Mutterings of a Mad Bookseller

God Paging Rick Perry-

2011-09-01T07:49:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Irene Redux-

2011-08-31T15:29:00.000-04:00

Ummm...

2011-08-31T07:40:00.001-04:00

EMERGENCY ALERT!!!!!!

2011-08-27T19:02:00.002-04:00

IMPORTANT HURRICANE ALERT!!!

If you are in the path of Irene, for your own safety, and the sake of those you love (or at least the ones who have to live with you) if you have a gas stove but an electric coffee grinder-

GRIND THREE DAYS WORTH
OF COFFEE BEANS **NOW**!!!

Qwicky Qwiz-

2011-08-25T07:53:00.002-04:00

What would you call a guy who believes that only Christians should be allowed to hold elected office & other government positions, and that actual, physical demons are actively at work in America (and demonic possession explains things like homosexuality)?

You might call someone who believes that nuts. Bonkers. Whacko. 50 cards short of a full deck.

Fair enough. But the GOP calls him the new Presidential front runner and current Governor of Texas.

Quite a guy, that Ricky...

Hypocrisy? Here???

2011-08-22T08:34:00.004-04:00

Remember back during the debt-ceiling debacle, when Republicans, toeing the tea Party line, refused to consider raising taxes in any way whatsoever, including even revising the tax code? Remember how they defined letting tax cuts expire as "raising taxes", and how it would be better to default than raise taxes, especially on wealthy Americans?

Remember all that?

Well, who do you think now wants to, using their own definition of raising taxes, raise taxes on the poor and middle class by 50%?

That's right- the GOP.

Republicans in Congress say they will oppose an extension of the payroll tax break which now gives all working-class Americana a break of about $2,000 a year, money which they all put right back into the economy. The break is scheduled to end on January 1, 2012, and the GOP wants to raise the rate from 4% to 6%, a 50% increase in the taxes of working-class Americans.

But, yeah- they will continue to refuse to even consider any sort of tax increase on wealthy Americans.

A link to the Associated Press story is embedded above, but only follow it if you haven't eaten in the past two hours.

Sorry Texas- Sorry Isn't Good Enuff...

2011-08-18T07:14:00.000-04:00

MEMO of the Day:

2011-08-14T10:44:00.002-04:00

TO: Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry
RE: God talking to you

In today's world many people talk to God. However, if you really believe that God is talking to you, personally, and telling you to go and do certain specific things, then you're most likely one missed-dose of medication away from climbing up a tower with a high-powered rifle.

Shocking News from Iowa!

2011-08-14T08:37:00.000-04:00

BOROWITZ REPORT
AUGUST 13, 2011

S & P Downgrades Iowa’s IQ - Straw Poll ‘Alarms’ Ratings Agency

AMES, IOWA (The Borowitz Report) – Calling the results of today's Iowa straw poll “alarming,” Standard and Poor’s took the unprecedented action of downgrading Iowa’s IQ.

While the effects of such an extraordinary measure are hard to predict, experts say the IQ downgrade could result in Iowans having difficulty completing sentences or operating a television remote.

“This downgrade would be very upsetting to Republicans in Iowa,” said an S & P spokesman. “Fortunately, there’s no way they’ll understand it.”

The winner in the straw poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn), gave a rousing victory speech that was simulcast in English across the state.

But there may be tough sledding ahead for Rep. Bachmann, as a new poll shows her losing support to Texas Governor Rick Perry among voters who describe themselves as morons.

Gov. Perry kicked off his presidential campaign today in South Carolina, unveiling a new stump speech in which he promised to repeal the twentieth century.

Thank You God, for Sunoco 350 Ultra-Line Gasoline!

2011-08-12T15:41:00.001-04:00

Nothing against NASCAR, I'm a NASCAR fan myself, but they may have gone a bit over the line when they allowed this "pastor" to sell sponsorship placements in his opening prayer-

Is God Hanging Up When Rick Perry Calls?

2011-08-12T07:21:00.004-04:00

I'm not a fan of bringing prayer into American political life- according to the Constitution religion is supposed to be divided from public policy. According to a recent internet witticism, religion is like your male private-part: it's nice to have one, but it's bad manners to go waving it around on the street, and for crying out loud, don't go sticking it down kid's throats.

But even if you disagree with any of those points, Rick Perry's record of bringing religion, and specifically prayer, into play as a state policy tool is worth looking at. As Timothy Egan points out in today's New York Times, in April Perry declared a three-day state-sponsored pray-in for rain to stop the Texas drought. It hasn't rained since, and the drought is now the worst in state history. Earlier this month he sponsored a weekend-long prayerfest at a large Texas stadium, where he prayed for God to lift the country out of its economic malaise. Two days later the stock market dropped 635 points.

Earlier in the spring the Texas governor and soon-to-be candidate for the Presidency gave us all a glimpse of how he'd run the country in times of crisis- “I think it’s time for us to just hand it over to God, and say, ‘God: You’re going to have to fix this," is what he said.

That may or may not be true. Personally, I'd opt for a more pragmatic, hands-on approach, but even if you believe that your politicians should be out there, praying for good things to happen, as Egan points out- God does not appear to pay much attention to Rick Perry.

Just sayin'...

Here's the NYT piece

Brilliant...

2011-08-11T15:09:00.002-04:00

So let me get this straight- Pentagon computer specialists have learned how to impersonate Al Quaeda leaders online, and are posting orders for anti-Western attacks on the internet in an effort to confuse jihadists...

Oh well, gee willikers Ollie, what could POSSIBLY go wrong with a plan like that???

- -

August 11th, 2011 12:57 PM
Could the Pentagon Be Responsible for Your Death?
The Military’s Marching Orders to the Jihadist World

By Tom Engelhardt
Crossposted from Tomdispatch

Put what follows in the category of paragraphs no one noticed that should have made the nation’s hair stand on end. This particular paragraph should also have sent chills through the body politic, launched warning flares, and left the people’s representatives in Congress shouting about something other than the debt crisis.

Last weekend, two reliable New York Times reporters, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, had a piece in that paper’s Sunday Review entitled “After 9/11, an Era of Tinker, Tailor, Jihadist, Spy.” Its focus was the latest counterterrorism thinking at the Pentagon: deterrence theory. (Evidently an amalgam of the old Cold War ideas of “containment” and nuclear deterrence wackily reimagined by the boys in the five-sided building for the age of the jihadi.) Schmitt and Shanker’s article was, a note informed the reader, based on research for their forthcoming book, Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda.

And here’s the paragraph, buried in the middle of their piece, that should have stopped readers in their tracks:

“Or consider what American computer specialists are doing on the Internet, perhaps terrorist leaders’ greatest safe haven, where they recruit, raise money, and plot future attacks on a global scale. American specialists have become especially proficient at forging the onscreen cyber-trademarks used by Al Qaeda to certify its Web statements, and are posting confusing and contradictory orders, some so virulent that young Muslims dabbling in jihadist philosophy, but on the fence about it, might be driven away.”

The italics are mine, and as the authors urge us to do, let’s consider for a moment this tiny, remarkably bizarre window into military reality. As a start, just where those military “computer specialists” are remains unknown. Perhaps they are in the Pentagon, perhaps somewhere in the National Counterterrorism Center, but whoever and wherever they are, here’s the question of the week, possibly of the month or the year: Just what kind of “orders” can they be posting “so virulent that young Muslims dabbling in jihadist philosophy, but on the fence about it, might be driven away”?

And even if our computer experts really were capable of turning wavering young Muslims back from the shores of jihadism -- and personally I wouldn’t put my money on the Pentagon’s skills in that realm -- what about young Muslims (or older ones for that matter) who weren’t on that fence and took those “orders” seriously? What exactly are they being “ordered” to do?

otoh-

2011-08-10T18:40:00.002-04:00

My new goalkeeper gloves arrived today. Thank God. We play soccer two or three times a week next door, where our neighbor Mark, who is soccer-mad, built a half-sized field in his back-40 (hey, it's Hatfield, we all have 3-acre back yards).

I'm not fast, but I'm crafty, so i play keeper, or goal-tender. But jesus-Hayfucking-Crispychrist- half the players shooting at me are teenagers or college students. And several of the older ones are former semi-pro's. I'm no longer young, and my hands were hurting like hell after every game.

But yes- these babies will make it all better!

Be Right Back-

2011-08-10T07:59:00.003-04:00

Until you have the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, external facilities and conditions will never bring the joy and happiness you seek. On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality, calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, even if you lack the various external factors that you would normally require to be happy, it will still be possible to live a happy and joyful life.

-Dalai Lama

Tomato Update-

2011-07-31T18:26:00.005-04:00

I do love the taste of a freshly-killed tomato, its warm, firm body still screaming for mercy as you sink your teeth into it. We've got great soil for tomatoes here in the Valley, but I've struggled a bit finding the best way to grow them. I'd always used stakes, but then the blight hit here 2 years ago, and stakes can harbor blight unless you basically nuke 'em clean. Last year we tried pots, and the plants all died in mid-July.

This year I tried, for the first time, making a frame from which to grow them up strings. This is a commercial method- you tie the string at the top, tie it around the base of the tomato, and twirl the tomato around the string as it grows.

Here's how that's working-

May 11th
Tomato plants planted in the bed
(three days before the tornadoes ran through the Valley)-

July 6th-

July 28th-

No ripe tomatoes yet, but the plants
are LOADED with green tomatoes.
I think I have found the perfect way to grow tomatoes.

Russian Roulette, Anyone?

2011-07-27T16:44:00.001-04:00

“We raised the debt ceiling seven times during the Bush administration. Now, in this administration, they [Congress] are using it as a hostage. You don’t have any business by playing Russian roulette to get your way in some other matter. We should be more grown-up than that.”

-Warren Buffet, uber-capitalist

PASS IT ON:

2011-07-26T07:57:00.001-04:00

Take a $1 dollar bill out of your wallet and write on it: "This is $1 more than Bank of America or Exxon pays in taxes."

Well, this says it all-

2011-01-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

New Year, New Questions-

2011-01-02T08:53:00.002-05:00

Are the incredible chocolate chip cookies I snagged at yesterday's party appropriate for breakfast?

Or should they be saved for lunch?

New Year's contest-

2010-12-29T18:52:00.002-05:00

Samuel Johnson declared "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life", but let's aim a something a bit more prosaic- how would you fill in the sentence- "When you are tired of __, you are tired of life"?

I'll start- Catherine Zeta Jones.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:20:00.001-05:00

Hallelujah!!

2010-12-18T17:27:00.001-05:00

And, in honor of the repeal of DADT we take great joy in presenting a little seasonal song-

This One's for Beach Bum-

2010-12-06T09:15:00.001-05:00

A Little Seasonal Cheer-

2010-12-05T08:14:00.000-05:00

Guess Who Dik Cheney is Too Corrupt For???

2010-12-02T12:25:00.004-05:00

Nigeria to charge Dick Cheney in $180 million bribery case, issue Interpol arrest warrant

By John Byrne
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

The energy services company Dick Cheney ran prior to becoming Vice President of the United States was atop the tongue of liberals each time it was awarded a contract in Iraq.

Now the company's name, Halliburton, is being spoken somewhere else: Nigeria.

According to a story filed late Wednesday, Cheney will be indicted in a Nigerian bribery case as part of an investigation into an alleged $180 million bribery scandal.

much much more here...

- -

Wow. Think how morally sick & twisted you must be to have the Nigerians think you've jumped the Corruption Shark. Way to go, Dik!!

I Want to Have George Takei's Baby-

2010-11-02T16:12:00.001-04:00

And Now An Important Message-

2010-10-15T14:32:00.000-04:00

Glenn Beck -Threat to America?

2010-09-29T18:42:00.005-04:00

Glenn Beck, who has a profile in this upcoming weekends New York Times Magazine, seems to be saying that the President is a liar. Well, somebody here is a liar, but it's not the President. Could it be Glenn Beck? Could Glenn Beck be a threat to the country? Could Glenn Beck be a THREAT to the continued existence of the United States? He's called for armed revolution. Could Glenn Beck be the man who overthrows our democracy?

Stuck for a Father's Day Gift Idea?

2010-06-20T08:51:00.002-04:00

Hey, i just report 'em...

Fun Facts-

2010-06-09T19:20:00.002-04:00

Did you know that the words "race car" spelled backwards still spells "race car"?

That "eat" is the only word that if you take the first letter and move it to the last it spells its past tense "ate"?

And if you rearrange the letters in "so-called tea party Republicans" and add just a few more letters it spells: "Shut up you free-loading, progress-blocking, benefit grabbing, resource-sucking, violent, historically-ignorant, brain-dead, selfish, un-American hypocritical assholes!"

How weird is that?

Samuel Morse, Tea Partier...

2010-04-27T20:57:00.002-04:00

Today in 1791 Samuel F. B. Morse, American artist and inventor, was born.

Morse is best remembered as the inventor (or not) of the telegraph, but he was also an accomplished artist. He studied in America and London under Allston, and was elected to England's Royal Academy in 1811. He specialized in allegorical scenes and portraits and became something of a political crank, often using his paintings to score anti-Federalist, pro-Jeffersonian points. His work on the telegraph began in the 1830s and involved him in patent suits and claims for the rest of his life -the only patent he was actually granted on the telegraph came from Sultan Abdülmecid in Istanbul in 1847. Today historians still argue about whether Morse's ideas and inventions were actually his own, though none argue his important influence on the development of the telegraphic systems in the 19th century, nor the invention of Morse Code.

That's the good news, but that's not the end of the story. Here's the bad news- Samuel F.B. Morse was a raging racist. As the slavery debate came to a boil in the 1850s Morse firmly entrenched himself among those who thought it was a deal which had worked out pretty well for the slaves, and wrote- "My creed on the subject of slavery is short. Slavery per se is not sin. It is a social condition ordained from the beginning of the world for the wisest purposes, benevolent and disciplinary, by Divine Wisdom. The mere holding of slaves, therefore, is a condition having per se nothing of moral character in it, any more than the being a parent, or employer, or ruler".

But that's not all. He was also staunchly against immigration, and in 1836 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York as a member of the anti-immigrant "Nativist Party". He promoted laws which would have banned Catholics from holding public office, championed changing immigration laws to limit immigration from Catholic countries, and wrote articles stating that the the Austrian government and Catholic aid organizations were subsidizing Catholic immigration to the United States in order to gain control of the country. “We must first stop the leak in the ship through which muddy waters from without threaten to sink us,” he wrote.

Fortunately, such times & paranoias are a thing of the past, and we may remember Samuel F.B. Morse today simply as a fine painter.

Or, just perhaps, a Tea Party member, born a bit too early...

Garden Notes for Late April-

2010-04-26T07:15:00.000-04:00

The bleeding heart by the kitchen are getting an early start-

Progress is being made on the back wall. Here is a shot of the area behind the wall "before" (well, "before-ish", -the entire area was overgrown with Burning Bush & grape vines when we started, and in this shot half the berm they were growing on has already been excavated)-

A here's what we have today, with everything cleaned up and several clumps of tall (well, they will be later) perennials already moved over from the front of the wall-

The bee-balm has been moved from in front of the wall and looks happy-

Want some poison ivy? Have we got poison ivy. Here's an example which must be at least a decade old growing up a tree. If you see anything like this, don't touch the "hairs" on the vine (they're actually tendrils the vine uses to grasp the bark), because they've got irritating oil in them, just like the leaves-

I Miss George Bush-

2010-04-20T06:08:00.003-04:00

Ok, ok, fine, I admit it!!

say what you want about Bush & Cheney & illegal wars, ruinous deficits, faith-based "science", toilet-paper Constitutions and the like, when the man saw a problem he DEALT with it. Quickly. Instantily. Concretily- without a lot of thought-based crap to make him dilly-dally. For instance-

You know, YOU KNOW (c'mon, admit it!!) that if GEORGE W. BUSH was still President, HE'D have dealt with that damn terrorist Volcano of Mass Disruption over in Iceland by now!!

By invading Greenland.

damn straight.

i miss the guy.

It's a Big Job, but Somebody Has to Do It-

2010-04-01T17:10:00.003-04:00

It's just a simple declarative sentence, and I really wasn't meaning to cause offense. Well, ok, maybe just an itty little bitty...

"Most modern followers of Islam have so many odd hang-ups about women and sex, they make the Catholic church seem almost normal".

And there you have it -I pissed off two major world religions in a single sentence.

thank you, thank you very much!

For Queen and Country...

2010-03-25T14:37:00.001-04:00

anyone feel a draft...?

Baby Killers!

2010-03-22T09:58:00.003-04:00

It was a somewhat depressing weekend.

Yes, we took a giant step towards passing some very minimal, common-sense health-insurance reform, but here's what else I saw-

- I saw tea-baggers spitting on a black member of Congress as they tried to get into the Capitol building, and then start chanting "Kill the nigger! Kill the nigger!"

- I saw the same Republican legislators who were completely in favor of spending trillions of dollars for two illegal, immoral, unnecessary, brutal wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan argue that spending any money to care for the health of US citizens costs too much.

- I heard Newt Gingrich, a respected leader of the Republicans, declare that the Democrats had made "their biggest mistake since LBJ passed Civil Rights legislation".

- I watched debate on the House floor degenerate to the point where House members were shouting "Baby killers" at other members.

I saw that America remains a divided country, with a vast pool of very sick, twisted, delusional individuals who revel in hatred, illogic and small-mindedness, and are being led by one of our two major political parties. And I se that we have a growing 3rd party movement who differ from the Republicans only in that they don't think the current Republicans are twisted, bigoted, or small-minded enough.

I watch tv and see massively-popular media entertainers like Glenn Beck openly push hatred and conspiracy and violence in a way that can only lead one to conclude that they are trying to goad some sick individual into assassinating the President and other Democratic leaders.

I fear for our country.

I really do.

Important Announcement!!

2010-03-22T06:34:00.002-04:00

Oh, Honestly-

2010-03-08T12:57:00.004-05:00

Truth in advertising was never one of Hollywood's strong points, but what if it were?

See more here.

Caption Contest-

2010-03-07T06:35:00.003-05:00

I don't remember exactly where I found this photo, but I do remember that it was captioned- "Disneyland Asked Us to Never Come Back". Surely, however, there are other captions that could apply, so I am asking for your help. Go wild!

Judging a Book by Its Cover-

2010-03-04T19:36:00.001-05:00

This is a fun post to write. When we moved I packed a number of 50s and 60s paperbacks into boxes, an d am just now unpacking them. This one caught my eye as interesting in a number of ways-

-to begin, we have that wonderful 1950s "American Family", a husband, wife (of the other sex) son and daughter (and all the same race- boring, but much admired back then).

-but then we have the huge test tube behind them, something of a fore-runner of later families, where science became an issue.

-and finally, we have the "moral life" thing, which I'll admit I viewed a bit skeptically, at first.

Still- it's a great cover, isn't it?

Then I Wikipedia'd Max Otto, and found... nuthin'.

So I Googled him, and found an extensive entry on something called "Philosopedia" which is now defunct, but still has a Google cache. I enjoyed reading this entry, and came to have great respect for Max Otto as a philosopher. I think some of you will also, so I will paste it in its near-entirety-

G. C. Sellery, of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, wrote the following for Notable American Unitarians:

Professor Max Carl Otto was born in the historic town of Zwickau, Saxony, in 1876, and was brought to America by his immigrant parents in his fifth year. He went to school, through the sixth grade, in Wheeling, West Virginia, where his father kept a restaurant. He studied the Lutheran catechism diligently under a stern, old-fashioned pastor, and also learned to concentrate so thoroughly on what he heard in church that he could repeat the essentials of the sermon to his Lutheran parents. The resulting development of the power of concentration has stood him in good stead ever since.

Young Max served as a waiter in the family restaurant until he was sixteen. Then he went off to Cincinnati and Chicago on his own. In Chicago he was employed as a messenger for the R. G. Dun rating agency, and did incidental human salvage work on Sundays for the Y.M.C.A. This latter avocation led to a regular quasi-religious post in the Milwaukee Y.M.C.A., where he worked with boys. But recognizing the need for further education if he were to "grasp this sorry scheme of things," he gave up his job in the Y.M.C.A. and filled in some of the many gaping holes in his preparation for college by study in local academies. This accomplished, he was admitted, somewhat irregularly, to Carroll College, Waukesha, by President Rankin, who was not averse to stretching the rules in favor of a young man of obvious ability and persistence. From Carroll, after a couple of fruitful years, he moved on to the state university at Madison, where he majored in history under the great Frederick Jackson Turner, and secured a distinguished B.A. in 1906, with election to Phi Beta Kappa. (At Wisconsin also the rules were stretched—or rather broken—in his favor, for he, whose prose is so simple and strong, had not taken the required course in freshman English.)

Otto took up graduate studies in philosophy, and won his Ph.D. in 1911. The philosophy which Max Otto developed did not involved the abstract, deductive systems which ingenious minds have invented through the ages to explain the universe and man in whole or in part; it was not the sort of philosophy one finds in the older histories of the subject. Of course, he knows these systems, and he has been heard to say that he would give his right arm—"well, at least a little finger"—to read the lost treatise of Protagoras on Truth, for its possible anticipation of pragmatism, of which he himself is a representative. Pragmatism is, in fact, essentially an American product—native, democratic, homespun, redolent of the soil. It grows out of and is rooted in the common problems and common sense of men and women—refined common sense, of course, but still common sense, whether at work in business, agriculture, politics, economics, science, or religion. The underlying purpose of this philosophy is the enhancement of human life for all. "Humane, warm, and in the best sense simple," President Burkhardt of Bennington said of Max Otto, "his wisdom is pervaded by a profound sense of dedication to the enrichment of man's intellectual and spiritual life."

Max Otto's philosophy was conceived—and born—in Wisconsin. Of course his native endowment of mind and heart, his experiences of life, and his struggles for clarity of purpose underlie the vision he caught at the university. One may also safely assert that the elder La Follette's program for social betterment had a part in Max Otto's philosophy, and that it was nurtured, enriched, and confirmed by the teachings of William James and John Dewey—especially of John Dewey, his good and great friend.

Within the broad reaches of his philosophy, Max Otto, a man of genuine religious temper, places stress on the need of our age for a nontheistic faith. The writer ventures to quote from his own review of The Human Enterprise, written when that important book was published: "The theistic foundation of truth, goodness, beauty, and humane feeling being seriously weakened, it is an urgent requirement of the times that an alternative foundation be found for those who do not accept the theistic foundation. This other foundation the author finds in practical sympathy for the needs of mankind as they progressively reveal themselves in the working out of the actual problems which confront humanity."

Max Otto's abandonment of supernaturalism, which he pushed to its extreme limits in the debate with Wieman and Macintosh, involved him in serious difficulties almost from the beginning of his career as a teacher at Wisconsin. For it inevitably colored what became his great and increasingly popular course, "Man and Nature," where he takes a frankly naturalistic view of the universe. The first attack came in 1912, when clerical critics and their sympathizers in Madison and elsewhere in the state demanded his elimination from the staff as an enemy of religion, and, strangely enough, as a violator of the state constitution, which forbids sectarian religious instruction in the university. The stamina of the young instructor was put to a very tough test. It would have been an easy way out to give up the course; but Max Otto, after prolonged reflection, declined to do so. His students and not a few of his colleagues—some of whom hardly knew him—stood by him, and Van Hise, the great president, irritated though he was by this additional disturbance, in effect backed him up in his forthright commencement address of that year (1912), entitled "The Spirit of a University."

Freedom of thought, Van Hise here declared, inquiry after truth for its own sake, adjustment of the knowledge of the past in the light of the newest facts and highest reason—"this is the essential spirit of a university, which under no circumstances should it yield."

This spirit, President Van Hise proclaims, "forever makes a university a center of conflict. If a university were content to teach simply those things concerning which there is practical unanimity of opinion . . . there would be quiet; but it would be the quiet of stagnation."

Max Otto's student following and influence grew steadily in the following decades, and many liberal theologians gave him their enduring friendship. Nevertheless, he was exposed to three more bitter attacks. In the latest and fiercest of these, that of 1932, he, a professor in politics, was used as a whipping boy for his friends, the LaFollettes, and was assailed in press and platform as an exhibit of the pernicious radicalism—and atheism—they were said to foster. But again students and colleagues, in increasing numbers, rallied to his side, and again the president of the university, now Glenn Frank, defended him—as his predecessors had done in each of the preceding attacks—and his opponents were thereafter reduced to occasional and ineffective sniping. Max Otto had won—the university had won—a veritable "Twenty Years' War."

Professor Otto's knowledge of scientific method and scientific achievements is wide and deep. It is conveniently shown in a pocket-size book entitled Science and the Moral Life (I949), which consists of selections from his writings. (It is one of the series called "Mentor Books," published by the New American Library.) Mr. Otto was not blind to some of the perilous fruits of science, notably the atomic bomb, and he did not exculpate their propagators. But scientific method, he is certain, must be extended to the social and, of course, to the religious field, to what he calls the search for the good life. Scientific method, he makes clear, is a way of investigation which relies solely on disciplined empirical observation and rigorously exact proof, proof that extends beyond inner or personal conviction to outer or public demonstration.

The search for the good life, to Max Otto, involves not only economic reconstruction in the interest of the fairest distribution of earth's bounties to all men, but also political action to promote this distribution. "Unless enough Americans," he declared in 1939, "are willing to invest their idealism in the project of remaking our social order into a positive means for utilizing our resources for the common good, it will not be long before there will be no idealism to invest."

(Abridged from The Cleavage in Our Culture. edited by Frederick Burckhardt

Crisis at the MMB Offices...

2010-03-02T08:37:00.001-05:00

MMB STAFFERS REACT TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THEIR USUAL FRESH IRISH BUTTER HAS BEEN REPLACED BY SOY-BASED PSEUDO-BUTTER...

UPDATE:

And now Four Dinners has mentioned British Butter, so it seems only right to add this-

sac + titty = ???

2010-02-28T07:35:00.001-05:00

I suppose they have a point after all-
real marriage has one sac and one tity.
Or at least Tea Partiers' marriages do.

And speaking of those nutsoids- we spend some time making fun of them, but they are starting to present a clear and real danger to the country. Make no mistake- the so-called "tea party" folks are hateful, ignorant and many of them really want to overthrow the government and send America back into some sort of mythical "Eden" they mistakenly suppose existed in the 19th century West where there were no laws and no government at all.

Add to that the fact that they are well-armed and a good number of them are paranoid, violent and clinically insane, and you see the threat which confronts us. I see a real possibility of terrible trouble coming.

Frank Rich has some sobering analysis of these people in today's New York Times.

But then again...

2010-02-28T06:25:00.001-05:00

they may just be asinine idiots-

Two Observations on Health Care-

2010-02-26T08:12:00.007-05:00

These two observations are neither original nor new, but they strike me over and over during the current debate over health care reform-

1. Republicans have long advocated that most current government services would be better, and more cheaply, provided by private companies. Schools, libraries, the mail service, commuter trains, even public roads and police and fire protection, would all be cheaper and better if they were run for profit by corporations, because corporations can always do things better and more cheaply than the government -this is a longstanding Republican position.

However, during the current health care debate Republicans have declared themselves to be dead-set, firm as concrete, against any sort of "public option", any new government-provided insurance, because it would be so cheap and so good that everyone would sign up and it would put private health insurance companies out of business.

Does that make sense to anyone out there? Am I missing something?

2. Republicans declared yesterday that any health insurance reform that involves a government program or new rules is not a bill they could ever support, because the government will make a hash of health care, and the American people do not want the government fiddling with their health care.

However- if one looks at folks who are already covered by government programs- Medicare for people over 65, the VA for veterans, and the health care provided to Congress, one finds that those people overwhelmingly like their programs. On the other hand, most Americans who are insured by the big private health insurance companies hate their insurance- private companies' policies are over-priced, overwhelmed with meaningless paperwork, refuse to pay for care you need, and the moment something really serious happens, they drop you.

So I suppose the real question we need to ask is: are Republicans a) stupid, b) opposed to anything the Democrats want because they are more interested in playing political games than helping the American public, or c) All in the pockets of the big private health insurers?

Or-

d) all of the above?

Imagine There's No...

2010-02-24T06:30:00.006-05:00

I've had waaaay too much coffee, and that got my mind going odd places. I was just pondering...

Imagine what would happen if your local supermarket was run by-

The Bankers: Sure, selling food to people is the traditional function of supermarkets, but that's boring, and not obscenely profitable. So, your supermarket no longer actually sells food to the public; they buy, sell and trade food-based derivatives and futures with other supermarkets. Whenever the broccoli market crashes they get the government to bail them out.

The Health Insurance Industry: No prices are listed on the shelves, but to buy a bag of potatoes you first have to fill out an 8-page form and then wait three weeks for approval. Two months later you get a bill for $17,000.

The GOP: The store is closed, but it doesn't matter because there's not actually anything for sale in it anyway. The grocers just discovered all the farmers are Democrats and have declared that food is Evil.

The Music Industry: You must buy all your food at the supermarket. Anyone caught growing tomatoes at home will be sued and forced to pay $60,000 per tomato in penalties.

Fox News: Anything out of stock is blamed on those sneaky Democrat farmers. French Endive is now called "Freedom Endive", and Julia Child's books are banned from the cookbooks section.

Credit Card Companies: The price of food you already bought may change after you get it home.

Microsoft: Food you buy may or may not stay cool in your refrigerator, fit in your pans, or cook on your stove. Food may also become inedible in the middle of dinner for no apparent reason.

The Airlines: Fresh shrimp are 50 cents a pound and vine-ripened tomatoes are a quarter each, but you have to pay $15.00 for a shopping cart or basket and $8.00 for a bag, $10.00 to use the checkout line, and a $20.00 "usage fee" to leave the store.

Dick Cheney: The entire frozen foods section has been moved to an undisclosed location.

Wal*Mart: Let's not go there, it could happen...

Teacher's Pet?

2010-02-22T05:14:00.001-05:00

Just remember kiddies-

if somebody steals your lunch money-
you can always cut 'em!!

Please Don't Confuse Them-

2010-02-20T13:42:00.004-05:00

Today I take the liberty of shamelessly stealing a theme from Joey Polanski, because I think the lesson may be valuable to some people in the Media-

FUCKER

FUCKHEAD

FUCKWIT

PLEASE DON'T CONFUSE 'EM!!

Random Musings...

2010-02-19T15:39:00.004-05:00

- Fox news is treating the white, Christian anti-tax nut who dove his airplane into an IRS building as a “seriously disturbed individual who nonetheless had a legitimate grievance”. Any bets on how they’d have described it if he’d been a Middle-eastern Muslim?

- Tiger who??

- I was glad to see the Russian skaters back to ugly costumes- it makes me nostalgic for the 80s.

- I guess that the use of the word "batshit" in a book catalog entry really depends on the context, doesn't it?

- Oops. Those cheap chocolates I bought at Danny's Deep Discounts weren't "Ferrero Roche" –they were "Feral Roaches". They’re crunchy though, and if you hit them hard enough they stop scurrying around the plate.

- Sweet Jesus- between Global Warming & the radioactive tritium leaks from Vermont Yankee nuke plant just up the river, by July we'll have mosquitoes the size of raccoons. They’ll be carrying off squirrels in their claws and we’ll have to go after them with baseball bats. I can’t wait to make a bug-zapper big enough to deal with ‘em though...

*ZAP*

(all the lights in the neighborhood dim)

*ZAP*
(The smell of roasting bug drifts through the yard).

I can’t wait for Summer.

Retiring, but not Shy...

2010-02-16T11:03:00.002-05:00

It was George the Mailman's last day on the job after 35 years of carrying the mail through all kinds of weather to the same neighborhood. When he arrived at the first house on his route he was greeted by the whole family there, who roundly and soundly congratulated him and sent him on his way with a tidy gift envelope. At the second house they presented him with a box of fine cigars. The folks at the third house handed him a selection of terrific fishing lures.

At the fourth house he was met at the door by a strikingly beautiful woman in a revealing negligee. She took him by the hand and led him up the stairs to the bedroom where she blew his mind with the most passionate love he had ever experienced. When he had had enough they went downstairs, where she fixed him a giant breakfast: eggs, potatoes, ham, sausage, blueberry waffles, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. When he was truly satisfied she poured him a cup of steaming coffee. As she was pouring, he noticed a dollar bill sticking out from under the cup's bottom edge.

"All this was just too wonderful for words," he said, "but what's the dollar for?"

"Well," she said, "last night, I told my husband that today would be your last day, and that we should do something special for you. I asked him what to give you. He said, 'Fuck him. Give him a dollar.' The breakfast was my idea."

Sad but True-

2010-02-13T08:25:00.001-05:00

Want to overthrow the government?

2010-02-09T11:07:00.001-05:00

In South Carolina, you're now going to have to register, and pay a $5 fee, first.

It seems there's stupid, and then there's South Carolina Stupid...

Exclusive Pictures =>

2010-02-09T08:14:00.001-05:00

our Superbowl Party at Foggygates-

In case you missed it-

2010-02-08T07:20:00.001-05:00

last night's most surprising Superbowl ad-

and the story behind it-

How the Letterman-Oprah-Leno Super Bowl Ad Came Together
By BILL CARTER, NEW YORK TIMES
Jay and Dave together? Could it be true?

It is, and there they were, Jay Leno and David Letterman sitting on a couch – with Oprah Winfrey between them - upstairs at the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Mr. Letterman tapes his show.

The spot was shot last Tuesday afternoon, under the strictest of secrecy which involved both Mr. Leno and Ms. Winfrey flying in surreptitiously to New York, and arriving incognito at the theater, while Mr. Letterman was in the midst of taping his show for that night. It also involved Jay wearing a disguise: hooded sweatshirt, glasses and faux mustache. If you happened to be on Broadway between 53rd and 54th street last Tuesday about 4:15, you might have seen a man fitting that description slip into the theater by a small entrance under the marquee.

According to staff members of the “Late Show with David Letterman” who were on the scene that day - including the executive producer Rob Burnett – it all happened because Mr. Letterman had an idea he thought would be truly funny: a Super Bowl ad that featured the two longest-running adversaries in late night, sitting with Ms. Winfrey as though at a Super Bowl party.

What gave the idea extra spin, of course, was that the relationship between Mr. Letterman and Mr. Leno has been especially fractious of late in the wake of NBC’s moves that led to the departure of Conan O’Brien from the “Tonight” show and Mr. Leno’s impending return to the show, where he will once again go head to head with Mr. Letterman.

In the weeks since the decision was announced, Mr. Letterman had been notably acerbic in his on-air jokes about Mr. Leno, suggesting he was a schemer in some way in the moves that led to the changes in late night, and Mr. Leno had responded with jokes about Mr. Letterman’s well-covered romantic entanglements.

That added to the surprise viewers encountered when the ad came up and there the two comics were, flanking Ms. Winfrey, in essence for a promotion for Mr. Letterman’s show.

As Mr. Burnett described it, Mr. Letterman had the idea to invite Mr. Leno to participate, playing off a similar ad he put together with Ms. Winfrey the last time CBS had the Super Bowl in 2007. “Dave wrote the bit himself,” Mr. Burnett said. “He just thought: it’s the Super Bowl, you’re supposed to entertain people.”

Steps were taken to contact Ms. Winfrey, who agreed immediately, Mr. Burnett said, and then Mr. Leno. Mr. Burnett said he spoke with Mr. Leno’s executive producer, Debbie Vickers. “She asked if this was for real and then she laughed for about 10 minutes,” Mr. Burnett said.

Mr. Leno quickly agreed, but the idea had to be passed by the top NBC executives, including the chief executive, Jeff Zucker. Permission was granted.

Mr. Leno was able to get Tuesday free – NBC had rearranged its schedule to pre-empt his 10 p.m. show that night - and took the NBC corporate jet, Mr. Burnett said. There seemed little chance though that Mr. Leno could sneak into Mr. Letterman’s theater unseen, so the idea was hatched to try to sneak him in during a live taping - in disguise.

Both guests turned up while Mr. Letterman was on stage doing his show. They were kept in a secret green room until the show was over and the theater was cleared. Then Mr. Leno and Ms. Winfrey went up to the theater balcony where a living room set was fashioned with a faux TV and a couch.

Mr. Letterman arrived a short time later. The two late-night rivals greeted each other warmly, Mr. Burnett said. “It was very friendly, very professional, totally cordial,” he said. “You could tell these were two guys who have known each other for a long time.”

The idea Mr. Letterman came up with was for him to be first seen alone, complaining about being at the worst Super Bowl party ever - then to be seen in a two-shot with Ms. Winfrey as he had been in 2007, with her telling him to be nice. And then Mr. Leno would be revealed at the other end of the couch saying that Mr. Letterman was only complaining because he was there.

Mr. Letterman followed doing a mock-Jay voice. The entire spot was shot quickly and efficiently, Mr. Burnett said. “I’d say it took no more that 20 or 30 minutes,” he said.

“I think everybody wanted to do it just because they all knew it would get attention and they all just wanted to do something funny.”

After the taping was completed, Mr. Letterman thanked his guests and they said a cordial goodbye, Mr. Burnett said. The two stars slipped back out into the Manhattan night, Mr. Leno back in his faux mustache.

“This wasn’t done to help Dave or to help Jay,” Mr. Burnett said, “though I think it does help both of them. It was just done because Dave thought it would be funny and would entertain people. Nothing went beyond that.”

There's absolutely no way...

2010-02-07T18:07:00.001-05:00

...that this is going to end well.

Quitters-

2010-02-07T11:53:00.005-05:00

There are many important issues facing us today- joblessness, global warming, tea-baggers, deficits, Republican obstructionism, and Sarah Palin, but let's all step back for a moment to discuss something really important-

The Super Bowl.

By this time tomorrow I assume the Indianapolis Colts will be the new Super Bowl champions. I'll be rooting for the Saints, but even I don't actually expect them to win. The Colts seem to be the perfect package this year, an unstoppable combination of brains, determination and skill.

And that's why I hope those wimpy, whiny quitters lose.

That's right, I'll say it- the Colts are quitters.

Stop and think about it- this year they had a chance few pro football teams ever get, the same chance the Patriots had a few years ago: the chance to run the table, to go undefeated from first game thru the Superbowl. But the Colts decided to rest their starters in Game 16 and intentionally bagged the game, in order to have a better chance to go all the way.

Quitters.

When you have a chance like that, you have to go for it. Sure, the Patriots tried it and lost at the very end, but they came soooooo close. And the simple fact that their arch-rivals, the Pats, tried it and failed two years ago should have made it all the more essential for the Colts to do it this year. But instead they bagged Game 16.

Quitters.

Sure, they'll be Super bowl champions tomorrow, but they won't be Real Champions. To be a true champion you at least have to try, and the Colts didn't.

Quitters.

Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself-

2010-02-06T10:37:00.001-05:00

We're going to be looking at the tea-baggers in the next few weeks. To start off with, here's a sign featured at a rally this summer that sort of says it all...

Good Advice-

2010-01-04T06:38:00.001-05:00

Oh well...

2010-01-03T08:05:00.001-05:00

2010 SCORECARD

SQUIRRELS: 1
FEEDER: 0

Christmas Concert!

2009-12-24T17:49:00.002-05:00

A Merry Christmas to all my bloggy friends around the globe! Here are a few of my favorite Seasonal Songs for you-

We start off with some traditional fair from Twisted Sister-

Buster Poindexter sings one of my all-time favorites-

What would Christmas be without Brian Setzer?

Sometimes Christmas is the perfect time to announce things-

I'm going to change things up now with something a bit more serious, a song based on a true story. Back at Christmas time in 1914 World War 1 had only been going on a few months. On Christmas Eve, all along the trench lines from the Swiss Border to the coast of Flanders, the soldiers got out of their trenches and met in no-man's land, exchanging schnapps and sherry, sausages and plum puddings, singing Christmas songs and showing their photographs of home-

And to finish, another favorite, from the Boss. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Hitting The Nail on the Head-

2009-12-23T06:44:00.001-05:00

Maureen Dowd, as usual, has the problem neatly wrapped up-

Is There a Real McCain?
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times, December 22, 2009

John McCain is no longer the media’s delight and his party’s burr, bucking convention with infectious relish.

The man used to be such a constructive independent that some of his Republican Senate colleagues called him a traitor. Now he’s such a predictable obstructionist that he’s in the just-say-no vanguard with the same conservatives who used to despise him.

On Tuesday afternoon on the floor, Senator Mitch McConnell, who contemptuously fought McCain’s campaign finance reform bill all the way to the Supreme Court, oozed admiration toward his Arizona colleague, as McCain did yet another grandstanding fandango on the health care bill.

Watching him, one can only wonder: Is McCain betraying his best self? Who is the real McCain?

Even some of McCain’s former aides are disturbed by the 73-year-old’s hostile, vindictive, sarcastic persona — a far cry from The Honorable Man portrait so lovingly pumped up in books by his former aide and co-writer Mark Salter.

After he lost to W. in a nasty primary battle in 2000, McCain delighted in poking at the new Republican president. But he was a trenchant critic of W.’s budget-busting tax cuts and other policies because his objections were consistent and honestly felt. (Or so we thought.)

Now he delights in attacking another man he ran against and lost to: a new Democratic president who had once hoped, based on McCain’s past positions, that his former Republican rival might be of help in such areas as the economy, national security, immigration and climate change.

With President Obama, McCain’s objections seem motivated more by vendetta than principle.

He angrily turned on his former base, the news media, during his campaign when his lame performance on the economy and his irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin got panned.

In 2000, McCain would devilishly point out Tom Brokaw or a Times journalist to town hall audiences as “one of the last Trotskyites, left-wing, Communist, pinkos of the American media.”

In 2008, he snarled to political aides about journalists whom he had once admired, like Brokaw and Charlie Gibson, and he cut off The Times completely. He talks about the media betrayal with the same outsize scorn that he once reserved for his Viet Cong captors.

The famous twinkle is gone, replaced by an infamous bitterness.

After his 2008 race against Obama — a campaign that too often took the low road in toadying to the right and painting Obama as a socialist and terrorist fellow-traveler — the capital eagerly waited to see which McCain would return to the Capitol.

Would McCain be the new lion of the Senate, putting “Country First” for a historic final chapter to his long career? Or would he morph into the sort of knee-jerk Congressional partisan he had once loathed?

Sadly, despite the scary trellis of problems America faces, the unorthodox, brave and cheeky McCain failed to show up.

Part of his sharp turn to the right may be motivated by his primary challenge for a fifth term from J.D. Hayworth, a conservative, anti-immigration talk-show host and former Republican House member (who has also been anti-Times at times).

But he has said himself that it’s more about philosophical differences with President Obama.

Unlike his pal Lindsey Graham, who voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor, McCain seemed motivated by revenge when he voted against Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee.

“An excellent résumé and an inspiring life story are not enough to qualify one for a lifetime of service on the Supreme Court,” McCain sniffed.

McCain, who once led the fight in the Senate with his pal Joe Lieberman on enacting a global warming bill, shocked many when he flipped on the issue, attacking climate legislation supported by Lieberman, Graham and John Kerry.

McCain has also descended into demagoguery on Medicare. Although he has been in favor of Medicare reductions to cut the deficit over years, he’s now adopted a rigid hands-off Medicare stance.

He rejected the idea of being a point man on immigration in the Senate, apparently preferring to stew.

A couple of times, during floor speeches on health care this month, the Arizona senator noted “that a fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed.”

It seemed to be an inadvertent recognition that he was fighting for the sake of it, not to help the country get past some of the hideous problems left by the man McCain failed to stop in 2000.

Maybe an excellent résumé and an inspiring life story are not enough to qualify one as a real statesman.

um...

2009-12-07T05:56:00.003-05:00

Regular viewers, please excuse this programming interruption for a local memo.

MEMO

TO: The New England Patriots

RE: Blowing 14-0 lead against pitiful Miami Dolphins, giving up interception with 32 seconds to go, said interception resulting in Dolphins field goal & 22-21 Pats loss.

TEXT:

WTF ?????

Stupid Callous Homophobic Hateful Legislation

2009-12-04T07:39:00.003-05:00

The question begins and ends with the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. Civil marriage is not a sacrament- that would be blatantly unconstitutional. *Religious* marriage is a sacrament, but that has nothing to do with legalizing *civil* marriage for all citizens. Churches can do whatever they want, and will always be free to. But civil marriage is simply a matter of the Equal Protection clause.

It's pretty simple, really, and I cannot for the life of me understand *why* some churches care about civil marriage, something that does not involve them at all, or why any citizens would not want equal rights to be extended to all citizens- it's a civil rights issue, not a religious one.

I Can't Put it Better-

2009-12-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

I don't know how to say it more clearly...

2009-12-02T07:23:00.002-05:00

AntiChrist Identified- It's Bishop Thomas Tobin!

2009-11-24T05:55:00.004-05:00

If you aren't from New England you may have missed it, but this has become a big news story hereabouts-

Washington (CNN) -- A dispute over abortion between the only remaining Kennedy in Congress and his Roman Catholic bishop has highlighted the political volatility of the issue and the challenge it presents to the nation's Catholics.

"How can you claim to be a Catholic and also support abortion?" Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, asked Monday, discussing his request that Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, stop receiving Holy Communion because of his pro-choice politics.

Patrick Kennedy has a slightly different version of the story, and I see no reason to doubt it. He says the Bishop's "request" was more of an order, and that Bishop Tobin also instructed all the other priests in Rhode Island not to give Kennedy communion either.

Why is this such a big deal?

Well, about 50 years ago American Catholics (whom the Vatican has long despaired of as wayward sons) worked very hard to prove to the rest of America that another Kennedy could be elected President, even though a major concern for many voters was that a Catholic president would take orders from the Vatican.

At the time it was a ridiculous notion, and it has remained a ridiculous notion. But now Bishop Tobin, among others, is trying to change that, and that is a real danger- not to reproductive rights in America, but to the Catholic Church itself. By insisting that Catholic politicians hew to the Church's political viewpoint Bishop Tobin is in fact taking that old anti-Catholic fear and making it a very real Reality.

Or at least, he's trying to.

If Bishop Tobin and his cronies succeed in their insistence that catholic politicians follow the church's lead in their political votes, then they will in fact be taking orders from the Vatican, and the Vatican is, on so many issues, allied with the tea-baggers and other far-right nutsoids. Next thing you know Sarah Palin will be a nun (the Lying Nun).

Good work, bishop Tobin, I hope you're proud. What normal voter will ever vote for a Catholic politician again? The only constituency the teabaggers have of any meaningful size is the rural South, and rural Southerns still examine Jews' and Catholics' heads carefully for signs of horns. The bishop will have, in effect, helped destroy the American Catholic Church by taking all its members out of political life in America. And who better to suspect of such an act than the Anti Christ?

Hey, if the horns fit...

Apologies-

2009-11-17T21:04:00.002-05:00

For the past year we have been fighting the economy, and the newest social networking. At about the same time the economy went south a friend introduced me to Facebook & Twitter.

And at that point my participation here took a nosedive. My apologies to everyone.

I twitter & facebook with a few of you, and do not with most of you. To those, I apologize. I do think they can all be integrated.

Blogging is still cool to me, I just need to adjust my timeframe to do everything. It's not as bad as it sounds. I'll be bvack tomorrow...

Brilliant!

2009-11-12T15:31:00.001-05:00

Well now...

2009-11-07T16:15:00.000-05:00

Of all the headlines I never thought I'd write, "Drunk Ewok Gropes Guest, Humps Al Roker's Leg Live on Today Show" has got to be in the top ten...

For no reason whatsoever-

2009-11-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

Except that I think it's cool.

Um...

2009-11-04T09:08:00.002-05:00

There are just not enough minutes in the day to keep up with the stupid stuff out there. Where the FUCK does one begin? Last night the voters of Maine vetoed their new same-sex marriage law, and the most persuasive lie told by same-sex marriage opponents was that if the law stood, same-sex marriage would be taught in the schools, just like it is in MASSACHUSETTS.

But that was a lie. Here in Massachusetts we've had same-sex marriage here for about 10 years, and it is not "taught" in the schools. I'm not sure why not- it is the law, after all. But still, it is not "taught" in our schools. Well never mind, same-sex marriage opponents in Maine bought and aired two millions dollars worth of ads that said it is. WTF????

Apparently you can tell any lie you want in an advertisement. On a much, much smaller scale than taking away people's civil rights, this ad proves it-

I mean, c'mon folks...

Denial

2009-11-03T17:28:00.003-05:00

I DO NOT have a cold.

I do NOT have a cold.

I do not have a cold.

I do nob have a cold.

I do nob hab a cold.

I do nob hab a co'd...

well, shit.

Even Morena Baccarin finds that annoying.

Amazing-

2009-09-18T16:37:00.006-04:00

So, President Obama has canceled that stupid Star Wars anti-missile system for eastern Europe. Predictably, the Republicans are all afroth about it, which made me realise something odd-

Why is it that the same people who are sure that a government program can create a missile that can hit another incoming missile the size of a football, traveling at 5000 mph in the opposite direction, from 1000 miles away, yet are simultaneously convinced that the same government cannot create a program which will give every American a yearly physical and perhaps remove a gallbladder or two?

Or course, these are the same people who think it would be perfectly all right to nuke Iran back to the stone age, but think it's immoral to provide government-funded health care to poor children in America.

I'm betting they all live here-

Probably not...

2009-09-07T13:06:00.000-04:00

see more Lol Celebs

What have YOU had to eat today??

2009-09-03T19:14:00.004-04:00

Cataloging old auction catalogs today, and could not resist sharing this piece. It's a German bronze figure, late 16th or early 17th century, of a decomposing man. A very rare representation, it most closely relates to a wood group in the NY Met. attributed to the Master of the Upper Rhine from the early 16th century. This piece was sold by Sotheby's London on December 16, 1971.

I wish i'd been collecting and solvent then, I'd have bought it.

Damn.

Fair is Fair

2009-09-02T09:56:00.003-04:00

Wolf Hunting Season in Montana opens today. This is the first wolf hunt in a decade or so, brought about because the Feds have taken wolves off the endangered species list. There are about 800 wild wolves in Montana, which didn't sound like a lot to me, until a hunter reminded me that Montana is a state just a tad* larger than Rhode Island. Of the 800 wolves they're going to shoot 200+, leaving 600 wolves to populate a state approximately the size of eastern Europe.

That might seem like very few wild wolves to many of you, I know it sounded that way to me, but apparently we're all wrong. They had a story about this on NPR yesterday, and the wolf-killing enthusiasts were well-represented. They seemed to have two main arguments-

1. Wolves kill elk for sport, so we need to kill the wolves. (Human hunters, on the other hand, apparently kill elk because... um, well, maybe an elk ran down their grandmother).

2. Having wolves that hunt elk around makes it harder for human hunters to find elk. (Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the fact that they're hard to find why we call it, uh, "hunting"?)

Now, I don't want it to seem that I'm completely opposed to hunting wolves. I think it might actually be entertaining- my suggestion would be to throw the wolves and the human hunters all into Montana, close the gate, and let them have at it, but on equal terms, which means no boots, no jeeps and no guns for either side.

That sounds fair, doesn't it?

* 1 tad = 50x.

Oh my...

2009-08-31T07:15:00.001-04:00

R.I.P., Ted

2009-08-26T06:00:00.002-04:00

Bullshit-

2009-08-25T07:50:00.002-04:00

I don't want to spend all my time here ranting, so I've started a new blog, dedicated to cutting through the bullshit (which we are being buried under at an increasing rate these days).

The Truth Seekers

Last Problem Solved-

2009-08-22T19:04:00.004-04:00

Judging by the number of time Our Lord's name is taken in vain on this blog, I'm betting that most of you aren't counting on being Raptured anytime soon, but for those of you who are, have you ever stopped to ask yourself- "After I'm taken by The Lord to the Big House in the Sky, what will become of Fluffy and Fido?"

Well, worry no more, Mr. & Mrs. Holier Than Thou!

Eternal Earthbound Pets U.S.A. stands ready to take care of your furry or feathered loved-ones after you get what's coming to you -

"We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus".

"Cool!" I hear you say, "But how do I know they'll really be Left Behind?"

"Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet's natural life."

And how much, I know you are asking, does this Eternal Peace of Mind cost? Just pennies a day!

"Our service is plain and simple; our fee structure is reasonable. For $110.00 we will guarantee that should the Rapture occur within ten (10) years of receipt of payment, one pet per residence will be saved. Each additional pet at your residence will be saved for an additional $15.00 fee. A small price to pay for your peace of mind and the health and safety of your four legged friends."

But what about Alfie, my baby alligator??

"Unfortunately at this time we are not equipped to accommodate all species and must limit our services to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and small caged mammals."

Sorry, Alfie. But for the rest of you Rapture-Ready Christians, I have just one final thing to say-

WHY THE FUCK DON'T I THINK
OF THESE THINGS FIRST????

The REST OF THE STORY About Faux News-

2009-08-21T06:51:00.001-04:00

Jon Stewart realises that the Faux News folks must actually be LIBERALS!!!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Fox News: The New Liberals

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

They're Out There...

2009-08-20T18:47:00.001-04:00

The "Cash for Clunkers" program will end Monday, so if you have any spare Republicans laying around, you've only got a few days to turn 'em in for a few quarters.

No, seriously. That may seem harsh, but the Republicans in this country have gone beyond mere politicking and have begun an active campaign to destroy anything the Democrats want to build, just because. For those outside the country, the President's health care reform package is the current brouhaha. Republican leaders are actively supporting the wackiest of their party who are telling people that, if passed, the President's package will result in the government-sponsored euthanasia of the elderly and physically and mentally challenged. Protesters are calling the President a Nazi and comparing health care reform to Hitler's "Final Solution".

Obviously we are dealing with the Tinfoil Hat Brigade here, but the news media refuses to say anything critical about them, treating both sides as if they have valid points. Recently though, Democrats have finally begun to fight back. Representative Barney Frank, form here in Massachusetts, told one nutsoid exactly what he thought at a recent public meeting-

Time to hit the gym...

2009-08-11T07:52:00.001-04:00

it's Summertime, time for over-indulging in all sorts of things. But that's ok, i just bought a new home-gym on Ebay...

offered without comment...

2009-08-06T17:33:00.001-04:00

Smoking Fun, I Mean "Gun"...

2009-08-04T11:00:00.004-04:00

For those of you living in the real world, or outside the U.S., this may need a little explaining. The "Birthers" are a group of lunatic, "lizard-brained" hysterics who are gaining more and more media attention with their whacked-out claims that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and is not the legal President of the United States (these are folks who got thrown out of the Flat Earth Society for being too weird; Anne Coulter, herself a few cans short of a six-pack, has called them "cranks").

So now the Queen of the Pod, I mean leader of the group, Orly Taitz, has produced (and I do mean "produced") a document in a Florida lawsuit which she claims is Barack Obama's actual, Kenyan, birth certificate, proving that he's a foreign citizen and not the real President.

As several experts immediately pointed out, there are a few time-warp type of issues with Ms. Taitz's certificate. It's dated 1961 and was issued in "Mombasa, Kenya", which is all well and good, except that Mombasa was part of Zanzibar that year. There's also the piddling little issue of it's being issued by the "Republic of Kenya" when Kenya was still a British protectorate at the time, but I'm sure that Ms. Taitz will clear those little issues up in her next forgery, I mean "document".

Lest anyone spend too much time laughing at these people, CNN's Glen Beck continues to support them on his popular nationwide program, and a recent poll showed that a quarter of Republicans actually believe them. When you combine that sort of crap with the fact that the Secret Service is already overwhelmed by the unprecedented number of daily threats against President Obama's life, these Pod People begin to look a bit more dangerous.

But so it goes. A quarter of Republicans also believe in tinkle-down economics and the Easter Bunny. Here's Keith Olberman's take-

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Happy Happy-

2009-07-29T18:06:00.003-04:00

I love bee balm and planted some in the day-lily bed behind the garage but it never thrived. Planted some last year in front f the stone wall 50 feet away but in partial shade, and this year it's five feet tall, and yesterday we saw two hummingbirds in it.

I guess it's happy.

Yummers!!

2009-07-24T08:00:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sure that Joey & Cissy & Mike & the Reverend and everyone else can do some slick poetryizing given the visual cue of a can labeled "Tongue Spread"...

Let's Get Real-

2009-07-23T17:26:00.003-04:00

I'm back from the Land of Facebook & Twitter, and boy is that a tale to tell. But it'll have to wait, 'cause there's something else on my mind.

Can we stop having hysterics over the Cambridge Police vs. Professor Gates brouhaha already?

I lived in Cambridge for 5 years- it's as far from a racist city as I can imagine, but on the other hand it does have a large, lower-income population of minorities of various races, and there are tensions between the police and some of the neighborhoods. It's a city, and stuff happens.

But enough already with the Blame Game from both sides. What do we really have here? We have a veteran cop, a man who grew up in a poor, mixed Cambridge neighborhood with friends of all races and who was chosen by his African-American superior to teach advanced courses against racial profiling, and we have a distinguished scholar who is known for being humble and soft-spoken.

But the scholar had just moments before the incident returned home from an all-night flight from China, and the officer was in the middle of a long undercover shift. The scholar walked out of his kitchen to be unexpectedly confronted in his own living room by a policeman who demanded to know who he was and what he was doing there. The policeman was confronted by an upset homeowner who was, by all accounts, rather pissed off a being asked for i.d. in his own house.

You can recite all the "just cooperate with the police and they'll cooperate with you" mantras you want, and I've read many of those in the last few days, but I'd really ask anyone to honestly ask themselves what their reaction would be if they walked from their kitchen to their living room and were confronted by a cop asking them what right they had to be there. Add some jet lag and exhaustion to the mix and BOOM!

And, you know, it's not against the law to be rude to an uninvited police officer in your living room. It might be stupid, and it might be silly, but it's not illegal. Sure, perhaps Professor Gates should have reacted by thanking the police officer for checking out a breaking & entering call -I certainly hope that is how I'd react. But it's not illegal to yell at him instead. And let's face it- the officer took out his handcuffs and arrested the professor, suggesting a law was broken.

I don't see the broken law.

But I also don't see racism. I see two tired men losing some of their judgment and escalating a situation. Perhaps it's just best left there. Stuff happens.

Enough already.

Time for some Audrey Tatou.

Which is Which?

2009-06-15T15:46:00.001-04:00

A week at the beach was a welcome break, even if the early June weather was a bit chilly, but it all left me with one burning, unanswered question- what's the difference between flotsam and jetsam, and can you have one without the other?

Oh. Well, That's innocent Enough.

2009-06-01T07:43:00.000-04:00

Here's a rather frightening series of illustrations from a 19th century French inventor's magazine I just bought-

Now, I'm not sure what this looks like to you,
but I know what it looks like to me-

ok, yeah, this is what I thought the next step would be...

please please please please don't show what comes next.

oops. Oh.

It's just a roll of paper advertisements
to be read by passersby.

I'm not sure whether this makes me happy or sad...

We Have Not Yet Begun to Fight-

2009-05-27T07:10:00.001-04:00

Pedal to the grindstone...

2009-05-26T07:41:00.001-04:00

We're back, back home again from the long weekend, refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to rock n' roll! Now, nose to the grindstone! Pedal to the metal!

Um... is it lunchtime yet?

It's a Cat's World-

2009-05-15T06:44:00.002-04:00

When you're a cat you can sit anywhere you damn well please.

How long 'till dinner?

So, how do you define "healthy", anyway?

2009-05-11T06:17:00.000-04:00

Specifically, I wonder if homemade strawberry shortcake is an acceptable Springtime breakfast. It's fruit and dairy, right?

Freakazoid Friday-

2009-05-08T07:34:00.005-04:00

Happy Friday, everyone! First off let me just remind you all that no matter what the question is, Catherine Zeta Jones is always a good answer.

So, are you up to date on the latest affront the RightWing believes Barack Obama has committed against American Patriotism, Heritage and Decency? No? Well, if you were to guess, I'll bet one of your top guesses would be mustard!

It's true. I can't make stuff like this up-

Well, that's quite the brouhaha. If you're like me, this week has left you so exhausted you're ready for a nice long weekend at the beach...

I'm sorry, what was the question again?

Oh, who cares. I already know the correct answer.

The Lusty Month of May-

2009-05-01T08:20:00.002-04:00

It's time to play "The Lusty Month of May" from 'Camelot', but Julie Andrews or Vanessa Redgrave? Decisions, decisions...

We're gong with Vanessa. Julie's voice is lovely, but Vanessa has the earthier edge to her. And and of course she's a redhead...

Of course, there's always the updated WoW version...

Stop It, Storm!!

2009-04-29T09:23:00.004-04:00

In case you haven't seen it, the religious bigots who are insisting on legislating their own narrow views of the Bible into laws for everyone have got a new ad on the tv, which can also be seen on You-Tube-

Now, the first time I saw this pitiful piece of fear-mongering, my first impression was that it was sooo campy nobody could really do a parody. It's like Dik Cheney, or Michelle Bachman- it's so silly that it is its own parody.

I am now ashamed for my own dismissal of the talents and genius of my fellow Americans out there who have indeed created some very funny lampoons. Many thanks to Bucky 4-Eyes for finding this one-

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Gay Marriage Commercial

Springtime-

2009-04-27T09:21:00.000-04:00

The azaleas have come into full bloom out back, so we sacrificed a few to mount on my office mantle...

A Nation Mourned-

2009-04-17T06:45:00.004-04:00

A story in today's New York Times-

After news of President Lincoln's assassination reached New York, in all arteries and capillaries of the city, shopkeepers designed makeshift shrines to the martyred president. An anonymous diarist walked for miles, drawing sketches of as many storefronts as he could (evidence suggests, but does not confirm, that the diarist was a man). Through his relentless activity this nameless reporter made the news a bit more comprehensible. Here are selections from the diary entries.

Here's the full story and images of the pages.

Is That a Hairdryer in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

2009-04-15T12:15:00.003-04:00

Offered without comment (as if there's anything left to say)...

Hair Stylist Keeps Armed Robber as Sex Slave
15 April 2009
By Carl Schreck / The Moscow Times

In what is either the weirdest Russian crime story of the year so far or a new low in yellow crime journalism, a female hair stylist in the Kaluga region is suspected of holding an armed robber in captivity as a sex slave for two days after he unsuccessfully tried to knock over her beauty salon.

Attentive Crime Watch readers will need little more than the first paragraph of this post to understand that this bizarre saga was relayed by the intrepid crime hacks over at the web site Life.ru, which, together with newspaper Tvoi Den, is setting the bar extremely high for sensationalist scoops.

According to Life.ru, the events unfolded on the evening of March 14 as the stylist was wrapping up her shift at the salon in the Kaluga region town of Meshchovsk.

The robber, a 32-year-old man identified by Life.ru as "Viktor," burst into the salon at around 5 p.m. waving a pistol and ordered all of the stylists and clients to hit the floor and toss him their money.

At this point, 28-year-old Olga, whom Life.ru describes as a "delicate" girl trained in martial arts, was apparently still standing when she offered to hand over her cash. But when Viktor tried to accept her contribution, Olga surprised him with a quick punch to the chest, knocking the wind out of him before she flipped him to the ground.

Olga proceeded to tie Viktor up with a hair-dryer cord, gagged him and dragged him into a storage room.

Curiously, Life.ru reports, Olga instructed the others to keep working, telling them that the police would soon arrive.

But this feel-good moment for the good guy proved ephemeral. Things soon turned ugly, according to Life.ru.

The police did not come. And after the other stylists and clients went home for the evening, Olga told Viktor to "take off his underwear" and, with apologies to John Cougar Mellencamp, let her do as she pleases, lest she call the cops, Life.ru said.

She tied him to the radiator with handcuffs covered in frilly pink fabric, gave him some Viagra and had her way with him several times over the next 48 hours. When she finally let him go on the evening of March 16, Viktor had been "squeezed like a lemon," Life.ru reported.

First, he went to the hospital to have his injured genitals treated; then he went to police and filed a complaint asking that Olga be brought up on criminal charges for committing "actions of a sexual nature" that left him with injured sexual organs, according to a copy of the complaint posted on Life.ru.

Olga was apparently incensed when she learned of the complaint. She had, after all, even tried to be nice to her purported captive.

"What a jerk," Life.ru quoted her as saying. "Yeah, there were a few times. But I bought him new jeans, gave him food and drink, and gave him 1,000 rubles when he left."

The following day, Olga filed a complaint with police, asking that Viktor be charged in the salon robbery. Life.ru posted a copy of her statement as well.

"I don't know what's going to happen now," the web site quoted a local police officer as saying. "We could put both of them behind bars: him for robbery, her for rape and assault."

I'm exhausted.