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Saturday, July 08, 2006
Tigers, Tigers, Burning BrightThose of you who've been around for awhile may remember my agony and ecstasy as the Detroit Tigers of 2003 flirted with the distinction as the worst major league baseball club of all time, then rallied amazingly at the end of the season to avoid that ignominious result. Three years later and the Tigers are clearly one of the two best teams in baseball. Unfortunately the Chicago White Sox are the other team in that mix, only 2 games behind the Tigers, who had a terrific June and early July and yet somehow didn't put any extra distance between themselves and the Southsiders or the Minnesota Twins.
The Cindy Sheehan Fast Diaries, Part IIThey tell me the second week is better; by then your metabolism shuts down and you don't feel the pain in your belly all the time. The good news is that I'm only fasting until September 2; the bad news is that's 56 more days. Of course, when I look at people like Dick Gregory, who's planning on fasting until the troops come home, I realize I'm fortunate indeed. Of course, I was a little surprised when I heard him and Diane Wilson talking about "KFC". But Dick quickly explained that he was working on a campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken called Kentucky Fried Cruelty. Still his hands seemed a little greasy and when I licked my fingers after giving him the Revolutionary Drug Brothers handshake I thought I could taste Original Recipe. Of course, everything reminds me of food these days. I had to turn off the TV, because it seemed like every commercial was for Sara Lee. And of course, Sean hasn't been all that helpful. I realize I shouldn't be jealous of him for getting to eat again after his shift was over, but does he have to belch so much? And I don't think it's right for him to claim that White Russians don't count as food during his shift.
Today's Sign That the Apocalypse Is NighPaul Krassner, founder (with Jerry Rubin and Abby Hoffman) of the Yippies, waxing rhapsodic for the good old days of the military draft.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Graydon Carter Continues to Destroy Vanity FairThis time with a feature article on the Loose Change punks. Not online as yet, but sure to come eventually. Update: They've scanned in the article here. After reading it, I've come to the conclusion it's not all that bad. The article seems to be on Dylan's celebrity status more than anything else. And it mentions Screw Loose Change: 
The Dumbest Big Liberal BlogHas to be Crooks & Liars. Get this ridiculous post over there on Michelle Malkin. Nothing surprises me with Michelle. She tries so hard to be Ann Coulter. I started her fall from grace when the UC Santa Cruz students contacted me because she had printed their personal information on her website and they received numerous threats. Unfortunately, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Denise Denton, commited suicide and she still has to smear the lady.The two incidents have nothing to do with each other. Oh, sure, our old buddy Greg Sargent made a valiant effort at tying the two together, but even he admits he came up short: Well, on June 24, Denton, 46, went and jumped from the roof of one of the tallest buildings in San Francisco. The reasons are murky, though news reports say that politics, scandal and her high public profile may have played a role. Did the attacks from Malkin and her marching followers play a role, too? No one has alleged that, in fairness. On the other hand, being fingered by the Malkin gang wouldn't exactly ease one's mental anguish, obviously.Did you say scandal? Why, yes, there was a bit of a scandal involving Denton, and it has nothing to do with Michelle Malkin. Denton's tenure at the university had been rocky. She came under fire in March for demanding $600,000 in home renovations during contract negotiations and, in 2005, an employee union criticized the university system's creation of a $192,000-a-year position for Kalonji when Denton was hired.Kalonji was Denton's lesbian lover. Hilariously, some liberal bloggers and a writer for Reason are now saying that Malkin should apologize. For what? While no one is suggesting that her readers pushed Denton over the edge, Malkin has said nothing about the chancellor since her suicide. It might become her to apologize for smearing an academic, and directing people to direct their outrage to her office, in what were the final troubled months of her life.Check out the comments on that post and you'll see that the attitude of the liberal posters on that thread is that "Malkin may be innocent on this one, but it's always a good thing to bash her, so we're going to do it anyway."
Republicans Running from the President?Not so, says Lorie Byrd. Great article from one of the nicest people in the blogosphere.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The Cindy Sheehan Hunger Strike DiariesOkay, now I can do this. Yeah, it's been 48 hours and I've only had lemon water, but I can do this. Susan surprised me this morning, by suggesting that we all go to Mass. I didn't know she was a Catholic too! But then again she did play a nun in that movie with Sean, so I should have known. And talk about devout! She insisted on taking communion at least five times. Sean and Dick were like rocks. Of course, there was that one odd moment when the doorbell rang and Sean insisted on getting it. I couldn't quite see what was going on, but the two of them disappeared into the bathroom for awhile with a cardboard box. I'm sure it was just cocaine, though, and not Domino's.
Noam Chomsky, Agent of the CIA?You know you've really wandered into the fever swamps when you find people claiming Noam Chomsky's secretly undermining the Left: However as one begins to examine the interviews and writings of Chomsky, a different picture emerges. His books, so vociferously lauded in leftist circles, appear to be calculated disinformation designed to distract and confuse honest activists. In fact, since the 1960's Chomsky has acted as the premier Left gatekeeper, using his elevated status to cover up the major crimes of the global elite.
Thanks, John!John Hawkins of Right Wing News has been a great supporter of this blog. Today he did a post on "Blogs by Twos" in which he mentioned this blog: The two best blogs you're probably not reading now, but should bookmark: Brainster's Blog & JackLewis (full disclosure: he's my blog tech guy.)
Operation Soldier Event Upcoming!Check out this article for the details: After 19 surgeries and two years of recouping I have decided to try and help the organizations that are trying to help the wounded troops. When a soldier is wounded and hospitalized Operation Soldier helps with money to obtain airfare, hotel and what ever else they need so that the family can see their wounded hero that lies in the hospital.
I believe that together we can all make a difference for the soldiers and let them know that we are here for them and that we care and appreciate what they have done for us in our time of need. Thus the reason for the Bowl – A – Thon.
Again the Bowl-A-Thon is going to take place on July 30, 2006 at 8 AM, and it should last for about 5 days, non-stop. Our goal is to bowl 4000 games, and maybe get into the Guinness Book of World Records for most games bowled.
We are hoping that people will join with us and donate $1, $5, $10, or even $1,000,000.00. We can make a difference if we work together.
In it's most simplistic terms, the way I look at it, there are over 16 million people in LA County alone. If 1/16 of them donated $1 then we would have $1,000,000.00 to help support the families of the wounded soldiers.
There are 5 bowlers doing this. Myself, my father Sidney Bond, Stanley Love II, Shawn McCalister, and Bill Meneley.The Bowl-a-Thon will be taking place in Hanford, California, which appears to be about 25-30 miles south of Fresno. I'll provide an update with contribution information, but if you'd like to contribute now to Operation Soldier, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the link is here. Our buddy John Bush does a terrific job with Operation Soldier, and deserves your support.
I Hate This GuyA golfing novice got two holes in one the course of five holes. Oddly enough, he didn't see either ball go in. "The flag was over a ridge, so you couldn't see the ball after it went over the ridge. Rick looked at me and said, 'Boy, that could be in the hole.'
"When we got to the green, I saw Rick's ball, but I didn't see mine. I thought: 'Oh, my God, could it have happened? Could I have gotten a hole-in-one?'I have played thousands of rounds of golf, and ironically, the closest I ever came to getting an ace was probably on about my 10th hole ever. It was a par 3 180-yard hole along the lake at Ramsey Country Club. I was about 15 years old, sneaking on the course with a friend of mine. I hit a two-iron, and the ball seemed to go in exactly the direction I wanted it to, landed on the green and rolled exactly the way I had hoped. I honestly expected the ball to disappear into the cup. When I walked up, it had stopped about 2 inches shy of the hole. If only I'd had my Wheaties that morning!
The Smoke-Filled BlogHere's another article on Kosola. Now, as readers of political blogs await the next chapter in an increasingly vituperative online battle -- Moulitsas has called The New Republic ``Lieberman- worshiping" neocons ' while Zengerle says Moulitsas operates ``the digital equivalent of a smoke-filled backroom" -- some outside observers believe the dust-up may be a benchmark in the blogosphere's entrance into mainstream politics, as blogs begin to face the same level of scrutiny as traditional media outlets.
``The blogosphere has always been mainly about scrutinizing everybody else and expressing violent opinions about them," said Alex S. Jones , director of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. ``Kos is a very powerful blog, so in that sense it's taken on the vulnerability of one of the [political] leaders."The writer doesn't quite get the charges: The imbroglio began in mid-June after reports surfaced that Jerome Armstrong, an influential blogger who co authored a book with Moulitsas and also started a political consulting firm with him, was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly promoting a stock online in exchange for money.In fact, that investigation has been over for quite some time; since 2003 I believe. The current charge is that you sign Armstrong as a consultant and you get good press from Kos. And this raised a horselaugh: This increased scrutiny may be a natural progression for the liberal blog bloc, which has been credited with several recent political successes, such as fueling the campaign of Ned Lamont , an antiwar candidate who is challenging Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut for his US Senate seat. With fund-raising help from bloggers like Moulitsas, Lamont forced an August primary against Lieberman and has pulled within striking distance of the longtime incumbent.Yeah, so far that's Kos' big success, although Lamont hasn't won yet.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
The Adults Step InA bunch of Senate Democrats announced their support for Joe Lieberman today, and as you can imagine, the Netkooks are up in arms. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, Barbara Boxer of California and Ken Salazar of Colorado plan to campaign in Connecticut for Lieberman between now and the Aug. 8 primary. Their goal is to reassure the party faithful of the three-term senator's loyalty to Democratic causes, including women's issues, labor and the environment.Kos: Biden is just giving people more reasons to laugh away his presidential ambitions. Boxer's the only disappointment in this lot, but she already demonstrated at YearlyKos how utterly out of touch she was on this issue. Now we know it wasn't a fluke. Too bad.David Sirota: Exactly - so I say, bring ‘em on. Let as many incumbent U.S. Senators from Washington as Lieberman wants go up to Connecticut - it will only reiterate to voters what this race is really all about: a contest between the Washington Establishment and the Rest of Us.As I've said many times before, the liberal blogs seem to have a zest for beating up on insufficiently liberal Democrats, while their stated desire to beat the Republicans seems more pro forma.
Kitty's Story Podcast!Here's her story "Stuck In An Elevator with Mandy Patinkin". Kitty's a far better writer than I, and this is an amusing story. Also check out Briefs and Unmentionables, a blog she keeps for her short story work.
Preview of Global Warming FlickOur buddy Teflon at Molten Thought got a screener copy and gives us his thoughts. This program doesn't tell Americans "what you need to know" about global warming---it doesn't even try. It simply recycles the same propaganda you've seen elsewhere, tarts it up with disaster-film animation and basso profundo apocalyptic incantations, and pretends no one in their right mind even questions the fact that WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE IN A CATACLYSMIC CATASTROPHE wrought by you bloody Americans and your SUVs.Excellent review, delivered with some bite!
Call Me SuspiciousBut this article on "breast-ironing" strikes me as somewhat similar to the one on monkey-fishing. Breast "ironing" - the use of hard or heated objects to try to stunt breast growth in girls - is a traditional practice in West Africa, experts say.
A new survey has revealed it is shockingly widespread in Cameroon, where one in four teenagers are subjected to the traumatic process by relatives, often hoping to lessen their sexual attractiveness.
Right of Center Bloggers on ImmigrationJohn Hawkins polled a bunch of center-right bloggers regarding various topics on the immigration issue. I responded, but apparently my reply got lost in the ether. For what it's worth, my answers were: 1-2 haven't paid enough attention to the issue to know the difference between the two bills 3. B 4. A 5. A 6. Somewhere in between the two choices 7. B 8. A 9. B 10. B 11. B 12. A 13. B 14. B
Can We Really Be This Lucky?Here's an interesting article on the unique strategy the Lefty bloggers are employing this year. Four of the most powerful left-wing political bloggers have developed a new joint strategy to steer financial support from the “netroots,” or Internet-based activists, to Democratic challengers, many of whom they know have little chance of winning their mid-term election races.
Crucially, the candidate does not have to have a good chance of winning. Bowers said their hope is to “stretch Republican defenses” and turn less-noticed races into top-tier races, which will encourage more activity on the Internet.
“The point of the netroots endorsement is to beat Republicans directly [in a few races], lock down their resources indirectly and support” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, Stoller wrote at MyDD, referring to Dean’s efforts to run strong candidates in Republican areas.Let me get this straight. You're going to push money to candidates that have no chance of winning in the hopes that this will force the Republicans to send money to candidates that have no chance of losing? Remember, Stoller's considered something of a dangerous intellect among the Lefty blogosphere.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Europe Decides to Cure Problem of Air TravelThis is hilarious. AIR passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday.
MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. The charge would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights.
They also accepted a recommendation for a special emissions trading scheme for the aviation industry, which would see airlines buying permits to cover their output of carbon dioxide.
Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases, and flights within Europe are on course to double by 2020 and triple by 2030. Flights within Europe were on course to double by 2020 and triple by 2030. I suspect they will come up quite a bit short with this kind of tax.
Cindy's Clowns to Begin Hunger StrikeI guess starting around midnight tonight. Star Hollywood actor-activists including Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon and anti-war campaigners led by bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan plan to launch a hunger strike, demanding the immediate return of US troops from Iraq.Except that the former Mr Madonna and Susan Saranwrap aren't planning on missing too many meals: The hunger strike will see at least four activists, Sheehan, veteran comedian and peace campaigner Dick Gregory, former army colonel Ann Wright and environmental campaigner Diane Wilson launch serious, long-term fasts.The rest of them are planning on skipping the salad. You know what the flaw with this strategy is? There's no "or else". Say Cindy Sheehan and Dick Gregory starve themselves to death. Uh, what's the problem?
The Patriots at the HuffpoYou can sense how much they really despise the Fourth of July, with all its expressions of love of country. Jesse Kornbluth wants us to know that his allegiance is to the planet. How Terracentric of him! Is Earth any better than Mars? And get this little non-sequitur: George Bush, recently 60, holds the ultimate elder's job, but he's no elder. He was drunk and disorderly for the entire war that defined the character of our generation. He has always surrounded himself with men who ditched school the day the other kids learned about cause-and-effect. And now, with language no elder would use, he wages a war that must remind everyone his own age of the one we lost.
But Bush performs a necessary service, if only for his --- and my --- generation. He's a daily reminder that while he fueled his aggression, we smoked the peace pipe, put our heads between speakers and heard home-rolled mantras, took the magic pills and had visions that changed us in fundamental ways --- we learned to value right livelihood, to seek our own answers, to take the long view.Ah, yes, drug abuse as representing personal transformation. It wasn't a very compelling argument 30 years ago; now it's quaint. Marty Kaplan sheds a tear for lost opportunities: We were one after 9/11. It's not hard to imagine an alternate history that might have followed that awful day -- one that united us behind energy independence and shared sacrifice, that united the world to fight global warming, that didn't squander American unity on a stupefyingly misconceived and divisive war, that didn't calculatedly enflame every hateful polarizing wedge issue in the culture wars.Personally I had hoped that we would all unite after 9-11 to say enough of the New York Yankees buying pennants, but Marty Kaplan had another agenda. But you're perfect, Marty, don't you ever change! Gene Stone says the opposite to America: You're perfect, so change. As I grew older my love of the country also grew, but the expression of that love differed from Oscar's. College meant years protesting American involvement in Vietnam. Next followed protests for civil rights, and against Nixon, and then against Reagan, and for women's rights, and then against Bush, and then for gay rights; then protests against the next Bush, and then against the war in Iraq.And soon to come, protests for animal rights! Christopher Durang has similar thoughts. And so when my generation looked at Vietnam, unconsciously we felt it was hard only to obey, obedience in every single instance had been pointed out to be wrong in Nuremburg. There were times you had to say, this is an order I won't obey. I am NOT saying the Vietnam war is the moral equivalent of Nazi Germany's actions. But I am saying that draft age men like myself found ourselves saying "Why are we in Vietnam?" in an uncertain voice; we had sort of missed the lead up to it. And the answers coming back were confusing and debatable. It was hard to sit there going, Well this doesn't sound right, but I think I'll go kill and maybe die in it anyway. Obedience was no longer the prime virtue. Individuals had to know when to say no.Beginning to sense a theme here? Yep, all these dolts are stuck in 1968. One, two, three, four, we don't want your stinking war! Five, six, seven, eight, it's the American flag we really hate!
Monday, July 03, 2006
Belated PlugMy buddy Dodo David, who's a co-blogger with me at Lifelike (where I've been lax in posting lately), has started his own blog. David's got an interesting sense of humor and an knack for the offbeat. Definitely not something you'll see at ten other blogs today.
Lieberman Betrays NetkooksAfter all they've done for him! Lieberman starts petition campaign for independent slot on the ballot in Connecticut. Even should he lose in August -- and the most recent public poll shows him leading Lamont by 15 percentage points among likely primary voters -- Lieberman would retain his status as a registered Democrat. His name would not, however, appear on the ballot line with other Democrats.Well, you can imagine how his good friends, the netkooks are reacting. AmericaBlog: What a bastard. He is sooo important, that he can't abide by the decision of his party. Lieberman's arrogance is off the charts. He's addicted to his own power, or sense of power. And, clearly, he's smarter than the rest of the Democrats in Connecticut.Christy Hardin Smith of the Firedogs calls him "Sore Loserman". Heh. One almost gets the sense that these liberal bloggers see themselves as Wile E. Coyote, having seen yet another brilliant plan fail, cursing their luck that the amazing Roadrunner has eluded them again. Let's hope that around the corner is a truck waiting to hit them, or a cliff they can fall off.  Update: Jane Hamsher on what the netkooks have accomplished: It’s been a wild couple of days. Yesterday I had coffee with CTKeith and DeanFan84 who post at Dump Joe and My Left Nutmeg and got the whole history of the local blog scene and their advocacy for Lamont. It was very inspirational and I’ll certainly be writing more about it later, but for now suffice to say that it’s an impressive model for promoting progressive candidates throughout the country — at the very least they’ve forced an 18 year incumbent and former Vice Presidential nominee out of the party.:)
Steyn on Multi-CultiHere's another delightful column from the best in the business: I mean, the great thing about these terrorist plots is that they give us even more opportunities to demonstrate how impeccably multicultural we are. You know how it goes: eight guys called Mohammed and three called Ahmed fly a plane into the Alfonso Gagliano Centre for Quebec Grant Application Studies and the RCMP commissioner can't wait to say, "These men come from the broadest strata of Canadian society, stretching from young men with full beards to young men with slightly trimmer beards. So there's no obvious link between them. We've got nothing to go on. There are no leads. But we're pulling in a redneck Albertan, a Ukrainian, an Inuit and two gays for the lineup. There are eight million stories in the naked city and we intend to hear all of them. No sense narrowing it down too quickly."
Sunday, July 02, 2006
I'll Have What He's DrinkingJoe Biden announces his intention to run for President in 2008. After more than 30 years in the United States Senate and nearly 20 years after his first try for his party’s Presidential nomination, Joseph Biden has no doubts about making another run for the White House.
“I’m in,” the Delaware Democrat said Friday as he began a five-day visit to the first-in-the-nation primary state.
“I know I’m supposed to hedge, but I’m in.”
Biden dropped out of the 1988 nomination race amid allegations of plagiarism.The next person to think mano a mano Joe Biden has any chance of winning the nomination, let alone the presidency, will be the first. He's been pretty solid on the war, which unfortunately means he gets no traction against Hillary on that issue. If Hillary decides not to run, which I doubt very much, he could be the biggest beneficiary. If Hillary does run and as I expect, Gore, Kerry and Edwards are also running? Then Biden has virtually no chance. Biden's something of a stiff on the campaign trail, and he's well known for his supercilious and abrupt demeanor. His likeability quotient is practically nil.
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