Let's end the week on a happy note.

Some good news that also makes a large part of the country squirm in their bible thumping seats... A TWO'FER!

Nichelle Nicols and Walter Koenig were present at the wedding of Brad Altman and George Takei at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. The wedding took place last Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008.

As a life long Trekkie and lover of the positive view of humanity it promoted, where people were free to pursue their bliss (unless you're a Godless Commie Romulan), it's nice to see a smidge of that happening in the mere 21st century.

Congrats guys! Live long and get a room, for Christ sakes.

Oh yeah... Sarah Palin Sarah Palin Sarah Palin. (Blogger terms of use obligates me to type her name at least 3 times in every post.)

Sarah Failin'?

It seems that the honeymoon may be over for Sarah Palin. Due in no small part to obsessive 24/7 media coverage, tabloid articles and bloggers, her light certainly burned bright... and like all other American obsessions, burns out in about 2 weeks. Beanie Babies anyone?

Andrew Romano at Newsweek breaks it down:

"Palin seems to have lost some of her luster. Since Sept. 13, Palin's unfavorables have climbed from 30 percent to 36 percent. Meanwhile, her favorables have slipped from 52 percent to 48 percent. That's a three-day net swing of -10 points, and it leaves her in the Sept. 15 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll tied for the smallest favorability split (+12) of any of the Final Four. [UPDATE: The Sept. 17 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll shows Palin at 47 percent favorable and 37 percent unfavorable--an even narrower +10 split.] Over the course of a single weekend, in other words, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least."

Well, I'm glad that in some small way, I have contributed to this.

I have but one blog to give for my country.

SOURCE

UPDATE: 23/6 has a new video:

The week in economics: If we could understand what the fuck was going on, we'd be scared out of our fucking brains.

What does it take to get Congress Republicans and Democrats to work together – after 5pm no less – 45 days before a Presidential election? Put them in a room and have the Fed Chairman tell "We're Literally Maybe Days Away From A Complete Meltdown Of Our Financial System."

So now you know.

Selected blamestorming below. Rough translation: You're on your own. Start hoarding water and bubble gum.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/18/minow.pay/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26793500/

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5844658&page=1

Postcards from the Edge, Part 3

Counterparties, Creditors, Shareholders and Claim Filers
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Postcards from the Edge, Part 2

From their "in the news" section:

NEW YORK--Sept. 16, 2008--American International Group, Inc. (AIG) today said that AIG's life insurance, general insurance and retirement services businesses, including its extensive Asian operations, continue to operate normally and remain adequately capitalized and fully capable of meeting their obligations to policyholders.

NEW YORK--Sept. 16, 2008--The Board of Directors of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) issued the following statement in response to today's announcement by the Federal Reserve Board that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is providing a two-year, $85 billion secured revolving credit facility to AIG that will ensure the company can meet its liquidity needs:

NEW YORK--Sept. 18, 2008--American International Group, Inc. (AIG) today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Edward M. Liddy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Liddy, 62, succeeds Robert B. Willumstad. Stephen F. Bollenbach, who was named lead independent director in June 2008, continues in that role.

Postcards from the Edge, Part 1

Selected excerpts:

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"This is the party that embraces the change and the progress that America and American women are craving and deserving." - Palin

Look at the older man with his big hairy mitt extended way to the left. I can forgive some of the women for misguided sense of feminism mixed with ignorance and bible-belt brainwashing... but this guy? He just wants to grab some boob. Period.

Viva la personality cult.

Get Your War On: See You Next Tuesday, Cindy

Swiftkids search for truth: Target Obama!!!

Wait... did Rove say something... "decent"?

Former Bush campaign guru Karl Rove said Sunday that both campaigns’ attacks have “gone one step too far,” adding that some McCain spots go “beyond the 100-percent-truth test.”

“Both campaigns ought to be careful about it. They ought to — there ought to be an adult who says, ‘Do we really need to go that far in this ad? Don’t we make our point and won’t we get broader acceptance and deny the opposition an opportunity to attack us if we don’t include that one little last tweak in the ad?’” Rove told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

Sounds good, Rovery baby. You are a hypocrite, but at least you are saying something half decent, though it's probably some self serving attempt at "image improvement." Let's see what he says about the swift boaters who are prepping up to go after Obama.

Greenspan joins the "nation of whiners"

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan offered a woeful outlook of America's economic situation on Sunday, saying the crisis with the country's financial institutions was as dire as he had ever seen in his long career, and predicting that one or more of those institutions would likely collapse in the near future.

"Oh, by far," Greenspan said, when asked if the situation was the worst he had seen in his career. "There's no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I've seen and it still is not resolved and still has a way to go and, indeed, it will continue to be a corrosive force until the price of homes in the United States stabilizes. That will induce a series of events around the globe which will stabilize the system."

As quoted from Huffington Post

Here is former Sen. Phil Gramm, a top economic adviser to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain calling the economic slowdown as "a mental recession" and called the United States “a nation of whiners.” A classic!

If Sarah Palin looked like this....

Do you think everyone would be so enamored with her? Just wondering if her celebrity is based on her brains or... something more tangible.



By the way, the face is Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Someone with experience that can't be questioned.

Saturday Night Special

You may have seen it by now, but if not, here's the Saturday Night Live opener from last night with a cameo from the amazing Tina Fay as Gov Palin and Amy Poehler's Hilary. Two feminists who see these past few weeks in perfect clarity. Well done.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

Because if I don't find a way to laugh about her, I'm going to start crying.

See more Gina Gershon videos at Funny or Die

Let's have some fun with the carnage!

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This sums up my opinion on Palin

"She is a gift from heaven for McCain and will appeal directly to his desired audience: young, female, unintelligent, and close-minded. And she'll never answer direct questions on anything other than how she met her husband and oh look at my adorable children. No abortion (even if you know you are carrying a fetus with incurable brain damage), no sex education (even if you know this leads to 17 year olds getting pregnant), no evolution and the earth is 6000 years old (even though her state's wealth comes directly from it's hundred million year old geology). She's a sad excuse for a female in the Twenty-First Century and if McCain has any brain cells left, he'll keep her well away from any journalist worth his or her salt."

Thank you, Ingot_Wheat_Rust

Pearls of Political Wisdom, Part 1

“The media doesn’t understand life membership in the NRA; they don’t understand getting up at 3 a.m. to hunt a moose; they don’t understand eating a mooseburger; they don’t understand being married to a guy who likes to snowmobile for fun. I am not surprised that they don’t get it. But Americans get it. A mooseburger means she is like one of us. She is not some jackass who’s ‘gone Washington.’”

-- Florida Rep. Adam Putnam

HILLARY-LITE! Half the credentials as Clinton, but with that fresh Republican Taste!

Well, just 12 or so hours after Barack rode his golden chariot onto the stage in Denver comes McCain's smart bomb: Sarah Palin, 2 year Governor of Alaska has the right stuff to push out Mitt and Huckabee: A vagina!

Sorry Mitt, too late to get one in time for November.

While this move is clearly brilliant and will give some life to the Senator's run at President, I wonder if disenfranchised Clinton supporters will take the bait. Are they so desperate to see a woman in the White House that they will pick McCain over Obama, just to make sure that glass ceiling with 18 million cracks finally gets broken? McCain hopes so.

Wikipedia's short summary includes: "Palin is considered to have similar policy positions to George Bush and John McCain in most respects."

Her NRA membership, anti-abortion position, and blue collar background will certainly help enthrall the midwest housewives. Oh, and her oldest son is in the Army and being deployed to Iraq. Perfectly perfect!

Bait's on the hook ladies... wanna bite?

BTW: While some pundits are saying how shocked they are by this out-of-left-field choice, it's been an option for awhile. See the DANIEL FINKELSTEIN article from TimesOnline putting Palin on the short list way back in May.

John Edwards wants to be Bill Clinton when he grows up.

Looks like some of the moolah from those $400 hair cuts have been going to pay for baby food. He hasn't fessed up yet to the child, but John Edwards did confirm he was not only involved in an affair (I don't care) but publicly admitted to hiding it (I do care).

Look John, be morally vacant on your own time. Don't cheat on your cancer ridden wife while teaching us about the moral highground of your "Two Americas". It comes off as um... like your an a-hole.

The truly sad thing is that the deep cuts in investigative journalism meant that the National Inquirer needed to break the story.

I think it's time for me to get out of the the blog business. I'm losing my desire to report on these pricks.

NOTE TO OBAMA: If you have anything to spill, you'd better spill it, so we can elect the crusty but highly researched "other guy".

LINK

Jail bars are just a series of tubes: SEN. TED STEVENS INDICTED

Sen. Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty Thursday to seven felony counts of filing false information.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, has been accused of not disclosing more than $250,000 in gifts and services he allegedly received from VECO, an Alaska oil services firm.

Stevens has not been charged with the more serious crime of bribery because prosecutors do not have evidence of a quid pro quo. Some legal experts say the case may be tough to prosecute because prosecutors will have to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Stevens knowingly filed false financial disclosure forms with the Senate.

Stevens said nothing to reporters before or after the arraignment. When the proceedings were over, he and his legal team slipped out a side door and into two black Cadillacs that were waiting for them.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan set a trial date of Sept. 24. The early date came at the request of Stevens' attorney, Brendan Sullivan, who said that his client "would like to clear his name before his election."

Stevens, 84, was released on his own recognizance.


QUICK! TOSS THE PRICK IN JAIL BEFORE BUSH PARDONS HIM. I can't think of a better end for his career.

Chevron. Greenwashing the amazon in oil paint.

Above: From Chevron's web site. I wonder if their web designer shot himself in the head before he cashed his check.

Chevron Lobbies to Fight Amazon Pollution Lawsuit

Newsweek reports Chevron is urging the Bush administration to yank special trade preferences for Ecuador if the country’s government doesn’t quash a lawsuit against the oil company.

Chevron has been sued for dumping billions of gallons of toxic oil waste into Ecuador’s rain forest. Activists have described the disaster as an Amazon Chernobyl. Earlier this year, a court-appointed expert recommended Chevron be required to pay up to $16 billion to clean up the rain forest. Now, Chevron is lobbying the Bush administration to pressure Ecuador to quash the case.
Chevron’s lobbying team includes former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, former Democratic Senator John Breaux and Wayne Berman, a top fundraiser for John McCain.

One lobbyist told Newsweek, “We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this—companies that have made big investments around the world.”

Feel helpless against the awesome weight of corporate rape? You're not. Vote with your wallet. If you don't like what Chevron does, don't go there. Money talks.

SOURCE: Democracy Now

What can I say, Gore makes me feel better.

Gore has really come into his own since he left political crap slinging. It's a shame that you need to give up common sense and integrity to become suitable for President. In absence of true global leadership, I'll follow this guy.

Iran Photoshops Pictures To Hide Missile Failure

This one is right up my alley. Doing web design for a living, I have spent nearly every day of the past 15 years pushing pixels around in Photoshop. So when a bad Photoshop job crosses my eyeballs I have to post. I guess Iran's missile tests last week had a dud, which they decided to cover up using a little rubber stamp tool.

Here is the picture used in many newspapers. Note the areas of exact duplication in the smoke at the bases of the two right-hand missiles. This is classic copy/paste.



And here is the original:



And since most newspapers laid off their fact-checking staff to save money, the Photoshopped copy gets run.

Jessie Jackson Threatens Obama's Nuts

Anyone remember "Hymietown"? That was the anti-semitic slur spoken to a reporter during Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign. Oops, he did it again. During an interview on FOX NEWS, of all places, he was caught saying "See, Barack been um, talking down to black people... I wanna cut his nuts off."

Wowza baby! Poor Jessie. Never seems to keep his mouth shut. When you get another white man elected President, I'm sure you'll feel good about moving the African-American agenda forward. Well done.

Here it is... you can almost SEE the glee in Bill's eyes as he introduces the tape. It's like he just won $500 bucks on a scratch ticket.



And here is the backpedal...



He said he didn't know the microphone was on, and it was a private conversation. Apparently he was upset that in a recent speech, Obama was telling a black audience they needed to take some responsibility to improve their conditions. Or something like that. I didn't care enough to Google it.

Anyway, nice one, bud! At least you are getting more creative in your senility. For a final thought, here is some random dude summing it all up nicely. Make sure you at least go to 4:45 where he drops the thoughtful discourse and launches a barrage of insults on the guy. Too funny.

George Carlin on "the American Dream"

You are missed already.