Paul Benedict: 1938-2008
"There is a storm coming," Friedman continued, "and it hasn't hit yet. And I believe the decisions made, possibly in these next two months, could determine the next four years. This administration could be over before it starts -- over in the sense that it will spend the next four years digging out of a hole that has been created right now, that may be deeper and darker than anyone realizes."
Mighty white of the Vatican to "forgive" John Lennon for telling the truth. The Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Christians and Christianists don't know who Jesus was or is, they just wish they do. And the the 60s crazies plum forgot Him (no, not Lennon!) during the era of Beatlemania -- that is, until Lennon spoke his truth, and which apparently snapped them out of that particular mania. And Lennon got a taste of what happens when you're a buzzkill on a massive scale.
Given King Midas is said to have had the power to turn all matter into gold simply by touching it, I had, for some time, dubbed Dubya the "anti-Midas" as everything he touches turns to excrement.
Looks here like the world leaders have caught wind.
The book I'm reading at present...From the testimony from the Governor himself, the rebellion against him had the overwhelming support of the Virginia population. A member of his Council reported that the defection was "almost general" and laid it to "the Lewd dispositions of some Persons of desperate Fortunes" who had "the Vaine hopes of takeing the Countrey wholley out of his Majesty's handes into their owne." Another member of the Governor's Council, Richard Lee, noted that Bacon's Rebellion had started over Indian policy. But the "zealous inclination of the multitude" to support Bacon was due, he said, to "hopes of levelling."So there it is. Barack Obama talks of "spreading the wealth," and the upper class calls it Socialism or Marxism, not factoring into the equation the fact the American Revolution came about precisely because greedy bastards back in the day, many of whom were direct ancestors of George Dubya and "his base," had fixed the system to the detriment of the many, who, in return, took exception to being ripped off by the select and often took matters in their own hands.
"Levelling" meant equalizing the wealth. Levelling was to be behind countless actions of poor whites against the rich in all the English colonies in the century and a half before the Revolution.
Estelle Reiner: 1914 - 2008Estelle Reiner, who died on October 25 aged 94, uttered one of the most famous lines in modern cinema – as a customer in a New York deli in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally she observed Meg Ryan's character faking an orgasm at a nearby table and told the waiter asking for her order: "I'll have what she's having."Proof positive that Nora Ephron is best left writing the script as long as Rob Reiner gets to direct.
Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: "Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?" Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: "Ah -- you have scored a point there."
"I'm one who does not feel that somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did."And while you're at it, Dem Senators, give your leader Mr. Reid a final squeeze out the aft chute too, eh?
"I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is.""I'm like, here's the open door, Sarah," said God. "The one at the far side of the bridge to nowhere, leading to that ice floe over there, okayyy? Like, just go on."
5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
6"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
"One of my favorites last night, it was 'I am Joe Mama,'" Palin concluded, to laughs and shouts from the audience.Let's see... I think the joke -- that dates back to the 70s, by the by -- is as follows:
Knock knock...
Who's there... ?
Joe...
Joe who... ?
Joe Mama... !!
Operator: "911, state your emergency."Up until now I gave John McCain a pass on his anger as something borne from his brutal handling in the Hanoi Hilton. Turns out he's always been a prick like his brother.
Caller: "It's not an emergency but, do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?"
Operator: "Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic?"
Caller: "F--k you."
Crazy, huh? If a year ago, you would've told me that ME-Sen was safe but GA-Sen, KY-Sen, and MS-Sen (B) were neck and neck, I would've never believed it. Perhaps this is testament to Collins' political skills, but I think it has more to do with Allen's timid campaign. The campaign has been so obsessed with Collins' popularity that it has refused to aggressively attack her record. And when you play defensively -- as a challenger -- you will lose 100 percent of the time. At this point, it feels as if Allen is already running for governor in 2010 than closing out this particular race.Okay, I exaggerate. Mike Dukakis ran a more robust campaign than Kerry did in Ohio. Even so, Kos' suspicion is the very speculation among journalist types who work here every day -- that Tom Allen felt a need to soft-pedal his challenge of Susan Collins in an era when Republicans were on the rout solely for the purpose of obtaining his preferred post -- the statehouse in 2 years -- vs., say, the Senate in a month, and consequently saddling 200-million or so U.S. citizens who crave the evisceration of the Republican party, with another 6 years of this tedious Bush-bot in drag, is unconscionable.
There is no level of desperation to which the flailing McCain campaign will not stoop. It is now their official position that the suburbs of our nation's capitol, home to millions of Americans, are not "real" because they aren't "Southern in nature."Real or not, southern or not, here's betting Virginia kicks ol' Flathead's ass!
So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"
Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."
"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."A coupla thoughts:
My (and Busby Berkeley's) new favorite commercial, pharmaceuticals as a veritable festival of hottie lesbians seeking to avoid pregnancy...
"It's the ultimate irony: she's a pin-up girl for people who won't masturbate!"
And George W. was from Connecticut before he was from Texas... and George "Macaca" Allen grew up in southern California but learned to affect a Virginia accent, etc...
h/t to Digby...
I figure the next 4 weeks may get ugly but it's also looking more & more like McCain is outta his league against Obama and his people, so it'll be fun too.
John McCain's campaign surrogate and brother Joe McCain this weekend called Northern Virginia "communist country."Jeez Louise! I spend 16 years in the Arlington/Fairfax area and they hunt me down. And this just after having grown up in the People's Republic of Massachusetts.
Apparently on orders from the campaign, he later apologized.
We’re not civilized. The idea that we’re more civilized than people in the Middle Ages went out the window with secret torture chambers in Baghdad . . . we are no better morally than we have been in the past, and we need to recognize that. The idea that moral progress goes with technological progress is nonsense.
The teenage pregnant daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her boyfriend are considering a summer wedding.But whatever happened to this idea?
John McCain's campaign may have another surprise up its sleeve: the pre-election wedding of Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, Bristol. Rumors are swirling in campaign circles about the 17-year-old and 18-year-old Levi Johnston tying the knot, the London Times reports. A wedding “would be fantastic" for the campaign, a McCain insider says.Yes, a shotgun wedding would be just the ticket... for the Obama campaign.
Color me convinced of the theory, mine actually, that it was the advent of the T.V. remote that made America fat... that, the barka-lounger, and the availability of food beyond need and to the mere oral of fixations. I conclude this after finishing off the coffee Haagen Daz while flipping betwixt the Sox/Angels and John Grisham's The Rainmaker from my Lay-Z-Boy. (Hey! Gi'me a break, I went swimming last night!) As Matt Damon reviles ambulance chasing to Danny Devito, Terry Francona leaves Hideki Okajima in to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero representing the tying run with Mark Teixiera on first.
The hilarity out of the north side of Chicago is reminiscent of B4 (i.e., before '04) of bleaker days ('72, '75, '86, '03, etc.). The invective spewed and uttered on Broad Shoulders Radio via ESPN is understandable, especially after Cubs fans were made to endure Ryan Dempster discovering the Yips, walking the bases loaded in the 5th, and then choking up his two-run lead by way of a James Loney moonshot salami. And, oh hey, was that Manny or Tiger Woods 3-ironing one deep into the bleachers later?McCain cannot win the election without Ohio. That's not just a political axiom, it's a fact. There's virtually nowhere on the board he can make up the loss of 20 electoral votes there. If you know anyone in Ohio, you should let them know that they can register and vote this week only.Of course, Newman's pushing up daisies now, but when did being dead inhibit a good ground game getting out the vote in the midwest, hmm? So, Chaat, m'man, get on the blower to yer fellow Buckeyes, eh?
Paul Newman: 1925-2008A committed liberal, Newman openly campaigned for several Democratic Party candidates -- which got him onto Republican president Richard Nixon's famous list of enemies in the 1970s.Really wished he went ahead with his thought of going up against Lieberlips back in '06. 'Course he wouldnt've finished his first term, but even an empty seat is better'n Ol' Joe Lieberlips.
"Being on president Nixon's enemies list was the highest single honor I've ever received," Newman said in a 2006 interview. "Who knows who's listening to me now and what government list I'm on?"
[The GOP Delegate] met her in the bar of the swank hotel and invited her to his room. Once there, the woman fixed the drinks and told him to get undressed.And so, for kicks, the cops Tasered the Delegate.
And that, the delegate to the Republican National Convention told police, was the last thing he remembered.
When he awoke, the woman was gone, as was more than $120,000 in money, jewelry and other belongings.
The thief's take stunned cops.
looks like a dubya (condescending facial tics), quacks like a dubya (over compensatory disorder), smells like a dubya (we hold these truths to be self-evident)...
Eight years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill -- signed into law by Knowles -- that banned the practice statewide.Ah Sarah, such a sketch.
"There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla," Knowles said.
Almost certainly, Bush had to cancel his planned speech while Gustav loomed. But the sources say he didn't like the idea and felt pushed. Bush is described by sources as "furious" at McCain for being deprived of his last appearance before his party, which nominated him twice, as a sitting president. He believes he is being treated disrespectfully.Any day Dubya's feelers get bent is a good day. Now I'd settle for indictment, arrest, trial, punishment... with prejudice!
Shuttering the convention for a night was probably inevitable given the hurricane, but to provide a cover-up for scratching Bush and Cheney it became absolutely necessary. But once the hurricane passed, Bush asserted his primacy as president and forced his way back on the schedule to deliver a satellite speech to the convention.
[C]laiming that Palin has 'military command' experience as head of the Alaska National Guard gets you from "straight talker' to 'bullshit artist'.I might've jumped the track back when I found out Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were no longer "agents of intolerance."
After the raids on the hippie houses in Minneapolis, the American Gastapo continues its rampage.
