The Last Ephor

So I Married a Terrorist . I'm mixed on this one. I do believe that she married a bad guy and one that probably has ties to terrorists. He probably is/was one himself. I do not, however, find all of her allegations credible. The Bin Laden story isn't credible. There is no reason for him to try and come to the US. Why would he? Recruiting? No way. He doesn't speak the language and hates us. It would be like breaking into Rikers. Nevertheless, I find it utterly believable that the FBI blew her off as a crackpot and only became interested after the fact.

Ghost of a flea: This is how it started This gives me that sick, sinking feeling. Like I've seen this one before and don't like how it ends. I'll not violate Godwin's law but the need for eternal vigilance is perfectly illustrated here.

eBay Find of the Day: 1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521 This guy laughs at people on Antiques Roadshow.

Dateline: 11/14/98 Duffy's Mom: Is that a bagpiper? Duffy: Yes Random guest: You're not supposed to have bagpipes at a wedding. They're only supposed to be used in war or death. Duffy: Marriages usually end in one or the other. Random Guest: Good point. Play on piper! Happy Anniversary Jennifer and Steve!

The Once and Future Hillary Clinton - TIME : "Clinton knows from experience how much his health-care-reform effort will ride on having effective allies on Capitol Hill. And when his presidency hits its inevitable bumps — whether those come from disappointing his liberal allies or enraging his conservative opponents — it would be handy to have a formidable spear catcher nearby." Spear catcher !? So that must mean that Obama is the spear...chucker. ZOMFG!!!!!!!! Oh the humanity!

This Martin Eisenstadt thing is getting interesting. I talked very briefly about it the other day and now the NYT has an article about it. "They say the blame lies not with them but with shoddiness in the traditional news media and especially the blogosphere. “With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find,” said Mr. Mirvish, 40." Emphasis added. I read the rest of the article to find out exactly why the bloggers were especially to blame. What did I find: "But most of Eisenstadt’s victims have been bloggers, a reflection of the sloppy speed at which any tidbit, no matter how specious, can bounce around the Internet. And they fell for the fake material despite ample warnings online about Eisenstadt, including the work of one blogger who spent months chasing the illusion around cyberspace, trying to debunk it." OK, let's see who those bloggers are: "An MSNBC spokesman , Jeremy Gaines, explained the network’s misstep by saying someone in...

Obama on Drugs: Should reformers dare to hope? Short answer: No. Long answer: Ha Ha! No. I'll say it again. Obama has a long list of things he wants to do and start strong. He's not going to do this in the beginning. Or the middle, or even the end. He'll hem and haw and then discover Federalism and he'll leave it to the States. (The USSC won't seem to leave it to the States however. So his point will be moot.)

Weird. I get like a dozen hits a day for people looking for "trick questions quiz". Invariably they are from the UK. What is the deal with trick questions over there? If they're finding my nanopresence on teh interweb they must be Googling pretty hard. Is it some sort of national pastime I don't know about?

The UK has lost it's mind: Council ranks term "British" with "negroes" and bans it in case it upsets Scots, Welsh and minorities Satire is dead.

After 9/11 I heard a lot from lefties about how we should not be angry but rather, ask ourselves, "why do they hate us?" Why are not the opponents of Prop 8 in California doing any similar sort of soul searching? Instead they are protesting, threatening (and worse) the people who *ahem* "attacked" them. I'm just askin.

"'It's hard to believe that the sight of an armless man walking along with a giant TV clamped to his body did not get anyone's attention.'" : I've seen weirder shit like that in Manhattan and nobody blinked.

I know I said no politics but this is more about news than politics: Al Gore for Secretary of State? You could do worse. He's a far sight better than John "Magic Hat" Kerry would be. Michael Steele for GOP chair? Heck yes! Better him than Newt. They need some new blood in there. Newt is a shrewd operator and there's absolutely room for him somewhere just not the public face of the GOP. No audit for Obama campaign? Very bad news. This sets a dangerous precedent and sends the message that even if you win with illegal contributions you won't be blamed. Bluster and bluff from Iran . They're sending a message that they're still important and still a player. They also saw the US mucking about in Syria and Pakistan and are getting nervous. Even with President Hope-n-Change waiting in the wings US foreign policy's guiding force has always been momentum and Mr. O isn't going to do a 180 on anything despite promises to the contrary.

American Express seeks $3.5B For the sake of expediency let's do it this way: All companies and industries not looking for a bailout please raise your hand *crickets* I thought so. That is all.

January 20th, 2000 - November 4th 2008: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." -Lefties After November 4th, 2008: "Shaddup you haters!" Prop. 8 gift gets theater's leader in a ruckus Excerpts: "In a post on one Web site, Shaiman relayed what he told Eckern: "The idea that your donation came from a salary that for a short amount of time was drawn from profits from a show I wrote upsets me terribly and I would never allow anything I write to play there and will encourage my colleagues to consider doing the same." "There's a great degree of hue and cry over getting Mr. Eckern fired," Whitty wrote. "I've searched my soul about this. I'm instinctively not comfortable with the idea of his dismissal, though my activist side still whispers, 'Punish!' "I fear for what Mr. Eckern's dismissal would say about theater: that there's only room for the pro-gay crowd. In a way, if we only allow people we agree ...

NOOOOooooooooo! Seriously this show is one of those things I wish I could have excised from my brain. Now, thanks to BoingBoing it has all come flooding back. The horrible acting, the preposterous story lines garish lighting and witless humor. It's like having PTSD or something.

Metairie, Louisiana arrived from google.com on "Pencader Days: Guy catches .50 BMG ricochet to the head" by searching for bmg ricochet. I can't imagine why one is searching for "BMG ricochet". Are you trying to cause one or has it already happened? If it's the latter there are about a beeelion pages more helpful than this one.

You may want to read this one

Chris Matthews Calls Africa a "Country" . Remember that fraud about Palin not knowing anything ever? Now we know that not only is that story untrue, it is true about Chris "thrill up my leg" Matthews. I'm sure the Kos Kidz will pillory him just as badly. Or not. Last note on "Martin Eisenstadt"; very well done. He's the interweb equivalent of a sleeper agent. Work in the dark, under cover for a long time and spring the trap. He mouthed all the right words at all the right times. He built confidences and trust long enough to establish himself as a trusted source and then torpedoed Palin. He makes Karl Rove look like amateur hour. This worked so spectacularly and cheaply, somewhere on the Right they're making their own "Martin Eisenstadt". Dirty. Nasty. Un-American and indecent. And sadly, the new norm.

Lew Rockwell is my favorite bunch of crazies (sorry DelawareLiberal). Mostly because they're a humorless lot who are also unintentionally hilarious. They see statism and oppression everywhere. As proof this article unloads 19 tons of crazy-awesome. Excerpt: Pom-Poms and Prisons: The Powerful Statism of Disney’s High School Musical : "Though catchy and engaging, HSM packs the punch of the WWII propaganda films. Do yourself and your family a favor and skip out on this statist school system pep rally." Yes HSM3 not merely innocent dopey tweener fare. Nay nay! This is very clever propaganda. I suppose the writers weren't merely turning out dreck, they were subverting the masses. I wish I could make this stuff up.