October 2009 Archives

Good morning!  Please enjoy the following videos to get you in the mood for tonight's Halloween shenanigans! First, we play homage to the woman who inspired a billion dollar 'slutty costumes' industry.  Now any costume can be turned into an ensemble right off the pole thanks to none other than Elvira.  Enjoy the full movie, Count Dracula's Great Love, as presented by Elvira in Elvira's movie macabra:   With the latest trend in Zombie videos,...

Rep. Tom Price, that good ol' boy from Jawjah, introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives recently expressing "gratitude and appreciation" to the Teabaggers who assembled in Washington on September 12, the text of which can be seen here. It was co-sponsored by the usual Republican bigots suspects like Bachmann, Broun, Gohmert, and Gingrey, among others. I made a few minor modifications and corrections and came up with something much more appropriate."Whereas, on September...

If you thought the story of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and the Appalachian Trail was bizarre, you ain't heard nothin' yet. "Back on Monday, former Republican state representative and now assistant Attorney General Roland Corning (66) was on his lunch break when a police officer found him parked his Ford Explorer at Elmwood Cemetery with an 18 year-old stripper from the Platinum Plus Gentlemen's Club, a bag of sex toys and at least one...

Submitted without comment for your amusement and your amazement. From Brad Friedman at Brad Blog: ...

The following letter to the California legislature contains a special "hidden" message from the Governor.  You could google it but don't spoil it in the comments.  As far as I can tell, this is not a hoax.  Enjoy.   To the Members of the California State Assembly:   I am returning Assembly Bill 1176 without my signature.   For some time now I have lamented the fact that major issues are overlooked while many unnecessary...

I know this doesn't fit into the political nature of our friendly little site, but if I am known for much, I am known as a huge baseball fan. The Astros hired a new manager yesterday and I wanted to give everyone here a primer in case they don't follow baseball as closely as I do. I'll even try to set aside some parallels with politics, so I can remain with the theme of the...

In the latest episode of our national soap opera, As the Health Care Reform Turns, Senator Joe Lieberman said that he would support a filibuster of a bill that contains a public option. Sort of, kinda, maybe: "Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the public option proposal making its way through the Senate."I told...

There was an interesting letter in the Chronicle yesterday about education. I always find these interesting. The letter writer didn't identify himself as a teacher, but if he was he has awfully unrealistic expectations. He wanted five year contracts and one computer for every two students. He wanted tutoring programs for students that fail and behavioral programs for students that disrupt the classroom. I simply love unbridled idealism. A lot of people are concerned about...

The year is 1965 and President Johnson approves a request from General William Westmoreland for an additional 50,000 troops in Vietnam, bringing the total force there to 125,000. The year is 2009 and President Obama is considering a request by General Stanley McChrystal for an additional 40,000 troops in Afghanistan, bringing the total U.S. force there to 108,000. Consider this from Newshoggers:"Now we can't know what's being said in the oval office today but we...

If you want to see what stifling free speech really looks like, examine the case of Simon Singh.  I had the honor of seeing him speak at the Museum of Natural Science here in Houston once, so I'll get my own bias in his favor out of the way up front.  He's a real scientist and a brilliant communicator, kinda like Britain's Neil deGrasse Tyson.Singh recently published a book with Edzard Ernst, the first Professor...