Saturday, February 28, 2009

Happy Birthday, Catie--John Waters Style!

Sorry we weren't able to make it out last night; we had to be up early this morning to take Pip to the vet. Hope you had a nice time!



Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Grown-Up Will Be On My TV Tonite

After 8 fucking years of that spoiled, incurious, mentally stunted, boy king, and his merry band of sycophantic retards, I just may watch.

And it appears to me that the remaining obstructionist lemmings are following their base right off a cliff into the sea. They must be following their flat earth maps.

May the gift of Sarah Palin be always upon them.

Monday, February 16, 2009

The RACHEL Says it Best ...

... in proving the Repugnicans WRONG regarding their own, twisted take on history, specifically, The Great Depression, FDR, and The New Deal.

No Olympics in Chicago

JUST SAY NO!!!

Here we are with corruption in all levels of government. Illinois is the laughing stock of the nation if not the world due to its stunning kleptocracy. Cook County is run by the incompetent son of a patronage rich, probably corrupt predecessor, slipped in through subterfuge in the dead of night to circumvent any inconvenience of a real election. Duh Mare' of Chicago is surrounded by felons of all sorts and as they march off to jail, Daley mouths that he is "shocked, SHOCKED" that corruption exists so near his door.

Any public work in Illinois has a wildly inflated price tag, a graft tax if you will. No work gets contracted without major, hefty donations to whichever candidate's electoral warchest. So we here in Chicago pay the highest sales tax in the nation, for the most mediocre of services.

Things get built and then fall apart within a few years due to substandard materials and construction. This is the reason we have only have 2 seasons in Chicago, winter, and construction. It ain't the weather.

So in winning the Olympics, we reward all of this. Everything will come in wildly overpriced and over budget, with no bid contracts. Daley's pals and other politically connected benefactors will get richer. Any infrastructure improvements will fall apart in a few years, and will have to be rebuilt by these same scumbags. The cycle continues.

Republicans; In What Alternate Universe...

Do these morons reside.

They tried to retard passage of the wildly popular Stimulus package blaming a fictional mouse. (Mickey, maybe?)

They retard progress on any scientific endeavor.

They retard progress on any any education bills, thus retarding the education of their base, who then retardedly vote against their own best interest by keeping these clowns in office.

They retard any conversation on global warming.

They retard any dialogue on the public airwaves with nonsense, obfuscating the public's right to know.

They retard the application of our Constitutional protections, where ever possible.

They retard social progress on any number of fronts, gay rights being the number one bogeyman.

They retard discourse by rewriting history, with wildly inaccurate claims of the failure of Roosevelt's New Deal, even falsely claiming that Franklin R. and the New Deal caused the Great Depression. Ahem, Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933. Black Friday occurred in 1929 under that illustrious Republican Herbert Hoover's term of office, who famously also retarded all efforts to have the government effect any stimulus to the economy.

And they are out and proud of all these things they have retarded. They are delighted to be the party of Joe The Plumber, who isn't a plumber. Happy to be the rump party of the the white male racist backwoods of the Deep South. Happy to retard any outreach to blacks, Latinos' gays, women, et al. How retarded is that?

Is there a Planet Retard out there that has hardwired their brains, or do their tinfoil hats retard logic and reason from penetrating their atrophied cerebral cortex?

A Soggy Weekend

I made it through, what K and I called our anniversary. Back in February 2001 we decided that we would call our anniversary February 13, as it was when we realized we were serious. It was also a Friday the 13th, so it fit both of our twisted sensibilities. We did not want to use Feb 14th as the collision with so many St. Valentine days would cloud the picture.

Either way, I've had a bit of emotion this weekend. I thank all my friends for putting up with me. I am grateful for all of your indulgence this past weekend. Thank you, all!

So how about a little Sarah Vaughan to commemorate it all:

Blago's BFF Roland Burris Needs To Go

As I see it, during his hearings, he failed to tell the truth, THE WHOLE TRUTH, and nothing but the truth. (Well maybe he didn't technically lie, but so what, he knew that that truth he was withholding was exactly the information the questioning was after.

So Blago hit him up for money, and he failed to mention it. He had contacts with Blago's people on 5 occasions, and only mentioned one.

This makes him a liar or an idiot or very possibly both, as this was bound to come out. I mean, what fool would think they stopped tapping the His Royal Hairness's phones.

Either way, Roland Burris is unfit for office and should resign or be removed, as he does not meet the honorable, competent or honest smell tests that should be required of our U.S. Senators.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Happy Birthday Kew Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in west London is celebrating its 250th anniversary. One of the celebrations is an exhibition of orchids, so of course I immediately thought of Dean.

The photos that follow are of the Temperate House, the Palm House and the Pagoda.







There's also a recently restored royal palace, much loved of George III (as in The Madness of King George).
By the way, did you know that the original play of the film was called The Madness of George III, but it was changed because it was thought that Americans would wonder what happened to the films The Madness of George I and II!
No disrespect intended - but it is funny...

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Tom Geoghegan for Congress

He's running for Rahm Emmanuel's seat.


"A true progressive, honest, prochoice and pro-gay marriage, and if elected he would push, knowledgeably and aggressively, for all the right, important things. . . . Sick of timorous, dithering Democrats? Tom could be the next Paul Wellstone." - Katha Pollitt, The Nation

Senator Durbin Bitch Slaps Vitter

I wonder if Senator Diapers would support ACORN if he knew they probably helped to rebuild the homes of prostitutes he used to frequent in New Orleans?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

El Rushbo Redux


Batemanimation 11: The Limbaugh Stimulus from scottbateman on Vimeo.

If only they'd REALLY known about Spam...

You're probably all familiar with Monty Python's Flying Circus. I actually wasn't a great fan, but somehow the cafe scene has special relevance today.



I was actually studying Proust when the Summarising Proust contest was screened. When I realised I hadn't come across a full stop for the last page-and-a-half, I gave up on Proust forever.