it comes in pints?

SLF

Oooo...oooo....oooo....How long before August gets here? Who else wants to come?

A Top Ten

Top Ten Reasons I Can Never Run For Political Office:

1. I have been institutionalized.
2. I am the only person on my mother's side of the family to make it to 30 without having spent time in jail.
3. I have inhaled.
4. I am not a "family" person.
5. Fear of revenge from jilted ex-lovers.
6. I am not willing to lie to gain office.
7. I hate kissing babies.
8. I am not independently wealthy and am not willing to whore myself for campaign contributions.
9. I have no political party

and finally

10. Somewhere in the state of California, there exists a video tape of me at a gay bar in San Francisco, in my bra, standing on top a pool table singing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" at the top of my lungs.

The Blogosphere Ecosystem rankings

Here is the latest ranking in the TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem:

Putting It To A Vote

My question is, who do you think is the most detestable, vile, and unapologetical miscreant in literature? You can only name one, with no more than three runners-up.

Let's not be too liberal with our definition of "literature", either. We'll say that here, "literature" is defined as something that your high school English teacher would be proud to know you're reading.

Ib I Where A Horse...

Ugb. Thaks to Ked for biggig ub the slack, sice I'b sick ab cat codentrate buch. I lub you, DyQuil.

For discussion:

Reading Notes From the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Can't put it down. Anyone else read it? If so, discuss. I'll drop my original idea for the compare and contrast with Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf, on the grounds that this will bore the crap out of everybody.

Pic by Jack Kerouac sucked ass. Discuss.

Satori in Paris by same author kicked ass. Discuss.

Thanks to Sheila for sending me this article about Dylan Thomas.

Bass the Kleenex ad Sudafed, blease. Habby Bunday.

Breaking News

Heard this as a breaking story on the radio, haven't yet seen it on news websites, so accuracy is not confirmed.

Apparently, there was a roadside explosion in Iraq, in which a 155mm artillery shell containing the nerve agent sarin went off near an American unit. If confirmed, I think this probably answers the question of WMD in Iraq.

If not confirmed, you didn't read it here.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, apparently no known casualties. Still haven't seen this on any other sources.

UPDATE 2: Now in small banner at Foxnews.com. Apparently, it happened a couple days ago but the military is just now releasing information about the sarin. Two minor casualties from exposure, no major injuries.

And apologies for that duplicate post below, I tried to delete it but it looks like it's still there. Never mind, it finally went away.

UPDATE 3: And now that it has been confirmed, I fully expect to see some apologies floating around the blogosphere....

UPDATE 4: Been about eight hours since my last update...Still waiting on those apologies, folks. Glad I didn't hold my breath.

Pete Stark/Dan Dow: My Final word

I was unhappy about having to come into work on Saturday, so I took some time out to attend a Pete Stark townhall meeting. I also didn't want to have my only comments on Mr. Stark to sound like a one-sided hit piece.

SSG Dow was at school and could not make it to the meeting, but Mrs. Dow was there. I have to say that my opinion of Mr. Stark rose somewhat (which, barring spinning heads and green vomit, pretty much had to happen). A very short summary follows, blessedly hidden in the extended entry for the benefit of those who really don't care). Small warning: any quotes are from memory. The gist is correct, the wording may not be. Also, I don't have the time to make it a coherent narrative, so it will not be in any semblance of order.

The Weekly check on the bias is up

Dangerous Planet Edition! Forest fires, mountain lions, and other cool stuff.

I was going to give it six hours before the slow people noticed, but the little dickens actually beat me to it by a half hour. That's time zones for you.

What happened to news judgement?

On the way to work this morning, I listen to the CBS network radio feed at the top of the hour.

Gay marriage starts today in Massachussetts. People have been standing in line for hours. Interviews. Commentary. More interviews. Commentary. Background. More Commentary.

Oh yeah, and before we run out of time, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council was assassinated.

UPDATE: That was the 5:00am CBS feed. The 6:00am ABC feed properly led with the assassination story. They still devoted more time than necessary to the gay marriage story (yeah, I'm a gay marriage supporter, but this story has been all over the news for weeks!)

What the blogosphere is saying about Ken Summers, Honorary Jew

I know, I’m still like a kid with a new toy, but it’s time for another heapin' helpin' of abuse survey.

"Go @#^% yourself, Summers!"
--Bill McCabe
[Ed.: Yeah, well Lord knows no one else will]

"Couldn't hit the broad side of my garage."
- Kim du Toit

"Lazy SOB won't help me move."
- Michele Catalano

"Hey, what happened to my garage?"
- Kim du Toit

Another Public Service Announcement

There used to be a post here. Ken is not only unhip but sometimes has misfiring synapses and an itchy trigger finger.

We will speak no more of this.

Another public Service Announcement

No soulless, untalented, anti-American, asshat cartoonists were harmed in the making of this blog.

Public service announcement

Please help MGM Stop the Madness.

Thank you.

What the blogosphere is saying about Ken Summers, Honorary Jew

[NOTE: I needed a pick-me-up after a miserable day of work and the prospect of going in again tomorrow so I thought I would survey the blogosphere again]

"Dude, a half-inch group at eight feet just isn’t all that impressive"
- Jeff Soyer

“Kalifornicator!”
- Misha

"I...want...something..."
- Andrea Harris
[Ed.: I know you do darling, but it can never be, I belong to another. Besides, I thought you were courting Steven den Beste - was there a misunderstanding?]

"Thank goodness my beloved Cubbies managed to avoid a complete sweep by Ken’s awesome Big Blue Behemoth
- Pej

UPDATE: "Oh God, what have I DONE?????"
- Emily Jones

Blogspot Changes?

Am I doing it wrong, or are the changes on Blogsplat now requiring that you have a Blogger username and password in order to leave comments at their user's sites? Pardon me, but that's some shitty business.

On Troy

I guess Roger Ebert thinks we should wait for the DVD:

"Troy" is based on the epic poem The Iliad by Homer, according to the credits. Homer's estate should sue. The movie sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies. Better a couple of hundred sweaty warriors than two masses of 50,000 men marching toward one another across a sea of special effects.

The movie recounts the legend of the Trojan War, as the fortress city is attacked by a Greek army led by Menelaus of Sparta and Agamemnon of Mycenae. The war has become necessary because of the lust of the young Trojan prince named Paris (Orlando Bloom), who while during a peace mission to Sparta, seduces the city-state's queen, Helen (Diane Kruger).

This action understandably annoys Helen's husband, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), not to mention Paris' brother Hector (Eric Bana), who points out, quite correctly, that when you visit a king on a peace mission, it is counterproductive to leave with his wife.

What the movie doesn't explain is why Helen would leave with Paris after an acquaintanceship of a few nights. Is it because her loins throb with passion for a hero? No, because she tells him: "I don't want a hero. I want a man I can grow old with." Not in Greek myth, you don't. If you believe Helen of Troy could actually tell Paris anything remotely like that, you will probably also agree that the second night he slipped into her boudoir, she told him, "Last night was a mistake."

Okay, your question for the weekend: is it acceptable for screenwriters and directors to take liberties with original works of fiction when translating them to film or is this too objectionable? Why?

UPDATE: Bill's hunted down another bad review. But hey, leave the elf out of this, will ya?

Rotten Pukes

So I'm getting ready for bed and as I'm going through my normal ablutions I flip on the History Channel as is my wont. And lo and behold, what are they showing?

Something about the Aryan Nation. Die, you nazi bastards. That's from an Honorary Jew, you pukes.

And now I'm too angry to go to sleep.

Counting Down

Twelve days.

I'll Tell You Why

"Why Do They Hate Us, Dude?"

(Via Harry's Place.)

This Machine Kills Nobody

There are a lot of reasons why I don't like public protests. For one, crowds can be a very dangerous thing, especially if there are emotional issues at stake. For another, I doubt highly the actual effectiveness they have on short-term public or foreign policy; millions of people took to the streets all over the globe regarding the invasion of Iraq and look where we are now.

This, however, is now the BIGGEST reason for my objections.

Hit Counter

More than 2000 hits since a week ago Tuesday

Media Manipulation (Updated)

"About 800 students rallied today at San Francisco State University as part of a statewide walkout protesting state budget cuts to the California State University system "

Newspapers, radio, and TV news were, of course, on hand as the walkout was planned for a week and the press was notified in advance of time and place.

"The size of the crowd fluctuated … at one point about 200 students filled the intersection of 19th and Holloway avenues…[then] returned to campus after about 15 minutes"

"We stand united in California against these budget cuts," said Pablo Serrano, an ethnic studies major.

On the radio, I heard that organizers were afraid of a low turnout, but:

" I was blown away by how many people turned out "

Except for the ethnic studies major (that was just a fun cheap shot on my part), these quotes are much more, er, interesting in light of an email sent to our local VRWC radio morning show, which noted a small detail oddly missing from the news reports. The email was, IIRC, from the parent of a SFSU student, who noted that at the scheduled time of the walkout a fire alarm mysteriously went off. Gotta hand it to ‘em, they’re good at some things

Ken Summers, Honorary Jew: Tweaking SFSU since, well, just now. (Hear that, anti-semites? This is an Honorary Jew talking to you!)

UPDATE: Yes, it was the parent of a SFSU student

John Kerry, Friend of the Little People^TM

No links, because I heard them on the radio on the way to work (but no doubt the slower bloggers will post them soon).

First item: Apparently Teresa Kerry has finally released her tax returns. If I recall the numbers mentioned correctly, here is a comparison of actual paid tax rates (and please correct me if I misremembered):

George Bush on approx. $250,000 income: 28%
Average taxpayer making $50,000 income: 13%
Teresa Kerry on approx. $5,000,000 income: 11%

Also, it has been noted elsewhere that Massachusetts has a check box to voluntarily pay extra in state taxes. I wonder if John Kerry, Friend of the Little People^TM, ever checks that box?

Second item: Democrats in the Senate failed to pass their bill to extend unemployment benefits. I believe the commentator said it lost by one vote, but I could be mistaken. However, it was duly noted that only one Democrat failed to show up for the vote: John Kerry, Friend of the Little People^TM

Ken Summers, Honorary Jew: Fulfilling some or part of your blogging needs since a week ago Tuesday.

Questions...

Why is every city, town, village, whistle-stop, and bus station in Iraq referred to by the media as "the holy city of..."?

Why is every mosque, cemetery, tomb, placque, and graffito that American troops get close to referred to as "one of Islam's holiest shrines"?

Just asking.

Pass this on, too

Those filthy nazi swine at jewwatch are back at number 1 on the google search.

jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew

This has been one pisser of a rotten evening. Oh, almost forgot:

Pass It On

Read this and then send a nice letter to the folks at the Associated Press telling them what screwed-up peckersnots they are.

Though your letter would probably be more effective if you didn't actually use the word "pecker" and everything.

Random

I so want one of these. (Thanks to Matt for the link)

Yes, Sheila. It was me who typed "fudgepacker squidgy mookie-stinks" into your search engine, so don't freak out when you check your activity log, m'kay? You'll be happy to know that, unlike the time I queried "hot gay elf sex", this search did not produce any entries.

I have a lot to say about this and am just as apprehensive as I was when I first heard LOTR was being made into a live-action film. More info here, here and here.

Learn about history at the movies.

Sad

This is just terrible:

The search is continuing for survivors of the explosion in Glasgow which has killed seven people and seriously injured many more.

Tony Blair has expressed his sympathies for those affected by the blast at the Stockline Plastics factory.

Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell has visited the site.

Rescuers were optimistic of finding more people alive beneath the rubble after hearing knocking noises about 0500 BST on Wednesday.

Dig, people. DIG.

Well, I was wrong

I thought I had nothing to add to the commentary on the murder of Nick Berg, but I actually haven't seen this noted yet (and apologies to anyone who has already made the connection and I haven't seen it)

Given that this was already under investigation by the army,

Given that the responsible individuals were removed from duty in January,

Given that the the press was told of the investigation in March,

Given that more than a month after the press had the story, CBS chose to air the pictures,

And assuming the best of the "Iraqi insurgents", who the left tells us are misunderstood "freedom fighters" driven to desperation by US aggression,

there is only one conclusion that may be drawn:

We all have our own causes...

that set us off, and this happens to be mine. Expect a rant in the near future about gun rights and hypocritical legislators.

Meantime, Pejman "Ragged Hole" Yousefzadeh highlights the latest in a long series.

UPDATE: On a happier note, One Little Victory brings us news of a counterpart to the PC Make-A-Wish Foundation (Found via Gunnut Jeff).

And in my flu-med-induced stupor...

I stupidly considered commenting on this. But of course, with all the worthy commentary already out there, I am not worthy.