The United Countries of Baseball

Being a baseball fan, this appeals greatly on many levels.

Pic courtesy of Strange Maps, one of my favorite places on the interwebs. Click to embiggen.

Which reminds me, it's time to plan a drive up to Cooperstown.

I'M IN CHARGE NOW!

Gordon's gone all day, THINK! of the havoc I can wreak!

As if there weren't enough faces in the presidential campaign, I see we can add another name to the list of 'Dumb Fucks running for Prez.' Just take a look; it's mind-numbing! Christ - When. Will. It. End!

Is there any way ...

As a shareholder in Carnival Corporation, that I can keep these assholes off my motherfucking ship in the future?

Just askin'.

IsTHIS What I think It Is?!

From our friends at McClatchy:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq — The sign taped to the men's latrine is just five lines:

"US MILITARY CONTRACTORS CIVILIANS ONLY!!!!!"

It needed only one: "NO IRAQIS."

Reality of the Working Poor vs. Mitt

This is going to be a bit of a raw post.

Go to The Washington Post's, 'The Trail' ("a daily diary of campaign 2008') and watch the video of a waitress at the Red Arrow diner in Manchester, NH, who managed to confront Mitt Romney regarding health care. She became a bit testy while Mitt was rambling on about how he envisioned 'the world looking to the U.S. for health care.' There was something about 'Muslim nations' he threw in as well that I'm not real sure about. At any rate, this working woman has health care. Both she & her husband work. What she illustrates are the costs of their health care. The cost of having insurance, the deductible, the copay for office visits, the copay for medications.

There's a bit more at my place if interested....it's longish so I wasn't sure about posting it here. As I'm not in Mass or anywhere near, I'm really curious about the accuracy of Mitt's claim of this:

We found it cost us more money to be giving free care out at hospitals than to help people buy their own private care,” Romney said, sweating a bit by this point.

Ho-ly shit!

Truth from a lowlife, adulterous, douche bag. Fucking amazing.

Why do we bother?

We busted our butts to get a Dem Congress elected last year and we finally figured the Chimp's bullshit was at an end. Yeah, fat chance:

The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order.

...

This and the fact that idiot Dianne Feinstein voted to confirm another one of the Chimp's activist judges:

...

But Sen. Feinstein had a meeting with Southwick and he assured her that he is "not outside the mainstream." Despite her promise to be "very, very cautious" with Bush's nominees, Feinstein voted with the unanimous GOP to send Southwick's nomination to the Senate for a vote. When she announced her vote, she conceded that she "could be wrong" and that "maybe" she's been wrong before.

...

Why the fuck do we bother? Is there a prerequisite to becoming a politician requiring them to be certified morons? Jesus H. Christ.

Update:

More from Paradox:

...

There is no other way to put it, and I implore with all the earnestness I can muster to our leadership (Party and netroots both) in Chicago and Pelosi’s office: something has gone horribly, horribly wrong in Washington DC, Bush is berserk and the Senate is boogying right along with him on FISA, along with all the horrors inflicted upon the country.

...

I'm starting to think they're all in it together.

[We are honored to welcome Crooks & Liars readers to the Brain.]

The stench of hypocrisy 17

Via Montag:

Tommy Tester, 58, of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly urinating in front of children at a car wash, police said.

...

Update:

A two-fer this morning. Auguste at Pandagon looks at the hypocrisy of Little Michelle.

Weekly Blogwhore

The next chapter of my novel The Fourth Estate is up at The Practical Press.

And a reminder, Thirty Days at Zeta begins in October. Sneak preview here.

I'd vote for him ...

(AP) MANCHESTER, N.J. Police charged the mayor of Lakehurst with possession of marijuana and driving under the influence of the drug.

Police say they stopped Stephen Childers because they smelled what they suspected to be burning marijuana wafting from the 50-year-old's pickup.

An officer was driving behind Childers on Route 70 when the vehicle slowed because of traffic on Wednesday night.

...

Take it from someone who sits in a lot of traffic jams, mayor, use the A/C and keep the windows closed. Heh ...

People over Party

The rest of the Rethugs should take a lesson from Gov. Tim Pawlenty of MN. He's just flushed any chance of being a Rethug VP candidate (something he was positioning himself for until yesterday).

ST. PAUL -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty is willing to reverse his longstanding opposition to a state gas tax increase in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, a spokesman said Friday.

...

The gas-tax shift is a huge political concession for Pawlenty, who has stood firmly against any state tax increases during his 4 1/4 years in office.

...

I don't think he's turned into a 'white knight' overnight, but you have to hand it to him for putting the welfare of Minnesotans over party loyalty (and his career) in this instance.

Update (Saturday morning):

From D. R. Scott in comments:

Naw.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to give him shit. Fuck him. All he's trying to do his save his ass, because he knows damned well the Democrats are gonna nail him hard for killing the gas tax proposal twice since he's been in office.

I'd be a lot more impressed if people didn't have to die before his miraculous epiphany, y'know?

Quite true.

On nukes ...

This is where it is, bottom line. If you take nukes off the table, you might as well get rid of them. That's it.

Now, I'm not saying we should threaten Mecca or Medina, like that twit Tancredo, or any particular place in any particular nation. What I am saying is that there is no point having a weapon if you're not willing to use it.

It's like the gun weenies who have guns as a penis extension. "I'm gonna protect my [stuff, family, rights] and nobody's gonna take my gun away". I always ask them if they've ever aimed at someone and pulled the trigger. I always ask them if they're capable of doing it. Unless you've been there, you don't know what it takes to point a gun at someone and kill them. If you can't, don't have a gun because if you pull it on someone like me, they're gonna take it away from you and shove it up your ass.

Same with nukes. What the fuck you think kept the Russians from doing whatever the fuck they wanted during the Cold War? What the fuck do you think is keeping Osama or any other terrorist-sponsoring state from facilitating a dirty bomb attack here? Homeland Security? Chertoff and his gut? No, not hardly. Osama, Ahmedinejad, and every other wannabe tinhorn asshole knows that the minute there is a nuclear detonation in the United States, Iran, or whatever state facilitated the attack, would be turned into a smoking, glowing, hole in the ground. Period.

They don't mind sending mentally challenged, hopeless morons to martyr themselves, but they sure ain't willing to give up what they got. No, ladies and germs. Every nation on earth should know we are willing to use whatever is in our arsenal to defend ourselves. Don't like nukes? (For the record, I don't either and think they should be abolished.) Pressure your politicians to outlaw and dismantle them but as long as they're in the inventory, they should never be 'taken off the table'.

Quote of the Day

Peter of Lone Tree:

Thought for the day: There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

Hopefully, by then, I'll be impotent, incontinent, and delusional ... better yet, dead.

We're gonna have a Blast tomorrow

Click to increase displacement

There'll likely be no blogging from me tomorrow. Mrs. G bought a brand new motorbike, exactly like the one in the picture, last Sunday (probably not coincidentally also the date of the full Moon), and we have to go to Harley-Davidson/Buell of Fresno tomorrow to collect it. Fresno's about 300 miles from here, so it's gonna be an all-day deal.

We haven't bought a bike since 1983, and Mrs. G hasn't had a new one since her '73 Hodaka Wombat. Now's the time. She works hard and saves her money and she certainly deserves a new toy.

She's had a cool cammed-up hotrod 500 Triumph for 30 years, but lately the seat height and kickstart-only feature haven't been as easy for her to handle as they used to be and it takes away from the fun for her. Please God don't let her see this, but as she's gotten longer in the tooth, she's become somewhat more inseam-challenged. Above all else, motorcycling is fun, so change was in the air.

The bike is a leftover 2006 Buell Blast (Specs here). It's an American-made 500cc single-cylinder job. Mrs. G (and myself) like thumpers for the type of power they make, and besides being way cool lookin', these are light and easy to ride. They have self-starters as well, but what shoved her off the edge for one of these is the seat height of 27.5", with an available seat to lower it to 25.5" (ouch!). After mucho webgazing she found the '06 in a color she liked and from that point on it was Katy bar the door! She asked me if she could get it, to which my carefully thought out measured response was "Hell, yes!", and the deed was done.

My week has been spent sorting out all the details vís-a-vís the dealer, insurance, and making enough room for another sled in a garage full of 'em. All that remains is to remove the tonneau cap off the pickup, since it's considered rude to lay a brand new bike on its side and let it rattle around in a truck bed. Besides which, she'd kill me if I did that, and no jury in the land would convict her. I said I'd take the battery out of it, but to no avail.

We don't do stuff like this every day, and we're both very excited about it.

Might see y'all later, might not, but see ya soon.

Iraq Contractors to Have Hooker-in-Residence

Wonkette

Good news, boys: “Tori” the Escort is going to be in Baghdad’s Green Zone for an extended tour, starting next week! Thanks to the graciousness of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, Tori from Atlanta will be working out of a secured compound in the green zone, “entertaining all members of the PMC community registered with PSCAI with a few stipulations.” Private contractors are invited to contact her for an appointment.

My apologies but at this time I am unable to plan any meetings w/active duty military. (*The members of PMC community has an exclusive arrangement during this visit*) Kisses ~Tori

Private Contractors are truly the unsung heroes of this glorious war, so we’re thrilled to see their hard work rewarded. Nothing like flying in a hooker an erotic escort to keep that celebrated reconstruction work humming along smoothly!

Tori is well-reviewed (MAN-NEEDS101 gave her a perfect 10 for performance! She should be hired to fucking run security over there with those kind of numbers!) and disease free, so if you happen to be in Baghdad’s International Zone this August, give her a ring!

The article doesn't say who pays, whether the customers or us, but I'll bet it's us in the end. We always get it in the end. If I'm buyin' nookie with my tax money, it should be for the troops.

Healthy pawns?

Paul Krugman on children's health care and hedge fund tax loopholes.

It’s been a good Democrats, bad Democrats kind of week. The bill expanding children’s health insurance that just passed in the House makes you want to stand up and cheer. Reports that Senator Charles Schumer opposes plans to close the hedge fund tax loophole make you want to sit down and cry.

Let’s start with the good news: The House bill, which the Congressional Budget Office says would provide coverage to five million children who would otherwise be uninsured.

The bill is so good that it has Republicans spluttering. “The bill uses children as pawns,” declared Representative Pete Sessions of Texas. Yes, the Democrats are exploiting children — by providing them with health care.

The horror, the horror!

In the spirit of "Happy Friday", I'll skip the part about the rich not having to pay taxes and the pols who love them.

House votes on troop rotation

The Boston Globe

Brushing aside a veto threat, the Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to give U.S. troops guaranteed time at home between deployments to Iraq.

Bush thinks our troops are cheap, expendable labor who don't deserve a rest, the prick. Besides, he's starting to run out of them.

We'll see where this House vote goes from here.

Federal Agents Searching People at Indianapolis Bus Stops

DailyKos

Welcome to another creeping slide towards the big brother state. On August 2, 2007 over two dozen agents of the TSA setup two checkpoints at bus stops in Indianapolis Indiana and searched passengers who wanted to ride on city buses. Federal agents, including Air Marshals were present and patted people down, looked in bags, and performed "behavior" tests for the stated purpose of finding weapons and people who were a threat to public safety.

Think about that for a minute. TSA agents and Air Marshals - Air Marshals - searching people who wanted to ride a city bus! Yeesh.

Before you think I am joking, let me refer to both the Indianapolis Star report TSA checks IndyGo bus passengers as well as posted first person reports of what happened yesterday and why it effects us all.

UPDATE: Thanks to DailyKos readers, this has been found to be a part of an 18 month old Federal Operation, read more below!

By all means go read. The prospective passengers could decline the search if they knew they could and the brownshirts found a handgun, the description of which is hilarious and also shows up what unprepared, incompetent clowns these agents are.

This isn't funny, however. Our tax dollars are funding illegal searches with no probable cause of average citizens by incompetents with guns and Federal power.

Happy Friday!

Pic thanks to Dr. Attaturk.

Been one of those weeks. TGIF. Off to work ...

Oh yeah, like this is gonna work...

Haaretz

The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa. The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

The new pipeline would take oil from the Kirkuk area, where some 40 percent of Iraqi oil is produced, and transport it via Mosul, and then across Jordan to Israel. The U.S. telegram included a request for a cost estimate for repairing the Mosul-Haifa pipeline that was in use prior to 1948. During the War of Independence, the Iraqis stopped the flow of oil to Haifa and the pipeline fell into disrepair over the years.

Good luck. That's gonna be like pushing your Honda through the Harley-Davidson dealership to get to the street. What the hell, give it a shot, ya might make it...

Update:

Apparently, this story is a hoax, a mistake, or just plain not so. So, NEVER MIND!

Thanks to two of our readers with all their faculties who pointed this out.

I still like my last line, though.