Apr 30, 2008

$7 Gas - Soon

Wired is reporting that Gas will be $7.00 per gallon in the US by the end of the year.
That means that a drum of oil will be about $200.00.

I have often thought that it would take a very quick spike in gas prices to make 'Mericans change their gas-use habits. In fact, I even wrote about it already (surprise) If it was too gradual, people would still bitch and grumble - but would take it easier. If we hit 7 before the end of the year - you're going to see some minor changes, and eventual shifts in culture. If it goes higher, and quicker, then you'll see bigger changes - however, I don't know how permanent they will be.

First, thought though, is the price of Diesel fuel - and I really wish Killre could illuminate this to the readers as he has a front line perspective of this issue. Baring his point of view - a typical truck filled with crap from China or Oranges from California costs about $1000.00 to fill-er-up. If you don't think that matters to you, I will recommend you eat an orange or a pineapple now on the first of May, because while you may still see them at your local grocery store, it'll probably cost $8 bucks. If you're bitchin' about $3.75 gas, no way you're buying an $8.00 pineapple.

So food prices will increase - because of the cost to make and transport it. And the US is plowing over rye and wheat to make more corn to make fuel...
Fuel is going up - Because it's a commodity that is traded back and forth based on speculation -or guesses based on other people's guesses. A very large bluff at a poker game.

But when will people actually sell their Lincoln Navigators and sell their homes to live closer to their place of employment? At what price is the tipping point for the box stores and the far-away suburbs turn into ghost towns? No really, I want to know!



It is possible that some folks will just go out and buy another car. They'll get that Prius and park it next to their Hummer2. That's what happened in the 70's. Some might even tele-commute. Perhaps it won't be as bad as they're making it out to be? Or we'll be plunged into a depression that we'll only be able to climb out of once we start WW5.... or aliens.

Something like that.

Apr 29, 2008

Obama Denounces Rev. Wright - Right Now


In a move he probably should have done, oh, about 3 months ago - Obama is finally denouncing his mentor/father-figure/racist/pastor Rev. Wright.

Here's the link


Obama said he tried to give Wright the benefit of the doubt earlier about controversial remarks, but was "outraged" by Wright's comments on Monday and "saddened" by the spectacle.

At a news conference in Winston-Salem, N.C., Obama said Wright is exploiting old divisions in a way that is antithetical to his campaign of bridging the racial divide. The comments "give comfort to those who prey on hate," Obama said.

Obama called "ridiculous propositions" Wright's assertions that the US government might have brought AIDS to black neighborhoods, that Louis Farrahkan is one of the greatest voices of the century, and that the US government has conducted terrorism. "There are no excuses," Obama said.

GTA Released Today

Lee Elia: The Rant Heard 'Round the World.

Long before Dennis Miller's signature rants on his HBO show, former Cubs manager Lee Elia let forth the greatest rant of all time. After an early season loss in 1983 to the LA Dodgers, the Cubs record was 5-14. Another season of futility was inevitable...38 years since their last trip to the playoffs where they lost to Detroit in the World Series.

April 29th marks the 25th anniversary of Lee Elia's infamous/famous rant. Chicago radio reporter Les Grobstein unloaded this doozy of a question, "Tough way to lose a game, huh?" I would have snapped too. David Schuster, now a WSCR(The Score) reporter put his microphone near Elia, but had to turn away....it was the only way he could contain his laughter. Mark Giangreco, working at channel 5 at the time, had the rant on videotape. When he left channel 5 to go to channel 7 in 1994...the tape was nowhere to be found. Missing...lost...stolen? No one knows. But luckily the audio of the rant still exists...please to enjoy!



BTW - there's no way this is safe for work. One - because you're going to laugh your ass off, Two - because even a seasoned Teamster would blush at the language Elia uses.

Apr 28, 2008

Potty Training



Pants man! (Probably not safe for work?)


Is there nothing the Japanese can't make cute super excellent exciting? All the US has is Elmo. I also noticed that their reward system is electronic, where all I ever remember getting was boring old sticker stars... if only I would have had an electronic Tiger, maybe I wouldn't be incontinent?

Also note the birth of a super cute little Japanese Mr. Hankey!

Lessons in Breaking Up

The following is the most awesome break-up ultimatum thing I think I've ever seen.

Link - (absolutely not safe for your work)

Bottom line - Don't break up with someone badly that has naked pictures of you.

you still drink until you pass out on the weekends.
starting to look weathered and rapidly approaching the stereotypical "bar whore" look
everyone hated you. You were rude, obnoxious, pretentious and trendy.
I've been hearing for 6 years how I need to leave you.


6 years, dude? Well, maybe you two ought to work it out. Sounds like you deserve each other...

Dud or Not a Dud

To prove that they're still hip and current, NBC tonight will be airing a two-hour, Star Wars-themed Deal or No Deal...
...in which all the girls dress like Princess Leia and The Banker is Darth Vader- oh for Christ's sake! Are we just giving up now? Is this even sweeps month? This is just so goddamned lame. Really, can we just take a break from this Star Wars crap now folks? Really? Here's some clips - and you must be having one hell-of-a-slow monday to watch this crap.

Hey, you can't go wrong putting 26 attractive women in Slave Leia outfits... That's why I'm telling you about it.

It doesn't make the Star Wars theme less lame though.

Roh Roh, Rezko (cont'd.)


OneF will love this one... based on the revelations in the Tony Rezko trial, House Judiciary Committee intends to (finally) investigate Karl Rove.

Investigators are intrigued by the timing of the alleged conversation about Fitzgerald. According to the Rezko prosecutors, it took place in November 2004—weeks after Fitzgerald had subpoenaed Rove to testify for the third time in another matter he was aggressively investigating, the Valerie Plame CIA leak case.


Hey, OneF - here's a Shopped Photo for your collection. Not going to happen - but funny to dream, right?

Funny Picture Time


Steve Ballmer's Presentation Laptop is a Strange Choice

A Bad Hobbit to Break

Guillermo Del Toro will be directing The Hobbit and a follow up - which is being explained as a 'bridge film' - or filler, or more cash please?

"I had the most charming meeting with Sir Ian, and all bureaucracy pending, he’s on board, as is Andy Serkis," he said. "We will continue giving you progress reports as the occur. It is our intention that we will not lose any of the key elements." Del Toro has a lot more to say - for instance, he would take issue with me calling The Hobbit sequel a bridge film: "When we did this we got really excited because this second film is not a ‘tag on’, it’s not ‘filler’, it’s an integral part of telling the story of those 50 years of history lost in the narrative. There will be certain things that we will see from the first movie but from a different point of view, but it will feel like a volume, in the 5 volumes of the entire story. It will not feel like a bridge, I’ve been hearing it called ‘a bridge film’, it’s not, it’s an integral chapter of the story, and I think we’re all on the same page."

He also talks about what might be the main difference between his film and Peter Jackson's original - he wants to use more animatronics that will be aided by CGI as opposed to creating a bunch of CGI creatures.

Check out the entire interview here, if you dare... er, care.

Dr. Who Composer Dead

Composer of Dr. Who theme song dead at 82. Before you laugh too hard know that, "without him, we wouldn't have techno, hip-hop or any kind of music which is sustained by technology."

Wha? Here's his obit.

THE father of electronic music wore tweed jackets, had a refined English accent and smoked a pipe.

Tristram Cary, who has died in Adelaide, aged 82, came up with the idea of electronic and tape music while a naval radar officer during World War II.

Mr Cary is renowned for composing episodic music for the television sci-fi series Dr Who and co-designing a synthesiser used by rock artists including Pink Floyd, The Who and Roxy Music.

He founded the electronic music studio at London's Royal College of Music in 1967 and, seven years later, migrated to Australia to establish a similar studio at the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music.

The conservatorium's head of music technology studies, Stephen Whittington, said Mr Cary's contribution to music was "impossible to quantify".

"He laid the foundations," Mr Whittington said today.

"Without him, we wouldn't have techno, hip-hop or any kind of music which is sustained by technology."



The original tune - all electronic


Mr Cary's father was prominent Irish-born novelist Joyce Cary.

"He had a really unusual childhood, his father was an author and TS Eliot and James Joyce were always coming around for tea," Mr Whittington said.

Mr Cary's interest in technology was heightened during his service in World War II where he developed the idea of what would become tape music.

"After the war, the Americans, British and Germans had a huge amount of electronic gear which came onto the market and was incredibly cheap," Mr Whittington said.

"That is when he began fiddling with things."

Mr Cary was "a very English person" - in name, in a resonant English clip in his voice, and in his clothes. He wore tweed jackets and smoked a pipe, Mr Whittington said.

Apr 27, 2008

Assassination Acerbation

Afghan President Hamid Karzai literally dodged bullets today in Afghanistan during a parade. (Video from BBC)

Which got me thinking of a couple things, first, how many world leaders have been taken out by parades? More than I can count on one hand. Really. I'm also counting political rallies too. Pakistani reform candidate Benazir Bhutto is the first to come to mind. Even George W. Bush avoided assassination from a live hand grenade at Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2005 - because of a faulty detonator.

But if Mr. Karzai's would-be assassins had any sense of history, he would know that...
Political Assassination rarely ends in the way they were intended.

"Great political changes do not take place as a result of specific personal interventions," said Franklin Ford, the Harvard University historian who investigated assassination throughout history in his book, "Political Murder." "The historical record seems to me pretty impressive that people who killed other people for political advantage were almost always disappointed."

One can argue that the political assassin achieves the most fundamental goal simply by removing his or her target from political life. Look at Sirhan Sirhan, whose family fled Jerusalem in poverty after Israeli independence, deeply hated Robert Kennedy for his allegiance to Israel. "His intent was to deny the Presidency to a powerful pro-Israeli politician on the brink of the nomination," wrote James W. Clarke, professor of political science at the University of Arizona in his 1982 book "American Assassins." But RFK's death did nothing to stop U.S.-Israeli increasing ties. In fact, Richard Nixon airlifted American military equipment to Israel in the 1973 war. Oops.

Let's look at some classical case studies A great example of a lofty death-goal not achieved would be that of Julius Caesar. Caesar's assassins - the Senate - sought to destroy an ambitious general -- and, instead, helped destroy the Roman republic. Dang.

Henry II ordered the death of Archbishop Thomas a Becket to end his problems with the clergy, but was forced instead to do penance at Becket's tomb on the Pope's orders. Embarrassing.

John Wilkes Booth loved the Confederacy and hated Abraham Lincoln. But by the time he and his co-conspirators acted, the South had already lost the war. He couldn't fathom why he wasn't lionized. "A country that groaned beneath this tyranny, and prayed for this end, and yet now behold the cold hand they extend me," he wrote in his diary before his capture. Lincoln's death only made it worse for ex-Confederates. Without him, Northern Republicans brought vengeance down on the South with a ferocity that was alien to Lincoln, putting it under military rule. But in the end, John Wilkes Booth may have gotten his revenge, in the ultimate failure of Reconstruction? Well, that's a little fuzzy.

...and not every assassin's motive is clear. And fuzz opens room for Conspiracy theories or simple insanity. For instance, take James Earl Ray, the petty thief who killed Martin Luther King Jr. He was probably motivated more by money than by obsessive racist rage when he shot and killed the civil rights leader in 1968. He may have just been paid off to prevent riots in Memphis. Obviously, Dr. King's death virtually ended the non-violent tone of the civil rights movement and sparked a "few" riots that some cities still have not yet recovered from.

Then there's World War I

Talk about unintended consequences. Sure Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip's assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, in Sarajevo in 1914 may have helped end Austrian domination of the Balkans, but at the cost of sparking World War I.

King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated while entering Al Aksa mosque in Jerusalem in 1951 by a Palestinian who feared Abdullah might make peace with the new state of Israel, with whose leaders he had conducted secret talks. His death might have slowed that process but obviously didn't end it. Abdullah's 16-year-old grandson, Hussein, escaped injury, was crowned king and went on to meet secretly with Israeli leaders before making peace four decades later. D'oh!

President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt was gunned down while reviewing a military parade in Cairo in 1981 by anti-American Islamists after he made peace with Israel at Camp David. But Egypt is (still) at peace with Israel, is still the recipient of more than $2+ billion a year in American aid, is still autocratic -- and still largely excludes the Islamic opposition from power.

More Fuzzy Consequences

Other fuzzy consequences lead us to JFK - which gave Lyndon Johnson much more room to push through an aggressive domestic social agenda than Kennedy probably would have. Which has always made me wonder why a hard-core Communist would kill a Democrat pushing for Socialistic branded agendas? Then when LBJ implemented the "Great Society" and expanded the power of the Federal Government - ultimately, it looks like a success for Oswald afterall? Who killed Kennedy then? There were so many people who wanted him dead that all you had to do was print the parade route... which is exactly what they did.

Sure there are cases where the assassin achieved his political goal -- but only because his victim did not die. France's Emperor Napoleon III was just grazed by a fragment of a grenade thrown at his carriage in Paris in 1858 by FeliceOrsini , an ardent Italian nationalist. But the Emperor felt so guilty that he had abandoned the pro-Italian sentiments of his youth that he led France into battle against Austria the next year, a war that resulted in the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Then there's all those CIA attempts on Castro. He's still alive - after TEN US Presidents have left office. You're doing great work, guys.

There were two unsuccessful attempts on Gerald Ford. In fact, there were 12 unsuccessful US Presidential assassinations - and, unfortunately, 4 successful ones. Taylor and Harding are still just rumored to be successful assassinations. I think Taylor was... Harding? I don't care.

Bottom line - if you're a world leader, you might want to skip your next parade invitation. An excuse? I don't know - Tell 'em you have to wash your hair or something.

Apr 26, 2008

Barry Plays Hoops

Barry played some hoops in Indiana. Couple thoughts on the photo op.

1) The United States Marine Corps wants their shirt back.

2) ...picked some high school friends and they joined Obama for about 15 minutes of half-court hoops... ...four rebounds and a couple of steals.
Barack Obama steals from high school kids - four times!

3) And I know it's Indiana - the state that created basketball (right? well to hear them tell it) but a pick up game with only white kids? A tad Elitist.

Apr 25, 2008

This Should End Well

"Recreate ‘68" threatens Democrat convention in Denver.

I'm all for retro and nostalgia - but are there really people dumb enough to think that this is a good idea? Not only inciting a riot, but telling police months ahead of time that you're considering inciting a riot. We're not talking about Woodstock 1999... where it accidentally fell into a riot due to $150 ticket price, rapes, mud and $18 bottles of water.

Al Sharpton has already expressed a warning of "Trouble" in Denver if/when the Convention picks Hillary over Obama.(link to something that has something to do with that)

And Rush Limbaugh is all excited because he knows that riots at the convention gives McCain a free pass to the White House door. Hey, it worked wonders for Nixon.

How do Hippies beget Nixon? No hippies? No Nixon.
Simple.

I'm not good at algebra - or much else - but here's the math.
Nixon is "X": the one guy touting the idea of "Law and Order" (ie cracking Hippie skulls in or "Y"). My grandparents jump on the idea. Multiply that by "the Silent Majority" = Nixon wins a landslide.

Reagan used the "I'm going to crack hippie skulls - elect me gov of California." They did, and Gov. Reagan sent the troops into Berkley to crack hippie skulls.

The difference is that this time around, McCain doesn't even have to say anything. The Democrats and their supporters will fairly well pull down the tent way before McCain bothers to open his mouth. Classy. Presidential too.

Dogs

A dog is truly a man's best friend.

If you don't believe it, just try this experiment.

Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour.


When you open the trunk, who is really happy to see you?


No Bail for Taylor's 'Suspected' Killer

A Miami judge denied bail Friday for one of the suspects in the slaying of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.

Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy noted that 20-year-old Jason Scott Mitchell and three other suspects allegedly hatched their plot in the Fort Myers area and drove across the state intending to burglarize Taylor’s Miami-area home.

Here's the rest of the story - including the suspect's mother wearing a T-Shirt that said "Mama's Baby." I'm sure Sean's family has the same feelings.

Gore Dodges Questions

Al Dodges Questions About the International Food Crisis, Ethanol and Climate Alarmism

A remarkable thing happened Thursday: a press member wanted to ask Nobel Laureate Al Gore about the growing international food crisis and how it relates to ethanol and global warming hysteria. It's something I might have mentioned before anyone else, ah, but who the hell is reading Blasphemes anyway?

Not surprisingly, the man who cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate fourteen years ago mandating the use of ethanol wasn't available, and a spokesman for his hysteria-driving Alliance for Climate Protection declined to comment.

Well, Isn't that convenient?

Maybe this is why Gore isn't allowing press members into his speeches? Just a guess?

Meanwhile, in response to the global rice shortage - Costco and Sam's Clubs are limiting members to only 4 tons of rice (per visit). They still love you though.

Speaking of Wars...

Irrraannn, I ran so far away.... And Iran... Iran so far away. I couldn't get away.


US-contracted ship fires on Iranian boat: report


Oh good! We've got ourselves a little fire fight. Don't worry, this will end well.

If you have a chance to top off that gas tank at lunch - it MIGHT be the best advice I can give you today.

Wars - with Canada? Take off, eh.

There's a dumbass article today in the The Canadian Press (go on, hit the link) today about how we're going to fight future wars with Canada over the Great Lakes.

But it seems that the US is the one doing all the saber rattling - does that really surprise anyone?
Water issues that are currently emerging will develop into bitter conflicts in the not too distant future when those dry states become increasingly desperate, said Milton Clark, a senior health and science adviser for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We will, in fact, get into major water wars," Clark said. "You will see water wars coming in every way, shape or form. In the U.S., there are some leading politicians who have said the Great Lakes do, in fact, belong (to everyone) and all water should be nationalized -- and this certainly is a concern."
And the only thing that prevented a giant straw from Lake Michigan to Las Vegas Nevada was, in fact, Canada. Thank God. Las Vegas would have just used it in a fountain - in the desert - in the summer...

Of course I have a few thoughts on the issue.

1) Perhaps not living where there is no water would be the first step in thinking this problem through. Since that isn't an option, let's move on to number 2.

2) Conservation - never mind, let us move on...

3) Desalination. While this is (supposedly) very expensive and tricky - I would hazard a guess that it MIGHT be a TAD bit less expensive than starting a shooting war with a neighbor that has no defended boarder? Maybe. Still, we're talking about 'Mericans here, so let's think of something else.

4) Recycle your pee. Back to number One, eh? Orange County just built a huge water recycling plant that does exactly that. And you really need to check this web site out - the pictures are just over the top environmental utopia - especially since they're trying to distract the fact they're taking open sewers, cleaning and throwing it back into the ground.

5) Is it going to matter anyway? We're going to be covered in Ice - according to yesterday anyway, and there will be PLENTY of fresh water for everyone! Or is it burnt like a charcoal briquette? Hmmm... BBQ.

Apr 24, 2008

News from Thursday

Global Warming to end due to the Sun's lack of enthusiasm.

There is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and earth's climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like [what is being observed right now] was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790. Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon's Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots."

"Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh," warns Phil Chapman writing in The Australian. Chapman is a geophysicist and astronautical engineer who was the first Australian to become a NASA astronaut. Link-O to that nut job "crazy scientist"

We've got that to look forward to.

On the bright side, the wars in the Middle East will be a whole lot easier to fight if it's only 72 degrees in the desert.

North Korea holds hands with Syria and builds them a nuclear reactor - not for sunshine and happiness - but for smiting thine enemies.

Let's hand it to Matt and Trey because the plot of Team America was SPOT effing On!? Here's the Link to North Korea and Syrian story

Really. An effing puppet show had these links figured out before DEBKA, NSA, CIA or - anyone else?

Maybe it's good that the sun might go out.

What's Bill Thinking?

Caption Contest? What's Bill thinking here?

Apr 23, 2008

Roh Roh Rezko

The Trial of Tony Rezko just got a little more interesting -

As the federal probe into Illinois' Gov. Blagojevich's administration heated up in late 2004, there were discussions between GOP powerbroker Robert Kjellander and Bush White House insider Karl Rove to oust corruption-busting U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald from his job, according to a man whom prosecutors want to testify at Tony Rezko’s trial.

Rezko — a former top fund-raiser for Blagojevich, a Democrat, and Democratic U.S. Sen. Barack Obama — also has been a big supporter of Bush, helping host a major fund-raiser for the GOP president in 2004.

The 'aleged' ties to Bush are all new - and ties in the scandal filled mine field of the Att. General firings. Those were very un-sexy, but extremely difficult to prove or prosecute. We also have a Congress that likes to show it's belly to the Administration. It's just not a beejay, so no one cares. Just like the Valerie Plame situation. Had they called it an 'Affair' there would have been at least a TV movie of the week about it.

And before OneF froths up at the chance to finally nail our lame duck President and Karl Rove, let's just remember what a circus this trial is trying to become... in other words, don't hold your breath, OneF, (but you can cross your fingers)

The list of the Bush pardons will make an excellent blog posting some day....

Recycle


Thanks J from Chi.

Apr 22, 2008

High Price of Hunger

The uproar this week has been the increasing cost of food around the globe. (link to NPR)

Consumers (and that would be everyone who eats) worldwide are facing rising food prices. There are couple of reasons given: A storm in Indonesia was a factor in the rice crop. But more important is higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India. The UN even given the food price crisis a hip name, "Silent Tsunami."

And it's not so much a shortage of food... it's much more about the price of food. Food prices have risen in price 83% says the The World Bank. The price of rice has more than doubled in the last five weeks.

What's the real reason? Midwest farmers selling corn to make ethanol instead of feed for cattle or for people.

Who's going to suffer? Poor people. There have already been riots in Egypt killed at least two people last week, and similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month. Never mind that these foodstuffs are heavily controlled by despotic nations. There have even been food protests in Italy. And while the price of spaghetti has doubled in Haiti, the cost of miso is packing a hit in Japan. 33 countries are in danger of being in turmoil as a result of expensive food.

How did prices jump so high, and so quickly?

It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out. I'm not. But I'll give it a shot.

An ex-Presidential candidate makes a PowerPoint Presentation (full of all kinds of Special Effects, and makes things look even better than reality - and it is since said footage was 'borrowed' CGI from Hollywood. Link to that story)

Polar Bears are dying!
People start to panic.

"We've got to get off the oil!," the people say. Companies like Arthur Daniels Midland (ADM) - and others - have been making ethanol from corn sugars for years, and says, "Hey, we can help!" "We'll get you off that oil, lickity split."

Let's forget for a second that ethanol doesn't make a whole hell-of-a-lot of sense. What I mean is that on the simple argument that ethanol is more environmentally safe for the planet. Ethanol is one of many alternative fuels used in order to solve the ex-Presidential candidate's Carbon issue, raised in the PowerPoint.

If there's too much carbon from petroleum use, why then would you farm the land in the Midwest of the USA with tractors, and chemicals, and cut and transport that corn to silos - then transport it again by diesel train to processing plants. Those plants burn more fuel to grind the corn, strip the corn to compound sugars with more fuel, then take the extracted sugars to be distilled using more fuel it to create alcohol, and then mixing it with other compounds to make it capable of firing in an internal combustion engine...


...when oil is cheaper and cleaner THAN ALL THAT?

Perhaps having our Presidential Primary season start in Iowa has a little something to do with this? Nah. That's too easy.

As a result 1/4 of US corn is now used in Ethanol production.

Now the demand for corn has going up quicker than after the invention of Corn Flakes. There's money to be made in them-thar-fields... more than ever. And corn is the big money crop. Wheat, alfalfa sprouts, and other staples of America's bread basket are being plowed over in favor of more corn. There was more corn produced in the USA since WWII last year. Here's a link to some notes of last year's crop. (also check the Dept of Ag)

Great, where's it all going? A quarter going to the gas tank but I can't say I've had an ear of corn since -

Hold on bucko. America's junk food empire "Big Food" (kind of like Big Tobacco, but with food) is fueled by: ...wait for it... corn! High fructose corn syrup makes the sodas sweet, corn-fed beef makes the burgers fat, and corn oil crisps the fries. I contend this is the ingredient that has caused adult onset Type II Diabetes to show up in US children. It's blowing out their pancreas' ability to produce sufficient amounts of insulin to regulate blood sugar.

I've written about High Fructose Corn Syrup before. But now it seems as the West is getting plump and fat - the poor in Africa and Asia are going to die.

King Corn.

Big demand for corn.
Less other food being grown.
Planet still burning fuel.
Fuel prices continue to rise.
There's less to eat - well, less CHEEP food to eat.

Less cheep food, less rice, less eating = more hunger.
People are getting uncomfortable.
Prices continue to rise.
Riots start.
Polar Bears are dying
People are going to start dying soon.
Polar Bears and now People.

Happy Earth Day.

It's only mildly ironic - perhaps moronic that the ex-Presidential candidate's discussion concluded that climate change would cause refugees into other countries and cause starvation and topple stability of political systems.

It looks more to me like a PowerPoint Presentation has had some Unintended Consequences.


Hey, look on the bright side, maybe at this year's Farm Aid the rich farmers will write checks to urban children who can't afford their insulin? Oprah can get involved too. It'll be America's Heartland's Big Give!

Hippies are Stupid

Goddamn it people....


Would that be the short bus?


I had a dream our government didn't have to use third graders' test scores to indicate how many more prisons we'll need to build. But we do.


I present the professor of current history.

Obama's Willie Horton Ad?

The National Campaign Fund and Floyd Brown, the political operative behind the controversial Willie Horton ad, is launching a new TV criticizing Sen. Barack Obama for being too easy on gang murderers.



This is weak.

An argument that is like re-using a coffee filter again after making a pot of coffee. The argument is weak. But it has burnt out buildings, dead kids, and 9/11. Oh and a piano plinking. It's sure to be a hit!

Hillary... come on. Call up Karl Rove. He's just sitting there knitting in Texas right now. If you really want a Willie Horton ad - he'll get someone to somehow show that Obama is either related to Willie - or IS Willie...

And I just realized that there are probably a bunch of Gen-Y'ers or a bunch of folks who haven't studied politics in 1988... Willie Horton was the - you know what, google it smart guy.

Lee Iacocca - I'm Mad As Hell

These words were Cutn'DaPasted from Lee Iacocca excerpts from his new book. They have been circulating the net lately. I couldn't help but spread the word as his opinions are my feelings as well.

I am not taking any responsibility for their accuracy, I'm just passing on the information received. I've added a little emphasis on points that really spoke to me.

Lee Iacocca Says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage?

We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'. Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest 'C' is Crisis ! (see the ten C's in his book )

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess, so here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence and common sense?

I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this:

'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'


Cap's parting thoughts - Jebus. Couldn't we have THIS for a president? Sure he's 82 now - but where have you been Lee? I've always thought Lee would have been a fantastic president.
(at least now I have my write-in candidate!)

HillDog - I'm Going to Nuke Iran

Clinton: "If I am President We Will Attack Iran"

I've been wanting to post something about this, she said it in the debates and got a pass by George Snufflufagus as he was much more concerned about lapel pins.

Then, she did it again. Hey, McCain joked ,"bomb-bomb-bomb Bomb-bomb-Iran" (sung to Beach Boys Barbra Anne)

So here's the cutn'paste of someone else's work on the issue.

In an interview airing tonight on ABC News, Hillary Clinton tells the Iranians something she wants them to know: "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president we will attack Iran...In the next ten years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them." The answer came in response to a question about a hypothesized nuclear Iranian attack aimed at Israel, but Clinton didn't seem to differentiate between a conventional weapon attack and a nuclear one in her answer.

I can't recall a time when a major presidential contender promised to attack a foreign country as part of their proposed foreign policy. It was almost as if she was daring Iran to attack. I find it even more difficult to imagine why Hillary Clinton, who is now opposed to the war in Iraq (a war she authorized) and who's constituents are opposed to war in Iraq, would make going to war with Iran a central part of her foreign affairs agenda. If this is the kind of leadership that Clinton brings to the position of Commander-in-Chief I think we have more to fear with her than George Bush. These are the kind of brazen acts of machismo (from a man or a woman) that force this country's hand into stupid conflicts and disadvantageous diplomatic situations. In short, these are the kinds of moronic half-baked thought processes that got us into the Iraq war in the first place.

The more desperate Clinton becomes, the more clearly the American people get to see her true colors. Is this a woman who opposes dumb wars? Or is she flippant about armed conflict? Is she a candidate who values not only free but fair trade? Or does she believe that it's okay to to say one thing to the working class and another thing to those inside the Beltway? This cuts to the heart of my continued argument against a Hillary Clinton candidacy: I cannot trust what she says she believes in.

For the full story head to the ABC article here or watch ABC Nightly News tonight.

(Posted by Andrew)

Apr 21, 2008

The History of the RickRoll

This was on FOX News Website...

The New York Mets announced that "Never Gonna Give You Up" had received 5 million online votes to become the team's new eighth-inning sing-along song — thanks to wise-guy Web sites like Fark and Digg that stumbled upon the vote and urged users to pick the Astley croon."

We've probably not gotten that many votes for anything before," Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said in a telephone interview.

It's all just a bit of harmless geek rebellion, say Web pranksters.

"It's just one of those things we do" someguy Drew Curtis said by phone. "Just something silly. The moment we saw the possibility of voting for Rick Astley, they just started going for it."

Once the Mets realized what was happening, they quickly invalidated the results of the poll and decided that on Opening Day, April 8, they'd take the vote to the people.

When Astley's song was played, it was greeted with boos. The Mets had finally overcome rickrolling.

The History of the RickRoll

The origin of rickrolling goes back three years and involves an egg, a duck without feet and the video game "Grand Theft Auto."

In keeping with silly Internet humor, the director of the image-sharing Web site 4chan, who goes by the handle "moot," decided he'd play a joke and change the word "egg" to "duck" every time a user posted a message.

In time the phenomenon spread, and the word "eggroll" was replaced by "duckroll." When someone came up with the idea to redirect Internet links to an image of a duck on wheels, rickrolling's forebear, "duckrolling," was born.

Then in March 2007 came the release of the eagerly awaited first trailer for the still-upcoming video game "Grand Theft Auto IV."

So popular was the response that it immediately crashed game publisher Rockstar Games' Web site.

In what was to become a pivotal moment in Internet hoax history, someone at 4chan took the now-useless Web link for the "Grand Theft Auto IV" trailer and duckrolled it.

But instead of linking to the image of a duck on wheels, he or she linked to the Rick Astley video on YouTube.

Rickrolling was born.

When interviewed by the Los Angeles Times last month, Astley himself said he was OK with rickrolling and had no plans to capitalize on it, but he found it "bizarre."

Even 4chan's "moot" was underwhelmed at first.

"When I first saw it, I thought it was silly, stupid," he said in a telephone interview. "After hundreds of times, it got really catchy, I knew all the words. But on April 1, it really blew up. I was frankly very surprised when I saw a certain number of Web sites outside of Internet-culture sites running rickrolling as a prank."

It was April Fool's Day, and in an apparently uncoordinated move, Web sites everywhere rickrolled their readers.

Then came the Mets incident. Rickrolling had truly hit the mainstream - and now it shall die. Because we all know that something which was once silly because it was known to an elitist group of nerds that went mainstream and is known by all is now no longer funny.

It is now tired and stupid.

Henceforth:

I, Cap'n, promise I'm gonna' give you up
I'm gonna let you down
I'm gonna run around and desert you
I'm gonna make you cry,
I'm gonna say goodbye
I'm gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Good night sweet Rick.

Bag of Fail

Feel free to use this bag of fail in your next message board posting.

More Motivation

Monday motivation posters to add to your collection. Enjoy.

Apr 20, 2008

420

How cool can a "secret counter culture" of 420 be when the AP does a story on it, there's 3 documentaries named after it, 100K Google hits, and a Hollywood movie marketing campaign (a sequel) "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," are all tied into the day?

You could say it cheapens the "grass roots" of the whole thing by capitalizing on it?






...and here's a dumbass on the Price is Right bidding 420 a bunch. Enjoy.

Apr 19, 2008

Dick's Glasses

Exploring the mystery behind the reflection in Dick Cheney's glasses
With a Zoom tool!

Apr 18, 2008

Polls Reverse

Goddmaned polls. They've reversed, again. The Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll found that a clear majority of Democratic voters now say Sen. Barack Obama has a better chance of defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in November than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It's of Democrats polled... let's look at that methodology. Eff that. Let's look at that picture. One can only IMAGINE the obscenities being said there -
at the very least, the condescending remarks...
Caption Contest?
"Oh, bustin' out the Yellow again, eh?"
"Die in a Fire."
"You first."
"Don't touch me or I'll yell rape."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Marty Brennaman 1942-2008...

Marty Brennaman (born Franchester Martin Brennaman on July 28, 1942 in Portsmouth, Virginia), was an American sportscaster, known primarily as the longtime radio voice of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds. Brennamen died on July 8, 2008 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Brennamen suffered internal bleeding and a fatal skull fracture after dozens of fans pummeled him with baseballs from the outfield bleachers. This heroic assault was in retaliation for derogatory comments Brennaman made on April 17, 2008 about Chicago Cubs fans, often regarded as the best sports fans in the world.

This is a CUTn'PASTE job straight from his Wikipedia entry.

Now you can listen to Marty put his head into his posterior!

CLICK HERE

The Man Who Fell To Earth

The New York Times E-mail This
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OPINION | April 18, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist: How Obama Fell to Earth
By DAVID BROOKS

Furiously courting Democratic primary voters and apparently exhausted, Barack Obama has emerged as a more conventional politician and a more orthodox liberal.



From the article:

"Some of us love Hyde Park for its diversity and quirkiness, as there are those who love Cambridge and Berkeley. But it is among the more academic and liberal places around. When Obama goes to a church infused with James Cone-style liberation theology, when he makes ill-informed comments about working-class voters, when he bowls a 37 for crying out loud, voters are going to wonder if he’s one of them. Obama has to address those doubts, and he has done so poorly up to now."