Clemson Fans

In Tehran even. Roar Tigers roar.

Astounding

I'm sure everyone has seen the link on drudge but I just had to echo it. So John Travolta "spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using 'alternative methods of fuel' – after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson." And his last year's flying alone produced 800 tons of CO2. hahahahahahaa!

Do these people have any clue how foolish they look? Well, John Travolta is a Scientologist so his participation in this theater of the absurd is just icing on the cake. The only way they could top this is if Al Gore took Travolta aside to lecture him on his "apparent" hypocricy. Maybe Madonna could lecture him on chastity at the same time.

A Little Joke

Over at the Corner:

I'm Off [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
to talk to the Mormon students. If you don't hear from me by noon, send some evangelicals to save me.

Made me chuckle this morning... Then I thought, why is it that the joke would work with almost any two religions substituted for Mormons and Evangelicals? Any religion except Islam. "I'm going to go meet with the Lutherans. If I'm not out by noon, send in the Baptists to wake me up..."

But no: "I'm going to meet with the Muslims, tell Jack Bauer to wait near the mosque.." And why is that? First off there's CAIR, who sue like Californians. You reacted to a bunch a bunch of surly clerics, glaring at the other passengers and trying to scare the children? Well, we sue you then. Then there's Daniel Pearl. That's the real reason Muslims can't be chided, can't be in on the joke. With too many of them, it's no joke.

Dangerous Place

***Update:From the way-back machine:

Time Magazine, Monday, Jun. 24, 1974:
"Whatever the cause of the cooling trend, its effects could be extremely serious, if not catastrophic. Scientists figure that only a 1% decrease in the amount of sunlight hitting the earth's surface could tip the climatic balance, and cool the planet enough to send it sliding down the road to another ice age within only a few hundred years."

***Update #2: Proving my willingness to run even the lamest joke into the ground:

Save the Planet

Just an idea of what lies ahead if you think we can use huge fields of photovoltaic cells to cut consumption of fossil fuels. From a Reuters story:

SERPA, Portugal (Reuters) - One of the world's largest solar energy plants, covering the hills of a valley dotted with olive groves in southern Portugal, started delivering electricity to about 8,000 homes on Wednesday.

The solar panels, which are raised around 2 meters off the ground, cover an area of 60 hectares (150 acres) and produce 11 megawatts of electricity in one of Europe's sunniest spots -- Portugal's poor agricultural Alentejo region.

Those numbers look a little optimistic but even so: According to the DOE their electric generating capacity in 2002 was 10.4 gigawatts. So you'd need ten of these 11 megawatt solar plants to get up to a whopping 1% energy from solar. And that's in "one of Europe's sunniest spots".

Never mind that these numbers have been gussied up. Dividing those 11 megawatts between the 8000 homes, each household gets 1,300 watts. That will power one, fairly small, room air conditioner. Heck, the female types use that much to blow-dry their hair. Sure, I know that in Algortopia the women will all dry their hair by cracking the whip and making the buggy go faster, but still, we want our coffee makers to perk, right?

I'm not against renewables. Hydro power generates 20% of Portugal's electrical energy. (and in 2001, a wet year, it generated 30%) So look at the numbers: this is a state of the art project in one of the sunniest places anywhere, and it still is a half a drop in the bucket. Hydro and new-ku-lar have hugely more potential and they don't require armies of Portuguese with squeegees (an image featured in most of my nightmares) to keep the bird crap off a sea of panels.

Settling For Less

BEIJING (Reuters) - The world's tallest man, whose search for a bride covered the world, ended up marrying a woman from his home town nearly half his age and more than two feet shorter, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.

Nobody Wins in These Feuds

And considering the feuders, that's a good thing.
Seen at the Torontoist:


It's a hack of course, Rosie would balk at the Donald Trump Prenup in any case. (especially vol. 3 and 4)
And, because you just can't see it too often:

It's Not Me

I figure it's best to nip these internet rumors in the bud, before they take on a life of their own. You may have heard:

Ageing actor Sylvester Stallone is to revive another of his most famous film characters - John Rambo - for one last mission.

But unlike his character in last year's Rocky Balboa, in which he was acclaimed for having a buff body, he will use a 30-year-old body double.

OK, so listen to me now, hear me later: It's not me. OK, the rumor may spread anyway but it won't be because of neglected bud-nipping on my part.

That Hillary Video

David Boaz reminded me of why that 1984 Hillary Video is so appropriate:

The image of Hillary Clinton on a giant screen reminded me of one of the proposals in her book, It Takes a Village.

The book epitomizes the nanny state in contemporary America. Beginning with the sensible if overused proverb that "it takes a village" to raise children, she ends up calling on all 300 million Americans to raise each child.

Remember that colossally bad idea? Other than the spousal unit, I think I'll require no coparents at this time. Thanks so very much for asking though.

Staying Under the Branson Line

Now this global warming thing is gaining traction we should spotlight the glorious people who got us here. From the wikipedia entry:

While an avid advocate for the environment, David has been accused of living a less-than-green lifestyle, leading critics to tag her a "Gulfstream Liberal" or "Learjet Liberal." In an interview with The Guardian in November of 2006, Ms. David acknowledged that owning two homes on opposite sides of the country and flying in a private jet several times per year is a bit at odds with her message to others. In the interview she notes "Yes, I take a private plane on holiday a couple of times a year, and I feel horribly guilty about it. I probably shouldn't do it. But the truth is, I'm not perfect. This is not about perfection. I don't expect anybody else to be perfect either. That's what hurts the environmental movement – holding people to a standard they cannot meet. That just pushes people away."

Critics note that every hour of flying time in a mid-size private jet emits 6000 pounds of CO2 while every hour of commercial flying time emits just 230 pounds of CO2 per passenger. With per-capita emissions in the US at about 20,000 pounds of CO2 per year, three 10-hour flights (roundtrip) in a private jet for holiday represents 180,000 pounds of CO2, or the equivalent CO2 output of 9 people in the US for an entire year.

Sure, it would be easy to criticize. But remember, one of her cars is a Prius.

The ERA Again?

It's great to see that the Democrats are going back to the issues that have worked so well for them in the past, ie universal health care, and the ERA.

Does government run health care sound like something to be desired? Think of a health clinic with all the efficiency and caring of the Motor Vehicle Administration. I can't wait. "I'm sorry sir, that pacemaker battery should be good for another year. If you're going to insist that it's dead you'll have to make an appointment with Exceptions and Exemptions - and please stop clutching your chest, sir."

And now the ERA has been dug up and propped in front of the voting public. And it's being sponsored by Ted Kennedy? If he really cared about women, he'd push for universal swimming lessons. Course, the ERA will do more for lawyers than it will for women, so maybe Ted's support is understandable.

Please, please, please Democrats, keep these two in front of us until the election.

The Dogs Can Read My Mind

This is spooky... so I'm in the kitchen trimming chicken for a sofrito chicken/rice dish I like to call "Castro's Dead - Have Some Chicken" (which is very similar to my popular "Castro's Dead - Have Some Pork" only with a few ingredient changes) So anyway, I'm trimming these absolutely huge chicken breasts when I come across a bit that is too ragged to stay on the breast but too big to just toss out, so I think, "I'll just fry this up for the dogs." So, and this is the spooky part, as soon as I make the decision, I hear the click-click-click of doggy nails on linoleum. They skitter to a stop in front of me and look up. Yes? Got something for us? Like I said, spooky.

And this isn't the first time it's happened. Last week I was making the kid a sandwich when they came skittering in.... Though, to be fair, the thought they "read" that time was more like an idle thought, and it concerned Angelina Jolie, not food scraps. Still, spooky, huh?

OK, so I know, they probably just heard some kitchen noise and took a cue from that. I don't really think the dogs can read my mind. It's bad enough that they tell me to do things.... Hey, wasn't it Son of Sam who said that a dog was telling him to shoot people? How foolish. If dogs could tell us to do things it'd be like, "Give me that hamburger, just set it down on the coffee table and walk away. Come on, you're full anyway. Set down the hamburger."

The Scientists Get One Right

The Scientists took a break from the cell phones give you cancer/don't give you cancer/give you cancer/don't give you cancer/give you cancer/don't give you cancer research and finally brought us some news we can use:

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Chocoholics were given further reason to rejoice on Saturday when a small clinical study showed that dark chocolate improves the function of blood vessels.

See? now that's something I don't mind spending money to find out. Trouble is, now that this research is over, they'll refocus on their raison d’être: finding fault with Chinese food.

GOP Recruitment Poster

Just doing my part in the struggle...

(click to enhugeimize)

***Update: Ann's practice shots. See, you get your range and trajectory with pandas and then use polar bears when you want "fire for effect." You should see the effect a torqued-off polar bear can have when he lands in the middle of a picnic or other outdoor gathering. (although a panda traveling at those speeds can also be fairly disconcerting)

Edwards Will Carry On

Tell you the truth, I don't know what to think about John Edwards' decision to keep his presidential campaign going despite his wife's illness. Seems to me that his wife's wishes are most important at this point - and she may be as excited as he is to have a shot at the White House. I can see someone in her position saying that there's nothing she'd rather do than continue as part of this campaign. If that's the case, then more power to her. I, along with many others I'm sure, will pray for her.

As to what this will mean to the campaign, well, who knows? The situation shouldn't serve to curtail criticism of John. But I imagine that, even if it's on a subconscious level, concern for Elizabeth Edwards will keep us Edwards critics a little subdued. He'll have to quit asking for it though.

Baby Bear Bobbers

Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin leads Germany's Thomas Lurz in the final stages of the men's 10-kilometer ocean swim.... but, like many of us, doesn't have time to save the drowning baby polar bear. If you go to the beach this summer, keep an eye out. Saint Al says these little fellas are everywhere.

I don't doubt it. Something has been denting my prop.

Just a Slip

Al Gore's latest invention, the solar powered halo.

"Change the way I live? That's not the point, see, wait, is this thing slipping? Just a second here senator, I have to fix something.. OK, so see it's like this: when the babies catch fire you don't read a science fiction book and throw them out with the bath water. No. You go to the doctor when the children start combusting. And make no mistake they're smoldering already... Is this thing on straight? Thank you. As I was saying, you have to get the ignited babies out of the crib, and you know, stay low because smoke rises, but stay low, and basically drop and roll, and get those incendiary offspring to the doctor. The doctor's office is the place for enkindled children. And, of course, I'm the doctor. So I guess you'd have to say no, not change per se. Look, we can hardly see each other for all the baby smoke and your solution is to inconvenience the doctor. Are you there, senator? I'm sorry I can't see you for all this baby smoke. Hello? Hello?"

Cathy Seipp

Word is that Cathy Seipp, who has struggled with lung cancer for four years now, won't be getting out of the hospital this time. That is, the doctors think she won't - she has a history of doing better than what her doctors expect.

If you're unfamillar with her writing you chould check out her archives at her blog, or at NRO. One of my favorite lines:

"I read somewhere that there are all these statements in the Koran about how dirty dogs are. Same stuff in the Old Testament too. But you can go beyond that too. I say don't trust a religion if they haven't gone beyond disliking dogs."

God bless, Cathy.

***Update: Another favorite:
[concerning clueless criticism of the VP's hunting accident]

No one knows better what really happens during quail-hunting accidents than a drunk attorney.

and

Before [Cathy's dad] changed his granddaughter's first diaper, he had to steel himself for a week by staring at dog droppings on the street.

So many of her lines make me laugh out loud.
I sticky-ed this to the top for a few days...

Cathy Seipp, Rest in Peace

Cathy passed on this afternoon. I hope that Maia takes consolation in knowing that her mom lived her life so thoroughly and so well. What an amazing woman.

Polarizing Bears

I was tickled to see that some envirozealots don't know that polar bears swim out to icebergs to hunt. Even more giggle-making is finding out that other envirozealots want to kill this baby bear because it's life isn't up to their ideal polar bear standard.

"The zoo must kill the bear," said spokesman Frank Albrecht. "Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws."

So I have to wonder if we can't get the zealots together on this. The bears-must-not-swim folks and the inconvenienced-bears-must-die folks should get together, arm themselves with clubs, and set out to repair nature. The bears could use the snack.

h/t: Stonestead

New Book

I was excited when I saw this description of Al Gore's book, The Assault on
Reason:

A visionary analysis of how the
politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with
the degration [sic] of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason....

Great, I thought, a confessional. Turns out it's just a fantasy though.

The Number of Eagles

Michelle Malkin linked to the NYT article:

As they gathered before the march, the protesters met what several veterans of the antiwar movement described as an unusually large contingent of several hundred counterdemonstrators.

I can see differences in estimation. But that's a heck of a difference, "hundreds" vs. 30,000. What does the NYT think of it's readers?


Maybe there will be a correction. Sure.

Protest Sign

via Tim Blair (with a little bit of pixel tweaking):

Gathering of Eagles

I wasn't able to make it to the Gathering of Eagles yesterday but it's good to see that Baron Bodissey and Michelle Malkin were there. Read their reports, and from there you can jump to many other blogs' accounts and pictures.

***Update: It's does my heart good to know you were out there countering these guys:

Oh, and this one, which I didn't photoshop, with the Mercedes ornament instead of the peace symbol (and what's that in back? A Paul Bunyan! Get down off that pedestal and go Mel Gibson on them, Paul):

Is It Torture?

Nope. It's mother nature:


An unnamed Marine said, "Even if we could chase them off, they'd just come back. With all that back-hair available, we've got them flocking in here from the mainland."

What Al Invented the Internet For

While searching for images to modify for the missing-Buddhist photoshop (below), I ran across a fairly interesting and simple site. I'm interesting and simple, so it appealed to me right away.

It's Toes on Pants, and it's premise
is:

Everyone has toes and most people have pants so
why not submit some pictures of yours? Send your toes on pants pictures
and a caption to pictures@toesonpants.com and I will try and post them
right away.

The top-most post appealed to me too. I thought, "here is a guy who's trying, it's good they resisted the urge to criticize":

Bob? Where's Bob?

A Buddhist in Kanchanaburi province tries to remember if another monk was with him when he began his meditation in the tiger cage.

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

Nothing to fear but fear itself... and another Beslan:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."

And I thought we were safe just because our regular bus driver is seriously talking about staying in rehab this time... now this.

I'll tell you what, it's not fair, so sue me, but no Muslim gets to drive our kid. If that's unfair, blame the terrorists, not the targets.

Islamic Fascists

In case you forget who we're dealing with:

I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, [Wall Street Journal reporter] Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head.

Q: For the crime of?
A: Being an American Jew.
And that's just one of the 31 things he's confessed (bragged about?) to.

International Howard

So Obama thinks Edwards is "kind of cute."

I'm going to call that none of my business. What I think is cute is Howard Dean saying, "I am trying to build relationships with other governments in preparation for a Democratic takeover.." How hard that must be. Like the John Kerry at Davos performance; Mea culpa, or more accurately, Busha culpa diplomacy.

Anyway, reading about Dean reminded me of this exchange:

JEREMY SCAHILL: Governor Dean, why did you say in March 2003 that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction? Governor Dean? Why did you say --

HOWARD DEAN: I thought he did.

JEREMY SCAHILL: What intelligence did you base that on?

HOWARD DEAN: Talks with people who were knowledgeable, including a series of folks that work in the Clinton administration.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Were you wrong?

HOWARD DEAN: Maybe. I don't know. Probably not the best time to talk about it.

Something to keep in mind the next time Dean goes into bushlied mode. It was the clintonlied that lead him astray.

Lemur Mania

From the Paris zoo: a baby lemur and his "friend." When they're young, baby lemurs pick a plush toy that they stay with for life. This is because nobody has ever been able to take a plush toy away from a lemur. Look at those eyes; not even Nazis can take a plush toy from a lemur.

Spin

More funny from USA Today, concerning the D push to defund the war without taking responsibility for the result:

Several Democrats said they had been persuaded to support the measure — the party's first binding action to challenge President Bush's war policies — after last-minute changes and a weekend at home with constituents.

The bill is slated for a test vote Thursday in the Appropriations Committee. It is proving a formidable test of Democratic leaders, who are steering a tricky path between liberals who oppose any funding for the military effort and conservatives who do not want to restrict unduly the commander in chief.

The funny part is that they're pretending to care about unduly restricting the president. What they care about is not having a bloodbath until after the 2008 elections. If and when it happens the D's will try to spin it as Bush's problem, but really, it's their cut-and-run plan that stands a good chance of turning the Middle East into a regional killing-field. I hope that some of them are admitting as much inside these closed door meetings.

Liberal Bias?

Thank you Al Gore. You invented the internet so now we have a place to say: Clinton fired all the US attorneys at one point.(save one) Which is a good thing because you won't hear that much on TV. (which Gore also most likely invented)

Course, now we're hearing about how Alberto Gonzales should go because, at the very least, he mishandled the situation. Really, I'm not following this closely because, frankly, I don't think it's such a big deal. But I will note, to conservatives who are ready to toss Gonzales overboard - The media pounding (yes, I know undeserved) won't stop just because Alberto Gonzales is gone. Whoever takes his place will be a monster in the media's eyes. That's because he'll be Bush's AG. The same as Gonzales; the same as Ashcroft. Name someone new as Bush's AG and CNN will start looking for a brown shirt to force on him.

The General's Posture

The Yahoo headline threw me:

No apology from Gen. Pace for gay stance

Can this be, I wondered? So I checked out the news photos, and sure enough:



Nothing so blatent as to require an apology though.

Air America Finally Gets Funny

Silly offer:

Tweaking the Fox News Channel, the president of
liberal Air America Radio this morning sent a letter to the chairmen of
four state Republican parties, offering to host and broadcast the state
parties' upcoming presidential debates.

Agreeing to the debate
“would allow Republicans to differentiate themselves from Democrats,”
Air America President Mark Green wrote to the Iowa, Nevada, New
Hampshire, and South Carolina Republican chairmen in a deadpan
communication provided this morning to The
Politico.

"Deadpan communication"har ! Good one. The
joke being that debates are like free advertising, but in order for
them to be of any value, there has to be an audience.

Sea Level Check

In case you were wondering, the metric I use to gauge sea level indicates we're still OK. When the girls start playfully splashing around it's not reason for concern, but it indicates that it's probably prudent to watch more closely.

A Little More Truth

“I don’t want to pick on Al Gore,” Don J. Easterbrook, an emeritus professor of geology at Western Washington University, told hundreds of experts at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. “But there are a lot of inaccuracies in the statements we are seeing, and we have to temper that with real data.”

"Temper it with real data"? Don't get rid of the inaccuracies, just add some truth? Silly. I say let's try all real data and quit messing with tweaked computer models.

In another story, did you see Leonardo DiCaprio took a commercial flight into Israel? In a story about how he and his girlfriend were mobbed by paparazzi.... I have to wonder if it wasn't planned that way just to get the fact that he was flying commercial into print. Nah, Global Warming clergy aren't that divisive, are they?

You Can't Go Back?

I'm amazed you can get money to investigate things like this:

While the idea makes for great fiction, some scientists now say traveling to the past is impossible.

Impossible? OK, explain San Francisco then.

He Played on Our Fears

Seen the film yet? No, not the Spartans in leather underwear, the other one, The Great Global Warming Swindle. Being a modern man, my attention usually goes after 5 minutes, when there's not scantily clothed women involved, but I had no problem watching the whole hour plus of this film.

Above is a modified still from 300, which also may be good. It, like An Inconvenient Truth, is science fiction however.

al Qaeda Leader Caught

Good Iraq news:

"After preliminary investigations, it was proven that the arrested Al Qaeda person is not Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but, in fact, another important Al Qaeda official," said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi military spokesman. "Interrogations will continue as soon as the water comes back on...."

Seriously though, these guys are driving bombs to into civilian gathering places and blowing them up; does anyone really care if they get water up their noses? I know, I know, "But that really hurts." So does C-4.

Free as in Free Beer?

MIT for free:

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will become by year's end the first U.S. university to offer all of its roughly 1,800 courses free on the Internet, a school official said on Friday.

"We started this project because MIT believes that one of the best ways to advance education around the world is through the Internet," said Anne Margulies, head of online curriculum.

Online students will not be able to earn an MIT degree or have contact with faculty at the university, located across the river from Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

No contact with the faculty? Obviously, they overlook the stalking power of the internet. Pretty soon the profs won't be able to go out without the guy in the costume at Chuck E Cheese's asking, "About this Bremsstrahlung radiation thing...."

One Goal

Obey apologizes:

I am sorry that I yelled at them. I respect their passion on the issue, I wish they would respect mine.

Really, there should have been no friction. Obey wants to abandon the Iraqi people in his way and the people he yelled at want to abandon the Iraqi people in their way. Let's stop this infighting, people. Let's unite behind our common desire for defeat.

Man, Brazilian policemen are rough

It's hard to tell from the still pictures but either the police are rough in Brazil, or the Brazilian protesters have the ability to grab police batons with their genitals.

Call the glass company

"Together we can break that hardest and highest of all glass ceilings and together when we do it will be all of our victory."

Cracked isn't broken. (anyway, there's a layer of Lexan on top)

Ouchie Medicine

Japan's Ritsumeikan University researchers unveil a prototype model of the micro medical robot, measuring 1cm in diameter, 2cm in length and weighing only 5-grammes, which enables it to stay and move inside a human body to remove or treat the affected part of disease especially cancer, at the Biwako Kusatsu campus of the university in Kusatsu city, Shiga prefecture near Kyoto.

OK, first question has to be, why the pincers? Second question is: nope, not in my body. Haven't these guys seen any of those movies where the machines become self-aware and decide the first order of business is to melt the humans? I'll be darned if I want that critter mucking about inside me when that flag goes up. And what's 1cm by 2 cm? That's about the size of a baked potato, right? No sir, I'd rather have a trained June bug do this kind of work. If the June bug runs amuck, then send the robot in with Diazinon.

In Perspective

Me, quoting Bennett, quoting Steyn, regarding the non outing of the noncovert:

"an anti-war deputy secretary of an anti-war department leaking to an anti-war reporter the name of an anti-war analyst who got her anti-war husband a job with an anti-war agency is supposedly an elaborate “conspiracy” by Cheney, Rove and the other warmongers. Looked at more prosaically, it’s a freak intersection of bad personnel decisions, which is one of the worst features of this presidency. So many of the Bush administration’s wounds come from its willingness to keep the wrong people in key positions: Tenet should not have been retained at the CIA, Armitage should not have been at State."

Go ahead and quote me if you want.

Techno-me

Darn, Drudge has the headline but no link at this time:

Calvin Klein to launch 'technosexual' fragrance...

I, for one, love the smell of diodes and capacitors but I've never known the scent to attract women. Could be I overdo it, I suppose. "Too much transistor? Should I dab on a little more rheostat?"

Modified people

You know, I sometimes run across pictures of actresses when searching for new Al Gore pictures to deface. So just to keep current, I'll sift through them. But I don't think I've ever said, "You know, that woman is almost perfect; if only she had more writing on her body." or, "..if only she had one more stud through her lip."

So I guess that makes me old school. But I doubt I'll ever change my preferences for unmodified, or at least lightly-altered, women. Call me old fashioned, but Angelina, if you have a message, don't write it on your back, e-mail it to me.

Oh, also in my idle Gore-search: I got the following from flickr when I got to the end of the 'al gore' tags:

We couldn't find any photos tagged with al and gore.
Would you like to try a search for photos about blood, horror, halloween, death or zombie instead?

No thanks.

French Censorship

Macworld reports on happenings in France:

France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence
By Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists.

Presumably then, you're free to report on acts of violence committed by professional journalists.

Noted in passing

After a fruitful life, Ernest Gallo has passed on:

BERKELEY, Calif. - Ernest Gallo, who parlayed $5,900 and a wine recipe from a public library into the world's largest winemaking empire, died Tuesday at his home in Modesto. He was 97. "He passed away peacefully this afternoon surrounded by his family," said Susan Hensley, vice president of public relations for E.&J. Gallo Winery.

You know, if one day you wake up and just decide that you're tired of working for the man, and you've had it with the rat race, and that personal hygiene is overrated, and you don't really need a roof over your head; you should pick up a few bottles of the twin titans of bum-wines: Ernest Gallo's Night Train, and Thunderbird. They're the twin pillars that support the exit ramp to the homeless shelter. Is that too harsh? I suppose it's true that you can achieve the same result with wines that require a corkscrew to open, but for ease of use, I'd have to cast my vote for the Gallo products.

The Libby Trial

I don't understand all the hoopla and big red headlines. No judge or jury has ever sentenced anyone named Scooter to jail. It'd be like letting a three legged antelope loose on the Serengeti.

A Call for Selflessness

John Edwards:

Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans and the country's willingness to go to war "when it's not necessary."

John and I won't agree on when it's necessary to oppose evil but I think we're in agreement on that selfishness thing.

Well, one of us is, anyway.

The recreation building contains a basketball court, a squash court, two stages, a bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms, swimming pool, a four-story tower, and a room designated “John’s Lounge.”

Really, I'm fine with being rich. But John, don't presume to pass judgment on people who have vastly less than you do. Americans are the most generous people on the planet. Your criticism is like, what? I dunno... like one of our biggest energy consumers telling us to conserve. What's next? Is Madonna going to preach to us about being chaste?

Changes at Huffie Town

The Huffington Post has a little blurb about Cheney's medical condition. Odd though, there are no comments. And there's this:

Comments for this post are now closed

Hard to imagine why. Anyway, I found this in the comments for another story:

Since we're not allowed to comment on Cheney's medical condition, can we wish for bad things to happen to Grover Norquist?
By: houseofroberts on March 05, 2007 at 04:25pm

Can we please say something nasty?

Reading glasses

I've got to find a way of keeping a pair of reading glasses with me. I just saw this headline: FDA Set to Approve Cow Drug, Despite Warnings... and thought it said the FDA was approving cow dung. What the heck for? I wondered.

And last week I thought I saw: Middle School Principal Accused Of Selling Math. And I suspected he wasn't overwhelmed with customers, but it was meth, he was selling meth.

Being glassesless is a mixed bag with images. Sure, I might miss the latest baldheaded celebrity photo, but I didn't mind thinking that this was another of those panda pictures from Atlanta. Can you really sell fashion with the "crying in the parking lot" look? Not to me.

From the Inbox

This will have to be one of those we-report, you-decide, kind of things.

One Good Thing About Being Alone

At least you're not in the company of Bill Maher.

Environmental Pollution

"Damm Polar Bears! Why can't they crap on their own icebergs? I'm getting tired of cleaning up their droppings"

Sometimes, it's not so easy being Fearless Leader

"How many people can get their hands on polonium 210, Boris?"

Different News

When I saw the headline I assumed it was more global warming:

Girls at U.N. meeting urge global action

So the first lines didn't make sense to me:

*A 16-year-old Nepalese girl burst into tears describing her work in a match factory to help support her mother.
*A Jordanian teen spoke out about violence against girls in rural areas.
*A former child soldier from Congo cried when she recalled her suffering as a sex slave.

So where was:

* A high school student from Ohio said she really sweat a lot last August, "what with George Bush making it warmer, and all."

What was there makes me glad I live in America. From the child working in the match factory:

"The most important message is that governments should ensure that every working child gets a free education," said Sunita Tamang, lamenting that in her community in Nepal "people think that if you educate a girl child, it will only embarrass you."

Every working child? How sad.

Are My Rice Krispies Ready?

It was a toss-up between Ernest Borgnine and Larry Bud Melman to play the part of Joseph Wilson... I always vote for anyone named Bud.

Been there, Done that

My first thought upon seeing this was, "But they tried dog Lamaze coaches in California and it didn't work." Not to worry, this dog is learning yoga. (via the Japan Dog Yoga Association)


But since when do you have to teach dogs yoga? My dog has been a master of the Fallen Bear position for years. She can hold the position for hours. In fact, it usually takes a slice of bologna to even get her to lift her head.

Shifting Strategies

James Taranto noticed:

That Was Fast

* "Democrats May Cut Bush Military Budget"--headline, Associated Press, March 1, 2:32 p.m. EST

* "Democrats Nix Idea of Military Budget Cuts"--headline, Associated Press, March 1, 3:07 p.m. EST

Next Democrat strategy: just call time out.

Though, like "calling shotgun", that doesn't always work.

The EU

News of the Wierd:

A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack in North London in January, perhaps assisted by a delay in responding by the London Ambulance Service. According to The Sun, the nearest crew could not be called because European Union labor rules prevent disturbing the crew for any reason during the first 20 minutes of their half-hour break. [The Sun (London), 1-6-07]

Perfect Disguise

Gee, bad luck for the prettygirl bandits; the police found them despite their big sunglasses. "Odd," the girls thought, "glasses always worked for superman, and ours were tinted."

Girls, if sunglasses worked, don't you think Nick Nolte would have used them?