Thursday, July 31, 2008

Well, This Is Something I Can Really Use



Exercise? I think not.
Researchers at the Salk Institute report they have found two drugs that do wonders for the athletic endurance of couch potato mice. One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice’s endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment.

A second drug, GW1516, supercharged the mice to a 75 percent increase in endurance, but had to be combined with exercise to have any effect.


I'm for the first drug, but since the second requires exercise, I'll let the mice keep using it.



More Ice?

A chunk, a big chunk, is coming our way.
A 1.6 square-mile chunk has broken off Ward Hunt Ice Shelf - the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic - threatening the future of the giant frozen mass that northern explorers have used for years as the starting point for their treks.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

One More ReThug Indicted

The intertubes on the internets will be alive with music, the sweet, sweet music of this asshole being indicted. On a hot & humid Minneapolis day, this cools me off, a bit.
Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure
in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven
counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in
services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

Interesting Education Post

Monday, July 28, 2008

Cripes

More evidence that growing old sucks. I blame, ah, eh, hmmm, or, shit, I forgot.

OK, Then

After this maybe they should just stop killing civilians. The second tragedy of this incident is that no one, repeat no one, from the Army will be held accountable for these murders.
“We don’t believe there was any cover-up,” Colonel Stover said.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Just Great

Another feather in Bu$Co's hat. & a pretty ragged feather at that.




Reason #1,225,903

To throw the son-of-a-bitch ReThugs out of our government this November. What a bunch of assholes.

http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/elsewhere/images/2003/dec24/sim.jpg



http://liberalsareworthless.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/wonderfulpotter4.jpg

Some things just never change.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

FOX Snooze

Is such a shitty false & racist news channel that I implore my loyal four readers to read the following which I have shamelessly cut & pasted from the website that has organized this petition. Click the URL at the end of the message or do your own cutting & pasting into your web browser & sign the petition. Thanks in advance.
Dear Friends, (my loyal four)

Right now, Fox News is trying to paint Barack Obama as foreign, un-American, suspicious, and scary. They're trying to send Americans the message that our country's first viable Black candidate for President is not "one of us."

I've joined on to ColorOfChange.org's campaign to push back on Fox, publicly demanding they stop their race-baiting and fear mongering. If that doesn't work, then we'll go to their advertisers and the FCC. I wanted to invite you to sign on as well. It takes only a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1854-622934

Here's what happened recently:

After Senator Obama won the nomination, he and his wife gave each other a "pound" in front of the cameras. Fox anchor E.D. Hill called the act of celebration a "terrorist fist jab." Then last week, a Fox News on-screen graphic referred to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama"--slang used to describe the unmarried mother of a man's child. It was a clear attempt to associate the Obamas with negative cultural stereotypes about Black people, an insult not only to Michelle Obama but to women and Black people everywhere.

After each of the incidents mentioned, Fox issued some form of weak apology. But what does it mean when you slap someone in the face, apologize the next day, then slap them again on the third? It means the apology is meaningless.

These aren't one-time incidents--they're part of a pattern that continues no matter how often Fox is forced to apologize. Fox has a clear record of attacking and undermining Black institutions, Black leaders, and Black people in general.

If we don't push back now, we will see more of the same from now until November. Please join me in helping to bring an end to Fox's behavior.

http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1854-622934


Thanks.

This Just Goes To Show You

What a narrow minded bunch of dickheads are ruling this country.


Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Fighting Bob Fest

Sept. 6, 2008 - Sauk County Fairgrounds - Baraboo WI


Go here for more info.


Sept. 6, 2008 - Sauk County Fairgrounds - Baraboo WI

OK, Let Me Tell You

I've been lax in blogging the last few days, but I have a relatively good excuse. I had a stress test in June & it showed some questionable findings in a couple of coronary arteries. On Monday I had an angiogram. The short of it is that I had two stents placed in a couple of arteries. I had no severe chest pain problems before the procedure, but the stress test was done to see if there were blockages, since I would very occasionally find it difficult to breathe in very humid conditions. I spent one night in the hospital & now I'm home. I just can't lift anything over ten pounds for a few more days. I have to say that I received extremely good & friendly care. The Kid & The Babies came up, but I can't pick them up when they walk up & raise their little arms expecting to be picked up. Not to pun too much, but it breaks my heart to say no. The good news in all of this is that there has been no damage to the heart muscle itself & The Babies will probably get over it, especially since they can watch Cars.




Actual pictures to follow, once they are scanned.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Poor J.B. Van Hollen

What a dope. Looks like Van Hollen will need to navigate the mean streets of St. Paul, MN, all by his lonesome. He claims he didn't expect it, but then demotes the competent Justice Dept. official who questioned using state employees to guard this loser.

Wingnut Of The Week From Sadly, No!

After a paragraph like this:
Finding a wingnut living in Sweden is probably the rough equivalent of finding a healthy, low-calorie meal on Jonah Goldberg’s dinner plate. But our NWOTW, Roger F. Gay, apparently does live in Sweden and either keeps his mouth shut among the Swedes or else he probably gets pummeled by snowballs each time he ventures out to see if his neighborhood PressbyrÃ¥n has finally started stocking Ranch-flavored Doritos and Three Musketeers candy bars. My guess is that he walks around Stockholm covered in snowball splatter.

who wouldn't read on?

I Need To Visit

One more reason to love New Orleans.
My wife thought this would be a great way to get all my junk out of the house. No lie," said Dale DeGroff,....

Great Story

It would, of course, be nurses. Full disclosure, Mrs. coldH2O is a CNP.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Light Blogging

I wish I could say I was traveling to some exotic spot like Austin, TX, for some big shindig called something like Netroots Nation. More Netroots Nation reports from Talking Points Memo. There are some really good interviews from TPM. But, alas, loyal four readers, I am not in Austin, in fact, I'm sitting in northern Wisco, recouping from a week in The Cities working on the picket fence at The Kid's Place. As I was retrieving one of the babies, she was heading out toward some place, The Kid just said, "Hence, the fence." After another doctor's appointment on Monday, I will be heading down there again to work on said fence. We are almost to the fun part, putting up the pickets. The posts are in, the stringers are almost in, & the braces are showing up in the appropriate places. So, dear readers, my light & lightweight blogging may change a bit this weekend, but then get all misty & vague at the beginning of the week. Who knows, I may be hit with a bolt of smartness & let you in on a couple of topics that caught my head on the way back from The Cities yesterday: one was listening to a couple of folks claim that The Google is destroying our ability to "deep read" & "deep think". I wonder how many folks trying to pay for gas, food, & maybe a ticket to a movie, something uplifting, say, like The Dark Knight, worry about how deep their thoughts are, or how they are ever going to get through Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. My emphasis since I laughed when I read it.
The new Batman movie The Dark Knight is long, loud, and agonizing, 2 1/2 hours of bipolar soul-searching, much of it about the nature of heroism.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

There Is No Success Like Failure

I''m not sure how Bu$hCo will spin this, but I'm sure it''s going to be something along the lines of how great this return on success stuff is working out.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Bu$hCo's Legacy

Nine more, in the place we could have really helped in the first place. But, no, baby Bu$hCo, the moron president, had to fix his daddy's failure. Actually, it was Bu$hCo I's failure to have invaded in the first place. He had just enough good sense to not fuck it all up, the same can't be said about his stupid son.
Taliban insurgents mounted a large-scale attack on an American forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan in the early hours of Sunday, killing nine soldiers of the NATO security force in Afghanistan in fierce fighting that continued through the day.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Amur Tiger Time

Thyme & Warner




http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/tiger/Siberian%20Tiger.jpg

Snow In July

Two reasons why I don't care. I hope his family has been provided adequate* sustenance.
At the White House, he turned the daily press briefing into something of a one-man show, challenging reporters’ questions and delivering hard-hitting answers, even when he was occasionally short on the facts. More than once, Mr. Snow was forced to apologize, as he did shortly after taking the job when he erroneously said Mr. Bush viewed embryonic stem cell research as murder.
....
During Mr. Bush’s 2006 re-election campaign, Mr. Snow raised eyebrows by using his celebrity to raise money for Republican candidates — something that by Mr. Snow’s own admission, other press secretaries had declined to do for fear of seeming too partisan.

Mr. Snow said simply that his job was to serve the president, and that is what he intended to do.

*His White House salary was a mere $168,000.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Iraq Moratorium



I've added this link to my sidebar. Go visit & get involved. It can be just showing up, as folks did on many Tuesdays at the post office in Ashland.

Corrupt Gableman Update

One Wisco Now is still trying to get someone to do the right thing concerning the completely corrupt Wisco Supreme Court Justice-elect Gableman. They have now filed a complaint with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. So far, the present Ashland Co. DA, Sean Duffy refused to investigate, guess which party he belongs to? J.B. Van Hollen, the Wisco Attorney General, the one who is afraid to attend the ReThug convention in St. Paul, MN, without armed body guards, refused to investigate. Yep, ReThug as well. Let's hope this complaint to the OLR finally results in some accountability. One Wisco Now put together this excellent chart to show the alleged criminal acts committed by Gableman.


Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Fuck FISA

I was on the road for eight hours today, a drive to The Cities & back. I missed the FISA debacle of a debate. Our elected offficials in the world's most deliberative body sold out the ideals & values of America today. It is truly a sad & tragic day in America. I'm stealing, from First Draft the following from the "debate". First, my senator, Russ Feingold.
Mr. President, I sit on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, and I am one of the few members of this body who has been fully briefed on the warrantless wiretapping program. And, based on what I know, I can promise that if more information is declassified about the program in the future, as is likely to happen either due to the Inspector General report, the election of a new President, or simply the passage of time, members of this body will regret that we passed this legislation. I am also familiar with the collection activities that have been conducted under the Protect America Act and will continue under this bill. I invite any of my colleagues who wish to know more about those activities to come speak to me in a classified setting. Publicly, all I can say is that I have serious concerns about how those activities may have impacted the civil liberties of Americans. If we grant these new powers to the government and the effects become known to the American people, we will realize what a mistake it was, of that I am sure.

Now, as it has been called, a eulogy for America from Sen. Chris Dodd.
I want to thank the thousands who joined with us in this fight around the country – those who took to the blogs, gathered signatures for online petitions and created a movement behind this issue. Men and women, young and old, who stood up, spoke out and gave us the strength to carry on this fight. Not one of them had to be involved, but each choose to become involved for one reason and one reason alone:

Because they love their country.

They remind us that the “silent encroachments of those in power” Madison spoke of can, in fact, be heard, if only we listen.

All of us—my colleagues and citizens around the country—share a fundamental belief about in our Constitution, Mr. President. We believe our Constitution isn’t incidental to our security – but rather its very foundation.

This notion—that it is the rule of law that keeps us safe—should not be controversial, Mr. President.

I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting Americans and Americans’ safety. But if history has taught us anything, it simply isn’t necessary to sacrifice our freedoms to do that.

I do not believe history will judge this President kindly for his contempt for the rule of law. But will history will be any kinder to those of us who have served as these transgressions occurred on our watch?

I have two daughters – Grace and Christina, who are six and three. Their generation will ask someday:

Where were you when the President asked you to repudiate the Geneva Conventions and strip away the right of habeas corpus?

Where were you when stories of secret prisons and outsourced torture first began to surface and then became impossible to deny?

And of today they will ask, where were you when Congress was persuaded to shield wealthy corporations that may well have knowingly acted outside of the law to spy on Americans?

Where were we?

Right here, Mr. President – in this chamber, at this moment.

History will not forget.

It will not forget our role in any of this.

This is bad, people, real bad. I bolded it all, just so my loyal four readers will find it easier to read, although, to mix metaphors, harder to swallow. I suppose we must plan, as A. says, plan to get rid of the worthless Democrats who voted for this fascistic bill, plan for forcing Obama to do the right thing, plan on where we will be moving, plan on explaining this to our grandchildren. It is a bad day in Nowheresville, Wisco.

You Bet

From Holden Caulfield over at First Draft.
See Also: New Orleans

Those have been -- you know, oftentimes in the political process people talk big, but they never follow up.


For those who don't click through (lazy bastards), those are the words of our moron President, Bu$hCo.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

I'm For Making It Easy

To be NORML. I'm also for oversight & quality control. This nation has long had a real issue with scolding & a prudish insistence with making anything enjoyable, even sex, illegal. Times have changed.
Initiative backers said their plan would send 90 percent of the proceeds from the state's sale of marijuana to Oregon's General Fund, which could lower Oregonians' state tax burden

& who among us isn't for lower taxes. Well, I'm not a big fan of lower taxes, particularly when it means that the potholes on the street with the coffee shop go unfilled for another year, or the snow plow crews don't have the money to plow the damn snow. So I am an anomaly, since I prefer being taxed to being sent, against my will, to a chiropractor. Nothing against chiropractors, but you know what I mean. Via The Raw Story.


Click here to get to NORML's homepage.

A Great Example

This story might, pardon the pun, warm the hearts of stooopid global warming naysayers, & there are plenty of them around the country, including an overly-rich dork named Coleman in my neck of the woods. See they say, how can there be global warming when the glaciers of Mt. Shasta are GROWING? Well, dumbasses, here's how:
But for Shasta, about 270 miles north of San Francisco, scientists say a warming Pacific Ocean means more moist air. On the mountain, precipitation falls as snow, adding to the glaciers enough to overcome a 1.8 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature in the last century, scientists say.

"It's a bit of an anomaly that they are growing, but it's not to be unexpected," said Ed Josberger, a glaciologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Tacoma, Wash.

Of course, the person saying this is just a scientist, just a person who went to college, just a person who has dedicated her life to studying glaciers. Via The Raw Story. My emphasis.

Iraq Moratorium UPDATE

Thanks to a comment by xoff, a great blogger over at Uppity Wisco, we now have a list of what's going on concerning the Iraq Moratorium. First, go to IraqMoratorium.org, to get all the current news. Here is the list of what's going on in Wisco & there's quite a bit. Thanks again xoff, my loyal four readers appreciate it.
WI - Wisconsin

Hayward
Iraq Moratorium Vigil for Peace
Peace North and Veterans for Peace Chapter 153
We will be holding a peace vigil from 4-6 PM in observance of Iraq Moratorium Day #11. We'll be at the corner of Highways 27 and 63 in beautiful downtown Hayward.
Please come, bring a friend and a sign as well, and lets continue to show our opposition to this war! [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
7/18/08 4-6 pm, Corner of Hwy's 27 and 63, Event #399
Janesville
Iraq Moratorium vigil/rally
Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation
Rock Valley-Fellowship of Reconciliation will gather on the corner of Blackbridge Road and Milton Avenue in Janesville, Wisconsin at 4 p.m. for a Iraq Moratorium vigil/rally. This area of town is very busy all the time, but more so on Friday afternoon. Our focus is Stop the War! We have signs but feel free to bring your own. Please keep in mind our focus and the fact that we are a nonprofit and are non partisan group. It is problematic to our nonprofit status to support or not support one candidate over another. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4 p.m., , Blackridge Rd & Milton Ave Event #1064
La Crosse
Against War
We will be meeting (vigil style) from 5-6
on the corner of 3rd and Cass. Bring peace signs, wear arm bands against the war in Iraq. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 5-6 pm, Cass Street Bridge, 3rd and Cass Streets Event #1057
Luxemburg
Interfaith prayer service for peace
[More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 7 p.m., The Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help, 4047 Chapel Drive Event #1295
Manitowoc
Peace Vigil
Lakeshore Peacemakers
A weekly vigil for peace, and on the Third Friday for the Iraq Moratorium. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4:30 p.m., 8th Stret & Maritime Drive, Event #1062
Milwaukee
Vigil for the Moratorium
Peace Action Wisconsin, Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace
Vigil and rally at downtown's busiest corner, with signs, flags and banners. We leaflet pedestrians to tell them about the Iraq Moratorium and invite drivers to honk their horns in support, with a good response. Warmer weather has rejuvenated the group, and it's growing again, both in numbers, in enthusiasm, and in the cross-section of people who participate. Join us. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 5 to 6 p.m., Right downtown, Water St & Wisconsin Ave Event #1032
New Franken
Prayer service for peace in Iraq
Brown County prayer service, held at a different location on the Third Friday of every month. Short service with music, reading from scripture, private and group reflection.
Directions: Take I-94 N if coming from out of town. Pass Green Bay exits to Exit 185.This exit will take you to Hy 54/57. Continue on Hy 57 (N)--You will pass Holy Cross Cemetery on your right to Cty K. Take a right (east) on Cty K. for about 5 miles. This road twists and turns, but just follow it through a small village called Champion. The Chapel of Our Lady is about 1-11/2 miles further. It’ll be on the left. Turn in the long driveway and you are there! [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 7 p.m, Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help, 4047 Chapel Dr. Event #1176
Ripon
Moratorium Vigil
We began these monthly Iraq Moratorium vigils in January. Please join us. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4:30 p.m., Ripon Square, near City Hall Event #1037
Wausau
Picket for Peace
Please feel free to join in nonviolent witness of all those affected by the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in reflection on the many costs (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, social, environmental, etc.) of living in a society rooted in militarism. In keeping with the practice of nonviolence and in order to respect the dignity of all, we ask that any posters carried reflect peace and not sarcasm or political attacks. Peace to all. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4 to 6 p.m., 400 Block downtown, Event #1163
Woodruff
prayer vigil for peace
Pax Christi Northwoods
This is an hour of silent prayer for peace held weekly in a small chapel at the church. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 Noon to 1 p.m., Holy Family Chuch, Highway J Event #1162

Orangutan Love

Nice story.
Schoolchildren gather in tight knots before Tujoh's big face. One of the kids makes a discovery, and soon everyone knows.

"Miss Walker! It kisses us! Look!"

"You should try taking a picture of it kissing me," another child says. "Hurry up."

"Take it! Take it!"

A debate erupts between two 9-year-olds on a spring break field trip.

"They should be in the wild," says the girl, Taylor Swierc.

"But look at the predators. They'd be eating them. So this is actually very good safety," says the boy, Caleb Evans.

"But these guys should be where they want to be," Taylor says. "They deserve to be free instead of in a cage."

Tujoh purses his lips over and over and gives kisses on the glass. Finally, he turns his head and looks to a corner of his enclosure.

"Make him kiss you," a kid says.

Tujoh turns back and touches his lips to the glass.

Hadiah, the third-most important orangutan in North America, lies curled on her side, watching.

Part 1 is here. Part 2, here.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Iraq Moratorium Day: Demanding an End to the War

Info. I don't know if there are other gatherings scheduled for around the state. If any of my loyal four readers knows of any, please let me know, either in comments or email me. Thanks in advance. I probably won't be getting to Milwaukee, but I can wear a black armband & then carefully explain why I'm wearing it to anyone who asks.

Something Good

Just put 32 bales of hay in the barn. I associate this with the fall, yet, it's only July 7th. So, while I like fall the best of all the seasons, I haven't even enjoyed this summer & now I'm thinking of cold weather. I truly am a it's so half-empty what was the point of putting anything in the glass in the first place type of person. Given that, this bit of good news put a few more drops in that glass.
And in the even larger group of seats that are either competitive or potentially competitive, the GOP must defend a whopping 68 seats to the Democrats 33. That's right; Cook sees more than a third of the Republicans' 199 House seats potentially being in play in 2008.

Golf Cart Death

I didn't know golf was dangerous, but little did I know how dangerous. No wonder they won't let the young professionals use these agents of death.

Not A Good Development

This is scary. I sure hope movie makers resist this obvious attempt at censorship. If this comes to fruition, we will be fed the great lies about our complicity in terrible acts.
With military assistance, moviemakers get access to bases, ships, planes, tanks and Humvees. Military leaders also offer script advice.

And unless a filmmaker agrees to address any problems, the Pentagon generally opts out.
....
The problem for military officials is that some in Hollywood see their script advice as a subtle form of censorship or an attempt to spin the war.

Paul Haggis, writer and director of the Iraq war movie "In the Valley of Elah," said he concluded that the Army was not interested in telling honest stories about the war or soldiers.

"They are trying to put the best spin on what they are doing," Haggis said. "Of course they want to publicize what is good. But it doesn't mean that it is true."

Few directors focused on Iraq or Afghanistan have approached the military for help. Haggis did.

Haggis said that after he submitted his script, the producers received 21 pages of objections to parts of the film. Haggis, who did not review the notes, said his producers told him they amounted to a refusal to participate.

"We needed their help," Haggis said. "If they had reasonable input I would have taken it. But I am not there to do publicity for the Army. I am there to do a movie that I see as true."

Military officers say flatly that they do not censor films.


Yeah, right. & yeah, right, again. My emphasis.

Wow

This is interesting. It will be cool to see what suppositions prove correct.
The research challenges the idea that the language we speak inevitably shapes the way we think when we are not speaking. This study is the first to test the notion with respect to word order.

"Our data suggest that the ordering we use when representing events in a nonverbal format is not highly susceptible to language's influence," Goldin-Meadow and her co-authors write. "Rather, there appears to be a natural order that humans use when asked to represent events nonverbally. Indeed, the influence may well go in the other direction--the ordering seen in our nonverbal tasks may shape language in its emerging stages."

FISA - A Bad Bill Deserves Defeat

Sen. Kohl's email is here. Here are his phone/fax numbers.
202-224-5653 - Office
202-224-9787 - Fax


Sen. Feingold's email is here. Here are his phone/fax numbers.
202-224-5323 - Office
202-224-2725 - Fax


For those of my loyal four readers who are confused by the new FISA bill, go here for a great analysis Yes, it's our boy, Wisco's Sen. Feingold, but he is right on in this piece. If we, as a country, are going to continue this freedom ride, Bu$hCo & the telecommunication corporations that acquiesced to Bu$hCo's illegal demands to cooperate in spying on American citizens, then we must defeat this bill. Sen. Feingold is out front on this bill, Sen. Kohl, not so much. Please, email, call, fax Sen. Kohl. Maybe he will rediscover his Democratic roots & do the right thing. Who knows? Thanks in advance.
The FISA deal announced on June 19 effectively grants retroactive immunity to companies that allegedly participated in the President’s illegal wiretapping program, and it does not provide adequate protections for innocent Americans. Title I of the new bill, which includes a dramatic expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, does not include the most significant safeguards approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it does not include any of the amendments that Senator Feingold offered on the Senate floor earlier this year, each of which received 35 or more Democratic votes. These safeguards would have permitted the government to obtain the intelligence information it needs while also protecting the privacy of law-abiding Americans.

Feeing Safer Yet?

Bu$hCo's continuing failure.
At least 40 people were killed and 141 injured Monday in a powerful suicide blast near the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan's capital, Afghan officials said.

Friday, July 04, 2008

I Just Knew It

Tofu, making people demented, one bite at a time.
The researchers found high tofu consumption - at least once a day - was associated with worse memory, particularly among the over-68s.

Now, if we can get The Black Cat to serve organic cheeseburgers.

Step In The Right Direction

They have free medical care & have been ordered to look again concerning an asylum claim by a U.S. combat engineer who took his family to Canada in 2003 rather than go back to Iraq to work in Bu$hCo's vanity war. Good for Mr. Key & the Canadian court. Here's hoping he gets asylum. Actually, we all need asylum since the mentally deranged are running this country into the ground.

'Bout Time

I love The Onion.
WASHINGTON—In an unexpected reversal that environmentalists and scientists worldwide are calling groundbreaking, President George W. Bush, for the first time in his political career, openly admitted to the existence of carbon dioxide following the release of the new U.N. Global Environment Outlook this October.

Hey, Baby

It's the 4th of July. I love this song.

Good Riddance

The shame of North Carolina is dead. We have a slightly less bigoted country this morning.

Happy 4th, Y'all

Don't blow off any fingers, OK?

http://republicinpieces.tripod.com/flu2.jpg
http://www.crescendoughauction.org/2006/images/items/art_bluedog.jpg

http://www.hurricanekatrinarelief.com/28.jpg

http://www.hurricanekatrinarelief.com/7.jpg



Or This

http://www.tribal-fusion.org/gallery/images/bozo-pres.jpg

Boza, The Clown, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Greatest lead-in, via the incomparable bush kangaroo.
first tim russert, then bozo the clown.


http://500hats.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/03/bozo.jpg

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Reminder, With Update

* * * * * * *
There is no longer the shadow of a doubt that the torture of prisoners was planned at the highest levels of the US government with the explicit knowledge and approval of the president. How do we know this? Bush himself admitted it.
Via Tristero.

Original post over at BooMan's.

* * * * ** *


UPDATE: More from dday here.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Update On Previous Post

OK, here's some info on Fighting Bob Fest for those among my loyal four readers who don't know who Fighting Bob was, or are constrained from clicking through the link.

http://www.fightingbobfest.org/graphics/what_is_bobfest.gif

Fighting Bob Fest is an annual Chautauqua featuring progressive speakers, networking opportunities, and entertainment. Fighting Bob Fest carries on the tradition of Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette by providing a forum for progressive ideas on issues facing Wisconsin and the nation.

Freedom and justice are defended through education, and the exchange of ideas promotes solidarity among progressives. To this end, Fighting Bob Fest strives to provide citizens with a forum for democratic participation where frustrations with current policies can be constructively molded into calls to action.

Fighting Bob Fest, Update

Alrighty Then

Inquiring minds (I think) want to know.
The scone is a British snack of Scottish origin. A small quickbread made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, usually with baking powder as a leavening agent. British scones are often lightly sweetened, but may also be savoury. In the U.S., scones are drier, larger and typically sweet.
These may or not be related the Alice B. Toklas brownies, man, that chocolate is, like, far out. Look, it's George Bu$hCo's face, no, it's rounder, I'm hungry & I need a nap. Bye-bye.

NOLA Archeology

Digging New Orleans.
In fact, Dawdy said, she has found so many examples of 18th century Indian pottery at this and other sites that she is ready to give the dominant style a name: "New Orleans red," which she said was similar to Creek and Choctaw pottery and apparently was used for trading with the white settlers.

A Great Fish Story

Strib.


"It took two of us to lift it.
"I tried to weigh her, but she broke my scale. We took photos and released her.
"This is the largest fish I have ever caught.
"I tell people I have fished 70 years for this one. It was a once-in-a-lifetime fish."
My emphasis.

Just Wonnerful

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

We're Number 1

Groovy. I blame it all on Bu$hCo.
Americans are the world's top consumers of cannabis and cocaine despite punitive US drug laws, according to an international study published in the online scientific magazine PLoS Medicine.

Top Ten

Here's one view. How does this list match up to your own?

Teaser

No, that that kind! Crawl up out of the gutter, you perverts.
I realize the FBI is hampered, post-Hoover, by its inability to close cases by simply gunning down suspects and calling it a shootout,....

....

I am, for example, unaware of a single military historian who claims that Eisenhower's great achievement was that he didn't let the Battle of the Bulge happen twice.

Hint, it's about a fairly recent terrorist attack. From the 3rd thing in Indiana that's worth a shit.