What's the upside?

Yes, sure they're trying to favor big business as always and put OSHA and the EPA out in the cold, but at least now, this is nearly front page news.



4 years ago, the "drive by" media as Big Pharma like to call it, wouldn't even have reported on this story.



The Reign of Cheney is in its last throes.

Critters

My friend Diane sent me this in an email. Amazing and adorable all in one.

The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise“Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed."

NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems tobe very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age andby nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures, "Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."

Inbound I-90 from the West...

... was a tad slow this morning so I had some extra time to listen to tunes. Here are the rock steady beats keepin' me feelin' irie in that monster traffic today. What were yours?...

Cities--Talking Heads
The Modern Age--The Strokes
Siren Song--The Fags
River of Orchids--XTC
Give Me Flowers While I'm Living--Knitters
Get Miles--Gomez
I Put a Spell on You--Creedence
Puke--Eminem
Make it Rain--Tom Waits
Till the End of The Day--The Kinks

Pretty Vacant

Sunny Jim Kunstler got his smiley face on today. Then Atrios links to this to bring it all home.

In every dream home a heartache...

Tom Dispatch

Tom Engelhardt is always an excellent chronicler of the details that are so easily and frequently overlooked.

Here's his latest masterpiece.

I report, you decide

So, is this site a parody or not?

Regardless, his choice of "gay" bands is pretty funny. Particularly the "safe" bands. Here are the Dresden Dolls, in case you're not familiar.

Idiot America

Yet another victory for the mouthbreathers.

Here's what is wrong with this country. It's easy to blame politicians, Hollywood, drunk driving, abortion, etc. for the downfall of this once proud country. Now I know that anti-intellectualism is part of the bedrock of the 'Murkan experience, but do we really have to celebrate and exploit it so gleefully?

Click here for the next logical step towards End Days.

What's Groucho's famous quote?

I think it goes something like, "Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member".

Cracks me up..

University Holds Meeting on Bush LibrarySMU Faculty Concerned About Reputation, Political Interference

DALLAS, Jan. 24 -- Members of the Southern Methodist University faculty again raised concerns that the building of the George W. Bush presidential library on campus might damage the school's reputation, said a participant at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.
At the tightly guarded meeting, several members of the faculty questioned school president R. Gerald Turner about the political institute that will accompany the library. The institute will conduct research on issues that will be determined by Bush. Many of the questioners wondered whether such a powerful institution on campus will influence the type of research that can be conducted by SMU faculty and whether it will have an impact on the university's reputation.

"We're worried about a group of people on campus with a lot of money and a lot of power who aren't concerned for our values as an academy," Dennis Foster, a professor of English and a faculty senate member said, according to a participant in the meeting who asked not to be identified.Turner responded by saying that because the institute will be governed by a separate board, any controversy would not reflect poorly on the university.

"The tail will not wag the dog," he said, according to the participant.
No official action was taken during the meeting. Faculty members will relay any further concerns to the faculty senate, which will then summarize them and present a list to Turner. Turner said after the meeting that he will take the concerns into advisement as he goes into negotiations with the president's site-selection committee in the coming weeks.

"I think the faculty is working its way toward a consensus on this," said James F. Hollifield, the director of the Tower Center for Political Studies on campus. He said that the main thing for many faculty members was just "getting their questions answered."
In reality, the faculty can do little to stop the library because several university leaders, including Turner, are committed to bringing it to SMU.

SMU, the alma mater of Laura Bush, was named the sole finalist for the library in December. The site selection committee -- which includes Bush's former chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., and former commerce secretary Donald L. Evans -- requested that any proposals for the library include plans for a public policy institute. In the meeting Wednesday, many faculty members expressed concerns that the Bush institute would become nothing more than a conservative think tank working to advance the ideologies and policies of the Bush administration.

The controversy began in November when two faculty members wrote in the school newspaper criticizing the absence of university-wide discussion about the library. The editorial also questioned the ethics of pursuing a presidential library "regardless of an administration's record and its consequences," a reference to the war in Iraq.

Me?...not so Jolly

Steve Bell rules supreme.

The mouths of babes

Not only is she adorable, she speaks the truth.

G'night indeed.

Cue Lee Greenwood

Yes folks, it's time to evaluate the way we're viewed annually as a nation.

Not only do we continue to LOSE hearts and minds with those countries that were on the fence, they're even starting to hate us where once we were seen as a force for good.

The countries whose citizens were most strident in their opposition over Guantánamo Bay were Germany, Egypt, Turkey, Portugal, Italy, France and Lebanon, with 80 per cent or more opposed.

I guess those pictures of Britney's snatch aren't really helping. Huh.

More here

Oh, and by the by, here's some snapshots of Miserable Failure and the Lump from tonight's SOTU address.

Before

And after...

and then there's the "after" After party

Be sure to put in a good supply of ice, folks.

Old Europe

The ever lovely Arianna hardly needs my meager assistance in making a point, but here's the link to her article.

My limited international travel would most definitely confirm her thesis that the Yurpeens are vastly superior to us technologically as consumers when it comes to fresh thinking about communications, phones, computing and gadgets.

More video

Until I become proficient at uploading videos to LMS, I'll have to rely on links.

This is making the rounds on the soft news broadcasts and desevedly so. But this way, you don't have to listen to the local anchor mannequins talking over the footage.

With that, I give you...Slippery Pete, the sliding deer.

Ricky Gervais

I don't get the HBO, but the buzz that Gervais is generating with his Extra's show is getting pretty big again this year.

If this clip is evidence of the regular offerings, I may have to pony up the dough for the pricey pay cable.

Pretty effin' hilarious.

The Truth

Pour yourself a cocktail, (and yes, I know that's it's 7:45 in the morning), and go read jurassicpork today.

I weep for the future of this once great nation.

If it's Thursday...

...it must be time for Mark Fiore.

Behold the King of OppositeLand.

One last thing

Check out this cool interactive chart from the good folks at Think Progress.

For those of you scoring at home, North East Ohio is batting .1000 in its oppostion to the Chimp's Death March.

Hey now.

Dennis!

That's what I'm fuckin' talkin' about.

Grim Reaper

Well...finally, Art Buchwald got around to dying.

All kidding aside, he was a great American.

On of my favorite quotes of his..."You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it".

RIP, funny man.

Forgive me Father...for I have waxed

Pappy don't preach all right, evidently he's too busy trawlin' for trim on teh Internets.

Straight outta Cleveland:

A priest, formerly of St. Jude's Catholic Church, resigned his post over allegations of sex and theft.

Father Thomas Carolyn pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of attempted theft. He received probation.

He appeared in court Wednesday using a walker.
Officials said he stole $19,693 between March 3 and 13 of 2006. Carolyn was having money extorted from him by two prostitutes.

The prostitutes have been charged and sentenced. They got probation.

St. Jude's Catholic Church shut down last year because of financial problems.

Carolyn will pay restitution to the church.

Oh well, at least it wasn't young boys this time. Props for that, Father.

Cintra

The ever fabulous Cintra Wilson has joined the ranks of the blogosphere.

Do take the time to amble over to her site occasionally to fill up on the daily acrimony of the NYC jet set crowd as well as some most excellent snark. I'll put her over on my "friends" section as well.

She's like Maureen Dowd with a needle and a spoon.

More numbers

This just in from my main main Woody Guthrie's Guitar

Read it and weep my fellow proles.

Daily Kos

This from a poll today up at Daily Kos. Me likey...

Who is your favorite potential 2008 candidate from the list below?

Bill Richardson
5%
688 votes

Barack Obama
27%
3417 votes

Hillary Clinton
4%
506 votes

John Edwards
37%
4748 votes

Wesley Clark
17%
2155 votes

Mike Gravel
0%
35 votes

Dennis Kucinich
4%
535 votes

Joe Biden
1%
141 votes

Chris Dodd
0%
99 votes

John Kerry
0%
121 votes

Tom Vilsack
0%
116 votes

MLK

Most people will tell you that "I have a Dream" is the better speech, but for my money, this piece is a better example of why Martin is honored every year on this day.

Good stuff that.

Oddly enough, there has been little of a musical legacy to commemorate Dr. King's birthday unless you consider this little piece of saccharine from Dion in 1968.

And then,of course, I was going to post something like this...anbody seen any of these guys?

Abraham

Martin

and John

But then I thought, no, that might be tacky.

One ringy-dingy

Although I have my doubts as to the efficacy of wholesale phone bank cold calling, I sure do love me some MoveOn.org.

More here...

John Edwards

I tell ya what, if this guys keeps talking like this, he's got my vote already.

However, what he needs to finish with at this kind of a speech is a National March/Boycott/Walkout event to capture the spirit of the words. It could be an enormous spectacle.

But in the meantime, this sounds fine with me so far.

Now I know that this is not a whole lot different than what Rep. Kucinich has been saying for years, but it resonates better via Edwards as we all might agree, he's a lot dreamier than Dennis.

I'm going into Irkutsk

Ms. Dowd can be sort of silly sometimes, but here's yet another peek into the mind of the Chimp in charge.

Slow ride

Further evidence that Tipsy Mc Swagger is driving us down the road to ruin.

Driving The Hearse Blindfolded

Insert "Clevah" Title Here

I read this stuff and I'm not so much amused as I am angered by it.

Feh.

Random Ten

In the City--The Jam
Let's Stay In and Make Love--Nick Lowe
Little Bird--Annie Lennox
Stoned--The Rolling Stones
Bought For a Song--Fountains of Wayne
Lounge Act--Nirvana
Knights in Shining Karma--XTC
Venus--Television
Grey Lagoons--Roxy Music
Seven Times Hotter than the Sun--T Bone Burnett

Saturday Puppy blogging

He's Jack the Dog, aka, King of the Mice

I guess this makes Cheney Mr. Smee

I looked up "Crocodile Tears". The definition from Wikipedia is as follows:

"Crocodile tears is false or insincere weeping, a hypocritical display of emotions. The expression comes from an ancient anecdote that crocodiles weep in order to lure their prey, or that they cry for the victims they are eating".

That said, here's yet another stroke of genius from Steve Bell.

Compare and contrast with the actual Chimp himself. The likeness is uncanny doncha think?

Surge Protector

Up and at 'em. Here's Molly to lead us into the light.

Stand up against the surge
Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate
01.11.07 -
The purpose of this old-fashioned newspaper crusade to stop the war is not to make George W. Bush look like the dumbest president ever. People have done dumber things. What were they thinking when they bought into the Bay of Pigs fiasco? How dumb was the Egypt-Suez war? How massively stupid was the entire war in Vietnam? Even at that, the challenge with this misbegotten adventure is that WE simply cannot let it continue.

It is not a matter of whether we will lose or we are losing. We have lost. Gen. John P. Abizaid, until recently the senior commander in the Middle East, insists that the answer to our problems there is not military. "You have to internationalize the problem. You have to attack it diplomatically, geo-strategically," he said.
His assessment is supported by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who only recommend releasing forces with a clear definition of the goals for the additional troops.

Bush's call for a "surge" or "escalation" also goes against the Iraq Study Group. Talk is that the White House has planned to do anything but what the group suggested after months of investigation and proposals based on much broader strategic implications.

About the only politician out there besides Bush actively calling for a surge is Sen. John McCain. In a recent opinion piece, he wrote: "The presence of additional coalition forces would allow the Iraqi government to do what it cannot accomplish today on its own -- impose its rule throughout the country. ... By surging troops and bringing security to Baghdad and other areas, we will give the Iraqis the best possible chance to succeed." But with all due respect to the senator from Arizona, that ship has long since sailed.

A surge is not acceptable to the people in this country -- we have voted overwhelmingly against this war in polls (about 80 percent of the public is against escalation, and a recent Military Times poll shows only 38 percent of active military want more troops sent) and at the polls. We know this is wrong. The people understand, the people have the right to make this decision, and the people have the obligation to make sure our will is implemented.

Congress must work for the people in the resolution of this fiasco. Ted Kennedy's proposal to control the money and tighten oversight is a welcome first step. And if Republicans want to continue to rubber-stamp this administration's idiotic "plans" and go against the will of the people, they should be thrown out as soon as possible, to join their recent colleagues.
Anyone who wants to talk knowledgably about our Iraq misadventure should pick up Rajiv Chandrasekaran's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone." It’s like reading a horror novel. You just want to put your face down and moan: How could we have let this happen? How could we have been so stupid?

As The Washington Post's review notes, Chandrasekaran's book "methodically documents the baffling ineptitude that dominated U.S. attempts to influence Iraq's fiendish politics, rebuild the electrical grid, privatize the economy, run the oil industry, recruit expert staff or instill a modicum of normalcy to the lives of Iraqis."

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge.

If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"

My name is Bob Ney...

...and I'm a pathestic loser who pretends I can't hold my drink like a man.

Who does this bag of crap think he's trying to fool? I am so tired of every one of these haircuts who call themselves adults who fall back on liquor abuse when they get caught stealing.

Listen, I know how to drink plenty good and have had my share of practice for a solid 30 years.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever become delusional to the point that I would blame stealing on boozing. Ney is weak and greedy and a facile hypocrite just like all the others.

Go to jail, Bob and don't be such a pussy.

I'll buy you a Shirley Temple when you get out.

Oh, he's gettin' funky all right

Yikes stripes!...the missus thought it was bit weird that he had a traveling funereal procession with no less than three costume changes.






How will I explain this sordid development?

Slow Newsday

What's really fascinating about this piece is how, to a tee, every one of the conservative sites makes last night's speech all about the Liberal Media and the radical Left.

From Hugh Hewitt: What would become of the American left if... the surge pacifies Baghdad, and peace spreads through Iraq in a viral fashion? ... it has become painfully clear in the new Congress' opening hours is that the mainstream of the Democratic Party is desperate for the Iraq war effort to fail."

And this from Norman Podhoretz' fat asshole of a son...

But if tonight's speech doesn't herald the beginning of a serious turnaround in Iraq that is plain to see by spring of next year, the Risen Christ could be the Republican nominee in 2008 and He wouldn't be able to win against Al Sharpton."


IDIOTS!!!

Cut up

The ever hilarious Attaturk has a post worth viewing this morning for all of you Milton Bradley fans out there

I'm in love with Eddie's mom

Yvonne DeCarlo was a beautiful woman.

Of course, most of us will always remember her thusly...RIP, Lily

Juan Cole

The li'l perfessor from the Wolverine State is on target as usual this morning, (man he gets up early).

Anyhow, go read here.

Steve Bell

Our friend from the Guardian UK says it all.

Asshole Watch

Oh swell, this fucktard has another job.

Ya know, after all this time and wasted lives and dollars, it's utterly appalling that anyone who mewled even the slightest bit of support for the Chimperor gets a modicum of street cred, much less a lush contract from a major media group.

What's even more astounding is that they have fans and listeners who tune in. Of course, Dennis has proven less than successful in his past endeavors with regard to gaining a decent market share.

The Guardian

Yes, more of this in America, please.

Here we go...

Isn't this the phrase folks usually shout when they're about to descend on the first hill of a rollercoaster ride? Seems fitting.