party time

i've been thinking about this for a while but this is just rough thoughts.
seems to me that the whole political party thing is not working so well anymore. at least not as we have it now. the religious right really has nothing to do with old-school republicans (see this really good op-ed by sen. danforth). and frankly there are a lot of democrats who don't belong in our party either (cough joe lieberman cough).
there are two streams of issue going on - the political and the economic, and the old dividing lines no longer apply. it's a brave new world folks, and we need to come up with some new ways of addressing it.
hopefully more republicans wil be empowered to break ranks. i know if i was them i would be so furious about what they were doing to my party.
in fact now that i think about it why aren't there more of them screaming bloody murder? we should encourage them.

Retail obsessions

I know this has nothing to do with the political, but it's my blog dammit, and I want to tell you something.
I love Muji.
I've loved Muji for a very long time now. Long before it was hip. I first discovered the joy of Muji on a rainy night in London, and I have since become a little, well, crazy about it. People who have been around my Muji-madness are frightened by it, as it leads to the compulsive need to put everything in little containers.
Oh yes - what is Muji?
It is the store of dreams. All kinds of cool, functional, minimalist things. Clothes, furniture, stationary, travel and cosmetic supplies, pens, and lots and lots of bags and storage. I know that doesn't sound interesting but it really is. The problem has always been that they have no U.S. outlets. Many in London and Paris, none here. And so my Mujilove has been confined to trips abroad.
But Lo! I have discovered you can order stuff from their website here and they will ship it to you for not that much money. Or, if you live in NY, you can go to their store-within-a-store at the MoMA store at 81 Spring Street.
Now go and make beautiful minimalist music.

martial law and other stuff

N.R.A. Aide Urges Armed Teachers
PHOENIX, March 25 (AP) -- All options should be considered to prevent rampages like the Minnesota shooting, including making guns available to teachers, Sandra S. Froman, first vice president of the National Rifle Association, said Friday.

Yeah, all options except GUN CONTROL. We are literally being hijacked at gunpoint by evangelical gun worshipers who somehow also call themselves pro-life because they want Terri Schiavo and unborn fetuses to live but don't so much care about convicts, guilty or not, or American soldiers.

And speaking of Terri...
Did someone say hypocrisy? No? Well, I am. HYPOCRISY!

I would laugh about this, but I think it is tragic. This man is so twisted and drunk with power that he can, with no compunction, use this woman to advance his political goals when he knows exactly what her family went through because he went through it himself. It could point to a glimmer of humanity deep under the layers of bullshit, but I suspect that glimmer went out before this whole thing went down.

Tough call

I don't want to minimize the suckiness that was Columbine, or say that living through it wouldn't have been just crap,
BUT, I saw this girl from Columbine on Olbermann last night, and she was really pretty and had really good make-up. And I think it's nice that she came to talk to the kids at the Red Lake school, and it's an important message to them that they will, someday, move on.
But she also kept talking about praying with them, and thanking god, and praying for each other, and trusting in god and prayer and god god god. And then Bush finally made a statement last night about how he and Laura were praying for the victims and their families.
But, like, these people are not evangelical christians (I think). They have specifically requested native american funerals, and they are adhering to their nation's beliefs. Which might not have much to do with having people come in and tell them how they need to pray for each other and trust in god. Or put crosses all over the place. Sorta like how you wouldn't go on a tsunami relief trip and tell all the indonesians that they just needed to pray and trust god.
This is all kind of inchoate and hard to explain - but it seems pretty insensitive to force the greiving pattern of one community on another.
Also - Bush - why not be constructive and instead of praying for them do something about the crushing poverty and depression that affects native americans? Cuz, like, you are the president. You do have more in your power than just prayer.

Ha ha ha ha assholes

Next request: could the chickens come home to roost before the election next time?

Red Sox heart extraordinary rendition

The Yankees may spend a lot of money, but at least they don't help torture people.

A high note

Enough Terri-palooza. Instead, I instruct you to read this article, of vital interest to many near and dear. I can't go into it more right now (work, firewall) but check the post time and all should be clear.

sometimes the rage works

wonderful keith olbermann, and of course jon stewart, hit all the angles on the skee-ah-vo case vis-a-vis the texas law etc. and jon even had a moment, after explaining what we blogged yesterday, where he let the rage overtake him too. that's right, me & jon are likethis. chiniqua stewart. hmmmm....

furthermore, it seems that this is not playing quite the way the kitty killer etc. thought it would - people are shockingly against them. even evangelical christians think they are wrong. the post (new york not washington) even thought they were wrong. what a crazy world. it seems to me that this is because in fact this is not a political issue at all - it is a fairly clear-cut legal one, and there is nothing democrat or republican about it. there are those who are trying to make it into one, but whether or not the case has merits and she is in whatever medical condition is not actually related to politics. the only part of it that is related to politics is the idea that the federal guvmint should not just stroll on in and make a federal case (literally!) out of your private life. which, correct me if i'm crazy, was i thought what the whole republican thing was about. you know, small guvmint and state's rights and stuff.

also, a glorious number of people have pointed out that erring on the side of life is not exactly what bush is known for - just ask the families of, you know, the gazillion prisoners he put to death in texas. including the ones that had very real, very serious legal issues. and it's worth pointing out that the vatican newspaper, which wrote that they support keeping terri alive, mentions its disapproval of the death penalty in the next sentance. ``After all, Terri's destiny appears not unlike that of many men and women who in the United States get capital punishment for their crimes,'' the paper said. so that's not gonna work too well for chimpy.

so your final reading is this piece, also incandescent with rage. just like we should all be.

aaaarrrrghhhhhhhh

Here is more about the texas baby. The baby's name was Sun, and his mother is crazy. Do not do too much research into the story of little Sun Hudson or you will become very, very angry.
It is worth noting, however, that the right-to-life folks also thought Sun should be kept alive - they're not the ones being hypocrites here. Kitty torturer Frist and exterminator DeLay are. Oh and of course the preznit. But in the interest of fairness, the right-to-lifers wanted to keep the baby alive too. Although they did help write the legislation (the Texas futile care bill) that got it done.

Also - a correction. Terri Skee-ah-vo is not brain dead - she's in a persistant vegatative state. Apparently there is a difference.

PS

In case there is any doubt, I, chiniqua, absolutely refuse to let my vegetative, unable to do my hair the way I want it, no higher-brain functions self to be on TV.  Ever.  Or kept alive, for that matter, but most of all keep me the hell off the TV.  Pull the plug on me folks, and then please oh please, slip me enough morphine to send me home in style.

Also, as those who know me know, NO MIMES AT MY FUNERAL.

wanksta Bush

The WSJ has an article confirming what we've known all along:

At a late-afternoon Paris news conference in May 2002, a jet-lagged President Bush rushed through sentences, mangled some words and teased an American journalist for asking President Jacques Chirac a question in French. Asked about street demonstrations protesting his presence, Mr. Bush drawled: "The only thing I know to do is speak my mind.... A lotta people on the Continent o' Europe appreciate that."

Last month, addressing European leaders in Brussels, Mr. Bush spoke precisely, with only traces of his twang. He paid homage to the Continent's political legacy, such as the Magna Carta, and flawlessly pronounced the name of Albert Camus.

Linguists and longtime watchers of Mr. Bush say it is evidence of a subtle but unmistakable change the 43rd president has undergone in speaking style. He is enunciating more clearly and dotting his remarks with more literary references. Gone is much of the verbal swagger, which produced such memorable first-term phrases as "bring 'em on" (said of Iraqi insurgents) and "dead or alive" (said of catching Osama bin Laden). Some linguists even say they detect a dialing-down of Mr. Bush's Texas accent, at least in his formal speeches....

And in a word like "my," which Mr. Bush often pronounced somewhat like "mah" in the past, he partly reformed this "non-gliding vowel," as linguists call it. In his 2005 speech, Mr. Bush also generally pronounced the words ending in "ing" without dropping the "g," unlike in 2004. He largely overcame his tendency to say "hunnerd" for "hundred," and started pronouncing the word "government" more precisely. Still proliferating, though, are pronunciations of "nuclear" as "nu-kyoo-lar."...

The Texas strut and drawl may have worked well to win votes and given Mr. Bush a regular-Joe appeal in his first four years when he still faced re-election. Now that he is trying to sell an ambitious second-term agenda -- overhauling Social Security and the tax system, in addition to helping bring democracy to the Middle East -- his remarks are often more conciliatory and appear to be targeted more at congressional critics and European leaders. Playing to that crowd means Mr. Bush portrays himself a bit less as a Texas Ranger and more as an Ivy League-educated chief executive -- which of course he is....

The makeover is far from extreme. In his less-formal appearances, Mr. Bush certainly still invokes colloquialisms. The baby-boom generation, he often reminds audiences in talking about Social Security, "is fixin' to retire." But in a speech Tuesday night, he said "getting ready to retire."

"Fixin' to retire?" Is he 50 Cent? What a jerk. And why is this article in a newspaper made for people ON WALL STREET? Can we get a reprint in the nationally syndicated Littleman Times-Picayune? Funny how a right-wing publication can treat this story like an amusing insight into How Our President Works, when they know only their more elite partymates will be reading it. The heartland voters would be annoyed with Bush's just-a-dude bullshit, because no one likes a poser. On the other hand, we don't actually have to listen to him talk like that as much anymore (ever a source of Rage and/or nausea and/or decreased will to live). Though we'll never forget "Hey Daaaaaeeeeeddy."

In fact there may be some striking parallels between 50 Cent and Bush, and G-Unit and the administration. They're both obsessed with loyalty, both flaunt their illegal activities in exchange for praise, and both orchestrate really lame publicity stunts that are supposed to make us sweat them more. Oooh, ooh and they're all ugly. Haha.

Return of the Rage

1. Bucknell? Buck-fucking-nell? Fucknell? West fucking Virginia? North Carolina State? WTF? I need that money! The only hope now is that I'll come in last and get my money back.

2. When the hell is spring coming?

3. OK look - "schiavo" should be pronounced "skee-ah-vo" NOT "sha-vo" and I understand that it's their name but really.
And the whole thing has me filled with THE RAGE which I was actually not feeling for a while. Instead of my own rant on this issue, I will link to another's (hope that's ok with Hunter over at DKos who doesn't know and will never see). I would just like to point out that (then) Gov. Bush of Texas signed a law that cuts off life support for people who can't pay for it. So apparently (and I will admit that I do not have all of my facts yet - will post more later) JUST THIS LAST WEEK there was a little baby that was doomed to be a vegatable. The baby's mother, apparently a culture of life person, did not want the plug pulled (which is OK - I support her! It's her decision see? She is the baby's mother - if that's what she wants I respect HER right to choose what's right). She wanted her baby kept alive. But they're black, see, and don't have the money to pay for the crazy costs of keeping the baby alive. And they're in Texas (note to self: never become black and live in Texas). And there's this law. Signed by George W. Bush. And so the state pulled the plug on the baby and it died.
Where's you fucking culture of life now, a-holes? Where are the mo-effing freepers and foxnewsers on this bs? AAARGGH the rage!

Juice

First, let us take a moment to consider the many meanings and uses of the word "juice." It means the liquid that comes from fruit. It is the liquid that we drink, sometimes only vaguely related to the fruit. It means influence, it means electricity, it means booze and oh yes, in case you hadn't heard it means steroids.

Second, let us reflect that there's a fucking war on and we're killing baby seals in the arctic and Wolfafuckingwitz is going to be head of the World fucking Bank and we're talking about steroids.

Now I suppose it's bad that some kids want to take steroids or something. So kids, stay off steroids. And it isn't great (in a sort of ephemeral way) that some baseball/football/hockey/whatever players are juiced and therefore have an unfair advantage over others and yadda yadda. But really, does it really matter at all? So the fuck what if someone today breaks some old record because of it. Times change. We have all kinds of medicine now that wasn't around in the early days of baseball too. Not being dead from some curable disease gives you an advantage over oldtime players. Getting paid a gazillion dollars a year so you don't have to work other jobs (like early players did) gives you an advantage. Having insane workouts and trainers and dieticians on call 24-7 and Dr. Norman Scott to fine-tune your body is an advantage. And honestly, they just didn't make people as big as Randy Johnson in olden times.

But WTF with people all jumping on Jose Canseco? Does anyone really doubt that he's telling the truth? Seems to me there's a lot of double standard shit going down right now. Canseco is the bad guy for squealing, but the MLB is also the bad guy for not squealing? What's that about? I like Canseco and I always have. (Probably because my little brothers were big fans of the A's back in the day. And one time I went to a game in Oakland and sat right behind the plate and saw them all and it was a perfect, beautiful baseball day. And you know what the idea that some of them may have been juiced changes it not one whit for me.)

So here is a beautiful little piece by Michael Chabon (author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) about Jose Canseco. It's by subscription, but I'm going to assume you have one by now. If not, for god's sake get one.

But most importantly, happy birthday Momiqua!

health quality blah blah... WE MET MARY TYLER MOORE!

Bluenote and I went on special detail to DC Tuesday night to take part in one of the Health Quality industry's most important yearly events (see link).

Needless to say, the highlights were meeting Mary Tyler Moore, who wanted to know whether we have diabetes (we don't), and feeling the whoosh of air as Hillary blitzkrieged her way through the East Hall ballroom. Oh, and when Hillary said in her speech "It's like Peggy and I were just talking about..."

Also, despite the chumminess suggested by the picture in the link, momzulita, in fact, deems Newt Gingrich "an asshole."

Also worth note: the two of five honorees who weren't famous gave the better speeches. Not to say we don't love MTM. George Strait actually said, "Don't you just want to hear her say, "oh Rooooobbbbb'?" There are pictures of us with her so if I can figure out how, I'll try to post them (outlook not good).

the latest barometer of end times...

I write this evening with a heavy hand, as, in the inexorable march of our world going to shit, another figure falls upon the ramparts. The latest victim: Sal & Carmine's. Okay, things could be worse, but it's still bad:

THEY'VE RAISED THEIR PRICES. Only by $.50 per slice but that will easily amount to an extra $50 a year each for the BBD girls. Carmine said it's because their operating costs have gone up, especially the price of mozzarella. He wasn't happy about it either. He said it'd been 10 years since they raised their prices.

So, for holding out this long, we salute you, Sal & Carmine!

Incidentally, I also noticed that a small deli between my work and the subway just reopened as "Papaya Dog." It's in direct view of Gray's Papaya, a la Astor Place Starbuckses. At least in this case they're different businesses, but if you happened to be illiterate you would not be able to tell them apart. Same garish, ketchup-and-mustard color scheme, same hanging 3-d tissue paper fruits, same old-style handwriting on the drink coolers. I hadn't even noticed that the deli was under construction, and I notice that deli all the time.

Like I said, the world's going to shit, so in the mean time I'm going to curl up into a ball with however many slices of S&C's I can still afford and rock slowly back and forth muttering "fuuuutuuuure" between bites...

Going nuclear, part II

I've become increasingly worried about the filibuster.  There is a good chance that the senate thugs will get rid of it.  That's right, just unilaterally do away with the filibuster.  This would pave the way for a. facism and b. steamrolling any Bush judicial nominees right through the confirmation process.  Apparently we are one senator away from this actually happening.  Yay!

So you marching orders are: pay attention when you read those timy little items about "the nuclear option" because, you know, the future of the world is at stake and all.

Oh Crap

Drill away boys. Just try really really hard not to think of all the little seals and caribou and stuff. Just pretend it isn't happening. Try and tell yourself that it's more important for assholes be able to drive H2s than for wildlife to be able to live.

Without Delay

This stuff about Delay is really, really good news.  He is a bad bad little toady man and he looks like he might be on his way out.  There have been front page articles and editorials about his ethics problems (see yesterday's WaPo, today's NYT) and it's not getting any better.  This is great for two main reasons:

If the ethics violations can really stick to Delay, it will mean that maybe, just maybe, they won't be able to play their moral high-ground bullshit.  And then they will become tainted in the eyes of the voters.  If we can hammer home the whole idea that the GOP is corrupt, that will really do a lot of work for us.  Think about what the whiff of dirtiness did to Clinton.  If that can be transferred, in any way, to squeaky clean chimpy, it would be so awesome.  Because the way I see it, there's a certain amount of halo around him - people just don't believe that he's doing all the sleazy, shitty things he's doing.  So if his associates begin to go down, if the scandals actually have some legs, then that might begin to change, and could change the general perception of the administration.

Secondly, Delay is the man who keeps the 'pugs in line.  He cracks the whip and keeps even the moderate 'pugs with a conscience from doing what they know is right.  Without him, there would be more dissent in the ranks, more breaks from the party line (I hope).

So let's tear that mofo down.

Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars veronica mars veronica mars.

I'm at another silly job where I do nothing all day - sadly there is a serious corporate firewall here so I can't read all the news and blogs I want all day - thus the dearth of posts. And so, in lieu of news or interesting thoughts on the state of the world, I will just repeat over and over again:
Veronica Mars is the best damn show on TV.
Veronica Mars is the best damn show on TV.
Veronica Mars is the best damn show on TV.
Tuesdays on UPN. Yes, UPN.
Watch it, love it, be it.

Has anyone seen my tinfoil hat? Oh, I'm wearing it.

1. Is anyone else noticing an increase in combining the letter W and patriotic symbols? Example 1: The new DC baseball team. Which I think is great, but look at their fucking hats.
Obviously, they are also available in red.

A further instance revealed itself on a recent trip to the new DC Convention Center (Motto: "We're more than just a large building") (OK, that's only one of their mottos, and it is enormous, but still) when I saw their logo.

I know an increase of 2 isn't that much, but I just don't want to underestimate the effect of associating W with patriotism and America. Not that it's anything new, but I think it's dangerous (and obviously personally offensive).


2. I also heard that Billy Clint's heart surgeon was referred by none other than kitten-killer and "doctor" Bill Frist. Anyone else find it strangely coincidental that six months later, fluid and scar tissue are now causing Billy's left lung to partially collapse? I'm not trying to suggest anything untoward-- I just think it's really weird.

That's all for now.

Oh, and by the way?

This is going to start World War III.

Paul Krugman, on the other hand, is not

Ari Fleischer is certainly skilled in the art of being smarmy and avoiding questions (although I think my hatred for McClellan runs deeper). In short, a douchebag.

Paul Krugman, no trace of douchebaggery about him, is skilled in the art of explaining in clear, even terms, why nearly every economic decision the Bush administration has made has been ... you know ... douchey. And like evil and stuff. He sees the deeper plan they had all along, to cut taxes so that the country would run up a huge debt, then say the only way to get out of the red is to slash every good social program we have out of existence. They're basically hunting the ghost of FDR and, to a lesser extent at this point, LBJ. Jerks. As momzulita pointed out yesterday, 'we had an ownership society: in 1928.'

The way I see it is that if the Repubs have their way, sooner or later (sooner) the whole system will go bust and there will be millions of working Americans who suddenly realize that Bush never gave a shit about them. Which will bring on a resurgence of left-wing politics (potentially even actual LEFT-wing politics like socialism (but uh oh, that could lead to 'rations')) and, likely, 21st century versions of the New Deal and the Great Society. I tend to be of the cyclical school of history, mostly because we seem to be unable to learn from out own mistakes. Before I get more history-snob than I just did, I want to pose this question: is there some way to bring into the SS dialogue (which is going to involve a lot of hootin and hollerin in the next two months on the part of the Bushies) the history of the social insurance programs (beyond the cursory 'FDR created it' stuff), going back to the ownership society, then the Depression, then these programs' creation, then the right-wing's decades-long disdain for them, followed by their attempts today to dismantle them? I think that's something anyone can understand, but history is usually more confined to academic settings, rather than used as a tool to help the public make informed decisions. Because if everyone really knew about history rather than just the US-centric version of it, we'd all be in a socialist republic. There I go again, but that's really how I feel!

Another thing: Bill Frist is a flip-flopper, only it's scarier because instead of changing his mind on the basis of new and pertinent information (something only spineless Dems do), he changed his because his party pressured him to do so. Screw him anyhow, and his 'maybe you can get AIDS through tears and sweat, I'm not sure' bullshit. Also I asked momzulita how on earth he's a doctor and she said his family owns one of the worst hospital systems in the country. Maybe they found a way around that whole 'oath' thing for him.

And: Which part of our liberal media deemed that Martha Stewart's release from "jail" should suddenly be the most important thing on every news station, and, based on chiniqua's testimony, require round-the-clock live coverage? I'm not sure, but I'd guess her major fan base (aside from gay men) is mostly women in the 'moral values' crowd, so soon to come will be the backlash against her for being immoral and lying and making shady stock deals. Right? Right?? After careful consideration, I've decided not to hold my breath.

crazy time, part 1,001

turn on the tv hoping for some 70's show and i swear to god all the cable networks are freaking parked live outside martha stewart's prison. it was mesmerizing. i watched for an hour. it was like watching paint dry, only weirder. "the drive to the airport is about half an hour. it's a very dark road, and there might be deer or other animals in the road. martha is going to have to be very careful." i kid you not. they analyzed her poncho, her walk, they had susan freaking mcdougal talk about what it's like, it was CRAZY!
and then she got out and i was like, yay, martha! and then i thought, why the hell do i care? and the reason is that i spent an hour listening to the most inane bullshit in history, and i no longer have a brain.
i'm saying it again: end times.
on a lighter note, happy birthday me!

Ari Fleischer is Such a Douche

Really.
He is.
I fucking loathe him.

HST, SCOTUS, and other acronyms...

not feeling inspired enough to bring up a topic that we haven't already brought up (or that chiniqua hasn't in her last three posts) i'll now proceed to piggy-back. i can do that as a post (as opposed to a comment), uh-huh, cuz i'm a member of this here blog.

as for HST: as much as i love conspiracy theories (and i happen to think the right wing gets away with a lot of shit by just pulling incredibly brazen stunts, covering them up, and accusing anyone who unearths anything of being a conspiracy theorist), i'm gonna go with the story circulating aspen in the week following his death (where bluenote and i were immediately dispatched--two days before it happened--to garner info). without being too revealing in this public forum (because you know EVERYONE who's ANYONE reads BBD.. we almost considered changing the address after the P. Hilton fiasco), it seems apparent that his wife was not at home, his son did hear a shot (it sounded muffled apparently, but isn't that what you'd expect if he had his mouth wrapped around the barrel?) and he was, indeed, extremely subject to highs and lows (had to be bipolar in my laywoman's estimation). also, if it was really over this supposed article about the WTC, the right wouldn't have to kill him because they could just call him a conspiracy theorist along with everyone else who's pointed out that the white house and the FCC had advance warnings. it's not as though the majority of americans were looking to HST for their cues on the truth (although GOD KNOWS we should've been). i also agree with chiniqua that the whole chargers-in-the-basement thing is a bit much.

moving on: the supreme court. yes, they made a good decision. yes, it was also by a vote of 5-4, and if bush has his way with the courts it'll be overturned as soon as possible. mom and i were kvetching yesterday about how much we hate scalia. he's such an asshole. from yesterday's WaPo (but i'm editing a bit to restore the opinion quote to its original form):

Scalia, in a separate dissent joined by Rehnquist and Thomas, [said critically,] "The court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our Nation's moral standards -- and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures."

Noting that most countries have more restrictive abortion laws than the United States, Scalia [added that] "The Court should either profess its willingness to reconsider all these matters in light of the views of foreigners, or else it should cease putting forth foreigners' views as part of the reasoned basis of its decisions. To invoke alien law when it agrees with one's own thinking, and ignore it otherwise... is sophistry."

THIS MAN IS A MEMBER OF OPUS DEI. i really don't know what else needs to be said about that to discredit his 'we hate international opinion' argument but he's faithful to someone on this planet, who, at the least extreme, is JP2, and is probably someone much, much scarier. and anyway fuck him and his xenophobic bullshit. surprise, antonin, the standards of decency in the rest of world society are evolving faster than they are here.

also in the opinion (but not printed in the WaPo), he wrote:

To support its opinion that States should be prohibited from imposing the death penalty on anyone who committed murder before age 18, the Court looks to scientific and sociological studies, picking and choosing those that support its position.

okay so he's not into skewed statistics, right? but what about this [from the article]: "As of yesterday, 20 states, including Virginia, permitted the death penalty for offenders younger than 18. That is five fewer than allowed the practice in 1989," i.e. 30 out of 50, which i THINK is more than half, don't allow it. but the number AS (please let his middle name start with an S) invokes is that "the 18 death-penalty states that limit capital punishment to offenders 18 and older amount to 47 percent of the 38 death-penalty states. 'Words have no meaning if the views of less than 50 percent of death penalty States can constitute a national consensus,' he wrote." way to juggle your numbers there, buddy, but all 50 states count, even those bleeding-heart ones where they don't execute ANYONE at all. like, hmm, well 100% of those 18 states allow minors to be executed, so clearly that's a mandate!

also: yes, it's fun to say and write SCOTUS. also WaPo.

want to comment on the fight between 50-cent and the game (WTF?!?!) but momzulita wants to go so i'll sign off.

More HST

There are acres of lovely Hunter S. Thompson conspiracy theories making the rounds now. Among the things noted are that the story of how he died apparently has changed (was he in the kitchen talking ot his wife or sitting at his desk?), the fact that he (and I find this a little unbelieveable) was at his typewriter, which had one sheet with the word 'eskimo' no, wait, I'm sorry, 'counseler' typed in the middle, the fact that his wife was on the phone with him and didn't hear a gunshot, and that he was allegedly working on an article on the World Trade Center.
Yes, that World Trade Center. The article was supposed to claim that the towers came down because charges were detonated in the basement.
Which is a pretty crappy theory, given the, you know, planes that flew into them. And the way they collapsed from the top. Which I saw on TV. 10,000 times.
But since this article was never written, and this is all heresay on the internets, who the hell knows. But I just wanted to inform you, gentle reader, that there are them that believe that HST was done by an 'inside job' to silence him.

Go SCOTUS!

(OK, maybe I just like to write "SCOTUS" because it's so much like scrotum.)
Nonetheless, slowly slowly we are inching towards a little bit of sanity on the death penalty. In case you missed it, the Supreme Court decided yesterday that you just can't execute kids. Or rather, you can't execute people who committed their crimes when they were juveniles. So added with the ban on executing the retarded, it feels like a little bit of real progress.
Still, it's crazy that we're deliriously happy that we now no longer execute children. And yet, I am deliriously happy that we no longer execute children.

Jer-ry! Jer-ry!

This has nothing at all to do with politics. I just wanted to take this moment to give a little shout out to the most insanely attractive man on tv (non-actor edition). Jerry Ferris, wherever you are, we love you long time.
Ok, it has a little to do with politics becuase my own little personal theory of the Jen/Jerry issue: he's blue and she is bright family values red. What I like about this theory is that I have absolutely zero evidence to support it. Hell, we've gone to war on less.