American Gothic, 2010

My friend Seth and his wife Elizabeth sat down for a purty cool engagement photo.

Do Your Homework

I would think if you were running for Senate and you held a press conference for the express purpose of opposing minimum wage standards, you'd want to be able to say you knew what those standards were.

"The minimum wage now in our country, I think we've set that and a lot of people have benefited from it in our country, but I think we ought to review how much it ought to be, and whether or not we ought to have increases in the minimum wage," McMahon said.
[...]
When asked if she knew the current rate, McMahon said she did not remember and would have to double-check.

Tax Policy Made Simple

Don't These People Have Better Things to Do with Their Time than Harass Women?

Well, our little town may have allowed the new mosque to go up without much controversy, but just to make clear we're not immune from kooks, here's a pic of a bunch of religious nuts picketing outside the San Luis Obispo office of Planned Parenthood. This photo captures them in a moment of prayer, presumably in preparation for harassing women who may visit the clinic for any one of a variety of health care needs. These people are vile individuals, there's just no other way to put it.

Simple Request of the Heavens

Today would be a nice day for some more reasonable weather. It's September 30th, for God's sake.

"You want me to come on some boat with you..."

Abbie Boudreau explains it all...

Wouldn't you say that attempting to lure a woman onto a boat, where you intend to sexually harass her and, quite laughably, coerce her into making a sex tape with you, might be a violation of the probation you'd received just a few months ago for attempting to bug a US Senator's office?

Job Description

The job that made Meg Whitman rich could best be described as "online garage sale coordinator." That's pretty much all she's got.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Not sure why my flat-broke city decided it needed to spend $850,000 on a brand-new double-decker bus (that won't fit under many tree canopies in town, nor under the railroad crossing on one of our main thoroughfares), but there you go...

Woodstein of the 21st Century?

The guy who brought down ACORN and tried to bug a US senator's office finds his next gig doomed from the start. What made this douchebag so certain he was going to be able to "seduce" an attractive, professional on-air CNN news reporter into having sex with him, anyway? Let's face it, the closest James O'Keefe was ever going to get to Abbie Boudreau was the Google images screen on his laptop PC. Can you say delusional prick? Creepy.

Additional Take on the Debate

One of Jerry Brown's best moments came after Meg Whitman criticized him for opposing California's famed property tax limitation law, known as Proposition 13. Brown was against the legislation, he acknowledged. He said at the time that it would "bankrupt the state" -- which it has.

The minute Prop 13 passed, however, Brown was 100% behind "the will of the people" and was intricately involved in implementing it. In his best gotcha moment of the night, Brown pointed out that he was endorsed in his re-election campaign by the man who wrote Prop 13, Howard Jarvis, a guy who makes today's anti-government teabaggers sound like shrinking violets.

Point Brown.

Brown v. Whitman Debate

Jerry Brown was on fire tonight in the first debate between he and Meg Whitman, the two candidates for California governor. Like your granddad discussing politics at the dinner table, Brown used the word "hell" several times and said "damn" at least once in a spirited defense of his record of public service, and I would swear the word "bullshit" was poised to come tumbling across his lips when he was asked about one of Whitman's more misleading campaign ads. He chose instead to call the ad "misleading."

When it was pointed out that he ran for President within two years of election to his first term as California governor in the 1970s, Brown dismissed the notion that he might entertain such ambitions again, noting that he'd be 80-years-old at the end of his term this time around.

"Age," Brown said. Then he grinned and continued: "Hell, if I was younger, you know I'd be running again."

But "I now have a wife, I come home at night, I don't try to close down the bars in Sacramento like I used to do when I was governor of California.

Why not Jer? That's my kind of governor!

In a bit of a tell, Whitman referred several times to Brown -- who is California's sitting Attorney General -- as "Governor Brown."

Despite Whitman's repeated efforts to saddle Brown with the perceived baggage of "public employee labor unions" (a group to which -- full disclosure -- I belong), I though he did a good job of deflecting the negative tone of the attacks by noting that he twice vetoed pay raises for state workers and he was the first governor to call for pension reform (in the 1970s!), but he also took time to thank public employees for their service.

Whitman, on the other hand, decided the best way to run for governor of California was to tell voters how well things are going in other states around the nation. At one point, as she named dropped Texas Governor Rick Perry, I think she forgot where she was and decided to run for governor of the Lone Star State.

Brown was funny, earnest, offbeat, determined and knowledgeable. Whitman was scripted, unspecific, untruthful and, while Brown may have dropped a few 'H' bombs, Whitman must have said "ya know" at least 25 times. All in all, I'd say it was a win for the professional. Brown in a TKO. Calitics' takes on the debate can be found here.

The next debate, to be hosted by Tom Brokaw, no less, takes place on October 12th.

The Mosque Near Ground Zero

CBS' "60 Minutes" explains it all about the proposed "mosque near Ground Zero," the property that has been the subject of so much controversy over the past few months...

My favorite part of this piece is when reporter Scott Pelley asks Sharif al Gamal: the NYC-born, Muslim developer of the project, "Who are you?"

al Gamal: "I'm an American. I'm a New Yorker. Born in Methodist hospital...in Brooklyn...to a Polish Catholic mother...to an Egyptian father."

Pelley: "Let me make sure I have this straight. You're a Muslim, who married a Christian girl. Your mother is Catholic, and you joined the Jewish Community Center on the west side of Manhattan."

al Gamal: "I did. That's New York, though. That's New York."

Sunday Morning Smackdown

Caught this one yesterday CBS Sunday Morning and wanted to jump up out of my chair and cheer. It's about time some upper income people stepped forward to say, "Yes! Please tax me more."
Thank you Linda McGibney, for saying what needed to be said.

Garrett Gruener, equally privileged, feels much the same way.

For nearly the last decade, I've paid income taxes at the lowest rates of my professional career. Before that, I paid at higher rates. And if you want the simple, honest truth, from my perspective as an entrepreneur, the fluctuation didn't affect what I did with my money. None of my investments has ever been motivated by the rate at which I would have to pay personal income tax.
[...]
Congress should let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans and use the additional tax revenues that are generated to invest in infrastructure and research. "Invest" is the right word. Putting money into infrastructure — such as roads, bridges, broadband, the smart grid and public transit — as well as carefully chosen research initiatives provides a foundation for future growth. As important, it puts funds in the hands of those who will spend them, generating demand that will pull us out of our economic crisis and toward a new cycle of growth.

Thanks G, for telling it like it is. Ben Stein, you're a caricature. You've been playing Ferris Bueller's teacher for 25 years, riding a persona of authority granted by Hollywood to your own personal gain for a quarter century and we, the Ferris Buellers of the world, are done giving a shit what you think. [h/t to Patrick Brendan for the Garrett Gruener link.]

Blazing Sunshine

Hottest. Day. Ever.

The Wild Cherry Tree

[click image for larger view]

Not the Most Trustworthy Conduit

If the newest darling of the nutty Right Christine O'Donnell wants us to believe her views have changed since her anti-evolution, mice-with-human-brains, I-was-a-witch-but-didn't-join-a-coven television tour de force in the late '90s early '00s, maybe she ought to talk to someone besides Sean Hannity to explain us just how those views have changed?

Hotter than Blazes

Record high of 105 degrees in San Luis Obispo, CA yesterday and we're on our way to 100 today. You know it's going to be hot when the online weather forecast calls for "Blazing sunshine."

[click image for larger view.]

Rock On: The Cure

Reality Bites

"The people we’re seeing never expected things to turn out like this — not at this stage of their lives. Not in the United States. The middle class is quickly slipping into a lower class.”

[...]

There are more people in poverty now — 43.6 million — than at any time since the government began keeping accurate records. Nearly 15 million Americans are out of work and home foreclosures are expected to surpass one million this year. The Times had a chilling front-page article this week about the increasing fear among jobless workers over 50 that they will never be employed again.

Global What?

It's 90 degrees outside right now. Thank God I built that igloo.

Why Aren't Monkeys Still Evolving Into Humans?

Bill Maher unveils another classic clip of Christine O'Donnell...

BONUS TAKES: Two great takeaways from this clip: One is Family Guy animator Seth McFarlane saying "I'd wreck that chick" and just flat shrugging his shoulders in resignation right after her "evolution is a myth" comment, and the other is that the guest on the far [stage] right is total douchebag Andrew Breitbart.

Health Care: WTF?

I think I've posted this one before, but what does it say about our health care system when you can get a flu shot cheaper by flashing your Triple-A card than you can by flashing your health insurance card?

Rollin'

It appears the major league ball club from Philadelphia is currently the hottest team in the game. Good time for that.

Rock on: I Can't Wait to Get off Work

Colbert Before Congress

I have to admit, I'm ambivalent about Stephen Colbert's appearance before Congress today. While he certainly delivered a wonderful opening statement (buried in the comedic stylings of the insane character he plays was a passionate plea for sane immigration and labor policy), I can't help but think that this episode marks yet another milestone in the nation's slide toward cartoonish irrelevancy. If I wasn't happy about Glenn Beck hosting his crazy rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, I should probably remain consistent and come down against Colbert testifying in character before Congress.

Here's the money quote, for what it's worth, coming as it does toward the end of 5 minutes of "truthiness":

“America’s farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables.
[...]
“Maybe we could offer more visas to the immigrants who, let’s face it, will be doing these jobs anyway. And getting legal status might give these immigrants more recourse if they’re abused. And it just stands to reason to me that if your co-worker can’t be exploited then you’re less likely to be exploited yourself. And that itself might improve pay and working conditions on these farms. And eventually Americans may consider taking these jobs again."

Go Down, Moses.

Just bought a paperback copy of Faulkner's dense tome Go Down, Moses (for three bucks!) at the used bookstore down the street from the office and the curmudgeonly proprietor of the store (who seems to hate his customers but on occasion gives me free books) took one look at it and exclaimed:

"Oh Jeez, You're in for it readin' that!"

Haphazard Prosecution

I was walking around downtown at lunchtime and saw the lady who drives this vehicle standing there with a puzzled look on her face. Seems she found a ticket on her windshield for parking in a space with an "expired meter."

Um...what meter?

"These Are Not the Lean Times."

A commenter at Talking Points Memo spells out the inevitable result of the cowardly and faint-hearted political leadership of the Democratic-controlled 111th Congress...:

"I'm one of those folks who have decided to walk away. I've been involved in Democratic party politics for over 40 years. I worked in DC as a staffer for Mo Udall in the early 1970's. I even ran for the US Senate. ...

"But I have to laugh at your comment about sticking through the lean times. These are not the lean times. The Democrats haven't controlled Congress and the White House since 1994. We waited 14 years. The Democrats knew that the tax cuts would expire. They could have taken care of this in early 2009.

"I think this debate has shown that the Democrats are just as beholden to their rich benefactors as the Republicans. Their benefactors might be lots better on some issues. But to me, this was a very, very core issue. And the Democrats folded. There will now be continued attacks on Social Security and Medicare, and we have no defense.

"It's just that I have limited time and resources. Over the years, I've devoted much of my time and resources to the Democratic Party. I have decided to do something else now."

Wit vs. Witless

Don't you figure when Jon Stewart looks back at his appearances on Bill O'Reilly's show he wonders at the thick-headed stupidity of the host? O'Reilly is so clearly exposed as a self-important, witless dullard in this interview. The extended clips here and here are even worse. He thinks he's going toe-to-toe with a liberal adversary, calling him only by his last name as some kind of put-down, but he's not getting it: Jon Stewart is there to mock him mercilessly right on his own show. If Al Franken did this, O'Reilly would punch him in the face.

RIP Eddie Fisher

Philadelphia's own and one of my Dad's all-time favorites.

Loser: Ode to the Democrat Party

Dems Won't Act on Tax Cuts Before November

Today's Democrats, perpetually misreading the political calculus and actively setting themselves on fire.

Cross-generational Baseball

Anchor on Sportscenter last night recapping the top plays of the day shows a guy making a nice diving stab at 3rd, then name-checks Brooks Robinson and Graig Nettles and says: "Kids, you'll have to Google them."

Is he implying that kids today don't know who Brooks Robinson and Graig Nettles are? They're only a couple of the best 3rd basemen of all time -- one of them is even a Hall of Famer.

But we all know who's #1. Hint: Michael Jack Schmidt.

Somebody Put Somethin' in [His] Drink

Special for Troy Tulowitski...he's a good ballplayer and all, but when did he decide he was Babe fucking Ruth?

"There’s no two ways about it – Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has absolutely owned the month of September. Through 18 games, he’s posted an insane slash line of .351/.407/1.000, launching 14 home runs and driving in an astounding 34 runs. His phenomenal play has fueled the Rockies’ late-season charge and has them just a game and a half back in the NL West."

Full Reversal

When Jerry Brown was governor of California the first time around, he was opposed to the death penalty. It was he who appointed Rose Bird to the State Supreme Court, and it was she who led the charge to overturn California's death penalty statute, in the process forestalling hundreds of executions, and that's why Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez and the Menendez Brothers are still alive today. The end? Not so much.

Twilight

I guess Jimmy Carter has finally grown tired of his 2nd-class treatment among former US presidents. Who know the peanut farmer/nuclear scientist was such a bitter ol' curmudgeon? And what gives with throwing Ted Kennedy under the bus? Way to frag the defenseless, old man.

Not Your Everyday Vote of [No] Confidence

Feel the Meg-mentum!

Pierre Omidyar, who created EBay and hired Meg Whitman as his company's chief executive, said Tuesday that he would not endorse her and would find it "difficult" to vote for her for governor if he still lived in California.

Dedicated to Congress: House and Senate

A Fool and Her Money are Soon Parted

Edmund G. Brown opens up a 5-point lead on Meg Whitman in the CA governor's race. I really hope good ol' Jerry Brown pulls this one off, because Meg Whitman is, quite simply, the worst kind of under-qualified, self-absorbed, narcissistic candidate we've seen since the original Empty Suit, Michael Huffington. Remember him? Whitman, rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams, woke up one day thinking, "Yeah, that's it, I'll run for governor." And off she went. There is absolutely no reason -- other than the 119 million of them she's already spent to date -- that she is qualified to be governor of California.

Paralyzed in the 19th Century

More government inaction, this time the Empress of Maine, Susan Collins, decided to hold gay service members hostage yet again in deference to some procedural Senate rule or another. Ergo, Don't Ask, Don't Tell remains the policy of the land and the DREAM Act is shelved indefinitely, extending the legal limbo of young immigrants trying to get into college. Somebody needs to inform soon-to-be-ex-Senator Collins that kowtowing to the teabaggers is not her surest route to reelection. PS -- Have you ever noticed she talks like she's drunk?

All Hope Is May Not Be Lost

Voters may not be overjoyed with President Obama these days, and they may not like the Democrats all that much...but they hate Republicans.

Prounounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd

The source of one of my favorite stories in the "How a Band Got Its Name Department" has died...

Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday in Florida, his daughter said. He was 77.
[...]
He was working at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal's office because their hair was too long. Those students later formed a band, using a variation of Skinner's name for their own.
[...]
Years after sending the young students to the office, Skinner found his son listening to an album called "Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd."

In another example of the enigmatic nature of the man's name, when Walter Cronkite was reporting on the 1977 plane crash that killed three members of the band, he referred to the group as "Lin-yard Skin-yard."

This one's for Leonard...

How It's Done

Higher level political misinformation: Meg Whitman cites Northrop Grumman's move from California to Washington, DC, as an example of an anti-tax, over-regulation corporate exodus out of the Golden State, but she fails to mention that the defense contractor is only moving its headquarters there to be nearer the Pentagon, amounting to only 300 lost jobs -- virtually all of them white-collar executives -- while more than 30,000 Northrup manufacturing jobs will remain right here in California where they belong.

Undercover Brother

Bill Maher: "He smokes. He drinks beer. He eats hot dogs. And he checks out ass. Let me tell you, if he's a Muslim, he stinks at it. Obama loves war and rich people and he never goes to church. If that doesn't prove he's a Christian, I don't know what does."

Unfortunate Place for a Woman Who Looks Vaguely Like a Bulldog to Stop for a Photo Op

Scene at the "Values Voter Summit" in Washington, DC.

[click image for larger view.]

Sorry B.O'D.: Time to Kick Her Out of the Clan.

If she's not careful, Christine O'Donnell and her loopy thoughts on just about everything could end up giving the "O'Ds" a bad name. See here. And here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. And here.

Taiwanese animators explain what all the fuss is about...

"Dude, You have no Koran."

Overheard at McCarthy's

"Dental work for pets is cheaper down in LA since there are more veterinary dentists, because of all those Hollywood dogs that need to get their teeth fixed."

Or something.

Doppleganger or Mitbewerber?

How long until Sarah Palin figures out that Christine O'Donnell is a better version of herself? She may be crazy as a loon, but she's clearly more polished, knows a few things about book learnin' and stuff, and probably sends a similar tingle up every teabagger's leg.

The Dark Side of Oz

Old hat, I guess, but I think the coolest thing about the "Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz" synergy is that it was a bunch of stoners who discovered it, way back in the olden days of 33-1/3 LPs and VHS video recordings. I mean really...who would have -- could have -- sat around for long enough to have figured out that these two totally unrelated [allegedly] pop art classics fit together so seamlessly except for a bunch of college dudes horking down bong-loads and pounding beers while the teevee rolled its picture show and the record player spun its tune? Weird.

"...rent "The Wizard of Oz," turn off your television sound, put Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon in your CD player and press play at the exact moment the MGM lion roars for the first time. (Some people advocate the third roar, but I've found that the first works better for me.)

The result is astonishing. It's as if the movie were one long art-film music video for the album. Song lyrics and titles match the action and plot. The music swells and falls with character's movements.

Don't expect to be overwhelmed. But do expect to see enough firm coincidences to make you wonder whether the whole thing was planned. And expect to see many more coincidences that would be definite reaches if it weren't for other parts lining up so well."

Made You Cringe!

Possibly the worst stand-up comedy/political speech in history.

Q: How many dead balloons can one man launch, Mitt Romney?

A: All of them.

A Few Words In Defense of Our Country

Worth Remembering

If it weren't for the hard-fought gains of labor unions, you wouldn't even get a bathroom break, let alone a minimum wage.

Brainiac

The Republican candidate for governor of Delaware professes to believe that [mad?] scientists have cloned mice with "fully-functioning human brains." Really.

"Year of the Nutjob"

If it weren't for the fact that they seem to be gaining more traction every day in our political "discourse" (such as it is), I'd be inclined to howl in unremitting glee at the preposterously unqualified -- not to mention unprepared and unhinged -- candidates the Republicans are putting forward in state after state this fall.

You've got Sarah Palin (not a candidate, I know, but she's the Matron Saint of teh Crazy), Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angle, Dan Maes, Joe Miller, Carl Paladino, Ken Buck, Rand Paul, Bill Randall (added bonus: black teabagger), Tim Crawford, Tom "Let's Put Landmines on the Border" Mullins, Andrew Raczkowski, Ed Martin, Carly Fiorina, and my favorite, the spendthrift, lying lunatic Meg Whitman. And make no mistake about it, there are dozens more.

While several of these candidates fall into the unknowable "are they lying or are they evil?" category, many of them are, quite plainly, nuts...a few sandwiches short of a picnic, if you will. Their elevators don't go the top floor, if you get my drift. The very idea that they are all in races this November, and the media is still talking about heavy Democratic losses, is cause for concern. The idiots have taken over [the Republican Party]. Will we let them take over the government?

The New National Anthem: Idiot Wind

"Idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."

Bad for Business

When you own the LA Dodgers and you've lost Peter O'Malley, you've lost the team, the city and the game.

What Atrios Sez...

In horse race politics, nobody wins (at least nobody that matters).

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend...

...so God love the teabaggers! Even Karl Rove thinks they're lunatics, and Hannity's Flying Monkeys are excoriating him for saying so.

General Question

Who's more screwed up?

The people on Intervention or the people on Hoarders?

Collective Insanity

Clearly, the Obama years are going to go down in history as the era during which half the nation completely lost its mind and even a tangential connection with reality. Yet another example here. And here.

More than He Bargained For?

That's SLO County local boy and current Lieutenant Governor of California Abel Maldonado with the deer-in-the-headlights look as he fills in for Arnold Schwarzeneggar in dealing with the San Bruno Neighborhood Explosion Catastrophe.

Oh by the way...the cost of the privilege of stepping in as an undermatched/overwhelmed substitute during the state's worst-ever man-made disaster? $750,000 to the County of SLO.

Where Were You?

"Dear New York, this is a love letter to you and how you brought us together..."

What John-Boy Sez...

"I read that a foreign tyrant was publishing his plans to take over the world and was carryin' out those plans. I thought you oughta have the opportunity to know about it... That's freedom, as far as I can see. And if you choose not to know about it, that's freedom too. But if you take this book and you burn this book then you can't know about it, and you've had your freedom taken away from you. You understand me?

"And if there's anybody here who feels that this book is more dangerous in one piece than it is burned into ashes in that fire then I want you to come up here and I want you to take it outta my hand. I want you to throw it in the fire right now. Throw 'em all in the fire."

Not Your Everyday Fire

Coming from Southern California, I just assumed the San Bruno fire was one of your typical wind-and-heat-fueled wildfires. We see them all the time down here, and I know more than a few people who've lost their hillside homes to mother nature. But this San Bruno fire is something else altogether.

When I first heard about it I remember thinking, "The weather isn't all that hot today, I wonder how that fire got so out of control?" When I heard that San Bruno is only two miles from the San Francisco airport, it didn't make any sense at all. That's a heavily populated city milieu, not the rolling hills we're so used to seeing go up in flames.

[Click image for large view. San Bruno @ center, SF airport @ right.]

Well, it turns out this disaster is indeed something else altogether. It seems this neighborhood plain exploded, thanks to a faulty 62-year-old gas main first installed by Pacific Gas & Electric in 1948. Let me put it another way:

The whole damn neighborhood got blown to smithereens.

More fairly startling photos here.

WWJD?

Looks like teh gays found a quote from the Bible they can use...That damned Old Testament! So many rules.

Class of Nineteen-Sixty-Loon

A coincidence we're not surprised to hear: Rush Limbaugh and the Koran-burning wingnut "preacher" down in Florida went to the same high school together.

PTSD

Another reason to hate Bush's stupid war.

Close to Home

The site of this Northeast Philadelphia workplace shooting was once the Nabisco plant where my Dad got one of his first jobs oh-so-many years ago. Whenever we'd drive by the place he'd recount the story. Nothing more to add, just a weird convergence.

Elitist!

Heard Katie Couric use the word efficacious (correctly, I might add) during an interview on Larry King last night. Somewhere in Alaska Sarah Palin's head exploded.

Burn Day Canceled

Apparently that crazy-as-a-loon preacher down in Florida has canceled his plans to hold a "Burn a Koran Day" on Saturday (9/11), but this nut's claim that he's only agreed to the deal because he convinced the Muslim imam in NYC to move the Burlington Coat Factory Mosque sounds like a whole lotta self-aggrandizing delusions of grandeur if you ask me. Who gives a crap what you think, little podunk pastor of 50 people? Go ahead and burn those books, if you wish, but the goings on in Lower Manhattan [a $100-million, multi-story Islamic community center] are way bigger than you.

Premature Gloating?

The Limbaugh-loving dimwit in our office has posted a homemade sign on the outside of his cube that reads:

"I can see November from my house!"

International Buy a Koran Day

I understand that the people behind "International Burn a Koran Day" are just a bunch of undereducated, rednecked, allegedly Christian idiots, but I'd say in counterbalance to their stupid, incendiary protest we should all go out and buy a Koran on 9/11.

Join me in celebrating "International Buy a Koran Day."

Let's show the haters they can never win.

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity Dept. [?]

A headline arch-conservative former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum probably wishes had not shown up in the pages of Mother Jones magazine -- or anywhere else for that matter:

Rick Santorum's Anal Sex Problem

[Nota Bene: story topic not for the faint of heart, nor the weak of stomach.]

Choose Your Poison

The looming question for Republicans: "'Are we setting ourselves up to quit drinking by beginning to snort cocaine in November in addition to drinking?' Ratigan asked Holtz-Eakin."

Still Have to Play the Game

It strikes me that so much political coverage these days involves FOX News cheerleading for the Republicans and the liberal rest of the media transcribing the cheers [i.e. Dems Face November Bloodbath!!] as if the cheers were the news.

Power of the People

Something like this would never happen in the US of A. We give over the steps of our most hallowed monument to a charlatan instead.

Tuggers

I find it a bit odd, and perhaps a touch voyeuristic, that people seem to be making such a big deal about Venus Williams' struggles with her tennis dress -- going so far as to post a "tug count" stat during her 3rd round match -- when the #1 player on the men's side has been tugging away at a certain part of his anatomy since he first stepped on the court. Not much comment in the booth on that, as a general rule.

Stone Free

As soon as I heard President Obama say his political opponents "talk about me like a dog," I thought of this song...

UPDATE: I guess I'm not the only one to note the Hendrix connection, but check the time stamp on this Yahoo article vs. my post. Beat them to the punch by a solid two hours.

Other Hendrix/Obama coincidences? Left-handed, mixed-race black men with serious mojo. Maybe it's time for the president to start playing his politics upside-down and backwards.

More Trickle-Down Bullshit

The latest economic stimulus talk is of a "payroll tax holiday" that will cut the payroll tax on thousands of hourly and salaried workers across the country. Sounds like a good idea, huh? More money in your pocket, right? Not so fast you greedy bastards! Apparently administration officials are considering the "holiday" only for the employer contribution side of the tax. [WTF?]

Strategery

Sounds like a good plan to me...

One of Jerry Brown's better lines at a Labor Day labor rally Monday morning was a jab at GOP rival Meg Whitman.

The Democratic candidate said he is not scripted and is not an advertisement; he is a lifelong resident of California.

And, he added, "Not only have I lived here, I've voted here all my life."

Meg Whitman has not voted in a California election -- or any election, as far as I know -- for 28 years. But she's spent $100,000,000 convincing you to vote for her for governor?!?

[h/t gigi]

Utah Phillips on the Power of the Union

Happy Labor Day!

"Who will speak for the workers who can't organize?"

Cartoonist Mr. Fish on Meeting Paul Conrad

[Paul] Conrad thought everything was either funny or that it should be or that it absolutely shouldn’t be and he used the word motherfucker better than any octogenarian whom I’d ever hung out with before; that is, sparingly, and only when he felt he couldn’t make his point by using sonuvabitch, asshole or shithead. Similar to the way he drew his cartoons, he was about as obtuse as a very dark line drawn on a white piece of paper in permanent ink, even captioned for the politically impaired.

Simply the Best

"The Southland," as we SoCals call it, has long been blessed with arguably the greatest practitioners at many a creative craft, from Chick Hearn and Vin Scully behind their respective microphones to Jim Murray and Robert Scheer at their typewriters, from Bob Miller calling hockey games to Jim Healy creating a new art form on the radio, and now Los Angeles has lost Paul Conrad, for my money the best political cartoonist the world has ever seen.

His unyielding liberal stance, delivered as savage black-and-white harpoons, bedeviled Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and others in power while shedding an uncompromising light on social injustices. He drew for The Times for nearly 30 years.

Here's a gallery of some of his greatest work.

The Good Old Days

Whenever you hear the teabaggers prattle on about how great things used to be in America way back in the wonderful 1950s, about how can-do America had the best schools, the finest universities, the most efficient highways, the most productive workforce, the most brilliant scientists, etc... ad nauseum, there's one thing they invariably, conveniently, leave out:

We were able to pay for all that stuff because the federal income tax rate on the wealthiest Americans was more than 90%.

These days it's 35%, and a proposal to return it to 38.6% is a clear indication the President is a tyrannical socialist dictator bent on destroying America.

Great Moments in American History

Local Control

Stop the mosque by making Lower Manhattan a national battlefield memorial? What part of "local control" do they not understand?

1994 all over again...

AC Cowlings had some business at the County yesterday.

Whitewash

LA Times has fawning profile of world class propagandist asshole and racist provocateur Andrew Breitbart that sympathetically lays out the whole Shirley Sherrod incident [in which Brietbart was shown to be massively disingenuous at best and criminally mendacious at worst] on page one, but gives one measly paragraph toward the end in discussing the equally viscous ACORN fiasco...

Last fall, Breitbart made his first big splash. He posted an undercover video in which a pair of conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend asked employees of the community group ACORN for help with a brothel that would house underage Salvadorans. ACORN was embarrassed when some of its workers seemed too helpful; Congress responded by defunding the organization.

That's quite possibly the most milquetoast description of that whole episode that could ever be written. It's worth remembering, despite the still scathing public perception, ACORN was fully vindicated in two separate independent investigations. But that didn't save the organization, nor the good work that it once did, from the chopping block, so it was mission accomplished for Andrew Breitbart.

Rock On! [JRZY GRL]

[h/t Tom Waits]

Free Ride

I noticed recently that the "authorities" [read: "old people"] don't seem to care much anymore about rebellious teen skateboarders doing Ollies and kick-flips off the park benches and planters downtown. Not that I ever cared much myself -- in fact, I'd often stop to watch if they were particularly fearless daredevils -- but wasn't it only yesterday that the menace of the 14-year-old skateboarder was going to bring about the end of civilized society? Nowadays? Not so much.

Young Guns?

I guess it would make sense if the average age of your party's supporters makes them Medicare love/hating senior citizens that the "young guns" would be men in their late 40s and early 50s.

Find Your Inner Norris

[Side note: The background music is "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" by Ted Nugent.]

324-256

Secret pic I took at Dodger Stadium today because Don Sutton is one of my brother's all time favorite players [to bag on].PS -- The Phils won 5-1.

More or Less??!?!?!?

When ESPN was putting together it's new "More or Less" feature, in which the football experts debate whether particular teams will win "more or less games than last year," don't you suppose somebody, anybody, stood up and yelled:

It's more or fewer!!!