lessons learned the hard way: no. 477 out of 512...

While alphabatizing your baseball cards, be sure to differentiate Orlando Merced from Orlando Mercado.

Just sayin'.

sarah palin as mccain's pic...

What was he supposed to do -- John McCain?

Go with Romney? The man McCain despises more than life itself? A Mormon t'boot, meaning the Christianists who don't already know Jesus and Lucifer were brothers were bound to find out in two-months' time.

Hmm... McCain/Romney = Jesus/Lucifer. That'd have been a sweet bumpersticker (but I guess we'll just have to settle for "The Maverick & The MILF").

Go with Pawlenty? Like, who??

Go with Huckleberry Hound? The Christianist squirrels (which he likes to cook up on the popcorn popper hot-plate, by the by) would've loved that, but the moneybags wouldn't. End of story. And end of that marriage.

Lieberlips? McCain wanted him. But a man who can motivate every Democrat that ever was (including the Dead Kennedys in 1960's Illinois) lining up on Election Day, while at the same motivating Christianists to go fishing, is a special talent indeed.

Any one of these yabbos would've grown course hair all over the Republican campaign, and, under every circumstance, would sink what little is left of John McCain's chances.

Nope. Hail-Mary! No nod to Catholics, that. After Obama's nomination speech in Denver, the Repos saw a mighty shit-storm a'comin'. And they figure there's absolutely nothing to lose with picking a different Christianist squirrel who also appeals to the Exxons and Shells of the world.

Nothing to lose that they aren't already gonna lose, that is.

grand slam... !

photo via Sullivan...

Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech

have you no sense of decency, sir... ?

At long last... ?

John McCain has one of his mini-conniptions with a Time reporter where the former POW (who once spent 5-1/2 years in a box, by the way) refuses to define the word "honor." An interesting exchange of comments at the link above ensues.

My suspicion here is that McCain realizes he's been a scumbag questioning Obama's honor and the guilt welled a little too quickly for him to satisfy the question.

Today's moment of Zen...

"incapacity"...

From g.'s book of definitions: "incapacity"...

For every reference we hear regarding John McCain's captivity in Vietnam, e.g., "POW" or "spent 5-1/2 years in a box," etc., we take a drink.

the insipid american media, continued...

And then there's Tom Brokaw, another oh-so exalted former news anchor who's really a hack, tool, wanker, whathaveyou.

h/t to Sullivan...

more on the insipid american media...

Back when Tim Russert died, my brother sent me an email asking me my thoughts &/or feelings on the passing of the alleged icon. Sorry to my brother for I ripped him a new porthole, sputting my yellow, mucusy bile across my laptop screen in the process (in case you ever wanted to borrow it) over the likes of Tim F'ing Russert. Of course everybody just lovvvved Tim Russert -- low-information lovers, they -- where even my Mom could no longer tolerate another of my frothings without furiously pointing the TV remote at me and jamming on the mute button.

And as the email had more than a few cc's, most of the recipients were rendered begging to be taken off the exchange. I guess I'd rather be right than president.

Anyhow, I'm glad I'm not alone in my contempt for Russert and/or the rest of the D.C. gang of too many insipid pundits. Jerry and Joe Long give aid (h/t to Greenwald):

What would Tim think? Gee Brian that's a toughy...he'd probably think what you think and Stephanopoulos thinks and Gibson thinks and Brokaw thinks and Couric thinks and Blitzer thinks...you know...somewhere safely inside the parameters of debate. Maybe for divergent views there'd be a round-table with David Broder drooling fossilized idiocy and Jon Meacham spouting biblical idiocy and Matalin and Carville encapsulating idiocy at the genetic level.

Meanwhile, Richard Cohen likes the Joe Biden pick because he saw John McCain dance with Jill Biden "on the terrace of the sublime Villa d'Este on the shore of Italy's stunning Lake Como." If Hunter Thompson were alive he would kill himself again.

Well, there y'go. I feel less insane now, thanky.

for the record...

And suddenly it dawns on me I have ADHD-TV: Attention Deficit Hi-Definition... uhm, TV.

trackin' fellow UMies...

Gotta look after m'hi-profile boys (& girls - help!):

Former UMass running back Marcel Shipp hooked on with the Texans after the Cardinals cut him loose, and Houston's brass views him as a nice insurance policy with Ahman Green currently saddled with a groin injury and fellow veteran Chris Brown considered injury-prone. The Texans have a stable of young backs in Chris Taylor, Darius Walker, and Steve Slaton, but Shipp, at least right now, adds experience to that depth.

Righteous sleeper pick, fantasy footballers!

Then there're be the likes of Richard Gere, Bill Pullman, Bill Cosby, Rob Cordray, Julius Erving, Mike Flanagan, Marcus Camby, et al...

I imagine you'd have a few to add, Naahm?

quote of the day...

Bill Chuck via Nick Cafardo:

"If Tom Glavine's career is over, he'll end his final season with a 2-4 record and a 5.54 ERA. In his first season in 1987, Glavine was 2-4, 5.54. Not much improvement in 21 years."

Goes to show Glavine, a good Billerica boy, shoulda stuck to hockey after all.

pat buchanan to the rescue...

Wow! If Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing, was a Republican, he'd say something like, "What a revoltin' development this is!"

Sen. John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann is a 'dual loyalist,' 'neocon warmonger' involved in activities that 'none dare call treason.'

A little rightwing rear-guard action a day after McCain's, er, "forgetfulness" yesterday, and it looks like the presumptive Republican nominee's campaign is already on the ropes.

And you have a terrific weekend too, y'hear?!

rachel maddow is my kinda lezbo...

... which means I kinda sorta dig her!

Meanwhile, Greenwald examines the wet tremulations of the pusilanimous pussyfooters within the corporate media (not to mention of the wingnuttery) over MSNBC's handing Maddow her own show to start 9/8/08.

The fear, of course, is grounded in the likelihood her ratings will grow to be HUGE among the progressives (myself included). And with Olberman as her lead-in, it says here MSNBC will soon own cable-news' prime-time.

Should that indeed come to pass, other networks will be hearing it, or ought to be, from their shareholders and thus likely be made to follow suit. Sadly though, this would mean said pussyfooters & wingnutteries could be made to exit the stage. Tsk!

So who needs a Fairness Doctrine after all, eh? Market forces may will out yet.

Is that John McCain I hear whining?

the unprofessionalism of the d.c. press corp...

Hey, I dig a good BBQ, but when the pundits can't do a credible job at pushing truth upon power after the fact, well, it's time to fire some lame asses.

h/t to TPM

----------
Update: In case you thought I was exaggerating...

what's got into kevin martin... ?

Jeez! I may have to reevaluate this guy.

lifestyles of the rich & famous...

John McCain: Real Estate Mogul...

Robin Leach: WHY AM I YELLING? I DON'T KNOWWW!!

----------
Update: Holy Cow! Am I prescient, or what!? (Another h/t to TPM):

In an early morning phone call Friday from his fabulous crib in Las Vegas, Leach told The Times that he isn’t really surprised at McCain's odd memory lapse given the complex lives that the super-rich lead.

"new phenomenon" caused WTC 7 to fall...

Thermal (read: Executive) expansion, my left buttock (which, along with the right one, is now on fire)... !!

Would this be the same cabal of feds who're trying to cover up the Anthrax case too?

limbaugh on obama: "little black man-child"...

How many different ways are there to call a man "boy"?

And, uhm, isn't this precisely why ESPN flushed Rush?

the case for picking lieberlips...

She who is Digby:

Many people think that the conservative base will have a fit if McCain chooses Holy Joe. But I think it all depends on whether Holy Joe agrees to become the fire-breathing anti-abortion zealot he's always secretly wanted to be. They love converts, especially the sickeningly condescending, self-righteous, sanctimonious kind. There's nobody out there who is more suited to the role of preachy social conservative than Joe Lieberman.

I fervently hope McCain does it. It would spell the end of Obama's ineffectual paeans to "post-partisanship" and force him to make a strong case for progressive policies -- which I have long believed the country was finally willing to hear for the first time in decades. He's got a gift for speaking and that's what he needs to be speaking about.

Go McCain-Loserman 08!

2nded!

listen up, white america: this means YOU... !

Love that Straight Talk when it's ferreal!

Town Hall Attendee: "If we don’t reenact the draft I don’t think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell."

John McCain: "I don’t disagree with anything you said."

Of course, a draft democratizes our responsibilities, assuming there'll be no deferments alloted this go 'round, assuming again McCain doesn't quickly wrest his head from betwixt his bigger cheeks on this apparent gaff, which means this'll destroy the Republicans, which means it looks like ol' man McCain has really doddered into a BIG ol' pile of blowback here.

Yeahhhh, baby!

while americans play monopoly, russians play chess...

Stepping outside the American media bubble, this from the Asia Times:

The fact is that all Russian politicians are clever. The stupid ones are all dead. By contrast, America in its complacency promotes dullards. A deadly miscommunication arises from this asymmetry. The Russians cannot believe that the Americans are as stupid as they look, and conclude that Washington wants to destroy them.

Meanwhile, it looks like Obama's finally getting a clue that engaging in bean bag with the Republicans (even if they are epitomized by simpletons like Bush and McCain) is dullard's play.

letterman doesn't go for the joke...

Interviewing Jane Mayer on her new book "The Dark Side." Good viewing!

surfing a tsunami...

This. Is. Just. Awesome!

manny a little too la la for la la land... ?

As much as I respect Joe Torre, I'm delighted to see Manny's narcissism rearing it's ugly head of hair again.

I generally favor the proletariat, even those of it who earn $20M a year, when it comes to "stickin' it to the man" on arbitrary impositions, like that of appearance. I remember finding the Cincy Reds of the 70s especially obnoxious, what with Sparky Anderson's "clean shave" rules of dress; contrasted, say, with the Swingin' A's of that outside-the-box thinker Charlie Finley -- handle-bar mustaches, white shoes, orange baseballs, and the like.

Having said all this, it'll be interesting to see if Manny ultimately complies with this attempt on his cajones via his dreadlocks. It says here if he cuts his hair, he may very well stay in L.A., but if not, dig on the Yankees, another corporate bot culture involving things like *ugh!* pinstripes!

----------
Update: Dig this photo-array & summary of all that was & is Manny.

sleepy white fat fucks for mccain...

Where "base" is an adjective and a noun -- his "base base," if you will...

the first thing we do is [prosecute] all the neocons...

John McCain's lead guy on foreign policy:

Scheunemann's 'policy' was to get the Georgians ginned up on the idea that we were their close military allies and that we'd come to their rescue if their brinksmanship with the Russians went bad. Well, that didn't work out very well. Any situation where you start the shooting and then find yourself begging for a ceasefire within 48 hours is a major blunder. He's not an 'expert' on Georgia; he's the lead guy on the policy that got us into this situation. And the fact that John McCain would make him his chief policy advisor after he's been the conductor on so many trainwrecks should tell us all we need to know about Sen. McCain's foreign policy judgment.

To Neocons, life is cheap.

i always did prefer eva longoria to evan longoria...

Deja vu all over again: T.B. Rays' super rookie 3B'man takes one on the wrist -- likely out for the season.

This is why Jim Rice missed the '75 Series, y'know; hit on the wrist with a pitch by Vern Ruhle. Although, this bit of news does wonders for the '08 Sox' chances.

What goes 'round, comes 'round... and hits you on the wrist!

i agree with what you say, but...

Wow! Josh Marshall really clips the strings:

Do whatever you can to make sure John McCain is not elected president. Too many opportunities for crazy mischief to let him get his hands on the military and the bomb.

I've been reading Marshall for a couple of years now, so his is a reputation of being particularly level-headed -- for a liberal, that is. That he implores his readers thusly fascinates me... and kinda scares me if not a little bit.

Meanwhile, it's moving pretty quickly now, this business between Russia and Georgia, and it is a very real possibility gasoline prices will skyrocket well beyond today's prices, what with Russia bombing Georgia's oil pipeline today. Meanwhile, the Neocons -- those *cough* brave lads -- are spoiling for a fight with the Russians; this after they've attrited our standing troop strength in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ah, but not to worry -- there's money to be made here.

Whoo! Do you feel a draft?

----------
Update: Doubly infuriating about these Neocons is when a body has to apply a reality-check upside their pipe-dreamer's dream; the question amounting to, "With what?? Our good looks?"

For example, they say: "We should go to war with Russia!"

"With what?? Our good looks?"

The problem is, of course, the Neocons themselves: They're all a bunch of ugly bastards!

mccain says hot chicks dig obama...

This was inevitable.

Karl Rove doesn't work for McCain, my ass.

Meanwhile, John, Paris Hilton thinks you're a "wrinkly white haired dude" -- not that she's the Oracle of Delphi, but, uhm... hey, you are.

barking up trees is a "great" blog... !

Thank you Editor person, whoever you are!

the john mccain quote of the day...

Now this is straight talk:

I think the thing that helps me, I probably -- I don't know if you like this much detail -- if I can sleep in to about 7:30 or 8, then it really helps me. When I get up real early, like 5:30 or 6, then, you know, you don't go to bed until 10, 10:30 or 11 -- it seems to help me to get up a little later in the morning. [...]

I just get a little more tired. Never cranky, or testy. I just think I do better. I kinda can tell, and I think [my staff] can tell you, if I put in three or four 18-hour, 20-hour days in a row, then I'm not sharp. It's just a fact. I can be sharp if I get a little more rest.

In his prime he was never the sharpest tool in the shed, but now??

And, uhm, can I have another look at that "3 a.m. phone call" commercial in context please?

i'd happily give manny a $20M bonus if only i could literally rip *this* guy a new one...

The creep belongs in a holding cell with a love-starved bruiser named Butch the Biter as his roommate:

Republican Strategist Karl Rove said on CBS' Face the Nationthat Barack Obama would choose his vice president based on political considerations rather than readiness for the position.

A perfect time to shove Wesley Clark down his gullet, eh, Barack?

----------
Update: Actually, the shit going down in Georgia is an even better reason for Obama to go with Clark. Come to think of it, I'd be surprised if the good General isn't getting a second, more serious look right about now.

Ironic if Rove actually provides the added incentive. Strange bedfellows indeed.

beth broderick...

Russ Feingold's new main squeeze, per HuffPo... A coincidence, of course, as I was only today announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate.

And a small uninhibited dog was heard to bark in the distance: "Milf! Milf!"

drop everything... !!

Tori Spelling is furious!

[A] contract controversy is preventing Tori Spelling from joining that so-called "edgy, contemporary spin-off" of the '90s hit 90210 on the network this fall as planned. Insiders tell me that Tori was hired to reprise her role as fashion boutique owner Donna Martin for just "$10,000-$20,000" per episode. But then Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were signed for "$35,000-$50,000" a show.

Face it, bitch! You just were never that interesting.

And you never would've gotten the gig in the first place if not for Daddy!

jesus was a perv, y'know...

Ohio Church: No Kissing, Tickling Allowed

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children.

Oh, let 'em get married already! It'd be a good bet, then, this crap would drop precipitously.

Wait! "Wrestle"?

Talk about putting the Greco to the Roman...

do the romulans know about this... ?

Invisibility Cloak Now Within Sight: Scientists

And my mom used to make fun of my reading comic books:

"But, Maaa, they're a hedge against inflation."

"Yes, but you read them!"

another one bites the dust...

Isaac Hayes: 1942 - 2008

Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?

Shaft!

Right on!

Can you dig it?

another thousand words...

... a few for example:

The President of the United States has a very short thumb.

unless, of course, they're muslims...

Don't Fear Religion, Bush Tells China

Where does he get the stones?

aww, jeez... ! him again... ?

So Manny seeks revenge against the Red Sox.

Here's what I know:

1) Manny, defensively a dill-hole, might have to get used to playing DH in the new Yankee Stadium. Hideki Matsui and/or Johnny Damon are significantly better outfielders, although I would love to see Manny brainfart a few more in that cavernous meadow. He's played well enough in Fenway, but consistently struggles in the larger venues. And -- AND!! -- he's getting old.

2) There is no secret compartment in the Stadium's leftfield wall where the hosebag can surreptitiously (or not so) cop a squirt.

3) Sox pitchers might have an incentive or a few to put one in his ear -- eh, Josh Beckett?

4) Did I mention the guy's gonna be 37 next year? Good luck with that, Bommahs!

5) And the first time he fails to run out a pop-up or grounder, or, gahd help 'im, a long-ball off the wall, I think I have enough respect for Yankees fans to know they'll ride his ass.

And then how'll he get his revenge on them?

6) Wait, didn't he already get his revenge on the Sox?

not to be confused with gerry & the pacemakers...

Doesn't Dick Cheney, like, run around with one of these things?

>Gak!<

Ah, that UMass connection...

it's up to you, san francisco...

Cindy Sheehan's on the ballot. The annoying if heroic war-dead Mom says it's time to take Nancy Pelosi "off the table."

All in favor... ?!

Loving this! Of course it means we'd have to suffer Rahm Emanuel as Speaker for at least the next two years if San Franciscans are sufficiently pissed by Pelosi's refusal to do her duty in liberating America from its presidential (and vice prez'l) scourge, but given he's a scumbag too, he'd likely have to start looking over his shoulder as well.

Y'hear, Chicago?

Oh, hey, Bethesda! Steny Hoyer's batting third. You dig?

Nevada! Step it up!!

Gives new meaning to the phrase "Domino Theory."

world war v... ?

Russian Warplanes Bomb Georgia

No, no! This isn't the same Georgia Ray Charles sung about.

And should We The People go to the aid of the Confederacy in any event?

These and other issues after a word from our war-profiting sponsors...

why the name "giles" should be reserved for the butler...

Nick Cafardo applies nicely a scalpel to Brian Giles' decision to stay with a lackluster team in a lackluster city when he could've gone to the Baseball Mecca. Even so, this line rankles even as it brings the point home:

The Red Sox probably are better off not having such a player. If you don't have enough fire to play when the heat is on, in a city that has passion for baseball, and would rather stay where you're "comfortable," in a place where your lifestyle takes precedence over your job, then the Sox surely were making the wrong choice in Giles to be the protection they were seeking with their injury-riddled lineup.

I get that Cafardo values the Protestant work ethic here, particularly when your job requires you to put the pedal to the metal 24/7. But if you're an everyday Joe, you're likely where I'm at -- prioritizing "lifestyle" over "job." Any day. If you already have a comfortable lifestyle, you don't need a job to fuck it up. It's derived from the adage: "Nobody's ever been quoted on their death bed as having said, 'Gee! I wish I spent more time at the office!'"

Having said that, I'm pretty certain that in order to have a decent lifestyle, one usually needs to work in order to sustain it. I'm just sayin'.

Meanwhile, Cafardo's right, of course, about not wanting to have such a player. After their unloading of Manny the Fanny, I find myself genuinely rooting for the Sox again, i.e., versus nursing a palpable indifference.

And what of poor Brian Giles? The suspicion here now is, given the immediate reaction to his decision, he's gotta be thinking he just screwed the pooch.

-----------
Update: Not to disparage butlers, mind you. In fact, by any unit of measure -- Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day, for example -- butlers are pretty serious (and hard-working) cats.

john mccain: one crispy critter...

Must see TV...

oh hey, l.a... !

Enjoy it while you can, 'cause the bloom always comes off that rose.

quote of the day...

Via Andrew Sullivan:

We're wasting our time beating up on John McCain for suggesting that his leathery ol' wife should participate in a topless/bottomless beauty pageant. Yes, Obama couldn't say it—but then Obama isn't a notorious ladies man and adulterer that dumped his first wife when she went and got all ugly and shit.

K2 & you...

Fascinating read on the tragedy a few days ago...

mccain = manny...

I read this piece and wondered where I'd heard it before:

For a man who will turn 72 this month, he’s a surprisingly immature politician — erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice.

... and then I realized, "Oh yah! The Sox just traded his ass the other day."

... with a spoon... !!

Oh Lord! A prediction of Evan Bayh as Obama's VP choice.

[I]t seems like a slam dunk to me.

More like a slam dink. Bayh is the original DINO from the Flintstones.

no comment...

"God hates Fags!" church burns.

I plead the 5th.

time to get some at-bats, barack baby... !!

A steady drumbeat of this might work:

"After one president in the pocket of big oil we can't afford another," says the ad, referring to President Bush's previous work in the oil industry.

I've always held with the principle of the best defense being a good offense. Inbred Dems seem not to get it, right Messrs. Dukakis, Gore & Kerry? Contrary to what the Reptilians would have you believe, it was never the populist message that killed the Dems but the anemic messengers. Repos, meanwhile, are so fat & stupid as to be choice and easy targets. So it's like they teach you in the infantry then, Fire for effect!

the republican party makes war on the american people...

Hmm... Blackwater op participates in a DEA bust of a medical marijuana facility in -- not Iraq -- California!

Are members of a disputed mercenary killer group now working with the DEA? A photo from the LA Times shows proof of one of two things; either Blackwater members are now working for the Bush White House's Drug Enforcement Agency, or this semi-illegitimate band of rogue federal cops have worse discipline than any of us ever imagined.

A government of the people, by the people, for the people apparently shall perish from this Earth.

the rhetorical to end all rhetoric...

Silly Gordon Edes asks what need not be:

Was Manny misbehaving on purpose?

To which I gotta ask: Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods?

Okay, well, No! to those latter two; but Manny? Hell yes!

sunday funnies...

The swim was a short one at the Freeport Y, the mood for it being what it was -- or wasn't. Stopped at Josh's Tavern on the way back, chowed the cheddar burger and quaffed a Stella, this while the Sox were delayed by rain. Now, back at the Dog to share the moment while the 7.5 gigs of Final Cut Pro docs are loading on the hard drive. Sundloff'ed be so proud. It is why I got the MacBook Pro in the first place after all (and it's only two years later): making a movie. After I figure out the technology of the video editing here -- thank you, library book -- the next step is to write a script with frickin' laser beams on its head.

The way things go.

tim kaine: vp finalist for obama... ?

I'll buy this. It would significantly increase the chances of turning Virginia blue. And if he can't have Mark Warner (whom I'd like better in the Senate anyway) Kaine's only draw-back I can see at the moment is an endorsement by the greasy Terry McAuliffe, which brings me full circle to the fact the old girl & I were getting a little bit nervous by all this "taking a second look at Hillary" talk.

Like, brr, Dude!

-----------
Update: On second thought, I take it back. Kaine's just another DINO apparently.

Wes Clark! Where you at!?

whither "zoomass"... ?

Princeton via HuffPo has the Top-20 Party School List.  Toto, I don't think this is the 70s & 80s anymore.

1. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
2. University of Mississippi, University, Miss.
3. Penn State University, University Park, Pa.
4. West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.Va.
5. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
6. Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va.
7. University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
8. University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
9. University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Calif.
10. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla.
11. University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H.
12. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
13. University of Colorado, Boulder, Co.
14. Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
15. Tulane University, New Orleans, La.
16. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.
17. Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
18. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.
19. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
20. Loyola University-New Orleans, New Orleans, La.

yah, like they would know...

Now herrrre's a revelation:

Obama Would Drag US Into Depression: McCain Camp

Like, these are the same malignant yabbos who gave us the Bush recession, right? The same cynical bastards who now say McCain the candidate doesn't necessarily represent the McCain For President campaign on economic issues? More tax cuts for the obscenely rich? No trickle-down? Jobs outsourced overseas? Gas over $4-a-gallon? Food prices sky-rocketing? Mad cow imported? Canadian pharmaceuticals kept out?

Man! I'm already depressed. And the McSames are on say anything mode.

wrong in sooo many ways...

I may give up watching baseball altogether.

Not so much a h/t to those Deadspin bastards.

shove yer flag lapel pin already... !

I met Charles Krauthammer over a chess table about 10-12 years ago. He's as dreary in person as he projects on TV; but he's not incapable of projecting wry:

Obama will probably win. That snake in the grass Maliki just threw the election Obama's way. And he doesn't even wear an American flag lapel pin.

So le'me put to rest this bit of bovine excretia for you losers who actually believe wearing star-spangled bling is a testimony to your *cough* patriotism. I'm assuming most of you won't vote for Obama anyway and use the fact he was resistant to being bullied into adorning his finely tailored wear with cheap costume jewelry for even cheaper reasons as proof of his squishiness toward some kind of Old Glory nationalism. Your belief system is wholly similar to that of fundamentalist Christianists. That being the case, I refer you to the book of Matthew:

6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

The principle's the same: A man foisting his piety/patriotism on others, and expects others to respond in kind, merely displays a false pride. If you're keeping it real, others don't have to see you doing it. And I realize that's an over-simplification, particularly as it pertains to trolling for "low-information" voters in a presidential campaign.

One might note Obama wore his flag lapel pin during the Berlin speech, and probably now has to sleep with the thing. What's next then, a matching decoder ring?

----------
By the by, Matthew's admonition applies particularly well to the school-prayer debate.

----------

Update: Oh darn! That wasn't Krauthammer's quote after all, just a Kos writer's summary. Oh well! Guess Krauthammer isn't even wry.

except batman doesn't beat up or beat down the innocent...

Kos writer excerpts this piece from the WSJ:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

I've read my share of Batman comics dating back to the 60s. Batman goes after bad guys, not sorry bastards caught in the middle. And if we could merge the reality-based and faith-based for a nano-second, Batman would go after Bush with prejudice.

End of story.

just before 9/11...

What's that lyric from Sgt. Pepper's... ? Oh yeah: "It was 7 years ago today... !!" Okay, not 7, but 20 years, and not today; a week or so, here or there -- big deal!

But I seem to recall '01 as a fun summer!

berlin cops estimate obama's crowd at 200 thousand...

John McCain says he'll wait until he's president to speechify in Berlin, which, if we're lucky, means he won't be giving speeches in Berlin; or he's just afraid he'd cause a stampede if he let off with one of those ghoulish smiles of his -- either that or he wouldn't draw a coupla hundred, let alone a coupla hundred thousand.

All of which leaves me with the certitude that after 8 years of inflicting the likes of Dubya on the world, We The People of the United States owe it a whole lot better than John McCain.

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Update: Hmm, not alone in my thinking here:

"I'm not an American ... It's your election first," Solvit says. "But I am a world citizen, and what you do will affect us ... If we see that the U.S. is changing, it's good for all of us." Solvit also believes it's a Republican thing to say that foreign support is bad. "Everything is moving. He [Obama] is a symbol of this new evolution."

could it be americans are simply incapable of doing the right thing... ?

Polls: McCain Coming On Strong In Battleground State

Choose your cliche: Snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory; Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people; Americans are fat & stupid! They all apply, and never more so should McCain, the blithering buffoon (or did you sleep this week?), prevail this November.

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Update: Er, no. Looks like it's just the pale faces (with *sigh* pale personalities) who're fat & stupid. Quelle surprise!

mad men...

The old girl & I did up the marathon of Mad Men on AMC the other day. Upshot: We're both champing at the bit for season 2 coming Sunday night at 10. Season 1 out on DVD if yer curious.

oh, kiiiiiids... !

Was just washing dishes in the kitchen when I overheard a commercial, referencing a "back-to-school" sale, on the tube. It's still July, isn't it?

Consumer hell, that is America. Used to be when Christmas commercials weren't inflicted on us until the day after Thanksgiving; now we get 'em 'round Halloween.

Boo!

while dubya was reading "the pet goat" (while) upside down...

Cheney (Dick!) ordered the hit:

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. U.S. officials have never stated it was shot down although rumors saying that abound to this day.

And here's a lot more they haven't been telling you.

and the dogs said, "whaddya mean we gotta stop!?"...

Their names are "Lucky" and "Buddy" (no lie!)...

The nation's largest animal sanctuary has agreed to accept two dogs that authorities say were trained to have sex with women.

A coupla thoughts here:

1) They're dogs, and one can only imagine dogs as not minding this bit of business, like, at all;

but 2) Society frowns, and therefore the dogs must now frown.

Frown now, brown dogs!

sauce for the goose...

Fair's fair (or is it Vanity Fair's fair?), except the constitution burning in the McCain fireplace and the Bush portrait on his wall, rather than the flag & bin Laden's respectively, vis a vis Obama, hits a whole lot closer to the reality-based universe.

h/t to therawstory...

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Update: Wow! Looks like I'm ahead of the curve once again:

If Vanity Fair's cartoonist wanted to flip the New Yorker cover on the GOP, they'd have to portray the media's lies about the candidate. Not the true stuff.

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Update 2: And it only now occurs: With the comic McCain employing a walker, the artist might have rendered him in a hospital gown, his wrinkled tookas peaking out the back door. Now that would've sold the concept (and upset my appetite greatly)!

mccain's people: "we're f*cked!"

in today's news:

"Overall, however, Obama cleared a crucial bar in today's press conference. He looked and sounded presidential at a moment when the eyes of the world were on him.

"Will it dramatically affect the race at home when Obama returns? It's hard to tell. But, rest assured that if Obama today had come across as flip or not sufficiently versed on the issues in Iraq and the Middle East, it would have been a major problem for his candidacy. Obama cleared that hurdle with ease."

triangulate *this*, bill... !

Obama: I'll End Don't-Ask, Don't-Tell

One gets the sense that when Bill Clinton acquiesced to this abomination as an homage to equal justice under law (not), in keeping with his too-comfortable approach of caving to the Newties in Congress on so many other issues, i.e., as his default position, and calling it "triangulating," his had t'be the mindset of one prepared to quite literally split the baby down the middle had it been made necessary.

Another reason to believe the running theory of Clinton's basic problem with Obama as being a fundamental envy of a better man.

h/t to TPM...

down goes frazier... !!

Lovely haymaker, this:

The clear endorsement of Senator Barack Obama by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Saturday morning came as a strong blow to the McCain campaign.

McCain has claimed a superiority to Obama in matters of foreign policy as a major selling point to his candidacy for president, but that position is more difficult in the wake of al-Maliki's statement.

After hearing of the announcement, a sometime adviser to the McCain campaign said in an email, "We're f**ked," according to Mark Ambinder of The Atlantic.

while watching "mad men" on a sunday afternoon...

This exchange between Lieberlips and fellow neocon Evan Bayh got me thinking about the Pentagon's long-held certitude about being able to maintain a "two-front" war. The U.S. did it during WWII of course, and they -- we -- thought we could do it now in Afghanistan and Iraq. The difference, however, was Roosevelt wasn't a truculent little bastard without an ounce of humility, and thus had the entire nation backing his play.

Meanwhile the current resident of the oval office and his wannabe heir apparent John McCain insist we're winning in Iraq. But note how they're not so hubristic about our chances in Afghanistan, which ought to give you every indication as to how dire the situation must be there. And since there's no draft, the chances of even holding serve diminishes by the day. The Afghanis and Iraqis have nothing but time and we're growing broke and perhaps broken.

You may now do the math.

don't let manny be manny anymore...

Tea leaves say he could be out the door?

desecration of the flag...

... is when a Republican wraps himself in it:

At one point, Ashcroft said he was so moved by the give-and-take with Bush administration colleagues he was near "standing up and singing the national anthem."

Illustrating the distinction between patriotism and nationalism as well...

netroots nation '08...

I imagine that, at some point, I'll be attending one of these things. They're lookin' t'be a hoot:

The convention’s biggest political get this year is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will participate in a question-and-answer session. The convention will also hear from some of those whom the netroots have propelled into office, including Representative Donna Edwards, Democrat of Maryland, who beat a 15-year incumbent in a primary earlier this year and then won a special election to fill the remainder of his term after he resigned.

If sparks fly, many expect them at a debate between Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the DailyKos and inspiration for the conventions, and former Representative Harold Ford Jr., the chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, on how to bring about change in Washington.

I mean, le'me at 'er, the simpering footstool! True or False, Madame Speaker: You got your job provided you took Impeachment off the table; or was there any other justifiable reason, other than CYA, yours and your colleagues', for not only not taking down a war criminal at first opportunity, but capitulating at every turn as it pertained to the occupation of Iraq?

Meanwhile, note Obama's convenient, reasonable excuse to avoid those whom he's, yes, betrayed, i.e., supporting Dodd's FISA filibuster back during the primaries (when Edwards was still in the race) only to switch and vote for the damnable thing when the only option for us then would be to jump to -- >gak!< -- ol' Mr. 894 out of 899.

Mr. Obama must prep for his big trip overseas! -- True enough, but it strikes me to have been a far better bet had he gone during the Republican Convention. Talk about sucking all the oxygen outta that room.

"Ideological purity," bourgeois NYT writer? Not so much. Feeling used from the slick maneuverings of an evidently greasier-than-was-believed politician? Yeah, that pisses me off. Somebody oughta tell Slick that it wasn't being called a liberal that killed Dukakis, Gore, or Kerry; it was the running toward the mushy middle in response.

My kingdom for some imagination.