Monday, March 31, 2008

All You Need to Know



I don't often get to listen to vast right wing conspiracy radio, but I heard a Barack Obama sound bite today that I think says it all:

Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.
-Barack Obama

What a guy. What a way with words. "Punished with a baby"
Hope he makes it his campaign slogan.

Who Needs Food When You Can Drive?


When Time magazine admits there's a problem with a liberal scheme, you know it's in trouble. Sure it's beneficial for diesel mechanics that we have hippies driving around the US in biofuel busses. And I've got nothing against well to do liberals indulging their inner-smug, but really, food is for eating.

Meanwhile, by diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year. Harvests are being plucked to fuel our cars instead of ourselves. The U.N.'s World Food Program says it needs $500 million in additional funding and supplies, calling the rising costs for food nothing less than a global emergency. Soaring corn prices have sparked tortilla riots in Mexico City, and skyrocketing flour prices have destabilized Pakistan, which wasn't exactly tranquil when flour was affordable.

Biofuels do slightly reduce dependence on imported oil, and the ethanol boom has created rural jobs while enriching some farmers and agribusinesses. But the basic problem with most biofuels is amazingly simple, given that researchers have ignored it until now: using land to grow fuel leads to the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon.

Backed by billions in investment capital, this alarming phenomenon is replicating itself around the world. Indonesia has bulldozed and burned so much wilderness to grow palm oil trees for biodiesel that its ranking among the world's top carbon emitters has surged from 21st to third according to a report by Wetlands International....

And btw, it's not just corn that goes up in price when crops are diverted to biofuels. When grains go up in price, farm animals, which feed on that grain, go up in price too. Last year I noticed a frozen goose in my local supermarket that sat in the freezer from before Thanksgiving until after Christmas. I figured it would go on sale but if it did I missed it. Why did it sit so long? It was marked at $47. For a goose. What? Maybe an 8 pound goose. Thanks a lot hippies.

With Friends Like These



With God's Name ~ Quran 49:13 Oh Mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. The best of you, in the sight of God, is the best in conduct. Allah is the best knower, aware.

As Salaam Alaikum, (The Peace of God Be Upon You)
and welcome to Muslim Americans for Obama'08.

Muslim American for Obama' 08 is a grassroots initiative to support the presidential campaign for Barack Obama 2008. Our sincere intention is to serve as a resource for Muslim and non-Muslim Americans to get involved and learn more about the political process and Barak Obama as a person and presidential candidate.....


Bowling History Made




Can he bowl? Of course he can bowl, he's Obama. And a first in the history of the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center: with one roll, Obama knocked down 11 pins. Not only that, after the machine reset the pins, 6 more fell down. They say the candidate put on regular rental bowling shoes; though they were unneeded, because he floated several inches above the lane.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cheese Und Crackers

I knew I was still G-rated.


The Blog-O-Cuss Meter - Do you cuss a lot in your blog or website?


In fact I'm cleaner than 84% of all websites who took the test.
I'll have to recheck as we get closer to November.

h/t OregonGuy
Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating


The Swedish Joke





There's only one Swedish joke, but with variations numbering in the millions.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Friday, March 28, 2008

Happy Days, for Now

Woo-hoo:

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.

In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel....

Course, at this very moment, thousands of professional stick-in-the-muds are frantically looking for some endangered species that will make actually drilling for the oil impossible. Like the Elktoe (Alasmidonta marginata) Mussel, which, as far as we know, will not mate if oil drilling equipment is in close proximity. Well do you want to risk it, earth-raper? Sure, drill for oil, and deprive my grandchildren the comfort of living with a full compliment of mollusks.

Another Zombie Link


Another zombie ha-ha:


I've replayed this several times since first seeing it. It's just strange. The kind of wonderfully odd stuff you get on the ward when Medication Time gets delayed for some reason.

I'd like to think my wake will be similar to this. (and far, far, in the future)

Quiz


Can you spot the professional wrestler? The Elvis fan?
How about, can you spot the next Muslim outrage?

That's Geert Wilders, whose film, Fitna, has become the next outrage in waiting. Note that the outrage started before the offense, and be prepared to stock up on souvenir wooden shoes in support of the Dutch. (did I ever confess that my disturbingly large Havarti cheese purchases in support of Denmark were actually supporting a cheese factory in Wisconsin?)

Economic Policy

I know I saw a clip of the hope and courage, brightness and light candidate saying that he would put a moratorium on foreclosures but I've not seen it in print. Perhaps it's gotten lost amongst his other economic remedies, i.e. fixing things, making the economy better, eliminating the bad, and installing prosperity.

I really hope this gets attention if it is going to be an Obama proposal. It's the kind of thing Hugo Chavez would do; or Jimmy Carter.

You can stop the banks from making a profit, but how do you get them to continue making loans? (assuming you don't bankrupt them) Remember wage and price controls? Government intrusion into the capitalist system doesn't often turn out as expected.

Visual Aid


Attorney Gloria Allred (L) and her client Mandi Hamlin pose with a mannequin and nipple rings in her Los Angeles office after a news conference March 27, 2008 in this photograph provided by Allred. Allred on Thursday said Hamlin was forced by the Transportation Security Administration to remove her nipple rings before she was allowed to board a flight in Texas on February 24, 2008.

Thank goodness we have Ms. Allred and the AP to show potential jurors where that would be. This will be helpful should the case go to trial because it will eliminate time wasting questions, such as: "These rings, did she have to remove her shoes to get to them?" and "Would these rings have obstructed her vision in the event of an emergency egress from the plane?"


***Update:
Graciously, Nick Nolte agreed to nipple piercings for purposes of demonstration.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Half a Job



I didn't get far with this photoshop. I added the "no justice - no Pez" in my standard ridicule-them way. Sort of a "no soup for you" thing. Anyway, it struck me: How can you further make fun of someone who cuts a wig from her bathroom rug, and gags herself with a banner made from her tablecloth and a magic marker? And that nose ring? Mmmmm. So it's sort of an affront towards God to go over-gilding His lilies; I mean, can I make the woman more foolish than she already is? Probably not.

I stole her image from Zombie, by the way. Go here to see more magnificent idiots. It's a San Francisco protest, but oddly, there were no naked old men at this one.

Dead Ringer?



OK, maybe separated-art-birth is a stretch, but they could be cousins.

More Confessions

I've been waiting for ScrappleFace to do David Paterson - I knew it was just a matter of time:

(2008-03-25) — New York Gov. David Paterson, who replaced disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer this month, today added to his previous revelations of marital infidelity, and marijuana and cocaine use, by claiming that he has also sniffed glue, tagged subway cars with graffiti, bet on dog fights, driven with his seatbelt unbuckled while talking on a cell phone and fired several shots from the grassy knoll on Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

At his regular daily confessional news conference, Gov. Paterson played down the significance....


"And that takes us up to what I call 'the incident at the convent'...."


Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I'd Like a Show of Hands

OK, I'd like to see a show of hands; who among you ever
shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die?


Freedom of the Press


Thank goodness for freedom of the press:

(CNN) -- Of the 28,000 commercial airline flights that take to the skies on an average day in the United States, fewer than 1 percent are protected by on-board, armed federal air marshals, a nationwide CNN investigation has found....

I dunno, all this information is good and all; but couldn't they also tell us how to get past the security checkpoints?

Sheesh, people. Just because you can publish something doesn't mean you should.

Harry Reid Motivates


clickembiggen

Monday, March 24, 2008

Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time

Suddenly it dawned on him: virtually every bad
experience he had ever had began with his older
brother saying, "Come on, Gary, it will be fun."


Where Is that Magnifying Glass?

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Did You Get a Haircut?

Brought to you by one of the mirrors from Satan's Carnival.


clickenbiggen

It's Working



Good news for the weekend:

A growing number of foreign fighters are leaving or attempting to flee Iraq as U.S. and Iraqi forces have weakened al-Qaeda and forced its members from former strongholds, U.S. military officials say....

Foreign militants constitute about 10% of al-Qaeda's strength in Iraq, but Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said they make up about 90% of the suicide bombers.



Friday, March 21, 2008

A Typical White Person's Thoughts

Noel Sheppard has an interesting speculation over at Newsbusters. Could it be that John Kerry helped Obama with The Speech That Changed the World?

If media would have taken the time, they would have found that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) actually spoke about this issue in far greater detail during a rather controversial address given at Yale University on March 30, 1992.

Also, now that we're not talking about race even more than we were not talking about it before, I think it would be good to remind everyone of the huge acceptance on the right when Colin Powell was mentioned as a presidential candidate. We liked the idea of a black president, even though Colin Powell wasn't the conservative ideal. So when I reject Barrack Obama, it's not because of his multicultural face, it's because it's attached to a head filled with bad ideas.

I don't usually do predictions, I foresee two things:
  • When Obama loses, many on the Left will say it's racism.
  • Before summer is out, Chris Mathews will declare that he's gay, and will plead with Barrack to leave Michele and move to Paris with him.
No wait three things:
  • The Orioles will thoroughly disappoint again this year.


***Update: More political news:
Looks like after a day of her yammering the Dalai Lama finally got fed up and smothered Nancy Pelosi. "Shut up woman," he might have said, "It's not always about you."






Puzzle


Writing a comment just now I was reminded of Mu Alpha Theta, an honor society for high school students who like math and have decided that they don't get beat up enough as it is. Their site has a a puzzle page, from which this was taken.


Here is a map of the newly discovered cities and waterways on our nearest neighbor planet, Mars. Start at the city marked with T, at the south pole, and see if you can spell a complete English sentence by making a tour of all the cities, visiting each city only once, and returning to the starting point.

When this puzzle originally appeared in a magazine, more than fifty thousand readers reported "There is no possible way." Yet it is a very simple puzzle.


I'll cut down a perfectly good tree in honor of the first person to either solve it, or who is industrious enough to go to the site and look up the solution.

Buzz Goes Kinetic

This isn't new, but I hadn't seen it before. Buzz Aldrin finally has heard enough from a truther doofus we-never-landed-on-the-moon bozo:



"Let me put it this way: Whap!"

h/t: Plime

Newscast From Our Robot Dominated Future

From the Onion, har:



H/t: BoingBoing

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Lets Rise Above Race.... Sometimes

Powerline came up with the audio I've been hearing about all day:

I've expressed admiration for Barack Obama's political skills, but maybe, in a time of stress, his inexperience is beginning to show. In an interview earlier today, he referred to his grandmother--the one he slandered in his speech on Tuesday--as a "typical white person."


Yikes, he thinks all white people live in fear of passing black people on the street? Don't get me wrong, all people are afraid of passing some people on the street. Take the clown here; would Obama mind walking past him on a nearly deserted street? And if, as I suspect, the clown made him nervous, does that mean he's afraid of clowns? And... does that make him "a typical black person"?

Now It Makes Sense



OK, So now we know where his ability to mesmerize comes from. The
question now is: why, oh why, did they cancel Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Nobody's ever going to explain that one to my satisfaction.


Protest in the DC



It's good to see the DC Police have gone back to deflating the protesters before
they load them in the bus. It makes them much easier to stack.



Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat



NPR, of all places, has this:

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.
Ooh, Ooh! Mr Kotter, Mr Kotter! I can answer that one: They're telling you you're wrong.
"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis [scientist, JPL] says. So the buildup of heat on Earth may be on a brief hiatus. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."
So "very slight cooling" = "less rapid warming"?
"I suspect that we'll able to put this together with a little bit more perspective and further analysis," Trenberth says. "But what this does is highlight some of the issues and send people back to the drawing board."
I'll translate: "We have to keep reworking the theory until we can make it reach the desired conclusion again."

h/t: Tim Blair

Automotive Excellence



No, the question is, do you know what it means.


The Audacity of Grandma Speech


I've been reading what others have been saying about The Audacity of Grandma Speech all morning. Almost best is the reaction of those who bought it hook, line, and grandma.

The Hillary campaign must be scrambling now, trying to find an old Rodham homophobe relative for the candidate to gently condemn with nuance and Christian disappointment.

And what a load of nuance it is. "I'm too much of a Christian to separate myself from this old racist SOB. And anyway, don't we all love a racist kook, somewhere?"

It will be interesting to see what happens at Obama's church now. What will happen when the congregation is denied access to its weekly White Man is the Root of All Evil diatribes? Will it have to become a real Christian Church? I suspect it will, at least until after the election.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Throw Grandma From the Train



From NRO:

"The Throw Your Grandmother Under the Bus Speech" [Rich Lowry]

That's what a friend of mine calls it. She only raised him—to get compared to a raving anti-American pastor in his hour of political need.

I haven't read the whole speech, but that's what jumped out at me, too. "We're all bigots, even grandma, so let's rise above it..." And yes, his grandma is still alive.

I've Had This Nightmare


News of the Weird:

Construction worker Brian Persaud's malpractice lawsuit is scheduled for trial in March against the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital based on a 2003 incident in which he was taken there (after being clobbered on the head by a plank at work) and given a rectal exam. Persaud was alert when informed of the imminent exam, but then went nuts, resisting the doctor and was sedated so that the test could be performed. The doctor defended the exam, citing the need to check for spinal cord injury. [San Francisco Chronicle-AP, 1-16-08]

Why Do They Hate?



Child Abuse:

Following the "demise" of the Hamas Mickey Mouse character "Farfur" at the hands of a belligerent Israeli soldier, Hamas' television station has introduced a Bugs Bunny lookalike who declares "I will eat Jews," a British newspaper reported Wednesday.

According to the Daily Mail, Hamas-controlled TV in Gaza has introduced 'Assud', a rabbit, claiming that he sneaked into Gaza from Egypt after the border was breached last month.

Farfur, the Mickey Mouse lookalike who called for the terror attacks against Jews was beaten to death by an Israel Defense Forces soldier, only to be succeeded by Nahul the bee.

Nahoul was killed a week later when an Israeli siege prevented him from receiving medical treatment.

Question: When will the Islamic mothers love their children more than they hate the Jews?
Answer: Not soon.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Ax Men

BOTTOM BIND: One of the five basic tree positions commonly encountered while bucking. A tree in a bottom bind situation is tensioned on the top and compressed on the bottom.
Could it be? Finally a series on the very first profession: lumberjacking? Yup, Ax Men is a new series that might just educate the public on the lives of lumberjacks, and those who pretend to be lumberjacks. Being one of those two myself, I'm proud to see the profession finally getting the attention it deserves.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Michael Moore, Call the Movers

Cubans will be allowed for the first time to own DVD players and computers, according to an internal government memo leaked to Reuters news agency.

Curbs may also be lifted on video machines, electric pressure and rice cookers, microwaves and car alarms, as well as 19-inch and 24-inch TV sets.

A top government official confirmed to the BBC such plans were being adopted.

But it is thought air conditioners will not be available until 2009 and toasters until the year after due to limited power supplies.
Think about it, the perfect, state of the art, free, ne plus ultra of Health Care...... plus toasters! Well, in a few years, anyway.

How does Michael Moore justify living in this country another single day?

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Sad News


I've mentioned The Advisor before; it's a publication of the Multi National Security Transition Command - Iraq. In case you haven't noticed, good news from Iraq isn't considered news by the main-stream media. The Advisor is a semimonthly source for the news that you can't get, or would have to dig to get, from the MSM. Staff Sgt Christopher Frost was an integral part of The Advisor, sometimes listed as editor, sometimes as reporter.

Sadly, last week the DOD released:

Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost, 24, of Waukesha, Wis., died March 3 near Bayji, Iraq in a crash of an Iraqi Army Mi-17 helicopter. He was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Burqa Sting

You see, we work with very young people, and sometimes they kind of create their own truth. You hope something like this never happens.


Dutch TV station 101tv had an actress wearing Western clothing drop some packages on a sidewalk, then filmed as lots of people rushed to her aid and helped her pick up the groceries.

Then they put the same actress in a burqa, and had her drop the groceries again. This time nobody helped her. "Islamophobia! Bigotry!"

Uh... except that, unfortunately for 101tv, another crew from a different TV station happened to be there at the same time—and they filmed as person after person did approach the burqa-clad woman to help, but were chased away by the 101tv crew, who shouted things like, "Keep walking! We're filming!" and "Guys, stop that!"
Translation: here, scroll down.

Firefox 3 T-Shirt Contest



So the Firefox start page has a new logo contest, Enter, Join, Win, Change Your Life. OK, so I don't expect to win but just fiddling around, I paint the above graphic in Corel. Then I read how to submit.... Those nozzles. They want SVG graphics only. Which is what? I dunno. But it's not doable with Corel Paint. Like sure, these guys write browsers but they can't figure out how to put a BMP or JPG on a T-shirt? Plus, to submit, or discuss it, you've got to join a private flikr group. (please enter your e-mail again, and answer the security question... to activate your account...) I mean Cheese und Crackers, what happened to ease of use? Enter, Join, Win, Change Your Life! Well, I'll pass I guess.
See the "3" on his chest? Subtle, huh? Yeah, well I said I didn't expect to win.


Thursday, March 13, 2008

Obama's Spiritual Guidance



Thank God for the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright.


***Update:

Gotta Love the NYT


Their headline is: Israeli Raid in West Bank Imperils Talk of Truce

So rockets rain down on Israel, but when, finally, Israel slaps back, that imperils talk of truce?

h/t: LGF

No Saddam-Terror Link?

No, those headlines you're seeing only say no provable al Qaeda link. From the executive summary:

The Iraqi Perspectives Project (IPP) review of captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism. Despite their incompatible long-term goals, many terrorist movements and Saddam found a common enemy in the United States. At times these organizations worked together, trading access for capability.
So why isn't the headline "Terror Link Found"? Because most people never read past the headline. And so we have news services giving the exact opposite impression of what a pentagon study concluded. How is that news?

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

New and Improved Sins

The Vatican's new seven social sins are:

  • ``Bioethical' violations such as birth control
  • ``Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research
  • Drug abuse
  • Polluting the environment
  • Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
  • Excessive wealth
  • Creating poverty
You can argue the individual sins; me, I'm just happy when they don't name me specifically.

The Give-a-Hoot, Don't-Pollute one is a little silly, in that the Warmists are using it to justify doing the last three sins. Al Gore will be getting rich keeping energy out of the hands of those who need it most; and all the while, he'll be out-gassing like a Ford plant. What a racket.

Protest



There must be one of these a day in Tehran.


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Mary Ann or Ginger?



I always thought the answer to that question was, "both".


Now we see that 'Mary Ann' from Gilligan's Island has been busted. They got her for possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, and driving like an actor. I am mildly shattered.

Just Words and Stuff


Germaine Greer, the literary giant who saw fit to criticize Steve Irwin within days of his death:

"I don't like Hillary because she's so bossy and cold and manipulative and stuff, and I don't think having her in power is going to make any difference, basically, because she will have the same set of advisers," Greer said.
Because "she's so bossy and cold and manipulative and stuff." What eloquence.

Clinton Misstep



It was a mistake for the Clinton camp to discuss taking Obama on as the VP candidate. What? Did they think Obama wouldn't hear about it? The man hears everything.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Better Late Than Never

Spent most of the day doing Dr's appointments so it just figures this would break when I was incommunicado.... Anyway, by request:


(clickabiggen)

Changing Hopes




Friday, March 07, 2008

Hi, Guys!




Archangel Obama



I know I'll probably pick up a few extra summers by the lake of fire for this but I couldn't help myself. Go forth Archangel Obama and extinguish the future.

Over the top? Not when you consider:

"It's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often."
-Chris Matthews

Nancy Opens Her Big Mouth Again

Watch out John McCain, Nancy Pelosi is accusing you of weeding out fraud and abuse in DOD contracting:

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker, said Boeing had been on course to supply the US Air Force with tankers until Mr McCain "intervened".

"My understanding is that it was on course for Boeing before. I mean, the thought was that it would be a domestic supplier for it," Ms Pelosi told reporters.

"Senator McCain intervened, and now we have a situation where the contract may be - this work may be outsourced."

The air force originally chose Boeing to supply it with 100 tankers. But Congress cancelled the deal after it emerged that Darleen Druyun, a former top air force acquisitions official, had held illegal job discussions with Boeing while still negotiating the deal. Ms Druyun admitted boosting the value of the deal to help Boeing.

You can't win.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Let Me In



Group Hugs


MESA, Ariz. -- A school policy banning student hugging prompted dozens of east Valley students to protest with a giant group hug across the street from campus.

Sure, hugs everywhere, that is, until the Chess club and Math club let out, "Hey guys, what's going on? Hug Protest? Sure the Math club supports the idea. What? It's over? Huh? Go home? Hey, we want to protest too."

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Little Roscoe



From Drudge, the worlds smallest gun. In case you fear getting robbed by leprechauns, or garden gnomes, or something.

Letter to the Editor


From the possibly polychromatic James Taranto, a letter to the editor of the Journal Times of Racine, Wis.:

I agree with Kim Morrison that Barack Obama would be a great president. I have hope that he can provide free health insurance for everyone.

I have hope that he can bring our soldiers home and make the world a safer place. I have hope that he can protect Americans from poverty by printing more money at the mints.

And, I have hope that he can make me a taller, more attractive, wealthier person, immune to all illnesses. The best part is that all of these will be accomplished at absolutely no cost to me.

Some skeptics would say that he can't do these things because he hasn't had enough leadership experience, foreign policy experience, or government experience. Some would say that Obama can't provide for all our needs without doubling taxes. And, some would say that he hasn't provided one piece of a specific plan to reach these goals.

Well, to those people I ask, "Where is your hope?"

All these years I've been creating accomplishments and gatherine [sic] experience to list on my resume. From now on, I'll just list my hopes and plans. All that work was so unnecessary.

Angie Smucker
Racine


Carbon Used, Alert the Press


About that "Plane flies five passengers from US to London" flap? I knew this was the reason:

"With such a small passenger load we did consider whether we could cancel the flight and re-accommodate the five remaining passengers on other flights.

"However, this would have left a plane load of west-bound passengers stranded in London Heathrow who were due to fly back to the US on the same aircraft.
Understand something, econuts: Nobody is more averse to burning fuel unnecessarily than the airlines. They're the ones to pay the fuel bill, and they've got people whose only job is to make the system as efficient as possible. Spending $60,000 to do a job that will bring in less than $4000 makes them very uncomfortable. Besides, the head econut, Al Gore, does this all the time. His reasons are: he has too much money, it's very convenient, and you're not paying attention.

Ebay Finally Gets Interesting


So, I'll just start saving for a new car over again.


Hate Cilantro?

God made cilantro
if ten plagues were not enough
it was his backup

Could it be that some people hate cilantro so much that they feel moved to write haikus about it? Well only nine pages of them. Ihatecilantro.com seems to be very successful with just one simple underlying theme: the hatred of cilantro.

I cook quite a bit and I've run into these people before, in fact, I'm married to one of them. And I long ago quit using cilantro in anything. At first I thought that it was excessive use of cilantro that bugged these people, but experimentation proved to me that if they can taste it at all, even just a little, the dish was ruined for them.

Which leads me to believe that it's a genetic thing. Some people can taste things in cilantro that others can't. There are probably just as many anchovy haters out there but I don't think they taste something in anchovies that I don't. They just don't care for them.

Anyway, if you hate the stuff, this site's for you. I didn't click around excessively but it looks like a fine place to vent. And judging from the body language of the old guy in the Nick Nolte shirt, some venting has long been needed.


One of Tim Osmar's genetically altered sled dogs looks out of its pen before the
start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, Sunday, March 2, 2008.


Darn it. Missed the Iditarod again this year. Sigh.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The Press Takes Off Their "Vote Obama" Pins?


Seen the SNL parody of MSM types massaging Obama? The best one of them seems to be offline but there are several. Now finally, since it looks like Obama has got the nomination wrapped up, the press puts away their Obama placards and asks a few tough questions:

The day before primaries in Ohio and Texas that could effectively seal the Democratic presidential nomination for him, a smiling Obama strode out to a news conference at a veterans facility here. But the grin was quickly replaced by the surprised look of a man bitten by his own dog.

Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a question about him losing the Jewish vote.

"Bitten by his own dog," I think about sums it up.

As an R, I would much rather see us running against Hillary. Obama's support seems to be a cult of personality, and I have now clue how you fight that. We can't send out an army of deprogrammers. And that's what it would take I'm afraid.

The graphic isn't mine, by the way. There are actually people out there giving the man radiant light, like an angel, or the Heart of Jesus. See what I'm talking about?


Spooky




Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, disturbing, but in a creepy kind of way.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Denier Denies



Re: the Academy Award winning French (pa-touie) actress, Marion Cotillard, who thought 9-11 was a hoax. There be fiction here:

The 32-year-old French actress became the toast of Tinseltown after winning an Academy Award for her portrayal of tortured chanteuse Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose.

The award plucked Cotillard from relative obscurity and booked her a place on the A-list.

But an interview given to a French magazine more than a year ago has threatened her prospects in the US.

Cotillard was quoted as saying she doubted whether the attack on the World Trade Centre was genuine, saying: "I think we are lied to about a number of things."

She even went on to doubt whether the US really did put a man on the moon in 1969.

But faced with losing out on a career in the notoriously patriotic Hollywood film industry, the actress has claimed her comments were misunderstood and taken out of context.

Oh sure she still thinks it was a hoax. Nut-jobs don't suddenly become deep thinkers. But you expect someone to lie to rehab their reputation. The full bore fantasy though is, "notoriously patriotic Hollywood film industry," I mean, the what?


Big Fans




Sunday, March 02, 2008

Been Waiting for This

"Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions," Chavez said on his weekly TV show. "The air force should mobilize. We do not want war."
-Sean Penn's friend, Hugo

I don't know why but the "10 battalions to the frontier... tank batallions" reminded me of Bob Dylan's 115th Dream:
I ordered some suzette, I said "Could you please make that crepe"
Think Sean Penn will criticize his friend, Hugo Chavez? I'm thinking not. For the Sean Penns, peace is only a device handy for opposing the United States in a conflict without having to admit that you're on the other side. I'll have some battalions, could you please make that tank.

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