Forget the obvious politics here for a sec, but there’s something about Putin’s head here that just kinda makes me giggle, especially when you put with it either the theme from Jaws or “The Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back:
[Ganked from tailfeather at ButterCup Punch, who in turn ganked it from BoingBoing]
Because it’s not hard to drink beer and carry on a conversation, at least for most: Lookit.
Better yet, maybe the party should just get her rip-roaring shit-faced before she debates. Couldn’t be any worse than the crap she’s been putting out in the two interviews the party LET her do. Gad. What an embarrassment to the gender.
Lookit
And here’s my favorite part:
Lookit.
Guess it’s a good thing I work in a crap-paying industry, or I’d REALLY be pissed about the money I’m getting screwed out of.
So lately I’ve been trying to determine which presidential candidate was responsible for the whole “I want to be able to have a beer with the common man” shtick. Was it Shrub? Clinton? As far back as Reagan (for me, anyway; I was only 10 when he took over)? Further than that? Whoever it was, he deserves a swift punch in the throat. If I wanted my leader to be so accessible that he or she would join me at G-Town for a couple beers, I’d run as a write-in, ferchrissake. I mean, I don’t know about y’all, but there isn’t one person with whom I have drunk beer in the last 20 years that I would want running this country, so how did that even become a consideration?
(And yes, I DID read the Salon-Paglia opus on Palin. To that I say unequivocally: Any woman who posits that rape is a biological male imperative does not and WILL NOT represent me EVER.)
Aaaaaaand ... let’s stop talking about this.
Instead, let’s talk about why I’m wide awake: For the first time in I don’t know how long, Poppy and I took the Peapod for a bike ride this evening. I KNOW, but it’s not like the 80-some collective pounds we gots to lose prior to our 20th in October ain’t gonna melt off by themselves. (Heh) Yep, Pop has agreed to go. She’s much more zen about it than I am—I’ve been going back and forth between, “Yeah, whatever,” and “Wow, do you think maybe they’ll think I’m cool now? Do you? Do you?” much to Poppy’s delight since she’s been making fun of me about it ever since I turned in my check. I’m annoyed, though, that the ensemble I planned to wear has already been seen by another classmate, but how was I supposed to know a former classmate was going to show up at the Bang-Bang grand opening, which was super-fantastic as only Ann and Ben can make it? I suppose it didn’t help that, upon walking in and seeing her chatting with Ben, I had to go up and hug him, as if she gives a shit that he and I are tight. Probably could’ve gotten around it unseen. Crap.
As always, I compared this version to my original, and something seems off in the editing, but I can’t put my finger on what, exactly.
Anyway, Mr. Nader was lovely to talk to and extremely gracious to me and everyone who interrupted us. And, believe it or not, there was only one woman who heckled him (and walked away before he could get in a word—to which he replied, “See the political bigotry? They don’t even want to discuss it. It’s a uniquely American phenomenon.") The rest were either fans or starfuckers, but whatever the case, it was a good interview, and love him or hate him, you have to give give him props for being a true believer.
HAMMOND—Shoring up Independent Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader’s resolve is never daunting, but it might not always be as easy as reading the newspaper.
Nader, who with his vice presidential candidate, Matt Gonzalez, stopped at the Cracker Barrel to talk exclusively with the Post-Tribune, pointed to the article before he even sat down. The two stopped in Indiana, then backpedaled to Lansing, Ill., as part of their weekend tour of the Midwest.
The article, which discussed leasing public assets, chills him to the core every time.
“This 75-to-99-year leasing turns colonialism on its head and is very bad for consumers; in this article, it says the tolls will rise to $25 by 2050,” he said. “It’s the corporate takeover of America. We’ve outsourced the military with Blackwater and Haliburton, and now the contract specialists who wrote those contracts are outsourcing their work to different countries.”
Working overtime
With seven states left to go in their quest to get on the ballot, Nader, 74, and Gonzalez are working overtime to get their platform to the masses. Supporters in Indiana will have to write-in their names as Nader-Gonzalez won’t be on the ballot.
Their platform includes items he says Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have taken “off the table,” such as a 6-month, comprehensive negotiated military and corporate withdrawal from Iraq; single-payer, Canadian style free-choice health insurance; a living-wage and repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act; and a no-nuke, solar-based energy policy supported by renewable and sustainable energy sources.
Solar energy is a change he’s touted for years, and many utility executives to whom he’s spoken prefer wind power as the next energy source, he said.
Furthermore, once big companies have the same environmental standards, it removes the argument of one corporation getting preferential treatment over another.
In order to bring jobs back to Northwest Indiana and the rest of the country, for that matter, the fastest way to do that would be creating public works efficiency much like the “New Deal” did so many years ago.
More community policing
And instead of throwing more money toward law enforcement, he would rely more on community policing and rehabilitation instead of incarceration when it comes to many drug infractions.
Getting states to back off on abatements for new businesses may be a tough battle, but the public should know abatements are really just “icing on the cake” for corporations; corporations choose a site based on labor and location, not abatement.
Nader said he argued with Gov. Mitch Daniels over the Indiana Toll Road leasing, to no avail. Daniels did, however, listen to Nader when he suggested that all contracts forged with the state of Indiana be put online for the public to see. Indiana’s the first state in the country to do that, he said.
Mostly, Nader and Gonzalez want to see the country stop the speculation using the country’s capital.
“Betting on bets upon bets,” he said, produces nothing when the capital can be redirected to where it needs to go, such as infrastructure.
As for the other two candidates, Nader declined to discuss them outside of their issues. Gonzalez did, however, speak to his own credentials as the vice presidential candidate.
“I was President of San Francisco’s City Council, which has twice the budget and population of Alaska and Delaware,” he said.
And now, without further adieu:
Story and thoughts TK ...
who *I* just interviewed. Steph’s going to send me a pic, so I’ll post it, good or bad.
In the meantime, I found this really funny:
Dick Morris is quite the dandy, idn’t he:
making the Republicans cancel their parties because of a little rain:
Almost makes me wish the comments were scripted. Almost.
Would somebody like to explain to me how it is that, barring external factors like absence, if a man and a woman of the same intelligence level take the exact same classes in college; or take the exact same training program for their companies, the WOMAN is the one who needs “more training?” And if the problem is “Well, the women have FAMILIES to raise, so they can’t be there for all the classes,” wouldn’t the more effective (read: fair) solution be “provide better affordable child/elder care so women can complete the tasks with which they are given?” Just curious.
And I wish I could take credit for this question, but I shall post it here in case, by some twist of fate, someone with any means to get it to the proper channels sees it:
E! Television declared depression as the No. 1 SHOCKING MENTAL DISORDER EVER, apparently because Kirsten Dunst checked herself into Le Cirque to get her head screwed back on.
Well, shoot. Had I known, I might’ve demanded a cookie or something.
Ever eat so much meat that you’re just, like, “GUH, that’s a little gross”? I know that kinda sounds like heresy, but man. I need to get thee to the farm stand stat.
So yeah, the tornado. First off, a big sloppy mashfest with tongue to the peeps who checked to make sure I wasn’t dead—I sure wished I were at times, what with the no power and the out-of-control mother and looking like I smelled for the better part of a week (well, Ok, I didn’t REALLY wish for death, but shit’s hard when all you can do is take a washrag to your bits without freezing them off), but you know, that which does not kill us makes us stronger, except for groin injuries, etc. Since I’ve told the story to, like, a million people, I’ll keep it short: I was sitting here wrapping up my story for the night when Mother calls: “The siren’s going off! What should I do!??” I, not hearing the siren, told her I didn’t hear it and that I would call her back in five minutes when I finished my story. Soon as I hung up, what do you know, I hear the faint roar of the siren across town. Huh, I thought, so I called the desk and said, “Hey, my ma just called and said the siren was going off. Is something coming?” Night Desk Chief and buddy JG said, “Well, let’s take a look ... tornado warning for (town four miles away) ... (next town over) ... (MY TOWNOMFG) ... yeah, something’s coming.” “Oh, wow,” I said. “Well, I just sent so I guess I shou—vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvt!”
(That was ‘hood’s power going out.)
True to form, the little guy headed for the hills, so I knew there was no wrangling him, but I couldn’t find Rube, so I just left the back door open because any time the door’s open, he thinks it’s a big party and goes running for the hallway. I made my way down the back stairs to the basement, which was pitch black, and thought “Hell NAW am I going down there alone without a light apparatus,” so I sat on the steps and watched what I could from the backdoor window. As you can imagine, it was quite a storm—constant, violent lightning and the wind whipping the trees all around for a good 10, 15 minutes until all of a sudden, the wind. just. stopped. Well, I thought to myself, that’s got to be the tornado, except I didn’t hear the giant locomotive-like roar you’re supposed to hear with twisters, so I stood there trying to see if the big cat made it downstairs and waiting to get wiped off the face of the earth. About a minute later, my downstairs neighbor called out to see if I was around, and I headed up to her crib because she had beer and lit candles.
After the first beer, I call Mother back, and her machine didn’t pick up so I knew her power was down and that I’d better get over there to make sure she hadn’t gotten wiped off the face of the planet (also: to assess her mental state to see what kind week I was in for). It had stopped pouring, so it was safe in that respect even though there were no streetlights for miles. First thing I noticed as I zipped through the shortcut I usually take, aside from the water puddled in the potholes that swallow small children, was an overturned semi cab and roofing shingles scattered about. Then I looked over to my left, saw a lit-up police car in front of the subdivision nestled behind the crib. Got to Mother’s—her power was out and she was all twitchy, of course, but no worse for the wear—then went back out to the subdivision. (You knew that was coming.) Got out of the car and walked through the blockade to be greeted with the first house that had its front sheared off. Started reporting straightaway, the end.
Yeah, that wasn’t really a short story, was it? Alas, they never are where I’m concerned. And I ain’t even STARTED on the nightmare that fixing my shower became. THAT was even worse than not having power (but not as bad as not having cable).
Still here; STILL without cable/neenernet. Hope to regale y’all with all my complaints later this eve.
Have a little excitement going on up in these here parts, but because there’s no power, posting my version of events is going to be light (Doing ANYTHING computer-related is pain at the moment; I’m over at Ogger‘s as we speak, and I dictated all my storm coverage last night. In the rain). Tell you what, though: I think I need love my big storms at a distance.
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Broad said: Hahahahaha! Shutup, Dix! (snerk!) ...[go].
DixonHill said: Eeeeeeeeee… Broad’s back! Champagne dishes and caviar screams, Dix ...[go].
og said: Good for you. Hold those memories tight and keep them. And don’t be afraid to keep them for yourself- you… ...[go].
Broad said: @ Ogger: Actually, wait—I meant THIS squid: tolweb.org/Magnapinna. Damn thing has ELBOWS. ...[go].
Broad said: Ha! The Humboldt Squid! That’s an UGLY m’erf’er right there. Oh, btw, the car’s fine, but you knew that. Thankyewthankyewthankyew… ...[go].
