Yoga for Resident Bush

Tara Stiles is very funny. Watch this or any of her yoga stuff. I'd like to buy her some kind of groovy yogi tea or something just for making this video.

Effects of Global Warming

REUTERS/Beawiharta

The population boom among jellyfish is far worse than marine biologists expected.

I generally don't post obscenity but...

If this isn't obscene, I don't know what is. (From Think Progress)

Chrysler to shut down all 30 plants for a month, but ‘white collar workers’ will keep regular salaries.»

Chrysler announced today that it would shut all 30 of its North American plants for a month, starting this Friday. ABC News reports that while 46,000 union workers will be shut off from their regular paychecks, the “white collar” management will continue to receive their salaries:

These [UAW} workers will not be receiving their regular income. There will be an unknown number of white collar workers who will not be working as well, but the expectation is that they will continue to receive their regular salaries during this time.

Chrysler said that union workers will receive “state unemployment benefits as well as supplementary payments from Chrysler” based off “a union negotiated formula.”

Hahahahahahahaha

Scouting report:
Good arm.

Needs to focus on accuracy.

This video cheered me up on a slow Sunday.

'tis the season

Looks like something is in the air. The word is, we have a company-wide meeting on Monday, though the official email invite hasn't gone out. The rumor mill has plenty of grist. I'm guessing a new series of layoffs before the end of the year so that the bottom line can be boosted an inch or two. Conveniently, the corporate online meeting schedule is offline.... Merry F*cking ChrismaHannaKwanzaka.

I, for one, would love a nice big severance package, but if it come to that, I think I will be at the bottom of the range since I've been here just under two years.

The gentleman pictured has his own idea of what a nice severance is.

59. Visited Russia -- No but I could see it from my apartment

From melancholia-induced bloggy silence to a meme, well it's a start.

I HAVE... (done the stuff in bold)
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band -- if a Kazoo band counts
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo -- to myself and sung might be a generous description
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch -- I cook from scratch.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train -- but not in a sleeper.
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill -- actually it was mechanical difficulties, I couldn't get my *ss in gear.
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run -- baseball or metaphorically?
32. Been on a cruise -- I took deck passage on a ferry from Seattle to Alaska
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors -- Depends on how far back you go. never been to the Old World, but did go to south Georgia.
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance -- bike accident. Bruises only.
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling -- snorkeling only
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater -- My first was a double feature of Goldfinger and Dr. No.
55. Been in a movie -- I'm guessing Super8 mm home movies don't count.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China -- I went to a restaurant by that name.
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class -- but not a marital arts class
59. Visited Russia -- No but I could see the USSR from my apartment when I lived in far eastern Hokkaido! No Sh*t. But only on clear days, which were few and far between.
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies -- Vicariously
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check -- only a couple of times. Hey, look at all the good ones I wrote, why don't you ask about those, huh?
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy -- only if you count the one I was born with, if you get my drift...
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar -- yum
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square -- and nobody asked if I was "dating"
74. Toured the Everglades -- The onliest swamps I've visited are the Okefenokee and Washington DC.
75. Been fired from a job -- Laid off, yes.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone -- Ribs, fingers, toe.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car -- NEVER
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper -- but not the post office
85. Read the entire Bible --Was there a Classic Comics version?
86. Visited the White House -- did not sleep in Lincoln BR
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life -- maybe, gave aspirin to a visitor where I worked. Turns out he was actually having a heart attack.
90. Sat on a jury -- deadly dull. It was an appeal of a workman's comp claim. All they could do was read the transcript of the previous trial. And the reader didn't even do voices.
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant -- No, but the GOP has been riding us for too many years.

George, Laura ...

from Huffpost

"I said put your right foot in. It's the hokey pokey. It's what it's all about. And while you're at it, shake it all about."

Huh??

AP Photo/Chuck Burton

Why is Liddy Dole sniffing her fingers?

Caption contest

Reuters

The survivors reported few problems at the polls.

Sarkozy wonders if Angela Merkel has Prince Albert in a can

Reuters

Sarkozy ponders his next prank phone call.

hahahahahhahahahahahahah

I can see Canada from my state. Check out this clip of two Montreal radio personalities making a prank call to Palin. She was effing clueless. They did everything but ask if she had Prince Albert in a can.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/01/masked-avengers-prank-cal_n_140023.html

The real reason for the financial meltdown

Bud and Lou teach math.



Who's in charge?

McCain and Bush may have even more in common than we thought

Pickles Bush, that is. Interesting story on Huff Post about McCain possibly being involved in a traffic fatality.

News Orgs Investigate Possibly Fatal McCain '64 Car Crash

For the past two months, a major American magazine and an allied news service have been engaged in a legal battle with the United States Navy over records that they believe show that John McCain once was involved in an automobile accident that injured or, perhaps, killed another individual.

Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service claim to have knowledge "developed from first-hand sources" of a car crash that involved then-Lt. McCain at the main gate of a Virginia naval base in 1964, according to legal filings. The incident has been largely, if not entirely, kept from the public. And in documents suing the Navy to release pertinent information, lawyers for the NS News Service allege that a cover-up may be at play. (story on Huff Post)

Gumb O bama

via FranIam. This video is great.

Xmas comes early to the Palins

RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion
($150,000 will buy a f*ck of a lot of mukluks)
By JEANNE CUMMINGS | 10/21/08 7:47 PM EDT
From Politico via Huff Post

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement. Pre-September reports do not include similar costs.

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent," she said.

The business of primping and dressing on the campaign trail has become fraught with political risk in recent years as voters increasingly see an elite Washington out of touch with their values and lifestyles.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore took heat for changing his clothing hues. And in 2006, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was ribbed for two hair styling sessions that cost about $3,000.

Then, there was Democrat John Edwards’ $400 hair cuts in 2007 and Republican McCain’s $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes this year.

A review of similar records for the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee turned up no similar spending.

But all the spending by other candidates pales in comparison to the GOP outlay for the Alaska governor whose expensive, designer outfits have been the topic of fashion pages and magazines.

What hasn’t been apparent is where the clothes came from – her closet back in Wasilla or from the campaign coffers in Washington.

The answer can be found inside the RNC’s September monthly financial disclosure report under “itemized coordinated expenditures.”

It’s a report that typically records expenses for direct mail, telephone calls and advertising. Those expenses do show up, but the report also has a new category of spending: “campaign accessories.”

September payments were also made to Barney’s New York ($789.72) and Bloomingdale’s New York ($5,102.71).

Macy’s in Minneapolis, another store fortunate enough to be situated in the Twin Cities that hosted last summer’s Republican National Convention, received three separate payments totaling $9,447.71.

The entries also show a few purchases at Pacifier, a top notch baby store, and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc., suggesting $295 was spent to accommodate the littlest Palin to join the campaign trail.

An additional $4,902.45 was spent at Atelier, a high-class shopping destination for men.

Elitists! $150,000?! And who said you couldn't put lipstick on a pig, that is if said sow can lift her snout out of the trough. On the plus side, a $400 haircut now sounds like a bargain.

Do I sound a little bitter? I'm in the middle of figuring out how to pay for more schooling so I don't get outsourced, laid off, or down sized in the republican depression. $150,000 would more than cover what I have in mind. I doubt I've spent that much on clothes in my whole existence on this planet.

Look Todd . . .

From Huffpost

Look Todd, a bald eagle. Get my shotgun...

Also reminds me of a restaurant that I went to one time. The facilities were marked "Pointers" and "Setters". Does this mean Todd is the setter?

Is this the man?

From the Huff Post

Is this the man you want steering the ship of state?

YES ! ! !

Who is plumber Joe?

from http://bluebuddies.com

WTF? I am tired of hearing about Joe.

And didn't the rethugs have enough trouble with plumbers back in the Nixon years?

Daily Kos has more.

Restoring dignitude to the campaign

REUTERS/Jim Bourg

Game. Set. Match. John, please go back to the home and have a pudding cup.

Waiter!!!

There's a hare in my swamp!

Go see the complete sequence at the Telegraph. Mother nature is tough.

Flyers fans fail Palin

Broad Street Bullies bully pitbull with booing. Does this rise to the level of a "Man bites dog" story? And that coat? Looks like a bad attempt at a cow costume, udder failure.

Betty White on Palin!

Mein Gott, she is a funny woman. I remember watching her on Password ages ago.

pssssst

Pass it on, fellow prisoners...

Sarah looks slightly taken aback.

I knew ...

REUTERS/Anil Dayal

I knew the debate drinking game was a bad idea.

Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.

REUTERS/Ali Jarekji

"I hate these blind tastings. Hmmmm, could be Lutheran or Methodist depending on the vintage."

"Yes, but I detect just a hint of evangelical."

I've heard size doesn't matter, ...

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

But what is up with McCain's and Lieberman's heads? McCain is what? A six and three-eighths? And happy Joe Pumpkinhead? Eight and a quarter?

Flavor name contest

Strange. This may be a publicity stunt or a prank but here it is:

PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk
(Please leave flavor name ideas in the comments. Maybe Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson has some suggestions.)

VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.

"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.

PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.
click here

"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."

In a statement Ben and Jerry's said, "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."

Read PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield

September 23, 2008

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.

Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President

We are so plucked!

(Havakuk Levison/Reuters)

I'm a day or more behind with this nudie chicken picture, but what the heck.

Friday night at the improv

AP/Stephan Savoia via WaterTiger

The pudding cups were delayed, so McCain entertained his supporter(s) with a rendition of Little Bunny Foo Foo.

Follow me, sir....

Christopher Morris / VII for TIME

This is where we make the soylent green....

Oh, Martha

From Think Progress:

Martha Stewart: ‘I would feel weird, really weird’ about having a president who can’t use a computer.

Today, Martha Stewart dedicated her show to blogging, featuring Politico bloggers Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith. Stewart pointed out that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — by his own admission — doesn’t know how to use a computer, and said she would feel “weird, really weird” about having a president who doesn’t understand “the most current mode of communication.”

She neglected to add that McCain could not create a fully animated Rose Parade float using only pre-worn orange jumpsuits, soiled sheets, twelve rubber bands, and a broken bicycle.

Fred Thompson to appear with Sarah Failin'

(From The Museum of Unnatural History)

I think Sarah dropped her glasses. (And Fred should really get a manicure.)

Damned immigrants!

I saw this at Rising Hegemon. It's worth two looks.



Angry Scotsman newly minted American tells it like it is.

On your newsstand, now....

I've never actually purchased a National Enquirer, but this is one for the ages.

PALIN FAMILY SHOCKERS: WHAT SARAH'S REALLY HIDING!

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER’S exclusive ongoing investigation of GOP VP Nom Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin’s goes far beyond a mere teen pregnancy crisis this week!

The Enquirer’s team of reporters has combed the Alaskan wilderness to discover the hidden truth about Gov. Palin’s family, which has become a central part of political identity.

The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah's oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics, detailed in the new issue of The ENQUIRER, which goes on sale today.

THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track's use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.

“I’ve partied with him (Track) for years,” a source disclosed. “I’ve seen him snort cocaine, snort and smoke OxyContin, drink booze and smoke weed.”

The source also divulged the girls would do anything for Track and he’d use his local celebrity to manipulate other guys “to get them to steal things he wanted.”

“He finally did what a lot of troubled kids here do,” the source divulged. “You join the military.”

And as Gov. Palin has billed the state of Alaska for various expenses related to her children, as reported by The Washington Post, The ENQUIRER's investigation reveals that she was so incensed by 17-year-old Bristol's pregnancy that she banished her daughter from the house.

Another family friend revealed pre-prego Bristol was as much of a hard partier as Track was.

“Bristol was a huge stoner and drinker. I’ve seen her smoke pot and get drunk and make out with so many guys. All the guys would brag that the just made out with Bristol.”

When Sarah found out the teen was pregnant by high schooler Levi Johnston, she was actually banished from the house. As part of the cover-up, Palin quickly transferred Bristol to another high school and made her move in with Sarah’s sister Heather 25 miles away!

And the ENQUIRER also learned that Levi Johnston, the baby mamma’s future wedded dada, who was glad handed by John McCain at the GOP Convention, isn’t too happy about his impending shotgun nups either.

“Levi got dragged out of the house to go to Minnesota,” Levi’s friend told The ENQUIRER. “Levi realizes he’s stuck being with Bristol because her mom is running for Vice President.”

The friend also confided that both Bristol and Levi “broke up a few times and they definitely messed around with other people.”

Meanwhile, as members of the Palin family’s war viciously over “Trooper-Gate” and claims of Sarah’s extramarital affair have turned the political race into a chaotic arena of threats, denials and vicious attacks by political black ops, The ENQUIRER has discovered shocking new details about the red-hot affair scandal!

For the full story of the secrets Sarah Palin is trying to hide – pick up the new ENQUIRER!

Seriously, WTF?

Election Shenanigans get the observer arrested. The story is at Bradblog.

Pima County (Tucson), Arizona Election Integrity advocate and expert John Brakey was arrested last night while performing his job as an election supervisor, on behalf of both the Democratic and Libertarian parties, during a post-election hand-count audit of ballots.

Brakey becomes the latest in a growing string of EI advocates to be arrested and/or barred from observing (Brakey was lucky enough to merit both "honors" apparently) while attempting to assure accuracy, fairness, and transparency in voting and in the reporting of election results on behalf of citizens.

The problem erupted after Brakey had noticed a number of ballot bags being counted in the post-election audit were missing their proper security seals. He began to ask questions about those bags, which eventually led to his arrest at the demand of Pima County's Brad "Election Director Gone Wild" Nelson, a man with whom Brakey has had a number of unfortunate (for Nelson) run-ins over the years.

Damn.

I saw this comment and had to share

John McCain was a prisoner in Vietnam. So was Gary Glitter, and I'm not voting for him either.
Here it is.

Palin and McCain to discuss strategy

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/accidentally-inappropriate-campaign-photo

Piper, honey, run along Granpa and I have some things to talk about.

Perfect timing (or shhhh, I'm hunting wabbits)

Reuters

With Palin in St. Paul, Vladimir Putin (Czar- Russialand) makes preparations to invade Wasilla.

Sarah who?

The governess of Alaska will be McCain's running mate. I guess Vickie Iseman wasn't available.
via Kos.

I suppose Ted Stevens (R-lobbyist's pocket) will do his best not to implicate her. And her husband is an oil industry executive worker. Drill her, (I mean here) Drill now.

Update: Did McCain pick her so he'll have a scapegoat when he loses? Or is his "little pilot" doing his decidering for him?

Finally a meme I can sink my teeth into

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. (I've given myself some leeway as you can see in my comments.)
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (there is no food that I would not consider eating.)
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
There's a few maybes that reflect some dishes I had in Japan. Sometimes not even my hosts knew the ingredients. And I've eaten squirrel, but I didn't cook it in Huckabee's corn popper.

1. Venison- yes, and other wild meats
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile-- not yet, nor has a crocodile eaten me
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich-- I could live on PBJ and milk.
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses-- not yet
17. Black truffle-- white but not black
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes-- Yes, especially if Boone's Farm counts.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese-- not yet
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda-- not yet
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi-- not yet
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar-- yes to both, but not together
37. Clotted cream tea-- not yet
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O-- not yet, but obviously an oversight on my part
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat-- goat, yes, but pickled not curried
42. Whole insects-- candied grasshoppers
43. Phaal-- not yet
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more-- Maybe
46. Fugu-- I think so
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin-- My second cousin once removed was a kaolin miner. I've only had it in Koa-Pectate
64. Currywurst- not yet
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis-- No
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette-- yep, in Japan in a soup of some sort, they were very chewy.
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini-- both but not together
73. Louche absinthe-- nope
74. Gjetost, or brunost-- nope
75. Roadkill-- not that I'm aware of, but I wouldn't put it past some of my hosts
76. Baijiu-- I've had (a lot of) the Japanese equivalent, Shochu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini-- No, but it sounds tastier than a fuzzy navel
81. Tom yum-- I think so
82. Eggs Benedict-- Yes and its lowly counterpart, the Egg McYouKnowWhat
83. Pocky-- and giant Pockys, too.
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.-- Alas, no
85. Kobe beef-- Yes
86. Hare-- you mean four legged chicken as we used to call it for my cousin who had delicate gustatory sensibilities
87. Goulash
88. Flowers--
89. Horse-- yes, raw in Japan as horse sashimi (ba sashi) or euphemistically as sakura niku (cherry meat)
90. Criollo chocolate-- no
91. Spam-- hell yeah!
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa-- not yet
94. Catfish-- Yum-yum
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake-- yes, at camp many years ago

Let me get this straight....

"I light the fuse, and then I run like hell...."

Getty Images via the Seattle P-I

Requisite Olympics Post #2

Nice binoculars, Chimpy

Is there a back story here?
That could explain a lot.

Requisite Olympics Post

I think this is a great picture from the Olympics. This guy is from the UAE and may be as rich as Midas, but he looks like a regular guy. Put a John Deere logo on his hat and he could be my neighbor. His ear muffs are great, too.

Ahmed Almaktoum of the UAE unloads his shotgun during the qualifying round of the men's trap competition of the shooting event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 10, 2008.
REUTERS/Desmond Boylan

There they are

Popeye and Sweetpea enjoy a lighthearted moment at the home.

AP/Mary Altaffer

Lower than a worm's sub-basement

From Think Progress

Bush Veterans Affairs Department bans voter registration drives at veterans facilities.

This needs to be circulated far, wide, and repeatedly. Apparently there is a dearth of shame in the Bush appointed members of the VA. This is so reprehensible.

Separated at birth?

Presented for your consideration....

Bush's TOILSEC acccomodations revealed.

How timely, given my repost yesterday.
From TreeHugger. Click through to see more pictures.
From the Brown Company, no less. And the character? His first name is Jack....

More than you want to know about Chimpy's toileting

This is a rerun, but after I heard Jon Stewart comment that Bush is the most traveled president ever, I go to thinking about TOILSEC again. Are they saving all his excreta to fill the Bush Library and Stink Tank?

Pissed in New York found an interesting story.

Check this out. No one but a two-year old is this concerned with excreta.
And this extract from the original at Kos.

According to our Austrian sources, Austrian newspapers are currently abuzz with special security details of George W. Bush's recent trip to Vienna. Although the heavy-handed Gestapo-like security measures meted out to Viennese home owners, business proprietors, and pedestrians by US Secret Service agents and local police before and during Bush's visit received widespread Austrian media attention, it was White House "toilet security" ("TOILSEC"), which has Austrians talking the most. The White House flew in a special portable toilet to Vienna for Bush's personal use during his visit. The Bush White House is so concerned about Bush's security, the veil of secrecy extends over the president's bodily excretions.

Is this why he had to write a note to Condi about going to the little boys' room. Is she in charge of TOILSEC?

I dislike her less now

Funny in an odd sort of way. Take that, you wrinkly old white guy.

Mr. McCain, there's a transmission for you on the Marconi apparatus...

Anna Quindlen makes a good point in this week's Newsweek.

The terrorists have laptops in their hideouts. Can America afford to have a leader who is just learning how to use one?
Honest Abe was a techie. Yep, it's true. President Lincoln pushed hard for the spread of telegraph lines across the country and used the new medium to make communications with his generals during the Civil War swift and specific. Sometimes he even slept on the couch in the telegraph office when he was monitoring battlefield conditions. In his book "Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails," author Tom Wheeler brings the language of Silicon Valley to Gettysburg. "Lincoln's early-adopter instincts," he writes, "coupled with his being unburdened by the old dogmas, allowed him to outperform his generals in the ability to see change and harness it to his purpose."

Paging John McCain. Or at least calling him. Because he doesn't text-message. Or have a BlackBerry. Or use e-mail. Anyhow, he might want to pay more attention to Lincoln's successful future-think.

Read the whole thing, it's interesting.

Borderline computing

I'm not sure if this family are worried tourists or Homeland Security agents in training.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fncll/135465558/

Tell The Bush Administration: Hands Off My Laptop

I have enough problems with my laptop without having to surrender it to officials on demand.
From the link above:

Today the Washington Post ran a front-page story on a topic previously reported by ThinkProgress. Homeland Security is telling customs agents they can search, and take, travelers’ laptops and other electronic devices without needing any reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

The Post story highlights a new Customs and Border Patrol policy document that states:

In the course of a border search, and absent individualized suspicion, officers can review and analyze the information transported by any individual attempting to enter, reenter, depart, pass through, or reside in the United States.

The new policy says CPB can take away the laptop or analyze copies of its contents:

Officers may detain documents and electronic devices, or copies thereof, for a reasonable period of time to perform a thorough border search. The search may take place on-site or at an off-site location.

CBP says that the officers are supposed to return the laptop and destroy copies of the contents if nothing illegal is found (but be sure not to have any downloaded songs that you haven’t paid for).

That is far from comforting, even once you get your laptop back days or weeks later, because “nothing in this policy limits the authority of an officer to make written notes” about what was in the laptop.

Insane? Yes. Maybe they could offer spyware removal and defragmentation services. (That is, if indeed, they aren't installing some nefarious software or device.)

Dude's a rock star

Watch the video. It's like the frickin' Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.

It's not what you think....

Telegraph.co.uk

Really, it's not.

See also Grain, Ten; Assorted funnies.

A disaster that didn't wait to happen

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Truth with commercials from the Onion.

President Anti-Midas continues to make headlines

Excerpt from Bloomberg

The dollar's 41 percent drop against the euro during Bush's term writes the economic epitaph of an administration that set out to restore American preeminence. Instead, Bush heads to Japan next week for his final international summit with diminished leverage as Russian and Chinese influence grows.

41 percent! 41 percent! I'll never be able to afford new lederhosen if this continues.

Maybe, he'll make it 43 percent by the end of his term, just for self-referential irony.

Now these are crunchy numbers

Library Late Fees in Alberta Are 16 Times Bigger than
Environmental Fines at the Alberta Tar Sands

Where else but TreeHugger.com?
What a bunch of book-borrowing scofflaws!

Sure, I like republicans...

I just can't eat a whole one.

Kooshki, an Asiatic cheetah captured by a poacher as a cub and rescued by the Department of Environment, walks in his enclosure at the Pardisan Zoo in Tehran, Iran, June 18, 2008.

REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Are you sure this is a good idea?

Paramilitary policemen on assault vehicles take part in an anti-terrorism drill in Jinan, Shandong province July 2, 2008. China will have nearly 100,000 commandos, police and members of the military on standby up to and during the Beijing Olympics to handle potential terrorist attacks, state media reported.
REUTERS/Stringer

Assault vehicle?

Shocked, shocked, I tell you.

The Washington Post reports Obama received a “discount” interest rate on his home mortgage loan. “He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago.”

I did my own research, and guess what I found. Are you ready?

Fully half of the mortgages at the time were below average!!!!!!!!!!!!
Math much?

And not only that, all the mortgage rates were locked in within two weeks of a full moon, on a day with a "y" in the name.

Look Papa!

Associated Press

"Right here, it says, 'John McCain was here, Nov. 5, 1,000,000 BC.'"

(DG, if you ever see one of these, hide!)

BASTARDS

Immunity!

Too bad there's not an immunization for stupid.

Whaddya mean?

from somewhere

You never told not to tie dye the dog.

Just Horsing Around

I like Horsey. Take a a look at his other stuff at the Seattle P-I. If you want scary stuff read the wingnut comments to his comics.

I got a virus...

Go watch it. Electron microscope not required.

Sparky emerges from the "beauty parlor"

telegraph.co.uk

"I think you forgot the creme rinse."

Ooooh, shiny....

The resident shows his class.

REUTERS

"Lookit them angels, and that golden throne is shinier than a nickel in a bulldog's butt."

A recent spam

Subject: Update your P*nis

Darn, I'm still using version 1.0 (though the baby doc did remove some extra bits, would that be service pack one?)

"Bon Voyage"

(AP Photo/Center of Natural Sciences)

"And tell Noah thanks for the invite..."

This undated photo provided by the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, Italy, Wednesday, June 11, 2008, shows a deer with a single horn in the center of its head. The one-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed 'Unicorn'' - was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences, said. He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

And in Afghanistan, apparently we need to ask who will interpret for the interpreters.

This video is appalling. Please go to the Guardian and watch it. Lost in translation is no joke.

Who do voodoo?

REUTERS/Victor Fraile

A practitioner inserts needles into a near-life size voodoo doll of George Bush.
(mouse over the picture if my humor is too subtle)

Get me down from here

REUTERS/Str

"Hey, kin a fella get a lil hep here. The power's out and Ah'm stuck on escamalator one."

Elmo says Bush wants to hit Iran

From ThinkProgress.org

“George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House,” Olmert reportedly said after his 90 minute long one-on-one meeting with the American Commander in Chief.

Listen up, Ehud! "Bush" and "understand" in the same sentence? Let me school you, George Bush barely understands that food goes in one end and out the other. How in the hell do you think he can understand Iran?

Keep it together, John

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

It's not Charley even if he is short, brown, and dressed in camo.

21 years ago

Photo: Jeff Widener/AP

WTF is wrong with these people?

Via the Huff Post
Be sure to catch the last line....

Indicted Saudi Financier Gets $80 Million US Military Contract

The U.S. military suffered enormous embarrassment when the New York Times reported that a contract to arm the Afghan forces worth nearly $300 million had been awarded to a 22-year-old man, Efraim E. Diveroli, whose vice president was a licensed masseur. It turned out that Diveroli had been supplying the Afghans with defective weaponry and had broken numerous procurement laws. Apparently, the military has not learned their lesson. ABC News reports that they have awarded an $80 million contract to a prominent Saudi financier who has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department:

The US military has awarded an $80 million contract to a prominent Saudi financier who has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The contract to supply jet fuel to American bases in Afghanistan was awarded to the Attock Refinery Ltd, a Pakistani-based refinery owned by Gaith Pharaon. Pharaon is wanted in connection with his alleged role at the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion.

The Saudi businessman was also named in a 2002 French parliamentary report as having links to informal money transfer networks called hawala, known to be used by traders and terrorists, including Al Qaeda.

Interestingly, Pharaon was also an investor in President George W. Bush's first business venture, Arbusto Energy.

(Why I am not surprised? -SC)

Internet matchmaking gone wrong

REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

"I told you; I don't do doggy style."

Sea level rise exceeds predictions

REUTERS/Eric Thayer

For your amusement

I'm not sure if this is parody or satire.

UPDATE: Try this location instead.
Updated update: Looks like the original is back in action at a slightly different URL.

Just when

Just when you thought the goat rodeo couldn't get any more interesting...

A goat loses its underwear durng the goat dressing event of the Liberty Stampede Rodeo in Devon, Pennsylvania, May 10, 2008. Philadelphia's gay community sought to dispel some sexual stereotypes when it held the city's first gay rodeo. About 50 contestants roped steers, cracked whips, and wrestled cattle to the ground during the weekend in an attempt to prove to themselves - and the rest of the world - that they are just as capable of tackling a traditionally macho sport as their straight counterparts.

REUTERS/Tim Shaffer