Saturday, March 17, 2007
PSA
I just heard this on the news and figured I'd share it:
For a list of products recalled, go here. It seems that it generally affects canned and 'moist' foods. Shayna is on the Nutro Natural Choice Senior dry formula and it's not listed.
...
Menu Foods, the Ontario-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.
An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said. [my em]
...
For a list of products recalled, go here. It seems that it generally affects canned and 'moist' foods. Shayna is on the Nutro Natural Choice Senior dry formula and it's not listed.
But what kind of prison?
Personally, I think Karl Rove should spend two weeks with me on an uninhabited island. I would take great pleasure hearing him begging me to kill him to put him out of his misery and we wouldn't disturb anybody with all the messiness. I figure it would be worth trading what's left of my sanity to give him what he deserves. It would be cathartic for the nation too. Cliff Schecter has other ideas:
Karl Rove must go to the jail, the pokey, the big house, if you will. No not country-club Republican, I-ripped-off-your-grandma-with-junk-bonds prison where he can join the Dartmouth or Princeton rowing squad and walk by a state-of-the-art outdoor weight-lifting facility his two-seats-on-Southwest ass would never even think about using.
I mean real prison. Like the kind you go to if you're caught in Kuala Lumpur with Rush's medicine bag.
...
Thoughts (sort of) on St. Paddy's Day
My last post notwithstanding, I love a lot of things about Ireland and the Irish; the 40 shades of green, the rugged beauty and windswept coast, the preservation of the written word during the Dark Ages, Celtic music, Guinness and the pub as social center, and Maureen Dowd. I like corned beef and cabbage too, but that's not really Irish.
What I don't particularly care for is a bunch of drunk fat white guys with "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons marching down the street one day a year weeping in their green beer about their remote connection to a land they've never seen and murdering "Danny Boy" in the process.
So here's a St. Paddy's Day parade to be proud of:
Ireland musta looked really good after Bush!
It's nice to see diversity. In Ireland, apparently, drunks of any color weeping in their green beer are welcome. I'd like to hear "Danny Boy" in Punjabi!
I'm glad to see their economy booming and life improving for the Irish. They have it coming after about a thousand years of oppression by the English and the Catholic Church, among others.
Back to the mundane:
Not that there's ever any truth in stereotypes, but it is said that The Good Lord invented whisky to keep the Irish from ruling the world. He may have invented Irish jokes to remind us of it.
Erin Go Bragh*, y'all.
(signed)
The Aulde Sot
What I don't particularly care for is a bunch of drunk fat white guys with "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons marching down the street one day a year weeping in their green beer about their remote connection to a land they've never seen and murdering "Danny Boy" in the process.
So here's a St. Paddy's Day parade to be proud of:
DUBLIN, Ireland -- Lithuanian musicians, drum-beating Punjabis and West African dancers used Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday to celebrate their place in a booming Ireland that has become a land of immigrants.
One man dressed as St. Patrick in papal hat and sunglasses did the samba, while another float nearby featured "Miss Panty," Dublin's premier drag queen.
Dublin's freewheeling parade drew a half-million spectators and included Christine Quinn, the first openly gay leader of the New York City Council. Quinn is boycotting the more conservative New York parade because the organizers refuse to let gay and lesbian groups march.
This year, she accepted an Irish government invitation to be part of the Dublin City Council contingent.
"The fact I'm here in Dublin and able to march and participate in inclusive events should send a message of how backwards the New York parade is," said Quinn.
The Irish economy has been booming for the past 13 years, drawing immigrants from around the world to the country -- and its festivities.
"Nowadays there's far more color in the parade. It's great to see all our new Irish from across the world dressed up in green," said Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who normally spends St. Patrick's Day in the United States but returned overnight after visiting President Bush in the White House.
Ireland musta looked really good after Bush!
It's nice to see diversity. In Ireland, apparently, drunks of any color weeping in their green beer are welcome. I'd like to hear "Danny Boy" in Punjabi!
I'm glad to see their economy booming and life improving for the Irish. They have it coming after about a thousand years of oppression by the English and the Catholic Church, among others.
Back to the mundane:
More than 1,000 police were on duty to deal with expected alcohol-fueled trouble in the evening, following widespread drunkenness that led to 700 arrests in 2005 and lesser trouble last year.
Not that there's ever any truth in stereotypes, but it is said that The Good Lord invented whisky to keep the Irish from ruling the world. He may have invented Irish jokes to remind us of it.
Erin Go Bragh*, y'all.
(signed)
The Aulde Sot
*Ireland 'til the Day of Judgment
Erin go f**k yourself...
As an English-born friend of mine once said to our mutual Irish-American friend in my presence many years ago:
"Happy St. Paddy's Day, you Irish bastard!"
The same to you all.
"Happy St. Paddy's Day, you Irish bastard!"
The same to you all.
Anniversaries ...
I dunno, 6 weeks seems shorter than this. Rez Dog:
4 years, ladies and germs, and what do we have to show for it? 3,200 Americans dead, countless Iraqis, and over a half-trillion dollars gone from the economy.
...
Most of America's wars didn't last long enough to begin a fifth year of active combat. By the fourth anniversary of 7 December 1941, Japan and Germany had both surrendered. Four years after the attack on Fort [Sumter], our own civil war was over. By my reckoning, only the American Revolution and Vietnam saw active combat into a fifth year.
...
4 years, ladies and germs, and what do we have to show for it? 3,200 Americans dead, countless Iraqis, and over a half-trillion dollars gone from the economy.
Why it matters ...
It's something I've been trying to explain to people who tell me, why does it matter, the Democrats do it (all the underhanded shit the Bushistas are doing) too. Um ... no. Digby (as usual) sums it up quite well:
This administration is the closest we've come to a dictatorship since the Founding Fathers wrestled with the form our government should take. It is imperative this never happens again.
... There is a huge need for the Democrats to develop the record on this administration's many crimes. It's important for our future and it's important for history. What they have done should never, ever be repeated. You had the highest reaches of the white house casually revealing what was clearly "need to know" classified information (which they had no "need to know" in the first place) to reporters, for purely political purposes ...
This administration is the closest we've come to a dictatorship since the Founding Fathers wrestled with the form our government should take. It is imperative this never happens again.
Early morning whore
It's Saturday and that means the last chapter of my novel The Captains is up at The Practical Press.
Don't forget, The Fourth Estate* starts next week; same time, same channel.
Don't forget, The Fourth Estate* starts next week; same time, same channel.
*Sneak preview here.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Man Survives 8 Hours in Water After Fall From Cruise Ship
KLTV (TX)
A word to the wise. I'm just sayin'...
A man who reportedly jumped from a cruise ship off Florida's coast early Friday was rescued eight hours later by the Coast Guard.
The 24-year-old man ran through a Carnival Cruise Lines ship cabin window and fell into the water off Fort Lauderdale, a witness told Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr. It was unclear whether the window was open at the time.
The witness said the man was intoxicated, Warr said.
A word to the wise. I'm just sayin'...
Mondegreen of the Day
A mondegreen (also sometimes spelled "mondagreen") is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase in such a way that it acquires a new meaning.
Me 'n Mrs. G were in Reno today and decided to get some 'strange stuff', by which I mean we went grocery shopping at a brand of supermarket we don't have in our 2-supermarket town.
Mrs. G is a banker and notices banks the way I notice motorcycle shops. As we were turning into the market's parking lot she noticed one.
"Oh, there's a Bursting Appendix Bank" I heard. I mean, I've heard of sperm banks, but...
"Whaaaa...?" I gurgled.
"There's a First Independence Bank. What'd ya think I said?"
She had a good laugh when I told her, and I didn't make this up.
Sometimes ya find good stuff in the weirdest places...
I found the three most politically incorrectly videos I've ever seen whilst cruisin' YouTube just now. They're of a young minstrel lad in the wilds of some college dorm in the Northeast doing what are no doubt his own songs. For the sicker amongst you, they are here, here, and here. You may find them offensive.
I wasn't going to admit I like this shit until I came across this line from one of the ditties and just had to share:
I like that!
I wasn't going to admit I like this shit until I came across this line from one of the ditties and just had to share:
George Bush won't he just yell and rant but he's a presiDONT who ameriCANT
I like that!
How TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the U.S. Attorney Story
CJR Daily
That oughta set the hook! I'm playin' ya with light line, folks, it's more fun that way. Go read.
It's almost too perfect. A mainstream reporter mocks a story a blogger has been working to break, asserting that "it all makes perfect conspiratorial sense!", and that the blogger is "seeing broad partisan conspiracies where none likely exist," only to backtrack a few weeks later when the story explodes across the front pages of the major dailies.
If you wanted to force the issue -- and we would be surprised if some MSM-hating critic doesn't -- the episode illustrates perfectly how the Washington press corps ignores the blogosphere at its own peril. But the story, and its implications, are actually far more complicated -- and for journalism, heartening -- than that.
That oughta set the hook! I'm playin' ya with light line, folks, it's more fun that way. Go read.
The Wall
Charlie Anderson is a Marine Iraq Vet. He writes about the upcoming anti-war protest near the Vietnam Wall. Here's part of it, without commentary.
[I was saddened to learn recently that for the first time since the beginning of the Iraq War, the sanctity of The Wall will be challenged by protest. On March 17, a coalition of citizens concerned about the war gathers for a protest march originating at Constitution Park across the street form The Wall. A group of counter-demonstrators, calling themselves The Gathering of Eagles, will gather around and presumably in the memorial while spreading their pro-war, pro-Bush/Cheney message. The "eagles" claim that their intention is to "defend" The Wall from attack by the anti-war demonstrators. Yet, through four years of anti-war protest, there have been few incidents of vandalism and no war memorial has been damaged in the past. Further, hundreds of veterans and military families, including those who have had loved ones die in this war, are at the forefront of today's anti-movement. None of us who have sacrificed in this war would tolerate, much less condone, such behavior.
While the mission statement of the "eagles" states, "... we are adamantly opposed to the use of violence, vandalism, physical or verbal assaults on our veterans, and the destruction or desecration of our memorials ... we defend and honor those whose blood gave all of us the right to speak as freely as our minds think." Yet, a cursory look at the comments section at the bottom of the page tells a different story. One commentator said, "I hope one of these Muslim commies cross the line so we can teach them a valuable lesson. I will be there with my brothers and will be victorious over these Dimicrat scum. This will teach them not to look at us with seditious eyes." Another expressed similar sentiments: "We need to show these anti-war turkeys we are all business that the sacrifice and honor of the men and women of this Memorial will not be defaced by the likes of them." Organizers for the veterans' contingent of the anti-war march have also received death threats from "eagle" supporters. It seems that the real intent of the Gathering of Eagles is to intimidate those who do not agree with their position on the war. They purport to believe in free speech and to forever honor America's men and women in uniform until the men and women in uniform disagree with them. At the point at which we veterans who feel a duty not to remain silent and advocate that our brothers and sisters in arms be brought home alive and cared for both now and when they get here, the "eagles" call us "commies," "traitors" or "dimicrat scum."
I took an oath to defend the Constitution and honorably served ten years in uniform. I still hold my oath no less sacred than the "eagles" claim to. One of the ways to honor that oath is speak freely and from the heart. I sacrificed everything I had and everything I was when I went to Iraq. I lost my marriage, a job I loved, and the very way I viewed the world. It is a shame these "eagles" who claim to love and support me so much not only want to silence my voice, but they have chosen to put a wall between me and the one place in America I where I can truly let my guard down and grieve.]
[I was saddened to learn recently that for the first time since the beginning of the Iraq War, the sanctity of The Wall will be challenged by protest. On March 17, a coalition of citizens concerned about the war gathers for a protest march originating at Constitution Park across the street form The Wall. A group of counter-demonstrators, calling themselves The Gathering of Eagles, will gather around and presumably in the memorial while spreading their pro-war, pro-Bush/Cheney message. The "eagles" claim that their intention is to "defend" The Wall from attack by the anti-war demonstrators. Yet, through four years of anti-war protest, there have been few incidents of vandalism and no war memorial has been damaged in the past. Further, hundreds of veterans and military families, including those who have had loved ones die in this war, are at the forefront of today's anti-movement. None of us who have sacrificed in this war would tolerate, much less condone, such behavior.
While the mission statement of the "eagles" states, "... we are adamantly opposed to the use of violence, vandalism, physical or verbal assaults on our veterans, and the destruction or desecration of our memorials ... we defend and honor those whose blood gave all of us the right to speak as freely as our minds think." Yet, a cursory look at the comments section at the bottom of the page tells a different story. One commentator said, "I hope one of these Muslim commies cross the line so we can teach them a valuable lesson. I will be there with my brothers and will be victorious over these Dimicrat scum. This will teach them not to look at us with seditious eyes." Another expressed similar sentiments: "We need to show these anti-war turkeys we are all business that the sacrifice and honor of the men and women of this Memorial will not be defaced by the likes of them." Organizers for the veterans' contingent of the anti-war march have also received death threats from "eagle" supporters. It seems that the real intent of the Gathering of Eagles is to intimidate those who do not agree with their position on the war. They purport to believe in free speech and to forever honor America's men and women in uniform until the men and women in uniform disagree with them. At the point at which we veterans who feel a duty not to remain silent and advocate that our brothers and sisters in arms be brought home alive and cared for both now and when they get here, the "eagles" call us "commies," "traitors" or "dimicrat scum."
I took an oath to defend the Constitution and honorably served ten years in uniform. I still hold my oath no less sacred than the "eagles" claim to. One of the ways to honor that oath is speak freely and from the heart. I sacrificed everything I had and everything I was when I went to Iraq. I lost my marriage, a job I loved, and the very way I viewed the world. It is a shame these "eagles" who claim to love and support me so much not only want to silence my voice, but they have chosen to put a wall between me and the one place in America I where I can truly let my guard down and grieve.]
Friday Cattle Dog Blogging
Princess Shayna thinks Sen. Pat Leahy should get on the ball and issue subpoenas forthwith.
This won't go back to being a weekly thing, but Shayna's appearances have been rare lately so I thought I'd put up a pic.
This won't go back to being a weekly thing, but Shayna's appearances have been rare lately so I thought I'd put up a pic.
More cute animals at Modulator and Cute Overload.
Shiny shit
We always kid the Indian at work about how he (and his people) are easily distracted by shiny stuff (Harry remembers when the Dutch bought Manhattan ... heh). He swears he pays the Indian with paper clips and flat washers (there is no such thing as political correctness at the shop).
The Bush administration is doing that now, throwing Khalid Mohammed at us to distract us from the misdeeds regarding attorney-gate. The wonderful TRex wonders about the redactions in his 'testimony':
So we get to what we all know, this 'confession' was merely an attempt to have us look at shiny shit:
What they don't get is that without a Rethug-controlled Congress, they don't have the cover to sweep this shit under the rug while we're distracted. Besides, nobody believes shit coming out of 1600 anymore (well, except for the 23% who'd believe the Chimp is really Jesus in disguise). Fool us once ...
The Bush administration is doing that now, throwing Khalid Mohammed at us to distract us from the misdeeds regarding attorney-gate. The wonderful TRex wonders about the redactions in his 'testimony':
...
What, you mean the parts where he was screaming, "Oh, God, please make it stop! I'll say whatever you want! No more, please! AHHHH, GOD, NOOOOOO!! NOOOOOO!!"?
...
So we get to what we all know, this 'confession' was merely an attempt to have us look at shiny shit:
...
Yes, look! Over there! Arabs are violent and evil! Pay no attention to the Presidential Aide behind the curtain!
...
What they don't get is that without a Rethug-controlled Congress, they don't have the cover to sweep this shit under the rug while we're distracted. Besides, nobody believes shit coming out of 1600 anymore (well, except for the 23% who'd believe the Chimp is really Jesus in disguise). Fool us once ...
"Clinton fired 93 U. S. Attorneys"
Just a quick note because I feel that this should get wide distribution. If you should encounter the "Clinton fired 93 U. S. Attorneys" meme, and you will because the righties are desperate on the prosecutor firings, the counter too it is here:
WHITE HOUSE AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
BEGIN U.S. ATTORNEY TRANSITION
IOW, standard operating procedure for a new administration. If they are stooping this low (why am I not surprised?), things must really look bleak on the prosecutor firings.
Please get this circulated as far and wide as you can.
A tip of the Jersey fedora to Seeing the Forest for the link.
R.
WHITE HOUSE AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
BEGIN U.S. ATTORNEY TRANSITION
"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Continuing the practice of new administrations, President Bush and the Department of Justice have begun the transition process for most of the 93 United States Attorneys. Attorney General Ashcroft said, "We are committed to making this an orderly transition to ensure effective, professional law enforcement that reflects the President 's priorities.""
IOW, standard operating procedure for a new administration. If they are stooping this low (why am I not surprised?), things must really look bleak on the prosecutor firings.
Please get this circulated as far and wide as you can.
A tip of the Jersey fedora to Seeing the Forest for the link.
R.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Run, Rudy, Run*
Thanks to Res for the pic. Need I remind you, Bernard Kerik is a convicted felon.
*Part of an ongoing, semi-regular series.
Credibility ...
JG has been having some fun with Khalid Mohammed confessing to everything including the Chicago fire, but Digby brings up a good point:
I mean, does anybody with a brain believe this is anything more than a way to deflect attention from the other scandals taking up news time this week?
...
It may all be true. But because this government has insisted that "sending a message" of toughness will make suicide bombers turn tail and give up --- and seems to truly believe that a false confession is a good as a real one, we have no way of knowing. This guy is by all accounts a very bad man, I don't doubt it. But the details of his confessions are meaningless because of this administration's short sighted and immoral policies.
...
I mean, does anybody with a brain believe this is anything more than a way to deflect attention from the other scandals taking up news time this week?
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