With "Friends" Like These...

From ISNA, the "Iranian Students News Agency" - (link)

TEHRAN, July 02 (ISNA)-Writer, producer and director, Michael Moore is to come to Iran for the screening of his new production SICKO in the first international documentary film festival held here.

This festival will be held from the 15th to the 19th of October in Tehran.

It speaks for itself, so I don't have much to add.

I will note that it looks like Moore got a makeover for the publicity photo. The "man of the people" must have spent a couple hundred bucks at a salon (he's probably not a good tipper either). His trademark baseball cap, dark framed glasses and scruffy five o'clock shadow are gone.

But an eyebrow waxing and Photoshop can't hide 75-100 extra pounds.

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...And He's Fat

The Star, a liberal Canadian paper no less, trashes Moore's latest flick, Sicko (link):

(Moore) sparks valuable debate about such serious issues as gun abuse, politicized terror and corporate chicanery, yet he does so with little regard to factual accuracy or even simple fairness. He is a crusader without conscience.
...
Sicko is also completely lacking in journalistic rigour, presenting only the negatives of for-profit U.S. health care and only the positives of the government-run Canadian, British, French and Cuban Medicare programs. As always, Moore makes unsupported assertions and uses out-of-context edits. The film is not a documentary, if that term is to mean anything more than unvarnished propaganda.
...
many other sad and shocking stories are contrasted with scenes of the enlightened Utopias in other countries, where Medicare is "free" – if you ignore the fact, as Moore does, that high taxes and long wait times pay for that "free" care.
...
Moore interviews the pediatrician daughter of late Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, who tells us that communism is better than capitalism.

Gosh, who could argue with such impartial counsel? Maybe the many Cubans who each year try to flee the island to become American citizens? Such things, as usual, don't trouble Moore. Nor does it seem to occur to him that if Guantanamo were to deny health care to its prisoners, the U.S. would be in violation of international law and basic human rights.

The good news is that I think Moore is finally, and deservedly, getting marginalized as most people get that he unfairly stacks the deck in his films.
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Separated At Birth?

The Hillary Clinton cover from latest issue of Fortune reminded me of the stepmother from Cinderella.


Before anyone accuses me of picking on her, the last "separated" photos I passed along were of Mary Cheney and Phil Spector (link).

Interestingly, the "International" edition of Fortune has the shot cropped so that Hillary's face takes up more of the cover.

Yikes!

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Leave the Gun, Take The Onions

This is funny (BTW, it's a parody NOT a real news story)...

From The Onion (full "article" here - link)...

James Gandolfini Shot By Closure-Seeking Fan

NEW YORK—Actor James Gandolfini, best known for his portrayal of mob kingpin Tony Soprano on the hit HBO show The Sopranos, was shot to death Tuesday in a Greenwich Village restaurant by a fan unable to accept the open-ended conclusion of the series finale that aired earlier this month.

According to police reports, 28-year-old marketing research assistant Louis Bowen walked into the small Italian restaurant Occhiuto's at approximately 7:40 p.m. and headed directly toward Gandolfini's table. Bowen then drew a snub-nosed .38 revolver from his jacket and shot Gandolfini point-blank in the head three times before dropping the gun and calmly exiting the eatery.

Bowen was apprehended two blocks away by two NYPD officers and reportedly put up no resistance.

"I couldn't let it just hang," Bowen told police in a post-arrest confession released to the media. "Eight years of my life, and a fucking artsy cut to black? It was eating me up inside."
...

In a late-night City Hall press conference, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to comment on the killing.

"No, no, don't tell me what happened," said Bloomberg, hastily plugging his ears. "I TiVo'ed the last six episodes but I've been too busy to watch them. No spoilers, please."

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Pretty and PETA

An anxious world need wait no longer as the "World’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities" list is finally out. (link)

Apparently, vegetarian's set the bar for "sexy" pretty low as witnessed by some of those who made it.

Women

• Alicia Silverstone
• Chelsea Clinton
• Chrissie Hynde
• Daryl Hannah
• Grace Slick
• Linda Blair
• Mary Tyler Moore
• Tatum O’Neal

Men:

• Bob Barker
• Casey Kasem
• Corey Feldman
• Dennis Kucinich
• Dick Gregory
• Forest Whitaker
• G. Gordon Liddy
• James Cromwell
• Leonard Nimoy
• Little Richard
• Weird Al Yankovic

To be fair, Natalie Portman made the list.

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Only the Lonely

From BBC News: (link)

The European Space Agency (Esa) is seeking volunteers for a simulated human trip to Mars, in which six crew spend 17 months in an isolation tank.

They will live and work in a series of interlocked modules at a research institute in Moscow. Once the hatches are closed, the crew's only contact with the outside world is a radio link to "Earth" with a realistic delay of many minutes.
...
The goal is to gain insight into human behaviour and group dynamics under the kinds of conditions astronauts would experience on a journey to Mars.
...
With the exception of weightlessness and radiation, the crew will experience most other aspects of long-haul space travel, such as cramped conditions, a high workload, lack of privacy, and limited supplies.

Of course, they could save a lot of time and money by just having the volunteers watch a marathon of "The Closer." I'm pretty sure that would have the same results as 17 months in isolation. Come to think of it, this could also work well at Gitmo.

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What About Rosie?

From the AP (link):

"The Price Is Right" needs a host, and Rosie O'Donnell is interested. Very interested. The 45-year-old said on her blog recently that she was meeting with the "Price" people this week and that she "sure would" accept the job if they offer.

Her qualifications include:

• an overinflated sense of her own talent
• mean and nasty
• a propensity for hitting on hot models

I think she'd be the perfect choice to follow in that jackass Bob Barker's footsteps.
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Ba-Da Boom

Upon a second viewing of The Sopranos finale, I'm more convinced than ever that the "Members Only" guy is NOT a hit man, and it's the viewer who's getting whacked at the blackout.

The title, "Made in America", is a common phrase that's becoming an anachronism (certainly in David Chase's universe). What the wise guys call "this thing of our's" is running against the current trend of America's zeitgeist (as witnessed by the shrinking of Little Italy shown early in the episode).

Vehicles, often characterized by their country of origin, play a very visible role in "Made in America."

• Phil's head is crushed by what is prominently shown to be a Ford
  
  
• Meadow, a recently recruited junior member of Tony's "thing," has problems parking her foreign car.
  
  
• AJ, who is NOT yet on board (he only wants to be in show business), darts easily around in his BMW and effortlessly parallel parks to pick up his hot new girlfriend.

Which leads to the blackout ending. Both "made" (the "Member's Only" guy) and "America" (the fat guy in the USA cap drinking coffee with multiple creams and lots of sugar) are there simply as symbols of foreboding, NOT actual physical threats to Tony (not yet anyway). He’ll forever have to be on the alert (as he demonstrates in the booth while trying to talk to his wife and AJ).

We the viewer, only vicarious members of Tony's club, will not be around to see these forces play out.

BTW, it seems like the people whining about all the "symbolism" in the last Sopranos episode are the same ones who spend HOURS analyzing every f'n episode of Lost.
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Fo-get Abowt It (Spoiler)

Wow...lots of whining today about last night's The Sopranos finale.

I actually liked it.

It wasn't the typical last episode that was neatly constructed and spoon fed the audience a clear conclusion. This ending was totally consistent with how the show has been handled for six seasons. The ambiguity didn't bug me at all. I think a Scarface type gun-fest ending would have a let down.

Two theories as to what happened at the black out (which I'm pretty sure meant someone got clipped because, as Tony once said, "you never see it coming"):

1. Tony gets whacked
2. The audience gets whacked (by the show's ending).

I think the latter.

David Chase LOVES messing with his audience -- almost to the point of contentiousness. For instance, twice this season a crowd of people were shown witnessing a "hit." Both times it seemed to be a knock on Sopranos fans as Mafia voyeurs and wannabes.

Chase was upset that he couldn't end the show at five seasons when he tried to. So, he whacked us as punishment.

Great stuff.

BTW, if you want a shoot-em-up ending that wraps things up, get over it and rent Smoking Aces.
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"Quality Is Job One" or Number Two?

Two views on quality at Ford Motor Company.

First, the J.D Powers Report: (link)

Ford Motor Co., including Mazda Motor Corp., won five model segments, more than any other automaker, as it gained ground on the foreign automakers in the 2007 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study released Tuesday.
. . .
The study, a widely regarded industry standard for new-car quality, surveys customers on defects and design problems they have found after 90 days of ownership.

Or, the "POS Test": From the Urban Dictionary

The "Piece of Shit" Test
When one takes the name of a piece of hardware or software (or anything else, for that matter) and runs it through http://www.google.com/ with "+ piece of shit" added to the end. An excellent way of testing the reliability/worthiness of your chosen product.

In other words, a relative measure of quality based on a count of how many times the Internet contains the name of a particular product AND the phrase "piece of shit."

• 1,020,000 for "ford + piece of shit"
• 416,000 for "gm + piece of shit"
• 396,000 for "honda + piece of shit"
• 326,000 for "toyota + piece of shit"
• 158,000 for "chrysler + piece of shit"

No, I'm not still bitter over the transmission problems I had with my '92 Tempo.

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London Calling

A true story worthy of The Onion regarding claims that the logo for the 2012 Olympics is causing epileptic fits (link):

A segment of animated footage promoting the 2012 Olympics has been removed from the organisers' website after fears it could trigger epileptic seizures.

And migranes (link):

The controversial 2012 Olympics logo ran into more trouble today as it emerged that a video promoting it had triggered migraines and epileptic fits.

I guess that means Mary Hart won't be doing any Olympic coverage (link).
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Losers...Come on Down!!

I wonder which fans are more "fanatical" -- Stars Wars people waiting in line for tickets to the next installment or die-hard Bob Barker fans in sleeping bags outside of the Price is Right studio. (link)

Philip Barrett, 24, of Tampa, Fla., had camped outside the studios since Saturday to see Barker tape his last show Wednesday afternoon.

"This is the chance of a lifetime," he said.

Melanie Zepeda Velez, 32, traveled from Alberta, Canada. "I'm here because I need to kiss Bob," she said.

Fans hoped for a chance to bid on prizes, but mostly they came to bid farewell.

Barrett had to hear Barker say it one last time. "I get teary-eyed just thinking about it," he said.

. . .

"I'd rather win a couch from Bob Barker than a million dollars from Howie Mandel," host of NBC's "Deal or No Deal," said Mark Dub, a NASA engineer who flew from Houston for the final show. "He's part of American culture."

I hope they apply Bob's trademark close for each show, "Have your pets spayed and neutered," to themselves as well.

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Surf's Up Jackass

Proving yet again that marketing people aren't the brightest bulbs on the marquee: (link)

...To promote the upcoming film "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," 20th Century Fox and The Franklin Mint altered 40,000 U.S. quarters to feature the character.

The U.S. Mint said in a news release Friday that it learned of the promotional quarter this week and advised the studio and The Franklin Mint they were breaking the law. It is illegal to turn a coin into an advertising vehicle, and violators can face a fine.

The federal mint did not say whether the studio or the private Franklin Mint would face a penalty.

The altered coins are quarters honoring the state of California that entered circulation in 2005. They feature George Washington on the front, but a colorized version of the character on the back. All 40,000 were slated to be in circulation throughout the country this week, and about 800 were released in each state.

I personally love the Franklin Mint's statement on this:

The Franklin Mint mainly produces collectibles or commemorative medallions. Unlike its other commemorative coins, these aren't being sold, said Franklin chairman Moshe Malamud. He said putting the character on the coin didn't alter the integrity of the coin.

You mean to tell me that it didn't occur to anyone that this would be a problem. Doesn't the Franklin Mint have a legal department?
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I Spit on Google

Once again, Google DIDN'T run a special image on their homepage in honor of Memorial Day today.

This seems like a strange sort of slight (almost un-American), because, apparently, they'll run a special "Google" graphic for almost anything.

Here's a few examples for 2007...

Valentine's Day:


Earth Day:


This year they even celebrated Yuri Gagarin as the "First Man in Space":


But NOTHING for Memorial Day. What gives?

A 2006 article from WorldNetDaily may provide somewhat of an answer - and to be fair, this is a conservative site I found through a Google search (link):

...for the 8th year in a row, Google has made no effort to commemorate any holiday honoring U.S. veterans or war dead – no tributes to Veterans Day or Memorial Day.

Google's holiday signature is a dressed-up corporate logo for major holidays and lesser-known occasions alike. Besides overlooking Veterans Day and Memorial Day since the company's inception in 1999, it has also ignored Christmas and Easter. Interestingly, Google for Canada honors Rememberance Day, the Canadian version of the U.S. Veterans Day.

Google has been criticized for its one-sided political contributions and content policies:

• Rejecting an ad for a book critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton while continuing to accept anti-Bush themes
• Rejecting ads critical of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., while continuing to run attack ads against besieged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
• Allowing the communist Chinese government to have the search engine block "objectionable" search terms such as "democracy."

In addition, the company came under fire for an editorial decision giving preferential placement to large, elite media outlets such as CNN and the BBC over independent news sources, such as WND, even if they are more recent, pertinent and exhaustive in their coverage.

As WND reported, 98 percent of all political donations by Google employees went to support Democrats, and as a matter of fact, Al Gore is now a senior adviser to Google.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave the maximum legal limit of donations to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry and to primary candidate Howard Dean.

Memorial Day is NOT a "conservative" holiday and for Google to ignore it out of some misguided internal political philosophy is laughable (and deserving of a bitch-smack).
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My Big Fat Greek Lawsuit

Film producer, David E. Kronemyer, alledged that he was not given full credit for his involvement in the films My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Wishcraft and Stand and be Counted.

Failing to get relief from the studios that produced the movies, he sued IMDb (link) to have his name added to their listings (what a jackass).

Thankfully, the case of Kronemyer v. Internet Movie Data Base (link) went up in flames like a plate of saganaki.

...IMDd asserted that its policy, which appears on the Web site, is that, “with a few exceptions,” credits are listed “exactly as they appear on screen.” The site has a procedure for submission of corrections, which Kronemyer said he availed himself of, but the company says it reserves the right to “reject/delete information at any time for any reason, especially if [IMDb is] unable to verify it. IMDb said that Kronemyer is not credited with the three productions in question because his name does not appear in the credits.

The court ruled that Kronemyer:

...presented no evidence at all as to two of the productions, and his evidence as to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was weak.

Kronemyer “attached two documents to his declaration purporting to identify him as an executive producer,” the presiding justice explained. “The first is a ‘Loan and Security Agreement’ dated September 2000 between Big Wedding LLC and The Lewis Horowitz Organization. Page 30 of that document states that the movie would be executive produced by appellant and others. This does not establish that appellant was entitled to be listed as an executive producer on the finished film.”

In addition to NOT getting his name listed on the site, Kronemyer will have to pay IMDb more than $6,000 in attorney fees, plus costs.

O-PA.
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Happy 100 Duke!

John Wayne's ten best movies:

• The Searchers
• Red River
• The Quiet Man
• Rio Grande
• Fort Apache
• True Grit
• In Harm's Way
• The War Wagon
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
• Donovan's Reef

John Wayne's ten worst movies:

• Rio Lobo
• Big Jim McLain
• Blood Alley
• Chisum
• Jet Pilot
• The Conqueror
• Circus World
• The Train Robbers
• McQ
• Legend of the Lost

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Rambo is from Mars, Jerry Maguire is from Venus

From a United Press International story (my comments in italics):

Study: 'Chick flicks' also enjoyed by men

A U.S. study suggests, common stereotypes to the contrary, "chick flicks" aren't just for women -- guys also like romantic movies.

No, they don't.

Kansas State University psychology Professor Richard Harris said his research produced surprising results.

"Everyone thinks women like romantic movies and they drag guys along to them," he said.

"What was significant was that the guys also liked the movies, and that the choice to view a romantic movie was usually made together as a couple, not just by the girl."

I hate to burst the researcher's bubble, but a guy will sit through (and pretend to enjoy) Steel Magnolias if he thinks it will help him score.

Although both men and women generalized men as a group wouldn't like a romantic movie, when men rated a romantic flick they had just seen, they gave it a 4.8 on a 7-point scale. When women were asked to rate how much their dates liked the movie, they gave the same 4.8 rating.

Where did do this research -- Starbucks?

The results of the study could be something moviemakers should take into consideration when making a romantic movie, Harris said.

"There are a lot of men who go to these romantic movies and enjoy them," he said. "I wouldn't write off the male audience just because it is a romantic film. I would suggest marketing to the men in the audience."

I would suggest more explosions.
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Team of Destiny (2nd Try)

I'm predicting Ottawa in FIVE over Anaheim for this year's Stanley Cup Finals.

1. As posted earlier (link), the winning team is either the Red Wings OR a Canadian team for years that end in "7." It's 2007 and the Wings have been eliminated. Do the math.
   
   
2. Last night a Coke machine robbed me of 2 dollars. The machine number was "25275." Since Ottawa is my "2nd" choice and the year ends in "7," this leaves "5" as the number of games it will take.
   
   
3. The "Ducks" is a stupid name for an NHL hockey team and should NEVER be engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Perfectly reasonable.
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The BEST Bond Movie Ever

I just happened upon this column about 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service (link), which, if I HAD to pick one, was the very best Bond movie ever made.

BTW, it DOESN'T star Sean Connery.

From: The Revolutionary James Bond Movie, by Robert Castle (link):

...It relies on action and not action devices to generate excitement. Gone are the Aston-Martin death machine, the miniature helicopters, and the rocket backpack. Also absent is a slow, uninvolving sequence like the underwater battle in Thunderball. The Bond Movie returns to James Bond. The superhero does not need superfluous technology

...perhaps On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’s most revolutionary move not only returned Bond to his own devices but followed Fleming’s novel very closely, part of the process mentioned earlier of returning the series to James Bond.

If you've never seen it, it's well worth the rental fee (in "Letterbox", of course).
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Ho's for Hillary

Perfect. Porn star Jenna Jameson supports Hillary Clinton for president. See if you can catch the double entendre at the end of this quote from Jameson's interview with PR.Com (link)

PR.com: "Do you find that the climate of the adult industry changes when there is a Republican administration versus Democratic?"

Jenna Jameson: "Absolutely. The Clinton administration was the best years for the adult industry and I wish that Clinton would run again. I would love to have him back in office. I would love to have Al Gore in office. When Republicans are in office, the problem is, a lot of times they try to put their crosshairs on the adult industry, to make a point."

"It's sad, when there are so many different things that are going on in the world: war, and people are dying of genocide...I look forward to another Democrat being in office. It just makes the climate so much better for us, and I know that once all our troops come home, things are going to be better and I think that getting Bush out of office is the most important thing right now."

Tee hee.

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Moore Gets Smoked

Proving that not ALL fat people are jolly, Michael Moore, apparently still stinging from Fred Thompson's criticism of his trip to Cuba, lashed back at Thompson (link) by complaining about the former Senator's taste for Cuban cigars --- (well, they ARE the best).

"I was struck by the fact that your concerns (including comments about Castro’s reported financial worth) apparently do not extend to your own conduct," Moore wrote in a letter sent to Thompson dated Tuesday.

In light of your comments regarding Cuba and Castro, do you think the 'box upon box of cigars — Montecristos from Havana' that you have in your office have contributed to Castro’s reported wealth?"

Moore went on to challenge Thompson to a "health care" debate.

In a video response taped at this office, Thompson declined while conspicuoulsy and hiliariously sporting a "see-gar" of unspecified origins (link).

Thompson, cigar in hand, says that he doesn't have time in his schedule to debate Moore, but he may be the least of Moore's problems. The potential 2008 presidential candidate suggests Moore inquire of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro about documentary filmmaker Nicolás Guillén Landrián, who was tortured by Castro's henchman because of his film.

"He did something Castro didn't like and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatments. A mental institution, Michael, it might be something you ought to think about," Thompson says.

Kick his ass Fred.

The video can be viewed at: http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=611

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No, You're Not!

Avril Lavigne's on the cover of the latest issue of Blender (the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Guide to Music and More") exclaiming "Hell Yeah, I'm Hot!"

Hmmm...I don't think so. She looks like one of the Olson twins on Häagen-Dazs.
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Play Ball

I know that it's a different Tom LaSorda who's been the CEO of the Chrysler Group since 2005, but every time I hear his name come up regarding the Cerberus deal, I can't help but chuckle to myself and think "Well, he turned the Dodgers around..."

Am I the only one?

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Latte Diablo

Here's someone who needs to get over it...

From Promo Magazine (link):

An Ohio woman was offended by one of hundreds of comments submitted by customers and celebrities that appear on the cups as part of Starbuck’s The Way I See It program. The program is meant to spark discussion and get people thinking about a variety of topics, including religion, the company said.

The offending quote reads, "Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

The comment was made by Bill Scheel, a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario, who describes himself as a "modern day nobody."

The Ohio woman, Michelle Incanno, told news outlets that she would not return to Starbucks.

This story dovetails nicely with a funny bit on McSweeny's titled "REJECTED SUBMISSIONS FOR STARBUCKS The Way I See It" (link).

Some of my favorites:

Boobs, hooters, headlights, funbags, party girls; society has made great strides, but in the matter of synonyms for breasts, it really doesn't get any better than tits. Viva tits!
- - - -
Usually with one eye closed, trying like hell to get a double rum and Coke for last call. That's the way I see it. Got a problem with that?
- - - -
This coffee tastes like poop. Burnt poop.
- - - -
If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, make sure you get the money they owe from before you set them free.
- - - -
A clandestine collaboration between Eli Lilly, the federal government, and Starbucks to put Prozac in the coffee? Did you hear anything about that? You're right, it's probably bullshit. You finished reading the Entertainment section yet?

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41 Cents

In honor of the new U.S. Postal Service rates going into effect today, I found this very funny scene from a Seinfeld episode called "The Junk Mail."

Kramer, over Newman's strong objections, goes to the post office and attempts to cancel his mail service:

Postal Employee: "May I help you?"

Kramer: "Yeah, I'd like to cancel my mail."

Postal Employee: "Certainly. How long would you like us to hold it?"

Kramer: "Oh, no, no. I don't think you get me. I want out, permanently."

Newman: "I'll handle this, Violet. Why don't you take your three hour break? Oh, calm down, everyone. No one's canceling any mail."

Kramer: "Oh, yes, I am."

Newman: "What about your bills?"

Kramer: "The bank can pay 'em."

Newman: "The bank. What about your cards and letters?"

Kramer: "E-mail, telephones, fax machines. Fedex, telex, telegrams, holograms."

Newman: "All right, it's true! Of course nobody needs mail. What do you think, you're so clever for figuring that out? But you don't know the half of what goes on here. So just walk away, Kramer. I beg of you."

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Canadian or Red

Interesting Stanley Cup esoterica -- Since 1926, when it was established that contention for the Stanley Cup took place solely between NHL teams, in championship playoff years that ended in "7" the winner has either been a Canadian team OR the Detroit Red Wings.

Stanley Cup Winners (link)

• 1926-27 Ottawa Senators
• 1936-37 Detroit Red Wings
• 1946-47 Toronto Maple Leafs
• 1956-57 Montreal Canadiens
• 1966-67 Toronto Maple Leafs
• 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens
• 1986-87 Edmonton Oilers
• 1996-97 Detroit Red Wings

This supports my contention that the Wings are a "team of destiny" (link). Unless, of course, the Senators knock off the Sabres.

GO BUFFALO!!

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Fair is Fair

I hate to say this but my favorite poverty pimp, Al Sharpton, is getting a bad rap over his statement supposedly demeaning the Mormon religion:

As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry, that’s a temporary situation.

Rev Al made the statement during a surprisingly civil debate over religion with one of my favorite columnists, Christoper Hitchens. The event is summarized in the New York Times political blog (link).

Hitchens has a new book out unambiguously titled: "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" (link). While I don't share his atheistic worldview, Hitchens is very eloquent in making his argument against religion and religious institutions.

If you watch the debate (link), Hitchens seems to be winning most of the points.

The controversial remark by Sharpton was a response to a reference by Hitchens to "one of the Republican candidates" who belonged to the Mormon faith which, Hitchens went on to say, had supported segregation until 1965. Hitchens never named Romney by name, only by his faith. Sharpton was trying to respond in kind.

In THAT context, Sharpton's remark isn't as bad as it originally sounded.

Frankly, a lot of the people playing "gotcha" with Sharpton now (because of his role in the Imus firing) are giving Hitchens somewhat of a pass. I can only guess that because Hitchens is one of the strongest voices in support for the Iraq war, Conservatives are reluctant take him on for his anti-religious views. Of course, I could be wrong, but the silence from the right in response to Hitchens' book is curious.

My main problem with Hitchens on religion is that his conviction that there is NO God is just as unproven and therefore based on "faith" as any theistic view to the contrary.

One strong point made by Sharpton to Hitchens during the debate was this:

We are sitting in a room that because of lights, we assume that there is electricity in the building. Electricity can light the room or burn it down; it does not mean electricity does not exist because it burns a building down, or that it is inherently wicked. Clearly people have misused God, as they have misused other things that are possibly positive, but its existence is not in any way proved or disproved by you giving me a long diatribe on those that have mishandled and misused God.

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Cuba Libre 9/11

That big fat lying piece of crap (and I mean that in a good way), Michael Moore filmed part of "Sicko", his new schlocumentary trashing the American health care system, in Cuba.

According to this AP story (link):

In February, Moore took about 10 ailing workers from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan for treatment in Cuba, said a person working with the filmmaker on the release of "Sicko." The person requested anonymity because Moore's attorneys had not yet determined how to respond.
....
At last September's Toronto International Film Festival, Moore previewed footage shot for "Sicko," presenting stories of personal health-care nightmares. One scene showed a woman who was denied payment for an ambulance ride after a head-on collision because it was not preapproved.

First of all, let's assume the incident in the "preview" of Moore's flick is true (a BIG assumption with this fat ass). If American "red tape" is a problem, a socialist/communist bureaucracy is NOT a solution.

More importantly, I'm sure that the Cuban government bent over backwards to be helpful to Moore and his delegation as a way to embarass the U.S.

Last year, I had the opportunity to talk to a Canadian citizen who had just returned from a trip to Cuba. For ALL the talk about how "great" things are down there, she observed people living in squalor. And, propaganda aside, the average cuban she met told her, in whispered tones, that they were deathly afraid of the Castro regime.

I don't expect that perspective to appear anywhere in "Sicko" -- making Moore either an colosial idiot or an American-hate spewing liar.

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Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown

This AP story on the GOP's criticisms of Nancy Pelosi's water project (link), reminded me of the plot of Chinatown (link).

Pelosi's project was part of the $15 billion Water Resources Development Act that passed the House April 19 by 394-25 and pays for hundreds of projects around the country. Pelosi's measure would authorize $25 million to improve San Francisco port areas, and also would put some areas off limits to navigation so cruise ships could dock.

Her investor husband gets rental income from four buildings in a nearby commercial district.

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said that she added the projects to the bill at the request of the Port of San Francisco and that her husband's holdings were not a consideration. It's ''speculative at best'' that they would benefit, Hammill said.

Ya know, Nancy Pelosi and Faye Dunaway sorta look alike. If I close my eyes, I can hear Pelosi saying: "She's my sister, my daughter, my sister, my daughter..."

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Team of Destiny!!

After watching the Wings win Game 5 against the Sharks, I have to say that they've impressed me as this year's "Team of Destiny."

This doesn't mean that they're the "best" team. Certainly their average age (what is it...57?) would disqualify them for that.

But I think Nabokov coughing up the puck and self-destructing while Hasek seems to be solidifying his game is a significant sign that the hockey gods have lined up the planets in their favor.

I'm in!
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Caption THIS!

The New Yorker magazine, which I find unreadable, is known for their cartoons. There was a great Seinfeld episode which centered around how obscure, pretentious, and unfunny these cartoons are.

Well, I stumbled across this weekly online contest where New Yorker readers can compete for prizes by captioning a blank cartoon. (link)

Here are two of my entries:

"We gave him a choice, fight a man eating tiger on a filing cabinet OR read one issue of the New Yorker cover to cover. "

"Next week instead playing "Human Whack a Mole" and hitting them on the head with a huge mallet, I'm going to make them read a copy of the New Yorker. "

I wonder if I'll win?

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Happy May Day

I had to chuckle at this Mercury News (link) article on Coachella (link), an annual music festival held in Indio, California last weekend.

The description of Rage Against the Machine's performance brought a special May Day tear to my eye:

Stomping, shouting into his microphone, grabbing his curly hair and inciting the audience to "keep fighting," de la Rocha powered through songs ranging from the bass heavy "Bulls on Parade" to the anthem "Killing in the Name."

He also railed against the war in Iraq and likened Bush administration officials to Nazi war criminals.

"This current administration is no exception. They should be tried and hung and shot," he said. Drummer Brad Wilk, bassist Tim Commerford and guitarist Tom Morello, who wore a hat with the word "UNITY" on it, completed the lineup.

"They changed my life. They made me a liberal," said sweat-drenched history teacher Rafael Ramon, 25, who had waited in a crowd packed shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the stage all day.

How nice, this "sweat-drenched" Ramon guy is a history teacher. BTW, where can I get me a "UNITY" hat?
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Slam Dunk

Ever the wordsmith, Christopher Hitchens calls George Tenet's new book a "sniveling" "self-justifying" and a "disgrace."

A Loser's History (link)

...Tenet informed the Senate armed services committee that: "We believe that Saddam never abandoned his nuclear weapons program." It is a little bit late for him to pose as if Iraq was a threat concocted in some crepuscular corner of the vice president's office. And it's pathetic for him to say, even in the feeble way that he chooses to phrase it, that "there was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat." (Emphasis added.) There had been a very serious debate over the course of at least three preceding administrations, whether Tenet "knew" of it or not. (He was only an intelligence specialist, after all.) As for his bawling and sobbing claim that faced with crisis in Iraq, "the administration's message was: Don't blame us. George Tenet and the CIA got us into this mess," I can say, as one who has attended about a thousand postmortems on Iraq in Washington, that I have never, ever, not once heard a single partisan of the administration say anything of the kind. The White House may have thought that it could count on the CIA to resent some sort of solidity in a crisis but, as Sept. 11 had already proved, more fool the White House.

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Separated At Birth?

I feel horrible about this, but the first thing I thought when I saw a picture of Phil Spector (the record producer who's on trial for murder - link) was how much he looks like Lynne Cheney (wife of Dick Cheney).

I'm sorry.

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Listen Loud - Listen Proud

The music snobs at Rock and Roll Daily put together a list of the "25 Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands."

An inordinately high number of my favorites are on it (Rush, ELO, Journey, ABBA, Foreigner, the Monkees, STYX, Eddie Money, R.E.O, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, Hall and Oates).

I'm surprised that Duran Duran, didn't turn up (since I like them too). Actually, I'm a fan of almost ANYTHING from the '80.

So, Rock and Roll Daily can stuff it! (link)

Rolling Stone’s List of the 25 Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands Those of you who proudly listen to Rush at top volume in your car all summer long, (ie thereby displaying the total lack of guilty in your pleasure), take note:? Rush come in at Number One on our official list of the Rock’s Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands. Like the rest of the acts on our list (which you helped put together), we love them to death, and can never forgive ourselves. The full list:
1. Rush
2. E.L.O.
3. Journey
4. ABBA
5. Chicago
6. Boston
7. Foreigner
8. Bread
9. Bon Jovi
10. New Edition
11. The Monkees
12. Motley Crue
13. STYX
14. Eddie Money
15. Simply Red
16. Kelly Clarkson
17. America
18. Wham
19. R.E.O. Speedwagon
20. Poison
21. Lionel Richie
22. Kansas
23. Air Supply
24. Hall & Oates
25. Britney Spears

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Consensus Is Not Fact

In further celebration of "Earth Day", here's an article from Dr. Timothy Ball, Chairman of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project and a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg. He was of of the very first Canadians to get a Ph.D. in Climatology.

Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? (link)

...Since I obtained my doctorate in climatology from the University of London, Queen Mary College, England my career has spanned two climate cycles. Temperatures declined from 1940 to 1980 and in the early 1970's global cooling became the consensus. This proves that consensus is not a scientific fact. By the 1990's temperatures appeared to have reversed and Global warming became the
consensus. It appears I'll witness another cycle before retiring, as the major mechanisms and the global temperature trends now indicate a cooling.

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Boycott Google

The search engine Google is celebrating "Earth Day" today with a special home page graphic.

I've always been slightly annoyed that Google never puts up special graphics for religious holidays such as Easter, Passover, Ramadan, etc. BUT today they honor the "faith-based" idea of global warming with a picture of melting glacier.

How nice.

From now on I'm ONLY using Yahoo (yeah right, as if...).

Manny Lopez had a great "Earth Day" column in the Detroit News this morning. (link)

In celebration of Earth Day today, I test drove an SUV and pulled my 1966 Mustang out of storage.

I'd have done it earlier, but the frost and snow we've endured since spring started a month ago made it a bit inconvenient to do so -- and that's the truth. Remind me again how imminent the global warming threat is in Michigan.

...

How about instead Environmental Defense, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Greenpeace and all the Armageddon activists get together and put their money where their collective mouth is?

Chrysler is for sale. So is Delphi. Buy 'em. Expose the global conspiracy that the Big Three are allegedly part of by taking control of one of these companies and putting these hidden technologies into mass production.

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The Paper of Record?

On April 11th, Ray Cooper, the Attorney General for North Carolina, declared the three former Duke lacrosse players as "innocent" of rape charges brought against them last year. Cooper went on to state that Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong is guilty of "a rush to accuse." (link)

The New York Times published an editorial slamming Don Imus over his Rutger's "joke" directed at another group of "innocent" college athletes, but issued NO correction for the negative story it ran on the Duke players a while back. (link)

An August 25, 2006 Times story concluded: (link)

By disclosing pieces of evidence favorable to the defendants, the defense has created an image of a case heading for the rocks. But an examination of the entire 1,850 pages of evidence gathered by the prosecution in the four months after the accusation yields a more ambiguous picture. It shows that while there are big weaknesses in Mr. Nifong'scase, there is also a body of evidence to support his decision to take the matter to a jury.
...
In several important areas, the full files, reviewed by The New York Times, contain evidence stronger than that highlighted by the defense.

Exactly what evidence did the Times reporters review that was so convincing? Interesting question, since, as it now turns out, NONE existed.

This story from the so-called "paper of record" was somewhat harmful for the Duke players in the court of public opinion. I ran a fairly broad search on the Times website for some sort of apology, correction, update or mea culpa on this.

Nada.

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Paglia in the Spring

For her April Salon column, Camille Paglia answers questions sent in from her readers (link).

I find it hard to argue with most of what she has to say. Highlights below:

George W

Bush's swerve away from his father's preppy patrician style has ended up, as you note, as a hammy caricature of B-movie clichés about the folksy, plain-talking Westerner. His Texas accent has bizarrely gotten more pronounced since he's lived in Washington -- a defense mechanism of reverse snobbery.

I think Bush genuinely wanted to challenge and critique the establishment assumptions of his heritage and Ivy League education, but he lacked the verbal skills to do so. And his problems were compounded by his ineptitude in making top appointments. He got not sound counsel but fantasy and folly from Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney -- whose presence from the start signaled Bush's slack and even masochistic deferral to his father's administration.

Iraq

"Victory"-- a word constantly on President Bush's hopeful lips -- cannot be achieved in an amorphous insurgency or in a vast land with indefensible borders that is splintered among ancient sects and tribes. There is no distinct enemy, only a welter of saboteurs hiding among the population, whose loyalties cannot be assessed by a foreign force embarrassingly lacking elementary knowledge of local culture and languages. Our troops are being asked to convert, pacify and reconstruct even while waging war and hence are constantly being put in exposed positions where they can be killed or maimed with simple roadside devices.

Gun Control

As a Salon columnist (dating back to the founding of Salon in 1995), I have tried to provide a forum for defenders of the Second Amendment to make their case. The Northeastern major media, which remain heavily liberal, rarely permit these voices to be heard.

I do not own guns and have no interest in them. (Swords, those Homeric and chivalric emblems, have always attracted me more.) But as a libertarian, I read the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights as granting to private citizens the right to bear arms against the potential abuses of a government turned tyrannous. Furthermore, should police authority evaporate after a cataclysm of storm, flood, earthquake or terrorism, citizens have a right to defend their families and property against criminals and looters. If food and water are in short supply over a protracted period, expect predators and violence.

The horrendous problem of illegal guns now rampant among the urban underclass cannot be solved by depriving all American citizens of their Second Amendment rights. Major cities must address their internal problems, which include improving public education and vocational training, creating job-rich public works projects, and instituting on-the-street neighborhood policing. The major media, concentrated in their metropolises, should stop extrapolating their local issues to the nation as a whole.

Global Warming

... I am a skeptic about what is currently called global warming. I have been highly suspicious for years about the political agenda that has slowly accrued around this issue. As a lapsed Catholic, I detest dogma in any area. Too many of my fellow Democrats seem peculiarly credulous at the moment, as if, having ground down organized religion into nonjudgmental, feel-good therapy, they are hungry for visions of apocalypse. From my perspective, virtually all of the major claims about global warming and its causes still remain to be proved.

Climate change, keyed to solar cycles, is built into Earth's system. Cooling and warming will go on forever. Slowly rising sea levels will at some point doubtless flood lower Manhattan and seaside houses everywhere from Cape Cod to Florida -- as happened to Native American encampments on those very shores. Human habitation is always fragile and provisional. People will migrate for the hills, as they have always done.

Who is impious enough to believe that Earth's contours are permanent? Our eyes are simply too slow to see the shift of tectonic plates that has raised the Himalayas and is dangling Los Angeles over an unstable fault.

Ann Coulter

My problem with Ann Coulter is not the subjects she tackles, which are always substantive, but her carelessness of research and argumentation. She has frankly admitted that she now writes her books as if they were e-mails to her friends. I like her boldness and vigor, but I see no excuse for such indifference to craftsmanship.

Ideas, whether of the right or the left, deserve respect. But Coulter increasingly treats them like throwaway lines. The rapier thrust of true wit is not the bump-de-dump of a bad joke. But evidently Coulter can no longer tell the difference.

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Grin and Bear It

This is for real. What a hoot. (link)

Nappy Headed Ho Teddy Bear - $17.99

Show Your Support For Imus And Free Speech!! Get your very own "Nappy Headed Ho" Shirts Now! SUPPORT THE I-MAN!!!

Our plush bear is a cutie in his own message-bearing t-shirt and festive red ribbon. He’s a great gift for Valentine’s Day, baby showers, birthdays, get well-wishes, a pair of wedding bears, or any reason you dream up. Put a smile on someone’s face. Just grin and bear it! Soft plush fur 11 inches tall Red bow and t-shirt included.

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Jason Whitlock on Imus

Of all the blather regarding the Imus firing (the execs at MSNBC look like a bunch of spineless cowards) Jason Whitlock, of the Kansas City Star, has one of the most insightful perspectives:

"Imus isn’t the real bad guy"
http://www.kansascity.com/182/v-print/story/66339.html

Here's a sample:

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage. But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

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Imus in the Moanin...

If there's anything worse than a personality who refuses to apologize for making a controversial remark (like Ann Coulter or Bill Maher who don't even understand why some people MAY be upset), it's when a celebrity is so clearly desperate to save their career that they grovel on the national stage for redemption.

This is the case with Don Imus.

It's fine and proper for Imus to meet with the Rutgers University women's basketball team and apologize. He should have JUST done that. But for him to beg forgiveness from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson the way he has is pathetic. The new name for his show should be "I-WUSS in the Morning."

Frankly, I don't understand why politicians and journalists have fawned all over Imus anyway. His show is marginally funny (despite all of the in-studio yukking), his ratings have never been respectable, and he's been making ill-informed, stupid, derogatory remarks against people for years.

I'm fine with his two week suspension. True be told, were he to be fired, I wouldn't miss his show at all. Imus and Keith Olbermann's shows are the bookends of mediocrity in the MSNBC lineup. I say, lose both of them and put Chris Matthews on in the morning and Joe Scarborough at night (or vice versa).

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Hitchens on Iraq

Christopher Hitchens (no right-winger) strongly defends his suport of the Iraq war on it's the fourth anniversary.

So, Mr. Hitchens, Weren't You Wrong About Iraq?

Selected passages below:

Should it not have been known by Western intelligence that Iraq had no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction?

The entire record of UNSCOM until that date had shown a determination on the part of the Iraqi dictatorship to build dummy facilities to deceive inspectors, to refuse to allow scientists to be interviewed without coercion, to conceal chemical and biological deposits, and to search the black market for materiel that would breach the sanctions. The defection of Saddam Hussein's sons-in-law, the Kamel brothers, had shown that this policy was even more systematic than had even been suspected. Moreover, Iraq did not account for—has in fact never accounted for—a number of the items that it admitted under pressure to possessing after the Kamel defection. We still do not know what happened to this weaponry. This is partly why all Western intelligence agencies, including French and German ones quite uninfluenced by Ahmad Chalabi, believed that Iraq had actual or latent programs for the production of WMD. Would it have been preferable to accept Saddam Hussein's word for it and to allow him the chance to re-equip once more once the sanctions had further decayed?

....

Was the terror connection not exaggerated?

Not by much. The Bush administration never claimed that Iraq had any hand in the events of Sept. 11, 2001. But it did point out, at different times, that Saddam had scted as a host and patron to every other terrorist gang in the region, most recently including the most militant Islamist ones. And this has never been contested by anybody. The action was undertaken not to punish the last attack—that had been done in Afghanistan—but to forestall the next one.

....

So, you seriously mean to say that we would not be living in a better or safer world if the coalition forces had turned around and sailed or flown home in the spring of 2003?

That's exactly what I mean to say.

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But WWJD

James Dobson's ridiculous statement regarding Fred Thompson (who I'm still on the fence about).

From US News:

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Thompson, took issue with Dobson's characterization of the former Tennessee senator. "Thompson is indeed a Christian," he said. "He was baptized into the Church of Christ."

In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

Here's the kicker (italics added):

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a possibility."

Dobson can kiss my ass. Oh wait, that's not very Christian of me...but then again, according to Dobson, I'm NOT one anyway.
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Sly, Say It Isn't So!!

Sly Stallone is using a body double for his next Rambo movie -- "Rambo: The Golden Years."

This saddens me more than Marcia Brady being on "Celebrity Fit Club".

From The Daily Mail (a UK news site):

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

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

Then again, he did have his steroids confiscated.

The actor and his entourage of minders were stopped last month at Sydney airport en route to the Australian premiere of his sixth Rocky movie when a routine X-ray of the party's baggage revealed 48 vials of Jintropin, a so-called miracle drug.

Considered a performance-enhancing hormone, its use is strictly controlled in Australia. Stallone did not appear in court in Sydney, and is expected to be fined up to a maximum of £9,000.

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Paglia's Latest

How'd I miss this Camille Paglia column from March 14th. My favorite parts hightlighted below:

Barack and Rudy:

The blatant manipulations of the mainstream media are betrayed by the way that mercurial polling data has been relentlessly promoted about the candidates of both parties for more than a year. That material simply assesses name recognition in an ephemeral beauty contest. Thus we've had endless reports about Hillary and John McCain as front-runners, despite rampant dissatisfactions with them among embers of their own parties. Now we're onto the challenger-with-momentum drama starring Obama and Rudy Giuliani, which may be equally short-lived.

Hillary Clinton:

Hillary didn't help herself with her over-the-top sermon at the First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama, two weeks ago. Her aping of a black Southern accent from the pulpit was so inept and patronizing that it should get a Razzie Award for Worst Performance of the Year. At times, it approached the Southern Gothic burlesque of Bette Davis chewing up the scenery in "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte."

Fox News:

What is this morbid obsession that liberals have with Fox? It's as if Democrats, pampered and spoiled by so many decades of the mainstream media trumpeting the liberal agenda, are so shaky in their convictions that they cannot risk an encounter with opposing views. Democrats have ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time and 98 percent of American humanities professors to do their bidding. But no, that's not enough -- every spark of dissent has to be extinguished with buckets of bile.

But Fox is certainly disingenuous with its absurd "fair and balanced" motto. Oh, come on, give it up! Why can't Fox honestly admit its conservative agenda, as do major radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and simply argue that it represents a culturally necessary antidote to the omnipresent liberal line? Yet for Democratic presidential candidates, who will be assessed by voters for their ability to stand up to China, North Korea or al-Qaida, to run squealing from a Fox moderator as if he or she were a boogeyman with blood-dripping fangs makes the whole pack of them look like simpering wusses.

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Marcia, Marica, Marica??

Sigh...

I'm not sure what make me feel older:

The fact that Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick), is 150 lbs and on the new season of Celebrity Fit Club or that Sally Fields has osteoporosis.

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Don't Mess with Texas

From the Post Chronicle:

Texas Legislators Expand Self Defense
By Staff
Mar 22, 2007

Texas lawmakers have approved a broad self-defense law that expands the use of deadly force against attackers to locations outside the home.

Supporters say the new legislation will strengthen a resident's right to defend not only his home but also while in his vehicles and businesses.

The proposal passed the state Senate unanimously, 30-0, last week and the state House of Representatives, 133-13, on Tuesday.

Texas Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland, the lead sponsor of the measure in the House, said Tuesday, "With the enactment of this bill, law-abiding Texas citizens can defend themselves against criminal attack in their home, car or business without having to worry they will be prosecuted."

Works for me.
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Feed a Fever and Starve a Cold

The only thing more frustrating than watching George Bush try to string together two sentences during his press conference on the Gonzales situation, was listening to Al Gore drone on and on yesterday at the Senate hearings on global warming.

His baby analogy was laughable:

"The planet has a fever," Gore said. "If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action."

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They Couldn't Wait a Month?

Bwah ha ha...

Some things just write themselves:

Participants in the Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue, a group advocating environmental issues who are walking between Northampton, Mass., and Boston, trudge through a spring snowstorm on the first day of the walk in Northampton on Friday.

Stay tuned for the "Global Cooling" summit in July or August.
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Maul Madness (Part 2)

Round 1 results. Biggest upset was Deadwood's fall to South Park.

• Round 2: Saturday, March 24th
• Final: Saturday, March 31

Battlestar Galactica Scarborough Country Rescue Me South Park

Rome The Office Law and Order The Shield

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SUV Drivers for Peace

After picking up my usual from Starbucks the other day (plain coffee with cream), I was assaulted by the sight of a bumper sticker on the back of a sports utility vehicle which was parked next to me in the lot. The car's owner was probably still in line waiting for their half-caf, low fat frappuccino latte del rio deluxe.

The bumper sticker read: "You Cannot Simultaneously Prevent And Prepare For War - Albert Einstein 1879-1955." It was applied right next to a "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Kerry" sticker and some other limousine Liberal paraphernalia.

Sigh...

The laughable irony is that before the second World War, Einstein feared Hitler so much (and with good reason), that he lobbied VERY hard for the United States to build atomic weapons.

Here's a different quote of Einstein's that unfortunately wouldn't fit on a bumper sticker. It's from a letter he sent to Franklin Roosevelt in 1939:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable -through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard inAmerica - that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reactionin a large mass of uranium,by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appearsalmost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable - though much less certain - that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory.

BTW, Alfred Nobel, of "Nobel Peace Prize" fame, invented dynamite (hee hee).

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Maul Madness

Place your bets:

• Round 1: Saturday, March 17th
• Round 2: Saturday, March 24th
• Final: Saturday, March 31

Battlestar Galactica Scrubs Rome The Simpsons Deadwood South Park Fox and Friends Law and Order

Curb Your Enthusiasm Scarborough Country American Chopper The Office Rescue Me Imus in the Morning The O'Reilly Factor The Shield

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Can't a White Man Be Attractive?

Senator Barack Obama on John Edwards while campaigning in Iowa last weekend (italics added):

"I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking," Obama envisioned Iowa caucus-goers from the small town of Clinton telling themselves. During an appearance in West Burlington, Iowa, the phrase appeared again, this time with Edwards as "kind of cute."

I can just see the "Clean and Cute in '08" bumper stickers now.
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More on Coulter

Amazingly, the Ann Coulter remark is still in the news.

As usual, I'm of two minds on this.

On the one hand, it seems that many of the Liberals who are complaining the most are usually the "free speech" fanatics that would yell the loudest if, say, an artist who dips crucifixes in urine lost their government funding.

Dan Savage, editor of the Stranger, a Seattle alternative news weekly get it's right:

I don't have a problem with people using the word 'faggot.' I use the word 'faggot' all the time," said Seattle's Savage. He started a public humiliation campaign against former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican, after Santorum made derogatory statements about gay men. But he does not think there should be a campaign to silence Coulter.

"When we start acting like the thought police, it plays into the right-wing paranoia that we are going to force them all to say only nice things about us in public," Savage said. "I think we would gain ground faster in the gay and lesbian civil rights movement if we drop the Sally Field act of, 'You like me! You really like me!' "

On the other hand, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, also makes a very effective argument:

Referring to John Edwards by using a word meant to demean homosexuals? What was she thinking? Ann Coulter has never been married. She has been known for once dating Bob Guccione, Jr., son of the Penthouse magazine magnate. John Edwards, on the other hand, has been married for almost thirty years to his wife, Elizabeth. Together they have had four children, Wade, Cate, Emma Claire, and Jack.

Wade died in a tragic car accident at age 16, throwing the Edwards family into a grief that often tears spouses apart. Their marriage not only survived the tragedy, but went on to produce Emma Claire and Jack. John Edwards stood by his wife through her more recent fight with breast cancer, and there has never been a scandal associated with their long marriage.

I oppose John Edwards' political platform, but not John Edwards the man, husband, and father. I do not want to see him elected President of the United States, but this has everything to do with his political positions, not his personal life. I do not appreciate his crude oversimplification of the challenges that face our nation, but I must oppose any crude talk about John Edwards the man.

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Okay, Coulter Isn't Funny, But She's Still Sexier Than Sandra Oh...

Ann Coulter created another controversy when she used the "f" word to refer to John Edwards at the Conservative Political Action Conference:

"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I _ so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards."

When I first heard it, I had no idea what she was referring to. So, it didn't strike me as funny at all.

Someone had to point out to me that Coulter was making a vague reference to the rift on the set of "Grey's Anatomy" (which I never watch). One of the cast members, Isaiah Washington, used that term to denigrate another cast member, T.R. Knight. Apparently, Washington uttered the slur while he was choking a third cast member, Patrick Dempsey. As a result, Washington is now or was in some sort of anger management retreat.

Ah, I get it now. Still not funny.

I'm not sure what disappoints me more -- the fact that Coulter made such a lame joke or the fact that she watches "Grey's Anatomy."
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Area 51 To The Rescue

Former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer wants top secret alien technology to be applied to global warming:

"I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet," Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.

Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels, he told the newspaper...

..."We need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know. Some of us suspect they know quite a lot, and it might be enough to save our planet if applied quickly enough," he said.

Classic!

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