of this tape, but it's one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

John Wayne, inebriated off his hind end, speaking to a stunned group of Jay Cees about "other mother colleges."

Just be warned to never break into someone's office when the Duke is around and "do excrement" there!

Enjoy

“Oh, You British Think You’re So Superior!”

I found myself smitten with both (the original BBC version of) The Office and Extras, but have to admit that I don't follow the career or appearances of Ricky Gervais nearly as closely as our friends across the pond.

There seems to be a little debate spreading over there, though, about his recent behavior and whether Gervais has lost it or his detractors should bugger off.

Season 2 of Extras was just released the other day on DVD, so I'm anxiously expecting that in a few days.

A Question For the Fred Heads

posed by Monsignor Will:

But ask yourself this: If he did not look like a basset hound who had just read a sad story—say, "Old Yeller"—and if he did not talk like central casting's idea of the god Sincerity, would anyone think he ought to be entrusted with the nation's nuclear arsenal?

Speaking of AIDS

This was just bad luck for the marketing department!

Did Yasser The Terrorist Die of AIDS?

There's some interesting speculation posted on National Review's blog this afternoon and a quick Google search on the topic confirms that it's not exactly brand new...

There are people who have reason to believe that Yasser Arafat died of AIDS.

The Review post puts this in the context of what a cross-dressing exercise his Fatah movement really was.

The apple does not often fall far from the tree.

The Gillmore Juggernaut Comes Back to Earth

Jim Gillmore has pulled his name out of the hat for the GOP Prez nomination.

In related news, the sun came up this morning and is expected to go back down in a few hours...

Here's the statement from the campaign website:

Saturday, July 14, 2007 - Gilmore for President

Statement from former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore

I am today withdrawing my candidacy for the Republican nomination for President. It has been a positive and rewarding experience for me, for my family, and for my supporters.

It has become apparent to me that the combination of my late start, and the front loaded nature of the primary schedule, have made it impractical to continue to pursue this path towards further public service.

I am proud of the fact that my campaign focused on the issues, worked hard to block amnesty for illegal immigrants, brought attention to the need to protect private property rights, and called for a new path in Iraq that would provide our valiant military men and women with a more clearly defined and achievable mission.

However, I have come to believe that it takes more than a positive vision for our nation's future to successfully compete for the Presidency. I believe that it takes years of preparation to put in place both the political and financial infrastructure to contest what now amounts to a one-day national primary in February.

In the coming weeks and months, I intend to remain active in the Republican Party and in the public debate. I will be forming a state political action committee to assist Republican candidates in the General Assembly. Additionally, I will be actively looking for other opportunities to continue in public service in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Gearing up for the Ratdog Show

Bobby Weir's post-dead project, RatDog, is coming to Cleveland this week and I'm starting to get ready for my dose of crazy.

I was never the biggest Bobby fan before Jerry Garcia checked out and previous incarnations of RD, in 96 and 97 led me to swear that I would never sully my ears again by listening to him.

As the Clintons know, though, promises are made to be broken.

I broke down a few years ago and started slowly easing back in and his band really has taken a nice shape and they have a very jazzy 
sound that appeals to my current tastes.

Rock on, Bobby...even if you were the Dead's equivelant of Ringo.

Here they are performing "Sugar Magnolia"...sans "Sunshine Daydream" ;-(

I Detest Rachel Ray

Like Oprah, this woman just blows my friggin' mind.  I go a little bit nutty everytime I see her.

This morning at the market, I saw that she'd found a way to violate me there, too, selling her own branded version of EVOO.

UGH!

I also found, however, that I am not alone.  The Rachel Ray Sucks Community may be just the support group I need.

Know Thy Terrorist Logo

An interesting collection of logos from various terrorist and other fringe groups.

I couldn't find the People's Front of Judea or the Judean People's Front, though...those wankers.

Willie Nelson and Ray Charles Perform "Seven Spanish Angels"

I'm lucky enough to have seen Willie Nelson in concert a handful of times.

He's one of those classic acts whose shows are just a guaranteed good old time.

In the times I have seen him, one of the prettiest songs I heard him do was "Seven Spanish Angels."

Being kind of a knucklehead, I didn't know that the more famous rendition is as a duet with the late Ray Charles.

Now I know why.   Take a moment out of your day for a little peace and listen to this.

Huckabee Fires Back at Michael Moore

Well, I guess you gets what you gets when you stick your necks out in the public sphere preaching to us about a social ill.

I have yet to see Michael Moore's new Sicko, so I won't comment on the content, but it points out a number of structural flaws in the system...flaws with the providers/distributors, that is.

GOP Presidential candidate, former Arkansas Governor and weight loss champion Mike Huckabee is claiming that people with life- and body-styles like Moore are also part of the problem!

On a very high level, it seems only fair, if you really are serious about solving the healthcare "problem," to look at the whole picture, not just what the other guy is screwing up.

If I just threw all my loose trash out in the street, rather than packing it up in bags and cans to pull out to the curb every Wednesday morning, my complaints about the damned garbagemen not making my neighborhood look prettier would be shallow.

Hopefully this discussion will bring something out that's more original than, "the government needs to do more on the reactive side of the equation."

What, Me Worry?

This pic of the moron-in-chief today is leading CNN.COM at this hour.

Brothers in Arms

There's a good writeup of the (apparent) demise of John Wayne McCain's presidential campaign in today's Politico.

The problem, folks close to the campaign consistently say, is that there were too many cooks in the kitchen and not enough of a chain of command. This problem manifested itself both in logistics and the lack of a coherent campaign message.

It had the freewheeling nature of the 2000 campaign without the enthusiasm.

I feel bad for McCain as a person, but I neither cared for nor trusted him as a candidate or politician.

Good riddance.

Good Eats

I have kind of a busy afternoon, so I had to pass on the actual field trip, but a co-worker is going to bring me back some Steak and Shake this afternoon.

Yum.

I haven't had this in ages. It's rivaled in fast food circles only by In-n-Out Burger.

Don't Believe the Hype!

Well, I'm pleased that Rudy seems to be being Swift-boated.

The International Association of Firefighters has come out to say that America's Mayor isn't all that.

This whole thing, as I've posted ad nauseum, seemed way too fit for television and it could not be real.  To a small degree it reminded me of when Petra Nemcova found herself stuck in that Tsunami a few years back.  Afterwards, she was going to change her whole life to do good and get out of the fast lane.  That lasted about 5 minutes.

Life takes you on some interesting curves and we have to write narratives to bring some sense to it all.  Done responsibly, this can have a healthy effect,  but when it's done such a naked act of marketing, as has been the case in Rudy's life since 9-11, you eventually get your comeuppance.

Heres the video the firefighters are putting out about America's Mayor.

You Big Dummy!

David Corn has a nice piece in The Nation about good old Senator David Vitter.

Apparently the guy who was wrapped up in the DC Madame case wrote a little opinion piece for the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1998 about the Clinton sex scandal.

At that time, he made the argument that Clinton's participation in shenanigans drew into question his moral fitness to lead this country.

Larry Flynt strikes again!

Interesting Democratic Debate Item

There's a news item floating today that the Democrats have a debate scheduled in LA for 9-August specifically to address issues important to the GLBT community.

I actually think this is a good and interesting development.

If we just had the same white toast debate over and over again, this week moderated by Chris Matthews, next week by Wolfie, we don't get a lot of variance in topic matter or tone.  Furthermore, I really don't know what Wolf does or stands for aside from reading off of a card someone else gives him.  

It's interesting and instructive to hear people who actually give a crap about certain issues have the opportunity to hold candidates' feet to the fire on topics of interest to them.

In addition, lying directly to a constiuency is entirely different from telling a fib to a whore like Brian Williams.

Hats off to the folks like Hillary who have the balls to sign up for this event.

How about an NRA-sponsored debate, or one on the campus of the recently-deceased Jerry  Falwell's Liberty University?

This development also offers me the opportunity to throw down a little Frank Zappa action on this hot night in Cleveland.

Party on, Wayne.

Stifle it, Your Honor!

BARNSTABLE, Massachusetts (AP) -- A Cape Cod man who claimed he was homophobic, racist and a habitual liar to avoid jury duty earned an angry rebuke from a judge on Monday, who referred the case to prosecutors for possible charges.

Pope to Other Religions: Go to Hell!

Pope Benedict is making friends all over God's green earth!

Still Unable to Post Subject Lines

My issues remain when I try to do something from work. I'm unable to fill in the subject line on Blogger. It's kind of a bummer.

Anyway, very busy days here so posting might be a bit slow.

Sorry.

Dan

This is rather like the Iran-Iraq war...Nancy Sheehan has announced that if Pelosi doesn't get off her little behind and push for the impeachment of Bush, she will stage a challenge for her seat.

The people of San Francisco shall reap what they sow.

I don't know what the problem is if this is something wrong with blogger, but i can't seem to type in subject lines for posts. Hmmmmmmmmmph.

That's Hot

According to Drudge's traditional Sunday night pre-radio-show tease...

CBS EVENING NEWS anchor Katie Couric is being accused of slapping an editor -- after he injected a word she detested into a script!

I Like the Black and White Look...

...for the site, but occasionally you have to break with your preferences...when a picture is so gosh-darned funny.

Off to enjoy the beautiful day we have out here in the rust belt.  Be good.

Click the photo for a better look.