For the Love of Christ

Memo to the idiots of the world,"Boughten" is not a word.


You know what? Apparently I am wrong. I still don't believe it, but y'all and my Mom will have deal with this little dose of reality:

SYLLABICATION: bought·en
PRONUNCIATION: bôtn
VERB: Chiefly Northern U.S. A past participle of buy.
ADJECTIVE: 1. Commercially made; purchased, as opposed to homemade: boughten bread. 2. Artificial; false. Used of teeth.
REGIONAL NOTE: American regional dialects allow freer adjectival use of certain past participles of verbs than does Standard English. Time-honored examples are boughten (chiefly Northern U.S.) and bought (chiefly Southern U.S.) to mean “purchased rather than homemade”: a boughten dress, bought bread. The Northern form boughten (as in store boughten) features the participial ending –en, added to bought, the participial form, probably by analogy with more common participial adjectives such as frozen. Another development, analogous to homemade, is evident in bought-made, cited in DARE from a Texas informant.

WTFH? Who knew?

Gettin' Wonky

Lest you think all we'll ever do around here is tout the maximum cool of Barack Obama and highlight the total lameness of John McCain, we introduce a new occasional feature we call "Gettin' Wonky."

Periodically, over the next few weeks and months, we'll post an item detailing Barack Obama's policy positions on some specific campaign issue. That when you hear some ignorant uninformed Republican arguing that Obama is a closet Muslim who's never accomplished anything at all, you will have the information you need to argue from the affirmative:

Today we look at Barack and Education:

IN BRIEF:
--Guarantee affordable life-long, top-notch education. (Jun 2006)
--Sponsored legislations that recruit and reward good teachers. (Sep 2004)
--Provide decent funding and get rid of anti-intellectualism. (Jul 2004)
--Address the growing achievement gap between students. (May 2004)
--Will add 25,000 teachers in high-need areas. (May 2004)
--Supports charter schools and private investment in schools. (Jul 1998)
--Free public college for any student with B-average. (Jul 1998)
--Voted YES on $52M for "21st century community learning centers". (Oct 2005)
--Voted YES on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
--Voted YES on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)

(click the link for more information)

True Story

Frickin Yahoo.

I can't decide if right-wing Israeli crackpot and political cockroach Benjamin Netanyau reminds me more of Dick Cheney or Ahmed Chalabi. He's a little of both I guess: a scheming no-good evil con artist whose political fortunes ebb and flow like the tides in a particularly polluted ocean. Well, he's baaaaaaack.......

JERUSALEM, July 31 (Reuters) - Right-wing Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu called on Thursday for holding new national elections after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would resign once his ruling Kadima party picks a new leader in September.

"This government has reached an end and it doesn't matter who heads Kadima. They are all partners in this government's total failure. National responsibility requires a return to the people and new elections," Netanyahu, whose opposition party leads in recent opinion polls, told Israeli Radio.

Economics News

This news oughta make you feel a bit better about paying $4.50/g for gas:

HOUSTON -- Exxon Mobil reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results fell well short of Wall Street expectations and shares fell in premarket trading.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company said its net income for the April-June period came to $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 40% to $138.1 billion from $98.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter.

See? Exxon's stock price fell because the company didn't make as much as Wall Street expected it to.

Stevens Indictment

Perhaps you heard yesterday about the indictment of Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens. You can read more about it here. With 40 years in Washington's Upper Chamber, Stevens is the longest-serving Republican senator ever, but we love him mostly because of his cantankerous attitude, his bold choice in neckties (see above), and his succinct explanation of the inner workings of the Internets:

A Nugget of Hypocrisy

via Eschaton:

Spying
Sam Brownback is on my TV upset that China might be monitoring the internet and telephone communications of visitors during the olympics. "That's spying!" he says. He's really upset.

Please just kill me.

-Atrios

Oh the irony...psssst: FISA, Brownback (Yea)

Famous [But Not] Last Words

This political expert still has a job at the Washington Post:

"Given the present bitterness, given the angry irresponsible charges being hurled by both camps, the nation will be in dire need of a conciliator, a likable guy who will make things better and not worse. That man is not Al Gore. That man is George W. Bush." -- Richard Cohen, November 2000

There's more on his brand of foolishness over at Hullabaloo....

Can't Make This Stuff Up

Yet another completely ridiculous Letter to the Editor, San Luis Obispo Tribune 07.29.08:

Obama’s Islamic loyalty?
Several weeks ago I wrote regarding the substantive remarks of Sen. John McCain versus the oratorical style of Sen. Barack Obama. In that letter, I spoke to Obama’s glaring misstatement that our country has 57 states. Why did the number 57 slip from his tongue?

Recently, it has come to my attention that there are 57 Islamic states. Perhaps this unconscious error indicates where Sen. Obama’s allegiance truly resides.

Valerie Hopkins
Cambria, CA

These people walk among us.

McCain Exploits Own POW Experience

Here's a little fib John Dubya McCain told on himself in a bald-faced pander for votes recently in Pittsburgh, PA:

Yesterday in Pittsburgh, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., professed his love for the Steelers to KDKA-TV.

Asked what first comes to his mind when he thinks of Pittsburgh, McCain chuckled, "the Steelers. I was a mediocre high school athlete but I loved and adored the sports but the Steelers really made a huge impression on me particularly in my early years."

And then McCain told a rather moving story about his time as a P.O.W. "When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the pressures, physical pressures on me, I named the starting lineup, defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates."

"Did you really?" asked the reporter.

"Yes," McCain said.

"In your POW camp?" asked the reporter.

"Yes," McCain said.

"Could you do it today?" asked the reporter.

"No, unfortunately," McCain said.

Here's one reason he likely couldn't do it today -- the Steelers aren't the team whose defensive line McCain named for his Vietnamese tormentors. The Green Bay Packers are. At least according to every previous time McCain has told this story. And the McCain campaign just told ABC News that the senator made a mistake -- it was, indeed, the Packers.

In McCain's best-selling 1999 memoir “Faith of My Fathers,” McCain writes:

“Once my condition had stabilized, my interrogators resumed their work. Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I did not cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant. Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. When asked to identify future targets, I simply recited the names of a number of North Vietnamese cities that had already been bombed.”

Watch it HERE.

98 Days

Only 98 days to go until we get a chance to put an end to this 8-year national nightmare.

Let's don't blow it.

Revolution

A Simple Question

Help me somebody:

How do we end this stupid war?

At Least We All Agree the Surge is Working

BAGHDAD -- Female suicide bombers killed 57 people and left another 280 wounded in three attacks on Shiite pilgrims marching in Baghdad and in another attack on a Kurdish demonstration in the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk.

Twenty-five people were killed in Kirkuk and 178 wounded, when a woman strapped with explosives blew herself up. Another 32 people were killed in Baghdad, in addition to 102 wounded in the attacks by three female suicide bombers, police and medical sources said.

Sometimes the Headline Sez It All

New McCain Ad Bashes Obama for Not Visiting Troops Using Footage of Obama Visiting Troops



....

Get Your War On

Get Your War On, the best post-9/11 comic strip ever, is now available in animated form:


No one has been more consumed by white-hot fury over the criminal absurdity of George W. Bush's presidency than cartoonist David Rees, and here's the strip that started it all, GYWO 10.09.01:

Yosemite Fire

MARIPOSA, Calif. -- Firefighters are continuing their efforts this morning to contain a 26,000-acre wildfire burning near a main entrance to Yosemite National Park that has already destroyed at least 12 homes and 27 outbuildings near the town of Midpines.

The blaze, called the Telegraph fire, is threatening 2,000 residences in the heavily forested area, said Kevin Colburn, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry.

We stayed at the motel on the left hand side of this picture when we visited Yosemite last Thanksgiving.
And here's what things look like in the Valley:

They Write Letters

San Luis Obispo Tribune, Letters to the Editor, 07.27.08:

Get an apron, Nancy
Nancy Pelosi, the quintessential elite San Francisco liberal, in the news once again. This inept, uncompromising politician won’t allow a vote on coastal drilling. No surprise—Pelosi and her ilk can afford gasoline at any price. This woman totally lacks vision. How did this happen? House speaker—what a nightmare. Nancy, Nancy — go home and do the dishes.

Mike Morgan
Los Osos, CA

China will drill
Sometimes I think Americans are the dumbest people on earth. The chief of dumb people is Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic Party leaders. Look how much worse off we are since the Democrats took control of Congress. We have the richest resources for energy, but we can't drill. We can’t use coal. We can’t build nuclear plants. All these things could be done safely, without harming the environment, with a little American ingenuity.

Why are we sending billions of dollars to countries that hate us? It will be years before we can be completely free of the need for gas. Meantime, the price of energy is bankrupting the nation.

I don’t understand why unions do not support this common sense approach. Look at all the great paying jobs and the billions this would add to our economy.

What is wrong with people who would want to elect more of these incompetents?

Believe me, China will have no trouble drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or off the coast of Santa Barbara. China will soon own us as we are so in debt to that country.

Faye Ryan
Nipomo, CA

The Gravity of the Situation

We don't need a president who knows how to win wars. We need a president who knows how to end war.

Yes We Can.

Point of Clarification

(AP) Republican John McCain said Tuesday he knows "how to win wars" and that the strategy of increasing troop levels in Iraq should also be applied to Afghanistan.
[...]
McCain added: "I know how to win wars. And if I'm elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory."

FYI -- John McCain has never won a war. Any war.

Now More than Ever

Who's President Now?

Given our choices, Barack Obama seems fairly presidential. I mean in terms of his ability to think intelligently, speak clearly, inspire the multitudes and look damn good on the dais as well.

Safe Bet

While the media will continue to press Obama to say he was wrong about the Surge (and they'll surely spin this admission as an acknowledgment of as much), no one will push John Dubya McCain to admit the whole sorry affair in Iraq was wrong from Day 1.

Sunday Afternoon Classic

Superman!

One of my childhood buddies just sent me this picture from back when we were 11 or 12 years old. The Matsuis had two things that might interest a reckless young kid with delusions of grandeur: a pool and a two story house. This photo is from that one summer when we finally got up the gumption to leap from the second story roof of Ivan and Warren's house down into the pool below.... Damn that was fun!

Dream Dashed

What was that about we live in a litigious society?

DURHAM, NC -- The son of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is suing Duke University, claiming he was wrongfully kicked off the golf team.

Andrew Giuliani claims he was dismissed without cause from the golf team earlier this year because coach O.D. Vincent III wanted to cut the team of 13 players by about half. The lawsuit claims the coach has interferred with Giuliani's efforts toward becoming a professional golfer.

Well, his dad is a lawyer.

More Utter Nonsense

It would be funny if it weren't so ridiculous. This column appeared in today's Wall Street Journal. Leaving aside the paper's conservative bent, what the hell is something like this doing in the WALL STREET JOURNAL?

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

This Batman had way more fortitude and moral courage:

We Are Doomed....

....If this is the kind of reasoning we get from pundits who are at least nominally on the left-hand side of the aisle:

As for his substantive views, they do (now) closely resemble Bush's. Yet the upside to a candidate who changes his philosophical orientation as often as McCain is that he could always switch back. While I certainly wouldn't recommend that anybody go so far as to vote for him on that basis, it still offers some grounds for hope. The Bush presidency is like being married to a sociopath. A McCain presidency would be more like being married to a drug addict -- however badly he behaves, he could always sober up.

Aside from the "damning with faint praise" aspect of the above statement, it's been quite a while (it was in the 7th grade, I believe) since I've read such sophomoric reasoning.

If only it were the student body presidency we were debating rather than Leader of the Free World.

The Dingo Ate My Frisbee!

We had some out-of-town visitors Wednesday night....They were as stoked as anyone about the media coverage.
They "Ultimately" beat the Santa Barbara Condors, 19-17.

Just Another Day in Cambria, CA

We counted 14 deer, which would be called a "herd" or a "bevy" for those who wonder about that kind of stuff.

McHistory IV

"Because of the surge, we were able to win at Little Big Horn. I mean, that's just a matter of history." --John McCain

Two Can Play at That "German Thing"

While Barack Obama was busy speaking before a huge crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin yesterday, John Dubya McCain was at "Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant" in German Village, outside Columbus, Ohio. As ABC reports it, "McCain addressed about a half dozen Ohio small business owners in the historic village."

Joe Scarborough sez McCain's "German thing" will "sell every bit as much as standing in front of 2,000 (sic) Berliners":


Sure.

Radical Optimism

We can't have that, now can we? David Brooks doesn't think so.

Obama’s tone was serious. But he pulled out his “this is our moment” rhetoric and offered visions of a world transformed. Obama speeches almost always have the same narrative arc. Some problem threatens. The odds are against the forces of righteousness. But then people of good faith unite and walls come tumbling down. Obama used the word “walls” 16 times in the Berlin speech, and in 11 of those cases, he was talking about walls coming down.

The Berlin blockade was thwarted because people came together. Apartheid ended because people came together and walls tumbled. Winning the cold war was the same: “People of the world,” Obama declared, “look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together and history proved there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.”

When I first heard this sort of radically optimistic speech in Iowa, I have to confess my American soul was stirred. It seemed like the overture for a new yet quintessentially American campaign.

But now it is more than half a year on, and the post-partisanship of Iowa has given way to the post-nationalism of Berlin, and it turns out that the vague overture is the entire symphony. The golden rhetoric impresses less, the evasion of hard choices strikes one more.

Sorry to disappoint you David. I suppose you remain partial to a president who rhetorical skills have given us such classics as:

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter!"

As for me? I'm still radically optimistic.

The 'L' Word to the 'I' Word

If you've ever wondered why no one in Congress has ever just come out and called George W. Bush an L-I-A-R liar (besides the fact that they are all cowardly and craven politicians), take a look at this section from the House of Representative Code of Conduct:

Personal abuse, innuendo, or ridicule of the President, is not permitted. Under this standard it is not in order to call the President, or a presumptive major-party nominee for President, a "liar" or accuse him of "lying". Indeed, any suggestion of mendacity is out of order. For example, the following remarks have been held out of order: (1) suggesting that the President misrepresented the truth, attempted to obstruct justice, and encouraged others to perjure themselves; (2) accusing him of dishonesty, accusing him of making a "dishonest argument", charging him with intent to be intellectually dishonest, or stating that many were convinced he had "not been honest"; (3) accusing him of "raping" the truth, not telling the truth, or distorting the truth; (4) stating that he was not being "straight with us"; (5) accusing him of being deceptive, fabricating an issue, or intending to mislead the public; (6) accusing him of intentional mischaracterization, although mischaracterization without intent to deceive is not necessarily out of order. [Notes omitted.]

The House Judiciary Committee takes up Congressman Dennis Kucinich's Impeachment resolution this morning.

$5-Million Man?

This is what gets you $5-million a year in the NBA?:

The 24-year-old Sasha Vujacic, a native of Maribor, Slovenia, just completed his fourth and best season with the Lakers. Vujacic averaged 8.8 points in 17.8 minutes this past season.

And Vujacic might leave for Europe if the Lakers don't give it to him.

Ronny Turiaf got $17-million over 4 years to leave the Lakers for Golden State.

Turiaf averaged 6.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 blocks in 18.7 minutes per game last season.

My Planes, My Money, My Guns, My Soldiers.....

X -- LA's greatest band. Wiki.

The facts we hate; we'll never meet
walking down the road.
Everybody yelling "HURRY UP HURRY UP!"
But I'm waiting for you,I must go slow.
I must not think bad thoughts.
What is this world coming to?
Both sides are right but both sides murder.
I give up. Why can't they?
I MUST NOT THINK BAD THOUGHTS.
The civil wars and the uncivilized wars.
Conflagrations leap out of every poor furnace.
The food cooks poorly and everyone goes hungry.
From then on it's dog eat dog, dog eat body and body eat dog.
I can't go down there. I can't understand it.
I'm a no good coward & an American too;
A North American, that is, not a south, or a central, or a native American.
I must not think bad thoughts.
I'm guilty of murder of innocent men,
innocent women, innocent children, thousands of them.
My planes, my guns, my money, my soldiers,
my blood on my hands, IT'S ALL MY FAULT.
I MUST NOT THINK BAD THOUGHTS.
The facts we hate; you'll never hear us.
I hear the radio its finally gonna play new music
you know the British Invasion.
But what about the minutemen, Fleasheaters, D.O.A., Big Boys
and Black Flag?
We're the last American band to get played on the radio
Please bring the flag? PLEASE BRING THE FLAG!
Glitter-disco-synthesizer night school
All this noble savage drum-drum-drum
Astronauts going back in time to hang out with the cave people.
It's about time. It's about space.
It's about some people in the strangest place.
Woody Guthrie sang about B-E-E-T-S not B-E-A-T-S.
I MUST NOT THINK BAD THOUGHTS.
I MUST NOT THINK BAD THOUGHTS I MUST NOT THINK BAD THOUGHTS.

Und Ist Hier das Video

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

Obama got next.

Obama ist ein Berliner

Looks like Europe is ready for change:

BERLIN -- In one of the most theatrical events of his campaign, Barack Obama called today for closer ties between Europe and the United States in a speech to more than 200,000 Germans at a towering monument to Prussian war triumphs.

The sea of people stretched a mile across the Tiergarten, Berlin's central park, from the Victory Column where Obama spoke to the historic Brandenburg Gate in the distance.

Obama's rhetoric was no less sweeping. The all-but-certain Democratic nominee for president voiced aspirations for a world that abolishes nuclear arms, feeds the poor in Chad and Bangladesh, banishes "the scourge of AIDS," unites against Muslim extremism and stops the advance of global warming.

"People of Berlin -- people of the world -- this is our moment," Obama said. "This is our time."

Batsh*t Crazy Congressional Testimony of the Year

-- from pandagon.net: Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness attempts to justify the US military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. She's nuts.

Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of “transgenders in the military.” She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading “HIV positivity” through the ranks.

There is an audible burst of laughter when Donnelly throws in a "San Francisco left" phrase just for dramatic effect. Another guffaw from the crowd when Donnelly expresses her concern over gay men sharing a "cramped submarine" with other soldiers.

“We’re talking about real consequences for real people,” Donnelly proclaimed. Her written statement added warnings about ”inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community,” the prospects of “forcible sodomy” and “exotic forms of sexual expression,” and the case of “a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault” a fellow soldier.

At the witness table with Donnelly, retired Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a lesbian, rolled her eyes in disbelief. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a gay man who was wounded in Iraq, looked as if he would explode.

Uh-oh.

As a worker in county government, let me just say that this doesn't seem like a good idea at all:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to help ease the state's budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Chronicle on Wednesday.

The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of nearly 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers.
[...]
The proposed pay cut for hourly employees would take their wages well below the state minimum wage of $8 an hour. But a 2003 California Supreme Court decision allows the state to chop workers' pay to the federal minimum when a state budget has not been enacted.

The state, facing a projected $17.2 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year that began July 1, has not approved a budget.

I have to admit that some of these people make an obscene amount of money (a nurse at a jail making $311,000 a year?!?), but the vast majority of those 200,000+ workers are lower-to-middle class schlubs just trying to get by like the rest of us. $6.55/hour is going put to a whole lot of them in the poor house right quick.

McHistory III

"Because of the surge, we were able to win at Ticonderoga. I mean, that's just a matter of history."

McHistory II

"Because of the surge, we were able to win at Valley Forge. I mean, that's just a matter of history."

Das dumme, es brennt!

Es scheint, dass einige der rechtsstehenden bloggers ein bisschen gesetzt werden, dass Barack Obama einige seiner Kampagneposter auf Deutsch druckt. Natürlich werden sie in Deutschland vor seiner viel-vorausgesehenen Rede in Berlin verteilt.

McHistory

"Because of the surge we were able to win the Battle of the Bulge. I mean, that's just a matter of history."

Say Goodbye to WaMu

The banking crisis is starting to hit close to home.

SEATTLE - Washington Mutual said today it lost a staggering $3 billion during the second quarter as it increased its loss reserves to more than $8 billion to cover souring loans in its mortgage portfolio.

It's looking more and more like there are only two safe places to put your money these days: here or here.

ADDING: Banking Crisis Primer: "Your earnings can't be multiple times the growth of the economy forever. You also can't take future earnings today forever. And when you can't book earnings from the future anymore, your ponzi scheme collapses."

Vanity Fair Makes a Funny

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

New Vanity Fair cover....
(click image for larger view)

Wrong Again McCain

From The Atlantic.com --

To repeat something mentioned below, John McCain told Katie Couric that the surge caused the Anbar Awakening:

"Colonel McFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history."

And yet here's an article McFarland co-wrote which makes it clear that not only did the events he was involved with predate the surge, but he was out of Anbar by February 2007 -- just as the first surge forces were arriving. The term "surge" doesn't so much as appear in his account. Seth Colter Walls notes that McCain himself understood the chronology correctly at one point.

Olbermann breaks it down on video:

We Get Email

After watching yesterday's McCain interviews, I'm in need of a little reassurance. Please tell me again how it'll be ok come November, how the American people won't vote him into office. Right? He's a doddering old fool clinging to the old ways who can't speak clearly, can't remember much, refuses to answer straightforward questions that don't suit his premade rhetoric, and angers easily, as evidenced by his repeated use of the classic 'raise my voice and keep talking over the other person' tactic.

The other option, the possible first 44th white President (oh wait, no one refers to him as that, which seems to me half as correct as the other way round), seems like a pretty good choice to me. He is gonna win, isn't he?

I'm out,
ghost, of a chance.

I share many of these same concerns. Obama represents change and inspiration and new ideas and forward thinking. He was born in 1961! McCain, not so much. There's no way Obama can lose, right? And then I remember Bush and recall that we elected him twice (leaving aside for the moment the debate about Florida 2000). And then I am filled with fear.

A friend at work, looking to reassure himself as much as me, said once we get to the debates Obama will surely shine over McCain. But Al Gore won his debates with Bush ("lockbox" rhetorical foolishness notwithstanding), and John Kerry wiped the floor with Bush during the debates in 2004! And yet, there he is, a childish, churlish, 8-year nightmare from which we only now have an opportunity to awaken.... Will we squander that chance? Will we elect John Dubya McSame?

While I'd like to reassure you, I wouldn't put anything past the American people, ~15% of whom still believe Obama is some kind of closet Muslim.

Do NOT Mess with the Eucharist

If you're raised Roman Catholic, it doesn't really matter at what age those rigid dogmatists finally manage to drive you away from the faith, there's one thing you learn, early and for sure: You do NOT mess with the Host. I mean, of course, the one thing that's sacred in the Catholic Mass above all else, and that's the Eucharist.
So when Protestant [ahem!] Washington Post writer and socialite Sally Quinn jumped into the Communion line at Tim Russert's funeral Mass a couple weeks ago, she definitely raised a few [Holy rolling] eyebrows, not to mention apoplectic Catholic League president Bill Donohue's blood pressure.

I'll let Vanity Fair's James Wolcott take it from here:

It appears that once again Washington Post journalist and social arbiter Sally Quinn has created a stir by opening her brassy mouth. Not because of what popped out of it, but for what she let slide in.

Now, get your minds out of the bowling alley.

Smutty innuendo has no place in this clean, well-lighted blog.

We're talking church doctrine here, and the perils of religious smorgasborging.

The tempest in a chalice began when Quinn, co-creator of the Washington Post's On Faith website (an accident waiting to happen), paid memorial tribute to Tim Russert and went a bit overboard with the best of intentions, telling her readers...

"At Tim's funeral mass...communion was offered. I had only taken communion once in my life, at an evangelical church. It was soon after I had started "On Faith"; and I wanted to see what it was like. Oddly I had a slightly nauseated sensation after I took it, knowing that in some way it represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Last Wednesday I was determined to take it for Tim, transubstantiation notwithstanding. I'm so glad I did. It made me feel closer to him. And it was worth it just to imagine how he would have loved it."

How the editor of the Post's "On Faith" column doesn't know she's not supposed to share in the sacrament on religious grounds is a relevant enough question, but she should know better than to cross "Bust-a-blood-vessel" Bill Donohue, who had this to say:

"Just reading what Sally Quinn said is enough to give any Christian, especially Catholics, more than a 'slightly nauseating sensation.' In her privileged world, life is all about experiences and feelings.

"Moreover, Quinn's statement not only reeks of narcissism, it shows a profound disrespect for Catholics and the beliefs they hold dear. If she really wanted to get close to Tim Russert, she should have found a way to do so without trampling on Catholic sensibilities. Like praying for him--that's what Catholics do."

Lighten up Bill, the Wafer always used to carry me through from 8:30 Mass until we got back to Grandmom's house for jelly donuts and the funny pages.

We Don't Need No "Eductaion"

--Wonkette-- "What is dumb Fox News doing now, hmm? It appears they aired a segment over the weekend called “Will High Gas Prices Cost Your Kids Their Education?” This, presumably, was to explain this secret classified report: If you have to spend more money on one thing, there is less money to spend on another thing. Fox News illegally leaked this homeland security information and, in doing so, spelled “education” as “eductaion.” ... The thought of children being so illiterate that they cannot spell a common, phonetic word… well, just imagine living in a country of adult retards!"

Trivia Time

No one has yet answered the trivia question. Listen to that drum riff down below on the "Name that Tune" post. Don't peek at the Youtube site and tell us the song.

Bako

Real Money

I hope you weren't one of those people who stood in line for two days and pulled your money out of IndyMac, only put it into Wachovia instead.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wachovia Corp. lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, and said Tuesday it was slashing its dividend and cutting 6,350 jobs after losses tied to mortgages soared.

This ain't over, not by a longshot. The safest place for your investments these days may very well be right there under the mattress.

McCain Flunks Geogrpahy 101

From Think Progress:

Today on Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.”

Ummm...not so much:

Everybody [Really] Hates Dubya

Polling courtesy of the American Research Group:

George W. Bush's Overall Job Approval Drops to 21%
George W. Bush's overall job approval has dropped to 21% as 76% of Americans say the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 21% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 72% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 17% approve and 77% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote, 22% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 71% disapprove. When it comes to the way Bush is handling the economy, 18% of registered voters approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 77% disapprove.

Adding: 98% of Americans would just prefer not to have a beer with Bush.

Doonesbury

(click on image for larger view)

July 20, 1969

Overheard at McCarthy's

"I need a drink before I perish!"

You gotta love someone who thinks in those terms (and uses $5 words to say so), no?

Do You Know Jack?

What do you know? Incredibly enough, the average score on this absurdly easy quiz is 50%

ZAP!! -- The Latest Outrage from Iraq

WASHINGTON -- KBR Inc. used employees with little electrical expertise to supervise subcontractors in Iraq and hired foreigners who couldn't speak English, former KBR electricians told a Senate panel investigating electrocutions of 13 Americans.

Experienced electricians who raised concerns about shoddy work and its possible hazards were often dismissed and told, "This is a war zone," the electricians said Friday.

"Time and again we heard, `This is not the states, OSHA doesn't apply here. If you don't like it you can go home,'" said Debbie Crawford, a journeyman electrician with 30 years experience.

Crawford and Jefferey Bliss, also a former KBR electrician, testified in the 17th hearing held by the Democratic Policy Committee, which has been examining waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and the performance of the country's war contractors. Both Democrats and Republicans attended the hearing.

The Pentagon has said 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003. It has ordered Houston-based KBR to inspect all the facilities it maintains in Iraq for electrical hazards.

How Many More Times? (You Gonna Treat Me the Way You Do?)

CA -- Proposition 8

Two things: I still find it interesting that the overall polling numbers are so close (even at 9 points against) in California's ridiculous anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment, and I also find it interesting that the widest margin against (57%-38%) is in the 50-64 age group. I thought old people were supposed to be all hung up about this issue.

Having recently served as best man at a gay wedding (a friend at work in a 28-year relationship) I can only say this: God [allegedly] have mercy on your soul if you'd vote against something as simple as letting people be happy.

Joey Chesnut Nation

Watch America grow ever fatter, right before your very eyes, with this fascinating "animated map." Props to Colorado, the only state in the nation to keep its obesity level below 20%.

Clifford, my man, what have you [not] been eating?

Name That Tune

The most identifiable drum lick ever?
No peeking!

Double-Talk Express

In a brilliant 3 minute takedown, John Dubya McCain's "straight talk" reputation lies utterly shredded:

Maliki's "Time Horizon"? 16 Months.

Hard on the heels of Dubya's agreement with Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki on a "time horizon" for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, we learn that al-Maliki's "horizon" just happens to be 16 months, the very time frame proposed by Democrat Barack Obama.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months.

In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal

You Say Tomato

This is just the sort of semantical baloney we've come to expect from the Bush administration, but that doesn't make it any less insulting:

President Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to set a "time horizon" for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq as part of a long-term security accord they are trying to negotiate by the end of the month, White House officials said yesterday.

It's not a "timeline," you see. That would mean "surrender." It's a "time horizon," which means "victory."

Nozzle Envy

What would Freud have to say about this?

A Brief Memo to My Republican Friends

Eight years. Let's review:

A trillion dollar war, untold thousands dead, $5-a-gallon gas, a housing crisis, a food crisis, a credit crunch, foreclosures, growing unemployment, failing banks, a tanking stock market, declining consumer confidence, pointless saber-rattling, obstinate [non-]diplomacy, a tattered global reputation, a shredded constitution and a shameful, juvenile, semi-literate embarrassment in the White House.

You must be so proud.

Nothing's Sacred

Didn't the day after the Midsummer Classic also used to be a holiday?

Rock On!! (For reals this time)

One of the great opening scenes evah....!
Hell yeah!!!!

Signed,

Dr. Jimmy

Food Like Mom Used to Make[s]

I must say, the baked spaghetti burritos really hit the spot.
Time for a nap.

Ye Shall Be Judged by the Comapny You Keep

Don't be fooled when the chattering classes prop up Evan Bayh as a viable Obama Veep candidate. He's shown some pretty piss poor judgement on Iraq and... and he's BFFs with McCain and Lieberman:

The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) is pleased to welcome Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) as an Honorary Co-Chairman. Bayh becomes the third U.S. Senator to join the committee after Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced their participation.

Noooooooooooooooo!

Rock on!!

Obama on Iraq

“George Bush and John McCain don’t have a strategy for success in Iraq – they have a strategy for staying in Iraq. They said we couldn’t leave when violence was up, and they now say we can’t leave when violence is down."

Up is Down

If you ever read the novel Catch-22, this will probably sound familiar:

Military surge in Iraq ends; 150,000 troops remain
WASHINGTON -- The military surge into Iraq that began more than 18 months ago has ended. But 150,000 U.S. troops remain, as many as 15,000 more than before the buildup began.

No Good Answer

Watch John Dubya McCain agonize. The silence is deafening....

Checking in with Gorda, CA

Last we looked, gas prices in Gorda, CA were up over $5 a gallon. But that was a couple of months ago. Look what NPR correspondent David Gorn found during a recent visit:

Along the rocky California cliffs of Highway 1, about 70 winding miles south of Monterey, is the town of Gorda. It's not much of a town — one restaurant, a hotel, a number of tourists looking at the ocean view — and a gas station. All of the locals can tell you: "Gorda" is Spanish for "really high gas prices."
[...]
In fact, gas in Gorda...went to $6 last week.

Republican Family Values Hypocrite of the Day

Phil Gramm.

He may hate whiners, but he loves him some "Truck Stop Women":

Gramm's journey into porn began in 1973, when his brother-in-law, George Caton, rushed to tell him about an exciting low-budget soft-core production called "Truck Stop Women." A promo poster for the film boasted of its buxom stars: "No Rig Was Too Big For Them To Handle." Caton, who was in charge of fundraising for the production, asked Gramm to become an investor. To entice his brother-in-law, Caton showed him scenes of Playboy Playmate of the year Claudia Jennings displaying her bare essentials (she is naked throughout much of the film).

These scenes "really got Phil titillated," Caton told journalist John Judis in 1995. Gramm enthusiastically cut Caton a check for $15,000. Because the film was oversold, however, Caton returned his brother-in-law's money, offering him an investment opportunity in an upcoming feature.

Imagine the outrageous hanky-wringing if this had been someone on Team Obama.

How About a Nice Hawaiian Punch?

Quit Your Whining.

"What we see is indeed a lot of whining, with an end-of-the-worldish lilt. The loudest voices have the least hope in them. We've lost the war. We're running out of oil. The banks are ruined. The glaciers are melting. Civil liberties are kaput. Everyone hates us." --William Murchison, Washington Times

Head Scratcher

It's a bit hard to say who should be more insulted, the people leading the global fight against HIV/AIDS or the late not-so-great bigoted homophobic racist a-hole who may soon see his name affixed to legislation promoting that fight.

Not Out of the Woods Yet

Harper's (via C&L) sez the crooks and war criminals in the Bush administration are not so self-assured now that their time in the White House is winding down:

The reaction of top Bush Administration officials to the ICRC report, from what I can gather, has been defensive and dismissive. They reject the ICRC’s legal analysis as incorrect. Yet my reporting shows that inside the White House there has been growing fear of criminal prosecution, particularly after the Supreme Court ruled in the Hamdan case that the Geneva Conventions applied to the treatment of the detainees. This nervousness resulted in the successful effort to add retroactive immunity to the Military Commission Act. Cheney personally spearheaded this effort. Fear of the consequences of exposure also weighed heavily in discussions about whether to shut the CIA program down. In White House meetings, Cheney warned that if they transferred the CIA’s prisoners to Guantanamo, “people will want to know where they have been—and what we’ve been doing with them.” Alberto Gonzales, a source said, “scared” everyone about the possibility of war crimes prosecutions. It was on their minds.

OMFG. We can only hope.

This Oughta Be Good

Watch Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly spin this news all the wrong way:

PARIS -- From prime ministers to college students, Europeans want to cloak Barack Obama in a warm embrace when he arrives on the continent next week. But they're also aware that anything that looks or smells like elitist Old Europe could hurt the Democratic contender with voters back home.

Obama has yet to finalize his itinerary for Europe. However, he is already set to skip Brussels, the capital of the modern united continent, for the traditional symbols of economic and military power: London, Paris and Berlin.

All those European capitals' leaders have expressed a willingness to adapt their schedules to see the American politician whose sky-high approval ratings in their countries are at least as good as their own. Polls reveal that if they could vote in the United States, between 53% and 72% of the British, French and German public would pull the lever for Obama.

"If Britons elected American presidents, Barack Obama would have no worries," began an editorial in the left-wing British newspaper, the Guardian.

WTF? The Frenchies love Obama?!? No wonder, he's a flag-burning, America-hatin', Birkenstock-wearin' Mulsim terrorist. Isn't he?

The Perfect Pint

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- The two men drink standing near the back of the long bar at Davy Byrnes, one of the many watering holes in this city that, in the words of writer Samuel Beckett, who once lived upstairs, have been known to house "broken glass and indiscretion."

In the back, because that's well away from the "whippets" and "blow-ins" who tend to wander in, armed with neither intellect nor wit, if one distinguishes between the two, settle on the first available stool and ask for a "Boodweiser" from the barman.

Standing, because as the long, merry nights wear on, each of the men must be on his toes, or miss the opportunity to point out a deficiency in the other's grasp of 13th century history, or drop a deftly delivered pun, or tell a magnificent lie.

"Some of the time I'm telling the truth. You have to figure out for yourself whether I'm having you on or not," says Roy McCutcheon, a native of Belfast who met Paul Winter here at the pub made famous by James Joyce -- now a civilized "gastropub" with very little broken glass -- one evening three years ago, and on a good many evenings since. "We're like-minded. We're very sharp, very quick, we've got a great repartee going on."

"He's full of it most of the time," Winter says. "And he's a fascist."

"I'm not a fascist. But you're a Trotskyite."

If there is a common denominator to these long, cantankerous evenings, it is Guinness, the beer so fundamental to Ireland that one has only to say, "Pour me a pint" to receive, in due course, a wide, ceremoniously poured glass of "the black stuff."
[...]
He's pouring to the exacting standards of McCutcheon and Winter, who want it to take as long as it's supposed to take, which is, officially, 119.5 seconds for the perfect pint. The first half is poured into a glass tilted at 45 degrees, a process that produces a tumult of nitrogen and carbon dioxide that has to be left sitting on the bar to settle. Then, the second part of the pour, up to the brim.

"You must wait until the head rises over the top, and that's when you start. And if you drink it when it's first risen, the head will stay with you all the way to the bottom of the glass," McCutcheon says.

"If you go into a pub in another country, and they just pour the Guinness straightaway . . . ," Winter says.

"Refuse that," interjects McCutcheon. "You never rush the Guinness. You let it settle. Tell the barman, 'Keep it high. No hurry.' There's one bar in Dublin where you can pour your own Guinness, but that is a waste of money for people who don't know what they're doing."
[...]
At Davy Byrnes, the conversation has moved on to whether John McCain inappropriately placated his Vietnamese captors ("He sang like a canary," Winter declares); the mass suicide and massacre of Jews in York in 1190; Stalin's execution of top army officers in the run-up to World War II; and a song by the Waterboys on a similar subject. Someone tries to remember how it goes. An argument ensues over whether the Waterboys ought to be considered an Irish band, or Scottish, or English.

Compare, Contrast, Discuss

For your consideration:

Kurt Gibson played in 150 out of 162 games in the 1988 season. [It was the year he hit arguably the most memorable home run in World Series history.] He won the National League MVP with 25 home runs, 76 RBIs and a .290 batting average. He had 157 hits, drew 73 walks and struck out 120 times in 542 at bats. He did not make the All-star team.

Ryan Howard has played in 92 out of 92 games this year. In 347 at-bats, he has 25 home runs, 80 RBIs and a .231 batting average. He has 80 hits, with 47 walks and 124 strike outs. He did not make the All-star team.

My take: Gibson was a force of nature in 1988.

PS -- If you're a baseball fan, take the time to watch the clip of Gibby's home run. It remains the greatest baseball moment I ever saw, and I HATE THE DODGERS!

When It Come to Gas Prices, We've Still Got It Good

(click on image for larger view)


What's the going rate for petrol where you live?

Honked off by Los Angeles pump prices? Cheer up. You could be commuting in Oslo, where gasoline costs $9.85 a gallon and filling up a Mini Cooper would set you back $130.

That's the priciest petrol on a list of world gas prices released Wednesday by Associates for International Research Inc., a Massachusetts relocation consulting firm that tracks the cost of living in dozens of countries.

In fact, at just over four bucks a gallon on average, U.S. gas is still cheap compared with much of the world.

"It's small consolation, I know," said Michael Shore, a senior manager at the consulting firm. But "the prices that [Americans] are paying now, Europeans have been paying for a long time."

And it's not just Europe. People all over the developing world are shelling out more for gas than Americans -- who are considerably wealthier. That includes drivers in the East African nation of Eritrea ($9.46 a gallon), Kenya ($5.94), Chile ($5.18), Nicaragua ($5.07), India ($4.94) and El Salvador ($4.70). In a more extensive study completed by the firm in March, consumers in nearly three-quarters of about 150 nations surveyed paid more for fuel than Americans did.

If you're thinking about relocating, you might want to consider Venezuela "where the world's lowest-priced gasoline can be found at 12 cents a gallon. [Y]ou can fill a Hummer for less than the price of a Big Mac."

"Totally Crazy"

And just to prove that there are still people out there who are certifiably "batshit crazy," we give you this idiocy:

A totally crazy Saturday-morning thought: Wouldn't George W. Bush make an awesome high-school government teacher? Wouldn't it be something if his post-presidential life would [sic] up being that kind of post-service service? How's that for a model? Who needs Harvard visiting chairs and high-end lectures? How about Crawford High? (Or wherever?) Reach out and touch the young before they are jaded, or break them of the cynicism pop culture and possibly their parents have passed down to them. Whatever you think of President Bush, he's a likable guy in love with his country with some history and experience to share.
Like I said, crazy. Saturday. Have a good one.

The National Review was once one of the best most respected widely read conservative political journals in the nation. It was founded by William F. Buckley, who was a bit of a douche bag but never actually went all the way around the bend into "batshit crazy" land. The boot-licking treacle you see above is what passes for political commentary there these days.

The Embarrassment Continues

Your president at work:

HOKKAIDI, Japan -- President George Bush signed off with a defiant farewell over his refusal to accept global climate change targets at his last G8 summit.

As he prepared to fly out from Japan, he told his fellow leaders: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

President Bush made the private joke in the summit's closing session, senior sources said yesterday. His remarks were taken as a two-fingered salute from the President from Texas who is wedded to the oil industry.

Only 194 days until this nightmare comes to an end.

Current Problem

I seem to have lost the ability to buy properly fitting shoes.

What Lincoln Said

I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood . . . .

Let's file that one under "Screw Bush," and his dwindling coterie of defenders.

Update: Scratch that. Once I saw this post it occurred to me that these guys (and gal) have been lying all along, which is a far different thing from "making an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false."

Evil is as evil does.

It's Just a Cup of Coffee

Listen people, take your hoity-toity [soon to be bankrupt from over expansion] Starbucks double venti whatever cup of coffee and stow it.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the perfect cup of coffee:
1 cup water.
200 seconds in the microwave.
2 spoonfuls of Hills Brothers instant.
2 packs of sugar.
1 deep splash of whole milk.
Stir.
Done.

This has been my morning ritual for decades.Starbucks can take its $4 cup of joe and go to hell.

"The Cables"

Now that we're in the 21st century shouldn't the very idea that John McCain doesn't know how to use a computer or write or receive an email patently disqualify him from being president? I mean, contrarty to what McCain's colleague Ted Stevens sez, it's not really "a series of tubes."

"The cables?" He's not qualified. I'm serious.

The Jefferson Bible

The LA Times asks: "Can you imagine the reaction if word got out that a president of the United States cut out Bible passages with scissors, glued them onto paper and said, 'I only believe these parts?'"

Well, that's just what Thomas Jefferson did when he did a cut-and-paste job on the accepted "word of God," reducing the tome down to a scant 46 pages. Let's just say he wasn't all that big on miracles or historical inconsistencies.

What's an Ark?

Sound Advice for FundaMENTALists

Here's a wonderful website full of great tips for the religiously-inclined among you who are looking for ways to convert your more enlightened friends.
While the abstract is sensible enough...

Dealing with a friend that has different beliefs than you can be frustrating for both yourself and the non-believer. Learning how to deal with it can be extremely difficult and you might want to try and convert them. If you do chose this route, however, you must always keep this in mind: be gentle and never force your ideals upon others if they don't wish it. If your friend expresses a deep, sincere wish for you to leave their beliefs alone, please respect that.

...It's persuasion Tip #1 that I find most interesting:

1. Prepare yourself Most Atheists are highly intelligent. Probably better educated than you are and have spent a lot of time thinking about reasons TO believe. You have to give them a real reason - not just an emotional one! You need to read and think a lot too. They usually don't care about your beliefs or want to be bothered with them. It is best to leave them alone. Don't be surprised if they manage to persuade you to give up your beliefs.

Now for a special treat, this reminds me of a film strip we saw would never have seen in CCD:

Police Blotter

"TAMPA - Police say a man named God was arrested near a Tampa church for selling cocaine.

"Authorities began investigating God in April, and he was arrested on Saturday. Police say he sold the cocaine to undercover detectives in his neighborhood. When officers searched his home, they reported finding another 22 grams of cocaine and a scale."

The Worst Seat in Tennis

Baseline, behind Nadal.

Deware!!

A Ghost sent me this photo.

Working Overtime

Did the Founding Fathers have to come in on their day off to sign the Declaration of Independence?

California Burnin'

It's damn smoky around here. I can barely see the peak right outside my window. It's hot. It's dry. It's windy. Seems like a perfectly good time to have a holiday centered around setting off firecrackers & blowing stuff up.

China's Drinking Our Milkshake

Did you know that China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida?
Neither did I.

The claim: China has Cuban leases to drill for oil -- [mere] miles from the Florida shore.

Even Vice President Dick Cheney got into the mix Wednesday, telling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that ``oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. We're not doing it. The Chinese are in cooperation with the Cuban government.

''Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply,'' he added. ``Yet Congress has said . . . no to drilling off Florida.''

But industry experts and other observers say there is zero evidence that China is drilling in Cuban waters, and doesn't even hold a lease to drill offshore.

''China is not drilling in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico waters, period,'' said Jorge Piñon, an energy expert at the University of Miami's Center for Hemispheric Policy.

Of course, that hasn't stopped everyone from Dick Cheney to Rudy Giuliani, George Will and a whole host of other Republican demagogues from spreading the lie in an effort to spur our own plans to punch ever more holes in the Earth and lap up the milkshake.

Good Career Move

I figure if I can get shot down over Vietnam on the way to work that should qualify me to take charge of the office.

Say Hey!

Too good to be true[?]

Fair and Balanced

This is what passes for journalism these days...

Summary: During a segment in which Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head.

Bible Study: Genesis (in which "God goes mental...")

"If the history of science shows us anything, it's that we get nowhere by labeling our ignorance 'God.'"

As Goes Starbucks, So Goes the Nation....

You may have read recently about Starbucks' plans to cut 12,000 jobs by closing 600 stores across the nation. This could spell doom for the employment prospects of high school kids on summer break, recent retirees still trying to make ends meet and college graduates finding that McJobs are their only means of "gainful" employment.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ...The coffee seller, bracing for its first full-year profit decline since 2000, has been grappling with the slowing U.S. economy and consumer spending at the same time that major competitors like McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD - News) have begun attacking its core business.

Starbucks plans to close the company-operated stores by the end of March 2009. The related job cuts would reduce the company's U.S. workforce by about 8 percent.

The news lifted shares nearly 5 percent.

That last paragraph crystallizes what's wrong with the American economy.

Regarding Starbucks, I think we can easily illustrate the serious problem inherent in the chain's ambitious expansion policy. The photo at the top of this post was taken today at the Downtown Center in San Luis Obispo, CA. As you can see, there's a Starbucks clearly visible in the red circle on the left hand side of the photo. On the right, inside a Barnes and Noble bookstore, is another Starbucks. It's right up there on the second floor, inside the second red circle. You can actually sit inside one Starbucks and look out at the other one.

Even McDonald's never tried to be that pervasive.

Happy "Bring 'em on" Day!

July 2, 2003:

"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is bring them on."

WTF Do I Get One of Those?

DMV officials in North Carolina have a little egg on their faces.


...

McCain: Just Like Us (If We Had 13 Houses)

It seems John W. and Cindy McCain have done pretty well for themselves with her $100-million fortune. The next time somebody tries to tell you Barack Obama is the elitist in this presidential campaign, what say you take them on a Google Maps tour of the McCain real estate empire.



With so much property to manage, it's no surprise the McCains couldn't keep track of all the real estate taxes they owed. They went into default on this one in La Jolla, CA.

Tyson Gay is Homosexual: Not Factually Accurate

The kooks over at the American Family Association must've thought they were oh-so-smart when they applied an "auto-replace" word processing program to their headline news page. The idea, apparently, was to expunge offensive words from the site, sparing impressionable young children and pearl-clutching old ladies the indignity of seeing words only George Carlin could love by altering them with less controversial verbiage.

Then along came Tyson Gay.

The champion sprinter and American Olympic hopeful has wreaked havoc with the AFA's sports coverage, with the "auto-replace" software rendering such hilarious headlines as: "Homosexual eases into 100m final at Olympic trials" and "Close call: Homosexual barely averts major flop in 100".
The AFA has since fixed the Tyson Gay glitch, but the good folks at rightwingwatch.org have a nice screen cap of this absurd example of wingnut prudishness.