...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Stop It, Storm!!

In case you haven't seen it, the religious bigots who are insisting on legislating their own narrow views of the Bible into laws for everyone have got a new ad on the tv, which can also be seen on You-Tube-



Now, the first time I saw this pitiful piece of fear-mongering, my first impression was that it was sooo campy nobody could really do a parody. It's like Dik Cheney, or Michelle Bachman- it's so silly that it is its own parody.

I am now ashamed for my own dismissal of the talents and genius of my fellow Americans out there who have indeed created some very funny lampoons. Many thanks to Bucky 4-Eyes for finding this one-



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Monday, April 27, 2009

Springtime-


The azaleas have come into full bloom out back, so we sacrificed a few to mount on my office mantle...


More Questions Than Answers...

A church pastor in Baltimore is in BIG trouble. Is it because he-

a) took in a homeless man?

b) took in a homeless man and took out a life insurance policy on him, naming himself (the pastor) as beneficiary?

c) took in a homeless man and took out a life insurance policy on him, naming himself (the pastor) as beneficiary, and then hired a hit man to kill the homeless man?

or...

d) took in a homeless man and took out a life insurance policy on him, naming himself (the pastor) as beneficiary, and then hired a hit man to kill the homeless man, paying the hit man with $50,000 he (the pastor) embezzled from his own church?

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Bonfire of the Xmas Trees

Yesterday we humanely disposed of several years' worth of dead Xmas trees by having a bonfire in our neighbors' backyard fire pit. First, the pit was readied by burning a few old wooden pallets as the audience warmed up with some champagne-



And in goes the first tree!




That was fast. the second tree approaches...


And there it goes!


Same time, same place, next year?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Random Asparagus Oil-

-I'm getting the popcorn ready for tonight's traditional annual viewing of Ann Baxter in a filmy blue dress, o/w known as "The Ten Commandments". Hey, some traditions are just worth keeping up, year after year...

-I love holidays in general, but Easter has always been one of my special favorites. I LOVE the Easter Bunny. He's so cuddly, and cute and furry... and he's great grilled with some fennel and baby potatoes and a nice pinot noir.

-Speaking of good eats, I just sampled some of a local farmer's fresh "Hot as Hell" horseradish. Eyah. 5 on a hotness scale of 10. My sister in law makes some really hot stuff, which she brought to Seder last night. Even more than grilled Easter bunnies, I love hot & spicy foods, and my basic standard is if it clears all the mucus out of both nostrils it gets a 5, but to go any further the pain has to flare upwards and come out my eyes. This local stuff, while very tasty horseradish, didn't do that. To hit a "10" it basically has to sear out both eyes, make steam come out my ears, and singe the hair follicles on my scalp. now THAT'S Good Eats!

-I know how to clean up the pirate problem- just send Chuck Norris over. I mean, sending Chuck Norris to Somalia is an idea that's appealing on all SORTS of levels...

-Is Ann Coulter animal, vegetable or mineral?

-And finally, this just in (and didn't you always secretly suspect something like this was going on?) -

Friday, April 10, 2009

Hey, the First Snort is Always Free-

This guy is from Harvard? That must be a typo. He's got to be from MIT...


For those who live and breathe chocolate, a puff

Boston Globe, Friday, April 10, 2009

Chocoholics rejoice: A Harvard professor has invented a calorie-free way of experiencing the sweet obsession - by inhaling it.

Biomedical engineer David Edwards has created a mini-inhaler - dubbed Le Whif - that shoots a chocolate mist into one's mouth, mimicking, he says, the experience of savoring the real thing. The price tag is about $2 for four puffs.

Edwards is known in science circles for designing a more efficient way to deliver inhaled medicines by tinkering with the particle sizes, and he has tapped that science in his lipstick-size chocolate delivery gadget. The chocolate particles are small enough to shoot out of the brightly-colored inhaler, but too large to make it to the lungs.

Not only does this delivery system remove the guilt that comes with chocolate's calories, he says, but it also moves us toward our culinary future. Evolution, he says, is trending toward smaller meals eaten more frequently - until chewing is pretty much replaced by breathing. "Breathing is eating," he says.

Adds the professor: "The whole process is very art-science. You have a culinary art and aerosol science meeting."

Of course, before dessert comes the main meal; Edwards has plans for inventing inhalable steak, carrots, and more. But for now, he is busy marketing Le Whif; a world tour is on tap.

"You can carry it in your pocket, you get the taste of chocolate, and your hands are clean and you put it back," Edwards says.

How does it taste? Think inhaled cocoa powder. Based on a personal test, the candy bar doesn't appear to be in danger.

Frank Terranova, a Johnson & Wales University culinary instructor who hasn't caught a "whiff" yet, is skeptical.

"I don't think you can call it a cuisine," he said. "I think you can call it a gimmick."


A "gimmick"? Surely not...

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Mrs. Chili pointed this Jon Stewart clip out on her blog. I'd say it hits the nail pretty squarely on the head...

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Thursday, April 09, 2009

Mister Rogers- Evildoer!!

It turns out that Fred Rogers is to blame for everything, but before we get to that, we have a -

Philosophical Query for the Day-

What is the Real Problem with Morning?

a) it's an every-day event, and that's just too much. Can we cut it back to, say, 4 days a week?

b) people expect you to do stuff when it happens.

c) it comes before lunch.

- -

So, the fine folks at Fox, in collaboration with a professor at that icon of higher learning, Louisiana State University, have declared jihad on Mister Rogers for destroying entire generations of young Americans.

Of course, before going out and burning your King Friday the 13th puppet, one might want to take a moment and consider the source...

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Forecast!


- -

The forecast says rain-
The sky says sun. It's April,
And I'm so confused.

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I know a number of you out there are interested in the latest news on the Mormon church, so we can file this one under "What a Difference a Consonant Makes" -

Student Newspaper at BYU Pulled Over Caption Error

PROVO, Utah (AP) - About 18,500 issues of the Daily Universe student newspaper at Brigham Young University were pulled from newsstands because a photo caption on the front page misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles.

An apostate is a person who has abandoned religious faith, principles or a cause.

The photo was of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints, at the weekend general conference.

The caption called the group the "Quorum of the Twelve Apostates."

The papers were replaced with corrected copies later Monday.

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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Opening Day ! (??)

Well, Boston Red Sox fans are all set for Sox Opening Day, Take 2, after yesterday's washout. Hey, at some point it has to stop raining right? Maybe by May?

Opening Day Haiku-

Its Opening Day-
First pitch- going, going gone!
What's gone- ball or hope?


- -

Just in, an update on something I was bitching about last week. The Vermont legislature has showed some spine and over-ridden their idiot Governor's veto-

Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage
ASSOCIATED PRESS : April 7, 2009

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage -- and the first to do so with a legislature's vote. The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.

The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law.

It's now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.


Wow, now there's a Progressive quartet of states for you- Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and, um, Iowa.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Born in the U.S.A.-

A terrifying and tragic juxtaposition of news pieces crossed my desktop in the last two days. First, an op-ed piece from the NYT on Friday-

Pitchforks and Pistols

By Charles M. Blow, New York Times, April 3, 2009

Lately I’ve been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right. My read: They’re apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their “leaders” seem to be trying to mold them into militias.

At first, it was entertaining — just harmless, hotheaded expostulation. Of course, there were the garbled facts, twisted logic and veiled hate speech. But what did I expect, fair and balanced? It was like walking through an ideological house of mirrors. The distortions can be mildly amusing at first, but if I stay too long it makes me sick.

But, it’s not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They’re talking about a revolution.

Some simply lace their unscrupulous screeds with loaded language about the fall of the Republic. We have to “rise up” and “take back our country.” Others have been much more explicit.

For example, Chuck Norris, the preeminent black belt and prospective Red Shirt, wrote earlier this month on the conservative blog WorldNetDaily: “How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution?”

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, imagining herself as some sort of Delacroixian Liberty from the Land of the Lakes, urged her fellow Minnesotans to be “armed and dangerous,” ready to bust caps over cap-and-trade, I presume.

And between his tears, Glenn Beck, the self-professed “rodeo clown,” keeps warning of an impending insurrection by saying that he believes that we are heading for “depression” and “revolution” and then gaming out that revolution on his show last month. “Think the unthinkable” he said. Indeed.

All this talk of revolution is revolting, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

As the comedian Bill Maher pointed out, strong language can poison weak minds, as it did in the case of Timothy McVeigh. (We sometimes forget that not all dangerous men are trained by Al Qaeda.)

At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That’s 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann’s Minnesota.

Coincidence? Maybe. Just posturing? Hopefully. But it all gives me a really bad feeling. (Where’s that Pepto-Bismol?!)

- -

Think he's over-reacting a bit, being a little over dramatic? Well, even as I was finishing reading that article, this appalling story hits the headlines-

Call lures police to ambush; gunman kills 3 at the door

Associated Press, Sunday, April 05, 2009

Pittsburgh —- A man in a bulletproof vest killed three police officers answering a domestic call Saturday, police said. Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn’t clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway, shot two in the head immediately and then killed an officer who tried to help them, Harper said.

Harper said more than 100 rounds were fired when Poplawski, with an assault rifle and two other guns, held police off four hours as the fallen officers lay nearby.

The officers killed were Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III. Kelly had finished the night shift and was on his way home when he responded to the call. Another officer was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Poplawski had gunshot wounds only in his legs because of the bulletproof vest, Harper said.

He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation. “It appears he was lying in wait for the officers,” Harper said.

Poplawski’s best friend said Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.” Edward Perkovic said Poplawski had called him at work and said, “Eddie, I am going to die today.”

- -

Moral: The Right Wing really is nuts, and they are out to get us.