Mr. Fish

Dude cracks me up.

Friendly

Hey kids! Snuggly the Security Bear is back with some updates. He's one cute little mutherfucker.

Scott Adams

This is the one where Dilbert goes to the movies and I agree with him. The Social Network is one damn fine film...

Tom Engelhardt

Tomdispatch nails the truth yet again.

It's Cheney and Rumsfeld's world, we're just a squirrel trying to get a nut.

Jackass

I tell ya what, I went to see this film yesterday and laughed 'til it hurt. The 3-D stuff was underwhelming and frankly annoying, but some of the things that these clowns think up.

Brilliant. It's really high art.

Nostrabobus

And the great slide of 2010 begins...

Oh, and by the by, I sure wish we had the courage to riot in the streets like the Gallic folk. Vive la Résistance!

Surfing

Yeah, yeah, I know I've missed the last two Friday Random Tens in a row but I've been busy with some stuff. I'll make up for it in terms of sheer density of sound with this little ditty from the infamous, Butthole Surfers. They kinda rocked.

I'll be back on with a new FRT at the end of the week...

Oh, and remember, don't ever drink anything mixed when Flea is behind the bar.

Stephen Fry

Yes, yes and yes.

The inimitable Mr. Stephen Fry.

Faith roulette

Here's a cool site for all you seekers out there.

Shnook...

classic foghorn leghorn cartoon - Watch more Funny Videos
...Loud Mouthed, that is.

Foghorn Leghorn was always my favorite WB cartoon character. Here's a classic episode from 1948.

Matthew Yglesias

Young Matt has some potentially bad news for folks who are keen on a holiday in the sun in good old Amsterdam.

Get thee to a coffee bar, stat.

Geert Wilders is a tool. A very dangerous tool.

Time Magazine

I rarely link to such "austere" publications as the late, great Time Magazine, but I'll make an exception in this case.

A very scary and great read in this week's issue.

One more...

Study: Americans Get Majority Of Exercise While Drunk
And speaking of funny, I leave you with this from the Onion.

TBogg

TBogg slays me.

Matt Taibbi

No one is as deft at making sense of the flaky financial alphabet soup that is high finance in this country than Matt Taibbi.

He's always good for a laugh as well...just as long as you understand that it's gallows humor we're chuckling along to.

Sigh.

Fuck a duck

This is all over the innertubes. Great stuff. Many, many hours of video editing I imagine.

Oh, that's Rich

Good ol' Frank Rich on the gift from the East that just keeps on giving.

Andrew Sullivan

Handy Andy over at The Atlantic provides us, via a "Tax Receipt", with a great breakdown of exactly where your tax dollars are hard at work.

It kind of goes along the lines of what I always suspected but never fully visualised until now. Two of the more jarring numbers that scream out at me are the $530 combined for all things military. Okay, well I guess I'm not surprised so much as reminded we're the new Roman Empire.

But then if you put it through another prism, it's gets weird mama.

For example, if you combine the totals for PELL Grants, The EPA, Head Start, Public Housing, The Smithsonian, Amtrack, Funding for the Arts and the entire Congressional Payroll the entire number is $66.42.

In short, Sweden we ain't.

Ebert

This is why, for my money, Roger Ebert remains the best movie reviewer of our time.

Gotta go see this film.

Forever Wars

Seriously, go ahead and read this Tom Engelhardt piece and give me one good fuckin' reason as to why anyone would continue to support Obama.

Friday Random Ten

Rivers Of Babylon -- The Melodians
Wheel -- John Mayer
Better Man -- Pearl Jam
Marie -- Steve Earle
Pulling Mussels From A Shell -- Squeeze
Just Lust -- Buzzcocks
Celebrate -- Wyclef Jean and Patti LaBelle
Glory -- Liz Phair
It Must Be Summer -- Fountains Of Wayne
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner -- Black Uhuru

Bonus end of the show run cut...

Mountain Of Sound -- Spoon

The Dude Abides

More good news on Prop 19. Mark it, Donnie.

Greg Giraldo

Roast of Joan Rivers
Greg Giraldo - Trolls and Fairies
www.comedycentral.com
Roast Master Kathy Griffin Zombie Paparazzi Game South Park

Well, that's a fuckin' drag. This dude was seriously funny. Here's a taste from the Joan Rivers roast.

R.I.P.

So, an Irishman walks into a bar...

...and then drives his truck into the lower house of Parliament.

Seriously, we all ought to be protesting like this. We're too frightened in this USA police state we live in, them boys don't care anymore.

Feckin' balls those Irish lads have.

Matt Taibbi

Wow. Just wow.

Matt Taibbi wrings out an exhaustively long and clever piece about the Tea Party Movement. It's a nice counter balance to the Kevin Drum thingy I just posted yesterday.

But Taibbi's article is a LOT more frightening.

What an amazing and fucked up place it is that we live in. Wow.

Pop(e) Quiz

I've pretty much always thought that organized religion is for the birds. That said, I've read big chunks of the Bible, Koran and Bhagavad Gītā for sport, and frankly, just to see what the fuss was all about.

Anyhow, here's the quiz from Pew Research which has made a buzz in all of the papers this week.

I got a perfect score of 15 out of 15. How did you do?

I personally put as much faith in the notion that Jesus/Buddha/Mohammad are no more a messiah on this earth than Mr. Green Jeans or Sid Vicious were.

You do the math.

Ubu

Pere Ubu dans Tracks
Uploaded by SebDeSuper. - Explore more music videos.
Here's a steaming helping of your daily Dave from some variant strain of French documentary. The clip ends abruptly, but is still quite compelling viewing for you Ubuphiles out there in the hinterlands...

Everything old is new again

Great piece by Kevin Drum over at MOJO about the historical tenents of the Tea Party Movement. A decent prognosis of their outcome as well.

(h/t to Rick Perlstein)

Modern America

Everything's just amazing and awesome according to the daft cunt from Alaska. Regardless of whether she's getting booed or not by the studio audience, she sure is a perfect intellectual fit for the majority of the mouth breathers that heart 'Murka!

Wolverines!

Green Day

Dude, that's my skull! Looking more and more that Prop 19 has a good chance of passing. And as the old axiom reads, "So goes California, so goes the nation".

Paul Krugman

The ol' perfessor is at it again. Doing real addition and subtraction when perfectly fine fuzzy math will do. Silly man.

Friday Random Ten

No Tears To Cry -- Paul Weller
Everything Is Average Nowadays -- Kaiser Chiefs
Ocean Of Noise -- Arcade Fire
Virginia Moon -- Foo Fighters
My Friends -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Trilby's Piano -- The Who
Don't Let It Get You Down -- Spoon
Headwires -- Foo Fighters
Village Green Preservation Society -- Ray Davies
Baby Please Don't Go -- Van Morrison

Start of Autumn cut...

Scarecrow -- Beck

Tax Cuts

Oh, the suckage...how it burns.

Don't be buggin'

Ah yes, the dulcet tones of Robert Krulwich and the creatures that surround us...

A sad anniversary

Our dear boy, Jack the dog, passed away one year ago today. It's been hard to be without our buddy, but we carry on knowing he had a very long and wonderful life.

It's a rare day that we don't think of him with that dual twinge of sadness and fondness.
Thankfully, we have the Micro-bear, Bailey Marie to keep us laughing. She's a natural comedienne.

We love you and miss you, Jackie boy...

Big Top

Ah, yes, today's Grand Old Party. It's like a clown car sans the funny. Check out this straw poll from this weekend's Jesusgasm.

Connie Schultz

Since those of us who live in the Cleve get to read her columns twice a week are accustomed to her terrific style, it's always jarring to examine her stuff at more of a distance.

Connie Schultz is a great writer, human being and journalist.

Beyond the Palin

Snowzilla was on Faux News yesterday evidently hemming and hawing that if asked, yes, by god, she's be willing to serve.

Dave Neiwert has the run down and video tape replete with the dulcet tones of her lovely voice.

That Toddlin' Town

I've been rather mute about the surprising revelation that Ritchie Daley announced last week that he is giving up his mayoral sceptre for good and putting himself out to pasture. As a former resident of what once was the greatest city in America (trust me, there are none left), I have an opinion or two on this matter.

First off, I always thought Ritchie was as dumb as a bag of hammers. His brother Bill, on the other hand, can actually form complete sentences...and in English too. So, I've always been amazed that held the position for the twenty years that have passed so quickly.

Secondly, I'm not that bright either, so I'll let the way smarter John MacArthur over at Harper's make the point I was going to make if'n I had a bigger brain...

Blogwhoring

In my never ending need to self promote, I offer up this link to the links to the more or less positive notices of the play in which I'm currently performing.

And there's also this one from The Jewish News as well.

Banana Republic

Swell. We've dropped yet another notch on the financial side of the equation.

Slouching towards Haiti.

Friday Random Ten

Explain It To Me -- Liz Phair
Words Of Love -- Buddy Holly
Judy Is A Punk -- The Ramones
Meditation -- Nellie McKay
Retirement -- Kaiser Chiefs
Gun Street Girl -- Tom Waits
Brand New Second Hand -- Bob Marley
You Get Yours -- Bright Eyes/Spoon
Killing Lies -- The Strokes
Bad Is Bad -- Dave Edmunds

Bonus: It feels like an autumn morning cut...

After The Bombs -- The Decemberists

Newman!

I'd be remiss not to mention the announcement of the passing of Edwin Newman this week. He was, in my estimation, one of the last great journalists to take flight from the idiocracy that is now commonly referred to these days as, "the media".

He was a gentleman, I fondly remember his nuanced coverage of many, many of the NASA launches, and by god, the man spoke the King's English.

R.I.P. Mr. Newman.

Bill

Bill Maher returns to TV this weekend and proves yet again that the primary reason to have pay cable is his show.

In the interim, he gives us a nice warm-up for his new season via this appearance earlier in the week on Larry King courtesy of good 'ol Dr. Cole.

The Rude One

Gawdammit, I shure do luv me some Rude Pundit.

Oh, and Charles Pierce ain't half bad either...

Beckistan

The Onion. The gift that keeps on giving.

United States of Awesome

Is there a place on Earth that's ever been as crass and craven as America? The Rude Pundit doesn't think so. We will stoop to use any ploy to sell something, won't we?

Larry Tate must be laughing madly in his grave.

9/11

Here's a nice piece from Mother Jones commemorating the anniversary of Sept. 11th.

Rick Perlstein

Our old pal, Mr. Perlstein weighs in on the Koran burning kerfuffle and the sorry state of today's "media".

Friday Random Ten

Welcome To The East -- Wyclef Jean
Unforgiven -- John Doe
The Cold Hard Facts Of Life -- John Doe and The Sadies
Turn Around -- Carl Perkins
I'm Always Touched By Your Presence -- Tracy Ullman
I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts -- X
Beauty Queen -- Roxy Music
The Gymnast, High Above The Ground -- The Decemberists
Oxycontin Blues -- Steve Earle
Rip It Up -- Little Richard

Opening Night extra cut...

Battered Old Bird -- Elvis Costello

I've no clue as to rationale behind the three-peat of John Doe stuff. The iPod is a funny machine. I do know that while too infrequently updated, that this is one of my fave bookmarks on that innertubey thingy.

WWJDD?

Jim Anchower

I usually never miss an Anchower column on The Onion site, but somehow, this one slipped through my grasp.

Goll-dang that dude cracks me up.

A day late and a dollar short

Obama shows up in the Cleve with an attitude he should've been throwing around since he was inaugurated. Instead, he let Palin, Boehner, Beck, Limbaugh and Newt drive the propaganda bus for the last 18 months.

Now, we're supposed to pay attention?

It's too late Mr. President. Sorry, dude. You're now officially a modern day Herbert Hoover and you've no one to blame but yourself and your team of sorry sycophants.

DEVO break...

Don't SHOOT! I'm a Man!

Krugman

The ol' perfessor whistling past the graveyard yesterday morning.

This, and then on the next day when Obama finally pulls the ace out of his sleeve that Lindsay Graham and John Boehner via El Rushbo and Beckistan will rip to shreds by week's end.

Conflated and fucked up govmint? Now, that's the United States of Awesome.

Ebert

Roger Ebert has a great post about El Rushbo, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's far reaching influence on the broken children that represent a vast majority of the alleged adults who make up the Right Wing in this land.

Need I say more...

Collapse of Kabul Bank Points to Fatal Corruption of Karzai Government

It's a long and complicated article, but Juan Cole explains it all for you. Our Nation is a bloody sham.

Collapse of Kabul Bank Points to Fatal Corruption of Karzai Government

Breadlines serving croissants

Poor and under-employed. All the kewl kids are doing it. It's radical chic.

Friday Random Ten

Nature Of The Experiment -- Tokyo Police Club
Knights In Shining Karma -- XTC
Don't Lose Your Temper -- XTC
Legend In My Living Room -- Annie Lennox
Fuck And Run -- Liz Phair
Surprise Surprise -- X
Readin', Rightin', Rte 23 -- Dwight Yoakam
The Guns Of Brixton -- The Clash
Countdown -- Phoenix
Monkey With Your Tail -- The Cramps

Bonus Labor Day Cut...

Dinah-Moe -Humm -- Frank Zappa

Ladies and Germs...

I give you the definitive profile of the 2012 G.O.P. Nominee for President of The United States. (via Lance Mannion)

Zombie Woof

Christ on a crutch, I hate this feckin' economic collapse...

Cee-Lo

I've loved Gnarls Barkley from first glance, but Cee-Lo is making a big name for himself with this video.

Of course, it won't get much top forty airplay, but who cares. Since Amy Winehouse decided that heroin is better than a music career, Cee-Lo is single-handedly bringing back the great R&B pop single.

Mayberry Madness

Well, it's official, the terrorists have won. We're a majority of morons. Oh, and Chase Whiteside rules.