Who Throws a Shoe (at the President)? Honestly!

Just in case you live on Titan moon and didn't see this video, I have decided to post it. The event took place about a month ago. In that amount of time, I have learned that it is a horrible insult (in the Middle Eastern culture) to have a shoe thrown at you. Go figure. To each his own. I guess. I just think it's funny how the President ducks the first one and then gets right back up, almost challenging the guy: "Hey. C'mon. Is that all you got!" Zing!

Pat Robertson is double plus out of his fucking mind.

I bet you didn't know that Professors are killers!

David Blaine survives, millions dissappointed

After swimming in his own urine for a week, David Blaine attempted to break the world record for holding his breathe. He failed. He still sucks.

Bored?

Then go toss George W. Bush into a bunch of balls.

Truthiness comes to Washington. Hilarity Ensues.

What network has the most intelligent news and societal commentary on television today? Well, it has become (painfully) obvious that distinction now belongs to Comedy Central. If there ever was a time when CNN, MSNBC, Fox News (hahaha!), or any of the major network news offered insight into the events that shape our world, that time has now passed.

Stephen Colbert's irony filled evisceration of both the White House and the press at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner was merely latest example of how the assembly of talent put together at Comedy Central is the primary source of real dissent on television to the major powers in American media. This article from Salon is the best I've seen so far on Colbert's speech, and summed up what the politicians in Washington should start to realize...

"Make no mistake, Stephen Colbert is a dangerous man -- a bomb thrower, an assassin, a terrorist with boring hair and rimless glasses. It's a wonder the Secret Service let him so close to the president of the United States."

Goodbye Scottie : A tribute to our departing chief of propaganda

"I do expect that the President will say something at the beginning of his remarks today, at the conversation. "

“Flood control has been a priority of this administration from Day One.”

“an obligation not to render people to countries if we believe they're going to be tortured.”

Getting Off Scott Free: AP Presents McClellan's Past Quotes on Rove and Plame

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan says White House Reporter Helen Thomas opposes the war on terrorism

Friday Quote of the Day

“We have been chosen, ... by fate or providence or whatever you wish to call it. As far as we can tell, we are the best there is. We may be all there is. It's an unnerving thought that we may be the living universe's supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously.”

-Bill Bryson

Signs of the Apocalypse

David Blaine. What a fucking wierdo. I wish he was sleeping with the fishes... in cement shoes!

The 33-year-old magician will perform his latest stunt by living underwater for seven days and nights in a "human aquarium" in front of New York's Lincoln Center.

He will conclude by attempting to hold his breath underwater longer than the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds.

I hope someone breaks the supports on his spherical aquarium and sends him rolling down Broadway. Who else thinks that would be hilarious?

Apathy is the order of the day

As the latest Bush scandal hits Washington, the whole bio-weapon trailers justification for war being a total load of bullshit, I'm struck with a sense of complete and total apathy. Perhaps it is just the season for apathy and lack of discontent. Perhaps the source lies in the face that I haven't believed a word the President has uttered for many years (6 and half to be exact). I should be angry. Outraged even. And yet, the best I can muster is "why should this suprise ANYONE?!?!"

Perhaps I'm a victim of the 24 hour news blitzkrieg of which I'm so happily addicted. The saturation of political scandal has so infected my core that nothing moves me anymore. In fact, the only media that provokes anger in me anymore is watching Hannity and Colmes. And that's just because every word that comes out of Sean Hannity's mouth is venomous hate speech that has been tailored through years of practice to perform a unique brand of verbal fellatio on white males, Age 18-35 who don't like anyone that doesn't fit into their gated community, McDonald guzzling , SUV driving picture of life (hooray for demographic research!). Oh great, I just admitted that the only thing that can currently inspire my righteous indignation is the Jerry Springer of 24 hour news. Fan-Fucking-Tastic!

Am I truly defeated? Or do I just need some grilled meat and beer? Tonight I will test this theory. Stay tuned tomorrow for the results.

Oddities of a public restroom

So, I just got back from using the restroom on the first floor of the Physics building. I went to sit down on the toilet and look at the floor. What do I see? Fingernail clippings. Lots of them. A few of them were big. When I say big, I mean it looks like someone clipped the talons off of an eagle! So, after brief reflection on this incident, I'm left with the following questions...

Who the fuck clips their fingernails in a public restroom stall?
And why don't you have the common courtesy to clean that shit up when you are done?
Anyone else spot some fun items in public restrooms?

Friday Quote of the Day

Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills. [on causes of the Columbine High School massacre, 1999]

Tom Delay

Global Politics in 30 Seconds

Fat Kids: brought to you by the food and soft drink manufacturers of America

Kids in the U.S. are overweight. Fat even. Why is this happening? One big reason is the unhealthy slop that kids are served in school cafeterias. Another reason is the vending machines in school that dispense sugar in either liquid or solid form.

Ok, so this is a problem. But what are you going to do? Food and soft drink companies are big evil corporations who wield unreasonably large amounts of power in our nation's schools. Well, Congress has finally decided to step foward with some proposed legislation that will put minimum nutrition requirements for food served in schools.

Is this not the perfect analogy of corporate America today? Federal legislation is required to force school districts to provide a healthy meal to school kids instead of making a buck from Coca Cola or Frito Lay.

"We talk a lot about healthy nutrition, we teach the kids about the food pyramid, and then they go down the hallway and get the high fat, high sodium and high junk available in the vending machines," Ms. Murkowski said. "We need to be consistent. People are beginning to connect the dots between rising health care costs and obesity." - Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska

Picture Blogging France

I'm finally back from France. It was a great vacation. Right now, jet lag is kicking my ass but I figured that I might as well get these pictures up while I can.

Here's a front view of the Eiffel tower.

Here is a view from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower looking up.

My sister's boyfriend proposed on the intermediate level of the Eiffel Tower. She accepted and here is the ring. It's a Platinum ring with a big Sapphire gem and diamonds. Quite the bling bling.

My family traveled down to Southern France and stayed for a few days at a farm house in the Pyrenees mountains. I'm messing around with one of the dogs at the farm house on a hill that is called "nipple" in French.

Another farm picture.

Here's the view from hill next to our farm house.

My French relatives house near Monein.

This is the cave at Lourdes where St. Bernadette saw a vision of the Virgin Mary.

My sister and her fiance in front of the Cathedral at Lourdes.

I took this picture of the Pyrenees at dawn the last morning of my stay at the Farm house in Southern France.

My French relatives, Mary Te and Jean Claude, making us a gigantic meal. I can't remember the last time I ate that much food and all of it was fantastic.

Me at a beach in Southeastern France, about 40 km from the border with Spain.

Me in front of the Louvre. The Louvre was absolutely incredible. Next time I go to Paris, I'm going to spend at least a whole day there, if not more.

Notre Dame.

It's French... Bitch.

I'm heading out today for a week long excursion to France. Don't expect any new posts until next Wed. Viva la France!

2008 : A premature preview

I've been doing a little thinking about the upcoming 2008 election. Specifically, who among the Democrats will run, and which ones I would vote for in the primary. So for this post, I will go through some of the potential candidates and give my short opinion.

Hillary Clinton: I like Hillary Clinton. But she can't win, so I won't vote for her. The conservatives hate her. Despise her. She could energize the Republican base more than any other candidate. She will not be getting my vote.

The most infuriating thing about Hillary is that she has moved so far to the center that she will alienate her liberal base, while not picking up the centrists and conservatives she covets because they hate her. Sorry Hillary, but you are not well liked outside of liberal circles.

Joseph Biden: A smart, savvy veteran Senate Democrat. He's a member of the Senate foreign relations committee. I've seen him on several television shows, including Meet the Press, and he has a superior command of foreign policy and relations. However, he comes off as a pompous know-it-all and would likely turn off voters who don't like smart people (i.e. the American voting public).







John Edwards: I'm completely indifferent to this guy. Did he actually do anything in the 2004 election?














Al Gore: He won an election and still didn't get to be President. Sorry, but you should have fought harder Al.







John Kerry: Oh joy, it's Al Gore version 2.0 Hey Kerry, if you couldn't win in 2004, when Dubya was fucking up everything, what makes you think you can win now? Well you can't, so you will not be getting my vote.














Russ Feingold: Now here is a real candidate. Between his campaign finance reform bill and his censure resolution, Russ Feingold seems to be a politician who actually has some testicular fortitude against both special interest and the Republicans. Did you see him on the Daily Show? He made simple but eloquent arguments for his censure resolution. He is probably the only candidate who can beat McCain if he runs. Feingold gets my vote. Hell, I'd go out and campaign for this guy. Go Feingold.


Bill Richardson: Only candidate besides Feingold that I would actually be enthusiastic about. Richardson was the head of the Department of Energy under Clinton. He was also chief negotiator with the North Koreans back when we actually were making progress on disarming them. As the Governor of New Mexico, he will not only keep that swing state in the hands of the Democrats, but he could swing the Latino vote heavily in favor of the Democrats. He's a winner. I'd vote for him if Feingold is out of the running.

Friday Quote of the Day

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events"

- Sir Winston Churchill

Dick Cheney: Rockstar!

Dick Cheney cracks my shit up. Seriously. How can a man who is so malevolent make me laugh so hard? The latest installment of Dick Cheney humor comes via the Smoking gun. And what did they find out about our gun toting de facto President? Dick Cheney's Suite Demands. Here's the list, but go check out the smoking gun for a picture of the original document...

• Queen or King Size Bed
• Desk with Chair
• Private Bathroom
• All lights turned on
• Temperature set to 68 degrees
• All televisions turned to FOX News (hahaha! Big suprise!)
• Microwave
• Coffee Pot in Suite (Brew decaf prior to arrival)
• Container for Ice (and location of where ice maker is)*
• Bottle Water, 4-6 bottles
• Diet Caffeine Free Sprite
• Hotel Restaurant Menu (please also fax a copy to the Advance Office)
• Newspapers - N.Y. Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Local Newspaper

*Apparently Dick Cheney can't read the fucking signs that are EVERYWHERE in hotels telling you the location of the icemaker.

YouTube to Tom Cruise: Fuck You

Here's the Scientology Episode from South Park, in its entirety, via Youtube. Long Live Xenu!

Illegal Immigration solutions

Newsweek is running an intersting article this week on one of those anger invoking subjects that everyone loves: illegal immigration. According to the author of the article, Robert Pastor, the only long term solution to stopping the wave of illegal immigration is to create a North American regional economic solution, which would involve massive amounts of economic aid to Mexico for the next decade or two. I like this idea for a few reasons.

The most important reason is that we treat the cause of the illegal immigration, massive poverty in Mexico, instead of attempting to treat a symptom. Building a wall around the United States is not a realistic solution. The fact is that the U.S. could never build a wall strong enough to keep the wave of illegal immigrants from coming to the U.S. At best, a massive border wall would slow down the rate of illegal immigration. And for a country of immigrants to build a massive "Do Not Enter" sign on our border would not only be hypocritical but would be a knife through the heart of everything that the U.S. stands for.

Massive investment in Mexico will also help the U.S. economy. Mexico is one of our most important trading partners and if their economy grows it will create a larger market for exporting U.S. goods and services. In addition, this investment will create jobs on both sides of the border and raise the wages in Mexico. Once wages in Mexico begin to rise, the amount of illegal immigration will decrease because people can make livable wages at home.

While the idea of funding Mexican development may sound ludicrous, this investment would also benefit the U.S. economically, and the total is less than half of what the EU spent. Washington's $80 billion contribution would amount to about a third of what the Bush administration has spent in the last three years in Iraq.