proof positive that one may be extremely crude if one is also hysterical and writes well...

One's outrageous sexual experience with Ann Coulter:

‘You might as well shoehorn billions of dollars into the Baseball Card market. The price of a Derek Jeter rookie will be driven up to hundreds of thousands of dollars—before the bubble bursts and the whole market crashes massively.’ It was getting hard to stay on point as she tongue-fucked my shitter vigorously.

Whiling a Friday afternoon in an overly-air conditioned cubicle.

congress doing its part to piss off the religious right...

... and therefore I'm for it:

For what is believed to be the first time in its history, the U.S. Senate will on July 12 be opened with a Hindu prayer, the Senate Chaplain's Office confirmed Monday.

(h/t to Salon)

in case of poisoning, induce vomiting...

New Englanders of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your DINOs:

Katrina Swett — a longtime New Hampshire Democratic activist and Senate primary candidate who has taken a pummeling for her past support of Joe Lieberman — is now officially running away from the Connecticut Senator.

Too late, baby! Let 'er swett!

the authoritarian supremes...

"The message on Frederick's banner is cryptic," Chief Justice John Roberts said. But the school principal who suspended him "thought the banner would be interpreted by those viewing it as promoting illegal drug use, and that interpretation is plainly a reasonable one," Roberts said in the majority opinion.

In a concurrence, Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy said the court's opinion "goes no further" than speech interpreted as dealing with illegal drug use.

"It provides no support" for any restriction that goes to political or social issues, they said.

Let's see: The war on drugs is not a political issue. Advocating the overturning of draconian drug laws is not a political or social issue, and apparently is not protected speech. Good to know in a police state, fersherr!

Oh, and "goes no further"?? Isn't this what these overrated sophists said in Bush v. Gore? Like they can cherry-pick future cases to which their personal distastes do or do not apply, as though chipping away at the Bill of Rights a little piece at a time doesn't count when you're the Gestapo. It is this kind of decision that gives stare decisis a bad name.

In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said the ruling "does serious violence to the First Amendment."

Amen!

where's the "fairness" in the fairness doctrine... ?

This is a subject that's been burbling up in my subconcious, and I figure at some point I'll expound further. Meanwhile:

[Progressive talk show host Ed Schultz] correctly tells guest host Michael Smerconish that it’s not about the ratings, when Smerconish tries to dismiss the CAP report because the market decides who is successful in radio. Ed points out to Smerconish that his ratings are better than Hannity in several markets, but still can’t find more stations to carry him. Ed argues that it’s an ownership problem.

I've always chafed at the idea of a Fairness Doctrine, where government dictates by law that for every point of view expressed on-the-air, an opposing point of view must be given equal time. This is a tree in the forest of of concentrated media ownership.

A more proper and viable means for balancing that which is broadcast over the airwaves would be for Government to reverse its non-enforcement of corporate anti-trust and force Big Media to sell off their affiliate properties one-by-one until each and every one of them has no more than 1 television station, 1 radio station, and 1 newspaper in a given municipality.

This is not a "free speech" matter. Money is not speech, irrespective of the unfortunate Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo, for example, saying it was. Even so, enforcing media ownership to decentralize is a national security issue, indeed the primary means for preserving anything remotely resembling democracy, not only in America but the entire world.

Of course Hillary playing patty-cake with Rupert Murdoch leaves me considerably less than confident at the prospect she'd do the right thing if elected president.

up is down...

Jeez 'ouise! Accompanying the previous post, where I don't reflexively dismiss that which moves and with the suffix "R" affixed to its behind, comes a story where the phrase "corporate responsibility" isn't reflexively dismissed as an oxymoron:

Google said Tuesday it is getting in on the development of electric vehicles, awarding $1 million in grants and inviting applicants to bid for another $10 million in funding to develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles capable of getting 70 to 100 miles per gallon.

Dare to hope the next step toward Wonderland is the arrest, prosecution, conviction and imprisonment (if not summary execution) of all "loyal Bushies" everywhere...

a republican worth another look...

U.S. Is ‘Really in Trouble,’ Says Bloomberg, Sounding Like a Candidate

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, sounding every inch the presidential candidate he insists he is not, brought his message of pragmatic, nonpartisan leadership to California on Monday, telling a crowd of Google employees that the nation was “really in trouble.”

In unusually stark terms, Mr. Bloomberg expressed his frustration with the state of the nation, touching on campaign-style issues like the war in Iraq, immigration, education, health care and crime before a crowd of more than 1,000 employees at the Google campus here.

When Republicans can sound progressive and not theocratic or fear-mongering, that's when this progressive will pay attention to Republicans.

----------
Update: Bloomberg Leaving The Republican Party

Upside: He has the political muscle and financial capital to stake the most serious Independant run in American history. Also, a strong Independant candidacy will breath new life into the corrupted 2-party system in America.

Downside: Being liberal, he'll be cutting well into the Democratic nominee's vote-count, not that I give a damn about the triangulating ways of she who is Hillary, but it could seriously inhibit the process of marginalizing neo-conservatism, a social and geopolitical malignancy most recently and most viably embodied by the amoral wind-sock Mitt Romney.

tom tomorrow's...

image courtesy of Salon.com

know your enema...

Carpetbagger has a tidy summary of the Repo front-runners:

* Rudy Giuliani — Matt Taibbi recently made the case that the former NYC mayor is actually “worse than Bush.” Giuliani is autocratic, thin-skinned, and self-absorbed. He’s inexperienced, ignorant about policy specifics, and his only selling point (performance on 9/11) doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny. His campaign is built around demagoguery — driven solely by fear.

* John McCain — A shadow of his former self, the senator appears to be a man who’ll do anything to win. McCain is combative and intolerant of dissent. He defends the indefensible and lashes out angrily at anyone who dares to disagree with him. He’s become dishonest, condescending, and egotistical, while pandering shamelessly to some of the worst elements in Republican politics.

* Mitt Romney — The man appears to have no real convictions at all. On most of the major political issues of the day, Romney believed the exact opposite fairly recently, and has struggled to explain his metamorphosis from moderate governor to far-right candidate.

* Fred Thompson — The actor/lobbyist/senator doesn’t seem to have any real rationale for seeking the presidency, other than the belief he might win. Thompson is at least as phony as Romney — the red truck story should be humiliating to him — and developed a Bush-like reputation for being lazy and incurious. He considers moving to northern Virginia “getting out of Washington” and his most valuable skill seems to be his ability to pretend to be someone else.

And before Naahmy gets a burr in his butt-ox, I would add Hillary (and Joe Biden) to this quad.

a thousand words...

Photo via Pottersville

and then there were 8...

Impeach!

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) announced she would join Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) push for impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. “Before, it was speculated that no one else would support impeachment,” Kucinich said. His measure has also gained the support of Reps. Al Wynn (D-MD), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Lacy Clay (D-MO), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

a footnote on the 30th anniversary of the summer of love...

Glenn Smith on the one & only counter-culture:

Turned into fad, the movement was easily marginalized. But not before it launched unprecedented numbers of Americans into lives of nurturance and responsibility, a fact often overlooked by conservatives and their media mimics who like to report that we all turned into hypocritical, thieving stockbrokers. Many, in fact, became health care professionals, social workers, school teachers, environmental scientists, writers, artists, and parents. It may, in the end, have been the less deserving among us who entered politics and public life. The even-less-deserving, of course, became stockbrokers.

Where were you then? In 1967, I was a 7 year-old kid pushing Matchbox cars over unimproved dirt roads of my own making, hunting blue-bellied lizards and horned toads, as well as collecting old snake bones, with Martin Boyarski in the silvery hills of Nevada, and draping my father's Air Force-issue parachute over the clothesline in the back yard, making it a fort. All of which would've made my Summer of Love, uhm, 1978... and then again in 1989... and, geez, there must've been some others too! I guess it all depends on what your definition of Love is.

Today? I'm an aging hippie comic.

This above all, to thine own self be true.

a vicious circle...

Josh at TPM got me thinking, referencing the successful defeat of the cloture on the Gonzalez No-Confidence vote:

Brownback and McCain didn't make it either. But then McCain seldom votes at all these days.

I mused to myself, McCain is a Senator in name only.

Hmm, SINO!

By Jesus! He is the Manchurian Candidate!

love the rude pundit...

Or not... I, of course, do:

[T]here's the sentencing of Scooter Libby, all ready for his new nickname: Scrotum Licky.

criminal...

Lieberman...

why rhode island voters are light-years ahead of connecticut voters...

Sen. Whitehouse: Petraeus Has ‘Conflicting Loyalty,’ Independent Iraq Report Needed

But despite numerous indicators that Bush’s strategy is failing, ABC News reported recently that Petraeus wants the “surge” to “continue until at least December,” and expects “to report enough progress by September to justify the extension.”

In an interview this week with ThinkProgress, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) became the first member of Congress to call for an independent analysis on the state of the war in September, in addition to Petraeus’ report. Whitehouse charged that Petraeus has an inherent “conflicting loyalty” between “the desire to please the president” and to report the unvarnished truth about Bush’s strategy.

Keeping in mind Dubya listens to his Generals in the field provided they tell him what he wants to hear. If a General strikes a discordant note, that General leaves the field. Ergo, any active General reporting to Congress in September on the goings-on in Iraq will be inherently suspect.

Kudos to Whitehouse for getting this ball rolling.

and then jesus said "take this bread, for this is my body you eat"...

Or, more simply: Sweet Jesus!

Creationist Actor's Porno Past is 'Revealed'

A jaunt around the Internet shows Linden posing alongside a drag queen on an explicit Web site he owned called Bedroom Acrobat, the Associated Press reports. The Web site allows its network of members to post explicit stories and photos, AP reports.

When it learned of Linden's activities with the Web site, the Creation Museum in Kentucky pulled the 40-second video in which he appears.

Riiiiight! How many times did they pull it, s'what I wanna know!

No, not the video...

don't know if this makes me cringe or giddy...

Normally I'd say this is a little fruity, but then these are the yabbos who'll be protecting Tom Brady's ass on the road to the Super Bowl:

Belichick ran many of the veterans through sprints, and he was particularly tough on the offensive line, which in a show of solidarity went through one set of the sprints holding hands, leading Belichick to crack a smile.

narratives offered by dead men...

Ever wonder how William Holden was able to narrate Sunset Boulevard even after he was shot to death by Gloria Swanson, while Marty Robbins could sing, wonderfully I might add, "I felt the bullet go deep in my chest," just before he died in his ballad El Paso?

Neither have I.

friday follies...

My favorite P.D. sent this this morning. The gist of the LA city attorney's apoplexy with the Sherriff read thusly:

"... violating that court order, the Los Angeles Sherriff's Department should be held in contempt. Additionally, this court should order that the Los Angeles Sherriff's Department transport Hilton in custody to this court for the hearing on this application and the court should order that the Los Angeles Sherriff's Department transport Hilton in custody to the Cer[?]y Regional Detention Center in order to serve the remainder of her sentence in compliance with California law and this court's May 4, 2007 order. Such relief is just, proper and necessary to ensure compliance with this court's orders. Additionally, such relief rightfully will restore any loss of public confidence in and respect for the integrity of the government of this city, county and state.

"II
An Urgent Hearing and Relief Are Necessary Because Hilton is Earning Custody Credits Every Day She Is on Electronic Monitoring, Despite the Fact That The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Acted in Contravention and in Contempt of This Court's Order."

No word on whether the city attorney was offered a paper bag to help alleviate his hyperventilation.

----------
Update: Oh dear! I almost feel sorry for her. Emphasis: almost...

Screaming Paris Hilton Sent Back to Jail

"It's not right!" shouted the weeping Hilton. "Mom!" she called out to her mother in the audience.

Now that's Entertainment!

is the nytimes suffering from sleep disorder... ?

Remember, oh fans of this blog, when I asked why Pat Leahy was dicking around? Well -- Yay! -- the New York Times has finally been roused to my way of thinking (h/t to DailyKos):

For months, senators have listened to a parade of well-coached Justice Department witnesses claiming to know nothing about how nine prosecutors were chosen for firing. This week, it was the turn of Bradley Schlozman, a former federal attorney in Missouri, to be uninformative and not credible. It is time for Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to deliver subpoenas that have been approved for Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and their top aides, and to make them testify in public and under oath.

And to think I was, like, jumping the gun. Tsk!

Hmm... A gun. That might work.

he don't say...

Passing by the plasma in the kitchen, I note J.C. Watts once again carrying Dubya's water (hopefully in something leak-proof) while debating Donna Brazille on CNN before Wolf Blitz4brains.

Good looking guy, Watts, whom I bumped into once in a House elevator when I interned on the Hill back in the early 90s. I wished I could have asked him then what I wouldn't hesitate to ask him now, i.e., his response to his father, a life-long Democrat, saying, "A black man voting for a Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders."

maybe i've been doing it wrong all these years...

Dopey poll at the bottom of this link to DailyKos, "How many fingers do you use when you type?" -- with the options being "Two," "Ten," "Somewhere between 2 and ten," and "Not sure."

Out of 5521 responses, 51% said "Ten"; 38% said "Somewhere between 2 and ten"; 9% said "Two"; and 1% said "Not sure".

Let's throw out that last response because at least 61 people are blooming idiots because they don't know if they use "1 finger or more." In fact, let's just give them one finger.

I believe those who said "Two" because I used to be one of them before I took a typing class in high school way back when. Of course, even then, I would use 1 or 2 more when I grew confident with the locations of the keys.

I answered "Somewhere between 2 and ten." I learned to touch-type and have been timed over the years by a variety of employment agencies at somewhere between 70 & 87 wpm w/0-5 errors. Funny thing, though: as one deemed "highly proficient" at typing, I use all eight of my non-opposing digits -- one-thru-four on each hand -- while using my right thumb solely to hit the space-bar. In all these years, I don't ever recall using my left thumb -- for anything... uhm, other than to jam up my ass whenever I am made to watch Dubya bullshit his way out of a wet paper bag while expecting us to believe it.

So all I can say to the 51% responders: WTF?

----------
Update: Okay! I learned to type on a manual, so bear with me. After which, I graduated to an electric typewriter, then selectric, then wheel-writers, and finally word processors. Computer functions -- Aye! There's the rub. "Ctrl," "Alt," etc. -- one might, at some point, use the left freakin' thumb.

But is that really typing??

you wanted libby... ?

Naahmy, now Commander Guy Deux, and I give you Libby!

headline of the day...

TB Guy Tops Bush in New Poll

Literally having LMAO, I am assless now.

red sox fans are insane...

I was in the nose-bleed seats at Camden Yards in Bal'mer. A couple of years ago. The Sox were in town and Baker always made a point of getting in 1 or 2 of a 3-game series in and bringing me along.

These days, if you didn't know, Red Sox fans are everywhere. Often it is the case when the Red Sox fans outnumber the home team's support, or at least they're way louder. I found it terribly amusing when the Sox, who, in recent years, have owned the Orioles, would rally, and Red Sox Nation would start chanting "Let's go Red Sox!" Boom Boom BoomBoomBoom "Let's go Red Sox!" Boom Boom BoomBoomBoom. Until, finally, O's fans would be roused from their malaise and start booing the Red Sox fans in return. This always brought a grin to my face.

On one occasion, I could hear two O's fans sitting behind me -- and keep in mind this was before 2004; I know this based on the content of the conversation. One says to the other, "Are there any more obnoxious fans in baseball than Red Sox fans?"

The other guy says, "Yankees fans!"

"Well, yeah, they're obnoxious too, but at least they have a team that backs up their obnoxiousness. The Red Sox haven't won anything since -- what? -- 1918?"

He was right, of course. I mean, empirically, Sox fans annoy the bejesus out of non-Sox fans from New York to Florida to California. In almost every stadium there is a sizable Sox-loving contingent; surpassed only, I've heard told, by Yankees nutbars.

Well, I gotta tell you: Sox fans annoy the hell outta me! And I'm a Sox fan. Oh, not like I was in the 70s, when I would run out into the street after midnight, say, when Pudge Fisk hit The Pole in Game 6, yelling my fool head off; or in the 80s, when I raged nigh-upon uncontrollably against the inside of my car's windshield as I drove home after Bill Buckner let the ball role thru his legs.

But I've been away. D.C. for the last 16 years. Oh, I'd keep up -- reading the Globe and the Herald online. But throughout the 90s and the early 00s, I could sense my passion for The Old Towne Team was ebbing. When Boston finally ended the Babe's curse in Yankee Stadium in '04, part of me wanted them to blow the World Series against St. Louis if for no other reason than to maintain the allure of the hard-luck put-upon team. When Keith Foulke tossed the ball underhanded to Doug Mientkewicz, it was like the fever lifted. The Sox were no longer special to me.

And then I moved back to town last winter. I got interested again listening to the radio. Did any of you know Boston has, like, four (4) sports-talk stations? Not like it was when I left UMass in '90.

And you might think that the fever might've broken for others. Not from what I can see. The callers today, they're so damned shrill and inane! The Sox are up -- what? -- like 13-1/2 games on New York and were when they met again last weekend's series in Fenway. They lose Game 1 and all you could hear was how Tim Wakefield, a knuckleballer with a not insubstantial record over the last 1o years in Boston, was washed up and they should kick him, not just to the bullpen, but the back of the bullpen.

And how stupid is the general manager for bringing in dogs like J.D. Drew and Wily Mo Pena. Of course, the favorite whipping boy in April was Dustin Pedroia -- a rookie -- who struggled for a month and a half coming out of the gate, but is hitting over .300 now, making clutch hits, and is wowing the crowds with his defensive play. He's the golden boy now.

All I want to do with these whining dill-holes is bitch slap 'em upside their pointy heads.

Get a life already, you guys!

And one more thing: My issue may be with Red Sox fans, but when the Patriots take the field, be ye warned: They are my compadres and Don't Fuck with us unless we're at a commercial!

Got it!??

another one bites the dust...

Steve Gilliard: 1966-2007

One of our own (via HuffPo)...

impeach... !

The word need be repeated:

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”

... and repeated...

apropos of nothing...

Was surfing and had cause to Wiki "Diamond Jim Brady" and... Good Christ!

A typical Brady breakfast would be: eggs, pancakes, pork chops, cornbread, fried potatoes, hominy, muffins, and a beefsteak. For refreshment, a gallon of orange juice—or "golden nectar", as he called his favorite drink. Lunch might be two lobsters, deviled crabs, clams, oysters and beef, with a few pies for dessert. The usual evening meal began with an appetizer of two or three dozen oysters, six crabs, and a few servings of green turtle soup, followed by a main course of two whole ducks, six or seven lobsters, a sirloin steak, two servings of terrapin and a host of vegetables. For dessert, the gourmand enjoyed pastries and a two pound box of candy.

Harkening Steve Landesberg in his faux, over-the-top Swedish voice: "Vhat's for suppehr, schnookems?"

delayed gratification...

Tom Delay says Newt Gingrich having an affair while presiding over Bill Clinton's Impeachment was the height of hypocrisy. Delay also found room to draw a distinction between Newt's and his respective infidelities:

"There's a big difference," DeLay says. "Also," he adds, "I had returned to Christ and repented my sins by that time."

To which, I can only imagine, Christ then said: "Oy!"

bill o'reilly brushes up against candor; doesn't burst into flames...

Who knew, right?

But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you've got to cap with a number.

I saw when Buchanan whined about the imminent extinction of the Angry White Male, to which, I offer as an Angry White Male (angry for different reasons albeit): "Bully!"

out damned spot...

Not your father's Republican party (or was it?):

Mike Rogers has outed so many closeted gay politicos, he's starting to make Capitol Hill look like Brokeback Mountain.

"The List" is on the left column.

h/t to RawStory...

i feel yer pain...

Josh at TPM:

The president says so many stupid things about Iraq that it's sort of hard to know which ones to focus on.

And I thought it was just me.

my kingdom for (the removal of) a horse('s ass)...

Lieberlips flapping in the wind again:

"Overall, what I'd say I see here today is progress, significant progress, from the last time I was here in December. And if you can see progress in war, that means you're headed in the right direction."

And thank YOU again, Connecticut!

repeat after me: "soylent green is people"...

Salon interviews scientists looking into the disturbing Colony Collapse Disorder:

Last fall, the nation's beekeepers watched in horror as more than a quarter of their 2.4 million colonies collapsed, killing billions of nature's little fertilizers.

But as a Salon round table discussion with bee experts revealed, the mass exodus of bees to the great hive in the sky forebodes a bigger story.

back to the grind...

The Tuesday that felt like a Monday...

I see Chris Hitchens is pissing off the right people once again.

Hitchens, laughing, said, "At least they almost pronounced Nietzsche's name right."

Good! Was getting tired of him pissing me off.

P.S. Dollars to donuts, the caller pronounced it like it was that linebacker who played for the Packers back when, eh?

memorial day 2007...

Year 4 of the Occupation:

Casualty figures thru 5/26/07:
American Deaths: 3,455
American Wounded (Official): 25,549
American Wounded (Estimated): 23,000 - 100,000

Iraqi Civilian Deaths (Reported):
Min - 64,405
Max - 70,552

Study: War blamed for 655,000 Iraqi deaths

Paul Krugman in the Times via Pottersville:

“In this place where valor sleeps, we are reminded why America has always gone to war reluctantly, because we know the costs of war.” That’s what President Bush said last year, in a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Those were fine words, spoken by a man with less right to say them than any president in our nation’s history. For Mr. Bush took us to war not with reluctance, but with unseemly eagerness.

barf me...

I could Google it, I suppose, but I don't want to. Suffice it to say I have no idea how this silly tradition of racecar winners swigging a bottle of milk, while receiving accolades on their victory, began.

Supposing here again that after 500 rips around a mile-long oval at speeds exceeding somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of Mach, an experience astronauts-in-training likely do not enjoy, milk has some paliative affect on the brain to reduce remnant cerebral slosh in and around the occipital bun.

After slugging a quart of half & half, say, it'll induce vomiting?

And I'm a brain surgeon.

this just in...

Maria Callas: December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977

This from a guy who never thought of himself as an "Opera buff": Every time I hear her version of Catalani's "La Wally - Ebben Ne Andro Lontana," and I did but a moment ago, I weep. Literally.

Of course Roy Orbison's "Crying" and The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" has that affect on me as well.

Getting a little sentimental, or, uhm, soft in the head, I reckon.

Former Bush aide Card booed at UMass

As promised: The UMass Minutepeople tell the Bushies where they can get off.

minutefolk let loyal bushie know where he can go...

(AP Photo)
----------
Update: Pottersville with a nice summary of the event.

Proud of my people:

Boo U: Amherst Honor Turns Sour for Card

AMHERST - Hundreds of students and faculty erupted in a chorus of boos yesterday when President Bush’s former Chief of Staff Andrew Card rose to accept his honorary doctorate in public service at the University of Massachusetts, blaming him in part for the Iraq war.

The boos and catcalls - including those from faculty who stood on stage with Card - drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour’s remarks as she awarded the degree.

Protesters claim Card lied to the American people in the early days of the Iraq war and should not have been honored at the graduate student commencement.

Card smiled slightly while Seymour spoke and raised his hand in thanks, then sat down without speaking.

“It was a great honor and a privilege to be here,” he said afterward, ignoring a reporter’s questions about the protesters.

The protests were mainly contained to an area in the back of the campus arena and many of the faculty on stage who joined the three- to four- minute outburst.

One faculty member on stage held a sign: “Card - no honor, no degree.”

Another sign said “War criminals go home.”

Card, a native of Holbrook and a former Massachusetts lawmaker, has said he was honored to be selected and is a supporter of UMass.

Opponents tried unsuccessfully for days leading up to the ceremony to get the university to change its mind in awarding the honor.

Searching for video of the event...

----------
Update: Here's the video.

rivalry redux...

UMass/DC softballers Brian & Doug have started up a Red Sox/Yankees rivaly-specific blog.

Keep on a keepin' on, boys!

GO SAWX!

i don't believe it...

A matter-of-fact statement, that; not reflexive denial...

I simply don't believe this:

GALLUP: Nearly 1 in 3 Believe Bible is Literal Word of God
About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word, a new Gallup poll reveals. This percentage is only slightly lower than several decades ago.

Okay, let's stipulate that 1 in 3 actually believe that they believe that a Palestinian Hebrew born some 2000+ years ago can possibly be a Eurocentric blond with baby-blue eyes. But does anybody really believe 99% of that 1/3rd have actually read the damned book? And likely that that's not the case, let's pin the pinheads down on every "word for word" as we are made to read it to them, and demand whether they actually buy all of it - word for word!

And when we inevitably find out that there's some cheesy chapter or perverse verse that doesn't actually square with their sense of -- well, sense! -- and we consequently determine that not a one really believes all the gobbledy-gook that that book dispenses, we, the other 2/3rds of the put-upon majority, ought be allowed to share the blessing of providing each & every one of the ignorant Third a leather-bound, unabridged version of King James and ram them deep into their asses (which, I suspect, is how they achieve their book-learnin').

Ah, that felt guuuud!

----------
Update: Make that a Palestinian Hebrew born some 2000+ years ago, who is indeed blond with blue eyes, who lives at the north pole, although, once a year, rises up from the pumpkin patch and goes down the chimney, leaving quarters under pillows for every tooth you can pull outta yer head, while hiding li'l chocolate eggs for all the good little boys'n girls to scavenge.

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Update II: Lest I be deemed intolerant of people of faith, I say my contempt is for the content of those beliefs. If one is offended that that contempt appears to spill over into the ad hominem, I would then refer one to the LA Times, which gives an excellent example of the ramifications of coddling what Arthur C. Clarke once referred to as "a disease of infancy":

The problem is that people who deny science in one realm are unlikely to embrace it in another. Those who cannot accept that climate change may have caused the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago probably don't put much stock in the fact that today it poses grave peril to the Earth as we know it.

the week in review...

David Sirota again:

What [Dem strategists] seem unable - or unwilling - to realize is that the public has believed Democrats are weak not because some in the party have opposed the war, but because many in the party refuse to wield the power the public entrusts them with on all sorts of issues.

Brevity being the soul of wit [and, in this case, exactitude], this pretty much says it for me.

friday follies...

Given the previous post, I don't know if we'll have many more opportunities to actually have a laugh. But here's an attempt. From The Satirical Political Reporter (via C&L):

What are the odds that the two most prominent femmes fatales of successive Administrations share the same first name? But wait, the parallels don’t stop there! It’s kinda’ like those spooky Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences.

OK … maybe not. You make the call:

10. Lewinsky is a Jew; Goodling hates Jews.
9. Lewinsky blew Bubba; Goodling “serviced” Dubya.
8. Lewinsky’s a brunette; Goodling ditches brunette to fit in with the “right-wing blondes.”
7. Both love high-fashion headwear — Lewinsky a beret; Goodling the Jesus crown of thorns.
6. Lewinsky: indiscretions enabled a political prosecutor; Goodling: indiscretions disabled apolitical prosecutors.
5. Lewinsky: comforted Bill. Goodling: “comforted” by Alberto the Shill.
4. Both avid readers — Lewinsky: Leaves of Grass; Goodling: would stick a Bible up your ass.
3. Lewinsky: attended a real college, but no power as an intern. Goodling: attended a fake law school, but makes and breaks careers at Justice.
2. Lewinsky: Looking to party. Goodling: Looking to trash a Party.
1. Both have yelled out “JESUS” while in a kneeling position.

jesus h. christ... !

That's who the vice president apparently thinks he is.

Regarding the tug o'war between Dick Cheney, who wants to bomb Iran, and the State Department, which, surprisingly enough, wants to a) engage in dipolomacy, and b) has the president's ear for the moment:

The Cheney aide, who has met with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute along with other groups, "has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an 'end run strategy' around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument," according to Clemons. . .

According to this official, Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the "right decision" when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie the President's hands.

We may be in the midst of a "7 Days in May" scenario, or a variation thereof.

----------
Update: Supplemental from Greenwald referencing the last GOP debate as an example of the frightening prospect of another Republican presidency succeeding Dubya and whether that might represent the death knell of a Constitutional democracy in America:

But what is happening to the Republican party -- the transformation of its base from Falwell/Robertson social conservatism obsessed with abortion and gay rights into a macro version of the Little Green Footballs comment section, obsessed instead with, literally excited by, detaining and torturing people, maximizing government domestic surveillance, starting still new wars in the Middle East and being far more brutal with the current ones ("doing what needs to be done") -- is too extreme to ignore.

lest ye be bullshat further...

David Sirota explains it all for you:

Here's how it is expected to work today in a process only Dick Cheney could love (though you never know - it could change at the last minute). Every bill comes to the House floor with what is known as a "rule" that sets the terms of the debate over the legislation in question. House members first vote to approve this parliamentary rule, and then vote on the legislation. Today, however, Democrats are planning to essentially include the Iraq blank check bill IN the rule itself, by making sure the underlying bill the rule brings to the floor includes no timelines for withdrawal, and that the rule only allows amendments that fund the war with no restrictions - blank check amendments that House Democratic leaders know Republicans will have the votes to pass. . .

Democratic lawmakers, of course, will use the Memorial Day recess to tell their angry constituents they really are using all of their power to end the war, that they voted against the Republican blank check amendment which the rule deliberately propels, and that the vote on the rule - which was the real vote for war - wasn't really the important vote, when, in fact, they know very well it is the biggest vote on the war since original 2002 authorization for the invasion. . .

Yet, most of these Democrats will likely vote for the rule, which is the real vote for war. Democrats voting yes on the rule are the ones who are casting their vote to give President Bush a blank check. . .

Got that? Congressional Dems offer up a game of "3-Card Monty" with their constituents playing the suckers:

Keep yer eyez on the red queen: Here it is here it is here it is -- WHERE IS IT!?

Wanna see it again?

Senate Dems from that "Gang of 14" (led by the odious Lieberlips) did the same thing last year when they voted AYE for cloture (the real vote the day before) before voting NAY against now-Justice Alito.

----------
Update: This companion piece from Bowers at MYDD offers a little logic as to why capitulating Dems fear criticism from a most unpopular president more than from an especially riled base:

If progressive grassroots activists are too demoralized to make small donations, the party becomes more reliant on large donors. If we are too demoralized to run for party office or challenge sitting Democrats in primaries, the establishment Democratic power structure are never held accountable for running ineffective campaigns or selling out the base.

If we don't use the strength of the progressive movement in the 2008 presidential primaries, then the influence the DLC-nexus, neoliberals, and LieberDems have in determining the direction of the Democratic Party increases. And on and on.

If sitting Dems believe this, then color me bewildered. I was always under the impression that people get up and go vote more when they're pissed off, especially in a primary. Best and most recent example: primary voters in Connecticut came out in record numbers last August and gave ol' Lieberlips a proper whacking.

Having said that, of course, individual states need to be sure not to allow losing incumbents an exception and the opportunity for a second bite at the apple. Lieberlips' subsequent re-election rendered the primary meaningless. Watch for further legislation, then, to emerge from the states calling for the elimination of primaries or, at least, minor adjustments, like letting incumbents skip right to the general election, a tidy end and the complete undermining of representative democracy.

Oligarchy!

no confidence *this*... !

From the gang who couldn't shoot straight, this, which was supposed to happen this week:

In a press conference today, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had agreed to bring the no-confidence resolution concerning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Senate floor after the immigration bill -- meaning probably the second week of June. The Senate has a one week recess next week.

If ever there was a need for a national referendum, I'd suggest Referendum 1 be a "No Confidence" vote in our entire federal government.

another example of a steaming sample...

Glenn Greenwald, making yet another excellent point, explains that, which Joe Klein considers "journalism," is really stenography:

As always, the very idea of granting anonymity to government sources to do nothing other than repeat pro-government claims is both manipulative and moronic on its face. What possible journalistic value could there ever be in cloaking someone with anonymity in order to say something that Tony Snow would happily say, and does say, every day from the White House Press Briefing Room?

That was one of the principal though-still-unlearned lessons of the Judy Miller Saga: when a journalist does nothing but mindlessly repeat the claims of government sources which are completely consistent with -- or designed to bolster -- the claims being made by the administration itself out in the open, the journalist is doing nothing more than turning himself into a willing propaganda tool.

meanwhile, back at the ranch...

$3.05/gallon in this neighborhood...



image courtesy of C&L...

here's a question (or two)...

Bowers asks why are all the Third Way jackoffs Democrats?

To which I ask: Why are all the Third Way Democrats jackoffs?

i can neither confirm nor deny that big dick cheney was gettin' some on the side...

Maybe We The People could pay 'er to work that ticker jusssst a little bit harder:

"Vice President Cheney isn’t not on the phone records of the alleged D.C. Madam, who is accused of running a high-price call-girl ring in Washington, the accused madam’s lawyer said on Tuesday," Emily Heil reports for Roll Call. "But then again, the veep isn’t on the list, he said — not necessarily."

Believe me: It's necessary!

mitt bashes massachusetts again...

The man is an out & out fraud:

"In the most liberal state in the country," a sinister-sounding narrator intones over the obligatory backdrop of photos of John Kerry and Mike Dukakis, "one Republican stood up, and cut spending instead of raising taxes. He enforced immigration laws, stood up for traditional marriage and the sanctity of human life."

One wonders not at all if there was a higher office than POTUS, that Mitt Romney would think nothing of bashing America.

fucking cowards... !

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
- W.B. Yeats

No timeline. No enforceable benchmarks. Same mealy-mouthed, weasally bullshit!

“We don’t have a veto-proof Congress. But no one can say with any degree of veracity that we haven’t made great progress, and this bill is further proof of that.” - Harry Reid

“I view this as the beginning of the end of the president’s policy on Iraq.” - Rahm Emanuel

"I would never vote for such a thing." - Nancy Pelosi

“It was a concession to reality.” - Jim Moran

“I am disappointed that there is no firm deadline in this version of the bill, because I believe that’s the only way to responsibly bring this war to an end.” - Chris Dodd

Add this little tidbit:

Senior Democratic officials said the final bill would probably be stripped of other features that Mr. Bush had previously resisted, including readiness standards that would have prevented troops from being returned to Iraq within one year of serving there or without adequate training and equipment unless Mr. Bush signed a waiver determining it was necessary.

And the lone voice in the wilderness cryeth out:

“There has been a lot of tough talk from members of Congress about wanting to end this war, but it looks like the desire for political comfort won out over real action. Congress should have stood strong, acknowledged the will of the American people, and insisted on a bill requiring a real change of course in Iraq." - Russ Feingold

----------
Update: Nobody straddles a fence like this rhymes-with-witch:

"When I have something to say, I will say it, gentlemen." - Hillary Clinton

the president won't fire him -- but YOU can

See the gist at impeachgonzalez.org

hasselhoff gets custody of the kids...

Must've been a German judge.



(link & pic via HuffPo)

general bumpkin fading away...

Damn! I was hoping the next president would get to fire his ass:

An army general who led the Pentagon's effort to hunt down Osama bin Laden and once likened the war on terror to a Christian struggle against Satan is retiring, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.

Lieutenant General William Boykin's departure ends a legendary 36 year career, most of it as a special operations warrior and member of the army's elite Delta Force counter-terrorism unit.

This guy should've been canned the day he was videotaped yawping the bible while in uniform. Not that Hillary will ever stand up to the Evangelitan wing of the Military (and certainly not Mitt, now that he's on cruise control in Iowa), but ours would be a better military without the uniformed Jumbo Shrimp (a.k.a., "conservative Christian"), who swear to defend and uphold the Constitution, then push Jesus-from-the-Old-Testament down subordinates' throats. Only way to deal with this uppity-to-Dem-presidents lot is kick 'em out of the military, starting with the the Air Force Academy commandant.

all the news that's fit to print...

Remember when I said this?

Can you believe this groovy cat was Senator from Alaska? I'd even add as his running mate a Texas Republican (Holy Christ! I know!): Ron Paul.

Better yet, I've got a great slogan for the latter -- "Ron Paul: One Republican Who Won't Suck Up".

Well, according to Joan Walsh at Salon, the barking has generated a few echos:

It's worth noting that, as was the case with Howard Dean in 2003, the two candidates who've spoken most clearly against the Iraq war in the early debates -- Mike Gravel and Paul -- are getting the big surge of attention online.

Keep reading Barking Up Trees, then, people. Not only does it gratify my ego, but now it's cutting edge!

don't make me come over there...

McCain to Cornyn: *Bleep* You!

pic via HuffPo...

----------

Update: This post's title was previously "mccain running for longshoreman?" And then Naahm, in his comment, illustrated where I fell short in delivering my point. I should've just gone with the pic as it's freaky enough. And to answer Naahm's question, personally I'd love to see our reps in Congress curse like sailors in public. It'd at least give 'em some authenticity. All this "my good friend from across the aisle" bullshit turns my stomach. Having said that, of course, I still believe McCain's one perceived affront short of going postal on the Senate floor.

---------

Update II: Cenk Uygur agrees with me:

I often get frustrated with Democrats and re-write what they should have said to the press or to the Republicans instead of the mealy-mouthed stuff they wound up saying. The one time I thought there was an aggressive campaign that I wouldn't have changed a thing on was Jim Webb. And he took down George Allen, who almost certainly would have been the presidential candidate for the Republicans in 2008 if Webb hadn't kicked his ass in Virginia.

"enhanced 'feel-good' techniques"... yeaaaaahh, that's it... !

Brainwrap at DailyKos has some questions for the GOP master-debaters:

1. Would you beat up a proven terrorist if it meant saving the rest of the planet?
2. Would you beat up a proven terrorist if it meant saving the United States?
3. Would you kill a proven terrorist if it meant saving 100,000 lives?
4. Would you beat up a (possibly innocent) man if it meant saving 100,000 lives?
5. Would you kill one (possibly innocent) man if it meant saving 100,000 lives?
6. Would you kill ten men to save 10,000?
7. Would you beat up a child if it meant saving 10,000 lives?
8. Would you waterboard a child if it meant saving 1,000 lives?
9. Would you kill a child if it meant saving 100 lives?
10. Would you kill ten children if it meant saving 50 lives?

And you'll call two friends, and then they'll call two friends, and so on, and so on...

friday follies...

Briton First to Fly Over Everest in Powered Paraglider

Former SAS trooper [Bear] Grylls, who in 1998 scaled the 8,848-metre (29,198-feet) peak on foot and became the youngest Briton to do so, took off from Pheriche near Everest using a specially developed paramotor -- a thrust-pack worn on the body.

Fellow flyer Gilo Cardozo, who developed the special paramotor, turned back before the summit with engine trouble but managed to glide back to base camp safely.

Considering helicopters can't fly this high...

the bushies helping to push michael moore's *sicko*...

He goes to Cuba, they take the bait:

TIME: You also speak rhapsodically about the French and Cuban systems and travel to Cuba, where you interview Che Guevara’s daughter. France, Cuba, Che. Are you going out of your way to annoy the right?

Michael Moore: I give people more credit than the media and the political machine running this country do. The story line is: France, bad; France, cowards. What crime did France commit? We wouldn’t have had this country without their support in the Revolution. They gave us that statue that sits out in New York Harbor. They responded immediately after 9/11. And they remain eternally grateful for what we did during World War II. As for Cuba, yes, when I’ve got a film crew there, they’re going to show us their best. But there’s a reason the World Health Organization ranks their health-care system [among] the best in the Third World and that people from Latin America come there for their health care. There’s also a reason Cubans live on average a month longer than we do.

I’m not trumpeting Castro or his regime. I just want to say to fellow Americans, “C’mon, we’re the United States! If they can do this, we can do it.”

Why, that filthy Commie!!!

h/t Rawstory...

satan's little helper...

Lieberlips again (h/t to Hugh Bailey via C&L):

The leader of the House version of Lieberman’s committee is Rep. Henry Waxman of California. Armed with subpoena power, Waxman has already delved into the Pentagon propaganda operation, which fictionalized the stories of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman; he’s investigating the parallel e-mail system that may have allowed White House political staff to avoid laws on preserving communications; and he wants answers from the top about the lies leading up to the Iraq invasion. There is no chance of seeing similar investigations in the Senate committee — Lieberman knows which voters got him back into office last year, and they weren’t Democrats.

But he can take credit for one achievement. He succeeded in getting Republicans and Democrats to alternate seats with one another around the dais when they meet in committee, rather than splitting up on one side or the other. All the better for
civility.

If the self-appointed arbiter of all things bipartisan is going to turn his back on doing the job he was elected to do, he can at least make sure everyone is nice to each other.

amidst the crickets chirping...

Why is Pat Leahy dicking around?

"I will have no choice but to issue subpoenas to try to get to the truth in this matter."

Enough with the "letters" they keep sending to the Attorney General or to White House Counsels asking them to please, please comply. Start firing off the subpoenas already! Start citing them for Inherent Contempt! Start Impeachment proceedings! I mean, Ferchrissakes!

Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

Like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die

Born to be wiiiiiillld...

----------
Update: The wheels on the bus go 'round & 'round (not performed by Steppenwolf). Dems schedule the No Confidence vote for next week:

[It's] a nonbinding resolution expressing the sense the Senate has lost confidence in Gonzales's ability to run the Justice Department. The measure would not directly impact Gonzales's ability to keep his job, it would force Republicans to go on record with their support of the attorney general.

Sigh! Dems seem determined to touch every base before hauling out the Uzis and riddling the lot of 'em.

bumper sticker of the day...

I'll give Chaatoes his props for layin' this one on me years ago. Just saw it this morning on a bumper:

Only users lose drugs.

pretentious suburbanites for gravel...

Look! If Al Gore doesn't get in, I'll take this guy:

Former Sen. Mike Gravel, the longshot presidential candidate who has generated buzz in the liberal blogosphere following a dramatic and heated performance during the first Democratic presidential debate, reaffirmed his belief that President Bush should be jailed for going to war in Iraq and that all drugs should be legalized.

Can you believe this groovy cat was Senator from Alaska? I'd even add as his running mate a Texas Republican (Holy Christ! I know!): Ron Paul.

Better yet, I've got a great slogan for the latter -- "Ron Paul: One Republican Who Won't Suck Up".

Henry Clay is attributed with the axiom "I'd rather be right than President." Is it a prerequisite, then, that one must be wrong to attain the presidency?

If so, how fucked up are we as a nation?

make no mistake: rahm emanuel is a bad guy...

He's DLC and a Clintonista thru & thru, a.k.a., Republican-Lite:

On May 10th, six Democrats followed Democratic Caucus rules and filed a formal letter to Emanuel requesting a caucus meeting. That request, according to the Hill Newspaper, was "rebuffed" and hours after the letter was sent, Democratic leaders appeared at a press conference to announce the secret trade deal with the Bush administration. The legislative language of the deal has still not been released either to reporters or to rank-and-file lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Walks like a Republican... talks like a Republican...

Quack... !!

fighting a war or occupying a country... ? there's a distinction y'know...

A line from a reader of the link in my previous post:

Once again it's not patriotic to leave our soldiers in Iraq to fight and die for a Shiite theocracy.

... which pretty much is what it all boils down to.

So here's what's going to have to happen when all is said & done:

We "win" only if we get out now, let an inevitable Shiite theocracy take hold, wait another 25 years until the next generation of religiously repressed Iraqis begin to rebel (as they are beguiled by American and western European programming showing how better life could be), while not being made to harbor ongoing resentments of an occupying force that's been gone for 25 years, diplomaticaly encourage reforms with carrots and not sticks -- and Behold! Democracy in Iraq!

Hell! It was working in Iran until Dubya showed up.

Look at Vietnam. Not a democracy as yet, but have you noticed? They miss us and want us all to come visit.

Is there a better way? I think not.

dems voting against reid-feingold...

The consolation of the 29-67 defeat (h/t to Greg and TPM Cafe) is the appearance of the Dems coming to grips with the issue and putting it out front & center.

Meanwhile, somebody know why Webb voted against?

Dems (and Satan's little helper) who voted NO... and why I think, offhand, they did:

Baucus (MT)... DINO...
Bayh (IN)... DLC...
Bingaman (NM)... no clue...
Carper (DE)... because, unlike Biden, the other Credit Card Industry puppet, he's not running for the Dem nomination...
Casey (PA)... DINO...
Conrad (ND)... DINO...
Dorgan (ND)... red state...
Landrieu (LA)... DINO...
Levin (MI)... frickin' old and mentally outta the loop...
Lieberman (ID-CT)... Satan's little helper...
Lincoln (AR)... because he's not the Lincoln from Illinois...
McCaskill (MO)... bewildering...
Bill Nelson (FL)... bewildering...
Ben Nelson (NE)... DINO...
Pryor (AR)... DINO...
Reed (RI)... utterly bewildering...
Rockefeller (WV)... because he doesn't know when to stop being the weak little enabler on the Intel Committee...
Salazar (CO)... DLC...
Tester (MT)... bewildering...
Webb (VA)... UTTERLY bewildering... the big military industrial complex of Virginia maybe... ?

Like I said, "offhand"; I'm sure now as even the nay-sayers have "taken a stand," we can find out why they stand so far away.

too early on a wednesday morning...

"How's it going?" the guy asks me.

I pause. "All I know is it's going."

He ponders that.

"If I knew how," I continue, "I'd be an engineer."

He shakes his head and chuckles, "You don't want that."

reid-feingold like a bat-out-of-hell...

Looks like the party's just getting started.

----------
Update: The header on this post once read "gaining momentum," but it's moving way quicker than expected.

another one bites the dust...

Jerry Falwell 1933-2007

Lest we forget what he said about 9/11:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

If I was a crocodile, I'd shed a tear.

low hanging fruit...

Overheard in a Boston bar last night: Me suggesting it'd be better not to Impeach the Rat Bastard and the Vice-Rat Bastard.

I know, I know! No, I haven't gone mad. And it wasn't the multiple G&Ts (easy on the tonic, thank you). I've just done the calculus.

Impeach, convict and remove them, and Nancy Pelosi becomes president; with which I have no problem. But she would be and would've been there at least a year by the time Election '08 rolls around, which means the Dems would likely not expand their control over Congress and take over the White House.

They've got it wired, the Dem leadership: The Dems do better in '08 if, and only if, Dubya and the Dick stay put. And that's it! The Democratic campaign focus must remain on those two and the fact they're still in charge! Given that, Congress could very well have a veto-proof Democratic majority, irrespective of whom the next president will be.

Having said that, there's no reason the Dems couldn't still provide a little meat on the table:

The House Judiciary Committee should immediately draw up articles of impeachment against Alberto Gonzales; we've listened to his lies long enough. Gonzales and Rice are the low hanging fruit for the Democrats. Gonzales should be impeached for lying to Congress and implementing Karl Rove's partisan project at the Justice Department. Condi Rice should be impeached for lying to Congress about the intelligence that led this nation on its disastrous course in Iraq. Only a full on Constitutional showdown this summer can begin to heal the wounds George Bush has inflicted on our republic.

All in favor, say "aye!"

Those opposed: Go away!

richard gere is free to go...

The obscenity warrant he incurred from an Indian judge has been quashed:

The judge was transferred from his post this month after India's legal experts excoriated him for behaving like the Taliban's morality police and seeking "cheap publicity."

Issues I have with the situation:

1) It's good that a judge can be taken down a peg when he's hot-dogging outside of legal jurisprudence (and a most apt comparison, I might add);

2) I saw the video and Gere wouldn't let up on Shilpa Shetty, so I don't know why she was subjected to the obscenity complaint beyond being unable to escape his clutches;

3) Shilpa Shetty is hot/Richard Gere went to UMass: Bad combo!

4) Gere's presumption was remeniscent of Joe Namath's drunken overture toward Suzy Kolber, proof that you may once have been a lady's man, but that doesn't mean you can't look like a total jackass at midlife.

A harsh reality for us all.