Smile and say "Barefoot"!

My wife Jenzie turned me on to this hilarious web site called Stuff White People Like. Now, in the throes of the holiday season I see and think about family portraits and ask (in my best Andy Rooney voice) What the hell is it with barefoot people in studio portraits? I think it's more stuff white people like.

There is a secret code going on here in the second photo. Notice how gramps (on the right) has on shoes, but grandma does not; and the dad's barefoot, and mom is in sandals. I think this is what it means to be half casual. Probably some insider photog secret re: flesh to fabric ratios.

Bagassora Convicted

Last year, I read several books on the genocide in Rwanda. All very hard to read for the cruelty and disregard for human life they revealed. Not simply the Hutus killing Tutsis, but people like Madeline Albright (and others in the Clinton administration), and key figures in the French government and the UN. By all accounts, Bagasora was the Hutu leader most responsible for the butchery. He was finally convicted. Read Canadian General Romeo Dallaire's book for starters.

The Value of a Dollar

Recently, I thought I wanted to create a new Blog, a kind of good will log. A place where you could share experiences of giving and receiving 'random acts of kindness'. I know it might feel self-serving to talk about the good you do, and the good others do to you, but I thought it'd be useful for the someone who might stop by and need a lift.

Because while Lady MacBeth's worries Macbeth is too full of the milk of human kindness, I worry I am not. I am an old dog learning a new trick, or trying to learn. Millions of people live by this creed of giving every day and to you I take off my hat. But in my life I have stumbled along, doing it here and there, but it is not a way of life for me. And that is the strange part because when I do it, it feels like bliss.

I have always liked a line from a song by The Smiths: it takes guts to be gentle and kind. Makes a lot of sense to me, as does this from my old friend WW:

An excerpt from the Old Cumberland Beggar:

" ... man is dear to man: the poorest poorLong for some moments in a weary lifeWhen they can know and feel that they have beenThemselves the fathers and the dealers outOf some small blessings, have been kind to suchAs needed kindness, for this single cause,That we have all of us one human heart."

The idea behind starting this new Blog started with a lift home, an act of kindness from a total stranger. I was at my mechanics recently, trying to mooch a ride back to my house after dropping off my car, but the drivers were all out plowing snow. A well-dressed man (who I had thought to myself looked corny) overhead the conversation and offered to give me a lift. We chatted about the neighborhood on the way to my house, and as I got out of the car I said, "Well, I am gonna half to figure out how to repay this kindness." "Yeah, keep it going you know, " he said. The next day, with more snow falling, I hauled out the new used snow thrower I bought from our neighbor. I did our drive and sidewalk. But then I started thinking, who else can I do? I ended up doing our whole sidewalk, the driveways of three friends in the neighborhood--one woman had let me pick pears off her tree all season long.

The Karmic wheel turned, and the next day while fueling up the van at a station down the street, some big husky fellow starts talking to me about the economy, how his dad was always saying he didn't know the value of a dollar. I told him I had been laid off in March, and that I knew the value of a dollar. Long story short, he pulled out his money clip and gave me a $20 bill.

So that's the value of a dollar, right? That you can give it away.

Holiday Nuts

Tis the season alright. Otty saw an infomercial for Neuticals and now he's all about getting a pair for Christmas. I really can't afford them being out of work and all, but from the looks of them (sm, med, lg) maybe I can rig something with jellybeans and rubber bands. I know Otty deserves better and I am filled with financial Holiday shame that I cannot provide. Sigh.
















Indy is still working on her wish list. But I know it starts off with 1. Less of a spaz for a roommate. (Poor Otty.)

Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Jeremy Scahill questions, and forecasts Obama's cabinet picks. He could be right.

"Obama does have a chance to change the mindset that got us into war. More significantly, he has a popular mandate to forcefully challenge the militaristic, hawkish tradition of modern U.S. foreign policy. But that work would begin by bringing on board people who would challenge this tradition, not those who have been complicit in creating it and are bound to continue advancing it."

Bonk

Bonk is a book about "the curious coupling of science and sex". I just finished reading it and as a little tease wanted to give a taste of what you’d find should you read it.

Here are a few lines and passages that I moved me -- one way or another:

“Word spread. By 1916, the nut graft had gone mainstream.”

“The next step in the operation, Dr. Hsu has named the "inside out" maneuver. Though it is not so much “inside out” as “just out”. Using his gloved fingers, Dr. Hsu pulls the man’s penis up and out of the skin, through the three-inch slit, by its midshaft.”

“The vaginal photoplethysmograph probe that I will be—holding? containing? wearing?—is, for the moment hygienically sequestered in a Ziplock bag …”

“Dr. Hsu’s nurse is unwrapping the second implant, for the other erectile chamber. This one does not go gently. The insertion is done in two stages. One end is submerged down to the pubis bone"

“In addition to the smell of cologne, women were turned off by the scent of cherry and of charcoal barbecue meat. At the top of the women’s turn on list was, mysteriously, a mixture of cucumber and Good and Plenty candy. It was said to increase vaginal blood flow by 13%.”

“Masters points out that the heterosexuals were at a disadvantage as they do not benefit from what he called “gender empathy”. Doing unto your partner as you would do unto yourself only works well when you are gay.”

Bonk is by Mary Roach, who also wrote Stiff, the Secret Life of Cadavers. My wife Darby read that and said it was great. Not surprising, as the writing in Bonk is informative, funny, sly and be warned, cringe worthy at times.

Roach says: The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been going on for centuries, behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, Alfred Kinsey's attic, and, more recently, MRI centers, pig farms, and sex-toy R&D labs. Bonk takes you inside all these places.

The Iraq War Ends!

If you haven't heard or read the news, check out this "special" edition of the NY Times. It is chocked full of possibilities. I love it, the NY Times goes Onion. Even the ads are a poke in the eye. You can read more about the staging at www.commondreams.org.

Otty Meets Indy

Not that Indy, this Indy. Indy is our new Border Terrier, from the same breeder in Indiapolis where we got Otty. She was a rescue. Indy is 7 and thinks Otty is mental. (We sometimes agree). The picture doesn't do her justice, but let me tell you she is a good 8 pounds maybe 10 overweight. Oink. We are hoping the transition goes smoothly and they become good friends soon. The magic eight ball says all signs point to Yes. This is after just two days.

FOX Eats Their Own

The race is over and I should get back to business as usual, but I can't resist this bit on FOX about Sarah Palin.

And what the hell is wrong with that FOX dude's face? Botox orgy?

Oh wait, I can't resist this either from NY Times.

Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits

Whit Woodruff for President: "I Only Know What's Right"

Here it is, election day. If you recall, my son Whit has been running hard in the last few days of the presidential race. I spoke with him this morning about the election, about his campaign promises, and he had this to say:

"I don't know how to raise people's taxes and spend it on junk America doesn't need.
I don't know how to ruin the planet.
I don't know to how form alliances nutty govenors from other countries."

We kicked it around and decided to play up the "I don't know" innocence card as we make our final push for office, so today our message is: I ONLY KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT.

Studs Terkel Dies

This is a lift from Democracy Now's site. The legendary radio broadcaster, writer and oral historian Studs Terkel has died at the age of 96 in Chicago. Studs Terkel worked as an activist, a civil servant, a labor organizer, an ad writer, a television actor, and a radio DJ, among many other occupations. But since the 1960s, he was particularly well-known as a world-class interviewer, a writer and radio personality who drew celebrities and, far more often, average citizens into sharing their oral histories.

For 45 years, Studs Terkel spent an hour each weekday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conversing with famous and not-so-famous guests and with a loyal audience of Chicago listeners.

With his unique style of oral history on subjects such as race, war and employment, Terkel spent decades interviewing Americans across the country, creating intimate portraits of everyday life and chronicling changing times through this century.

Halloweenies

I think it was around 1978 when I last put on a mask for Halloween. A million years later I am coming around. This year, I held down the fort and passed out the candy and deeply disturbed a number of the local youngins with this eagle face I got at the zoo. Twitching my head from side to side with bird like curiosity as they timidly mounted my steps probably did not help them feel like getting too close. I think it is really freaky, reminds me of one of the masks someone in The Shining (the book) would have worn at the ball.

My son went as Yu-Gi-Oh, the King of Games.

McFists of Fury

McSexy sounds like quite the lady killer. Suave. Maybe a little punchy, though. Here is a lengthy piece from the good people at CounterPunch.org about McCain's Girl Trouble, which is nothing like Elvis's Girl Trouble. Here's an excerpt:

Also quoted by Churcher is Ted Sampley, a Special Forces veteran: “I’ve been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There’s something wrong with this guy. Let me tell you what it is – deceit. When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carole for something he thought was better. This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.”

Take a close look at Cindy after you read the whole article. I think she really hates the wee Attack Troll.

White Supremacy Groups Pinic at Palin Rally

Ok, pinic's a bit of a reach. They're just hanging around spreadin the love at a Palin rally in VA. Weird, why would hate mongers and White Supremist groups feel welcome enough to put up their tents.

Palintology - it's so In ...

Incoherent. Incomprehensible. Inept. More garbled gook from the Vogue Rogue. Excerpts from a Wall Street Journal interview.

My Son for President

Wow, the presidential race takes an unexpected turn. Guess this would make me the First Dad. Move over First Dude. My son Whit is on a roll. Click the Channel 3 image and check it out. Taking a break from Yu-Gi-Oh to take on Special Interest. That's the campaign theme I worked up for him.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

Reads more like rumor, but Huff Post has Colin Powell coming out with an Obama endorsement very soon. Well see.

Where's the Pesky Gotcha Media Hiding

This would be funnier if it were so close to the truth. A Palin as Presidency. Just move your mouse around the picture and click on items for a mavericky good time.

The Honorable Fix is In: Republican Judges Over Turn Ruling

My fool is hanged. So is yours. How disheartening this ruling is. My stomach aches. If history hadn't shown otherwise, I would like to believe that judges were above the fix. Clearly they are not, yet they keep "Honorable" before their names. Honorable like Brutus. Iago.

Let's look at how many of the Federal judges who overturned the ruling are Republican appointed:

"Sutton–G.W. Bush, Boggs–Reagan, Batchelder–G.H.W. Bush, Gilman–Clinton (the only Clinton appointee voting “for”), Gibbons–G.W.Bush, Cook–G.W. Bush, McKeague–G.W.Bush, Griffin–G.W.Bush, and Kethledge–G.W.Bush.

And the “dissent”? Moore–Clinton, Daughtrey–Clinton, Cole–Clinton, Clay–Clinton.

The Republicans have succeeded in their appointments of Judges who vote to suppress while only the Democratic appointees are voting on behalf of voters to insure the right to vote."

Read the complete article via the link above.

Deja vu, really. If you think it ain't true, just read here.

Please Pass this Story Along - Palin-Pals

A great piece by Kennedy on Palin's true colors with respect to the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) and the shocking depth of hypocrisy in her attacks on Obama's patriotism.

Excerpt:

"Palin's husband Todd remained an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era palaver as a "fellow traveler." While retaining her Republican registration, she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006 convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention. In other words, this is not something that happened when she was eight!

So when Palin accuses Barack of "not seeing the same America as you and me," maybe she is referring to an America without Alaska. In any case, isn't it time the media start giving equal time to Palin's buddy list of anti-American bombers and other radical associates?"

Please pass this along ...

Don't Fear the Reaper, Fear Them

Yes, don't fear the reaper. There are afterall, these inhabitants of Strongsville which are far more frightening. A recent rally for the Fluffy Bunny Palin and her running mate. Courtesy of Blue Ohioan. Here, though, is the mother lode. Same rally. Check out the video.

Coming Soon, Another Palin Report

FICTION:

"Well, I'm very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there," the governor said from her car on the way to a campaign stop in Philadelphia.

FACT:
Stephen Blanchflower, the investigator hired by the legislative committee to conduct the investigation, said he found Mrs Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain. He said she violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," he said.


EVEN MORE FACT:
" Well, what the report found, everything Sarah Palin had said in terms of her motives for firing trooper Mike Wooten, who had divorced her sister, was completely false, that she felt threatened by Trooper Wooten, for example, was completely contradicted by the fact that as soon as she came into office, she demanded that her security detail be significantly reduced. And so, just across the board, everything she had said about Trooper Wooten being a threat to her was contradicted by this report, and that Todd Palin, the self-described “first dude” of Alaska, spent 50 percent of his personal time, you know, in the governor’s office seeking ways to fire Trooper Wooten and to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who happens to be sort of a local hero in Alaska.


So, the report itself is pretty devastating, and what Sarah Palin is saying is that she hasn’t—that the report finds that she hasn’t broken any laws. And technically, while that’s true, she also stands to be censured by the legislature and/or fined, which would completely erode her image as a reformer who’s above party politics and personal corruption, something that, you know, the McCain campaign had sought her out for.


Beyond that, there’s more trouble ahead for Sarah Palin. She had followed a terrible McCain campaign strategy—and this is a little bit complicated—by which she would file an ethics report against herself before the State Personnel Board. And the logic behind this was that because the governor controls the State Personnel Board, you know, reports directly to the governor, she could get a favorable report on her handling of the trooper controversy, and this would have a lot of public relations value and would sort of at least exonerate her before the public. But what wound up happening was the State Personnel Board appointed another tough prosecutor, someone named Timothy Petumenos, an Anchorage—an Anchorage lawyer, who also happens to be a Democrat. And they’re going to release their report in a few weeks, and I expect that this report could be equally, if not more, devastating for Governor Palin.

--Reporter Michael Blumenthal, on Democracy Now

Palin, Seccesionist at Large

This is a must read for all you Palin fans.

I guess it is okay to pal around with Seccesionist groups, try and put them on city council chairs, take their help and support for your campaign, speak at their events, and then say people like Obama think America isn't any good. Well, in all fairness I guess that's what, guilt by association?

What was it Palin said: "[Obama] is not a man who sees America like you and I see America. We see America as a force of good in this world."

Or wait, did she say:

"This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country," Palin concluded, in the hardest shot of the statement.

These people truly hate America and Palin is far more friendly with them than the mainstream press will let you realize. Doubtful this is even on their radar. Check out the report at Salon. Or got to Democracy Now (above). The more I know about this Palin freak show, the more goddamn frightening it gets. I have to guess the red neck conservative brigade who eat up her bullshit and phoney image don't know dick about this part of her background, or they do and it's cool with them.

Steel Your Vote

Uggh. Read this, see the Palast banner at the top of Poor Fool and click it.

Just Another Mantis Monday

... well, okay so it's Friday but the song ref works better with Monday .... a friend called to say there were two, count em two, mantiseseses bumming around her porch. The one on the porch swing hook looks full of babies or some mantis dude's head.


Click the pic and watch them grooooow.

Darn it, He's Just Plain Unmavericky

Here is a very thorough piece by a Rolling Stone columnist on just who/what McCain is and how, I am sorry to say, he ain't very Mavericky. And here is an excerpt, re: the Keating business which is likely to get more attention the almost-Press now that Palin's out there pointing out Obama's terrorist ties.

"When McCain became a senator in 1986, filling the seat of retiring Republican icon Barry Goldwater, he was finally in a position that a true maverick could use to battle the entrenched interests in Washington. Instead, McCain did the bidding of his major donor, Charlie Keating, whose financial empire was on the brink of collapse."

Mmmmmmm. Mavericky.

Looking Back - Last Month in Review

Here's where I am these days.

As you can tell, I am caught up in politics. With Palin making the rounds, my dander is up and I am frankly terrified. Hence the endless polit posts from my heroes: Amy Goodman, Greg Palast. I hug up to the real news at times like this and try my best to take a deep breath. I put out the truth as I see it. Physically, it's almost too much to take. The bile in the back of my throat takes all night to settle, and then she opens her mouth again. The vicious cycle starts all over again. Joe 6-pack? Please please please let me get what I want this time, as Morrissey would say. Make her go back, make her go away.

I had a good month freelancing, but need to crank up the prospecting by another big ass notch or two. If I were to lose my biggest client, say they hired their own in-house copywriter, I'd be a week or two from the soup line. That is my fear. And my wife Maeve's fear. Looks like I might two or more new clients after my latest push, though. Fingers crossed.

I was laughing so hard the other night, thanks to my son, that I got down on my hands and knees on the floor to try and catch my breath and I freaking blacked out and hit the floor -- all 250 lds. of me. Woke up a few seconds later on the floor looking up at my wife. Face all flush. Had a big knot on my forehead and a serious rug burn on my knee. I thought, "Hmmm, I guess that is what it could be like to die." Snap. Gone. I always imagined I would get a chance to say goodbbye, but this happened without any warning. I was just, out.

Have found an awesome new brew from my heroes at Lagunitas. It is their seasonal Imperial Red Ale. If you live in Ohio, don't buy any. It's mine. All mine.

I have been reading the following: Greg Palast, Armed Madhouse, The Last Apocalypse, James Reston, and now have a pile of books from William Grieder from The Nation. How fucking depressing, these reads, but essential. Why is the truth always so dispiriting.

Played my son in Scrabble today and he did pretty good for an 8-year old dude on the rise. I love him beyond words. That's that.

Victory (Not) In Iraq According to Robert Fisk

I am pretty groggy this morning. Recovering from fits and seizures during last night's debate. Imagine if you will the VOTE FOR PEDRO shirt but change it to Palin. Because watching the spectacle last night, as far as her performance goes, was like watching some high school airhead running for class president. True, she spoke convincingly of the victory in Iraq, but maybe we should listen to someone who actually is there and knows what is going on? Robert Fisk, like Greg Palast are what we need in this country.

Full text of Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN General Assembly

I don't know. He sounds pretty sane for a guy our government and media has made out to be an insane crackpot enemy of the US. Peaceful coexistence? Radical, man, radical.

Dennis Kucinich on the Bailout

The word stench and other bad smell words come up a lot in this interview. Kucinich speaks on DM about the bailout. Excellent, thorough analyis. Check it out if you have a strong heart.

Excerpt: "When all is said and done and the jeweler’s eye is applied to this bill, this bill is about Wall Street. And unfortunately, you know, Goldman Sachs, with their man now as the Secretary of the Treasury, is going to be able to have some of its policies escape scrutiny. And this is probably a way to keep them afloat, I’m sure. Well, you know, I don’t want anybody to go down or out of business, but it seems to me that when the Secretary of the Treasury has massive holdings in Goldman Sachs and he’s going to be in a position of being able to direct investments and buy out bad investments, I think that we could easily conclude what that would do for his former firm."


And in this corner, from Goldman Sachs, we have "The Architect," Mr. MoneyBags Freakshow with his heartfelt woe about the "excesses" that helped cause the problem, excesses the bill does nothing to correct. All I can say is that the knots in his stomach, they're just not tight enough.

McLovin

Oh, I just love this photo.

McCotton Hill looks so miserably uncomfortable. And wee. A wee old man doll. Floppy. I guess you can't be an unbending maverick and still take a hug without looking brittle and near death.

Palin Claims US “Victory” in Iraq

Here is a grab from Democracy Now exposing more of Palin's stellar word with ways:

"In other campaign news, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been caught in an apparent gaffe after claiming the US has achieved “victory” in Iraq. Speaking to CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Palin said, “a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there, as it has proven to have done in Iraq.” Palin was also asked about her comments that an Israeli attack on Iran shouldn’t ever be “second guessed.”

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: “We don’t have to second-guess what their efforts would be if they believe that it is in their country and their allies, including us, all of our best interests to fight against a regime, especially Iran, who would seek to wipe them off the face of the earth. It is obvious to me who the good guys are in this one and who the bad guys are. The bad guys are the ones who say Israel is a stinking corpse and should be wiped off the face of the earth. That’s not a good guy who is saying that. Now, one who would seek to protect the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States, in my world, those are the good guys.”

Did you get all that? Clearly she has taken a page from Rumsfeld's known unkowns book of communications.

Nader on Bailout

Here's Ralph Nader, on Democracy Now, talking about the Bailout and showboats among other things. Fear, fear fear rush to war. Rush to bailout crooks. Rush. Rush. Rush. "But the first step is to slow down Congress. Once this bill is passed—and it’s a blanket bill. It’s only four pages, Amy, four pages of a $700 billion blank check, transferring congressional authority wholesale, and I think unconstitutionally, to the White House, King George IV at work again. Once it passes, then the chance for comprehensive regulation and all the other changes to make Wall Street accountable, instead of allow Wall Street to create a corporate state or what Franklin Delano Roosevelt called fascism, which is government controlled by private economic power, represented by people like Henry Paulson—once this happens, it’s not going to be reversible." An excerpt.

Satan is Not Happy

Mr. Grumpy Inferno Pants is NOT happy. Heard it through the scorched grapevine that he was close with Palin, had her wrapped aroaund this "nowhere bridge", got them books-o-learning almost banned, but then all this blessing to save her from all forms of witchcrafery business pulled the musty rug out from underneath him.

Shhh. Someone Thinks He's a Cat.

Nothing like working at home on a sunny almost Fall day. Hey, check out my exciting new paper weight. Shaped a bit like a Border Terrier. Hard to say at this point if this kind of intrusion is a perk or not of working from home. But with those little hands on my leg, and the love crumb eyes looking up at me ... ugh, hard to resist. Then he just jumps up and helps himself to the center of attention.

Grab a Barf Bag and Read On

My wife Nadine sent this my way and I am duty bound to pass it on. NOTE: any subsequent room spins are a direct result of absorbing the aforementioned content into your bloodstream.

Greg Palast

If you don't know Greg Palast you should. His last book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, will age you. His latest book has a lengthy section in it on how the GOP (Rove) has already stolen the 2008 election. Incredible reporting. Jump in here at truthout.org. And click the banner above. He looks like the Indiana Jones of reporting, a little.

Photo Ops = Experience

The misery of it all. How shallow and insulting the charade.


Palin has no foreign policy experience to speak of, so now we cram in a few quick meetings and photo ops to show how connected she is. Press is locked out. Her and McCain seem (her more) to have gone underground except for the most controlled and shielded of appearances. (Especially after The View). Doesn't Bush hold the record for the fewest press briefings of any president in history?

Smells the same to me with Palin. Especially with the campaign trying so militantly to keep her from speaking in public. It's almost like their afraid of what will come out of her mouth. Again.

Brzezinski

A little light on the subject. Get to know this man, if you don't already. An avowed Globalist. By some accounts he's "the man". By other accounts, maybe not so much. Lastly, here are pieces from The Progressive and a transcript from Democracy Now with more on Mr. B.

Palin Almost Spells Pain

My wife Sonja says I am giving too much ink to Palin. Maybe so. Here is my last (for a while) Palin post. Link to a transcript from Democracy Now on Palin, polar bears and oil and gas. The warm up to Amy's interview with the scientist includes a transcript from the Gibson interview and Palin's painfully garbled attempt to answer.

Mangle Blue Palin

If I had been born to Sarah Palin, my name would be Mangle Blue. Sweet. Use the Palin name generator to see what your name would be. Flash, Stick. Bark. Granite. By the way, I did Otty's and he was Bush Gator Palin. He is not down with that.













" ... Hollywood that is, swimming pools, movie stars ..."

Dan Quayle/Sarah Palin

I'm Dan Quayle.















And I support my legacy.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran - Get It?

"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

Smoke Up Ass

... Sick to my stomach today, big time ... oh wait, must be all the cheap cheap smoke someone blew up my ass in her debut last night ... the boss is happy though. I am not quite sure why she reminds me of Bush. Oh, she sounds like him a lot when she talks.

The more I read and process about last night's interview the more ill I become. Extremists are hell-bent on things. We won't blink. Stay the course. How can you preach change girl. How.

Sarah Palin: Miss Teen USA?

Reading this morning's news droppings about the Palin interview with Hardballer Charlie Gibson, reminded me of a recent, equally intense Q&A. Miss Teen America.

For example:

"Pressed about what insights into recent Russian actions she gained by living in Alaska, Palin told Gibson, "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."

She went on to say: "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because…. some.. people out there… in our nation….. don’t have maps and I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should.. uh….our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S….. er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children".

Actually, this last statement was the Miss Teen candidate's answer to a panel question (click above). But it sounds hollow, confused and familiar.

Jesus H Christ. It doesn't get anymore insightful than that.

Up with Palin's October Surprise

According to today's conservative-leaning, Ramussen survey they managed to find a way to suggest that Palin is more popular than McCain or Obama. Rasmussen surveys are about as legitimate as the Bush administration investigating itself. A closer look at Rasmussen and company. And here, you can see the beginning of what's left of the Bush administration trying to shakeup an ongoing investigation so that it might, I don't know, investigate itself? We'll see. Could just be Palin's October Surprise in the works.

Sarah Barracuda

Palin the victim of a liberal media. The polls say it's so, of course Rasmussen is a known conservative. (That doesn't come out very clearly in this out-of-nowhere tally.) Here he is helping the GOP create the illusion that Palin is being unfairly looked at by the media. If we just stop asking these unfair questions about her background and qualifications everyone can move forward and get on with, as Peggy Noonhan put it "the narrative."

**** NOTE: Watch for the finger. It's the physical prelude to her ripostes and assorted zingers.










On a completely unrelated note. What the %$@#$!$% is up with all these dancing figures on banner ads. Aliens, blue people. Silhouette suit guy. Jennifer Anniston look alikes. What what what the hell does it mean! If I see one more dancing figure beside an banner ad for mortgage rates or online degrees I think I will blow a fuse.

I need to update my Gallery of Keiths.

Amy Goodman Arrested

Amy Goodman and two producers were arrested at that RNC. You should find a link to a YouTube clip within the DN site blurb.

Chipmunk Attack

... but seriously, this is not a sub-chapter of the Squirrel incident from last summer. When I looked out the back window this morning, I saw a flock of sparrow in my driveway going apeshit and tweeting their heads off; looking closer I saw they were trying to drive off a chipmunk that was roughing up -- a sparrow! I opened the window and slammed it to break up the mess, but it was too late. Has anyone ever seen chipmunks go after sparrows? Freaky.

On a less lethal note, I knew I planted blue morning glories but all summer only purple came out; but finally, just as the whole flower tower is starting to dry up and die, two appeared.

Acute Butt Sinkage

"Ugh!" says Otty. The trouble with little dogs and big fluffy chair pillows is that you can suffer from acute butt sinkage if you get into the wrong angle. Look closely at his feets. He's going down the chair drain.