The Way It Is, Baby

What can I say? Hey, is this thing on? I knoe you're out there, 'cause I can hear you burping. How 'bout some comments, y'all?

Bipartisanship Is for Weaklings

And here are two of them, so terrified of the Republicans who fucking LOST the House, the Senate, and the White House, that they are going to piss away the opportunity to put this nation back on the path of progress.

Get rid of these losers and put some leadership in Congress that understands what having power means. If there is one thing that should have been learned in the last eight years is that you do not bargain with ideological extremists--you destroy them.

But the Democratic Party, co-opted by money as easily as the Republicans (there's really just one party--the party of power over YOU), will fail to create a comprehensive health care system (read single-payer, eliminating insurance companies), will fail to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (defense industry lobbyists, anyone), and will be as effective at turning the economy around as a eunuch at an orgy is at knocking up the entire harem. Pelosi and Reid have spent so much of their integrity and capital gaining the power they now relish, that they will do nothing that might, even in the remotest sense, require them to go to the mat with the opposition.

And that makes them the opposition. They're worthless. Dump 'em.

And meanwhile, Dr. Howard Dean, who more than anyone deserves credit for restoring a Democratic majority, is totally dissed by the Obama team.

I thought there was change in the air. But it's just the same old stink of chickenshit and bullshit.

First Lorena Bobbitt, Now This

Guess we'll be sleeping on our stomachs for a while longer.

It's funny but also terribly tragic. The guy died, and his home was destroyed, and with his wife (who set his genitals on fire) going to the clink, his three kids will be essentially orphaned.

Atheists Speak Up

Here's one for the A-team--a group in Britain has countered biblical slogans on buses with their own message on London's red double-deckers: "There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." The Guardian UK has the story and a nice video with Ariane Sherine explaining why she started the campaign, and Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, commenting. One interesting point Dawkins makes is that whenever atheists state their point of view, it is considered strident, but it's perfectly acceptable to pronounce that all non-believers will burn for all eternity in a lake of fire.

And take note of that "probably" in the bus poster. That's the sign of open minds.

Pinnacle of Incompetence?

Any part of the world where things aren't worse? The latest blowup in the Gaza strip reveals how stunningly weak the US has become in influencing anything anywhere, short of military intervention, which, under the Bush clown car team, can go either way, but is generally equally failed as everything else. But Condi Rice is on a whole other plane. Now she can claim total failure in the mideast as Secretary of State, terrible relations with Russia as our alleged "Soviet Expert," and, of course, being National Security Adviser while 9/11 happened and two wars went horribly wrong.

Heckuva job, Condi! I'm sure you'll be rewarded with a cushy job back at Stanford.

The Winter So Far

This is our situation in the early morning. Actually, even with all the shoveling involved, it's still pretty cool to have this much snow. Perhaps the drought is over for a while.

Meanwhile, the Chimpie Disaster Project is trying to wring every failure and fuckup out of the last fifteen days of its tenure. I can only hope their plans to torch the White House will be scuttled by their unparalleled general incompetence. "I thought you had the matches?"

I Think Something May Be Wrong with Our Water Supply

Happy New Year and welcome to Otto, the newest addition to the Rotkohl household. We adopted him--he'd been dumped, apparently--and now he's fattened up, denutted (so he can't reproduce), and totally at home. I've not really been a cat person, so I have been amused at how he just came in and took over, compared to doggy Dorothy who has remained obedient, deferential, and loyal to a fault. And yes, the two tolerate one another quite nicely, although Dorothy occasionally annoys Otto by trampling him in her enthusiasm to go for a walk.

What, you say, no snarky or rage-filled diatribes? Not today. I feel mellow (it may be the single-malt I sipped for a while). Take it while you can get it.