PSoTD

Cybersoc.com has done some digging. Give it a read.

It looks like cracksinthefacade and PSoTD both posted about the Al Gore movie, as did the Pandora's jar guy - so someone has paid to find out what people are saying about the Al Gore movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Did you post about the film? Did you get inbound links from NetVocates?

Hell, every blogger ought to have some sort of basic post about An Inconvenient Truth, and monitor their traffic to see if NetVocates shows up.

Following up on an earlier post:

When was the last time you went to you a drive-in theater?

Anyone my age probably has some fond memories of the drive-in movie theater. Cheap movies, family nights, later on it could be date nights, and make out nights, and whatever else nights. For me, first and foremost, I remember it as the cool place we went as a family when I was little to see Disney movies - Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that kind of stuff. They came with various kinds of kids recreation - usually playgrounds - and the infamous snack bar which they constantly promoted during intermission.

Sunday night we took our kids to their first night at the Drive-In at Haars in Dillsburg.

It's the only drive-in near here anymore, as drive-ins have been in demise for decades. It's not the business model - it's the value of land as property bought in the 1950s for purposes of the drive-in eventually become surrounded with development, and the push and the offers for either commercial or residential development of the drive-in finally overwhelms the opportunity afforded with the business model. Drive-ins are sheer Americana, the confluence of America's love affairs with cars and with Hollywood, but our economy does not appreciate highly nor value heavily sheer Americana. Please don't try to tell me it does and use examples of antiques or collectibles or old houses, because the economic value isn't based on Americana but on 1) supply and demand, and 2) speculation.

My kids' generation may be the last to really know the drive-in theater. There are somewhere around 500+ left of them in this country (probably less, this list appears old).

Going to Haar's on Sunday night brought back the whole family and child value of the drive-in, and we'll go back in the near future. I want my kids to know the drive-in before it disappears from sight. Then they can tell THEIR kids about this fabulous place of fun that once entertained their generation.

The more we get this cultural/national mix going around the world, the better off we'll all be. The world should be a melting pot - and not of the global warming kind.

From the Galway Advertiser:

The idea that someone would want to settle in Ireland and make his future here would, during the 50s and even into the 70s, would have seemed astonishing to people of the older generation. The 'Irish Wake', which forms part of the nostalgia industry of the now thriving Irish Diaspora was once a tragic feature of the national experience.

And a word on the Irish Diaspora itself. Those who left Ireland during the hard times in search of work and prospects felt they had little or no choice. The enormous change now is that those who are now working in the United States, Australia, France, Japan, and elsewhere have chosen to do so. Educated, confident, proud of their heritage, today's emigrants are either temporarily so or return to Ireland on a regular basis, many with homes here.

But as a new kind of Irish emigrant has appeared, so this country has found itself dealing with the dramatic new phenomenon of immigrants from - literally - around the world, attracted by the success of the Irish economy. And the transformation of the social, cultural, and political scene has been equally dramatic. From the flourishing Brazilian community in Gort, to the Chinese takeaway in Caherciveen, the eclectic mix of African and Eastern European music, the astonishing variety of foods now available in every large city and even small town - all this eloquently attests to the diversity that now characterizes Ireland in the 21st century.

I find it hard to believe that Google couldn't find such an item.

Now Jonah is miffed about Google Doodles...

Dedicated to tonight's expected dinner:

Where was the last place you ate a taco?

Duncan has an interesting post up called The Coming Blogwars in which he recognizes that the liberal blogosphere is likely to be pretty divisive in the upcoming Democratic Party presidential primary campaign.

I guess there are two areas of concern - that the perception that "big bloggers" will have "undue influence" on the web in the campaigns is the one Eschaton focuses on, and I suppose that's a legitimate concern. There is a way to get around it, of course, but it goes hand in hand with the second concern, which is more mine than anything I've seen anywhere else.

I know people get interested in the horserace status of the campaign, and the focus of how one candidate would match up against a Republican better than another, yadda yadda yadda. I'm not. I'm sick of it. I think it sucks. I think it's that demand of result over resolve that has gotten the Democrats into the minority status it finds itself today. I'm not complaining about it as far as the candidates go, because frankly, they do have to see things that way - individually. I'm complaining about it as far as the Party goes, as far as the news media goes, and, I'm afraid, where the blogosphere is rushing towards. It is the focus on how a candidate can be most electable, as opposed as to why a candidate should be elected. I'm afraid that the Democrats haven't learned an important lesson yet - that's there's going to be disagreement and debate and division over EITHER question, and the "how" question doesn't get us a candidate that can convince non-Democrats that the candidate SHOULD be elected. Only the why question can do that. And if elected, it doesn't provide an inkling to the sizeable population that didn't vote for the candidate as to why they should support their governance. What was proved was that the candidate could be elected by the slimmest of margins. What wasn't proven was the translation of that result into governing. For the most recent example, see the current Administration. Getting elected is what Karl Rove's campaigns are all about. Governing effectively? No groundwork set.

I'd hate to see the blogosphere contribute to the problem. If we focus on why we should elect a candidate to govern - the platform, the positions, the expectations in governance, the capabilities - rather than why we should select a candidate that can be elected, then the blogosphere will be doing politics a grand benefit that history will remember. If the blogosphere acts just like the consultantocracy and the power news media, then we're no better than they, and history will probably forget us pretty damn quickly. Particularly on the liberal side, it's our choice on where to put the focus, and I hope we prove ourselves to be better than the existing power structures we've been reacting to the past several years.

He has a ways to go yet, but Drew Rosenhaus appears quite capable to earn the top position.

Over at The Dead End, Jonah Goldberg was extremely perturbed that Al Gore mentioned studying existentialists in France as a teenager. Hey, Jonah also went to Europe as a teenager, "more than a few times" (didn't everybody?) but he didn't do anything as bogus as try to learn anything! And if he did, he sure wouldn't talk about it. What kind of example is Al Gore trying to set? Doesn't Al Gore know he's never going to appeal to any right wingers with knowledge? If you want to be President of the United States, you better not be going around acting intelligent!

Nope, Jonah doesn't like discussing French existentialists one bit. Jonah likes the X-Men!! Jonah really likes the X-Men!!

Couldn't Al Gore make Jonah happy and talk about the X-Men instead of global warming?

Twit.

Elisabeth Bumiller is already calling a potential 2012 Presidential candidacy by Jeb Bush part of a "dynasty".

But Republican Party leaders continue to talk seriously about a continuation of the dynasty, a Bush III administration, with Jeb as a candidate in 2012 or 2016, when the memory of the current president's dismal poll ratings will be less of a factor. That, at least, is what happened the last time around: President George Bush's unpopularity at the end of his term in 1992 did not hurt his eldest son when he ran for president eight years later.

The first George Bush was Lincoln compared to the second. The number of long-term screwups and willful ignorances by this administration will be haunting this nation well past 2012 or 2016. This nation will have completely lost its way - for good - by electing in any fashion another politician from The House Of The Family Of Bush.

There was some good news at the end of this article, however:

This is the last White House Letter by Elisabeth Bumiller, who is going on book leave.

Thank God.

I had a visit to this blog from NetVocates yesterday. The visit was to this post about An Inconvenient Truth last week. What NetVocates says it does seems a bit... too close to lobbying for my initial comfort:

NetVocates delivers a customized combination of monitoring, analysis and action to maximize the positive effect of the blogosphere for the client. The result for NetVocates clients is the ability to gain virtually instantaneous expertise in the area of blogs.

Maximizing positive effect of the blogosphere? Are they trying to play us?

Anyways, here's a few other blogger posts to consider if you find yourself visited by NetVocates:

Make Chai, Not War: Big Brother & the Fortune 500

Mindcaster: netvocates

Just gotta wonder what is going on here - and who their clients are...

My wife tells me our oldest is getting as bad as our youngest about leaving clothes on the floor, particularly pajamas. They just take them off in the morning and expect to leave them on the floor until nightfall when they'll wear them again. I said no problem, I know just what to tell them.

I go downstairs and they're both sitting on the couch. I tell them we have a situation we need to address. They've been leaving their pajamas on the floor when they get dressed. Before I was married to their mom, I would change clothes and leave them on the floor wherever I changed or undressed. That all changed when we married, and now clothes either go in the dirty clothes hamper or back in the dresser if they can be worn again without washing, such as pajamas. I don't leave my pajamas on the floor.

"Now, if I have to do this, so do you," I added.

Our five year old looked a bit puzzled, and then he worked it out. "So you're saying we can just leave our pajamas on the floor until we get married?"

This cracks me up. A whole article about how Bush admitted to a nation that he, as President, needs to be more sophisticated. Really. Bush was right - and there's very little credit to give to him for realizing it or admitting it - as President he should be considerably more careful and adept in how he chooses his words - because language is a tool. America should make the ability to communicate proficiently an obvious requirement for President.

But Bill Bennett disagrees.

"One of the attractive things about the president is that he talks Texas," Mr. Bennett continued. "But what broke my heart is when he said, 'I need to be more sophisticated.' What is this, Kerry talk? Is he going to use 'elan' the next time he speaks?"

Funny. Obviously, Bennett knows the word 'elan', and feels it is representative of the term "sophisticated". Apparently Mr. Bennett had an education and a life experience where he realized that the word 'elan' might come in handy at some point, and he retained it. Bennett feels it's okay for him to have a vocabulary with such words - but it isn't useful for the President of the United States to have a command of the English language to make the fullest advantage of the tool?

Bill Bennett is saying that the language skills of the President should be less than his own, or less than John Kerry's. It's beyond calling Bennett, who makes money as a writer, ironic for holding such a position.

It's just plain stupid.

Yeah, me neither. That's why articles like this make no sense to me. I know her name recognition is probably higher than many other potential Democratic Party candidates. But that's not a real preference.

Meeting when a new Iraqi unity government offered the promise of a way out of an unpopular war that had damaged their standing at home, Mr Bush and Mr Blair were reflective on some grievous mistakes critics said had intensified anti-American sentiment in the Middle East.

...

"Yesterday's men is the phrase that occurred to me," Jonathan Clarke, a former British diplomat now at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, said.

Tomorrow can't get here soon enough!

Oil.
Oil.
Oil.

For Victor Davis Hanson, it is ALL about the OIL.

But what did 2,400 brave and now deceased Americans really sacrifice for in Iraq, along with thousands more who were wounded? And what were billions in treasure spent on? And what about the hundreds of collective years of service offered by our soldiers? What exactly did intrepid officers in the news like a Gen. Petreus, or Col. McMaster, or Lt. Col Kurilla fight for?

First, there is no longer a mass murderer atop one of the oil-richest states in the world.

Maybe neocons are getting closer to their own inner truth. Hanson still decorates the entire article, from start to finish, with freedom rococo and democracy facade. It may take years - decades - for people like Hanson to get past the layers and layers of internal disinformation paint and propaganda wallpaper they've coated their personal logic with in order to accept the fact that they promoted a war mainly so that the U.S. could gain some control of an asset another country held. Maybe Hanson will never allow himself to actually get there. Maybe he'll always have to crutch himself with the false belief that we went there to provide freedom and democracy to the Iraqis, even though there are dozens of other countries in the world with brutal situations lacking freedom and democracy that Hanson won't march off a cliff for arguing that we attack.

It's hard to say. Hanson admits it was about the oil, and a few paragraphs down, he denies it was about the oil. His inner confusion apparently didn't allow him to realize his points were opposing. One thing for sure: America cannot afford to continue to allow people sharing his befuddlement make policy - if such a grand word can be applied to what they are doing - much longer in this country.

America still comes up with them from time to time, and they become accepted by other countries.

from ekathimerini.com

Greek authorities are expected to adopt by the end of the year the Amber Alert plan used in the United States to help detect missing children after more than 350 youngsters disappeared from their homes in Greece in the last 17 months.

Constantinos Yiannopoulos, president of the children’s rights watchdog the Child’s Smile, said yesterday that initial coordination efforts for the alert system will be undertaken by the group.

The plan, established in the USA in 1996, involves police informing television and radio broadcasters about a missing child. The broadcasters then interrupt their programs to transmit the Amber Alert about the child. Messages may also appear on highway signs and on mobile phones via text messages.

The system is considered to deter abductions, since experts say there have been incidents where kidnappers have released children after hearing the alert on the radio.

“[The problem of] missing children is an international daily social phenomenon that affects all of us. It does not have to happen to us to make us sensitive to the issue,” the Child’s Smile said.

The procedure has been successful in the USA. Authorities claim the number of missing children who are found has risen significantly.

According to Greek police, 125 boys and 253 girls have gone missing since the start of 2005.

“Most cases regard children who leave home on their own or are taken away by one of their parents who ignore court rulings,” Yiannopoulos said.

Volunteers handed out balloons and flowers yesterday at Syntagma Square in central Athens to mark the occasion of International Missing Children’s Day.

More than 2,000 children go missing around the world every day.

Here's Russert's guests for Meet the Press this Sunday.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-NE, & House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, David Broder, David Ignatius, Kate O'Beirne, Eugene Robinson.

Just another week of sepia news coverage by Timmy Russert. Wondering what the count of Republicans versus Democrats, as far as current and former elected and appointed officials are, for 2006? With this weekend's show, it looks like this:

26 Republicans
12 Democrats

I realize the Democrats are out of power, but they need to start talking loudly, and in public, about this guest distribution on Meet the Press. Russert is approach Foxland. Congressional Democrats shouldn't just limply accept it.

Haven't done this in a LONG time...

Thanks to the following fine bloggers that have added PSoTD to their blogroll... it is MUCH appreciated!

Aunt Elinor Fights Crime

The Lady Speaks

It's My Country Too

Thanks!

Since it Iraq a while to put together a Constitution, maybe Gibraltar's politicians feel less pressure.

Cardboard Eye.

Treasury Secretary John Snow has signaled to the White House he is ready to resign once President Bush has picked a successor, administration officials and people close to Snow said Thursday.

They said Snow has made clear he eventually intends to return to the private sector. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Snow is not ready to discuss his plans publicly.

Will the Bush Administration drop another load in their pants at the sight of yet ANOTHER leak? Will the Republican bloggers? They usually do...

The big question is, will this hurt Tom Ridge's ability to draw money from Republicans in the future?

Lynn Swann, the Republican candidate for governor, might benefit more financially by appearing on the campaign trail with former Gov. Tom Ridge, but it might cost him much-needed support in the central part of the state.

Swann, who had a long-standing commitment to speak at the West Branch Manufacturers Association annual dinner next Tuesday, canceled last week after receiving an offer to appear with Ridge elsewhere on the same day.

The Williamsport group said it feels slighted and is withholding the $15,000 it raised on Swann's behalf. Checks are being returned to donors.

Michael J. Sharbaugh, the association's executive director, said he is hearing people say, "I was going to vote for him, but not now. If you can't keep your commitment, you won't make a good governor."

...

"It's a real bonehead move," said Michael Young, managing partner of Michael Young Strategic Research. "He alienated people in an important part of the state. This is an early indicator of a campaign that's in trouble."

Between the Swann campaign and the current dismal atmosphere around Rick Santorum's chances, Republicans in Pennsylvania have to be feeling pretty downtrodden about their chances in the fall.

And you have to wonder what poor Jim Matthews (and his brother, Chris Matthews) are thinking, other than they both may have hitched a political career plan for the future on someone who keeps fumbling.

From the United Nations Association of Georgia:

The promotion of democracy, peace and security, and integration into Euro-Atlantic structures were set as the major priorities of the new regional organization which was established by Georgian, Ukrainian, Azeri and Moldovan leaders at a summit in Kiev on May 23.

The U.S.-backed informal grouping of these post-Soviet states, known as GUAM, has now turned into a regional Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (ODED) with headquarters in Kiev.

When moron prudes run government, prudish moronity is the result.

Apparently when the Vice President isn't out shooting people in the face, he's obsessing Queeg-style over unfavorable newspaper reporting.

Libby also told the grand jury that Cheney often scribbled on newspaper articles and kept them on a corner of his desk at the White House.

"He often cut out from a newspaper an article using a little penknife that he has and put it on the edge of his desk," Libby testified, according to a transcript of the grand jury proceeding that Fitzgerald attached to his filing.

Libby testified that Cheney would pull an article out of the pile later and "think about it."

Ahh, but the yellowcake that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that the Niger uranium connection DID exist ...

Even though my site traffic is still increasing, I'm a bit concerned over a trend on this blog. One of the things that has seemed to happen, although I really can't tell for sure, is that I've been slowly replacing regular readers with Google visitors. A few years ago I could look at my SiteMeter report and see where visitors were coming from, and they were primarily coming from blogrolls. That is no longer the case, and I suspect that blogrolls are well on their way to extinction, to be replaced with a handier set of link tools similar to what Leftyblogs provides with RSS feeds and headlines.

And that's okay with me if blogrolls disappear over time, but I'm not sure what to make of not having a regular readership. It's nice to be a reference point for search engines on important and less important items, and it's always refreshing to see a post of mine referenced by Daou Report or Shakespeare's Sister or some other blog that generates a burst of interest. But shouldn't I rather want regular, daily, or at least every-other-day, readership? Is smaller and returning better than larger and sporadic?

What would you prefer on your own blog?

Another rather scary step in the progression of avian flu, as reported by Effect Measure:

WHO is now saying what could be inferred from their update yesterday: it is likely that for the first time H5N1 has spread from human to human to human -- three generations of cases, possibly four. This does not mean that a pandemic strain has started but it is another warning signal.

If we take the statement that there has been no change in the virus (let's see the sequences!), then there is another inference we might make. This is just the first time WHO has acknowledged this, not the first time it has happened. Since many cases in Vietnam, China and elsewhere lack solid evidence of close contact with poultry this may have happened many times over (see our post here). The index case here was a vegetable seller in a market where there were live animals, so she wasn't in contact with poultry as an occupation. She might well have contracted the disease from sick poultry at the market but she might also have contracted it from someone else at the market (or elsewhere).

As a result of this cogent evidence in Indonesia, WHO may convene a standing committee of experts to decide if the pandemic alert level should move from the current Phase 3 to a new Phase 4.

Yep, the Al Gore movie.

It plays in Harrisburg June 30th at the Midtown Cinema.

Kind of strange how little attention with the U.S. press the foreign markets have received, considering their rather dramatic activity in the past week...

From Helsinki:

Share prices fell sharply on the Helsinki Stock Exchange on Monday - by around four percent. In the past two weeks, more than ten percent of the value of stocks traded in Helsinki has evaporated. The trend is similar to that of other countries, but the decline in Finland has been sharper than on most bourses.

Monday was considerably worse on the Mumbai Stock Exchange in India, where shares plummeted by more than ten percent, repeating a similar dismal performance on Friday.

You can all thank Kathy Flake for this question, since she decided to jab me in comments earlier...

How many foreign newspaper web sites - that is, web sites of newspapers headquartered out of the country you reside - do you check out daily?

From the Center for Rural Pennsylvania:

A Center for Rural Pennsylvania study released in 2000 compared the cost of living across the common-wealth’s 67 counties and found that costs in urban counties were typically about 6 percent higher than in rural counties. Rural counties had lower costs for each component of the index, including groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.

...

Data also indicate that, over the next 10 years, Baby Boomers will be making their way back to rural Pennsylvania. Older Boomers, who are now hitting their retirement years, seem to be attracted to the quality of life in rural Pennsylvania. This is evidenced, in part, by the roughly 5 percent increase in Baby Boomers from 1990 to 2000.

This Internet revolution thing is pretty cool, but it's quite interesting how much of a cold shoulder it has received from the home contracting/remodeling industry. Ever try looking for prices for a type of siding, or window, or door, or tile? Good luck in getting much information on that online.

Maybe setting an example to the citizenry isn't such a bad idea... too bad the message of reducing gasoline usage by the government didn't land with this editorial writer.

Of course, Bush's message to the public, based on his travels, is to spend the people's money on gasoline frivolously as possible.

P.S. - This isn't really a news site, and neither were these conservative bloggers. Opinion by bloggers isn't news - it's expected. So get over it.

Now, if we could just get Google to stop including the Opinion Urinal...

Did you love it? We did, especially on vanilla ice milk. Do you miss it? Here's a poll - share your feelings.

If John McCain is so intent on defining this lackluster presentation as "The speech the Angry Left tried to suppress", why doesn't he bother to explain why it deserves that definition? What a cheesy trick, trying to con conservatives to read his speech by tossing a raw meat heading and serving tofu.

Oh, and while I'm at it on the Opinion Urinal, this piece of crap writing is so bad, but has no name on it. I'm betting it is John Fund's.

I AM SO SICK OF THE MANUFACTURED CONTROVERSY OF THE DAY.

A Keller school district parent said political correctness has run amok at her daughter's elementary school, where the principal chose to omit the words "In God We Trust" from an oversize coin depicted on the yearbook cover.

Janet Travis, principal of Liberty Elementary School in Colleyville, wanted to avoid offending students of different religions, a district spokesman said. Students were given stickers with the words that could be affixed to the book if they so chose.

Debi Ackerman of North Richland Hills said she is offended by the omission. It's yet another example of a politically correct culture that is removing Christian references from all public places, she said.

No, it's not that. It's another example of the religiously bombastic culture flaying anyone who crosses even their smallest sensitivities. Most members of faith will look at this and say, hey, it's a school elementary yearbook - an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YEARBOOK, and it's not worth any controversy. But not Debi Ackerman.

I'm so sick of this press opportunism abusing the name of religion. Quit giving those who have faith a black eye with these kinds of mind-numbingly inane manufactured press pushes. It is an elementary school yearbook and it is an image of a coin. (And to be honest, I think it's considerably more disturbing that an elementary school chose to put a coin - for whatever reason - on the cover of their yearbook.) It was made FOR THE KIDS. Do you really have to spoil that, Debi Ackerman? Are you really that sensitive? Is this really that important?

And, Star-Telegram - don't you realize that the more press you provide for the most inane controversies, the more inane controversies will be stirred up? Are you in pursuit of inanity? The expansion of coverage of inanity? STOP IT!

I think it's pretty clear that this kind of approach can and will be very popular for some nation/state/territory at some point. But I don't expect St. Croix to be the first...

Elayne's back from her successful tour of Britain. I forgot to restock the refrigerator...

How many of these beers have you had?

And congratulations to Tröegs! Harrisburg's own has the 41st beer on the list!

... benefitting Keystone Residences in Steelton, we were having wings and hot sausage and wings and chili and wings and salsa!!

Did I mention wings??

at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Camp Hill...

And once again it was delicious. I love the gyros, plain and simple. Both our kids ate skewered Chicken Souvlaki, and my wife went for the Spanakopita. She found it more of an appetizer, though, and went for a gyro afterwards, while I chowed down on Saganaki (fried cheese). Then we shared Kourambiedes, Galaktobouriko and Diples for dessert. We left stuffed and looking forward to next year.

If you're finding your Inner Wonk left wanting by the processed talking point blather of the Sunday morning gabfests, make a visit to BloggingHeads.tv. BloggingHeads juxtaposes two bloggers head-to-head via webcam feed bantering on the issues of the day.

Although these self-described "diavlogs" offer next-to-no production qualities, they are surprisingly informative and entertaining . Sound and light levels can be all over the place and cell phones, sirens, dogs and kids sometimes intrude but the signal-to-noise ratio mostly stays extremely high. The format also nurtures a collegial civility and genuine interchange of ideas which is usually lacking in the blogosphere back-and-forth. They actually listen to each other! Robert Wright and Mickey Kaus are the uber-heads but other participants have included Matthew Yglesias, Jonah Goldberg, Josh Marshall, Amy Sullivan and other "big name" bloggers.

Three episodes are being posted weekly. They run approximately 45 minutes and can be either streamed from the bloggingheads.tv site or downloaded as .wmv or .mp3 files.

Any format in which I can tolerate Mickey Kaus deserves some props. Definitely recommended!

The National Review's Michael Ledeen is in a tizzy!

I am sorry to have to post this, a video of the leader of Tehran's bus drivers' organization (it is forbidden to call it a union) after a torture session in an Iranian prison.

But it seems otherwise impossible to convince Western leaders that we are confronting a monstrous evil, that seeks to destroy or dominate us by all possible means. The sort of horror you see on this video is repeated every day, sometimes leading to execution, sometimes to further sadism.

Somebody should clue the mullahs in that "civilized" nations send their priority riff raff to secret prisons in other countries for "interrogation". And they definitely don't let the victims show up later on videotape. Out of sight, out of mind. Outsource your monstrous evils!

If a beer company could be a superhero, now would be a good time for it at Latrobe, because Rolling Rock is leaving.

This could be the year that Vietnam takes the credit.

I'm not sure why, but this story discomforts me.

After selling his Malibu mansion last year for a cool $10 million, Nicolas Cage has now plunked down $3 million for a relatively pristine island in The Bahamas, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It's the second rock for the 42-year-old Oscar winner, who bought his first Bahamian island in 2000 and has a house on Paradise Island near Nassau.

The 40-acre retreat is situated some 85 miles south of that residence in the Exuma archipelago chain in the southern Bahamas, reportedly near an island owned by married country crooners Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

According to the paper, Cage plans to turn the undeveloped private atoll into a romantic getaway for himself and his wife, Alice, and their infant son, Kal-El.

I guess my biggest question is where the $3 million goes. Into the local economy? Or out of the area?

People regularly die at the interchange of routes 15 and 581 outside of Harrisburg. Most often, a negligent truck driver rams his rig into the back of some poor commuter stopped in traffic due to a ridiculous merge point. It happened again this Friday.

A 21-year-old Cumberland County woman was identified as the motorist who was killed in the fiery eight-vehicle accident that closed Route 581 in Camp Hill on Friday evening for more than 11 hours, police announced yesterday.

...

The accident happened shortly before 5 p.m. during heavy-rush hour traffic in the westbound lanes of Route 581, about a mile east of the U.S. 11/15 interchange in Camp Hill.

State police at Harrisburg said seven vehicles were stooped for traffic. A truck-tractor loaded with lumber driven by Dane B. Clark of Punxsutawney, who failed to stop in time and crashed into the seven vehicles, leaving the road littered with mangled vehicles.

The truck driver certainly deserves a great share of the blame but I'd also like to say "Screw You" to whoever was responsible for the incompetent interchange layout.

The American government offers no safe haven or justice from the terror of being falsely detained of being a terrorist - and being tortured as a result. Our government insists on being the bad guys, even after the fact, in these kinds of cases.

Sorry, Dallas Mavericks. No Jerry Stackhouse team has ever won the NBA title. But I bet you already suspected that...

Apparently there are other nations with as much perceived disrespect for other peoples as America.

From The Nation:

Lao people are often left feeling insulted and humiliated thanks to jokes by Thai celebrities and the Thai media, an academic said yesterday.

Adisorn Semyaem from Chulalongkorn University's Asia Study Institute has just completed a survey of 216 people in Laos and 40 per cent said they felt Thai television and music personalities actually enjoyed insulting Lao people.

The media were also in the firing line, with 27 per cent of respondents saying the industry harboured a negative attitude towards them, said Adisorn.

The two countries' histories and the fact Thailand is more economically advanced mean Thai people feel superior to Lao people, he said.

As far as Lao people are concerned, Thailand is the worst offender when it comes to countries that tend to humiliate them, followed by the United States.

Very few Lao felt Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan or China had ever insulted them, he added.

On the other hand, I don't remember hearing an American entertainer or seen on American television any knocks about Lao people since the Vietnamese War. So I wonder... what is the perceived source of this humiliation in the case of the United States? Media? Government? Does our State Department ever look into such things, since it public perception can drive government policy?

Pam has a piece about the tunnel-Christians trying to bully the nation about The Da Vinci Code. This comment struck me from the newspaper article she quoted:

"I think that people who hate God and who hate the entire idea of Christianity are trying to develop ways to be more scathing in what they have to say," the pro-lifer asserts, "because Christianity is growing stronger. And the very fact that that is happening is debilitating to those people who hate God. It's almost like the anti-Christ is among us and has taken about 500 different forms, all of which have the same message: you have to hate God to be accepted in our society."

Here's what I hate: I hate the idea that a "Christian" thinks they have the right and the authority and the knowledge to claim that another person "hates God" because they may hold a different belief than they do. Not hate - just different - and most likely still reverence and faith. These "Christians" don't have the right, and they don't have the authority, and they most certainly don't have the knowledge, to know this. And yet they revel and homogenize in their ignorance.

Secondly, it's not that you have to hate God to be accepted in our society, but the converse is true: if you act like everyone who disagrees with you is anti-God and that you have the only true vision of God, then you will not be accepted by society.

Because unless you're the second coming, you shouldn't be.

I really don't think strap-ons are going to be the answer.

Just another one of those American efforts likely to get everyone to hate our asses a bit more in the future...

Citing Tehran's "unpredictability" as the reason for its concern over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, the United States has said it was making efforts to help New Delhi with its energy needs.

"This is a project that's been talked about quite a bit in the region. We have made our concerns known about it. We made them aware of US legislation that might affect any investments in Iran, and made our concern about Iran as the source of energy need, given the unpredictability some times of Iranian behaviour," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said.

Anyone think the primary point here is to help India and Pakistan? Or to hurt Iran...

Sad? Funny? Potatoe? You make the call.

Do you remember this?

I see that the Washington Post made Pennsylvania's state primary on Tuesday a big national story today. I do think they understate Pennsylvania's reasons for dumping many incumbents on Tuesday:

Some of the backlash against incumbents grows out of specific grievances such as the Pennsylvania pay raise or missteps by individual lawmakers.

The payraise was the ignition, but I think it was the attitude of the state legislators that cost many in the primary. For several, it was downright haughty to those who were protesting the payraise. It was a lack of respect. They tried to foist a "ruling class expertise" diet on the public, and many of them ended up with losing primary campaign vomit as a result.

I don't think the Post gets it. It really isn't about the issue primarily. It's the attitude that came out. Pennsylvanians rejected it as not appropriate for leadership or representation. Do I think it's over? No. Unless Pennsylvania's General Assembly goes into complete hiding over the next six months, I think that attitude will make itself known again. The public is hypersensitive to it now. The press knows it, and will feed the public's sensitivity. This ain't over.

Earlier this week, at Pen-Elayne, I asked this question:

But Americans seem to be more and more inclined to use their naked bodies as a means of political protest - the months before and after the beginning of the Iraq War saw many, many photo op events with citizens posing naked together to spell out aerial messages such as "No War".

But does it work beyond shock value? And does shock value actual undermine the message?

Ann Bartow of Feminist Law Professors posted in comments a link about this very topic that I found very interesting. Please give it a read, both for the warning about providing nude images of oneself and the question: if nude protests garner more attention than clothed protests, will the nudity - and not the number of protesters - be what history remembers for any given protest movement?

Doesn't this sound like an effective grassroots idea to help the general public?

The Lobby School was founded to enable its participants to improve their chances of changing their states' legal environments.

Oh, wait a minute...

A state legislature can either enrich you or impoverish you; it can prevent or permit your actions and those of others. Which are you going to let happen? We can help you get an appropriation or legislation to advance your group’s interests or disadvantage a key competitor. You do not have to accept the status quo.

Who attends their seminars?

Bank of America
All State Insurance Company
California State Automobile Assoc
Costco Wholesalers
GlaxoSmithKline

That went south fast. But why couldn't this be done at the grassroots level, for ordinary citizens, at ordinary citizen cost? This thing costs $525 - a corporate price structure, obviously. Why couldn't somebody put something together for $50, and run it out of the "adult education" programs that communities around the country provide?

Americans, be proud. Other countries are taking the American model of governance and saying that if it's good enough for the United States, it's good enough for them. For example, Bangladesh:

The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act will have the provision to put a suspected militant under preventive detention in the style of Special Powers Act.

The deputy commissioners of police will order such detention for a period of one month. For detention of a longer period, the accused will have to be produced before and get approval of an advisory board as per constitutional provision.

"This law will not be used against anyone with political motivation," Law Minister Moudud Ahmed told reporters after a meeting of an inter-ministerial body formed to examine the draft Ant-Terrorism Act at his ministry. "We are looking into it carefully to ensure stopping of its political use," he said.

The proposed law designed to cover all aspects of terrorism and militancy provides up to capital punishment if the charge is proved, he said, adding that it will be "very strict" about bails. "The court has to be absolutely satisfied before granting one bail," Moudud said.

The draft has been prepared basing on all existing laws, including the Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and Special Powers Act. Offences covered by the existing laws will, however, not be included in the new law, Moudud said.

The land's laws cannot take action against the persons, groups and political parties for militant activities and terror financing, he said.

"It has become very urgent to introduce a new law as terrorism and militancy have acquired a new dimension. New terms are coming in use and the militants are using substances that the existing laws are inadequate to cover," the law minister told reporters.

Countries like the UK and USA have laws for detention of militants and terrorists without trial, he told the BBC Bangla Service last night.

Don't it make you proud!

I can't wait for his statements.

"There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had plenty of them."

"Managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits."

"They examined all my organs. Some of them are quite remarkable and others are not so good. A lot of museums are bidding for them."

"You have to go broke three times to learn how to make a living."

"All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy."

Yeah, you're right, I just used this story as a cheap excuse to throw some Casey Stengel quotes around.

Robert Jubelirer
David Brightbill
Teresa Forcier
Frank Pistella
Kenneth Ruffing
Tom Stevenson
Stephen Maitland
Roy Baldwin
Gib Armstrong
Peter Zug
Fred Belardi
Dennis Leh
Sue Cornell
Paul Semmel

They are all incumbents that lost their statehouse primary races yesterday. There will likely be at least a few more as the election results become final.

WHO weighed in last week...

THE World Health Organisation is concerned over the migration and recruitment of health workers from Africa, an official has said.

In a speech read on her behalf on Friday to mark the International Nurses Day, WHO country representative for Namibia, Dr Custodia Mandhlate said the recruitment of health personnel from African countries by developed countries undermined investment in the health delivery system.

"We need to ensure that this free movement of professional health workers does not undercut national plans to improve human resource supply and distribution. This is a critical element in our endeavour to strengthen our health systems and provide quality service," she said.

Dr Mandhlate added that WHO was concerned that inadequate staffing in health institutions was reaching crisis levels in all regions, leading to an increase in the length of hospital stays, patient complications and mortality and preventable adverse situations.

Noted Dr Mandhlate: "Health workers, who also include nurses, provide health care to those who need it. But around the world, the health workforce is in a crisis - a crisis to which no country is entirely immune. Health care environments vary worldwide, but the need for adequate staff is shared. This goes beyond the minimum required for potential substandard care."

She urged health care workers and associations to determine safe staffing levels in the context of patient requirements, collect relevant clinical and workforce data, disseminate and demonstrate the importance of safe staffing, form alliances to support safe staffing policies, undertake impact assessment studies and prepare a communication plan that effectively influences decisionmaking.

Solutions to the crisis must be worked out at local, national and international levels and involve governments, the United Nations, health professionals, nongovernmental organisations and community leaders, she said.

Most African countries have been hit by an exodus of health professionals mostly to Europe. A number of Zimbabwean nurses and doctors have left the country for Britain, Australia and some have recently tracked to Swaziland. Namibia also faces the same problem and entered into agreements with governments of Cuba to provide doctors and Kenya to provide nurses. Zimbabwe Health Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa announced at the weekend that the Southern Africa Development Community was taking steps to minimise poaching of doctors and nurses by requiring the country of origin of a health professional to agree to his or her employment in another SADC state. Under a protocol, no SADC member state shall disadvantage another by luring or "stealing" health professionals using economic superiority.

God, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's web site is a mess for citizens to use...

I'm not the only one with this opinion... check out Pollywogs' opinion.

First time with the electronic touchpad voting machines. I can see where a large segment of the Central Pennsylvania population is going to struggle with it. It isn't as intuitive as you would expect - for the amount that it costs, I would think it would be as simple as using a MAC machine, but not really. Plus, someone at the precinct has to join you in the booth to set it up for the proper party ballot, and walk you through the process of voting. I think it will be interesting to read the letters to the editor in the following week to see what complaints burble up... beyond the obvious security ones.

Well, at least one stops by this place on the Carlisle Pike almost daily for coffee...

Senator Weasel strikes again.

Seriously, can Specter be believed on anything, ever, again?

Okay, it's not really new, but maybe something you haven't thought of, particularly in the light of Avian flu... The western nations are taking their health professionals away. From Kenya's Daily Nation:

In a span of four years, 3,390 of Kenya's 30,000 registered nurses migrated to Europe and the United States. During this period between 2000 and 2004, about 1,200 nurses were leaving Kenya for greener pastures every year, the National Nurses Association of Kenya (NMAK) says.

This was not necessarily a bad thing, Mr Simba K’odambo, the NMAK chairman, said as they marked the Nurses Week in Nairobi last Friday.

Nurses have long been overworked and underpaid and found themselves ripe for easy pickings with the attractive pay offered by clinics in countries that have so willingly absorbed them.

Whatever John Hinderaker means by this, he ought to be called on it to prove it, because it smells like ass. Like where it was pulled from...

My cab driver was completely disoriented by this. I could tell he didn't believe it. Like nearly all African cab drivers, he listens to public radio all day long. Twenty minutes with me wasn't enough to overcome years of liberal indoctrination.

I just want to see that study on African cab driver radio listening habits.

I suspect that not many are still listening to Bush at this point in his disastrous tenure. Accordingly I'll defer to his dead-end wingnut constituents at National Review for reaction to his prime time speechifying tonight...

Only when the Bush administration opposes renewal of the federal bilingual ballot mandate, will I believe it means what it says about assimilation. Until then, their statements about the importance of immigrants learning English are boilerplate boob bait for Bubbas.

Or as Mark Krikorian more succinctly puts it: "More Mush from the Wimp"

I don't think they liked it.

Go vote.

Here's some Pennsylvania reading for your evening...

Karl's not worried. Why? Because he's needed, because this is the most inefficient White House of all time...

"Karl's focus is sharper than ever and his spirit is high," said Dan Bartlett, White House counselor, downplaying any claims that Rove is distracted. "He packs more work into one day than most of us get done in a week."

Yeah, I'm subbing in over at Pen-Elayne this week as well, along with Desi from Mia Culpa. Bop on in and sign the attendance sheet.

I'll be off for a week, and I'm looking for some guest bloggers to help out. Feel like crossposting here? Email me at losyannigans@yahoo.com and let me know, thanks!

On average, the Air Force loses 14 Airmen every year in motorcycle mishaps. Because of that, they have strict requirements on the use of motorcycles. That includes wearing helmets.

There's really no mystery as to why the Air Force makes such requirements. Do other levels of government - federal and state particularly - need to protect their investment as well? Worth considering.

Fear. Everything Bush has done has to be supported by fear - that's all they have. If there's a rational discussion of things like the NSA programs, both known and unknown, then the Republicans will lose the fall campaigns, period. So watch all the "independent" Republicans come back on board, and peddle fear like nobody else can. That's all they got.

Or is it a little gruesome that ABC has bought Google Advertising for this:

Flight 93 - Final Moments

Listen to Final Radio Transmissions from Flight 93 on 9/11.

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Professional lawn services blow grass clippings into the street all the time in our neighborhood when cutting between the sidewalk and the street, but I rarely see any homeowners do it, at least intentionally. Now I wonder why the lawn services do it...

Keeping your grass clippings off city streets will not only help improve the quality of the local water supply, it could save you a couple hundred bucks. While the last few days was hardly an indication, the spring weather has brought out the lawnmowers once again, as well as the problem of keeping cut grass and all it carries out of city sewers and waterways.

Baraboo Utility Superintendent Terry Kramer said grass is a slight nuisance for workers when clippings get into the sewer system, but the main problem is the chemicals they carry with them.

"Anything that goes down the storm sewer goes into the river, and you're adding pollutants to the river," Kramer said. "It doesn't plug the catch basins like brush, but you're adding green matter and phosphorus, and at our plant we've got to take it out because it's bad."

Sauk County Conservationist Joe Van Berkel said people can save work, time and money by leaving the clippings on their lawns.

"Cycle those nutrients back into the soil and add less fertilizer," he said. "(Cut grass) decomposes very quickly."

Van Berkel said excess nitrogen and phosphorus, which promotes the green color in grass, are the main side effects of grass clippings going down the drain. He said both contribute to algae and weed growth. Another adverse affect is oxygen reduction.

An indictment of Karl Rove will be a good thing.

Some White House staffers said it's the uncertainty of Rove's status in the leak case that has made it difficult for the administration's domestic policy agenda and that the announcement of an indictment and Rove's subsequent resignation, while serious, would allow the administration to move forward on a wide range of issues.

Karl Rove looks like the last nail to me. Bush thinks he can move forward on policy issues if Rove is indicted? Only by himself...

Anyone know if the Nielsen Ratings for the Colbert Report have shown if Stephen Colbert's ratings have gone up since the White House Correspondents Dinner?

Try living near this dead cow.

The way the television news media has jumped on the meme that the majority of Americans approve of NSA courtless review, study and retention of domestic phone records just smells. "Congratulations" for the Bush Administration in getting their damage control program ramped up, because so far it has been quite successful in this newest controversy, at least as far as the television news media is concerned. Of course, the Bush Administration Damage Control should be state of the art, since for the past 2 years that's about all the Bush Administration has been doing.

Still, this poll... I just watched a segment on NBC's Weekend Today in which they discuss the issue with a "focus group" of five people, and Lester Holt told a guy who is for NSA warrantless spying that he was in the "majority" based on this one premature poll. It seems like the news media has taken this poll, and more than any other single poll in recent memory, embraced it to their bosom and cried hosannahs that it was God's Truth. This was one poll. A phone poll. Happening the day the news story broke. Before people knew the details - and we still don't know the details. Why pronounce judgement so fast on such limp details and quasi-facts?

I don't know, but it kinda stinks - like something more than just the standard television news incompetence.

Glenn Greenwald touches upon it with his piece about this Washington Post poll supposedly shows that "63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism."

Either this poll is so flawed in so many different ways that it isn't even close to an interpretation of America's sense on the newest spying admission; or

America, the concept envisioned by our forefathers, is dead.

Rendell widens lead over Swann to 55-33.

I think I've decided that a BIG problem that folks like Krauthammer have as they keep pounding the term "war" as their justification for everything is that they need a very specific, operational definition for the term war. Krauthammer tries to argue that:

Civilian court -- with civilian procedures, civilian juries and civilian sensibilities -- is not the place for those who make war upon us.

as it relates to the Moussaoui case. But how does he define "war"? I'm sick of the simplistic answer that somebody attacked "us". Was the violence at Columbine High School "war"? I think the nation felt that attack - as an attack on ourselves. Did the attackers see it as war? If so, does that make it a war? Who determines what is war, and what is crime? What are the standards? This eye of the beholder who is in power argument doesn't cut it for America anymore, there's too much at stake to let it go at that. And the idea we can keep watering down the term "war" to mean whatever we want has to stop. War on Illiteracy, Price War, etc... our country doesn't see the same kind of use of such terms on murder or rape. So why is the term "war" treated so lightly? We need consensus. And frankly, that should be a conversation the Congress already had, and since it hasn't, should be a top priority for the next Congress.

From The Bellingham Herald:

If I were in the stands when Barry Bonds breaks the all-time home run record, I would:

14.7% Cheer loudly.
19.9% Boo loudly.
21.4% Turn my back in silent protest.
44.0% Catch the ball and start taking bids.

(that would be William Lehr, Jr., James M. Mead, Elizabeth F. Carson, Joyce S. Freeman, George S. Glen, Robert L. Gronlund, Leonardo Herrada, James R. McLaughlin, Clinton J. Najarian, Velma A. Redmond, Glenn A. Schaeffer, Kathryn P. Taylor, R. Terry Meiser)

I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the Anita Smith commercials for Capital Blue Cross. In particular, the commercial that seems to be in heavy rotation in the Harrisburg area currently in which Smith, President and CEO of Capital Blue Cross, is heavily featured in a generic promotion of education. It can easily be summed up as "education is good" because it is that generic. It's not that I think education isn't important. It's that I think this commercial doesn't make one bit of difference towards education, and I can't see how this commercial helps Capital Blue Cross in business, and furthermore, I don't see how it helps CBC provide better service or lower cost service or any tangible benefit to me, as a customer. I don't see how it gets more customers for CBC, I don't see it adding good will for CBC, I can only think of one thing it does: It promotes the face and name of Anita Smith.

So if any of you know, please let me know. Because I've been seeing the "Anita Smith" ads for over a year, and I just don't understand what Capital Blue Cross is getting out of it.

I've been watching the robins peck around our yard the past few days, and I wondered - how do robins find worms and grubs? I thought it might be by sound or vibration. Ever notice how robins jump, while other birds will walk, such as starlings will walk, through a lawn? I suspected that perhaps the vibration from jumping caused grubs and worms to recoil or move in some way - and maybe it does - and because of that, the robin sensed the movement by the sound or vibration. Apparently, that isn't the case. More proof as to why I'm not a scientist...

How Do Robins Find Worms?

Robins spend much of their lives searching for one of their favorite foods, earthworms. Most scientists now conclude that they find these worms by vision, thanks to experiments by an ornithologist named Frank Heppner.

From Raw Story:

Reporters at the major cable television networks plan to be on the ground Friday outside a federal district court where the jury considering the fate of President Bush's senior adviser Karl Rove.

No formal indication has been given of Rove's status, though lawyers close to the case have said his fate is likely to be determined soon. Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame, is scheduled to meet with the grand jury in the case Friday.

Hmmm. No "formal" indication, but they're going to be there just in case. Tantalizing. At the very least, based on the assumption that nothing actually happens tomorrow, here's an opportunity for the news media to discuss what could and should happen to Karl Rove should he be indicted. Will he lose his position at the White House? Will he still be heavily coordinating the GOP's fall election campaigns? And what does that say about the Republican Party if he does either?

The grand tradition of the Bush Administration continues ... constantly striving to achieve new levels of incompetency in government.

A committee of the nation's largest lawyers organization yesterday unanimously rated President Bush's choice for a federal appeals court "unqualified," the first such vote in almost a quarter-century.

The 15-member Judicial Screening Committee of the American Bar Association found Michael B. Wallace, 55, a former aide to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), unfit to sit on the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi

Not just unqualified. Unanimously unqualified. There has never been a better time to be a partisan hack!

and tiny Senator Jeff Sessions:

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, argued that the program "is not a warrantless wiretapping of the American people. I don't think this action is nearly as troublesome as being made out here, because they are not tapping our phones."

To summarize their philosophy: It's okay for the government to track who you telephone, period.

If Karl Rove is indicted over Plamegate, will the National Republican Party still allow him to coordinate their fall election campaign? Why haven't I seen any reporters ask this question?

A new beneficiary arises with the high cost of gas:

With gas prices just under $3 a gallon, some Harrisonburg drivers have found a new way to finance the commute to work — with diamonds, drills and DVDs.

For the last few weeks, published reports indicate that business at pawnshops is up, and owners say the boost comes because people are hocking their valuables to pay to get to work.

An informal survey of seven pawnshops in Harrisonburg and Rockingham and Augusta counties found that the national trend is consistent in the area.

Bring in the goods and go for a drive, because that old trumpet or toaster should fill up the tank.

"There’s mad people comin’ out here selling jewelry just to buy gas," said Charles Walker of Valley Pawnbroker Inc. in Staunton. "They say they just need a few bucks to fill it up. You know, to make it ’til payday."

So when is Exxon Mobil going to start acquiring pawn shops and cut out the middle man?

Apparently, descriptive anal sex coverage is too much.

but if California State University, Sacramento's athletic program had a smart athletic program, they ought to contact Rick Adelman for the head coach job of the men's basketball team. I read where he wants to stay in Sacramento one more year because his son's finishing high school. So... he's likely to stay in Sacramento, and not likely to take another NBA job for the next year. It would be a great way for him to jab the Maloofs. And a boost for the school's program. But as I said... IF...

What a great line that was last night from Jon Stewart about the Iranian letter! Bush and Ahmadinejad strike me as two peas from the same pod. (Two nuts from the same shell?) We can only hope that there weren't any other peas in that particular pod and that the Jolly Green Giant summarily destroyed the plant.

Previously I blogged about being annoyed that Squinty hadn't bothered to actually read Beardy's letter. But I'm starting to rethink that position. Can you imagine if these two actually did take the time to find some sort of common ground, where it might be? Andrew Sullivan makes an unsettling observation.

Beardy: What are we waiting for, Squints? Apocalypse now, Baby!
Squinty: I'm with ya, Beard-O. Let's git-r-done!!!

How do you stop illegal immigration? Why... remove the incentive to move to the United States! How do you do that?

I think talk of a third President Bush does that pretty effectively.

Could there be a third President Bush? The current chief said Wednesday that younger brother Jeb would make a great one, too, and has asked him about making a run.

Seems timely...

Have you bought a Mother's Day gift for this year?

It appears that cell communications companies that run into public controversy when looking to build a new tower - particularly when they are asking for changes in law in order to build the tower - are trying a new tactic in dealing with the controversy:

Stall until the public gets bored.

It's a time-tested strategy.

Interesting story here. When Democratic Party candidates criticize Rumsfeld's handling of the war, non-incumbent Republican Party candidates become very lost in their response. As an example, Martha Rainville, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House seat in Vermont, is not getting very good grades from the media for her lost position.

Rainville does face the daunting task of running a campaign for Congress as a Republican in a state where there is deep opposition to the war in Iraq. She cannot be too critical of the Bush White House without alienating Republicans, and yet she cannot appear too tolerant of the administration without dooming her chances of earning enough votes to win the election. Then again, indulging in wishy-washy double-talk is a good bet for insulting the intelligence of voters of all political stripes.

So how long until this campaign issue - nationally - forces Bush's hand?

I don't think it was smart or right that the Kings fired Rick Adelman. I'm not the only one:

YAY Sports: This move is pretty much making everyone but the Maloof brothers unhappy.

Bag O' Bits: What are the Maloofs thinking?

The Mighty MJD Blog: Bottom line… the Maloofs wanted him gone, and he’s gone. There’s a rumor circulating that the Kings want to hire Don Nelson… which, if true, means that the Maloffs are either 1) looking for a drinking buddy, or 2) just not paying attention to anything at all that has happened in the NBA or the world over the past two or three years.

The Scores Report: I don’t know who the Kings are going to hire that is going to do a better job than Rick Adelman.

Oops, I've Done It Again: Sure he had some problems during his 8 year tenure but still, that's not the way to reward a coach with flippin the script on the franchise with one helluva diverse team year in and year out. I'd say that going to the playoffs 8 straight years is pretty dwam successful, and coming DWAM close to a championship in 2002. I personally liked the guy, he was straight up on all facets of the game and hasn't been doing a "bad" job, persay. What else do you expect from a coach when the players are being rotated in and out like a carousel at Great America?

Dubya says it's our first option. But maybe not our favorite.

"And we will continue to work through diplomatic channels to make it clear that we mean what we say. And, obviously, part of making the diplomacy work is what will be the consequences if the Iranians decide maybe not to listen to the rational demands of the world," Bush said. He did not say what the consequences might be, but Bush has said many times that he could not rule out the use of military force against Iran.

You feeling lucky, punk?

Turns out it's not the "day at the spa" they portray!!

The portrayal of coma and awakening from a coma is grossly inaccurate in major motion pictures, research shows, and many moviegoers are unable to tell fact from fiction. They admit that what they see in films regarding coma may impact real-life decisions for a loved one.

In a review of 30 movies from 1970 to 2004 with actors depicting prolonged coma, coma experts found that only two showed a "reasonably accurate" representation of coma.

Problems with the depiction of coma included comatose patients, without feeding tubes, suddenly waking after years of being in a coma with no physical or mental problems and with a Sleeping Beauty-like appearance.

So when did a couple of doctors munching popcorn and watching flicks start to qualify as scientific research? If you're making medical decisions based on the movies, accurately depicted comas are the least of your concerns.

I sure hope Geoff Petrie knows what he's doing, because I don't see a whole lot of better coaches available right now.

And thanks to Rick Adelman. The 8 best years of franchise history came under his tutelage. The Kings had never had 8 straight winning seasons prior to Adelman's tour in Sacramento.

No, not my vacation, not yet at least. Elayne Riggs will be on the road next week, enjoying her time off from work, and hopefully taking some interesting pictures of wherever it is that she will secretly be vacationing at... and she's left the keys to her place (figuratively) to Mia Culpa and I.

Elayne has also graciously agreed (or at least that's how I remember it) to guestblog here when I'm gone in June. Now, I know that part of my responsibility at Pen-Elayne next week will be to make sure I don't really wreck the place - take out the garbage, clean up my beer bottles, don't leave the pizza boxes scattered around the house. But, I'm thinking I should do something nice, also. But what? I'm open to suggestions, as long as it doesn't require long hours of physical labor (I'm lazy) or great creativity skills (I'm lazy) or lots of money (I'm lazy). Maybe something with parentheses (I'm apparently addicted to them)(suddenly)(is it because I'm lazy).

So... recommend away (please).

But President Bush didn't read it.

The White House received an 18-page letter from Iran's president on Monday that President George W. Bush's spokesman said failed to address international concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Bush was briefed on the contents of what was the first publicly announced personal communication from an Iranian president to his U.S. counterpart since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

He was "briefed". And we all know how well that has worked out in the past. (9/11 ... cough, cough ... Katrina ... cough, cough)

Hey ... maybe I'm expecting too much but considering that this was the first communication from an Iranian leader in over two decades and that there is this pending nuclear issue that could eventually lead to parts of the Middle East going up in a mushroom cloud, couldn't "The Decider" have given up reading the funny pages yesterday or watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" or doing whatever he does for intellectual stimulation and read the freaking letter for himself?

What could 500 million dollars be spent on...

One year of China's space program... or
Annual purchase of medicines for poor countries afflicted by HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis... or
Air Sahara... or
A vaccine to fight against a possible flu pandemic...
or constructing the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

If only I could make such a decision...

Funny, I don't remember hearing about any riots in DC the past few years. Political protests, sure. But a political protest is NOT a riot, even if you are a Republican and its your party and leaders that are being protested.

Most employers would not give an employee a year off to go work for someone else.

But when the White House calls, the response is generally more amenable.

So when BYU economics professor Mark Showalter was offered a one-year position as an economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, the university was more than willing to give Showalter a temporary leave of absence.

When Heidi Showalter and her family relocated to Northern Virginia for her father's job at the White House, she had to adjust to a new high school curriculum and her father's new work schedule.

"It was sad, because he wasn't at home as often," she said. "But when he came home, he'd have these crazy stories about seeing top-secret files and going in rooms where ordinary citizens don't get to go."

She and her family were in the car in downtown Washington, D.C. when she had her first encounter with a political protest.

"We had parked our car near the Ellipse," she said. "There was a huge riot blocking the Ellipse, and we were stuck in our car in the middle of the mob."

So are the students of Brigham Young University being "educated" that there are riots going on in Washington, DC now?

Supposedly, 3000 people were so fired up about his Colbert article that they wrote him email. Angry emails. Not particularly well-written emails. Missives.

What is Cohen's response? To blame the very readers who cared enough about what Cohen had to say to write him. To chastise them for their anger. To preemptively blame them if Republicans win in the fall. It's beyond arrogant. It's stupid. Is Cohen saying that people shouldn't care about what he writes, that they shouldn't react, that they shouldn't disagree, that they shouldn't be passionate about what he writes?

I mean, I agree in a way. He's an egotist, inserting himself into his pieces, and who could really care about that beyond his family and small assembly of friends? But still, is he really saying that people shouldn't care about what he writes? Does he believe that to be the case for the entire staff of the Washington Post? Does he really have that low of an opinion about the value of what he is doing?

Poor Richard Cohen.

Then I wrote about Stephen Colbert and his unfunny performance at the White House correspondents' dinner.

Kapow! Within a day, I got more than 2,000 e-mails...

Truth to tell, I peeked into only a few of the e-mails. I did this because I would sometimes recognize a name I thought I knew, which was almost always a mistake. When I guilelessly clicked on the name, I would get a bucket of raw, untreated and disease-laden verbal sewage right in the face.

I'd be willing to accept the news media's growing "the left bloggers are so mean and angry" if they would even try to figure out why we're angry. They take no responsibility. Is it because we've watched these people fritter away their responsibilities, year after year, to speak truth to power, or just the plain truth for the sake of truth? Is it because we see many of them as fattened guinea pigs held in the cages of Washington politicians, with no effort to do anything for themselves? Is it because we see many of them culpable in spreading the lies, and hiding the truth, of the current Republican regime? Is it because we believe that many of them are holding their jobs as a matter of privilege and not retaining it based on any marketplace value analysis?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Still, I don't hate you, Richard Cohen. In fact, if you were somewhere else - like Kansas City or Manitoba or Gas City, Indiana, I might really, really like you. But I don't like you in Washington. I don't like you covering national stories. You're not funny nor smart nor do you say things at the appropriate time. You have an audience smaller than many bloggers, not exactly American Idol numbers. You're everything you complained Colbert was except honest. So shut up about it already.

If you could actually see Bush in action with his 31% Approval Rating... we might call him The Amazing Shrinking President.

Beautiful Horizons has an interesting post that sheds considerable light on Bush's world understanding.

We have a lot of "role celebration" holidays in our country - Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day, Administrative Assistant's Day, etc.... and it occurred to me that one that would be very helpful in this day and age is "Neighbor's Day".

I see that Ohio celebrates this day, but not in the manner that I was really thinking of. I was thinking more along the lines of recognizing great neighbors, rather than use the holiday to build neighborliness. Do you have a great neighbor? If so, how do you let them know you think that of them? Great neighbors aren't necessarily friends or people you hang out with, but they can be. But they're people that are willing to help out other neighbors, no questions asked, no expectations made, just because of the commitment they've made to live closely together in community. They're the kind of people that make you want to stay where you live, because you know you're lucky to live near such people.

Not everyone can be a great neighbor. It takes a time commitment and an interest commitment. I have a neighbor to one side of us that is only home about half the time, and he's so quiet that we don't really even know which half the time it is. He's polite and friendly but he's not a great neighbor, nor are we to him. On the other side are a couple, Jack and Barbara, in their 70s, and they truly are great neighbors. We share tools and contractors, we talk a lot, they enjoy our kids' company. They are good people in general, they care in some way about everyone they know, and honor space and boundary needs. They are great neighbors, the kind one hopes will never move away.

Shouldn't great neighbors be something America celebrates? Wouldn't it promote more neighborliness if we did? Would it help the tone of our nation?

Do they really want to have the George W. Bush Presidential Library in their city?

Okay, I'm a Sacramento Kings basketball fan, I used to have season tickets when I lived in Sacramento (of course, those were the dreary, awful seasons of Reggie Theus and Joe Klein and, dare I say it, Bill Russell as head coach...) And I have, in the past, said that Rick Adelman should be removed as head coach of the Kings, primarily because of his postseason coaching capabilities. But that's not my point of view today.

There are reasons to replace Rick Adelman as head coach of the Sacramento Kings, but if you're going to write a sports article and say that the Kings should replace Adelman, you should be forced to give those reasons, not just say it's time to "roll the dice".

I mean, this writer actually ends his article with:

Adelman might have done his best job as Sacramento's coach in the second half of his final season, but it's best to let him leave on that high note. It's time for a new voice and a new style in Sacramento.

Wow. He's done his best job since coming to Sacramento - and considering he's 395-229 since coming to Sacto, that's saying something. So it's time to fire him now?

It's not about voice or style. It's about results. I'm intrigued with what Adelman's delivered with the "new" Kings. He took a team everyone considered dead in the water, and coached them to the playoffs and two wins against the world champion Spurs. All while transitioning with new talent and injuries and having to create a new offensive style on the fly. I suspect Adelman could build considerably more into this, and will, if given the chance.

About the only complaint I have, and it's more about the player than it is about Adelman, is why Mike Bibby is still so incredibly weak at playing defense. That should be fix number one for next year.

And it should be Adelman's responsibility - I think Adelman's earned another year.

The Washington Post asked on Friday:

In Today's Culture, Do You See Evidence of a War on Christianity?

Responses are encouraging. Many of the respondents think the question is downright ridiculous when compared to the reality of our nation.

My favorite response:

Here in the Southwest, we do not see any attacks on Christianity. What we have seen in the last 10 years is what can only be described as a blatant, almost sacrilegious use of religion by political extremists to advance political agendas. When I hear Tom DeLay claim that attacks against him are attacks against Christianity, I cringe. Mr. DeLay and those of his ilk have successfully exploited peoples fears and exploited the use of Christianity to advance their extreme agendas. What Americans should fear is not attacks on their religion, but those who in the name of a Christian god would destroy those who they neither understand, nor have respect for.

You missed your chance.

What's wrong with Hillary Clinton being the Democratic nominee for President in 2008?

For starters...

I think that if Hillary Clinton ends up being the candidate in 2008, the Democratic Party will see a cleaving beyond what we've seen the past 40 years. There is a Clinton fatigue - they had 8 years on the world stage, and many people think that is enough. She's less real and more politico in her public persona than many, many other potential candidates, and that seems like the wrong campaign "asset" at this time. For me, she's on the wrong side of the Iraq War equation, has been since the get-go, and I've never had the sense that she took her position for anything more than political expediency, which for me, is unacceptable. I know I'm not alone in that belief.

And frankly, a candidate that makes such a decision for political expediency - and cannot convince the base that her reasons were personal and real and not some sort of political calculus - isn't capable of leading the nation in the first place. We see that with Bush now. Why would Democrats want to repeat that mistake?

Because the editorial is right.

It's not an energy crisis.
It's a leadership crisis.

The Cynic pointed out something pretty cool: ABC will be broadcasting the Scripps National Spelling Bee on primetime television next month. First time!

If the "War on Terrorism" qualifies as a World War, then the Cold War was a World War. I would say that the wars to remove British imperialism around the world was a World War. What about the wars against the Western Hemisphere's native peoples? Seems like a World War under whatever loose guidelines Bush would like to use.

So, we need to start renumbering. There's no way that World War I and World War II should remain those numbers if we're going to accurately include prequels and sequels and whatever else might be considered.

Or, we could consider that World Wars require a considerable number of actual governments of nations declaring war on other governments of nations. That seems to be the historical and general understanding until Bush and the neocons started bastardizing the term around the time of the Iraq invasion. I really don't see why that understanding should be revised today. Does it really help our effort or our results by changing the War on Terrorism to World War III? If not, then quit revising history.

You're likely to find this story disturbing for any or all of several reasons.

A new unlawful flight charge was filed by Utah authorities against Warren Jeffs, prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) April 25. The complaint charges Jeffs with leaving Utah to avoid prosecution on a rape-as-an-accomplice charge. According to Utah law, a person who facilitates a rape can be charged as an accomplice.

The rape charge alleges that Jeffs conducted a "spiritual marriage" between a teenage girl and an older man. The girl, identified as "Jane Doe," said Jeffs demanded that she marry and have marital relations with the older man despite her pleas that she be released from the union. Doe said she obeyed his commands, as she believed him to a prophet of God.

The woman was between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time of this event, which occurred within the past four years. Her account is backed up by photos of her marriage and other events she testified to.

In an affidavit filed in Utah court, Doe said she was told by Jeffs that God had revealed to him that she was to be joined in a spiritual marriage with the older man, who is referred to as "John Doe." Jeffs said it was her spiritual duty to submit to the marriage, as it was "from God."

According to Jane Doe, Jeffs himself performed the marriage in Nevada, telling the couple to "multiply and replenish the earth and raise children in the priesthood." After the couple returned to Utah, the man forced himself upon her after reminding her of Jeffs' instructions.

When Jane Doe told Jeffs of her desire to get out of the marriage, Jeffs not only instructed her to stay in the marriage, but to do whatever John Doe demanded, as her eternal salvation depended upon it.

I really hope the prosecution tries to delve into and determine what Jeffs' motivation really was in this case, and his personal relationship, if any, with this older man. If the law can provide evidence as to the personal reasons why someone claims the status as a spokesperson for God, perhaps individuals can see such spokespersons with a little more skepticism in the future.

Seems like the number of cases are high in a lot of states...

Porter Goss resigns. How many shoes are about to drop?

Get ready for the grilling of George W. Bush... impersonator Steve Bridges.

Had their first blogger on a call-in show last night, I believe.

You might want to bookmark Pennsylvania Public Notices. Contractors probably find it of interest too...

There should be such a designation for such folk that waste the public's time passing legislation naming the "official state snack" and other similar doofusry.

They're slimy and they're goopy, they're salty and they're soupy, they're all together ooky, and now boiled peanuts are the official state snack ? love 'em or hate 'em.

The law designating the official snack calls it a true Southern delicacy. But at its signing this week, Gov. Mark Sanford [South Carolina] joked to the Winthrop University student who proposed the idea, "If I'm gonna eat some, you're gonna too."

I've had boiled peanuts before, several times while traveling in the southern states. I tried to keep an open mind, but my verdict's in. They suck.

BTW, there's a growing trend by schools not to serve foods with peanuts in them due to the food allergies and adverse reaction to peanuts. Even this "law" has a safety warning that schools are not required or encouraged to serve peanuts, especially to students with food allergies.

So congratulations go to co-author Representatives Simrill, Bowers, Kennedy, Duncan, Bannister, Ceips, Cobb-Hunter, Leach, Limehouse, Littlejohn, Ott and Scarborough, the unofficial South Carolina State Legislator Imbeciles of 2006.

That's Tim Berners-Lee. Calls it "fundamental".

Richard Cohen said one intelligent thing in his effort to rip Stephen Colbert and defend the politicojournalist asexual processes that occur around Washington:

If Presidents do not attend the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, it would kill the dinner.

And so, I think Americans should beseech George W. Bush to do something right in his Presidency, if he should be President this time next year:

Don't go to the dinner.

Because this ugly manifestation of whatever it used to be ought to be stopped.

The Public Opinion of Chambersburg makes this editorial recommendation. And it's a good idea to improve it.

The newspaper focuses on the currency, timeliness and quality control of the information available on the site. I'd like to add one more thing about the Megan's Law site. It is great that the site offers a zip code search for offenders. However, most of us don't know the "new people in the neighborhood" by name, just by site. The current site forces a parent or other party to pulse through the site, name by name, to see the likeness of the person. If you're going to offer photos, why not provide that in a one page scan? That's where recognition is more likely to occur, isn't it?

Interesting (and hopeful) story from Rhode Island:

The municipal side of the budget at the South Kingstown financial town meeting was completely routine until Moderator Barbara Hackey arrived at line item 1382 - The Narragansett Council Boy Scouts of America ($500). This item was listed among other nonprofit groups, totaling $38,200, under Miscellaneous Boards and Agencies. One resident wondered about how the selection process for funding private organizations works. "Is there any kind of justification with what they want to do with the money? What process or standards do you use?"

Town Manager Stephen Alfred explained that the town solicits requests and organizations send in request letters, which the town council reviews and considers. There is no specific selection criteria.

Nan LeClaire-Conway Hirst stood up first and said, "In this budget, someone is left out. I would like you all to reconsider giving $500 of taxpayer money to an organization that discriminates against gay men and potential leaders."

Alfred explained that this was a first-year request from the scouts for "children in our community to attend summer camp." The Boy Scouts requested $1,130 for eight disadvantaged scouts to attend summer camp.

David Preston, spokesperson for the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said in a phone interview Wednesday that one week of overnight camp at Camp Yawgoog in Rockville, RI costs $270.

Referring to the scout admissions policy, he said, "This issue has been raised at the Supreme Court and our policies are constitutional. The policy is that scouts frown on open and avowed homosexuality as leaders or members."

By way of explanation of the $500 contributions to the scout summer camp, Alfred offered, "The effort was not an endorsement of the Boy Scouts or what they stand for." "By giving money to the Boy Scouts you are condoning discrimination," countered Courtney Le-Claire Conway. "The town of South Kingstown should not be giving any money to any organization that conducts discrimination of any kind."

"I think it's a mistake to support them in this delusion. I think you should really take it out of the budget," agreed Carl Storm.

Bob Trager said, "I just could say ditto. This is one of the situations where you have to draw the line. You can't give money to a group that discriminates. I think it's quite simple."

When someone asked about a town discrimination policy, Alfred replied, "Of course we are required not to discriminate."

George Hirst stood up and said, "If this group excluded blacks, would you give them money? Cut the $500."

With only about 100 people in attendance at that point, the line item was cut by a voice vote.

Responding to the cut, Preston said, "I never quarrel with the wisdom of the voter. If it's their decision, it's their decision.

None of the other non-profit organizations listed under line item 1300 Miscellaneous Boards and Agencies received cutbacks of any kind.

America needs to be more like Pilate, and less like Jesus.

Today's question:

Do men or women think more about sex on a daily basis?

(and if you don't have an opinion, maybe you'd rather read some from those who do: Sex Drive Daily, Taffy's Tales from Wales)

When I was 9 years old, my Dad took me to my first major league baseball game, with the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. He took me to an old hot dog/sausage place in Cincy first, then we went to the ballpark and watched the players throw the ball around. We yelled to Lee May, then the Reds first baseman, and he smiled and waved back to our section.

I don't even remember who the Reds played, or if they won or lost. I just remember how big that ballpark was, the crowd excitement during the game, the finely mowed field, how close the players seemed to me, and my Dad in his extreme joy of showing me the ins-and-outs of a day at the ballpark.

Last Sunday I was The Dad. I took our 9 year old daughter to her first Major League Baseball game, Mariners versus the Orioles at Camden Yards. It was one of those delicious, not-ever-forgotten "parent" moments. She loved it - the crowd, how cool the park looked, the cheers, the home runs, the silly stuff run on the Jumbotron or whatever they call it, the Oriole mascot, the swag we bought, the food we bought, everything. And I got to watch her and sometimes see myself, and remember the joy as the child and simultaneously feel what my Dad must have felt, and these moments just happened over and over and over again. Keep my glove on in case there's a foul ball... The thrill of having a Foam Finger! Hey, let's go sit in the sun in the outfield and watch an inning! C'mon, you can boo louder than that. CHARGE! Why are they playing Jeopardy music?

It didn't hurt that Camden Yards is a beautiful place to watch a baseball game, and that we had good tickets, and that the people around us were energetic but courteous - no drunken cussing, no loud complaints.

After the game, we grabbed dinner at the Uno Restaurant in Inner Harbor (I do not recommend that) and drove home. She slept a bit. We stopped at the Maple Donut shop outside of Harrisburg for a quick doughnut snack, which I promised in lieu of buying dessert at Uno. Love their Maple Donuts. We got home, and she quickly burst into an excited description of the whole day for both mom and brother. Her brother's only 5, but I could tell, he liked what he heard. I'll get another day of the introductory joy at the ballpark someday again.

From the Shamokin News-Item:

Why doesn't President Bush cut down on his trips all over the country all the time? He could conserve those thousands of gallons of fuel used for that airplane. He is running all over, yet he expects Americans who go to work to cut down on their gasoline. The president should set an example and curtail some of that running around on that big airplane of his.

Love this little bit about the guy who booked Stephen Colbert for the White House Correspondents' Association:

Mark Smith, a reporter for The Associated Press who is president of the White House Correspondents' Association, acknowledges that he had not seen much of Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central before he booked him as the main entertainment for the association's annual black-tie dinner on Saturday night. But he says he knew enough about Mr. Colbert — "He not only skewers politicians, he skewers those of us in the media" — to expect that he would cause some good-natured discomfort among the 2,600 guests, many of them politicians and reporters.

And so, the White House Correspondents' Association work ethic becomes part of the story. What, due diligence? Consider what Colbert's previous employer - Jon Stewart - did in a visit one day to CNN as a possible example of what they might be booking?

It is delicious. Assumption and acceptance of "normal" behavior towards a President who is anything but behaving normally gives the Association a black eye. Wonder if Bush or the Republicans think Mark Smith did this on purpose? So, add a new level of distrust towards them as well.

Lazy work ethic. Distrust of their intentions and their statements. Inability to see reality the way 68% of the nation does. Colbert's performance continues to reveal the correspondents in a way they can't find flattering, and the rest of the nation can't find very hopeful.

Courtesy of 100 monkeys typing, a funny photo of three VERY UNFUNNY dudes.

YouTube seems like one of the cooler tools/sources at the disposal of bloggers in quite a while. The Washington Post highlighted YouTube yesterday.

Debut's this Wednesday at 7 PM on PCN.

(Great to see this for Pennsylvania's bloggers, but TV ain't for me. I like my relative anonymity.)

Wouldn't our country be better off moving THIS 6% of the population to some other country?

Will rising gas prices influence your future automobile purchases?

Yes — that Hummer doesn't look so attractive anymore.
72%

Maybe — it's something I'll consider.
20%

No way. I prefer bigger cars.
6%

I'm not sure what's going to be more newsworthy - seeing how Jon Meacham, Managing Editor of Newsweek, deals with Colbert's performance this weekend, or if Jon Stewart pays Stephen Colbert some sort of tribute tonight...

Today's timely question:

Does the White House Correspondent Dinner hurt America?

Fortunately for him, he really doesn't look like George W. Bush. It's mostly makeup.

But really, he's heading to a career choice. Either drop the Bush impressions from his act, give them some real zing, or be remembered as the guy who did candy-assed imitations of Bush that Bush actually approved of... which will doom him to a career of guest entertainer to ever-dwindling audiences at State GOP functions.

BTW, who paid for Bridges' appearance at the White House Correspondent Dinner?

They're Anti-Western U.S. as well. From the Claremore Progress:

It was bad enough when the Minutemen patrolled the border, armed with their binoculars, walkie-talkies and testosterone.

But now they are talking about getting into the construction business, according to the Associated Press.

The leader of the border watch group, branded “vigilantes” by the president, has given federal officials an ultimatum: If the government does not build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, he and his supporters will.

Chris Simcox, who heads the civilian watch group, said he and his mates will start mixing the cement if the president does not deploy military reserves to the border by May 25.

And now, a little Cole Porter ditty worth singing around these people ALL THE TIME:

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please, Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies,
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please, Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in, no
Pop, oh don't you fence me in