Geico, Geico All Day

Someday, very soon, every advertisement (TV, radio, billboard, junk mail, you name it) is going to be for Geico. Lizards, cavemen, little piles of money with eyes....Who are these people?!?!?

Calling Their Bluff

Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York put the Republicans on notice that he'd be calling their bluff on the failures "government-run" health care yesterday, then did just that by offering an amendment that proposed eliminating Medicare.

While certainly not expecting his amendment to pass–let alone receive a single vote–Weiner is using the amendment to force a vote on a "government run" program that most lawmakers support.

Weiner wants the lawmakers who oppose including a so-called "public option" in healthcare reform to take a stand on whether government is capable of running a healthcare program.

"It's put-up or shut-up time for the phonies who deride the so-called 'public option," Rep. Weiner said.

The legislation failed 57-0, with every member of the committee, including every single gasbag Republican who rails on and on about the evils of government-run health care, voting to keep the Medicare system of caring for the elderly.

Not Enough for them to Derail Health Care

Have I ever mentioned how sick and tired I am of self-important, small-state Democrat blowhards like Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) and Max Baucus (D-Montana)? Not content with holding the party and the president hostage over health care reform, these douchebags now say they don't even know if they're going to vote for Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

The combined population of these two sanctimonious windbags' states? 2.7 million. [Neb = 1.8 mil / Mont = 900k].

Peace in Our Time

When I hold a Beer Summit it can last for days. In fact, we usually have to go out for more, which can involve delicate negotiations.

Speaking Truth to Stoopid

Bill Maher on the Birth Certificate controversy...

This isn't a case of Democrats versus Republicans. It's sentient beings versus the lizard people, and it is to them I offer this deal: I'll show you Obama's birth certificate when you show me Sarah Palin's high school diploma.

Musings from the KISS Concert

So we went to see KISS at the California Mid-State Fair last night. Thanks to some good connections, we were invited backstage for a "meet-and-greet" with the band prior to the show [photo to follow]. I had my camera phone and snapped this classic Spinal Tap-esque sign:
We debated moving it somewhere to mess with the band, but Gene Simmons is a scary mother so we decided to stay on our best behavior.

While we were all waiting to meet the band, the Mid-State Fair princesses all showed up. For some reason, they didn't look all that overjoyed to be there...
We finally figured out is was because they were missing their pretty pink jackets! Look how they cheered up once the head of the Fair came over and gave them their coats...

We parked next to UFC legend Chuck Liddell, who was there with some Playmate-of-the-Month. [Adding: Not saying she was actually a Playmate, but she was definitely a blonde hottie.]

Apparently the big new thing for these old time bands is to do straight run-throughs of one of their classic albums. KISS was no exception, in this case they recapped "KISS Alive," the momentous first live album which was the first by KISS I bought with my own money. They played the later classics, "Rock and Roll All Night," "Detroit Rock City," "Shout it Out Loud" etc... for the encore.

I'm betting there is no confetti left in San Luis Obispo county this morning, because KISS used it all during "R-and-R All Night," when they had these huge blowers blasting out tons of the stuff throughout the whole arena. I joked to my brother that I couldn't believe they could find that much confetti around here and he said the Fair had to hire 25 extra people just to make sure it all got cleaned up in time for tonight's Judas Priest concert.

The band was apparently muy disappointed that some of their more theatrical stunts were a no-go because it's a frigging county fair and they don't have the infrastructure to fly Paul Stanley out over the crowd on a wire. By way of compromise, apparently, they provided two simple scissor lifts to raise Gene and "Ace" up about 20 feet or so. It was slow-developing and kinda stupid and the only thing that would've made it better was if they had gotten stuck up there somehow. Ah, if only.

I have it on good authority the band's pre-concert rider called for fifty (50!) blow-dryers. Seeing as how they'd already shorted them on the theatrics (i.e. no flying Paul Stanley) the Fair management did their best to meet this request, cleaning out the local Wal-Mart of every available blow dryer yet still falling short of the necessary fifty. Sheesh.

All in all, an epic, silly, crazy night. Wonder if Judas Priest will be able to top it? We'll know soon enough, as I'm picking Doug and Reek up at the train station in a couple hours and were heading up for tonight's show.

Sarah We Hardly Knew Ye

Witness a [not-so] slow descent into madness.

New Math

This tool would have you believe he's Harvard educated. Shorter O'Reilly: "The reason Canada has a longer life expentancy that the U.S. is because we have ten times more people than they do."

Wrong Again: the NRA

I think the death of Vernon Forrest kind of puts the lie to the notion that arming the American citizenry will make us all safer.

Lou Dobbs is a Dumbshit Lying Sack of Dumb

To be sung in falsetto, like Adam Sandler... a la "duuuuuuumshit."

Geography for Dummies

FOX:

Real World:

Clarifying: Note the placement of Egypt.

Like 6-year-olds Chasing a Soccer Ball

The world's going to hell in a hand-basket, but the Republicans bounce around from one idiotic controversy to the next.

Overheard at the Palin Retirement Party

"Mix in a wild pitch or something." --Earl Weaver

The curmudgeonly old manager of the Baltimore Orioles hasn't mellowed much over the years.

They Frame the News, You Decide

Just now on FOX News:

"Minimum Wage Hike: Will It Prolong the Recession?"

Street Scene: Old Codger Movie Review

This old codger was walking down Monterey Street in front of the Fremont Theater with his wife and [what I presume to be his grandson]. He going off on all sorts of topics, in fact as I snapped this photo he was telling the world how stupid he thought the yellow paint job was on the truck there to the right. But the moment of truth came right out in front of the Fremont, when he saw the movie poster for "Bruno."

"My God, I'm telling you, that guy," he said, pointing at the poster with the rolled up paper in his left hand, "is the most disgusting person in the world. He should be taken out and shot!"

Neologism

"Bluedoggerel" -- A rehtorical argument or political maneuver made by conservative Democrats with the aim of undercutting the party's progressive agenda.

Ernestine Has a New Job

The phone company wasn't callous and uncaring enough.

Mannywood!

I'm no Dodger fan myself (flew cross-country to Philly for Games 3 and 4 of the World Series last fall, so most know where my sympathies lie) but I have to relate a great baseball moment when I sees one.

Plunked myself down in front of the tube last night with the Dodgers-Reds game tied 2-2, popped a beer and was happy just to hear Vin Scully calling the action -- a truly exquisite baseball experience whether you like the Dodgers or not. He's the best I've ever heard, I'll give it up right here. I'll never forget the times in the playoffs when Vinny would call two games at once: the Dodger game he and his audience were watching, PLUS some other game going on at the same time that only he could see on the monitor in the press box.

Anyway, it's Dodgers 2 -- Reds 2, and up comes Manny Ramirez to pinch hit. This drew my interest because I'd heard him get plunked on the hand on the radio the night before. Interesting that he was healthy enough to pinch hit. Here he comes, bases loaded, one down. Dusty Baker makes a pitching change, pause for commercial, increase the drama. When the TV coverage resumed, Vinny was going over the relevant stats: "Manny is only 3-for-27 (or so) as a pinch hitter", "pinch hitters are batting only .120 something against reliever Nick Massett"; "yada, yada, yada"... Manny digs in...and blasts the first pitch out to left field on a laser sharp line drive...BOOM, GRAND SLAM HOME RUN! You could see Masset shout a few magic words of disgust into his glove as the Man-Ram rounded the bases. Awesome baseball moment.

It was Manny Ramirez bobble-head night at Dodger Stadium and they kept showing Manny in the dugout after his bomb, bobbing his head up-and-down like his doll and laughing like a school kid. "Wow!" you could see him say. He took two curtain calls on the dugout steps.

Once the place settled down a bit, which took a good five or ten minutes, the camera zoomed in on Masset, and Vinny said simply,

"If ever anyone knows what it feels like to get struck by lightning, it's young Nick Masset."

Ultimate Makes ESPN's Top Plays of the Day

USA defeats Japan at the World Games in Taiwan.
Sportscenter takes note.

Street Scene: Lunchtime Downtown

Male nurse in green hospital scrubs riding ten-speed bike downtown. Right hand on handlebars, left hand holding cigarette to lips in deep draw. Large transit bus makes right turn in front of said bicycling/smoking nurse, necessitating quick action on the right (read: front!) handbrake. He avoids the bus but goes down hard in a heap.

CSI: California

The evidence of a wingnut murder/suicide overwhelms the Golden State.

FOX Hits Rock Bottom

Nice t-shirt by the way. Real professional.

20% Fee Hike @ CSU

First shoe drops on the new California. Ummmm, about that college education you were hoping to get?

Health Care Debate, Personal Story

From a comment thread at Pandagon, Caton has a few thoughts on this whole health care/health insurance debate:

I have been going through a terrible cancer scare. I have a large complex cyst on my ovary that is not going away, fluid in my pelvis and a slightly elevated CA 125 level. The last two are indicators of Ovarian cancer. (and yes I am well aware that the CA 125 gives many false positives). I went to my doctor this morning and actually, I ended up relieved. She thinks the cyst is benign and that though i do have the fluid which is an indicator, she believes that if I have a borderline case of ovarian cancer it’s a matter of, boy are we glad I was having those heavy periods and came in to have a sonogram which found the expected fibroids, and then this by a fluke. Because if it is cancer, it’s going to be early stage. nothing is definite of course, but blood tests and the fact that i have no symptoms indicate advanced cancer as improbable.

You know what I have been thinking all of this time? I had to drop my cobra bcause I couldn’t afford it. I have health insurance right now because Obama was elected and passed that cobra subsidy and it was a law that my employer had to give me another chance to pick it up. And I did. And now I have a surgery coming up for certain, and possibly, cancer. And if John McCAin were President I would have NO fuckign health insurance.

And they don’t fucking care. I am very lucky because I was able to pick up the COBRA, and also very lucky because if this ends up to be a long term thing and my Cobra runs out, my brother owns a business and will get me transferred onto there.

What about all of the people in this country facing cancer, or some other disease who have no cobra, no insurance, no family who own businesses, no hope? Who are so frightened every night because they are probably going to die? BecaUse emergency rooms don’t give chemo, or cancer surgery, or up to the moment treatments?

Even thinking about those fucks who advocate against this while making sure their kids and their wives and the people they love have their fat slimey asses checked over every month by the best doctors in the world, fills me with rage. I want to smash their faces in.

God, I hate them.

Tell it sister!

Signifying Nothing

It's too bad Jackson Browne and John McCain couldn't work out a licensing deal, because the song "Running on Empty" pretty well summed up Grumpy's campaign, wouldn't you say?

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jackson Browne has settled a lawsuit and received an apology from Sen. John McCain and the Republican Party over use of his song "Running on Empty" during last year's presidential campaign.

Smiles All Around

What are these people so happy about? They look awfully pleased with themselves for having presided over the demise of the once great state of Calfornia. And yes, that's my right-wing, no-new-taxes-ever assemblyman there on the left.

Street Scene: Just Now

Pregnant lady, at least 8 months along, talking on her cell phone while standing in a metered, curb-side parking space – presumably holding it for a companion with a car – engaged in an angry, fist-shaking Mexican standoff with a guy in a blue pickup truck who was wanted the spot. She ultimately won the debate, but not before creating a horn-honking scene that backed up lunchtime traffic and drew stares all around. Good times.

Shantytown California

The Golden State awaits its Dickensian future...

And so the budget drama hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Democrats have caved and given Arnold Schwarzenegger what he wanted - a cuts-only budget that does massive and lasting damage to the state of California, to the people who live here, and to our collective future. It's taken 31 years, but Howard Jarvis is finally going to get the wholesale destruction of public services he always wanted.

WWJD?

Could "pregnancy-related services" become the issue that ultimately derails health care reform? It will if we continue to let the religious nuts dictate public policy and hold half the population hostage.

Only in America: Beer Ads at the Gas Pump

The Coolest Apollo Photo

My fave from July 20, 1969.

Teabagger Lunacy

I hope this sort of devisive, right wingnut idiocy goes on for the full eight years of an Obama presidency. Witness as these teabagger lunatics hijack a Republican congressman's town hall meeting over the issue of the President's birth certificate. After Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware tells the initial questioner that "President Obama is a citizen," the place erupts into boos and hackles and the wingnuts jump to their feet to spontaneously recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Insanity.

Grammar Check: Palin's Epic Fail

The Grammar Police over at Vanity Fair had a field day going over Sarah Palin's retirement abdication resignation speech.

That's a helluva a lotta red ink spilled onto those pages (not to mention the green and the blue). My favorite part is where she states that Alaska was acquired under President Abraham Lincoln, when in fact it was Andrew Johnson who gave William Seward the go-ahead to purchase his "Icebox." So not only does she fail English composition, she bombs out on history as well.

B-Boyz Announcement: Check It Out

First time I ever heard anyone apologize for getting cancer, but it gives us a chance to air yet another cool-ass Beastie Boys vid...

"Said doc, what's the condition?
I'm a man that's on a mission.
Said son, "you'd better listen
Stuck in your WOOT,
Is an electrician"
Like a scientist
Mmmm when i'm applying this
Method of controlling my mind
Like einstein and the rappin' duke combined.

Holy Shit! Remembered

July 20, 1969...

Health Care: The Cause of Change

Rock On!

We Are Doomed.

Fucking sun's going to start rising in the East I tell ya...

RIP Walter Cronkite

The way I understand it, it's Walter Cronkite who finally, almost single-handedly, brought an end to the Vietnam War, with this 37-second end-of-the-broadcast commentary.

Snap. Game over.

Mnetal Haelth Care Phase of the Pulbic Optoin

In The Know: Is The Government Spying On Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?[h/t Garrett]
(must click "play" at lower left)

Health Care: Who Pays?

You know those horror stories about the Canadian health care system? The ones about how folks up there in the Great White North are faced with ill-equipped doctors and such interminable wait periods that they end up coming to the U.S. of A. for treatment? Guess who pays for that treatment? You guessed it…the Canadian government does, that’s who, via its system of…wait for it…nationalized health care.

You know those tales about how heads-of-state from other countries [heads-of-state!!!] always come to America when they need state-of-the art medical care? The ones about how such-and-such a prime minister had to come to the Mayo Clinic for his brain surgery? Guess who pays for that treatment? Yep, such-and-such’s government funded health care program does, that’s who, via his nation’s system of …nationalized health care.

You know how Senators Tim Johnson and Ted Kennedy both suffered life-threatening brain injuries over the past year? And you know how they are each recovering nicely thanks to the tremendous health care they’ve received at some of the nation’s best hospitals? Guess who paid for that care. You did, that’s who, thanks to the gold-plated health care program we extend to members of the U.S. Congress.

So yeah, Big Med, we understand that the United States has the most advanced medical care on Earth, we just want some help understanding why it's so frequently denied to us. We'd just like some help gaining access to that care and paying for it once it’s been administered.

So the next time you hear somebody make that tired old argument about people from Canada coming here for their medical treatment, why don’t you ask them if they know who pays for that treatment, because that really gets to the heart of the matter.

Obama in Africa

As this video from the White House shows, President Obama has a unique and intrinsic ability to share his inspirational message with people the world over.

Another One Bites the Dust

Hmmm, whadd'ya know? Yet another sanctimonious hypocritical god-and-country Republican congressman cheated on his wife. This one at the same "C Street" residence where disgraced Nevada Senator John Ensign had his [failed] come-to-Jesus meeting with the rest of his holier-than-thou homies. That place may have started out as a House of the Holy, but it sure did end up as a den of iniquity.

"We gonna do that crack cocaine thing..."

Jeff Sessions, foot in mouth. These people are not exactly giants of intellect or public speaking.

Oh Noes!

I can't find my birth certificate.

8-(

News Like You Won't Hear Anywhere Else

Wingnut Chum!!

Bad and Getting Worse

Think things are going downhill in California? Here's a headline I'll bet you never though you'd see:

California could lose a House seat after 2010 census

How do they decide who actually gets the boot? Good Lord, I hope it's local wingnut Kevin McCarthy.

The Nunchuck Explanation

Judge Sotomayor explains to idiot (and stuffy) Senator Orrin Hatch why nunchucks are not a protected weapon under the Second Amendment.
Translation:

"For God's sakes, they're nunchucks you fucking idiot!!"

The Cedarbaum Smackdown

Southern Dandy Senator Jeffery Beauregard Sessions name-drops federal Judge Miriam Cedarbaum on Sonya Sotomayor, hinting that perhaps she should model her judicial temperment after this (apparently) more "judicious" jurist. Sotomayor opens her response by noting that her "good friend" Judge Miriam Cedarbaum is sitting in the gallery in support of the wild racist latina. SNAP! The smackdown money shot comes at 1:37 of this clip, but to get the full flavor of Sessions' dripping and insulting line of questioning, watch the whole thing.

Obama to Critics: "Bring it On..."

The President steals one of Dubya's rhetorical devices:

"I love those folks who helped get us in this mess, and suddenly they say, 'This is Obama's economy.' That's fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems..."

Political Theater

One of the chief qualifications to become a Supreme Court justice appears to be the ability to suffer fools gladly without completely losing your mind. I'm sure the Brooklyn-raised Judge Sotomayor would have just loved to tell some of the Republican tools firing idiotic questions at her where they could go. How ridiculous is it that she basically has to sit there and take this kind of bullshit from these mental midgets?

Obama Does Baseball

When Barack Obama emerged from the dugout in St. Louis to throw out the first pitch at tonight's All-Star Game, he was wearing a Chicago White Sox warm-up jacket. Naturally, this move elicited a cascade of boos (which might have proved puzzling if you weren't clear on how much St. Louis hates Chicago). When Obama wound-up and delivered the ball to the Cardinals' Albert Pujols behind home plate, Busch Stadium erupted in cheers. Pujols and the President jogged together and man-hugged about midway between the plate and the mound, then Obama moved toward the Cardinal Hall-of-Famers gathered near the first baseline. Trailing alongside, Pujols looked down into his glove, where the ball he had just received from the President was nestled. He pulled it out, looked at it, looked around like a 5-year-old kid, and then put it back. If you could have read his mind, I'm sure he was saying to himself: "I'm keeping this."

Here's the vid.

Classic Polling Data of the Day

We all know that science doesn't mean diddly-squat to the willfully ignorant know-nothings in the Republican Party. Now, thanks to a survey conducted by the Pew Reasearch Center, we also know that the Republican Party doesn't mean diddly-squat to scientists, either.

Congratulations Flat-Earth Society GOP, you've lost the knowledge-based community as a potential constituency.

One Can Hope

Perhaps we have Dick Cheney on the run? Seems like the timbre of the debate is changing a bit. He certainly is proving to be the most whacked of political leaders we've had since...oh, I don't know...Nixon?

They Write Letters

Satan’s big lie

Regarding Brian Newman’s letter, I am a meteorologist for the Central Coast—Morro Bay, in fact. But I do not believe in the scientific origin and theory of the evolution of Earth, nor do I believe in the death of the sun and the Earth. As a Christian, I believe in a seven-day creation in which Adam and Eve were created as the first humans from God.

As to the demise of our sun and the Earth 7.3 billions years from now, that is false to me. I have one reason — in three parts — to back up my truth: the Rapture, the Great Tribulation period and the second coming of Christ that is revealed in the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation.

I encourage you to seek the truth when it comes to science and religion through the creator, not through what Satan has told you in a lie.

Scott C. Presnal
Morro Bay

"I am a meteorologist."

Really?

How do you suppose he explains meteors?

Like Nails on a Chalkboard

When somebody tells me they are "blessed" for whatever may have just happened to them. I know what that means, Albert Pujols, and I'm not impressed.

Lose the code words and give yourself some freaking credit.

Sasha Baron Cohen has Big Brass Balls

Dumbass of the Week

The GOP Presidential Lineup

Potential Republican candidates for president in 2012. It's a vast wasteland of lightweights and hypocrites.

--Sarah Palin: dumb as a fence post; quit governorship of Alaska to show she's not a quitter.

--Mitt Romney: practicing Mormon (does the base even consider that Christianity?) with the political principles of a weather vane.

--Newt Gingrich: practicing lizard; thrice married, twice cheating, family values blowhard and recent convert to Catholicism.

--John Ensign: the Boy Senator; Promise-Keeper who forgot the promise.

--Mark Sanford: head-over-heels in love (with a woman other than his wife); notable achievements: hiked the Appalachian Trail all the way to Buenos Aires.

--Bobby Jindal: see Gilligan.

--Mike Huckabee: see Gomer Pyle.

The Boy Senator

While his story has been overshadowed to a great degree by the Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin follies, consider for a moment the Curious Case of Senator John Ensign.

Briefly, what happened was this: He cheated on his wife with an employee who worked in his Senate offices (as did his paramour's husband), then paid the couple $25,000 in hush money -- but failed to end the affair. When the other couple came on hard times, the Ensigns invited them to live in their home, during which time Ensign continued his dalliance -- under his own roof -- until he was confronted by the woman's husband on Christmas Eve and subjected to a sort of Adultery Intervention attended by all members of both families. Even at that he had a hard time ending the affair, so he went to his Christian buddies for advice. They counseled that he ought to write the other woman a note putting an end to things and boost the hush money payment to a cool $100Gs, and then they walked him down to the Fed-Ex office to make doubly sure he sent the note. [Even at that, he called his lover ahead of delivery to tip her off the note was coming and she should ignore its message.] In the meantime, the boy senator went to his mommy and daddy and borrowed the $100,000 to pay off the other family. And apparently that's what amountsed to presidential timber in the Republican Party these days.

The aggrieved husband went on Las Vegas television for an extended interview detailing the whole sordid mess. Watch it here if you like soap operas.

Say Hey!

Moon over Morro Rock

Classic Spoonerism

Sometimes it's the fractured English that speaks the truth.

Rock On!

Change of "Complexion"

Check out this whacked out story from Philly...

Days before a Northeast Philadelphia day camp's membership at a private suburban swim club was rescinded, several of the campers said they had heard racial remarks about themselves at the pool.
[...]
Sixty-five campers, kindergartners through seventh graders who are African American and Hispanic, arrived at the private swim club around 3:30 p.m. on June 29. It was their first visit to the club, but the camp had made arrangements for weekly trips on Mondays through Aug. 10.
[...]
On July 3, Wright said, the camp's $1,950 check in membership fees to the swim club was refunded, meaning the children no longer had access to the pool. She said Duesler gave no reason for the refund except that the membership no longer wanted the children at the pool.

Repeated attempts to reach Duesler, other club officers, and the club's management yesterday were unsuccessful. NBC10, which first reported the story, said yesterday that Duesler had given the station the following statement: "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club."

What's the "local angle" on this story you might ask? Well, when I was a kid I went to the same YMCA summer camp as the kids in this story. My grandparents lived right around the corner from the place (see below). It's where I made my first lanyard keychain; it's where I learned to ply red-light-green-light; it's where we made crappy paper-mache junk; it's where I first jumped on a trampoline and climbed a rope ladder. Good times! Sounds like the place has undergone a "change of complexion." Sorry to hear they closed the pool. [click image for larger view.]

Sez here 10-cents...

Wonder how much a Bip Roberts baseball card is worth these days.

Diversions

First Michael Jackson, then Sarah Palin, then even more Michael Jackson. South Carolina's Mark Sanford is the luckiest philandering hypocrite AWOL politician in America.

OMFG

The fact that these people manage to get elected to public office should strike a blow for the future of America. This lady is debating whether her community should approve the opening of a uranium mine. A freaking uranium mine and she thinks the Earth is 6000 years old! I'm not so sure her grasp of science really qualifies her to have a vote in the decision. But there she is...

Truer words were never spoken...

Berry Gordy (founder of Motown Records) at Michael Jackson's memorial service:

"Michael Jackson went into orbit...and never came down."

Rudy!

There's been a lot of talk about whether anyone's ever seen an over-the-top outpouring of grief and rememberance like that which we've seen with Michael Jackson this week...

Try this one on for size:

An estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of New York City to pay their respects at [Rudolph Valentino's] funeral, handled by the Frank Campbell Funeral Home. The event was a drama itself: Suicides of despondent fans were reported. Windows were smashed as fans tried to get in and an all day riot erupted on August 24. Over 100 Mounted officers and NYPD's Police Reserve was deployed to restore order. A phalanx of officers would line the streets for the remainder of the viewing. The drama inside would not be outdone. Polish Actress Pola Negri, claiming to be Valentino's fiance, collapsed in hysterics while standing over the coffin, and Campbell's hired four actors to impersonate a Fascist Blackshirt honor guard, which claimed to have been sent by Benito Mussolini. It was later revealed as a planned publicity stunt. Media reports that the body on display in the main salon was not Valentino but a decoy were continually refuted by Campbell.

Star Power

Anybody know if Elvis showed up to pay his respects to MJ?

Somebody [Else] Worth Remembering

Satchel Paige would have been 103 today.

IMAGINE A pitcher throwing so hard that his catchers tried to soften the sting by cushioning their gloves with beefsteaks, with control so precise that he used a hardball to knock lit cigarettes out of the mouths of trusting teammates.

Picture a fire-baller who took the mound almost every night from January through December, tossed three games in a day and 2,500 over a career, and pitched his last big-league contest at the nature-defying age of 59.

Leroy “Satchel’’ Paige did all that at a time when players relied on their skills, not steroids, salaries were measured in thousands rather than millions, and no one had heard of a pitch count or of Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, or any of the other bad boys of contemporary baseball. Today, on what would have been Satchel’s 103d birthday, is a good time to revisit a less troubled era in our national pastime and a more troubled one in our race relations.

Dimwit

Sarah Palin is dumb as a box of rocks.

But as for whether another pursuit of national office, as she did less than a year ago when she joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the race for the White House, would result in the same political blood sport, Palin said there is a difference between the White House and what she has experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations.

"I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," she said.

There is no "Department of Law" at the White House.

She makes Dubya sound like William F. Buckley. Also.

It's All Relative

I sure hope there aren't 3200 cops at my funeral.

No Surprise There

Dignified and understated never were part of Michael Jackson's shtick.

Early this morning, as a group of African elephants finished its trek to Staples Center, more and more bystanders, including police and media, gathered to take a gander at the majestic animals.

Turns out the pachyderms are there for the actual circus, which apparently gets underway at Staples tomorrow. But isn't it telling that my first notion was that of course there would be elephants at Michael Jackson's funeral. Why wouldn't there be?

We Write Letters

When Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ came out, there was a lot of discussion about the theological merits of the movie, about whether Mel was proselytizing on the big screen or had simply made the world's most anti-Semitic snuff film. The Left dismissed the film as the ultra-violent work of a hypocritical, dogmatic, anti-Semite looking primarily to blame the Jews for killing Jesus; the Right defended Gibson for finally bringing open Christianity into mainstream moviedom.

At some point while reading about the film I came to learn that there was a whole raft of Passion of the Christ souvenirs available online. To my mind, this discovery sort of detracted from any defense of the purity of Gibson's motives. This movie was meant for profit, pure and simple. Not a dime went to any charitable organization, as far as I was ever able to determine. You'd think at least the money from the hip flask sales might have been donated to Alcoholics Anonymous, especially after Mel's own little run-in with the law.

Wrong Sport Big Dave

On Baseball Tonight earlier this evening, the panel was discussing the career of injury-plagued Nomar Garciaparra. Peter Gammons mentioned that one of the things he liked when Nomar was playing in Boston was that Mia Hamm would sit next to him at the games. Then Dave Winfield piped in with, "Did she teach you to ice skate?"

Fixing California

Maybe if federal bailout money came with a stipulation that California modify its whacked out budgetary process we might be able to fix the problems inherent in the Prop 13 system. One thing's for sure, we (meaning California) ain't gonna be able to do it on our own.

16-14??? You can't be serious...!

What a tennis match!

It was Roddick who made this match happen, Roddick who forced the tension and the steady surge of emotion. His game sizzled with half-volley winners, forehand blasts, backhands and serves that touched chalk and went dipping, diving and dancing -- unreturnable.
[...]
Then we remembered who was on the other side. Roger Federer is not like the rest of us. He has just one weakness, kryptonite named Rafael Nadal, but in the long view, he overcomes kryptonite by never fading away.

Bountiful

Serena Williams showed up at her post-match press conference wearing a t-shirt that said: "Are you lOOking at my TITLES?"

Sarah Palin...

...secedes from Alaska.

Maybe she needs to hike the Appalachain Trail. Also.


What the hell did she just say?

World Wind Romance

U6 Unemployment Rate Hits 16.5%

"The official [unemployment] count – known as U3 and dutifully reported by most of the media – fails to show the true extent of the wreckage. Left out of most reporting is U6, the BLS calculation that includes involuntarily underemployed people. That is, those who want a full-time job, but can only find part-time work. Also missing from U3 are discouraged jobless people who haven’t looked for work during the past four weeks. The U6 figure rose in June to 16.5%."

Tough Times Gonna Get Worse

It's now a $26-billion problem...