Everything's Cool

Don't know what is worse, having a situation where the weather can be blamed on Republicans, or one where the climate can be. Both cases show the power of the media, and to some extent, the inability of the general population to do critical thinking.

It took one Guard unit a day to travel just 50 miles through the debris of Katrina. All nearby rescue equipment had just been through a hurricane. People had failed to evacuate New Orleans. All this would have happened if John Kerry had been president, or even the Climate Stopper Al Gore.

Hurricanes aren't subject to politics. All we can do is avoid them, and try to clean up from them. Anyone who tries to gain from them is sick. And those that are amused by their possible impact are despicable.

Look, Up in the Sky

It's a bird, it's a plane....

(background: iskandarsalim)

Trooper Trouble?

Nah, I see no trooper trouble for Sarah Palin. And after reading the timeline over at Flopping Aces, even less so.

That's not to say that the Democrats won't give her trouble on this. They're protecting all American citizens' rights to use tasers on their 11 year-old sons. I mean, if Democrats won't stand up for him, who will?

And They Think They're So Smart

The Obama campaign puts this out:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Well, duuuuhh. Barack Obama is a former second-grader. And his VP pick was a former preschooler! Think of it, formerly 12 years away from college, and they want him to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

And if Governor Palin's foreign policy experience is zero, then it exactly matches Obama's.

Good Choice for VP

John McCain tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a conservative
who shares his maverick streak, to be the Republican
vice presidential running mate on Friday.

That Feud

Olbermann fights with everyone, sure. But there's something familiar about the bickering between Olbermann and Mathews. Think about it; doesn't it sound like two teenage friends, fighting over a girl?

Mathews, well, as the Viagra box cautions: he should seek medical attention when the condition lasts for over four hours. But now Olbermann too. This could get dangerously entertaining.

Delete Cookies

You Could Have Said Something Sooner

"What do you mean, 'that's not what I asked' ?"

Is it Over Yet?

"Wasn't there supposed to be a Unicorn? And
could you ask the control room for more cowbell?"

Pageantry, Live It, or Live with It

"And I want to thank the US Americans, and the
Germany,... and all my fans!! BFF forever everyone!!!"

Wait for It, Wait for It....

Finally found a use for that awful picture of McCain that the leftish blogs like to post... Watch for John in the background tonight. If he shows up in a gladiator outfit, watch out.

(BTW, Joey, do you like movies about Gladiators?)

Miscellany

Via Newsbusters:

In case traditional news outlets "forget" to tell you, Uncle Sam announced this morning that second-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was revised sharply upward to 3.3% from the late July's advance estimate of 1.9%.

Dude, where's my recession?

Y'know, the recession that Barack Obama claimed we "almost certainly in" back in mid-July?

Also... been listening to this in the background today. The wife and I might have to have another child, just so I can name him, or her, Stanley Kurtz.

Microscopy

"Darn it, Bob. Not again."

Hey DoJ

My attention was grabbed when I saw Michelle Malkin's post titled "Document drop: Turning the tables again on Obama’s speech-squelching thugs" It's about American Issues Project turning the tables on the Obama campaign and questioning contributions to liberal groups.

Quite right. What's good for the goose, and all that. But what I thought the post was going to be about, what I wanted it to be about, was American Issues Project writing the Dept. of Justice asking them to investigate William Ayers. Is there nothing in his bomb-making past that warrants prosecution? I know the statute of limitations never runs out on murder. Was there not enough evidence to tie him to his friends' deaths? Come on DoJ - let's look into it.

Where's My Fiddle?

I fear for the Republic, I do.

The Wonders of Google

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I just found out that Are We Lumberjacks? comes up #3 if you search Google for "Islamic porn". Woo-hoo! We're number three, we're number three, we're number three!

Real People?

Please ignore the man behind the curtain.

CHICAGO (AP) - An Indiana railroader, an Iowa mother and a Michigan truck driver are getting a moment at the Democratic convention to help portray Barack Obama as the people's champion and counter GOP characterizations of him as an out-of-touch celebrity.

The idea is for these "real people," as the campaign calls them, to share personal stories about why they are supporting the Democratic presidential candidate and how they think he will help folks like them and the more than 20 million expected to be watching the convention at home.

An article by Nedra Pickler sheds light on how real these real people are:

During the weekend, the campaign formally invited these people to the convention, providing airfare, lodging and great seats to watch Obama accept the nomination from a circular stage on the 50-yard line at Invesco Field. The real people and delegates attending their first convention will be among the roughly 300 people sitting directly around the stage.

Professional speechwriters are helping prepare their remarks, timed to about three minutes each. And just like any senator or other VIP speaker, an assigned staff member will oversee their schedules and logistical movements, including media interviews, speech coaching and on-stage rehearsals.

Real people also will be featured at an event Tuesday alongside Michelle Obama and the nation's female Democratic governors to talk about the economic problems facing women.

Remember the fainters? I've always suspected that they, and their "catchers", were trained. Now Obama Mania is peaking and the fainters are gone. Could it be the campaign realized they were over-fainting? Maybe so, now the the campaign has gotten more subtle.

DNC

Darn, just when I was gearing up for angry wife ridicule, Michelle Obama puts on a dress and takes the clinch out of her jaw. So, that was a day ago - that means the American public has forgotten all about this being a mean country, and "for the first time in my adult life I'm proud of my country." Darn.

But it's not a new phenomenon, this reinvention thing. Remember how Hillary said, "I'm not some Tammy Wynette standing by my man." ? Then, when it was needed, she became Mrs. Cleaver. Ah well, I guess you can do these things when the MSM is on your side.

One story that the MSM isn't burying too well is Obama's connection to Bill Ayers; partly due to the campaign's efforts to shut down ads mentioning Ayers. Good.

Now Fox has news on an Ayers interview from 2004. In it, Ayers tries to minimize the threat that the Weathermen posed. He claims that the Weather Underground was only interested in damaging property, not killing people. Andy McCarthy sets the record straight, noting that Ayers claimed:

That bomb had been intended for detonation at a dance that was to be attended by army soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Hundreds of lives could have been lost had the plan been successfully executed. Ayers attested that the bomb would have done serious damage, "tearing through windows and walls and, yes, people too."

Sort of makes you wonder how it is Ayers became a mover and shaker in Chicago politics, and remains a force in the field of education. An even better question is: will all this attention affect how Ayers is perceived in the future? I certainly hope so.

Thank You So Much

"Thanks so much; my arms were getting tired."

I've Seen Bigger Riots in My HS Lunchroom

At least at 11:30 Monday night - it looks like more police than protesters at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Sixty-eight was way wilder. Still, I caution the DPD to keep fresh batteries in the tasers.

Here's a live feed... it starts with the sound on:


h/t: MM

Free Hugs

Wacky Democrats

Joe Biden performs his famous "thong face-lift" routine, which
has kept Democrat staffers in stitches for the last twenty years.

Iranian Olympic Swim Team

Sadly, no gold. "We're just happy none of them drowned"

Eating Well is the Best Revenge

Here's some interesting news:

EATING reheated spaghetti bolognese could reduce your risk of cancer.
Scientists have discovered that multiple rounds of heating - plus a little extra oil - enhance the health benefits of processed tomatoes.
The technique alters the structure of the tomato molecule lycopene so that it is more easily transported into the bloodstream.
Lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, has been shown to prevent cancers and may also combat heart disease and diabetes. Previous studies indicated that processing raw tomatoes into purees or sauces increased the benefits...

... Corn oil was added to both sauces, but the key to producing ‘bent’ lycopene was a 40-minute second round of heating at 127c. The resulting sauce contained nine times more ‘bent’ lycopene.

I'd use olive oil, but simmering it for an extra hour is something I'll do anyway, if there's time.

This sounds like something you could do with bottled sauce but you can do much better on your own. What I do is a variation on a Rachael Ray Puttanesca Sauce:

4 tablespoons (4 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tin flat anchovy fillets, drained
1 /2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
20 oil-cured calmata cracked away from pit and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers
1 (32-ounce) can chunky style crushed tomatoes
1 (32-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 small can tomato paste
A few grinds black pepper
1/4 cup (a couple of handfuls) flat leaf parsley, chopped
oregano to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste 2 tbs or so
You can pretty much follow Yummo's instructions on the link

Trying it on the squeamish for the first time, you may want to halve the anchovies, and don't tell anyone they're in there. Some people won't like olives, either, but really, such people aren't worthy of being your friends. Add hamburger, ground pork, or meatballs if you like. Simmer for a long time, and live forever, eating spaghetti. Mmmm.

Frustrated Radicals

Michelle Malkin reports on the anarchy of Recreate 68 (not).

It seems winning the war and coming to an agreement on when, and under what conditions, troops will leave kinda takes the wind out of the anarchists' sails. "We demand.... crap Billy, what do we demand?"

I'm sure there will be a few jack asses but the anarchy boat has already sailed, boys and girls.

The Opposition

Somewhere, someone is doing a caption contest on this one.

Fear the "Fairness" Doctrine, because it would make it much harder to get information like this out there:

It's impossible to know Obama's motives. But several of his official acts benefited Rezko, who in turn raised some $250,000 for Obama's campaigns.

In October 1998, Obama wrote city and state officials, urging them to give Rezko $14 million to build an apartment complex outside of Obama's state Senate district. The Chicago Sun-Times noted last year that Obama's request included $855,000 in "development fees" for Rezko and for another developer, Allison Davis, who happened to be Obama's old law-firm boss. Obama's spokesman said it was just a coincidence that the state senator wrote letters to obtain millions of dollars for his two longtime friends.

In fact, Obama was a dependable ally of subsidized developers in the Legislature, giving Rezko and others broader help as well. In "The Case Against Barack Obama" I identify and parse six housing bills with which Obama was closely involved. A few examples:

• * In 2001, Obama cosponsored a bill allowing developers to sell state tax credits to others and pocket half of theproceeds.
  
• * In 2002 and 2004, he was chief cosponsor of a bill to authorize a rent-subsidy fund giving "grants . . . directly to developers" of low-income housing. Seventy percent of the money was earmarked for the Chicago area.
• * Obama cosponsored the Illinois Housing Initiative Act of 2003, which required the governor to develop a plan for more low-income housing and "provide[d] for funding for housing construction and rehabilitation and supportive services."
• * In 2003, Obama voted for the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act, which required Illinois municipalities to make 10 percent of their housing units "affordable" (by definition, this included subsidized housing). This forced 46 communities just outside of Chicago to create more than 7,000 new "affordable" units - a huge boost in demand for area developers. The bill also provided loopholes for developers to circumvent local ordinances and regulations.

After voting for this measure (it passed narrowly), Obama then cosponsored a new bill that moved up its implementation by more than a year.

These and the other Obama-backed bills helped make millionaires of Rezko and other slum developers at taxpayers' expense. The developers - including his former law boss and an adviser to his current campaign - reciprocated, together giving and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama's campaigns.

To sum up: Obama got them subsidies to build. He secured them a steady income of government rent subsidies. He arranged special tax credits and abatements for them. He backed measures that increased demand for their services, and helped them legally circumvent local laws.

The modern, new day, post racial, above it all candidate got into politics with the help of criminal landlords and the old-fashioned Chicago "machine". I'm glad Biden is on board, ready to pummel McCain with accusations of being rich. I say personal attacks will be good for our side, because most Americans aspire to being rich. Also, because John McCain didn't get there by writing letters like this:

(clickbiggenate)

With Friends Like These

h/t: formerly Sailorette

Obama-Who? Biden?

Why the blowhard Biden?

Only thing I can guess is that they need someone to get between Senator Obama and the microphone. Obama didn't shine at Saddleback. Stand him up against Senator McCain and his empty-suitedness shows. That's why they've sought minimal debates. Maybe they plan on throwing the Biden bluster switch any time a distraction is needed in the campaign.

Two guys: one who talks pretty, one who talks a lot, both of whom want to get through this thing without saying too much. So I expect lots of McCain attacks. eg - McCain is rich.... Well duuuuh, You're all rich. They'll have to do better than that.

Strange Story

From the BBC comes a hard-to-believe-it:

An eight-year-old dog has touched the hearts of Argentines by saving the life of an abandoned baby, placing him safely alongside her own new puppies.

The country's media are calling him "the miracle baby".

He was born prematurely to a 14-year-old girl in a shanty town outside the capital, Buenos Aires.

She is said to have panicked and abandoned the boy in a field, surrounded by wooden boxes and rubbish.

Then along came La China, the dog which somehow picked up the baby and carried him 50m to place him alongside her own puppies.

The dog's owner heard the child crying and found him covered with a rag.

The baby, weighing 4kg (8lb 13oz), had some slight injuries, but no bite marks. The owner called the police and the child is now being looked after by the authorities, while a decision is taken about his future.

Hard to believe, yes, that an Argentinian dog would render more aid to a premature baby than state senator Obama would have required from licensed physicians.

(*though 8 lb. 13 oz.???? sounds darned big for a premature baby)

Just Some Suggestions

And it goes on...



And one that will keep me up tonight:


Sorry, but the G-rating rules out the suggested Obama-Vagina.

Some of My Best Friends Are Accountants

A patient was at her doctor's office after undergoing a complete physical exam. The doctor said, "I have some very grave news for you. You only have six months to live."

The patient asked, "Oh doctor, what should I do?"

The doctor replied, "Marry an accountant."

"Will that make me live longer?" asked the patient.

"No," said the doctor, "but it will SEEM longer."

***More Accountancy:

The Revolution

This one is spookily on the mark. I'm imagining some Obama supporters could see this and completely miss the mock.

h/t ¡No Pasaran!

The Cover of Time

Just a thought about Time's upcoming dilemma; brought about by Drudge's observation:

TIME MAG PUTS OBAMA ON COVER -- FOR 7TH TIME IN A YEAR!

[MCCAIN HAS BEEN ON COVER TWICE]

as usual - clicksmakemonstrous

Housing Crisis

I don't understand why the Obama campaign wants to make an issue of McCain's houses. In case you hadn't noticed, Obama is wealthy too. The real housing question is one McCain has no trouble answering: How many houses were bought at a discount thanks to the efforts of criminal slum-lords whose favors you returned, using your position as an elected representative?

***Update: From Byron York-

A few minutes ago, I talked to someone in the McCain camp about this. "John McCain never said he didn't know how many houses he and Mrs. McCain have," the person told me. "That is clear. He referred the questioners to his staff because this is a question that has been debated at the staff level with some reporters who, based on an inaccurate reading of Senate disclosure forms, have reported more homes than the McCains actually own, and some press reports that have indicated fewer homes than they actually own. So, by trying to avoid a debate about the holdings of the Hensley Family Trust, he simply attempted to move on to the next question."

Criminal Minds

Like the bank robbers who write their notes on the backs of their own utility bills, this guy needs to go back to criminal school:

ELKO, Nev. (AP) _ A man accused of trying to extort $500 from a Pizza Hut in Elko was foiled by his own cell phone camera. Police said a former employee of the restaurant allegedly called the manager on Friday and told him he had five Pizza Hut signs that are used on the roofs of vehicles and wouldn't return them unless he was paid $500.

Police said the manager wanted proof that Long had the signs. So the 23-year-old man sent him a cell phone picture that proved to be his undoing.

Officers were able to zoom in on license plate numbers of two vehicles in the background that are registered to the man.

h/t: Plime

Bloomberg's Folly

(clickabiggen)

NEW YORK (AFP) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a renewable energy program for New York city that would include placing windmills on city bridges, solar panels on skyscrapers, and the use of tidal, geothermal and nuclear energy.

Bloomberg unveiled the outlines of his plan late Tuesday at a major clean energy summit in Las Vegas organized by the University of Nevada.

Maybe we'd get used to it. It means a complete retooling for the statuette industry though. Hey, maybe desk-fans!

Civility

According to the increasingly irrelevant AP, John McCain said Obama was getting "a little testy".

Whoops. Or, maybe it's a half-whoops. Does anyone else suspect that moonbat-wing of the Democratic party is going to claim that "testy" is R-code for "uppity"? I don't have the stamina I used to or I'd go over to the HuffPo to find out.

Best avoid all -ty words where the Glowing One is concerned. No hippity, hoppity, crotchety, falsity, paucity, density, gravity, or varsity. In fact, if Hannity is going to cover the campaign, perhaps he should change his name.

***other news: Amazing Ann says:

This week, Barack Obama's challenge is to select a running mate who's young, hip, and whose accomplishments in life don't overshadow Obama's. Allow me to suggest Kevin Federline.

Hahahahahahahaha

Warmening

A good explanation of CO2-climate-solar cycle stuff, if you have ten minutes to spare. The narrator gives it a Junior-High newsreel feel, but I think that's a plus:



Is the word that historical CO2 rise follows climate warming getting out there finally?

Here's an experiment: open two sodas (diet coke, of course), put one in the refrigerator and leave one out to get warm. Now check them after two or three hours. You'll see that the warmer soda has lost most if it's fizz. (CO2) The cold one, like colder oceans, kept more CO2 in solution. Now drink the cold one and give the warm one to your wife. (accusing her of having left it out is optional)

Reminds Me of My Youth

Two arrests over turbo chair

Police in Germany have confiscated what's thought to be the world's fastest office chair.

Two 17-year-olds had pimped up the offending seat by adding a lawnmower engine, bicycle brakes and a metal frame.

The teenagers claimed they had only tested their contraption by riding it a few meters, but witnesses had reported seeing it whizzing about all over the streets of Gross-Zimmern.

The pair were arrested. Officers are considering charging them with a variety of offenses - including riding a vehicle without insurance, licenses or registration.

J'Accuse!

"Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country,"
-Barack Obama

It's probably true, it's a beautiful country. It's the people of this country he looks down upon.

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.

“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

And anyway, he's wrong. I question his love of country. I question his wife's "for the first time in my adult life" love of country. And I question his associations.

Stop What You're Doing and Dance

Fail

Good news:

TEHRAN — A day after Iran declared that it had test fired a new rocket capable of launching a satellite, the country said Monday that it was prepared to help other Muslim countries send up satellites. But by then, Pentagon and military officials in Washington were concluding that the Iranian missile launching had been a failure.

The string of unimpressive Iranian military accomplishments continues.

The Media

The WaPo's ombudsman, which comes from the Latin for 'person of ombuds', notices that political coverage has been unbalanced:

Democrat Barack Obama has had about a 3 to 1 advantage over Republican John McCain in Post Page 1 stories since Obama became his party's presumptive nominee June 4. Obama has generated a lot of news by being the first African American nominee, and he is less well known than McCain -- and therefore there's more to report on. But the disparity is so wide that it doesn't look good.

In overall political stories from June 4 to Friday, Obama dominated by 142 to 96. Obama has been featured in 35 stories on Page 1; McCain has been featured in 13, with three Page 1 references with photos to stories on inside pages....

Course, it's not just the WaPo, there is an Obama-gap all through the MSM. And maybe this has something to do with the MSM's plummeting credibility:

Based on past Pew polls, CNN touts itself as “the most trusted name in news,” but the percent who “believe all or most” of what CNN reports has fallen 12 points, to 30 percent, since Pew first posed the question in 1998. Yet, in a sign of how far the news media have fallen in the eyes of the public, that puts CNN at the top of the 12 television news outlets analyzed, as well as above all the newspapers and online sources. Believability for ABC News, CBS News and NBC News is down six points over the past ten years, to 24 percent for ABC and NBC, 22 percent for CBS, but that's still better than the mere 18 percent who “believe all or most” of what they read in the New York Times.

Personally, I'm not shaking in my boots. I think that, regarding Obama, the average news consumer is aware that he is being sold something. And how long can the MSM hide the fact that we're dealing with an empty suit here? How many stories about his pretty teeth and lean body can the public take? Oh, did we mention his smile?

The debates should help. And now it's clear why the empty O wants as few of them as possible. He's more of a Sunday Magazine guy - when it comes to substance, eh, not so much. His few convictions are unpalatable to the American public. And we've had our quota of winning smiles already.

What Did He Vote Against?

On March 12-13, 2003, the Illinois state senate committee chaired by Senator Barack Obama amended the proposed state Born-Alive Infants Protection bill (SB 1082) to exactly track the language of the already-enacted federal BAIPA, by adopting Senate Amendment No. 1, 10-0. The committee then voted to kill the amended bill, 6-4, with Obama and the other Democrats on the committee voting against it. The bill that Obama and his colleges voted to kill, as amended, was virtually identical to the federal law. The entirely non-substantive points at which the state bill language still differed from the federal law are shown in brackets below (except we have ignored differences in capitalizing).

---------------------------------------------------------

Public Law 107–207 [Illinois SB 1082]
107th Congress

An Act
To protect [Illinois: concerning] infants who are born alive.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, [Illinois: Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: Section 5. The Statute on Statutes is amended by adding Section 1.36 as follows:]

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Born-Alive Infants Protection
Act of 2002’’. [Illinois: no formal title]
SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF BORN-ALIVE INFANT. [Illinois: Section 1.36. Born-alive infant.]
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 1, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘§ 8. ‘Person’, ‘human being’, ‘child’, and ‘individual’ as
including born-alive infant [Illinois: lacks this section heading]
‘‘(a) In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, [Illinois: statute] or
of any ruling [Illinois: rule], regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States [Illinois: this State], the words ‘person’, ‘human being’, ‘child’, and ‘individual’, shall include [Illinois: include] every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development.
‘‘(b) As used in this section, the term ‘born alive’, with respect to a member of the species homo sapiens, means the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her [Illinois: its] mother of that member, at any stage of development, who after such [Illinois: that] expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut,, Illinois: no comma] and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion.
‘‘(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affirm, deny,
expand, or contract any legal status or legal right applicable to any member of the species homo sapiens at any point prior to being ‘born alive’ [Illinois: no quotes] as defined in this section.’’.

(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections at the beginning
of chapter 1 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following new item:
‘‘8. ‘Person’, ‘human being’, ‘child’, and ‘individual’ as including born-alive infant.’’. [Illinois: Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.]

more here

Historic Olympics

Pretty amazing, huh? The 29th Olympics will be remembered as unique. I'm referring, of course, to the Most Obvious and Distracting Toupée Ever at the Olympic Games. And I'm giving the games this title as one who has seen, and remembers, Howard Cosell. Howard's toupée made you want to call your dog, just to check that he wasn't somehow involved. But Bob Costas has got Howard beat. Hands down, a walk-off toupée.

Why She Fights

Why is Nancy Pelosi being a jerk about drilling even when she knows she's thwarting the wishes of the American people, as well as hurting her party? I think it's images like this one. Victory in Iraq is bad news for Nancy. She's suffered one setback after another and she's desperately clinging to the remnants of a failed Democrat world view.

(clickabiggen) photo via US Army Images

DNA Disproves Foot Dimensions

What a surprise, the Bigfoot was a hoax:

Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.

Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.

And I was so sure this was the one.

Tink in Chains

".....if all of you clap your hands real hard to show that
you do believe in fairies, maybe she won’t die.”

Protesters dressed as Tinker Bell and Minnie Mouse wait to be taken away after being arrested by police officers during a demonstration against Disney's treatment of hotel workers..

The joke, of course, is on Mickey. These are just a bunch of guys in Anaheim Police costumes.

Highlight of the show? Arraignment.

Woo-Hoo

So US gymnast Nastia Liukin got the gold. Pretty impressive. And with minimal crying too; which is good because I understand that whenever tears hit the floor in these Olympics, Michael Phelps would dive in and win another gold medal. (Also it was rumored that the court dryer-offers in the men's volleyball competition had to keep chasing him away from the sweat with their mops)

By the Way

This award just lost some of its prestige:


Put that on the shelf next to Al Gore's Carbon Neutral Certificate.

The Eyes Have It

So that's 15 players and, what, 3 or 4 coaches, and not one of them thought this might not be a great idea? Course, they are European, so maybe there's some nuance here my clumsy American brain just can't see.

h/t: ¡No Pasaran!

Euphonious

Stop what you're doing, and dance:

AP is Disgusting

The despicable AP writes:

WASHINGTON - John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions in a 3 1/2-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

The payments raise ethical questions about the intersection of Randy Scheunemann's personal financial interests and his advice to the Republican presidential candidate who is seizing on Russian aggression in Georgia as a campaign issue.

Yeah, this would be fine with John McCain if it weren't for money. Morons.

photo: Boston.com

Sure Glad That's Over

It looks like I may have underestimated Barack Obama. He reportedly has forced Putin to back down by gripping his hand and threatening to hold the staring-off-into-space-dreamily pose until the prime minister agreed to withdraw from Georgia.

"Dammit Vladimir, I'm prepared to do this all day. Your troops will not make it to Atlanta!"