Monday, June 18, 2007
Bamboo Bike
This is fascinating. Be sure to check out the 'photo gallery'.
Let's hope Harley-Davidson doesn't hear about this...
Let's hope Harley-Davidson doesn't hear about this...
Quote of the Day
Think Progress
There have been gay men in the world's militaries since time immemorial. There has never been a reported loss of combat efficiency due to widespread "friggin' in the riggin' ". This whole 'don't ask, don't tell' business would just be silly in the extreme if it were not for the fact that it hurts people who have dedicated their lives to protecting our country.
"When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one." (my em) — the tombstone epitaph of decorated Air Force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, whose "medals, uniform and other personal effects make up the centerpiece of 'Out Ranks,' a new exhibit that documents the tortured relationship between gay troops and the U.S. military from World War II to the present."
There have been gay men in the world's militaries since time immemorial. There has never been a reported loss of combat efficiency due to widespread "friggin' in the riggin' ". This whole 'don't ask, don't tell' business would just be silly in the extreme if it were not for the fact that it hurts people who have dedicated their lives to protecting our country.
Mucho jamón por dos huevos...
In all good conscience, I cannot post this picture, but I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment.
The title of the post is a Mexican pun, literally "A lotta ham for two eggs". Figuratively and culturally, huevos has nothing to do with chickens...
The title of the post is a Mexican pun, literally "A lotta ham for two eggs". Figuratively and culturally, huevos has nothing to do with chickens...
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
IMMIGRATION PASSES IRAQ AMONG AMERICANS' GREATEST CONCERNS ⇒
But both lag behind other hot button issues.
Senate No-Confidence Vote on Attorney General Fails
Gonzales calls it "a mandate."
Scientists Developing Clothing That Monitors Your Health
Underwear beeps when you're due for checkup.
I was wondering what that noise was...
Too many good zingers this week to do 'em justice. Go see.
Insurgencies ...
I was gonna blog about this yesterday but Brother Lurch got to it and gives it the treatment it deserves:
He goes on to detail a host of insurgencies that have 'cropped up' over the last few hundred years and how stopping them, usually unsuccessful, required methods the average American would not abide.
...
But GEN Petraeus’s response is quite interesting, because being in uniform and all, one might think he actually has studied this history thing that’s such a mystery down at the shallow end of the gene pool where the never-right seem to congregate.
...
He goes on to detail a host of insurgencies that have 'cropped up' over the last few hundred years and how stopping them, usually unsuccessful, required methods the average American would not abide.
Are you idiots?
I'd like to know who the genius was who thought this was safe?
We've been dealing with the street racing problem in NY a long time and are painfully aware of what can go wrong. Thing is, most street racing is illegal. This was a legal, sanctioned event so I ask the organizers, what the fuck were you thinking? How the fuck are you gonna sleep at night with 6 lives, so far, on your conscience?
This accident was a long time coming and as those of us in the business know, racing is inherently dangerous. I could regale you for hours with stupid racing stories of how shit happened at sanctioned tracks.
A note to the person who arranged this idiocy: You have a good cause; next year hold it at a racetrack instead of a highway. If there is a next year. Odds are, you'll be sued into destitution. Good luck living out of that refrigerator box.
Question for the Tennessee Highway Patrol: How the fuck did they get a permit for this stupidity?
SELMER, Tenn. -- Two more people have died after a drag-racing car went out of control and careened into a crowd of spectators, raising the death toll to six, officials said yesterday.
...
There was a guard rail along at least part of the highway but not where the crash occurred.
...
We've been dealing with the street racing problem in NY a long time and are painfully aware of what can go wrong. Thing is, most street racing is illegal. This was a legal, sanctioned event so I ask the organizers, what the fuck were you thinking? How the fuck are you gonna sleep at night with 6 lives, so far, on your conscience?
This accident was a long time coming and as those of us in the business know, racing is inherently dangerous. I could regale you for hours with stupid racing stories of how shit happened at sanctioned tracks.
A note to the person who arranged this idiocy: You have a good cause; next year hold it at a racetrack instead of a highway. If there is a next year. Odds are, you'll be sued into destitution. Good luck living out of that refrigerator box.
Question for the Tennessee Highway Patrol: How the fuck did they get a permit for this stupidity?
Cross-posted at Fixer & Gordon.
So, tell me again ...
Why we went into Iraq and wasted, that's right wasted, over 3500 lives so far?
So now it's official. When does impeachment happen and when do the war crimes trials begin?
Note to Rethugs: If you ever want to win another election, you'll bring up the subject of impeachment yourselves.
UNITED NATIONS, June 16 — The search for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction appears close to an official conclusion, several years after their absence became a foregone one.
The United States and Britain have circulated a new proposal to the members of the United Nations Security Council to “terminate immediately the mandates” of the weapons inspectors. Staff meetings on the latest proposal have already taken place, and officials say that the permanent Council members, each of whom has veto power, seem ready to let the inspection group — the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission — meet its end.
...
So now it's official. When does impeachment happen and when do the war crimes trials begin?
Note to Rethugs: If you ever want to win another election, you'll bring up the subject of impeachment yourselves.
Link via Atrios.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Irony, thy name art Bush ...
Chicago Sun-Times:
How much is Iraq costing us?
CRAWFORD, Texas---- President Bush warned Congress on Saturday that he will use his veto power to stop runaway government spending.
...
How much is Iraq costing us?
Leadership
You know, after the lack of leadership from Washington in the I-P situation, it might be better at this point if Israel just kicked the place over and put it to bed once and for all. I'm no fan of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians but this situation has less hope of being solved then the mess in Iraq does.
One Mob Left
Daddy Frank on the last big mob and their attempts to free one of their own. Today's 'must read'.
Don't miss this one. That's our Pop! Even if he ain't coppin' to it...
Update:
Bill Moyers has a good piece on this as well.
But unlikely moral arbiter that Mrs. Gotti may be, she does have a point. As the Iraq war careens toward a denouement as black, unresolved and terrifying as David Chase's inspired "Sopranos" finale, the mob in the capital deserves at least equal attention. John Gotti, the last don, is dead. Mr. Chase's series is over. But the deaths on the nightly news are coming as fast as ever.
Among those contributing to the 373 pages of what thesmokinggun.com calls "Scooter Libby Love Letters" are self-identified liberals and Democrats, a few journalists (including a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine) and a goodly sample of those who presided over the Iraq catastrophe or cheered it on. This is a documentary snapshot of the elite Washington mob of our time.
No wonder Victoria Gotti denigrated "that mob in Washington." When the godfathers of this war speak of never leaving "a fallen comrade" on the battlefield in Iraq, as Mr. Ajami writes of Mr. Libby, they are speaking first and foremost of one another. The soldiers still making the ultimate sacrifice for this gang's hubristic folly will just have to fend for themselves.
Don't miss this one. That's our Pop! Even if he ain't coppin' to it...
Update:
Bill Moyers has a good piece on this as well.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Bluegrass Alert!
KVMR-FM is streaming The 32nd Annual California Bluegrass Association Father's Day Festival from Grass Valley CA for the remainder of the weekend. I think it goes 'til 11PM tonight and all day tomorrow. Enjoy.
When I tried to link to the station it was jammed up. Give it a Google. I'll try again later.
Speak English or get out ...
Atrios sums it up exactly and succinctly.
As someone who grew up in a neighborhood consisting of off-the-boat Italians, Polish, and Germans, I can attest to that. 80% of my friends had at least one parent who spoke no, broken, or English with an accent (both my parents fell into that category and I spoke German before I spoke English). All of us grew up speaking English without a hint of our forebears' ethnicity in our voices. You damn well know we're from Lawn Guyland though. Heh ...
Now my neighborhood is Latin American, Indian, Afghani, Chinese, and Korean. Same shit, just more chickens.
And another thought. Though I never spoke a word of Italian or Polish, I sure knew when the old ladies were pissed about something we did. Heh ...
...
The fact is that "immigrants not learning English" is only a problem for people who are offended by the stray sounds of Spanish. The children of immigrants do learn English. There just is no identifiable "problem" here. Sure older immigrants may not become fluent in The President's English, but who cares? [my em]
As someone who grew up in a neighborhood consisting of off-the-boat Italians, Polish, and Germans, I can attest to that. 80% of my friends had at least one parent who spoke no, broken, or English with an accent (both my parents fell into that category and I spoke German before I spoke English). All of us grew up speaking English without a hint of our forebears' ethnicity in our voices. You damn well know we're from Lawn Guyland though. Heh ...
Now my neighborhood is Latin American, Indian, Afghani, Chinese, and Korean. Same shit, just more chickens.
And another thought. Though I never spoke a word of Italian or Polish, I sure knew when the old ladies were pissed about something we did. Heh ...
A whore by any other name ...
It's Saturday and that means another chapter of my novel The Fourth Estate is up at The Practical Press.
Don't fence me in...
That picture makes me wish for a souped-up cattle prod with a handle long enough to reach right up under the tail...
Robin Olds 1922-2007
LATimes
Please go read the obit of a true American hero. Not everybody in a flight suit is a phony.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, a World War II ace fighter pilot who later commanded an Air Force wing that shot down seven Communist MIGs over North Vietnam in the biggest air battle of the Vietnam War, has died. He was 84.
Please go read the obit of a true American hero. Not everybody in a flight suit is a phony.
Smothers Brothers Diplomacy
Harper's
I think that's a smokin' good idea, which means it probably ain't happening.
And we can't leave without the oil, anyway. Bush's masters have spoken.
That was a great show. I remember once when they were talking about the benefits of using condoms, unheard of on TV in those days, and Tommy said in his deadpan way that he was wearing one right then and there and holding it on with duct tape.
Meanwhile, there's a rumor circulating in Baghdad and in some Washington circles that the CIA, in order to help the Bush Administration find a face-saving way to get out, is bribing Iraqi parliamentarians to vote for an end to the American troop presence. I have absolutely no reason to believe this is anything more than a rumor, but the very fact that it is being discussed indicates just how desperate the military (and political) situation is in Iraq.
I think that's a smokin' good idea, which means it probably ain't happening.
And we can't leave without the oil, anyway. Bush's masters have spoken.
Back in the early-1970s, when the war in Vietnam was hopelessly bogged down, Tommy and Dickey Smothers proposed during their Comedy Hour that the United States simply declare that it had won and pull out. It may come to pass that the Bush Administration turns to Smother Brothers diplomacy as a way to get out of Iraq.
That was a great show. I remember once when they were talking about the benefits of using condoms, unheard of on TV in those days, and Tommy said in his deadpan way that he was wearing one right then and there and holding it on with duct tape.
America in a nutshell ...
Kate Harding at Shakesville:
... There you have it, folks. Losing the “last 15 pounds” is a bigger priority than not crapping your pants. ... [em in orig]
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