Here's an item you don't see on the average bookshelf:

A heavyweight study of the future of soft cheese won Britain's annual competition to find the year's oddest book title on Friday.

The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, by Philip M. Parker won the Diagram Prize, awarded by trade magazine The Bookseller...

Fromage frais — literally "fresh cheese" — is a dairy product that originated in France and has a similar consistency to sour cream.

Sounds like a fascinating read. But the $795.00 I'd have to shell out for a new copy at Amazon is a bit daunting.

I think I'll wait for the movie.

Labels: Books, Humor, Links, News

Holy crap, man. Not that I'm defending Rick Wagoner, but should ANY politician have this kind of power over the private sector?

-- General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner was forced out after President Barack Obama’s task force decided he was unable to craft a plan to save the automaker he ran for more than eight years.

Wagoner, 56, said he agreed to an administration request to leave. Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson will become CEO and director Kent Kresa will succeed Wagoner as chairman. GM had been seeking as much as $16.6 billion in new U.S. loans after an initial installment of $13.4 billion.

Pay attention, fellow free marketers. Just because we're paranoid, that doesn't mean that they ain't really out to get us.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

The headmaster at a private school in Boston is denying that the school is teeming with vampires:

There are no vampires at Boston Latin School, says headmaster Lynne Moone Teta...

"I seek your cooperation in redirecting your energy toward the learning objectives of the day. Please do not sensationalize or discuss these rumors," Teta wrote in a notice obtained by the Boston Globe and sent to faculty, students and parents.

Teta said she was concerned that some students' safety might be jeopardized because of the rumors...

HT: Moe Lane.

You know, there are things that a person might seem to confirm by denying them.

It's weird that this headmaster is basically saying "Nothing to see here! Get back to your studies!" Almost sounds like a cover-up. Not that I believe in vampires. (Or, "Vampyres" if you're one of those gay-ass goth kids.)

Zombies, now ... that's another story. If a headmaster of a school ever issues a statement denying a zombie problem ... well, I'll take it as an absolute certainty that the school has been overrun by the walking undead. I mean, some things are just obvious lies, ya know?

Labels: Humor, Links, News

If South Park isn't the smartest and funniest thing on TV right now, I'd like to know what is.

Breitbart offers analysis:

Labels: Humor, News, Politics

I've been blogging about personal stuff lately, and it's theraputic to get that stuff out. It helps.

But I realize that things could be much worse for me. I could be as dillusional as Fred Durst:

The Limp Bizkit frontman, no doubt all too aware that his band's rap-rock sound is dead and gone, is once again propping himself up on the one thing he figures people will remember, his alleged fling/relationship/whatever with Britney Spears back in 2003...

"It just became a fiasco of madness," Durst, 38, tells MTV News about the alleged fling and subsequent story breakup. "(But) I always stay true to my heart and true to everything I did and my intentions, and I am in no way a liar..."

"I look back on it as very interesting (in terms of) how things have been sort of unraveling for her since," he says. "(But) it is what it is. I can sleep at night knowing I made decisions that I wanted to make. (Still) I'm a supporter. I was then, I guess I am now. ... "I just guess at the time it was taboo for a guy like me to be associated with a gal like her," he adds.

What a peckerhead.

Labels: Entertainment, Music, News

I don't really buy any of this. I don't buy into conspiracy theories in general because I tend to believe that people are stupid ... people in large groups are EXTREMELY stupid ... and large groups of stupid people can't manage the kind of secrecy and organized deception that would be necessary to pull off a global conspiracy.

Conspiracy theories are goofy.

Having said that, I get a kick out of the fact that there are conspiracy theorists out there who're already targeting Obama:

HT: Pasadena Closet Conservative.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

This is just amazing. How did this f---ing DOLT ever make it eight years in the White House?

Addressing the divisive topic of stem cell research, our beloved former President said:

"...we’re not taking embryos that can - that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become little babies..."

Of course, you know and I know that embryos are already fertilized. But, then again, you and I have at least half a brain between us, right?

We're not even talking about the issue of embryos already being baby humans. I don't think ANYONE argues that they haven't been fertilized.

But that's really what Clinton thinks. It wasn't an instance of misspeaking. Because he KEPT. HAMMERING. THE. POINT.

..."(Obama) he has apparently decided to leave to the relevant professional committees the definition of which frozen embryos are basically going to be discarded, because they’re not going to be fertilized..."

"...I believe the American people believe it’s a pro-life decision to use an embryo that’s frozen and never going to be fertilized for embryonic stem cell research..."

"...any of the embryos that are used clearly have been placed beyond the pale of being fertilized before their use..."

"...these committees need to make it clear that they’re not going to fool with any embryos where there’s any possibility, even if it’s somewhat remote, that they could be fertilized and become human beings..."

We used to call this moron Slick??

Labels: Media, News, Politics

I finished 11 to 7 yesterday; man, I hate that shift. I live like a zombie when I work graveyard.

Now I'm playing catch-up and I have a ton of things to do today. But first, morning coffee, blogs, etc.

So what's on the pile for today?

• New year, new schedule of surgical processes ... worst of all, the deductible starts all over for the year. I had surgery in January, I'm having another procedure next month, and damn! I'd just finished paying off last year's medical bills!
  
  I think David summed it up up adequately when he said "Is this real life? Why is this happening to me? Is this gonna be for EVER? AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!"
  
  But enough bitching about my personal junk.

Some of the internet junk from the past days/weeks that I've wanted to link to and/or comment on but just haven't bothered ...

• Good stuff from Scrappleface:
  

  President Barack Obama has reportedly written another private note to his Russian counterpart offering to halt deployment of a defensive nuclear missile shield in Europe, this time in exchange for Russia’s help in dealing with U.S. talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.



• I've written before about how much I dislike Rush Limbaugh, but the way the liberals and RINOs are piling on him is triggering a bit of a personal backlash.
  
  I've been praising Mike Steele for ages, but no politician is perfect and I guess it was inevitable that even he would put his foot in a pile of bullshit.
  
  How, Mike, did it make even a little bit of sense to deign to wade into this anti-Limbaugh flap? And to do so from the leftist point of view? You blew the call on this one, buddy... and you handed the left a great stick to beat you with.


• Zo puts the recent Limbaugh BS in perspective, and does a better job than anyone else. Zo always puts it all in a nutshell better than anyone else, so it's not like it's anything new. I've mentioned that Zo rules, right?

  You know what a truth rush is? It's when you hear the absolute truth spelled out in simple, understandable terms that make you feel excited and energized. Whenever I listen to Zo I always get a truth rush.
  
  Rush WHO? When will Zo get a talk program? I'd listen every damn day.



• Comedian Louis CK tells Conan that today's young people are "the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots.... non-contributing zeroes." And he's right. I hate to generalize ... well, no I don't. I do it all the time. And I really tend to believe that damn near everyone born after 1975 or so is a whining, self-absorbed, unrealistic, childish, spoiled moron. (You know who you are.)
  
  Of course I also tend to believe that the baby-boomer generation is just as bad. So, yeah, basically everyone should always ignore everything I ever say because I'm a bitter, miserable old bastard.
  
  Give this clip a couple of minutes to really get going, it's well worth it and it's funny and dead-on. This had me laughing really, really hard and I'll be looking out for this guy from now on. Check it out:

  HT: BlackFive.



• I haven't mentioned the Octomom here because the story just disgusts me. But it ain't going away and more stuff comes to the surface every day. So here's my one Octomom post, let's get this over with.
  
  What do we know about Octomom so far? Well, in no particular order...
  
  
  • She's a psycho who has children by the litter.
  
  
  • She's obsessed with Angela Jolinie (or whomever) and has had her face carved and injected so she can look like her favorite movie star.
  
  
  • She's trying to sell the videotape of the birth of her litter.
  
  
  • She flips out and calls 911, threatening to kill herself in front of her children.
  
  
  • The cops have repeatedly investigated reports that she neglects her kids.
  
  
  • She says she might do a porn move, "maybe in a year, when the baby-fat goes away."
  
  Now, we all know weirdo moms ... flake-jobs who breast-feed in public (and sometimes until their kids are in middle-school) and have their kids sleep in the same bed with them and give their kids names like Armani and Timberland. But this woman is beyond weirdo mom. This woman is a dangerous nut.
  
  My take on it is that the doctor who performed her artificial fertilization ought to be held accountable for the well-being of those children. He knew that this woman was insane and he enabled her in the worst possible way. A responsible medical professional would be advocating that this woman be forced to have her tubes tied. And that's all I got to say 'bout that.

Labels: Links, Media, Michael Steele, News, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Given the shocking disaster that is the failed Obama administration, we might as well have elected Spongebob last November.

Sure, we wouldn't have been able to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves on electing our nation's first black PotUS ... but we could have made a big to-do about having put our second yellow, invertebrate cartoon character in the Oval Office (Bill Clinton, of course, was the first).

Even the Washington Post is fretting over the...

...massive deficits and tax increases (that) President Obama unveiled last week in his first budget request, a 10-year spending plan thick with political friction points.

HT: Patterico.

Of course, President Dipshit continues to try to impress with grand distractions, saying:

"The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't."

I wonder who he thinks he does work for. The Chinese? Consider the hole he's digging:

...his plan would produce annual deficits far larger in dollar terms than any recorded before the recession. As a percentage of the overall economy, the budget gap is projected to settle down to a more manageable 3 percent by the end of Obama's term. But Washington would continue to borrow heavily, and the national debt would double over the next five years...

"If you think with this kind of incredible growth in government that they're going to only tax wealthy people, then I have some old lottery tickets I want to sell you," said Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee.

I keep hearing about how, for the past eight years, Dubya did nothing but cut taxes for the rich. Well, I don't know about you, but over the past eight years my income and stability have only gotten better and better. Seems to me that cutting taxes on the rich must be a damn good idea.

Of course, I've actually worked for my money and tried not to make stupid decisions. I haven't bought a house I can't afford, I don't have any big-ticket luxury items, I avoid debt like the plague. But that's just me, I'm silly that way.

Obama says that his loony plans to tax and spend us into oblivion are part of...

"..the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November."

What scares me is that I'm sure he actually believes that.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Over the course of a remarkable career he developed the ability to evoke common sense and reason with just the sound of his voice.

RIP, Paul Harvey, he was 90 years old.

Labels: Media, News

Harvey at IMHO has a post about a small-town mayor who's in political hot water for forwarding a racist anti-Obama cartoon.

The cartoon's caption is something about this year's White House Easter egg hunt not happening. The image is a picture of the White House with a huge watermelon patch.

Yeah, it's racist. And it's dumb. And it brings up an issue that I've never understood.

Why is there a stereotype about black folks liking watermelon and fried chicken? I don't get that. Don't YOU like watermelon and fried chicken, regardless of your race? I LOVE watermelon and I'm crazy about fried chicken. EVERYBODY loves watermelon and fried chicken. So what's up with this stereotype?

Is the message of this stereotype that black folks sure know good food when they see it? Because I think that's a pretty positive stereotype.

You don't hear a lot of generalizations about white folks when it comes to food. Or any other races, for that matter.

Maybe whites should have a food stereotype. Since watermelon and fried chicken are already taken (and that's a shame, since those are both awesome foods), I'll suggest the following: Why don't we start insisting that white folks sure love them some ice cream and cheeseburgers.

I love ice cream and cheeseburgers as much as watermelon and chicken, so I'm gonna speak for whites and say we got dibs on the burgers and ice cream.

Wouldn't it be pretty cool, really, if every race had a foodist stereotype?

I'll suggest a few:

• Eskimos can't get enough saltwater taffy.



• Jews are just totally nuts over snow-cones.



• Oriental Asians really enjoy a nice rump roast.



• Native Americans are just totally in love with clementines.



• People of Arab extraction eat yogurt constantly.



• Latinos are just bugshit crazy about mashed potatoes.



• If you see a Korean, it's a safe bet he'll be chowing down on a muffin.



• Filipinos really enjoy a nice plate of fish-sticks.



• Laotians eat peperjack cheese like it's going out of style.

OK, that's enough for now. Not because I've run out of good foods to assign, but because I'm running out of ethnic groups. But if you represent a group I've skipped and you've got a favorite food, let me know. I'll be happy to put you on the list.

Labels: Humor, News, Politics

I've asked before, I'll ask again: Feeling stupid yet, Obama voters?

The Obama administration on Friday told a federal judge it would not deviate from the Bush administration's position that detainees held at a U.S. air base in Afghanistan have no right to sue in U.S. courts.

HT: Pasadena Closet Conservative.

Since this is one of the areas where Dubya had it right, I'm pretty happy about it.

But, uh ... change we can believe in?

Hardy. Har. Har.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Hey, look, it's Obama's Spendulus Package in action!

Toilet paper was a dollar-twelve, now it's SEVEN BUCKS!

This time next year we'll be standing in line for two hours to buy that seven-dollar toilet paper!

Thank you, Comrade Obama!

(This post has five exclamation points!)

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch

Before I write anything about the Oscars I should come clean and admit that I don't really give a rip about the Oscars. So you should know that. And you should also know that there are a lot of other places you can go to read better, more thoughtful, more insightful Oscars posts than this one here. For instance:

• Rhodester, the only show-business insider in my blogroll, always has a unique perspective.


• Rey has a clip of Hugh Jackman's opening salvo.


• Bob Parks offers a few thoughts on the political nature of Sean Penn's Oscar.


• Scott Nehring sums it all up very economically.


• RC really delves in and tries to make sense of it all.


• Kevin Williamson at NRO has a couple of interesting observations about the Oscars ceremony as per Anthony Hopkins.


• There's a story at Newsbusters about about the Oscars and CBS's Harry Smith, who is apparently a giant, weepy, PC douchebag.


• Armchair Commentary breaks down the show with a best moments/worst moments thing.


• I Watch Stuff live-blogged the show with a collection of quips so funny that it (almost) made the ceremony tolerable to watch.


• The Onion found a laugh in the program's budget.

As for me, I don't have anything really worthwhile to say. I'll just stick to my usual formula; mocking things I don't understand and generally behaving regrettably.

This year I saw an all-time high of four out of five movies nominated for best picture. I didn't see Milk, I can smell a posturing PC screed a mile away and you couldn't pay me to see Milk. I did see the winning film, Slumdog Millionare, and I thought it was only OK, not even remotely the best movie of the year. Frost/Nixon, on the other hand, really was a very good film and deserved to be nominated. And I thought that The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was a well-polished turd of a movie; lots of obviously expensive special effects but no story worth sitting through.

As far as I was concerned, the best movie of 2008 was The Reader, which I saw only recently and reviewed at this blog over the weekend. The Reader, in fact, is one of the best movies I've seen in a long while. If the Academy had any integrity the award for best picture would have gone to that challenging, thoughtful film instead of the showy, flashy, and ultimately empty Slumdog.

I knew the minute that I heard about the movie Milk that Sean Penn would win the Best Actor Oscar. Hollywood simply had to come up with a way to thumb it's nose at Prop 8. Besides, playing a gay guy is a very safe way to get an Oscar, or at least a nomination. (See Capote, Philadelphia, Brokeback Mountain, Before Night Falls, and Gods And Monsters for examples from just the past ten years.)

Of course, playing a retarded or derranged guy is almost as sure a bet to win an Oscar as playing a gay guy. The Academy sure does love those homos and wackos. Along with his Philadelphia Oscar, Tom Hanks won for Forrest Gump, and last night's winner was also nominated for playing a retarded dude in I Am Sam back in 2001 ... the same year that Russell Crowe was nominated for playing a nutball mathematician in A Beautiful Mind.

Johnny Depp has been nominated a number of times but never won an Oscar. One of these days he's going to have to commission a script called That Crazy C--ksucker and star in the film as a guy who's both gay and deranged. Maybe do it as a biopic about Larry Craig with an angle about how his homophobic self hatred drove him crazy in an airport men's room. End it with a fantasy dance number wherein Craig comes out of the closet and/or stall and denounces the GOP. The Academy will send a guy out to the shoot to give Depp the Oscar before the film is even finished.

I hope it's clear that I'm mocking the affectations and the politics of the Motion Picture Academy, here. I'm not mocking crazy guys or homos. Crazy guys and homos are just fine in my book. It's the way the Motion Picture Academy patronizes them that I find contemptible.

Or, more specifically, the way the Academy seems to expect us all to patronize them.

Kate Winslet won the Best Actress Oscar for The Reader and I think that's pretty cool. She was very good in the movie and I hope she enjoyed receiving the recognition of her peers.

And Danny Boyle won for Slumdog..., which seems kind of weird since he only co-directed that film. I didn't stay up long enough to see the whole ceremony because, as I've said, I don't care ... and I haven't really looked around the net to find out yet ... but I have to wonder what Boyle's co-director, Loveleen Tandan, thinks about all of this.

Maybe the message the Academy was trying to send was "Those scenes from Slumdog that Danny Boyle directed were top-knotch. Loveleen Tandan's scenes totally sucked, but Boyle's scenes were good enough to make up for it."

And that's all I have to say about the Oscars. I have the feeling I've already said far too much.

Labels: Movies, News, Politics

Shouldn't a monkey be judged by the content of his character rather than the color of his scrotum?

...a DeBrazza monkey has escaped and Woodland Park Zoo is in lockdown while its recovery is in progress. No word on the sex, but if it is a male escapee, it'll have a bright blue scrotum, which may aid in spotting it.

Just so you know, any monkeys without blue scrotums that you might see cavorting in the area are harmless. It's only the blue-scrotumed ones we're worried about.

And lest anybody level charges of racism against me for paraphrasing Dr. King, you ought to know that the blue-monkey-scrotum race-card has already been played and it was a wash:

Huffpo had posted what appeared to be a video of Fox News's John Gibson jokingly referring to Attorney General Eric Holder as a monkey with a "bright blue scrotum." That last bit is a reference to an unrelated news story about a Debrazza monkey that escaped from a zoo in Seattle...

It didn't happen, though. Huffpo now says the video of Gibson was doctored. By whom is unknown. The phony video has been removed from YouTube.

Is this the way it's going to be now? Every mention of a monkey is going to bring charges of racism? Even if soundclips have to be fabricated in the process? Who are these people who send up red flags every time someone mentions a monkey? WTF?

I mean, what kind of standard is that?

And are we going to start identifying miscreants based on the characteristics of their scrotums? What effect will that have on mug shots?

Labels: Humor, News, Politics

This moron we elected last November is entertaining, at least. At most, really. I propose a new nickname for him: D'OH-Bama.

Remember how slick he seemed while campaigning? How did he maintain that illusion for so long? Turns out that, in reality, he has the physical grace of Homer Simpson ... the integrity of Caligula ... the same grasp of economics as a bag of rocks ... the hypocracy of, well, any liberal, really ... and, most comically of all, his stimulus package now has the endorsement of Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy Carter has full confidence in Obama's "stimulus" bill? Man, that's a riot.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that having Jimmy Carter endorse your economic policy is like having Dina Lohan endorse your parenting skills.

Hey, Obama voters ... feeling dumb yet?

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Attention, pro-lifers: Be careful about voicing your opposition to the Obama administration's abortion policies. Especially if you live in Oklahoma.

Last week an Oklahoma City police officer pulled over Chip Harrison because of a sign in his car window reading, "Abort Obama Not the Unborn". The officer took the sign away, saying Harrison was entitled to his beliefs but that the US secret service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama".

Harrison got a visit from the Secret Service before this debacle was over:

Secret Service agents determined Harrison was no threat to the president after conducting a walk-through of his southeast Oklahoma City home. Agents conducted a field interview on his patio, Harrison said...
Harrison admitted some concern once the Secret Service was contacted. Agents called him at work, advising that he needed to return home so they could search his house.

Citing stereotypes of agents kicking down doors and rummaging through personal belongings, Harrison told them that he wanted to get the advice of an attorney.

"I (thought), 'Boy, I'm in deep trouble because of a simple sign,'" he said.

I think it's interesting that the officer who confiscated Harrison's sign did so because he felt that the word "abort" constituted a threat:

"My description of the word meant termination or remove, and one of the police officers said no it means to kill, so you're basically saying you want to kill Obama," said Harrison.

At least the cop seems to associate the concept of abortion with killing. Because, of course, abortion is killing. But I digress.

Can you imagine the outcry if someone had been pulled over due to a bumpersticker or sign critical of a Republican? Can you imagine if that hypothetical person had received a visit from the Secret Service? The lefties would have gone all to pieces.

Of course, those of us who aren't liberals have enough common sense to recognize that this just amounts to an Oklahoma cop with poor judgment. Simply voicing criticism of President Daffy isn't illegal.

Yet.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

It seems kinda weird to me that most of the Travis the Chimp related news coverage is focused on one of two things:

• Calls for laws to prevent private ownership of certain kinds of animals


• All this idiotic hand-wringing about an editorial cartoon

Shouldn't the focus be on the survival and recovery of the woman that was attacked and nearly killed by the chimp? The damn thing destroyed her face, for Pete's sake.

I did find one story about Charla Nash's status:

“While she remains in critical but stable condition, her vital signs are improving,” Dr. Kevin Miller, an attending surgeon at Stamford Hospital, said at a news conference. “We are thankful that we are able to report that Charla Nash has made good but small progress.”

Scott Orstad, a spokesman for the hospital, said in an interview that her vital signs were “a huge positive for someone who had the amount of surgery she had within the first 72 hours.”

“She’s still not out of the woods yet,” he said, “but she’s improving.”

Screw the monkey, man. This woman is a human being and we oughta focus on her. Her condition won't be improved by screaming for laws, either.

And, yeah, I know that chimps are apes and technically not monkeys (or monkies). But I don't care.

And to hell with the editorial cartoon. It was in bad taste, yeah ... but only to the extent that it looked for humor in human suffering. Suffering that is ongoing.

Labels: News

Cube mentioned that President Obama has had a bust of Winston Churchill removed from the Oval Office.

Cube says she wonders with whom the President will replace Winston. I'd imagine he'll commission a bust of Neville Chamberlain ... maybe include a caption along the lines of "The Unclinched Iranian Fist In Our Time."

What a putz.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

That's not the question. In fact, that's a dumb question. They say there are no dumb questions, and they're wrong. That question is genuinely dumb.

No, the relative merit of greed isn't the issue. The question is this: is greed real? You bet your ass it is. And you better live in a society that responds to it in a way that allows for the most individual freedom. That is, unless you like $40 per roll toilet paper.

In this classic clip, currently making the rounds in the blogosphere, Milton Friedman breaks it down:

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be better if people would all just..." yadda yadda yadda.

Yeah, and it would all be better still if we each had a pet unicorn that shit gold.

Greed is real. Deal with it.

Labels: News, Politics, You Tube

Does Jimbo at BlackFive speak for all of us? Maybe not. But he damn sure speaks for me:

Language warning: Jimbo uses the appropriate terms to discuss President Daffy Duck's shit sandwich.

You know, I've avoided debt all my life. I've never lived beyond my means. If I can't afford it, I don't need it. A life dangling from a credit card is no life at all.

My mama taught me that. I've tried to teach it to my kids.

Thank you, you titanic f---heads in congress, for trying your best to undo all those lessons. We've got a word for you Rent-A-Center low-lifes down around these parts: White Trash. I don't give a damn what your race, color or creed is. Every one of you who voted for this bill is plain ol' White Trash, pure and simple. May each and every one of you rot in hell.

Labels: Blogs, Links, News, Politics

I made fun of Christian Bale the other day for his infamous tantrum. Well, the guy has publicly expressed regret and contrition. Good for him. He manned up. Everybody behaves regrettably from time to time, God knows I do, and Bale's apology is a good example for all of us.

Good job, Batman.

Labels: Links, Movies, News

Typically when leftist celebs start ranting it just gets on my nerves. But the things that this creepy, plastic, washed-up old rasin had to say are so out there, so weird, that I really enjoyed this clip. Comedy gold!

I don't think that even that demented old whore Barbra Streisand has ever been this funny.

Labels: News, Politics, You Tube

President Obama says it would be a "catastrophe" for congress to fail to pass his demanded trillion dollars in "stimulus" spending.

If you've swallowed that even for a second, you really need to read Charles Krauthammer in today's Washington Post:

Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill...

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

I don't think that even those of us who opposed the Obama campaign had any idea he'd wreck things so thoroughly, and so soon after inauguration.

He seems to be flailing around, ranting, desperate. It's as though we've elected Daffy Duck.

Obama has turned out to be something of a parody of the classic liberal; the kind of politician who really seems to believe that you can solve all the problems in the world if you just do two things:

• spend money...


• and talk.

Have you heard the latest about the War on Terror? The Failed Obama Administration seems to think that the best way to win it is to change it's name:

...the Obama administration is searching for alternatives to the term "war on terror."

What's being sought is a more precise phrase that can recast the U.S. government's counterterrorism fight in ideological as well as military terms. Obama publicly signaled the new approach this week. When asked about the "war on terror" phrase by CNN's Anderson Cooper, Obama said, "Well you know, I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations … Words matter in this situation..."

Oh, yeah. I've always taken it as a given that when Bin Ladin's guys flew those planes into the World Trade Center on 9/11, they were thinking "This will teach them not to chose their words so esoterically!"

On the money spending front, President Daffy is warning us it will be "catastrophe" if the House and Senate fail to pass his demanded trillion dollar spending bill. Fewer and fewer Americans really believe that this so-called stimulus bill is really going to solve anything.

If only this many Americans had felt such reasonable doubt about Barack Obama in November.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

For two weeks now, the United States has been neck-deep in the failed Obama administration, and no one seems to have an exit strategy.

I blame Colin Powell. In February of 2003 Powell appeared before the UN and argued for the invasion of Iraq. In October of last year, Powell endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. How many more times will we allow this man to lead the US into a quagmire?

At least this time Powell can say that our nation's security really was compromised by a real WMD (Washington Media Darling).

America will eventually have time to catch our collective breath and figure out just what went wrong. When we do, here are some of the issues we'll have to address:

• How did 'Bama manage to screw things up so badly in North Korea?
  

  ...dark warnings of "unavoidable" war are spilling out of North Korea almost daily. On Tuesday, news media reports here and in Japan said North Korea is preparing to test-launch a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

  
  Is this the international crisis that Joe Biden tried to warn us about? Has the President been so busy courting tax evaders that he has left one or more of our national loins thoroughly ungirded?



• On the occasion of the President's inauguration it seemed that the entire world embraced this once great nation. I'm amazed that in relatively little time 'Bama has squandered all of that international good will:
  

  The European Union (EU) says it will lodge a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about new US President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.
  
  Mr Obama's plan, which is currently being debated in the US Senate, includes a 'Buy American' clause that seeks to ensure that only US iron, steel and manufactured goods are used in infrastructure projects.

  
  It's a source of terrible shame that our President's "go it alone" cowboy attitude has alienated us from our allies abroad.



• And then there's 'Bama's penchant for obvious, flagrant cronyism. Consider the people he's surrounded himself with since he's been in DC:
  
  Nancy Killefer:
  

  President Barack Obama's choice to oversee budget and spending reform, Nancy Killefer, withdrew her nomination on Tuesday because of tax problems, she said in a letter released by the White House.

  
  
  Tom Daschle:
  

  In a stunning setback for President Obama, Tom Daschle abruptly withdrew his nomination to become secretary of Health and Human Services today, following an admission that he failed to pay about $140,000 in back taxes.

  
  
  Timothy Geithner:
  

  Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner survived his tax controversy -- not paying taxes on income earned while he worked at the International Monetary Fund, despite receiving written notification saying he needed to.
  
  "These are not rocket-science kinds of tax issues," said University of Cincinnati law professor Paul Caron...




• And finally, there's the President's stubborn habit of simply ignoring the will of the people:
  

  Americans strongly oppose the commander-in-chief's first two executive orders -- allowing federal funding for overseas abortions and closing Guantanamo -- according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

The way out won't be easy. We still have somewhere around three years, eleven months and two weeks of the failed Obama administration to endure. But let's hope that 2012 will finally bring America change we can believe in.

Maybe in the form of Jeb Bush.

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch, Politics

Typically I don't post this kind of stuff, but this is really, really funny and extremely unsafe to play at work. EXTREME language warning. Like five-thousand F-bombs.

First, the setup: You've probably heard by now that Christian Bale apparently had a melt-down on the set of Terminator: Salvaton last summer and ended up cursing and verbally abusing the director of photography.

For that full story, click here. Audio is embedded at that link; if you want you can listen to a recording of Bale's rant. But, again, remember that the language is extreme and isn't safe to play at work ... unless you work in a crack-house or on a tuna boat.

OK, so that's the set-up, here's the inevitable payoff: Somebody chopped up the recording of the rant, added clips of the infamous Barbra Streisand on-stage rant from a year or two ago, and came up with a techno dance song that has me laughing like crazy:

Yeah, it's chidish and vulgar, but so am I. In my defense, what cracks me up is the way the remix really highlights the total absurdity of Bale's rant:

"It's f------ distracting, oooooooh good!
It's f------ distracting, oooooooh good!"

I'll hum that all day.

And for the record, although it might be a stretch, I'll give Bale the benefit of the doubt. This might be the worst he's ever behaved on the set of a film and might not be an indication of what it's like to work with him normally.

Yeah, it's a real stretch, but maybe.

Labels: Humor, Movies, News, You Tube

We all know that the New Messiah, President Obama, is all about human rights. That's why he's closed Gitmo and instructed the CIA to close all it's "secret prison" locations all over the world.

But you might be curious to know that he's kept the practice of "extraordinary rendition" as his go-to tactic when it comes to dealing with the bad guys.

"Extraordinary rendition" is when our guys grab one of the bad guys and, rather than torture him themselves (because we don't do that, right?) they take the bad guy to another country... one where torturing terrorists in order to save innocent lives is seen as a necessary evil.

So the bad guy gets tortured and, hopefully, spills the beans ... and innocent lives are saved when the bomb is defused, the plane is grounded, yadda yadda yadda, all that gnarly Jack Bauer stuff.

I'm not mocking that Jack Bauer stuff. I think it's awesome. Especially when it's done in real life. You real life Jack Bauer's out there, you guys kick ass.

Anyway, Obama wants to make it clear that his administration isn't going to engage in torture. They'll just engage in a little kidnapping from time to time, and if the countries we turn the bad guys over to engage in a little torture, well, The One's hands are still clean, right?

Classic liberal thinking.

And it gets better. Even the leftists DC organization called Human Rights Watch is on board with "extraordinary rendition," at least as per the Obama administration:

“Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place" for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

But, of course, Human Rights Watch is really just a human rights themed arm of the Democratic Party ... and they were singing a different tune during the Dubya administration. This is from their own website, March 2005:

The current practice of so-called “extraordinary rendition” is an affront to the fundamental human right not to be subjected to torture. This prohibition is absolute. Just as governments cannot torture people, they cannot send people to countries where they are likely to be tortured. Rendition to torture is the legal and moral equivalent of engaging in torture directly.

So to put it all together, according to Human Rights Watch, "extraordinary rendition" is an affront to human rights and is the legal and moral equivalent of engaging in torture directly, the need to ban it is absolute... aaaaaaand there is a legitimate place for it in the Obama administration.

You Obama supporters, you think the rest of the world is swallowing this crap, right? Like we don't know hypocrites when we see 'em?

Human rights? Bullshit. Human Rights Watch has no interest in preserving the fundamental rights of humanity. The group is just another Democratic extra-curricular activity. Don't believe the hype.

And just in case you're curious, Dubya's boys didn't invent the concept of "extraordinary rendition." It's a practice that goes back to Clinton, and some say further. According to Richard Clark, Al Gore loved the concept of "extraordinary rendition", saying:

"That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action..."

And of one terrorist suspect in particular:

"The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass."

What's that? The Clintons, you say? Al Gore? More Democrats with blood on their hands? Why, it can't be! The Democrats are the good guys, they protect people from those bad old Neocons! Right? And Al Gore protects us from the sun! The Leftists are the nice ones, right??!? That's why we elected Obama! So he'd change things from the way the Neocons ran things, right? And there would be no more wars and no more bad stuff and everyone would hold hands and sing. right? RIGHT??

Wake up, dummy.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Of course I absolutely HAVE to extend an enthusiastic congratulations to

(fill in name of team here)

_________________________________

for having (circle one)

• soundly


• narrowly


• impressively


• magically


• apparently

defeated the

(fill in name of other team here)

_________________________________

in last night's Super Bowl!

I think we can call agree that Super Bowl

(Sprinkle liberally with X's, I's, V's and maybe an M)

was the most (circle one)

• captivating


• phenomenal


• crowd-pleasing


• mind-numbing


• ass-kicking


• coma-inducing


• car-jacking

athletic event of all time! Wow, I'm so glad I saw it!

(Note to self: remember to check Google News, find out who was playing, fill in all the blanks and post this thing Monday morning.)

Labels: News

This makes me happy: The GOP picked a good man to lead them during these ... ahem ... changing times.

Change, change, change, changididdily changie changaroo. Change, change. Etc.

Nonetheless, Mike Steele is my kind of politician and I hope he's as good for the Republicans as I think he'll be.

Labels: Michael Steele, News, Politics

I think there's significant cause to start preparing for the zombie apocalypse, which is apparently right around the corner.

For one thing, the zombie-apocalypse-survival game Left 4 Dead is hugely popular. As I mentioned once before, I love the game and play it every time I get a chance.

This game is very useful for virtually learning the skills that we'll all need when the zombies attack. But virtual preparation isn't enough...

College students have taken to real life practice sessions so that they might be ready for the rise of the walking undead. As we all know, college students are the world's best barometer for trends in common sense and pragmatism. So I think we would all do well to follow their lead.

Then there are the incidents involving electronic road signs that have been changing lately to indicate that, apparently, there's no room left in hell:

As we all know, nazi zombies are the worst kind, since they're evil before they even become zombies. So that's, like, double zombie jeopardy or something. The only thing I can think of that would be more evil would be if a member of the cast of the Hills died and then became a zombie ... and then joined to the Nazi party.

Of course, local governments deny any knowledge of the zombie road-sign alerts ... which means, of course, that the federal government is controlling things. Obviously there's some sort of government virus lab somewhere and things have gone wrong there and it's only a matter of time until the deceased crawl from their graves. And the government will eventually mention those signs and say "Well, it's not like we didn't warn you." But, in the meantime, mum's the word.

Then there's George Romero's Zombie Generator, which lets you transform even the prettiest faces into horrific zombie visages:

That way you can monitor familiar faces for signs that the infection is changing them.

I mean, damn: zombies have even started creeping into classic literature.

So don't say I didn't warn you. Of course, now that I've made a public spectacle of the coming zombie apocalypse, the government is going to move to silence me, just like they did with Jimmy Hoffa and Elvis. That's OK, I'm willing to be that martyr.

Maybe someday after it's all over and civilization rebuilds itself, they'll erect a monument in my honor.

I'd like it to be like the Lincoln monument, only three times as big. Please make a note of it.

Labels: Humor, News

Congratulations to the people of Illinois. An arrogant, lying, power-hungry politician is no longer one of the major political players in their state.

But enough about sending Obama to DC. Today they got rid of their corrupt Governor, too.

Labels: News, Politics

OK, times are tough right now. The economy sucks. Everyone is feeling it. Even the labor unions are feeling it; last week the USW had to lay off six congressmen. (Rimshot!)

But the present looks pretty amazing when you go back to the past and look at today as the future.

That might not make sense, but it will. Check out this video of a local newscast clip from San Francisco in 1981.

This harkens back to a time when simply being a "home computer owner" was rare enough to get you identified that way on the local news ... when the only way to get on line was to physically put your rotary phone's handset on top of a modum ... and when a total of eight newspapers were on the internet. Watch the whole thing, it's really pretty funny and gets funnier toward the end:

My favorite quote in the whole thing: "We're not in it to make money."

This video has been posted at a number of blogs, including Hot Air, where I saw it.

Labels: Humor, Media, News, You Tube

This is pretty darn cool. I saw it at Geekologie.

At gigapan.org you can see an an amazing picture of the inauguration that you can manipulate almost endlessly.

You can scroll, drag and zoom to an extreme degree, going from as far back as this:

To as close as this:

The technology that makes this possible is explained at the site if you're interested. Basically this panoramic picture is really a series of many, many pictures all stuck together. Super powerful megacomputers and lasers and voodoo are all employed, I'm sure.

I found myself crawling all over the picture for a long time, first noticing some of the famous people who had roles to play that day...

...and former Presidents and their wives...

I'm a big fan of Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas, and I don't blame him for taking the occasion of Obama's speech to grab a quick nap...

And then I started scanning the crowd for celebrities. And I found a few!

Check it out, it's TV and cinema's Michael Chiklis...

...and hippity hoppity rapper extraordinaire Snoopy Doggity Dog...

...then I saw radio talk-show host and vigilante Curtis Sliwa with a big-ass camera...

...and boxer Mike Tyson and his date, cleverly disguised as Eskimos...

...and a real legend from the world of cartoons, Elmer Fudd...

...and, look! It's Ruben Studdard and the late Ossie Davis, elbowing each other as they chuckle over one of Obama's "promises," har har har...

...then things got really freaky. Imagine my surprise when I saw the hideous, haphazardly constructed Frankenstein's Monster...

...and Bilbo Baggins, only a millisecond after he slipped on The One Ring to disappear into the crowd...

...and what's a view of a panoramic crowd without an appearance from Waldo?

Labels: Humor, Links, News

So why did Caroline Kennedy take herself out of consideration for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat?

Because she realized that she's utterly and completely unqualified?

Was she trying to avoid scandals over her taxes and illegal employees?

Or because she woke up, smelled the coffee, and came to the conclusion that celebrity and nepotism aren't legitimate reasons to serve in the nation's highest body of lawmakers?

Could it be that this spoiled little wealthy princess who doesn't always take politics seriously enough to even bother voting simply lost interest?

Nope, not according to Anne Kornblut at the Washington Post. It's that stubborn glass ceiling, holding women down again:

With her abrupt exit this week from consideration for the Senate, Caroline Kennedy added her name to a growing list: women who have sought the nation's highest offices only to face insurmountable hurdles...

(Former Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee) Myers said that "questions about (Kennedy's) résumé absolutely have to do with her gender."

Yep, those damned misogynists ruined Caroline Kennedy's rightful assent to the Senate. Dang. If only she'd had some powerful friends or an influential family name, maybe she could have figured out a way around those mean ol' woman haters.

Labels: News, Politics

I don't often mention "celebrity news" at this blog, I just don't care about celebrity gossip. But I had to mention this Joaquin Phoenix story because ... damn.

Man, he looks rough. He looks like he he's recently been shooting up in a culvert somewhere.

He looks like Zach Galifianakis after a three-night bender.

He looks like Jim Morrison circa 1971, minus the bathtub.

Only a few years ago Phoenix was turning in exemplary work and now he says he's done with acting, he's going to be a rapper, and his rap album is going to be produced by Diddy.

His debut performance at a Las Vegas club ended with him falling off the stage after one song. The shenanigans were taped for inclusion in a documentary ... which makes me wonder if this is some elaborate Borat-style prank. I hope so. I'd hate to think the guy has gone 'round the bend.

Labels: Movies, News, You Tube

James Earl Jones is awesome. It's nice to hear from a celebrity who isn't rolling around in the floor and rubbing himself all over because of Obama's inauguration:

JEJ is positive, he's upbeat, and he's rational. I'm glad there's someone out there who doesn't think we've just put some combination of Jesus Christ, FDR and Kanye West in the White House.

HT: Bob Parks.

Labels: News, Politics, You Tube

Isn't our new President just dreeeeeamy?

Then, with a wave of that very same hand, he turned the National Reflecting Pool into wine. And oh, how they danced, the little children of DC.

Gimme a f----ng break.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics

There are only three things in the world that are organized: Sports, religion and labor. As far as I can tell, all three of them are fixed.

The UAW has famously played a major role in the collapse of Detroit's big three auto industry. And their top dog, Ron Gettelfinger, seems to think that President Obama is going to be his ace in the hole:

"There's a lot of provisions in the (bailout) loan guarantees that the companies had to sign," Gettelfinger said. "We don't really have any documents to work from other than their loan agreements, so we're waiting to see until President-elect Obama gets in power, then we'll see how this thing comes out."

Gettelfinger added that "obviously there's going to be a lot of change in Washington. He's sympathetic to the industry, and he also is not anti-union."

Gettlefinger would have you believe that he represents the huddled masses of labor in the auto industry... hard workers who are barely getting by.

Bullshit. The truth is a lot uglier, as it always is:

In May and November 2007, the UAW forked over nearly $53,000 for union staff meetings at the Thousand Hills Golf Resort in Branson, Missouri. In September 2007, the UAW dropped another $5,000 at the Lakes of Taylor Golf Club in Taylor, Michigan and another $9,000 at the Thunderbird Hills Golf Club in Huron, Ohio. Another bill for $5,772 showed up for the Branson, Missouri golf resort. On Oct. 26, 2007, the union spent $5,000 on another “golf outing” in Detroit. In May and June 2007, UAW bosses spent nearly $11,000 on a golf tournament and related expenses at the Hawthorne Hill Country Club in Lima, Ohio. And in April 2007, the UAW spent $12,000 for a charity golf sponsorship in Dearborn. In August 2007, the UAW paid nearly $10,000 to its for-profit Black Lake golf course operator, UBG, for something itemized as “Golf 2007 Summer School.” UBG had nearly $4.4 million worth of outstanding loans from the union. Another for-profit entity that runs the education center, UBE, had nearly $20 million in outstanding loans from the union.

But what about the average UAW worker ... those guys are the real victims, here, right?

Well, no. Everybody has a finger in the pie:

Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.

"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I've just sat."

Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers union...

General Motors Corp. has roughly 5,000 workers in its jobs bank. Delphi has about 4,000 in its version of the same program. Some 2,100 workers are in DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group's job security program. Ford had 1,275 in its jobs bank as of Sept. 25 (2005).

Nice work if you can get it.

Remember that when you hear anyone say how important it is that we bail out the US auto industry. Every single person advancing that position ... Gettelfinger, Obama, George W. Bush, the bosses in Detroit, each of 'em ... is completely full of shit. The US auto industry has been trying to kill itself off for years. Don't throw any more tax money in the hole. Let it die.

No industry that's this inept in all facets, from the CEOs down to labor, deserves to stay lazy and happy on the public dole.

Labels: News, Politics

Two-pot-a-day coffee drinkers like me might have reason to be a little worried about a recent study which indicates that too much caffeine can cause hallucinations:

People who take in the caffeine equivalent of three cups of brewed coffee (or seven cups of instant) are more likely to hallucinate, a new study suggests.

The researchers found that people with a caffeine intake that high, whether it came from coffee, tea, chocolate or caffeinated energy drinks or pills, had a three-times-higher tendency to hear voices and see things that were not there than those who consumed the equivalent of a half-cup of brewed coffee (or one cup of instant coffee).

I'd write more but I have to get into the kitchen and try to kill all those giant Methodist spiders.

Labels: News

It'll either make you grin or get on your nerves. It made me grin:

Labels: Humor, News, Politics, You Tube

...to stain how a lot of us think about all of them.

I realize that only maybe 5% of the cops in the world are blowhards and assholes. It just seems to me that, over the course of my life, I've had to deal with 99% of that 5%. What follows is very typical of what I've come to think of as classic cop attitude; the usual cop behavior.

This is video of Baltimore cop Salvatore Rivieri throwing his weight around, freaking out, and generally treating a bunch of kids like they're the mafia:

A message to Salvatore Rivieri: You're an asshole, dude. You're a punk with a chip on his shoulder and you're a disgrace to that badge that you're so proud of. Dude. Dude, dude, dude. Asshole. Dude.

I wonder if he's ever tried this crap with someone his size? It would almost be worth a court appearance to bust this big whining bitch in his big mouth.

And, no, this isn't an isolated incident. This kind of behavior is Sally-Boy's standard operational crap:

Turns out that the 14 year old kid in the first video, Eric Bush, is suing Officer Salvatore "Asshole Dude" Rivieri. Goooooood. I just hope this cop loses his job and has to go to work doing security at Wal-Mart where he belongs: "Hey, you come back here and let me check off your receipt! You better RESPECT this yellow highlighter!"

Hat Tip to Bob Parks, who sees this story quite differently than I do.

Labels: News, You Tube

Gonna be busy for the next few days. I'll talk to you after Christmas. Meanwhile:

• I will never, ever, ever, ever, EVER blog again after taking prescription drugs that impair my judgment.
  
  I'm not taking anything that I'm not supposed to take ... but some of the drugs I have to take occasionally do make me goofy. Really goofy. They makes me say silly things and laugh at silly things ... and type silly things. And the next morning I look at what I barely remember posting the night before and I spend about ten seconds trying to figure out what I was talking about and then I hit the delete post button as quickly as possible.
  
  Some writers have been lucid, creative and interesting while under the influence of controlled substances. Good for them. Chuck Palahniuk I am not.



• The Weather Channel is biased:

  
  

  I do take issue with the assertion that the Weather Channel uses "smooth jazz" to distract their viewers. I've heard Phish on the Weather Channel and they're a jam band.
  
  But, come to think of it, it did distract me.




• Some people are all to hell about Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. The political gays (homosexual and heterosexual alike) are writhing in conniption fits about it. The moonbats at The Daily Kos (in this instance, the chief moonbat) compare Warren to Fred Phelps and David Duke.
  
  Remember, disagreeing with political gays regarding the definition of "marriage" is the same thing as hate. If you don't see things their way, you are a HATEMONGER!
  
  Look, I'm no Rick Warren fan. I think the guy is a hack and a snake-oil salesman. but compared to some of the "ministers" that Obama has associated with in the past, this guy is a huge step in the right direction. Warren is, at least, capable of a modicum of self-control.
  
  (Sidebar rant begins here)
  
  And before any Warrenites take issue with my assessment of their "purpose driven" clergyman ... yes, I have read Rick Warren. I bought The Purpose Driven Life after a protestant minister told me that I should read it, that it would change my life. He was right, it did change my life. It made me fifteen bucks poorer.
  
  So I'm entitled to my opinion that Rick Warren is a profit driven schmuck who peddles feel-good Wal-Mart "theology" to people who don't really want to think all that hard about religion.
  
  You really want to read about Christianity? Read a Bible. The actual words of Christ are in there. And this Paul guy had some interesting ideas, too. (Heard of Paul? He wrote this letter to some Christians in Rome that's just dynamite stuff; really, really good. He wrote some other stuff, too. He was a big Jesus-booster back in the day. Check the New Testament, I think some of his stuff is in there.)
  
  (And, by the way, you don't have to buy Rick Warren's Purpose Driven New Testament, only $18.95 this week at Target. You can pick up a King James Bible for just a buck at the Dollar Tree, and nearly all* of the whole Bible is actually in there! For a buck! Can you believe it! I know, crazy, right?!)
  
  Other than the Bible, read St. Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and the indispensable Deitrich Bonhoffer. (Bonhoffer. Wow. Now there is a real purpose driven life. His book The Cost Of Discipleship might not "change your life," but it will humble you.)
  
  But, look, if you just want something with the substance of a Hallmark card, then the Rick Warren / Max Lucado / Five People You Meet In Heaven crap is just fine. Read it. Mist up. Feel good.
  
  (Sidebar rant officially over)



• Bob Parks has a great picture of the ravages of global warming: Snow falling in Las Vegas.



• Speaking of the wackos at the Daily Kos, some of 'em are pleased as punch with the idea of Caroline Kennedy as a Senator. Nothing against the woman, but Caroline Kennedy's primary qualification for political office is that she is currently breathing.
  
  
  Which is not to knock those Kennedys who are no longer breathing ... or any of them who might be fish-breathing at the moment.
  
  Caroline Kennedy is a peachy choice for the US Senate. Right. Barely a month ago these same morons were telling us that Sarah Palin wasn't qualified to be VP.



• Scott liked In Bruges. Good. In Bruges was my pick for the second best film of 2007.



• Roanoke R N'R knows exactly what she doesn't want for Christmas.
  
  Oh, I dunno. I think Christy Lane ROCKS!

  Every single time I hear her singing Shake Me I Rattle I just want to grab her by the shoulders and shake the s**t out of her.
  
  But that's just me.

Labels: Blogs, Links, News, Politics, You Tube

Just some things that caught my eye:

• Smashing Pumpkins don't intend to release another album:

  According to The Pulse of Radio, SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan says the band will not release any more new albums, citing the lack of enthusiasm for their 2007 comeback effort, "Zeitgeist", as one of the reasons.

  Rock fans reacted to the news with shock and horror, exclaiming "Smashing Pumpkins released an album in 2007?! Why??"


• It looks like UAW greed and hubris have killed the auto company bailout for now. Good. Modern labor unions can keep their heads in the sand if they want, but they shouldn't be able to drag the tax payer down with them.
  
  Then again, maybe it's not willful obstinance on the parts of the labor unions. I've spent enough time with union types to tell you that they really might just be that stupid.


• Speaking of the auto bailout, here's an awesome graphic that's making the rounds. I saw it at Fairly Conservative:

  

  
  It's funny because it's true. Throw in the entitlement attitude of the UAW and you've got a pretty strong batch of socialist BS brewing up, there.
  
  I'd really like to see lawmakers come up with the balls to shut this bailout down FOR GOOD. Make the big three file for bankruptcy and force the average UAW lunch-bucket member to wake up and smell the coffee. Maybe they'll ask themselves if big labor has been screwing us all for years now. Maybe? Nah, couldn't be. Those guys are watching out for the little guy, right?
  
  Sure they are, dumbass. Keep paying your monthly dues, no need to use the brain God gave you.



• The Ol' Broad had a fairly cute Obama-inspired reworking of The Twelve Days Of Christmas. You can click here to watch the whole thing, or just watch the truncated video below if you only want to hear the twelfth and final, complete verse:



• I don't agree with Scott at Good News Film Reviews about the movie The Dark Knight. I enjoyed the movie, Scott didn't enjoy the Batman Begins sequel very much at all. And, I have to admit, he makes a really strong case against the film. I'd hate to be the guy who has to go up against Scott in a formal debate.


• Bob Parks has the details on the body of a child found near the home of Casey Anthony. It's unfortunate ... tragic, really ... but if this turns out to be the body of little Caylee Anthony, at least there'll be some closure.
  
  And I'll just say this about that: Casey Anthony appears to be a self-centered, lying, down-right-evil bitch. It looks like her parents have enabled her and coddled her for her entire life. They never made her be accountable for her actions and they never made her stand on her own two feet. Of course, that doesn't always lead to murder, but no good ever comes of it.



• Dennis Miller says that if Obama really claims that he worked his way through the Chicago political machine without ever touching corruption, he's either "oblivious or disingenuous." It's darned hard to argue with that.
  
  It reminds me of my own former Senator, Chuck Robb, who once went to a hotel room with the woman on the Playboy magazine cover to the right. Robb admitted that he got naked in that room with that woman, and that she gave him a massage ... but that nothing else happened.
  
  This was Chuck Robb's way of saying "I believe that everyone within the sound of my voice is a f----ng idiot."
  
  Either that, or he's telling the truth and he's some sort of animate vegetable-alien thing from the planet Lethargis.
  
  And get this: Chuck Robb got re-elected. Which means that I can't say too much about the people who do the voting in Chicago.

Labels: Movies, Music, News, Politics, You Tube

We are going to have to live with him for at least four years, so I've been looking for things to like about Obama.

I could mope and get spiteful and bitter, but that's not going to do me any good. I walked around mad for the last six years of Bill Clinton's administration simply because I thought he was an awful president. Even worse than Dubya. I don't want to do that with this guy. I want to find things to like about him, even if only for my own positive mental health and to prevent ulcers.

I'm not going to put on any rose-colored glasses, but I am going to look for the good in the guy. Here's what I've got so far:

• "Change you can believe in" turned out to really mean "more of the same." That's not necessarily a good thing, but at least it isn't radical risk-taking.
  
  Pete Townshend said it best: "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."
  
  So hopefully all the young liberals who voted for Obama to bring about "change" will take note. Nothing substantial ever changes in Washington. The only change Obama has brought to the White House is superficial.
  
  Some people are wondering if Obama might be a "closet conservative." It's too soon to conclude that ... but at least he's not quite as naive as I thought he was. So that's good.
  
  Why do politicians always mean the exact opposite of what they say? George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" was actually a code phrase for "irresponsible liberalism." And it looks like "change we can believe in" actually meant "stick with the people you're sick of."
  
  
• Turns out he's not the sleaziest politician in Illinois. And the Blago scandal hasn't turned up any dirt on Obama at all. Good for the President-Elect.
  
  You know, I like the idea that maybe the Obama team was working with the Feds on the Blagojevich bust. Maybe they squealed on the guy. If so, they did the right thing.



• I think Barack is more honest and less smarmy than Bill Clinton. Obviously he's a much better speaker and a less muddled thinker than George W. Bush, and he's far prettier than the first President Bush. So for the first time since Reagan, when I watch the President give speeches, I won't be squirming for aesthetic reasons. I will likely squirm for other reasons (policy), but not because of the presentation.

Yeah, these are mostly superficial things. My policy problems with Barack Obama still far outweigh my trivial compliments. Still, it's nice that there are a few good things apparent about the guy.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics