A Modest Proposal on the Naming of the State Currently Known as West Virginia

(this post is an expansion of a comment I made at Pastor Jeff's website)



West Virginia enjoys many distinctions, it's got coal, and errrr. . . . . . . . mountains, and errrr. . . . . other stuff that I'm just forgetting about right now.

It's main distinction and defining feature in the national consciousness, however, is its political representation. Sen. Robert Byrd has proudly served 47 years in the Senate for West Virginia, longer than any person has served in the Senate, and he seeks another term. He's served both at the state and federal levels as a representative of the people of West Virginia for 60 of his 88 years. Many people have lived and died their entire lives in West Virginia with this man representing them in some capacity.

With that longevity comes privilege, and with that privilege he has provided an impressive list of largesse to the good people of West Virginia in the form of various buildings, roads, bridges, et cetera. A partial list of things named for Sen. Byrd include such notable structures as, Robert C. Byrd Expressway, the Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center (please no Viagra jokes), the Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Transportation Center (and Parking Garage), the Robert C. Byrd National Aerospace Education Center, and the Robert C. Byrd Visitors Center at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (contrary to popular belief, Sen. Byrd did not himself participate in the Battle of Harpers Ferry, he was away at the time). A fuller list of places named in his honor can be found here.

There's one honor that has alluded him thus far, however. Given that the good folks of the state currently known as West Virginia are almost certainly going to grant Sen. Byrd an unprecedented 9th term in the Senate, I modestly propose that they also rename the entire state. Their state shouldn't have to share its name with Virginia. Their's is the only state with a directional adjective where the partnering state doesn't also have a directional adjective. This has always condemned West Virginia to seeming as a mere afterthought and appendage to the 'real' Virginia (and given the historical realities that West Virginia was cleaved from Virginia, that perception is somewhat true). The best way to change that would be to rename the entire state.

Given that West Virginia has never had a favorite son they have chosen to shine so much favor upon, it seems only natural that the good folks of West Virginia should rename the entire state in his honor.

After they elect Sen. Byrd to his 9th term in the Senate, West Virginia should henceforth be known as . . .

BYRDLAND

I already have their new state anthem picked out (see the video below).

This would be an obvious choice for 'official state instrument'.

This, however, will remain now and forever their 'official state tool'.

I Am Teh Smart, I Am Teh Smart!

Got both of the porkers right, sort of (if the linked to post from Redstate.com is accurate).

I never suggested that it could have been both of those lingering old potentates of pork, but it should have been obvious from the start.

Rather than teh smart, maybe I am teh physic, err psychic.

I'll be offering consultations, for a small fee.

All the links to my posts regarding the whole porky saga below (plus Terminal Limits)

Which Senators Smell Most of Pork?
Profiling the Senate
Hold or No Hold
Profiling Works!

and my very first post, A Modest Proposal on the Reform of the American Political System

which reminds me, any suggestions for topics on new 'Modest Proposals' would be greatly appreciated. It's been awhile, maybe I need some outside inspiration. Surely there's some sociopolitical problem bothering you that you know only a 'modest proposal' could fix.

He's Worn Me Down

I'm through, I'm out, I'm done.

I can't do it anymore.

Commenting regards the latest idiocy spewing forth from the mind and mouth of Pres. James Earl Carter, that is.

I'll leave it to others to take up the cause.

It Makes Sense When You Say It With an English Accent

Mark Burnett, creator (actually, purchaser of the American rights) of Survivor, had this to say about current controversies (as linked to by Drudge)

Burnett claims dividing the four teams on SURVIVOR: COOK ISLANDS according to race eliminates any tension between the groups and thus avoids racism. He explains, "By putting people in tribes, they clearly have to get rid of people of their own ethnicity. So that's not racial at all."

Not only do I just come to the realization that I have a gob, but said gob feels as if that bit of twisted logic has smacked it, hard.

Allow me to translate, 'By dividing the teams by race, there won't be any racial tensions between the contestants of the same tribe, instead they'll hate each other for much more acceptable reasons such as gender, class or sexual orientation'

Well that makes me feel much better about the whole project, Network TV continues to get better and better, innit?

Profiling Works!

It was Sen. Ted Stevens, afterall.

Not exactly surprised, here.

UPDATE:

Mark Tapscott has a timeline showing Sen. Stevens actively avoiding Sen. Coburn since April, the interesting part for discussion here is from today

On Aug. 30 at 11:39 a.m., Coburn staff emails fourth request for meeting with Stevens.

At 11:48 a.m., Stevens staff says he may be available later in the week.

At 12:12 p.m., Coburn staff requests meeting at 1:00 p.m. on Sept. 1.

At 12:29 p.m., Coburn staff is told by Stevens staff that Stevens is still on vacation and cannot commit to a meeting.

At 2:30 p.m., Stevens' aide confirms to reporters that Stevens placed the anonymous hold.

At 3:27 p.m., Coburn staff is again told by Frist leadership staff that a Democrat senator has placed an anonymous hold on the bill.

Could I have guessed both Senators correctly? Sen. Byrd is still in the running! Of all the Democratic Senators who denied placing a hold, Sen. Byrd's denial was the weakest and left the most room for wiggle.

Profiling works even better than I thought.

If this whole episode, along with who the guilty party is (along with who the second guilty party may be) doesn't make a strong case for my original modest proposal, I don't know what will.

Best Blog Post Title EVAH!!!

Moxie had me LOL with this post's title.

(don't follow link with liquids in your mouth, unless you are in a Danny Thomas mood)

I'm Happy to Find Any Pretext to Post Pictures of Ms. Portman As Well

Perry de Havilland posting at Samizdata.net commends Natalie Portman for visiting friends and family in Israel despite the current attacks (the missles continue to fly from Gaza, so the attacks are ongoing).



I commend his choice of photo to accompany the post (same as above)

Furthermore, I'll also direct anyone interested to this, and this, and this, and this photoset at the celebrity obsessed Egotastic (here's there all of their posts tagged Portman)

THIS JUST IN: Brian Ross is a Tool . . .

. . . of terrorist

Hoda Osman one of Brian Ross' Investigative Team!! posting on The Blotter, regurgitates terrorists talking points

The U.S. secretly agreed to the "real demands" set by the group behind the August 14 kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in Gaza, according to a report in the pan-Arab newspaper al Hayat.

The paper quotes "informed sources close to the mediations" as saying that the U.S. secretly negotiated with the group through leaders of "the Palestinian popular resistance committees."

This is Lord Haw-Haw level crap. Utterly ridiculous, stupendously ill-considered, and speaks to a total disregard for journalistic standards and displays a desire to spin the on going events in the Global War on Terror in favor of the terrorists.

That there are biased news organizations bought for and paid for by various anti-American (and objectively pro-terrorist) groups is well known and obvious. Perusing Dar Al Hayat's English language content, I'm sensing the usual anti-Israeli, anti-American spin, but also a strong strain of pro-Syrian, pro-Hezbollah, and anti-current Lebanese government rhetoric (suggesting funding from Assad). If Brian Ross' Investigative Team can't figure out they are being spun, or worse are they themselves the spinners, then they should be called out by the rest of the media.

When 'responsible' media sources begin picking up these stories fables without placing them under a critical microscope or presenting them with the proper skepticism, they are doing themselves a disservice and are endangering everyone.

Also, I'm rather suspicious that the 'report' being paraphrased isn't up on Al Hayat's English language website. Either they haven't translated it themselves yet, or they don't plan on translating it since they know it's pure drivel. I suspect like some Arabic language media sources they print outrageous lies in their own tongue and moderate their tone considerably when redoing the stories for English language audiences.

I don't know if it's pure BDS that leads them to trust second hand sources close to terrorist organizations over the State Department, or simply a desire to break a story, given past performances, I'm inclined to believe the worst.

(hat tip TVNewser)

Bathroom Interviews

A local 'wacky' morning comedy team on World Famous KROQ at 106.7 FM, Kevin and Bean, have (maybe had, I haven't listened in years) a running bit called Bathroom Interviews.

Kevin would be mic'd, sitting in a stall, and try and start really inappropriate conversations with folks (an example from 2002 can be heard at Kevinandbeanarchive.com)

I remember callers saying that this wouldn't be as funny with women, cause they seek out conversations while in the ladies room, as opposed to men who try and avoid all eye contact, let alone conversations while taking care of their business.

Well, this Kyra Phillips faux pas would seem to lend some credence to that.

Drudge spread this around the world, Newsbusters.org has the audio, video, and transcripts.

All I can say, I'd hate to be Kyra's brother about now.

OK, that's not all I can say, given CNN's ratings in the mornings, this might be good for Kyra, more people will see this clip and hear her voice because of this than have seen her otherwise on CNN in the past month or two.

So maybe this will be a career changing event!

(silver linings are everywhere, just need to know where to find them)

Shep Smith survived the J.Lo incident, afterall.

Hold or No Hold

It's getting down to the wire, either someone has lied, or there's a 33%-40% chance that the 'holding' Senator is one of my two 'aging potentates of pork'. (almost like an even more boring version of Deal or No Deal, if you want another disturbing image, picture Sen. Stevens or Sen. Byrd in one of those slinky dresses the models wear on that show)

Dean Esmay just commented on his own post

Sarbanes and Bond just issued denials.

Byrd, Robert C.- (D - WV)
Crapo, Mike- (R - ID)
Gregg, Judd- (R - NH)
Hatch, Orrin G.- (R - UT)
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK)

On the other hand, Robert Bennett's denial may not be official. So that's 5 or 6 holdouts, depending on how you count.

How is it that I've never heard of Sen. Crapo? He must keep a low profile (no Sunday shows for him). 4 Republicans and Sen. Byrd. In the Republicans' favor is Sen. Frist's recent statement. In Sen. Byrd's favor, he's daft enough (and safe enough at home) not to care who knows that he killed this bill.

Sen. Gregg has this going against him (from his Wiki), "The University of New Hampshire renamed its Environmental Technology Building as Gregg Hall, because Gregg helped secure $266 million of federal funds for research and development projects for the university".

So to sum up who is left, two Western State Republicans who happen to both be Latter Day Saints (not saying that matters one way or the other, but maybe they feel some sort of obligation not to answer yes or know for some odd point of honor), Two ancient, wheezing, pork loving poster children for the need to impose federal term limits (or even terminal limits). And a three term Republican from a small state who has managed to procure some serious federal funds (all of which, surely was based solely on the merits of UNH and its facilities, and not politcal patronage)

Which reminds me, shouldn't someone rate the entire Senate from 1-100 (for the House maybe a top 25 and bottom 25) regarding their pork consumption habits?

PREVIOUS POSTS on the subject

Profiling the Senate

Which Senator Smells of Pork

Awwwwwwwww, or Ewwwwwwwww?

Really now, is this a good idea?

(also, it should come with yellow food coloring for the water, for a little extra authenticity)

(hat tip Gizmodo)

(alternately, you could just fill it with Mountain Dew, but I don't know that you'd want to be around a caffeine addled puppy (and caffeine is dangerous for dogs of any size, besides))

(bumped into this strange fact, until recently Canadian Mountain Dew couldn't have caffeine due to government regulation, Pepsico, by reclassifying the product as an 'energy drink' and by disclosing the precise amount of caffeine, can now include caffeine in their sugary soft drink energy drink)

Profiling the Senate

I fired off this EMail to the Instapundit regarding the hunt for the 'secret hold' Senator

Shouldn't you apply profiling to the search for the 'secret hold' culprit?

My money's on either Sen. Byrd or Sen. Stevens.

They both fit the profile, prolific abusers of pork, self righteous, been in the Senate longer than I've been alive, have been silent or hostile to the whole porkbusters movement, Sen. Byrd is an avid student of parliamentary procedure, both are Senators for as long as they choose to run without any real fear of ever losing an election, even if they are discovered as the 'secret hold' offender, and neither have been added to the TPM Muckracker's list of Senatorial denial you linked previously.

I can't think of any other more likely culprits, but rather than expecting firm commitments from each Senator, push the profile and round up the usual suspects (if you can add other names to the list, please do).

XWL
Immodest Proposals


PS: Keep up the pressure, porkbusters is working, push it, and push it hard.

UPDATE: Prof. Reynolds linked to this poll at clubforgrowth.org of likely culprits, Sen. Stevens and Sen. Byrd happen to be neck and neck (that should be jowly, hanging, old guy neck and neck), but in the comments folks are making a case for Sen. Hutchinson. One big thing going against the two aging potentates of pork is that they have been unapologetic about their hammy habits, so that suggests other suspects.

Misleading Science Headline

Via Drudge

Rats Born to Mice in Bizarre Lab Work

oops, not Drudge enough, let's try again

RATS BORN TO MICE IN BIZARRE LAB WORK . . .

Much better, back to the story, when reading the headline I pictured some poor female mouse trying to birth rat babies, but that's not what's happening hear. They're using mice testicles as a place to produce viable rat sperm and then implant the mouse produced sperm into rat eggs to be carried by rat mommies.

Still fittingly bizarre, but not quite what I imagined from the headline. Maybe most people didn't read the headline the way I did, but I don't think I was completely alone in my misapprehension.

I like this bit from the article

While this breakthrough raises the possibility of growing human sperm in other animals to generate viable human offspring, "it is not a good idea," Shinohara said. Besides the ethical issues, he noted there are viruses present in animals that could write themselves into genetic codes of the human sperm.

The next step would be transpecies womb usage, though obviously it would be better to use the larger species as the womb host, rather than the smaller. Bloodtype difference probably make such things impossible, even for closely related species, but if it were possible it would be another way to preserve disappearing wild species, or even possibly revive an extinct one.

An Ounce of Criticism . . .

An ounce of criticism from former President James Earl Carter is the equivalent of a pound of praise from anyone else (not to suggest that his criticism has any special weight or authority, just that he's always been on the wrong side of history and issues that he's earned a special place in the annals of wrong thinking, he's a Nobel Laureate in vapidness, shortsightedness, empty pontification, and self righteousness).

If he feels the need to criticize you, then you must be doing something right.

No better measure of what is wrong to do than what Pres. Carter suggests as a course of action, and no better measure of what is right to do than actions Pres. Carter warns against.

So, Prime Minister Blair, accept the criticism from that 'elder statesman' and understand that it's as strong of an affirmation of your policies as you'll ever likely to receive.

There's never been a former US President better suited for the role of Goofus in a Goofus and Gallant comparison of action and rhetoric than Pres. Carter.

But then, that's because no former President has ever felt so free in condemning the United States and its policies, especially abroad. The tradition that Pres. Carter has breeched with regards to criticism while in foreign lands was an important one, but Pres. Carter feels above such things.

Which Senator Smells Most of Pork?

A single US Senator (using the vile practice of the 'secret hold') seems to be the sole setback stopping smooth sailing (sorry for all the esses, couldn't help myself) for an 'open government' bill. (hat tip Instapundit)

Rather than wasting time and eliminating each Senator as a likely suspect by getting pledges from each one. Go to directly to the two leading, aging potentates of pork in each party.

I'll only accept two guesses as who it might be, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, or Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

I can't imagine it being any other individual but one of those two gentleman lingering old farts.

A vote on the elimination of the 'secret hold' would also seem to be in order (of course that would get tabled by a 'secret hold' as well).

Released!

Fox News Correspondent Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were released.

All those that worked for their release should be commended.

The responsible parties in the kidnapping should be killed, immediately (doesn't matter by who, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, USA, or Murdoch hired mercenaries).

The 'conversion' was needed by the kidnappers as an excuse for not killing their captives. I don't think anything else should be read into it, other than that.

But the guilty parties' lives should still be ended before they get a chance to spend a single dollar of the ransom they reportedly (at DEBKAfile, so the report may or may not be accurate) received.

More coverage and discussion at LGF, Michelle Malkin, and Althouse.

ESPN Hasn't Gotten the Memo

ESPN failed to read the memo regarding phrases and expressions that will set off the language police.

The screenshot below is of their lead in to get you to click over to the AP story about Team USA's demolition of Australia in the knockout round of the FIBA World Championships in Japan



Innocent enough, right?

Not anymore, 'cakewalk' is on the list of unacceptable terms. They must have forgetten this bit of idiocy from Prof. Patricia J. Williams writing in The Nation after the fall of Baghdad

First, one should never enter a fight announcing that it will be a "cakewalk." A cakewalk was a dance contest popularized during the days of black minstrelsy, for which the prize was, as implied, a fluffy confection. Debussy, as our well-educated senior advisers ought to know, wrote a funny little piece of musical condescension to this effect, Golliwog's Cakewalk. (A golliwog, for the uninformed, is a charmingly old-fashioned word for "nigger.") Such are the amusements of colonialism. But in the so-called postcolonial era, such references do tend to rankle.

That paragraph encapsulates so much antiaintwrongness that I'm forced to resurrect the term just to approach how ridiculous I find this expression of an overwhelming desire to find offense anywhere and everywhere (strange that in complaining about the 'offense' of using the term cakewalk Prof. Williams uses far, far more offensive terms).

Will ESPN escape the language police?

(I suspect so, the whole anti-cakewalk movement didn't get anywhere. Prof. Williams was just using it as a hook for her generally incoherent screed against whitey militarism and its effects on various darkies (if she can use offensive terms to express her offense at ideas she finds offensive, so can I), read the rest of the linked piece and you'll understand what I mean)

Maybe the punishment should fit the crime. The offending editor who used the offending term at ESPN should be forced to read Charles Chesnutts The Marrow of Tradition (link goes to the summary of the online electronic edition, read the whole thing yourself, if you dare).

It's an awful book. Plus there's actual cakewalking in it! The book was inspired by a tumultuous time in the South and is an important document as a fictionalization of the problems of the times, but as a novel, it's nearly unreadable.

They're Still Rats With a Better Press Agent

Squirrels with cameras.

Choke on the cuteness.

(via Metafilter)

(Prof. Althouse also posted on Squirrels with cameras)

(she may have posted before I did, but it was at my suggestion, so no hat tip for you, Professor)

Kat Dennings, Queen of YouTube

Kat Dennings is one of the greatest makers of short films around. No, seriously. These are fan-freakin'-tastic. The current one is short, but sweeeeeeeeet. Click and enjoy.

(and I am not obsessed with her, per se, but rather the art she produces)

(that's my story, and I'm sticking to it)

Links to my posts featuring her first, and second Kat Dennings Videoblogs.

Eliza Gauger Is a Traitor to Her Gender

(UPDATE: Post edited to reflect the correct name of Eliza Gauger (not Gardner, don't know where that came from, oops))

Eliza Gauger at Kotaku posts about this Telegraph article regarding how girls play Sims.

Here's the post's wrap-up

I forget that most of you have never seen into the brain of a wee lass, and even those that have (I know we have some female readership) may have either forgotten it, repressed it, or lived one of those bizarre, "innocent" childhoods. But rest assured, when given a safe place to practice cruelty free of consequence, most children will take the opportunity with stunning eagerness.

Boys have a well-documented and wholesome love of destruction, but when girls display similar sadism, people become hilariously unsettled.

Shhhhhhh, you aren't supposed to mention that out loud. The official line remains that girls are made of all things such as splenda (sugar's out, too fattening) and spice (those remain OK, so long as they were harvested using 'fair trade' practices), and everything nice.

Someone should inform the Instapundit, he's mentioned more than once that the Instadaughter enjoys that game (his take on the benefit of playing sims here from TCS Daily)

I like the not so subtle insult she plants in that paragraph regarding the likelihood that all the folks who read Kotaku are most likely loveless, lonely, housebound geeks who haven't touched a woman they didn't pay for the privilege in quite some time.

It's Friday . . .

. . . but still no funk. You can be funky as you want to be, but I think the Friday Funk Lyric thing has been played out.

Instead some quick thoughts on stupid things.

At Winds of Change, an Angelyne!! sighting.

The new Survivor gimmick (politicians calling for the pulling of the show are even stupider than CBS) reeks of desperation and is stupid, insulting and likely edited in a way to make everyone look like a jerk. However, the Hispanics are going to kick ass (my reasons, they have an experienced camper, a cop, a coach, and a wrestler, while the other teams have problems, team whitey has two hippie chicks, team indigo looks set up for internal conflict along class lines, and team East Asia has the whole problem of differing groups of East Asians frequently not liking each other working against them)

(also maybe it's just me but five or six of the guys on this year's addition set of my gaydar, not that there's anything wrong with that, and not that gaydar really exists in the first place, but look at the profiles and you'll see what I mean)

At Gawker, Blue States Lose is always worth a look (so long as you like looking at hipster losers and reading profanity laced NSFW descriptions of the antics)

Ana Marie Cox filling in for Andrew Sullivan, goes back to her Wonkette roots and posts a link to a suggestive Malaysian add for the iGallop, worth a look.

Speaking of Andrew Sullivan, I'd say David Weigel (just scroll down, any post he authored will make my point) is doing the best job filling in, given that he's incomprehensible, assinine, and snotty. All things that have exemplified Mr. Sullivan of late, Michael Totten on the other hand seems totally out of place (good for him, bad for Sullivan).

At the Jerusalem Post they're champing at the bit for an election to be called and Likud or Israel Beiteinu to lead a new coalition. Kadima and Labor are in deep, deep trouble in Israel (the same poll suggests that Netanyahu remains a divisive figure and Likud would do better with Moshe Ya'alon as candidate for Prime Minister).

Also at JPost, when Ayatollah Khamenei is the MODERATE, you know the potential for trouble is massive.

This post almost resembles a weekending aintwrongness collection, with a few tweaks it could have been so.

Either way, it's Friday, enjoy it in all of its funkiness, or unfunkiness, the degree of funk you achieve today and this weekend is entirely up to you.

(I can't end this post without some YouTube funkiness, click on the below video, if you dare (Tom Jones+Sly Stone on The Midnight Special in 1976!!)

What the Hell Does He Mean Anyway?

The opening paragraph from a recent NYT review of Ford's latest souped up Mustang

IN a rare alignment of the stars — and the bars — my test drive of the new Shelby GT500 took place over the Fourth of July. Parading along the streets of Brooklyn, Ford’s retro muscle car became part of the celebration, a two-ton American flag with white racing stripes.

Ummmm, is he stupid enough not to know the difference between the meaning of the phrases 'stars and stripes' and 'stars and bars'?

Also, he could have easily written 'in a rare alignment of the stars --- and the stripes ---', and it would have worked just fine.

I guess all flag wavers are the same, rednecks the lot of them (at least from the perspective of a NYT journalist).

They Must Have Needed a Big Beat in Heaven

The original drummer for The Knack passed.

Seems to me the above video is the best way to remember him, along with this appreciation in the Washington Post.

(that song is sticky isn't it? hear it once, and you hear it again and again in your mind for a month or two)

The Next Film to Get All Geeked Up For

Now that SoaP fever has ebbed, it's time to start looking for the next film to hype.

Well, Volver is the movie I'm going to hype (a long piece regarding the film was in the Telegraph recently).

Almodóvar is mostly brilliant. I've been a fan of his stuff for a long time now. This film has gotten great press, and more importantly it's got her (see below) in it.



She's escaped from the clutches of that other Cruise, and seems to have survived the ordeal without too much damage.

This is his first film with Carmen Maura since the fantastic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She's an amazing actor, one of the best alive, does comedy or drama with equal ease.

Of course no European interview is complete without slagging Hollywood

Even more telling was the return of Penélope Cruz to a major film role in her native Spain after an artistically unhappy six years in mostly dismal Anglophone movies (Sahara, Vanilla Sky). Cruz, 32, is a revelation as Raimunda. Almodóvar rightly compares her to actresses in Italian neo-realist films such as Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani. Her performance is the year's first real contender for the awards season.

"Penélope wanted to work in Spain again, and I wanted to work with her," Almodóvar reflects. "In Hollywood, actresses don't have many chances after 35. No one there would have given her a role like Raimunda. I know her so well. When it comes down to it, those down-to-earth roles are the ones she's best at.

I don't think this film will generate too much hype, but it probably should.

It looks like it's getting the usual limited release for foreign films in the United States, with its LA/NY run beginning on November 3rd (which suggests that they may be expecting some Oscar buzz for this film).

"the public corporation and its norm of shareholder wealth maximization" (and how to make it sexy)

The sexy's my addition, the rest is all Prof. Bainbridge.

What could be sexier than a post combining economics, law, and the entertainment industry (been here all my life, so have to fight the habit of calling that particular industry just 'the industry')?

The concept he's talking about is important, though. The next time some clueless damn dirty hippie talks about eeeevil corporations, and 'the man', remind them that corporations are just a collection of shareholders, and rather than complaining, buy into these eeeevil corporations if you want them to change their practices.

The collective greed of a shareholding public, is good, and can only increase efficiencies across all human endeavors.

Meanwhile, local government workers go on strike cause they are jealous of other local government workers' recent raises.

SNL Shake Up

The internets is not exactly abuzz, but a few folks at a few places are discussing the reports that things are being shaken up at SNL.

I haven't been able to watch an entire episode for a few years. Sketches that draaaaaaaaaaaaag are the biggest problem.

So why post about it?

Cause the casting trim rumors got me thinking about who I'd cast if I had the chance to cast any comedians and comic actors of middling fame.

I think eleven people are plenty to cast, so here are my eleven folks who should be the ultimate (yet within the realm of possibility) SNL.

1. Seth Green. He kicks a lot of ass, he hasn't been in very many good films, but he's always good himself. Plus his Robot Chicken packs more funny in 12 minutes than SNL does in 90, so if he brings some of that sensibility to the writing of SNL, it would be a huge improvement.

2. Cloris Leachman. She's a great comic actor, been around forever, and I think she still has the stamina to handle the pace of the show. Plus, most sketches can be made funnier with old ladies speaking in accents.

3. Kal Penn. He's Kumar for chrissakes! The show's never had a South Asian as a cast member, it's about time that they did. Plus, dude's funny.

4. Allison Hannigan. She's Willow for chrissakes! She can do no wrong, can play goofy, or hot, sweet or kinky, smart or dumb, all with ease. A sketch show requires this sort of versatility.

5. Terry Crews. Plays the dad on Everybody Hates Chris. Has great timing, and think of the comic possibilities inherent in pairing his big blackness with Seth Green's tiny whiteness.

6. Alia Shawkat. She's Maeby for chrissakes! Another comic actor with great timing and delivery. Very young, but I think she's got the talent to be something special given the right writers.

7. Tommy Chong. I don't think he's all that busy right now, and well, he's Tommy Chong.

8. Gabrielle Union. You need your smoking hot chick who nevertheless is also willing to be goofy. She'll do nicely.

9. Dave Foley. You need your semi-anonymous doughy white guy. Plus he has sketch show experience, and he can be really funny either in a deadpan style, or goofy.

10. Margaret Cho. Not known for her acting, but an excellent stand-up. She would bring a different dimension to the show compared to the other proposed cast members.

11. Bob Saget. Enough said, really. (plus dude can be crazy filthy)

I think you could make a watchable show week in and week out with that cast. It will never happen, but it's always nice to dream.

Ourobosian Bureaucratic Nonsense (UK Edition)

Thaddeus Tremayne posting at Samizdata points out (and illustrates with the above picture of Ouroboros, borrowed from the Wiki page, no doubt) an example of that snakey ideology known as 'political correctness' eating its own tail.

There's not much more to say once you follow the link.

Meanwhile, over at Tammy Bruce's site, she points out another example of the bureaucratic impulse and nanny statism attacking old cartoons as its target.

They can sanitize their culture all they want, but humans are still who they are, in their fallen, imperfect glory.

To truly celebrate diversity allow for expressions of opinion and art that others might find objectionable, don't police (in the case of the UK, literally and figuratively) peoples thoughts and their expressions of those thoughts.

You can't have dialogue if people are only allowed to speak from a state regulated point of view.

Their greater safety net is a direct cause of their absurd nanny statism. One doesn't exist without the other. If you doubt this, then you haven't been paying much attention.

Keep it over there, I'll take our relative insecurity and relative freedom over their kind of 'safety' any day.

Crappiest Apocalypse, EVAH!!!

All Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could manage on Apocalypse Day was to attack some Romanians.

Michael Totten (posting at Andrew Sullivan's place) was all ready to record his impressions of Tel Aviv being brought to its knees, but no luck.

Maybe Mahmoud's favorite windbreaker (I bet the linked one is the one he wears on his petite little frame) was at the cleaners? He had to call the whole thing off, you can't blow up bits of the Little Satan or the Great Satan unless you're wearing your trusty Members Only jacket.

I guess we'll have to wait another thousand years for the Hidden Imam to reveal himself, he'll wander the Earth unseen many more years due to the Great Occultation.

This was more disappointing (but in a good way) than the grosses this weekend for that mother%#@in' movie.

Eight Is Enough, Afterall

So my first post on the subject was the more correct post, guess I have more influence with the IAU than I first suspected (plus 'demoting' Pluto is the most consistent and defensible interpretation of what makes a planet). A dozen was too much (plus the possibility of dozens more).

Prof. Althouse posts her thoughts, too.

Who knew that the name 'plutons would piss off the geologists, though?

Anyway, Xena will have to deal with 'only' being a 'plutonian' planetlet (planetette?) (planecito?)(planetchik?)(lil' chunk o' ice and stone?).

And Ceres will remain just a freakin' huge asteroid.

But poor Pluto, once confused with a mighty planet, the poor solar system body will now have to deal with the existential crisis of coming to terms with its new identity.

I can imagine the press conference, "Having just learned of my demotion, I do not feel any lesser as a solar system body, nor do I feel deserving of this treatment, but given that I don't support life, nor likely ever will I lack the political power to influence the astronomers that gathered to decide my fate. I'll have to learn to live with the collective decision of a few terran based stargazers. I may no longer be referred to as a planet in current textbooks, but the past has a way of living on, so please don't judge me too harshly if I take a small amount of pleasure when school children working from mid 20th century textbooks still refer to me as the 'ninth planet'"

I do find the rebellion of the rank and file from the recommendation of the committee interesting, though. I bet the blogosphere did have some effect on their decision making, even if this particular blog didn't.

{Insert Your Own Post Title Ridiculing British Bureaucracy Here}

Thankfully, the British government cares more to protect their charges from danger than other countries' leaders such as USA, France, Netherlands and Spain.

They know that nothing good can come from riding a Segway.

They're banned on all public sidewalks and roads in Great Britain.

No such ban is in place here in Santa Monica, I actually see a few folks (emphasis on the few) who ride these things around town (usually in the bike lane, rather than on the sidewalk).

The Department of Transport claims they don't mix safely with pedestrians and traffic, but I think the real reason for the rejection of the devices is the low birth rate in the United Kingdom.

No one who uses one of these dorky things is likely to ever breed.

It's not a matter of safety, it's a matter of demographics.

(and this flickr photoset titled Segway Day (Dork Patrol) shot in Santa Monica, is not my doing, honest)

Madden Madness!!!

It's that time of year again, the annual rolling out of the latest iteration of EA Sports Madden Football series. Last year's sold 6,500,000 copies, this year's who knows, with 2 new systems to hit the market before Christmas (and a likely XBox360 price drop), there's a lot of Christmas trees with a spot reserved for a copy of this game this year (plus plenty of folks are going to rush out and buy this game this week, seems there's been some play tweaks again to try and convince folks they are getting some value for buying the same game over and over and over again).

As I don't have a functioning console at the moment, and don't plan on getting one until sometime next year (Oui, Oui, Wii, Wii, hopefully after some killer games are made available next summer), I'm not going to be rushing out and buying a copy (though I do have a computer and graphics card sufficiently speedy to handle Madden '07, I'll wait).

The madness of Madden-ness has become a true phenomenon with a large swathe of men in their teens to their thirties. Having mad skillz (that's right, I spelled it with a 'z') at Madden is a prominent measure of virility.

I remember playing Madden '04 with my friend's eight year old son and the process of him learning proper play calling was fascinating. In one night he went from not knowing a 3-4 defense from a 4-3, to understanding which down and distances were best to break out the blitz packages on. I don't know if that newly gained knowledge gleaned playing Madden helped make watching real NFL football more interesting for him or not, but I bet it did.

Great play calling with the right team on defense can beat great 'twitch' skills on offense every time.

Then there's the curse (which was the subject of one of the questions in Ken Jennings weekly trivia challenge). If the curse holds, take the under on Seattle for this season's win total, cause Shaun Alexander may not be as good as he normally is, this year.

In other EA Sports news, I don't think anyone a few years ago would have expected Kobe would be back to being on the cover after all that happened since last time he graced the cover of their NBA series, but he's been announced as being cover material again.

Should the World Not End . . .

. . . tomorrow (you best believe that if Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadenijad had at his disposal a tenth of Pres. George W. Bush's arsenal, or even half of Pres. Vladimir Putin's arsenal, or even what Pres. Jacques Chirac has under his control, there'd be lots of dead people and irradiated dead zones in Tel Aviv, NYC, LA, London, Paris, DC, Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Riyadh (he hates Sunni almost as much as he hates westerners, and clearly part of Mahmoud's nightly masturbatory fantasies would be Shia rule over Makkah and Medina), New Dehli, Mumbai, and dozens and dozens of other major world cities), then things are actually looking pretty good.

The US economy is an inconceivably healthy juggernaut. Energy costs are still relatively cheap, and major innovations are likely within 5-10 years. And the markets seem to be betting on the continued postponement of Armageddon.

Maybe it's a good thing that the cable news channels feel comfortable enough in the world situation to focus so much attention on creepy freaks.

Still a Model

Pat Buchanan, still a model. Not in the sexy clothes modelling way, rather he's a model for the term idiotarian.

His nativists rantings were ridiculous 14 years ago, and they're ridiculous today (hat tip Drudge). Immigration is a serious problem, there aren't any easy political or social solutions to the problems represented by allowing an underclass to grow outside of legal authority, and worse yet, politicians on both sides aren't even coming close to approaching the problem of illegal immigration beyond using it as a bludgeon with which to strike their opponents.

But with that said, statements like, “As Rome passed away, so, the West is passing away, from the same causes and in much the same way. What the Danube and Rhine were to Rome, the Rio Grande and Mediterranean are to America and Europe, the frontiers of a civilization no longer defended.” aren't helpful, don't lead anywhere, and are the worst kind of hyperbole.

There's a reason he's no longer a Republican. Somehow I bet that if he gets covered at all regarding his alarmist book, the press won't fail to mention that he worked for the Reagan administration.

Things That Make You Think of Other Things

So Prada has an exhibit of skirts in Beverly Hills, the top down pictures of the skirts, however remind me of something other than skirts.

(which, may or may not be appropriate)

Fake Charity Hands Out Fake Benjamins

The Iranian government is known to be a prodigious counterfeiter of US $100 dollar bills, and now Hezbollah are handing out truckloads of the things (North Korea, though are the current counterfeit champs)

Some folks are questioning whether all the money being handed out in $12000 bundles of $100 bills is legit (all the bills in the photos they could find look 'hot of the press' and uncirculated, which should be considered suspicious in of itself given that they are far away from any US Federal Reserve that would be handing out millions of freshly printed US dollars, if these were legitimate bills, there should be plenty of circulated notes in the mix)

I say the bills are as legitimate as Hezbollah's charity, the current cease-fire, the UN proclamation to disarm Hezbollah, and Arab outrage at Israeli agression.

In other words, check your benjamins very carefully.

(hat tip LGF)

Things Back to Normal

It's the 19th, post like a mother@#$%er day is over, and this blog's name is back to normal.

Saw the film, it's fun, worth the time and money, definitely.

But if you see it, see it in a crowd on a Friday or a Saturday, this film deserves that energy.

It was the most fun picture of the year, if not the past couple of years. Nothing released recently compares.

That's all that really needs to be said about the film, no reason to get all crazily over-determined about the deeper meaning of why and how it resonates with our troubled times.

Try telling that to Mazola Manohla Dargis, her NYT review is determined to explore the deeper meaning of why SoaP matters, her closing paragraph is either a fantastic parody of a dimwitted reviewer trying to prove they went to grad school, or just sadly, stupendously ridiculous.

What the film earns somewhat more slyly is a firm slot in the cultural landscape, not least because of its scarily timely setting. This is, after all, “Snakes on a Plane,” not “Snakes on a Greyhound Bus.” But unlike “Flightplan” and “Red Eye,” two other recent airborne thrillers, “Snakes on a Plane” is less about surviving on airplanes than wresting control of them. In other words, it’s “United 93” without the tears. The filmmakers don’t overplay the political angle, though they do squeeze in a Middle Eastern snake and a scene of an F.B.I. agent sneering about the A.C.L.U. Mostly, though, what they give us is the chance to win, not with righteous morality, but with an old-fashioned swagger that says, much like the film itself, Hey, we may be stupid, but we rock.

Also, Dana Stevens posting at Slate does her level best to wrest away the Pullitzer for over thinking life's simple pleasures and refuses to just enjoy a stupid (but fun) movie on its own stupid level. Her proof that she attended plenty of Media Studies courses cross listed with English Literature (one example: English 161b/Film Studies 132c The Great Malaise of the 70s and Its Expression Through Disaster Cinema) can be found in the paragraph below

And now, please return your tray tables to the upright and locked position. Because against my better judgment, I will attempt a reading of Snakes on a Plane as a post-9/11 allegory. One need not bow to allegory, really—Snakes is literally about terrorism. What else is Eddie Kim but a terrorist, bringing down an entire plane to pursue his own sick agenda? Snakes on a Plane doesn't need to be conscious of itself as a 9/11 movie to effectively function as one. It plays on all our fears—the dangers of air travel, the death of innocents, the random appearance of evil in our daily lives—but it allows us to master those fears, and, ultimately, to achieve some measure of control over them—not to give anything away, but I think you've figured out this isn't United 93. Hell, dealing with a few adders in first class would be a cakewalk compared to the al-Qaida agents we really fear.

All I can say to those two prominent reviewers is, Dude(s) It's Just a Mother%#@$in' Movie!!!

(sorry, I know yesterday was Post Like a Mother%#$@er Day, but that last one just slipped out organically)

(and Dana tries to distance herself from her over wrought criticism before she starts, "against my better judgement", but she goes ahead anyway and does it, so sorry Dana, you blew it, just enjoy the movie and don't try and 'big picture' this little picture, some times a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a movie filled with snakes, is just a movie filled with snakes (on a mother%@#$in' plane))

Since When Could Mother@$#in' Mormons Mother#$%@in' Gamble ?!?

From Ken Jennings most recent mother@%$in' post

Hey, do any math types out there have any sense of the expected “order of difficulty” of the seven (or six!) Millennium Prize problems? I think there should be Vegas odds. “I just put $200 on Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer over Navier-Stokes at Harrah’s.” “Oh yeah? What was the spread?”

As Donald Duck might have said if they were trying to court the 'urban' market way back when, "It's Math Mother$#@$in' Magical".

And Mother@%$@in' Disney should put that mother@#$in' short on a mother@#$@in' DVD already.


(this will be the last mother@#$@in' post of the day, Immodest Mother@$#%in' Proposals will revert back to its usual relatively modest state tomorrow)

I Want ALL These Mother$#$%%@$##@!$#$in' Dictators Off My Mother%$#@^%#^$#$@%$#@in' Globe (sorry got carried away with the symbols)

Dictator for a Few Months Raul Mother%@#$#@%in' Castro believes a US attack is imminent (of course they've been warning of a coming US attack for over 45 years)

Windbreaker wearing Pres. Mahmoud Mother%%$#*##@$in' Ahmadinejad believes a US attack is imminent (of course they've been telling their folks that the US would attack for the past 27 years).

Poor 'ronery' Dear Leader Jr., Kim Mother#@*&^$*^in' Jong Il believes a US attack is imminent (of course, the NK leadership has been warning of an attack from the US for over 50 years)


(obviously I use the mother#$@in' term 'imminent' very loosely (as do those dictators))



May all of them be crushed into the dust of history by an uprising of their own people before we make their fears (wishes?) come true.



(an overthrow from within would be best, but if we have to give a few nudges along the way, so be it)

What's With Mother@#$in' Creeps and Mother@#$in' Middle Names???

John Mark Karr is in the news. If he wasn't a mother@$%in' creep would they use his mother@#$in' middle name every time?

Samuel Leroy Jackson and James Earl Jones seem to be the only non-creeps who gets his middle name or middle initial used frequently.

Speaking of creeps, President James mother@#$in' Earl mother@#$in' Carter (still have to respect the office, even if he doesn't, so I make sure to put President in front of his name, but he's still so awful that I need to include two mother%@#$ers just to come close to expressing how contemptible he is) gets defended poorly in this comment thread over at Vodkapundit.

Speaking of presidential creeps, Happy Mother@#%in' Birthday President William Jefferson Monica@#$er Clinton!!!

(I seriously doubt his assertion that he 'never had sexual relations with that woman')

(will he try to put sex back into sexagenarian?)

(I loathe to contemplate the MSM articles pending on how "Baby Boomers are making sexagenarianism SEXY!")

When Ice Mother@#$in' Pick Tells You To DO SOMETHING, You Better Mother@#$in' Do IT!!!

Per Icepick's Mother@#$in' suggestion I changed the mother@#$in' name of this mother$#%in' blog.

Y'all have a great mother@#$in' day!

Did I mention that my father named our dog Mofo?

I declare August 18th, 2006 International Post Like a Mother@#$%er Day.

(sort of like next month's pirate dealy)

(I don't suggest talking like a mother@#$er, cause there may be children present, and you can't really bleep yourself in real time)

What Happened to the Mother#@%in' Pockets on this Mother#@$in' Billiards Table ?!?

In the NYT, they have coverage of a carom tournament happening this weekend.

Carom, looks fascinating. Slow, low scoring, a pain to play, but fascinating.

Haven't tried that variation on cue sports myself, but the pool hall closest to me has two carom tables which usually get played most weekend mornings, early afternoon by the same group of 6-8 gentleman. I've never seen a woman carom player {{insert rude comment about 'holes' here}}.

I'd still prefer that they have at least one snooker table at my local pool hall billiards room, but I don't mind that they have these two carom tables, even if I don't play myself.

(and yes, any mother#@%in' posts today will have some sort of mother@$#in' variation of the same mother@%$in' joke as its title)

Grade Inflation, It's Not Just for Harvard Anymore

From the Telegraph

In an attempt to deflect criticism of "dumbing down" of standards, the Government's curriculum advisers spent more than £50,000 on newspaper advertisements urging the public to congratulate pupils on their achievement.

next sentence

Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, has acknowledged that the high proportion of candidates gaining three or more A-grades makes it difficult for universities to choose the best candidates and is considering introducing an A* grade.

Shoddy standards don't make students better. I doubt that students in the UK have been steadily improving for 24 years consecutively. I get the feeling that a mixture of teaching to the test, lowering standards and the proliferation of study aids readily available to anyone with an internet connection has lead to this run of 'success' and 'improvement'.

Even if kids are smarter, if an "A" level is to remain a meaningful mark of excellence and a tool for evaluating the difference between students of the same age, then constantly increasing the number of students awarded that grade makes the grade more and more useless as a measurement of excellence.

But I love the idea of a government spending money on an ad campaign to convince folks to "congratulate pupils on their achievement."

It's a small sum mentioned, relatively speaking, but it represents a particularly silly urge found in most beauracracies.

The beaucrats mindset, 'can't be that we are doing things poorly, we just suffer from poor publicity'.

Counting The Mother[Bleep]in' Hours . . .

. . . till I see that Mother[bleep]in' movie!!!

I've got my tickets already, for the 10:50pm PST Friday night showing, not at Magic Johnson Theatres, however.

As of this post, only a little over 30 hours to go.

As if you weren't geeked up enough already, here's a little copyright infringement theatre (aka YouTube) presentation of Samuel Leroy Jackson's appearance on John Leroy Stewart's Daily Leroy Show shilling Snakes on a MOTHER[BLEEP]IN' PLANE!!!! (courtesy Defamer, sort of, they have a clip, but I linked to a longer clip of the same interview posted by someone else)

". . . no serious opponent."

Larry Kudlow points to this essay by Thomas Bray on Real Clear Politics that marks the 25th anniversary of a major event in US and World politics.

A quarter century later and the doubters still hold sway, despite the facts.

It's not hyperbole to say that Pres. Reagan presided over a global revolution, yet there are those determined to ignore or forget this.

There are 'no serious opponents' to this viewpoint, only unserious ones.

UPDATE: (via Drudge) A recent interview with Pres. Reagan's immediate predecessor. Yet more proof that the entire world lucked out when the voters of the United States favored Reagan over Carter in 1980. There's so much stupid in that interview, that it's impossible to pick just a few quotes. Read the whole damn thing. Naturally it's an interview with a foreign magazine (Der Spiegel), seems the rest of the world is only happy with the United States when we are weak, and we were never weaker than under President Carter. The only thing dumber than the answers are the questions.

Grrrrr, Arrrgggghhh (sorry, thinking about the Carter years makes me pre-verbal).

Juan and John Are Not the Same

The Coleses, Juan Cole and John Cole, clearly not the same.

John Cole at Balloon Juice opens a can of rhetorical whoop-ass on the ever Zionist obsessed Juan Cole.

All you need to know about the various Ethnic/Religous Studies programs on campuses throughout the globe, is that Professor Juan Cole is considered qualified to head such a department at a major university. (don't even get me started on Prof. Cornel West)

Surprisingly (at least to me), most folks in the comments at Balloon Juice are defending the crazed, repeatedly and objectively anti-Israeli Juan Cole.

The denialism, defeatism and general head-in-the-sandism rampant in some quarters (mostly those with a sinistral leaning) is disturbing.

(he's still too sexy for that shirt, and it's still due to an eeeevil zionist plot!!!!!!!)

You Wish With Every Fiber of Your Being That This Was Somehow a Gross Exaggeration, Or at Least a Missive From a Parallel Goateed Universe . . .

. . . yet, sadly, no, the LGF post title is accurate, and the Reuters report is as described.

Post title:

Reuters Files Puff Piece from Iran on Holocaust Denial

I guess it's an eeeevil artifact of colonialism to hold the people and leaders of Iran to the same standards that would apply to folks in Germany (where these cartoons would be criminal) or throughout the rest of the west. Instead those folks must be judged by standards that they themselves set, and seem to not include a respect for the truth or the humanity for those that don't pray the way that they do. I blame that whiny-ass son of a diseased camel, Edward Said, may his soul continue to rot in hell for all the harm his awful theories and justification for moral relativism has caused.

(I'd be cool with all this if it were the Mirror, Mirror Reuters that wrote that piece)

Let's Make It a Dozen

I knew I should have posted this earlier. Prof. Althouse beat me to the punch.

The committee deciding the fate of Pluto decided that not only is Pluto a planet, but the large body it shares an orbit with, Charon is as well.

Just to make it an even dozen, they've (they being the IAU committee chosen to sit in judgement of what makes a planet) re-promoted Ceres, the largest asteroid between Mars and Jupiter back to being a planet (creating the designation 'dwarf planet'), and they've indicated their willingness to promote 2003 UB313 'aka' XENA, to the status of Warrior Princess Planet.

So the breakdown now has a certain Goldilockian symmetry (almost, excluding King Asteroid Ceres and its 'dwarf planet' designation). Our Solar System has four (too big) planets of the Jovian variety, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Three (too small) planets of the Pluton type, Pluto, Charon, and Xena with their eccentric and lengthy orbits, and finally the four (just right) Terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

I still think eight is enough, but that's just me (and Prof. Althouse, too it would seem).

Another question remains, are they really going to stick with calling 2003 UB313 Xena?

(and yes, Xena has a moon, which naturally will be called Gabrielle)

UPDATE

A (Red State) Poll, as of this post, the choice, "First thing we do is kill all the astronomers, and then leave it alone" is leading. (my choice of ditch Pluto is the least popular choice at the moment)

Quote of the Day

"If I wanted to worry about yeast I’d buy a vagina."

from James Lileks' Bleat on the 16th of August.

(do you really need to know the context?)

Been There, Done That

create your own visited states map

Using this website here's marked in red all the states I remember visiting. Much of the red is owed to lots of summer trips with the grandparents visiting various relatives, friends, and one trip to a Worlds Fair (NO 1984).

Hat tip to Maternal Optimist.

A First Time Event In the Entire History of the Internets?

At Defense Tech, David Axe has been posting a series answering recent criticism of the F-22 (part one, part two, part three, part four (forthcoming: updated, link added today 8/16)).

He also links to an article on the same subject he wrote for Military.com.

The discussion board doesn't get heated exactly, but one poster AGBrina, defends the critics, while nearly every other poster sings the praises of the F-22.

Now to the title of this post, after some back and forth, without any rancor or flaming by the way, AGBrina posts the following.

AirForceAggie:

Good point! Your reply, along with most of what others have said here, ends my argument.

Didn't see that one coming. There's no such thing as admitting that the other guys might be right in a discussion board. The proper netiquette when posting is to defend your position beyond all reason, and when logic fails, resort to ad hominem attacks and non sequitur rejoinders regarding the other posters' preference in hygiene frequency and sexual partners.

Also, I fear that the F-22 may one day be known as the Mahdaviat Martyr Maker for all the Iranians that will get an express trip to the afterlife if their current government keeps pushing the boundaries like they do.

Hopefully sanity will prevail and the F-22 won't be put to the purpose it is so well designed to accomplish.

(photos borrowed from F-22 Raptor Team website)

You Tube Enters the Big Leagues

A website hasn't made the big leagues until it has suffered through an unplanned outage

Welcome to The Big Leagues, YouTube

To celebrate their ascension to big time player status on the web, I thought I'd embed four short videos for your enjoyment and edification.

First up, Victoria dips her toe into the YouTube waters and posts this bit of channel flipping from South Florida.



Next, Gizmodo proves the adage regarding idle hands doing the devils work, because the Treadmill Bike is fiendishly idiotic (yet funny), behold the Treadmill Bike!



As if that wasn't enough, Kat Dennings has posted her second vlog, and this time she tells a tale while sitting in the pink room. And what a tale it is. Once again, I'm engaged by this, still can't explain why.



Finally, while posting all the Arthur Lee related stuff I came across this video of a 2003 performance of Alone Again Or, watch, listen, and be awed.



That's it, hopefully all this linkage won't break YouTube again.

Kudlow & Moxie & Football

Larry Kudlow's been posting his thoughts, and when you're right you're right.

His last three posts take the words right out of my mouth and polish them, granted them a patina of legitimacy, and made my fumbling through my own thoughts along parallel lines unneeded. Those posts are in praise of the Supply-Side Revolution (folks still insist it doesn't worked, yet it's worked every time it's been tried), in praise of the American Consumer, and finally, in praise of British Intelligence and demanding we grow a set and demand from our government the same kind of tools that led to cracking the recently cracked terrorist cell.

He's not shy, his program without the crazed loudmouth has improved (if you're into that sort of thing) and it's about time I linked him in my sidebar.


Moxie's an LA based blogger, unabashedly right wing, and unabashedly sexy. She wasn't blogging on a regular basis for awhile, or else I would have linked her a long time ago, an example of her good works can be found in these musings on Mel Gibson.


Finally, Little Green Footballs needs no introduction, it's one of the most highly trafficked right of center blogs around. Charles Johnson has been all over the place lately after his catch on the Reuters mess. I don't delve into the comment section much, it gets a bit 'over-heated'. Mr. Johnson himself is vehement in his opposition to radical, nihilistic, fascist Islam, but he never crosses the line into painting all Muslims with too broad a brush (in the comments, on the other hand . . .). He saves his strongest venom for those that apologize for terrorism, like the idiots of CAIR.

So, three more additions to the links on the sidebar, Kudlow, Moxie, and LGF, visit them, or don't, it's up to you.

Eight Is Enough

I'm not talking about that TV show from the late 70s - early 80s.

I'm talking planets here.

Folks are meeting to decide on an official designation on the object currently known as the planet Pluto. From the website of the IAU XXVIth General Assembly in Prague

The ongoing work on an IAU Resolution to scientifically define the meaning of the concept „planet“ is of particular interest to the public.

The IAU is the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919. The boundary between planets and other solar system objects has never been defined and the recent discoveries of new objects in the solar system has made it necessary for the IAU to address this issue.

The decision process and a draft Resolution for the Definition of a Planet will be published in the conference newspaper during the first week of the General Assembly.

The IAU Executive Committee invites the General Assembly to a Plenary Discussion on the Definition of a Planet issue:

Tuesday, August 22, 12:45 - 13:45 in the Congress Hall.

The press is invited to attend.

If that doesn't sound like a party, I don't know what does.

Given the many irregularities of that solar body compared to the others designated as a planet, and given that 2003 UB313 has as valid of a claim planethood if Pluto continues to be recognized as such, I'm guessing that the various committees that are chosen to decide the fate of that solar body will vote against both Pluto's and 2003 UB313's planethood.

It was fun while it lasted Pluto, the textbooks will have to be rewritten once more.

It seems kind of short shrift to only schedule one hour of consideration for poor little Pluto (and the slightly larger 2003 UB313), given that its been considered a planet for more than 70 years.

Although, truth be told, I lean towards not caring one way or the other.

You'd Get the Joke if You Watch the Show Moments In Other Blogs' Comment Section (Most Likely Not an Irregular, or Regular Series)

As anyone who has read this blog regularly (I think there's about 5-8 of you), you know that I occaisonally post bits from other blogs' comment sections.

Relating to this post at Throwing Things here's this bit of comedy gold

After an episode of Deadwood, I have an uncontrollable urge to call it shuttlecock, sucker.
Adam C. | 08.14.06 - 5:41 pm | #

And anyone who knows anything knows it's pronounced with a MIT in the middle.

Photo In Search of a Caption

Post-coital Bliss (while jointly clutching a recently used 'marital aid')

(and need I add, 'not that there's anything wrong with that'?)

(another take on this photo at Vodkapundit)

(both those gentlemen's filthy faux-populist bastardos totalitarios grins are disturbing, and for a corpse Fidel seems to be pretty lively, and in loooooooooooove)


Pictures pulled from Granma, the official website of the dirty filthy commie bastards who have laid waste to the past, present, and a great deal of the potential of Cuba.

(Cuba Libre hopefully will be more than just an ironically named drink, soon)

Snakes on a What?

I've given as much love to Snakes on a Plane as I think is appropriate.

I can't wait till Friday to actually see the greatest movie of all time, finally.

But some SoaP related products I can't quite get behind.

A novelization ?!? 416 pages ?!? WTF ?!? OMG ?!? LOL ?!? (SORRY CAPS LOCK STUCK)

No, I almost bought it when I saw it while in a bookstore recently, but somewhere you have to draw the line.

I don't want no mother[bleep]in' novelizations of my mother[bleep]in' mindless summer fun action flicks.

Suddenly, Skepticism

AP doesn't take this recently released photo of Fidel Castro as being above suspicion.

Fidel's still dead or comatose as far as I'm concerned.

Jimmy Kimmel would seem to agree.

If he really was ambulatory, alert and on his way to recovery, they would have provided video and not just a few photographs.

Would the AP have expressed skepticism had it not been for recent events?

Also, Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has a post about the above Castro photo and states that if it was a photoshop job, it was a well done one with no obvious 'tells' as to being faked. He adds the photo below though, clearly faked, but funny.

Paris Hilton Bit . . .

. . . by Kinky Jew?

Ohhhh, kinkajou, not kinky jew, got it.

Either way, pray for the kinkajou.

(and while you're at it, kinky jews should be prayed for, as well)

(VOTE KINKY!)

(and I find it remarkable that the wiki for kinkajou not only mentions Paris Hilton, but already has been updated to mention this recent incident)

Mr. Moisturizing Cream

I can't imagine any newspapers in the United States printing anything like this portion of text taken from a translation of a magazine article

Feeling down, she sought help from her gynecologist, who said she was pre-menopausal and suggested her condition could have been the result of not having sex. She promptly went out on a naughty romp with a much younger man.

"I realized that it's always nice for a woman's body to get some Mr. Moisturizing Cream," she says.

Japanese folks and bodily fluids just seem to go together.

The Wai Wai section of Manichi Daily News' English language edition is always full of such titilation and general silliness.

And of course, I have to read it regularly.

UCR #22 !?!

Washington Monthly, not a place I go for just about anything, has their anti-US News college rankings, ranking.

They love them some UCs, that's for sure.

Of the ten schools in the system, eight were ranked, ranks overall by Washington Monthly and then by US News

UC Berkeley #1 #20
UC Los Angeles #4 #25
UC San Diego #6 #32
UC Davis #10 #48
UC Riverside #22 #85
UC Santa Barbara #57 #45
UC Santa Cruz #68 #68
UC Irvine #72 #40


UC Merced just opened, and UC San Francisco doesn't have undergraduates, so they weren't ranked.

Folks at UC Irvine aren't going to like being 50 slots behind UC Riverside, at all.

The UC system despite many problems, is without a doubt (at least in my mind) the premier public university system in the world.

And for those Badger fans out there, University of Wisconsin - Madison finds themselves ranked #11 by Washington Monthly compared to #34 by US News.

(Prof. Althouse might have something to say about that, or not)

Are You Engaged By This?

Yes, strangely enough, yes I am.

Found at Katdennings.com

Kat Dennings info at imdb.com

A Modest Proposal for The Improvement of Relations Between The West and Islamist Extremist

(hat tip Powerline)

Scott Ott reporting at Scrappleface, mentions a new initiative started by British Parliament to understand why airplanes seem to trouble our Muslim brothers so much (oddly I can't find corroborating articles, strange that. Could his report be less than factual?).

I think I have an inkling of part of the problem and I even have a suggestion as to how to alleviate some of the tension that the continued use of these technologically advanced flying machines causes between the clashing civilisations (how'd the British spelling sneak in there?).

Clearly, expecting the Islamist Extremist to get over themselves and join the rest of us in the 21st century is an example of racially and culturally biased neo-colonialism and instead we must create a new visual language that will mollify the egos of those still wish to drag everyone back to the glorious time when Islam was at its ascendancy.

Those flying machines are a gross representation of western power and flying them willy nilly all over the globe is clearly meant to enflame the hatred of those sensitive souls simply seeking submission to Allah.

While even the sensitive submitters enjoy the global mobility provided by these nearly infernal devices, something must be done to improve their image so that they don't continue to enflame this horrible envy that they currently engender as they gracefully go from airport to airport.

My modest proposal is simple, but it will require a few technological innovations that are well within the reach of our modern 21st century society.

Project the image of FLYING CARPETS across the bottom of every commercial aircraft. That way, when a young man of Pakistani or Yemeni or Indonesian origin glances up at the sky above Leeds, Paris, Jakarta, or Dearborn, instea of seething with rage as he sees reminders of western cultural and technological hegemony and superiority, instead he'll be transported in mind and spirit back to the times of Scheherezade and her nightly tales.

We can't expect Islamic Extremist to willingly give up their fantasies of plunging the rest of the world into a re-creation of medieval caliphates, but this time on a global scale. So instead we should mask the modern world in the symbols and appearance of those past glory years so at least part of their pyschological motivation for their hatred is greatly muted.


(photo of former boxing champion Naseem Hamed taken from this BBC Sport gallery of photos from his career)

(also, speaking of Schezzy, I recommend the John Barth book below that uses her as one of its characters)

Get British Intelligence Out of US Politics (and Baseball)!

I figured it was just a few unbalanced types responding at HuffPo with charges of 'wagging the dog' with regards to the latest round of terror related arrests.

But plenty of unbalanced type bloggers have joined the fray as well.

The timing of the uncovering this plot is indeed suspicious, but it has nothing to do with Ned Lamont.

It's all about the LA Dodgers.

Is it just a coincidence that they blew the game last night (ending an 11 game win streak) and within a few hours of that happening all these 'so called' terror arrest start?

Others speculate that it's a marketing tie-in for Oliver Stone's latest.

Some see a series of dots strewn about chaotically, but the truly plugged in and 'reality based' they find the connections between the dots in the most interesting of places.

Everything's fodder for the latest conspiracy (over here Prof. Althouse has a nice thread going on some of the old conspiracies).


(PS: I still don't care about baseball)

Guess I Won't Be Popping By the Tate Tomorrow

I'm thinking any impromptu travel to London is probably inadvisable at the moment (needless to say, for any international travel to or from the USA, expect massive delays)

For some, another victory in the Global War on Terror, to others another reminder of our collective vulnerability and reason to worry and panic (or at least sell, sell, sell).

The ban on liquids is interesting, and suggestive of the nature of the plot.

Let the speculation begin.

(and since I linked the Sun, you know you want to click on their slightly NSFW (at least in the USA) Page 3)

(It's your patriotic duty to view young women's lady parts online, afterall, the bad guys think this sort of thing is wrong, if you don't view Nicola T from Croydon's slightly naughty bits, then the terrorists have won)

What's It Like President Ahmadenijad . . .

. . . to be serviced by an 88 year old man? (hat tip David Bernstein at Volokh Conspiracy)

Mike Wallace would seem to have dropped to his knees in front of the charmingness of Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, bringer forth of the Hidden Imam, soon to be destroyer of the Little and Great Satans, International Man of Mystery (oh wait, that title's taken) and all around really great and terrific fella.

Questions probably not asked by Mike Wallace:

• Pres., those mind clouding hair rays that emanate from women above the age of six, is there any certain shampoo a female can use to lessen this effect?
• Pres., are you one of the thirty-six 'nails' placed on Earth to create the conditions for the revelation of the 12th Imam?
• Pres., aren't you, in fact, the 12th Imam himself? I'm sure all my viewers out there in Great Satan-land would love to know who their new ruler is.
• Pres., as the 12th Imam having just ended the Great Occultation, what have you been doing these past 1000+ years?
• Pres., what's the best way to execute homosexuals, hanging, stoning, or pressing under weights?
• Pres., are you in fact, not the 12th Imam as you claim, but the Dajjal instead?

Somehow I don't think versions of the above questions will slip from Mr. Wallace's lips.

Side note, the Wiki page for Dajjal has the following note appended to it

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.
This article has been tagged since July 2006.

After reading it, no kidding, the prophetic portions of sacred text are always rather creative, and the interpretations spun from the text even more so.

Speaking of prophecy, how is this guy still around? Afterall, The Late Great Planet Earth would seem to be surprisingly lively, and not at all late. Yet we're decades since his first prophetic pronouncements were supposed to come to pass (he's still certain that Russia is Gog, and secretly behind Iranian and Syrian mischief)

Yeah, and Next You'll Tell Me That Terrell Owens Will Behave Himself This Season

Charles Johnson, at Little Green Footballs, thanks the LA Weekly (owned by Village Voice Media) for a fair portrayal of his website written by Brendan Bernhard. Usually their editorial slant is slightly left of Mao, but maybe things have changed over there.

Cathy Seipp also mentions this surprising article.

I used to pick up the LA Weekly all the time, but the internet has replaced the LA Weekly as the best place to find concert info, film reviews, art shows, and young well endowed (the particular body part of endowment all depends on your personal orientation) outcall masseuses.

(T.O. might get along with Parcells and help the Cowboys to the playoffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (phew! longest dramatic/comedic pause, ever) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and pigs might fly, at least his website is in Dallas colors)

Corrections Are Nothing New

We shouldn't pile on the legacy media and their use of propaganda photos with incorrect captions.

After all, I've dug through the historical record and found other examples. Below are the original captions on some photos before corrections were made (just three examples, but I'm sure there's more)

Brave Japanese Imperial troops, remove hastily installed American flag while taking heavy fire on Iwo Jima

Seaman rampaging on the streets of New York City, suspected sexual assaults reportedly widespread.



Residential areas bombed in Cologne Germany, only women and children found in the rubble, Allied assault called disproportionate by world community.

On the Other Hand

Unlike AMLO, Lefty Loser Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I know the left doesn't consider him of the left anymore, but other than his staunch support for the war on terror and Israel, he's about as lefty as they come) fight for his Senate seat has just begun.

The GOP candidate should drop out and give Lieberman a clear field to attack the even bigger lefty Ned Lamont (funny how all the biggest lefty politicians are gazillionaires, you can't afford to be a populist unless you can afford a share in a gulfstream, apparently).

Watching the Democratic party veer to the left and away from the folks who actually vote during the general election gladdens my black little Republican heart.

(But hopefully the Republicans that fill the void left by moderate Democrats will be of pro war on terror, fiscally conservative, socially libertarian bent)

Time to Call It Quits

Even the lefty losers of the LAT editorial page are sick of the antics of lefty loser AMLO.

It's time to accept that he didn't win over as many people as he hoped with his divisive class warfare and anti-American tirades.

So much the better for Mexico, that rabble rouser AMLO would have been a disaster, hopefully his attempts at rousing the rabble in Mexico City will continue to fail, and rather than whining and conspiracy theories, folks will work together towards prosperity.

This Post Was Meant to Be Funnier, But Facts Get In the Way

Corpses that say, 'I'm getting better', not just from a Monty Python film, but also happening in Lebanon.

(hat tip Instapundit)

UPDATE: There's evidence elsewhere (hat tip Roger L. Simon) that the 'evidence' of the animated corpse is incorrect, however, that doesn't change the likelihood that a lot of the images coming from Qana were manipulated and staged for maximum impact. In Islam treating corpses as props is strictly forbidden, a missle strike killing less than two dozen civilians is a tragedy, piling in extra corpses and pulling the same corpse from rubble over and over again, that's reprehensible on a completely different level.

Meanwhile, on the darker side of this apocalypse, someone else points to the 27th of Rajab (August 22nd on our calendar) as a day marked for end-times-ness. (from Drudge)

(Which, as if I needed to remind you, is why you must see this film opening weekend)

Better order up the movie below soon, who knows how many more chances you'll get to enjoy watching it (go ahead, splurge on the boxed set version, do you really need savings when the world's about to end?)

(of course, a lot of his followers made the same mistake and wiped out their wealth in anticipation of a rapture, so maybe hold on to some savings, just in case)

More apocalypse related humor

It's Got a Good Beat, and You Can Dance To IT (This is Still the Funniest Apocalypse, EVER!) (Sticking it to Nasrallah, in Song)

This Is Turning Into the Most Unintentionally Humorous Apocalyptic World Engulfing Crisis, EVER! (Peace, Mercedes, same difference)

The Coalition of the Getting Some (all about Irshad Manji's fan mail, plus a little shout out to South Park)

But In His Twisted Mind, That's Probably A Compliment (about Pres. Ahmadenijad comparing Israel to his favorite leader from the 20th Century)

What's the Use of a Widening Civil Crisis and Potential Civil War . . . (link love for a Lebanese blogger with a wicked sense of humor regarding Aljazeera)

Great Moments In Other Blogs' Comment Sections (taking Chirac to task for his weasel words regarding Israel, the other blog, in this case, being Roger L. Simon's)

Finally, only tangentially related (but humorous and involves SW Asia, so I'm including it in this compilation of links), here is a Modest Proposal on Reforming the Handling of Pilgrims (just in case I haven't insulted enough folks, this ought to really earn me that fatwa I've been hoping to be issued against me)

Fromage!

Eau de Fromage! to be exact.

(hat tip Drudge)

There Is No Limit . . .

. . . to the persons, places or things you can place snakes upon.

Snakes on a Babe!

(hat tip Egotastic)

More Photofakery???

(hat tip Drudge)

This time it is the upcoming cover of Vibe featuring a mostly naked, and very skinny, long flowing haired Janet Jackson.

Magazine covers always go through extensive manipulation, but this one looks suspiciously like they just took her facial features and pasted them on to another woman's body.

(reasons for suspiscion, arms look too long, shoulders too broad, forehead too large, and there's something off about the way the face lines up within the frame of the face, and a 40 year old who's weight recently yo-yo'd would not have skin like that, sorry, just doesn't happen)

It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.

UPDATE

I still believe the photo has been touched-up, heavily, but looking at these series of posts (warning, some are NSFW) at Egotastic chronicling Ms. Jackson's weight increase, and then decline, it looks like that body could be her body (hair, breasts, and nose, though, still pretty fake).

Sundry Wishes of Good Tidings

As mentioned before, Victoria has begun posting again at Sundries.

This recent post regarding a day running errands and visiting a Lebanese food mart is up to her usual high standards.

Also, she discusses her favorite lesbian (I still lean towards this woman as my favorite (she's a close second, though), but to each their own).

Plus, on top of all that, today is her birthday, and she says the cake's on her! (cheeky, yummy, and just a touch salty).

Of course, Happy Birthday, Victoria, may you enjoy at least as many sunsets and sunrises as the monarch had.

Irony or Revenge?

Even a simple plastic suction cup can pose a fire risk, and one is believed to have caused a fire in Okawa, Fukuoka Prefecture.

A suction cup attached to a windscreen concentrated enough sunlight to set fire to a black cloth placed on the dashboard, eventually destroying the vehicle. The suction cup was holding up a good-luck charm.

I can't decide if it's ironic that a suction cup meant to hold a luck charm in place caused a fire that destroyed the car it was attached to, or maybe it was the suction cups revenge, against the hauty piece of plastic that was considered the actual 'luck charm'. The suction cup wanted to be the lucky talisman all on its own, and in a fit of jealous rage, focused those sunbeams into a consumptive suicidal blaze of destruction.

The rest of the story regarding everyday objects exhibiting pyromaniacal tendencies can be read at this non-combustible link.

Those Have to Be About as Common as Unicorns

Reading this article in the Telegraph regarding a recently found photo of Florence Nightingale, one turn of phrase struck me as funny

Mark Bostridge, the author of a forthcoming biography of the great reformer, said: "She was extremely reluctant to be photographed, being determined 'in no way to forward the making of a show' of herself, partly for religious reasons [she was a strict Unitarian] and because she regarded any personal publicity as detrimental to the causes of public health for which she worked so tirelessly."

"strict Unitarian"?

There's such a thing?

I always figured Unitarianism was the last stop before full on agnosticism or atheism. I've never met a Unitarian that could be described as 'strict' in any way shape or form (other than a strictly, raving, liberal).

Maybe it's just my experience in Santa Monica talking.

Photofakery

Over at Prof. Althouse's blog she discusses Adnan Hajj, freelance photographer, though greatly favored by Reuters till recently, and his obvious (and obviously politically motivated) photofakery.

The comments quickly get sidetracked into a discussion of trademark protection.

Next time I tivo something with my DVR, I'll think of these comments.

Next time I wipe my nose with kleenex I'll think of these comments.

Next time I xerox something I'll think of these comments.

Next time I photoshop an old photograph I'll think of these comments.

Next boo-boo I place a band-aid over, I'll think of these comments.

A Situation Where Don't Ask Don't Tell Really Is the Best Policy

I have no problems with gays in the military, and the current policy could use some tweaks, at the very least.

The IDF seems to get by fine with "out"homosexuals in their midst.

But this post isn't about that.

One area where 'don't ask don't tell' is the only sensible policy is with regards to knowing the sexual history of your partner.

Amy Alkon pretty much has it covered with this blog post.

Proof that Ken Jennings is A Cyborg

"It’s true, my only son can’t pass a Turing test."

It's so obvious what this means. Ken Jennings and his wife are both half human, half machine. With the luck of the genetic draw their son turned out to be all machine, oh well.

Better luck with the daughter (assuming they want her to be human, or at least cyborg).

Here's the conversation that led to that statement

And we now introduce what I hope will become a regular feature on Ken-Jennings.com: Today’s Bewildering Conversation with a Three-Year-Old.

Me: Dylan, you’re going to run into something. Why are you wearing that hat over your face?
Dylan: I’m a grinder soldier.
Me: What does a grinder soldier do?
Dylan: That means I eat crime.
Me: You eat crime? What does crime taste like?
Dylan: Oranges.

Maybe Dylan was just inspired by the Robert Duvall character in Apocalypse Now, if napalm can smell like victory, then crime can taste like oranges (voted top speech in cinema a few years ago)

Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now (1979): You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...

Alternate explanation, Dylan has synesthesia.

Other alternate explanation, Dylan is a three year old and learning to express himself verbally.

Slightly Misleading Stat of the Day

Reading this article from the LAT about Hollywood moguls in support of Gov. Schwarzenegger, there's one line that, most likely, is intentionally misleading

In this election year, Schwarzenegger has been on a public pursuit of Democrats. To win reelection, he needs to capture their votes; Republicans represent only 34% of California's electorate.

True, almost, actually it's currently 34.7%, so if they are rounding it should be 35%, but that's merely a quibble.

Angelides is in the same boat as Schwarzenegger, he can't win if only Democrats vote for him, as they represent only 42% (OK, I lied, it should be 43%, 42.7 to be exact) of the electorate. If only the party faithful voted, then Angelides' advantage is 7% 8% (I knew I should have broken out the trusty old calculator to do those tricky calculations), significant, but not insurmountable.

In other words, an energized Republican base could still defeat an apathetic Democratic base, despite the overwhelming Democratic majorities in LA, SF and SJ (SD is more or less Republican) (the rest of the state is more or less even to Republican leaning, but the coastal metropolitan megapoli represent more than half of the electorate).

Problem is, Schwarzenegger won't energize the Republican base, in fact he's running away from them, but Angelides won't do any better with the Democratic base, he's uncharasmatic, clearly a tool of the public sector unions, and seems to have no policy goals, or positions, other than he's a Democrat, and not Schwarzenegger.

So the election will be decided by the 22.6% of Californians registered as neither Republican or Democrat.

Even though, taken as a group, those voters lean Democratic in some things, they don't trust obvious party tools like Angelides.

It will be impossible to paint Schwarzenegger as an extreme conservative, or Bush crony, so instead they'll have to run on policy.

Bad news for Angelides, Gov. Schwarzenengger has done as good a job of governing as anybody could be expected to do. He quickly put the failed special election initiatives behind him (all of which were good ideas, and but for massive spending from public sector unions, might have gained more traction) and will probably win reelection with ease. Budgets have been signed on time, he's recently escaped a major energy crisis without mass blackouts, and he's still a star who despite his accent, really knows how to communicate.

Of course, as they did in the run up to the recall, the LAT will do every possible trick in their power to keep that from happening. Luckily noone really pays attention to them anymore.

It's Got a Good Beat, and You Can Dance To IT (This is Still the Funniest Apocalypse, EVER!)

This current apocalypse continues to be a humor goldmine.

This time it's Israel's turn to have some fun.

Enjoy the YouTube-age.

I could have also titled the post, Israel, F#@k Yeah!

Almost makes me want to join the IDF (though I guess this song is still the be all and end all to military recruiting songs).

Do they take 37 year old goyim?

(hat tip Jonathan at ChicagoBoyz.net who in turn tips cap to John at Powerline, though Jonathan updates his post to mention that the use of the video as a psy-op tool is unverified)

I Wonder . . .

Is this new dress code there because of students being distracted, or instructors?

Another thing, what if you were a student who went to school in a low cut outfit, and they didn't force you to cover up?

Do late bloomers get a pass on the dress code?

Afterall, don't cleavage baring outfits depend on the existence of cleavage to be bared?

Makes me glad not to be in high school anymore, the occaisonal baring of cleavage by students (and sometimes teachers) was one of the things that made going worthwhile.

Reminds me of a story, going all the way back to junior high school. A girl in math class was an 'early-bloomer' and already wearing bras, and had something to fill them with. The instructor came by to check homework each class, and she always felt that the instructors eyes may have not always stayed on her homework alone. One day, she wrote on the inside of her bra, "Like what you see Mr. [redacted to protect the possibly innocent]". She had informed her friends that she was going to do this, and word spread throughout the class, with everyone sneaking a peak at the teacher, he turned noticeably red after lingering over her shoulder for a moment too long. I had this teacher, but not in the same class that girl was in. This tale might have been a local urban legend, or stolen from some crappy movie for all I know. But the teacher in question was a jerk, but I don't know that he was a perv, as well. He did move up to teach at the high school a year or two later, where some girls then also felt uncomfortable with his stares (though never a hint of actual contact or grading favoritism and the like).

The teacher who married the homecoming queen, that's a whole other story . . .

Forever : Changes (For The Time I've Been Given's Such A Little While)

The only thing that is forever in this universe is change. Yet, said another way, you could say the only permanence is changeability.

Arthur Lee has changed from this life, forever.

I was about to write an angry post yesterday about the LAT missing out on even having an obit on Arthur Lee, one of the most significant artists produced by the LA music scene. But they made up for it today. And even better, they didn't use that 'so called black hippie' quote.

Also the Telegraph has a nice appreciation of Arthur Lee, meanwhile, the NYT obit still sucks.

Another surprising place for an appreciation of the greatness that was Arthur Lee's music (Arthur Lee the person, fell far, far, far short of Arthur Lee the artist, unfortunately) comes from Ken Jennings.

Once again, if you don't own Forever Changes, you are missing out on one of the best albums of all time (if Ken Jennings agrees, it must be true)

and here's the rest of the lyrics that Ken quotes in his post's title

YOU SET THE SCENE

--- part I (0:00) ---
Verse 1:
Where are you walking, Ive seen you walking
Have you been there before?
Walk down your doorsteps, youll take some more steps
What did you take them for?
Theres a private in my boat and he wears
Pins instead of medals on his coat
Theres a chicken in my nest and she wont
Lay until Ive given her my best
At her request she asks for nothing
You get nothing in return
If you want she brings you water
If you dont then you will burn

Verse 2:
You go through changes, it may seem strange
Is this what youre put here for?
You think youre happy and you are happy
Thats what youre happy for
Theres a man who cant decide if he should
Fight for what his father thinks is right
There are people wearing frowns wholl screw you up
But they would rather screw you down
At my request I ask for nothing
You get nothing in return
If youre nice shell bring me water
If youre not then I will burn

--- part ii (2:20) ---

Verse 1:
This is the time and life that I am living
And Ill face each day with a smile
For the time that Ive been givens such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
[1: there are places that I am going
4: therell be time for you to start all over]

Verse 2:
This is the only thing that I am sure of
And thats all that lives is gonna die
And therell always be some people here to wonder why
And for every happy hello, there will be good-bye
Therell be time for you to put yourself on

Verse 3:
Everything Ive seen needs rearranging
And for anyone who thinks its strange
Then you should be the first to want to make this change
And for everyone who thinks that life is just a game
Do you like the part youre playing

Bridge (4:03):
I see your picture
Its in the same old frame
We meet again
You look so lovely
You with the same old smile
Stay for a while
I need you so, oh, oh, oh, oh
And if you take it easy
Im still teethin
I wanna love you, but
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

[repeat verse 1]

This is the time and this is the time and
It is time, time, time, time, time, time, time, time, time...

Trendy Trendoids and Their Latest Trend

Running dirty old diesel engines on 'clean' vegetable oil is the latest trend. Darryl Hannah does it, so it must be better for the universe, right?

Wrong.

Vegetable matter can never be a full replacement for fossil fuels. If a few trendoids think they are doing something good by keeping nasty old Mercedes diesel engines running, that's fine. If a few donut shops and fast food joints want to dump their used cooking oils on these folks, that's fine too. Plus, running vehicles on straight vegetable oil, is illegal in the United States.

But if you try and scale up this process as a legitimate replacement for eeeevil oil, you run into some big, big problems.

Of course, articles like the LAT article above will never delve into that, and the trendoids who adopt this wonderful trendiness will never think beyong the slogans and short-term thinking behind doing what they do. (the LAWeekly did an article, even featuring some of the same trendoids (Kristina Wong and her pink Mercedes (pictured above) seem to get around), and the same mechanic, a few weeks ago, they mention the cons more than the LAT article did, but that article still ignores the inherent unsustainable nature of vegetable oil as energy source)

Nuclear power is the only (nearly) carbon free source of energy large enough to serve the energy needs of a modern information society. If most electricity came from nuclear power in the USA (like in France or Belgium), then the 'carbon footprint' of every US citizen would be greatly reduced.

If these trendoids really want to save the planet, they'll insist that a nuclear powerplant be built in Silverlake (I'd love to see one right here in Santa Monica, especially one that also turns sea water into drinking water).

Somehow, I don't see that happening, or the LAT doing a cutesy article on trendy nuclear power proponents.

Do You?

Do You Answer Rhetorical Questions?

Assorted Friday Stuff

Nothing specific to blog about today, just posting to keep up my daily posting (I had pledged to not miss a day from solstice to solstice, the next solstice is still a long way off).

The always interesting Blue States Lose over at Gawker is especially messed up this week. Message to hipsters, club bathroom floors are not an appropriate place for 'sexy' photo shoots. Also, not an appropriate prop, your own vomit (follow the link if you dare).

Mickey Kaus pointed out (slate still doesn't believe in direct links on most of his posts) this fine tribute to the great Arthur Lee at LAist, his music lives on, his body doesn't. Buy Forever Changes, if you don't own a copy of this album (or two), you really suck. I'd rant about how crappy and off-base the NYT obit is, but eh, whatever, that's what you'd expect, Lee led the greatest L.A. band of all time, but they were never well appreciated in the rest of the USA (although they were gods in Europe).

No amount of money you would be willing to pay me would get me to see this movie. I don't hate Will Ferrell generally, but this just looks lame. The reviews have been generally good, but suspiciously full of wise words about how great of a job this film does at skewering NASCAR lovin' rednecks. Now if the Blue Collar Comedy Tour types did a parody film set in the NYC hipster club scene, that might just be real comedy gold.

Now that the heat has died down some (at least here in SoCal), I think it'd be a good weekend to throw a party containing some adult beverages (a simple G & T, kind of weekend, I think)

Enjoy your weekend, and should you drink, don't drive, or spew anti-semetic (or anti-anything, for that matter) rhetoric, it might be bad for your career.

A Disproportionate Response (This Time From France)

Evidently I angered the French more than I realized with my flag suggestion.

Reading the LAT today, I notice this front page story regarding the destruction of artwork by LA artists while on loan to the Pompidou Center for an exhibit celebrating LA art.


My flag suggestion is pink and yellow (see above), one of the destroyed artworks (see below) was pink and yellow.


Coincidence?

I say not (my original post was on 5th of July, the artwork was destroyed less than two weeks later on the 16th). The only time the French aren't ready to surrender is when blame is to be apportioned, then the French will fight tooth and nail to deflect the blame, from the article

The artists involved and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which owned one of the destroyed works, expressed bewilderment and a deep sense of loss. "It's tragic," said Lyn Kienholz, head of the California / International Arts Foundation, who acted as a go-between for the French contemporary art museum. "It never should have happened. There's no excuse." "It's not our guilt," Catherine Grenier, who curated the show for the Pompidou, said from her Paris home. "For me, it's not a coincidence. These two works were made of the same materials, and made in the same period. And both were incredibly fragile." But LACMA curator Lynn Zelevansky, who heads the contemporary art department, noted that the piece the museum lent had gone on and off display often — and survived several earthquakes — during its three decades in LACMA's care. That piece was Craig Kauffman's "Untitled Wall Relief," a 1967 work of acrylic lacquer on vacuum-formed Plexiglas that measured 52 by 78 inches. Pompidou officials told LACMA it fell and shattered July 16, just before the show closed. "It's extremely upsetting," said LACMA Director Michael Govan. "We're still investigating all of the details." The other total loss was an untitled piece made by Peter Alexander in 1971 and lent by the Franklin Parrasch Gallery in New York. That resin work, which resembled a black bar about 8 feet high and 5 inches wide, fell overnight in the days before the show opened to the public in March. "I'd been sort of holding on to it preciously," Alexander said from his Santa Monica studio. "I don't know whether it's arrogance or passivity, but I've never dealt with anybody or any institution that works this way."

Accusing the French of arrogance or passivity? No, not the French, c'est impossible. If my post caused the French to retaliate against those artworks, then I'm not too arrogant to apologize to those artists. I should have realized how fragile, petty, and assinine the French were, and been aware that they would displace their anger in the most childish of ways. For that I'm sorry.

I'll miss that large scale pink and yellow artwork (the picture above doesn't do it justice, it's large (52"x78"), and very sculptural and evocative with its sinuous and sensuous undulations), it really iswas impressive in person, It's like a three dimensional Rothko, but in candy colors. That may sound like a put down, but it's not, that's a compliment.

. . . And I Ride a Pale Horse

You Are Death

You symbolize the end, which can be frightening. But you also symbolize the immortality of the soul. You represent transformation, rebirth of a new life. Sweeping away the past is part of this card, as painful as it may be. Your fortune: Don't worry, this card does not predict death itself. Instead it foreshadows the ending of an era of your life, one that is hard to let go of. But with the future great new things will come, and it's time to embrace them. Mourn for a while, but then face the future with humility and courage.

What Tarot Card Are You?

Has to be the shortest internet quiz ever, just type in your name, and get a card.

Of Photoshoppery, Mash Ups, and Marcel Duchamp

First the Photoshoppery (context can be found at this Althouse post, picture created by the blogger behind Sippican Cottage, who's been posting a nice series (1, 2, 3) of post all about old historic architecture in Providence, R.I., lately)


Now the mash up, WaPo has a contest where you create a candidate interview (at least that's the most likely setting for the questions posed) using a series of questions posed by Dana Milbank (still a jerk, but no funny hats) intercut with footage you provide. The footage can be anything that isn't copyrighted by someone other than yourself. So get out your webcams, or delve into the public domain, and do up something funny.

The accompanying article (plus online chat with Sara and Molly McRoberts, an 18-year old mash up artist connected with www.lostvideo.net (her most widely seen mash-up is Brokeback Island) is by Sara Kehaulani Goo, she has my favorite name of any journalist, ever.

Of course, I blame Marcel Duchamp for all this, Fountain, and L.H.O.O.Q. started it all (any list of most influential artists of the 20th century must have him either one or two, also he has one of the best epitaphs from his Wiki, "His grave bears the epitaph, "D'ailleurs, c'est toujours les autres qui meurent;" or "Anyway, it's always other people that die."".

UC Libraries + Google = Nerd Heaven

From the LAT

Google is keen to have access to UC's 34 million volumes from 100 libraries on 10 campuses, which is described as collectively the largest academic research library in the world. UC wants to delve more deeply into the Internet revolution with a deep-pockets partner like Google paying the costs of scanning books.

* * *

A UC deal with Google could be announced within a month, officials said. However, the arrangement first faces close scrutiny from the UC regents and the publishing world for potential copyright issues and concerns that UC might lose out on future revenue.

Last year, a group of U.S. publishers and the Authors Guild filed suits in federal court in New York against Google, contending that scanning copyrighted books without permission is copyright infringement, even if the books are not posted online or only tiny excerpts are shown.

Allan Adler, vice president of legal and government affairs for the Assn. of American Publishers, which is backing one of the lawsuits, said he understood why the search engine giant would want to sign up UC's enormous libraries. "It would be a significant addition with the sheer volume of the materials involved," he said.

Google's university partners are not defendants in the suits and UC probably would not be either, Adler said. "But on the other hand, it is rather curious that the University of California would announce this knowing the project is under a cloud of litigation at the moment," he said.

Having spent more than a few hours in a couple different UC libraries, and impressed with the depth of the collections at the campuses I've visited, I'd say this is great news, and Google couldn't have found a better partner in this project. But, as the article points out, copyright issues still cloud the extent that this project will be allowed to reach.

And Folks Wonder Why Toyota Has Overtaken Ford, and May Soon Overtake GM

Toyota will be the world's largest automaker, it's only a matter of time.

But this post isn't about Toyota, rather it's about the attention to detail and responsiveness to consumer needs that is a hallmark of the more successful companies throughout the globe, but especially in Japan.

Look no further than this piece about the Aico Co., makers of . . ., well, ummm, read the article, here's a quote

Getting the poop on Tokyo-based Aico. Co may be a bit more literal than most bargained for considering the novelty toy maker is best known for its scatological sense of humor, judging by Spa! (8/8).

Aico proudly boasts that is best products are shitty; which shouldn't really come as a surprise since it's Japan's prime producer of poop ashtrays -- turd-shaped cigarette butt receptacles that come in three different "flavors" of vegetarian, carnivore and piscivore.

Each of the ashtray types has its own distinctive appearance determined by the diet of its supposed consumer and supposed to provide authenticity.

"We first made a poop ashtray in 1988. Everybody sees poop every day of their lives, which made us wonder why people think it's so dirty," Nobuyoshi Masuzawa, a member of the Aico board of directors, tells Spa! "Our president at the time figured we could probably use poop to get ourselves a few laughs."

After a grueling process that involved the company scaling the globe to find a manufacturer capable of providing precisely the right textured materials so that it wasn't just producing any old crap, Aico settled on Spanish dirt and set about crafting its caca. Having the finest fake feces, though, simply wasn't enough and Aico got bogged down when it came to sales.

Would an American company scour the globe, just to find the proper dirt with which to make their novelties? Would an American company bother with three distinct styles of product based on the output of vegetarians, carnivores, and piscivores?

(of course, would consumers anywhere else buy this crap in sizable quantities? . . . OK, besides Germany, that is, they take their crap very seriously, too)

And, speaking of CRAP, check out the FUDGEREPORT.

Why Translate With Precision When You Can Translate With Truthiness

The following may not be a precise translation of recent statements from Cuba, but I suspect they are closer to the truth than what anyone else will tell you, from the desk of the 'Maximum Leader'

"The exact details of my health status are a state secret, sorry I'd love to tell you exactly how fantastically well I am, but due to the evil forces of evil doers, I think it's best that I don't divulge my exact status.

Also, my designated successor hasn't yet appeared in public, but that doesn't mean anything, I mean, if you saw the way he looked, and the way I looked, you'd think he was the one facing a health crisis and not me.

All this is to say, I'm not dead, really, I'm not, I'd be the first to know afterall, and believe me, if I died, I'd tell you all, because I love you so much, so in summation, Death to America, Long Live the Revolution, and The Yankees are Evil (both referring to the NY Yankees, and Americans in general)."

If It Weren't For the Link You'd Probably Accuse Me of Making This Up

Hospital fined for treating too many patients

(The link isn't to an old Monty Python sketch, rather it's to the Telegraph)

Why You MUST See SoaP Opening Weekend

Why must you see SoaP opening weekend, you ask, oh just a little thing like the beginning of THE END OF THE WORLD, that's all.

Snakes on a Plane is being released on Friday August 18, 2006, and it seems the nut in Iran might be dead set on bringing on the 'rapture' a few days later on Tuesday August 22, 2006.

Hopefully he doesn't have the means to cause the kind of destruction he dreams of when he lays his sick little mind to sleep.

But since this post is really about SoaP and not the beginning of the end times, let's discuss another one of the lovely and talented folks involved with this summer's greatest film Snakes on a Plane.

Julianna Marguiles plays flight attendant, Claire Miller, and no doubt she brings the same intelligence and presence she always does to any role.

***Sopranos Spoilers ahead, for those waiting for the DVDs of the most recent season, you've been warned*** Her most recent exposure has been as the back-sliding drug addicted real estate agent who first catches the eye of Tony, but then gets in a downwardly spiralling relationship with Christopher. She's most likely going to be a key player in the final season, unless of course she's killed in the very first episode, which is just as likely as her hanging around. ***Spoiler Over***

Below is a promo photo from the SoaP website featuring Julianna, no jokes about how you'd like to slither into various places on or around Ms. Marguiles, we have some standards here.

Welcome Back, Victoria, Long May She Reign

Victoria of Sundries fame, has begun blogging again, and hopefully will be able to do so in earnest, and with the same vigor and intelligence she showed previously.

She had planned on another week off, but the delicious news of Fidel's increased decrepitude was too delightful to let pass without comment.

Naturally, she's being re-added to the links on my sidebar.

Also, the more Cuban authorities say he's going to be fine, the more it seems likely that Fidel isn't ever coming back. Good riddance.

If the power struggle ends up being a bloody one, hopefully it will be mostly the fools and lackeys and toadies who suckled at the teat of their despotic leader who do the suffering. The Cuban people have already suffered enough.

Fidel Could Never Suffer As Much As His People Have, Or As Much As He's Earned

The Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, is sick. Time to party in Miami. Raul is weak, the military may not back him as whole-heartedly as they backed Fidel. While Fidel lingers like the nasty old fart that he is, the battle lines of the struggle for power will be drawn.

The cult of personality he built up around himself will most likely be non-transferable.

The question remains, will some strongman general emerge and maintain the ongoing criminal activity that masquerades as a government, or will the Cuban people seize the opportunity to rid themselves of their anachronistic Marxist misrule?

If the assholes step out of the way, the boomtown that Havana, along with the rest of Cuba, will become over the next five to ten years will be dizzying.

Problem is assholes rarely just step out of the way (especially the communist kind).