Laughter is the Best Medicine

The older you are, the more you're gonna love this:



None of us want to get older, but it beats the alternative.

Republi-CON Fear-Mongering, Must Be Election Time

Just part of the Republi-con effort to brew a little suspicion, innuendo, resentment and fear for election time:



First it was Republi-CON election-time religious fear-mongering regarding the Manhattan mosque. Now it's time to attack Obama's "belief structure" which favors helping the poor, which Beck believes is "a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it." Read the Washington Post, After Washington rally, Glenn Beck assails Obama's religion.

Ironically, many Christians question Beck's 'belief structure.'

And I wonder what Christ would think of helping the poor?

Relax, It's the Weekend!, Last Summer Post

See the previous posts: Relax, It's the Weekend!; Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 2; and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 3, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 4, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 5, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 6, and, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 7

Republi-CONs Are Sooooo Gullible

UPDATE: Good news, apparently Republi-cons are not so gullible that you can just show' em your gun and they got soft in the brain. "In Arizona on Tuesday, Republican voters totally rejected the Congressional candidacy of State Senator Pamela Gorman (“conservative Christian and a pretty fair shot”), whose TV ad showed her firing a machine gun at an undisclosed target. Only about 5,000 people in the district thought sending Pamela Gorman to Washington would be a good plan. "

Bad news, apparently Republi-cons preferred the deceitful hypocrite, Ben Quayle, a/k/a Brock Landers, the fictional sidekick to porn star Dirk Diggler in the film "Boogie Nights,", and real-life son of former vice president Dan Quayle.

Just show' em your gun and they got soft in the brain:



Someone tell Mike about the lady.

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line, courtesy of Cyber Smart Computers.

Topics:

Local and regional: any comments on the local elections?, will Crist win?, and where are the hurricanes;

Nation and international: Republi-CONs are the new binLadi-cans, just part of the Republi-CON election-time religious fear-mongering -- Republi-CON bicycle fear-mongering, Republi-CON baby fear-mongering, and Republi-CON McCarthy-like fear-mongering; yet another example of how fear, anger, hatred = violence; all part of the Republi-CON created reality; is it all for the common good, or everyman for himself?, are Republi-CONs sacrificing workers to appease their imaginary inflation God?

Oil Spill Fallout to Date: finally, the well is capped, now what to do about 205.8 million gallons of oil in 643 quadrillion gallons of water (a quadrillion is one thousand million million or 10¹⁵, imagine 0.8934545... drops of oil in a 22,000 gallon pool, assuming 90,840 drops/gallon and the oil evenly dispersed), maybe we should just leave it to Alcanivorax, who was suggesting that the government push aside BP and take over?, what did more harm, the oil spill or media hype and political grandstanding?; fraud, waste and abuse, in Fl the 3 counties farthest from the spill received over 1/2 of the money, one of them, Franklin, received over 1/3 of the $40 million; well meaning stupidity is still stupidity, lost compensation, should you get extra money after lying to the IRS?, did ya hear bout Big Oil's Big Daddy, Dick 'Chickenhawk' Cheney's secret energy task force, discounts for deepwater drilling, tell me -- the oil deposit now leaking would have provided how many days' worth of oil to Americans?, Obama's energy pipe dreams, is it time for N2N, was it God's wrath for destroying his planet?, shocking realization that bottom-line influences corporate policy, political grandstanding, and Republi-CON 'less government' hypocrisy;

and

Trivia and Humor: Happy 60th Birthday Bikini!

But I'll discuss anything. Disclaimer: the host reserves the right to end any discussion and hang up on you.)

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

And remember: I'm still God's favorite Gulf Coast talk show host, just ask the capped well!

Yet Another Example of How Fear, Anger, Hatred = Violence

UPDATE IV: "A college student who did volunteer work in Afghanistan was charged Wednesday with slashing a taxi driver's neck and face after the driver said he's Muslim. " Read the Washington Post, Man held without bail in NYC cab driver stabbing.


UPDATE III: For more on how Hedgehog News encourages violence, read the Washington Post, Glenn Beck and the Oakland shooter.


UPDATE II: Hedgehog News employs the masters of fear, anger, and hatred. Read Media Matters, Beck's incendiary angst is dangerously close to having a body count.


UPDATE: Even some party members understand that while fear, anger, and hatred is a great campaign strategy, it won't be much of a governing philosophy. Read the Washington Post, GOP leaders let demagogues set tone, lawmaker says.

The article profiles a veteran GOP House member who was defeated in South Carolina's primary last month and who was "jeered for saying that Beck, a Fox News Channel host, is a divisive fearmonger." He thinks:

"Too many Republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous 'demagoguery' that threatens the party's long-term credibility",

"[T]he rhetoric also distracts from the real problems that politicians should be trying to resolve, such as budget deficits and energy security", and

"[R]acism is a part of the vitriol directed at President Barack Obama.

And he's not the only party member that is concerned. Bush's former chief speechwriter from 2001 until June 2006, thinks that the Republi-con party lacks "a responsible, governing agenda" and their campaign strategy of fear, anger, and hatred "rides a massive wave toward a rocky shore. " Read also the Washington Post, For the GOP, a risky wave to ride or turn back.

As I said before, fear, anger and hatred is a vicious cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy -- as Republi-con destroy America, they blame others for their actions.

And for yet another example, read The New York Times, Arkansas Suspects Had Rage Toward Government.

Another Republi-CON CONservative

UPDATE IV: "[F]ormer chairman of the Republican National Committee and the former campaign manager for George W. Bush's 2004 re-election bid, has told his family and colleagues that he is gay." Read the Washington Post, Former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman: I'm gay.


UPDATE III: "When it comes to political campaigns, could we just get to the truth of the matter? Instead of focusing on taxes and jobs, here’s some of the silliness on tap this season." Read The New York Times, More American Idols.


UPDATE II: The woman who recounted Rand Paul's youthful indiscretions in college to GQ magazine wants to make it clear, she was not kidnapped, "in a legal sense." She was just tied her up and blindfolded, and "went along because they were my friends." She said that "[t]here was an implicit degree of cooperation in the whole thing. I felt like I was being hazed." Read the Washington Post, Rand Paul's accuser clarifies "kidnapping".

So I stand corrected, the Republi-con's newest golden boy, Rand Paul, candidate for US Senate from Kentucky, is a kinky, pot-smokin, idol worshippin, secret society member.

However, I'd be careful, in many states you could be arrested for tying and blindfolding someone.


UPDATE: Lest ye missed it, it appears that the Republi-con's newest golden boy, Rand Paul, candidate for US Senate from Kentucky, is a pot-smokin, idol worshippin, secret society member, kidnapper. Read GQ, Rand Paul's Kooky College Days (Hint: There's a Secret Society Involved), which states:

"The strangest episode of Paul's time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 (although memories about all of these events are understandably a bit hazy, so the date might be slightly off), when he and a NoZe brother paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul's teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot." After the woman refused to smoke with them, Paul and his friend put her back in their car and drove to the countryside outside of Waco, where they stopped near a creek. "They told me their god was 'Aqua Buddha' and that I needed to bow down and worship him," the woman recalls. "They blindfolded me and made me bow down to 'Aqua Buddha' in the creek. I had to say, 'I worship you Aqua Buddha, I worship you.' At Baylor, there were people actively going around trying to save you and we had to go to chapel, so worshiping idols was a big no-no.""

He's denied the kidnapping allegation.

This one is Arizona House candidate Ben Quayle, a/k/a Brock Landers, the fictional sidekick to porn star Dirk Diggler in the film "Boogie Nights,", and real-life son of former vice president Dan Quayle. Read the Washington Post, Ben Quayle admits writing for 'Dirty Scottsdale' Web site.

As the article notes, Quayle claims to be a 'conservative Republican,' and he "has some very high-profile Republican backers, including former President George H.W. Bush, who hosted a fundraiser in May for the candidate at his Houston home."

But he's already been caught sending out a deceitful mailer showing him with two toddler-aged girls. He is married but childless.

His friend at TheDirty.com (the successor to DirtyScottsdale.com), has called Quayle a hypocrite, and reminded him of the time he "banged Tim-Marie (a chick) in [the] spare bedroom" and those times just three years ago hanging out in the kitchen "hungover thinking about what club douche bags in Scottsdale to target next."

I bet his Dad is proud of the respect he shows women.

Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 7

See the previous posts: Relax, It's the Weekend!; Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 2; and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 3, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 4, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 5, and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 6

Are Republi-CONs Sacrificing Workers to Appease Their Imaginary Inflation God?

"The policy elite are making a strange argument in demanding that we engage in human sacrifices to appease the anger of invisible gods." So says the 2008 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. Read The New York Times, Appeasing the Bond Gods.

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

UPDATE: For more information on the Santa Rosa Roller Girls, see their website, and an article on their debut bout.

See Wikipedia, regarding natural born citizen of the United States.

Also, watch Mike Bates of WEBY Radio gets tased by Santa Rosa County Deputies during the "Jail Break In, 2010" fundrasier, in slow motion:

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line, courtesy of Cyber Smart Computers.

Topics:

Followup: WEBY's very own Pastor Poppin's delusion birther rants -- Hawaii's Republican governor knows that Obama was born at Kapi'olani Hospital in Honoluluon Aug. 4, 1961, and even Justice Clarence Thomas thinks the 'birther' lawsuits are frivolous

Local and regional: which WEBY host would you like to taser and where are the hurricanes;

Nation and international: time for a little Republi-CON election-time religious fear-mongering; Republi-CON bicycle fear-mongering; and Republi-CON baby fear-mongering; why Republi-CONs are like OBL; yet another example of how fear, anger, hatred = violence; all part of the Republi-CON created reality;

Oil Spill Fallout to Date: finally, the well is capped, now what to do about 205.8 million gallons of oil in 643 quadrillion gallons of water (a quadrillion is one thousand million million or 10¹⁵, imagine 0.8934545... drops of oil in a 22,000 gallon pool, assuming 90,840 drops/gallon and the oil evenly dispersed), maybe we should just leave it to Alcanivorax, who was suggesting that the government push aside BP and take over?, what did more harm, the oil spill or media hype and political grandstanding?; fraud, waste and abuse, in Fl the 3 counties farthest from the spill received over 1/2 of the money, one of them, Franklin, received over 1/3 of the $40 million; well meaning stupidity is still stupidity, lost compensation, should you get extra money after lying to the IRS?, did ya hear bout Big Oil's Big Daddy, Dick 'Chickenhawk' Cheney's secret energy task force, discounts for deepwater drilling, tell me -- the oil deposit now leaking would have provided how many days' worth of oil to Americans?, Obama's energy pipe dreams, is it time for N2N, was it God's wrath for destroying his planet?, shocking realization that bottom-line influences corporate policy, political grandstanding, and Republi-CON 'less government' hypocrisy;

and

Trivia and Humor: Happy 60th Birthday Bikini!

But I'll discuss anything. Disclaimer: the host reserves the right to end any discussion and hang up on you.)

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

And remember: I'm still God's favorite Gulf Coast talk show host, just ask the capped well!

Hedgehog News Buys a Stake in the Republi-CONs

Hedgehog News employs the masters of fear, anger, and hatred to support the Republi-con strategy of pandering to fear, anger, and hatred.

And having done such a good job, Hedgehog News wants an ownership stake. Read the Washington Post, Fox parent News Corp. donates $1 million to Republican Governors' Association.

Have You Ever Wanted to Taser a WEBY Host?

Mike sent me the following email:

I spent last night [Saturday] in jail. Construction was just completed for a new wing at the Santa Rosa County Jail. They begin taking prisoners next month.

Last night was a fundraiser for the Law Enforcement Explorer Scouts program. The public and the media were invited to spend the night (6pm - 6am) as "inmates" with the experience simulating what a real inmate would encounter (excluding the body cavity search, thankfully). The Explorer Scouts were the prison guards under the supervision of real officers.

I was the inmate used as the "Taser Dummy" (that would be "dummy" in more ways than one). Ouch!

Here is the video:



Priceless, don't you think.

Republi-cons, Be Men, Repent and Grow Up

UPDATE: Even Justice Clarence Thomas thinks the 'birther' lawsuits are frivolous. Read the Washington Post, Supreme Court upholds 'birther' sanction.


SECOND REPOST: Is Pastor Poppins, AKA Carl Gallups, demented? Thanks to him, I now know he is a Birther, from the article to which he reffered, Politico, Culture of conspiracy: the Birthers. From the article:

"Conservatives see that hazard.

The conservative talk show host Michael Medved recently referred to the movement's leaders as "crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative imposters" who are "the worst enemy of the conservative movement."

"It makes us look weird. It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled, and not suitable for civilized company," he mourned."

This is all too good to be true for the Naive-crat, let the conservative nuts embarrass themselves as the government continues to loot the treasury.

REPOSTED: Reposted in response to the embarrassing rant by Pastor Poppins, AKA Carl Gallups, on WEBY this morning. See also PolitiFact.com, Obama's birth certificate: Final chapter.

Evidently some Republi-cons continue to embarrass themselves ranting about a birth certificate and clinging to a delusion that the Supreme Court might put their man in office (again). Sorry, it ain't gonna happen.

So I say pray with me Republi-cons, be men (or women as the case may be), repent, and grow up. “Set aside childish things.” (From the 2009 inauguration speech by Barack Hussein Obama II, the 44th and current President of the United States of America).

And read 1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (King James version)

UPDATE: Here is an article from Snopes.com that determines that claims that the Certificate of Live Birth is a forgery are FALSE.

Be gone ye evil Republi-con demons of fear, anger, and hatred. Accept that ye lost and be gone. And repent ye childish Republi-cons, repent I say.

Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 6

See the previous post: Relax, It's the Weekend!; Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 2; and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 3, Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 4, and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 5

Republi-CON Created Reality

UPDATE: Now science is a liberal CONspiracy. Read TalkingPointsMemo.com, Conservapedia: E=mc² Is A Liberal Conspiracy.

So many lies, so little time. And how do Republi-cons do it, by creating their own reality:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Racial Pro Firing
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Sub Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Usually on Thursdays you can listen to me, the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

But I can't make it today. I'll be back next week to deprogram you. Until then, have a laugh.

Tiger Mistress Golf

UPDATE V: Read the Washington Post, His life fell apart, and now so has his game.


UPDATE IV: The family guy wins. Read The New York Times, Family Values Become a Focus at Augusta.

A fitting outcome I think.


UPDATE III: Speaking from the grave, Nike has unveiled a new commercial featuring Tiger and the voice of his deceased father asking whether he (Tiger) learned anything:



This ad would not have been done without his approval. I think it is a remarkably humble act of self shaming.

Will it be recognized as a brilliant bit of PR, setting the new standard? Read the Washington Post, Tiger Woods Nike ad: Penance as commodity.

What do you think?


UPDATE II: He's back. Read The New York Times, Why Tiger Matters?

It is a sad commentary on society, but no one will care about his behavior if, and when, he wins again.

But why does The Cheetah's personal behavior matter? Because "[i]f we're not careful, celebrities' infidelities can weaken the institution of monogamous marriage. "

Enough serious, enjoy the game.


UPDATE: The Cheetah won't have these problems if he had only used TigerText. Read CNN, TigerText: An iPhone App for Cheating Spouses?

The mistresses are coming out of the woodwork, and the Cheetah (formerly know as Tiger) has got to get the situation under control. And you know that when his back is against the wall, he is at his best. In this game, help Tiger make sure no more mistresses talk to the media!

(Hint: Place your cursor near the mistress, calculate the appropriate lead or lag, and drive away.)

The guy who emailed me the link got "2 Ho's in one, one birdie, three pars, two 8's, and one 9." What was your score?

P.S. Watch out, it's addictive!

Cheer Up Monday

From an email:

Puns for Educated Minds

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
15. The little person fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
17. A backward poet writes inverse.
18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine .
21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'
22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'
23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'
25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 5

See the previous post: Relax, It's the Weekend!; Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 2; and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 3, and Relax, It's the Weekend!, Part 4.

Why Is America Great?, Part III, The Case for 'Spreading the Wealth Around'

"In an article last year in The American Interest, Philip Auerswald and Zoltan Acs of George Mason University suggested that the defining characteristic of American capitalism is not only an entrepreneurial culture that generates great wealth but also a philanthropic infrastructure that recycles that wealth in ways that create more opportunity, more growth and more wealth. . .

The problem with this approach, however, is that it focuses on only one of the institutions that have corrected for the inequalities inevitably created by a capitalist system. Yes, philanthropy has been important, but so have unions, which ensured a fair distribution of corporate profits. So have antitrust laws that prevented successful companies from snuffing out entrepreneurial competition. So have norms of corporate behavior that made it socially unacceptable for top corporate executives to pay themselves 350 times what their workers made. And so have tax-supported schools, playgrounds and hospitals that were good enough to be used by rich and poor alike.

All of these institutions accounted for the vibrancy of the American economy by ensuring that prosperity was widely shared. But with the erosion of those institutions, that is no longer the case. . .

[I]n recent decades, there has been a dramatic erosion in both the ideal and the reality of shared prosperity that threatens to paralyze our political system and undermine economic growth. "

Read the Washington Post, Why sharing the wealth isn't enough.

The lesson, there is not much of a future in the Republi-con everyman-for-himself philosophy.

For another reasons, read Why Is America Great?, Questioning the Status Quo and Why Is America Great?, Part II, The Case for Diversity.

Republi-CON Flimflam on the Deficit

"The Beltway crowd gets fooled again, this time by Representative Paul Ryan’s plan for a major overhaul of federal spending and taxes." So says the 2008 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. Read The New York Times, The Flimflam Man.

Voodoo economics -- more proof that Republi-con zombie lies never die.

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

UPDATE: As discussed, see:

The State of Hawaii Certification of Live Birth for Obama, and

Images of two separate newspaper announcement's of Obama's birth in the State of Hawaii.

Read them and weep you birthers!

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line, courtesy of Cyber Smart Computers.

Topics:

Local and regional: WEBY's very own Pastor Poppin's delusion birther rants, will Crist ride the national anti-incumbent, anti-establishment wave to D.C. and health care lawsuit update;

and

Nation and international: I now pronounce you Ms. and Mrs. Married; Happy Mocking Birthday from the mean-spirited Republi-cons (but I'm confused, I thought Republi-cons deny that Obama was ever born, wasn't Obama the Alien Lizard hatched, just ask Google); is it time to tax that vice?; why Is America great?, part II; victory for religious freedom over Republi-con religious fearmongering; Republi-con less government election fraud (President Bush increased government spending more than how many of the presidents that preceded him); where is Gore's igloo, AKA enjoying that global heat wave yet?; is Mama Grizzly poisoning her cubs; does Republi-CON election = Tea Party agenda?; why Republi-CONs are like OBL; yet another example of how fear, anger, hatred = violence;

and

Oil Spill Fallout to Date: finally, the well is capped, now what to do about 205.8 million gallons of oil in 643 quadrillion gallons of water (a quadrillion is one thousand million million or 10¹⁵, imagine 0.8934545... drops of oil in a 22,000 gallon pool, assuming 90,840 drops/gallon and the oil evenly dispersed), maybe we should just leave it to Alcanivorax, who was suggesting that the government push aside BP and take over?, what did more harm, the oil spill or media hype and political grandstanding?; fraud, waste and abuse, in Fl the 3 counties farthest from the spill received over 1/2 of the money, one of them, Franklin, received over 1/3 of the $40 million; well meaning stupidity is still stupidity, lost compensation, should you get extra money after lying to the IRS?, did ya hear bout Big Oil's Big Daddy, Dick 'Chickenhawk' Cheney's secret energy task force, discounts for deepwater drilling, tell me -- the oil deposit now leaking would have provided how many days' worth of oil to Americans?, Obama's energy pipe dreams, is it time for N2N, was it God's wrath for destroying his planet?, shocking realization that bottom-line influences corporate policy, political grandstanding, and Republi-CON 'less government' hypocrisy;

and

Trivia and Humor: Happy 60th Birthday Bikini!

But I'll discuss anything. Disclaimer: the host reserves the right to end any discussion and hang up on you.)

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

And remember: I'm still God's favorite Gulf Coast talk show host, just ask the capped well!

Summertime Questions

Ever wonder why they called it a bikini?

And what publication said that it was "inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing."

For answers to these and other questions you might have about the the swimsuit that made its debut at a poolside fashion show in Paris 60 years ago, read Slate, A Brief History of the Bikini, How a tiny swimsuit took America by storm.

Tax That Vice

Will the government’s desperate need for revenue lead to the legalization and taxation of drugs? Read the Ereakonomics Blog at The New York Times, What Prohibition Can Teach Us About Marijuana Legalization — and Other Tales From Last Call Author Daniel Okrent.

Don't laugh, "[a]ccording to an estimate by the Joint Tax Committee, legalizing and taxing online gambling could raise up to $42 billion in revenues over the next decade." Think, who is your numbers bookie?

Why Is America Great?, Part II, The Case for Diversity

"A concert of Broadway show tunes sung by a diverse cast brings to mind reasons why it is O.K. to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site." Read The New York Times, Broadway and the Mosque, which quotes a Newsweek essay on creativity: “To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).”

For another reason, read Why Is America Great?, Questioning the Status Quo

Enjoying That Global Heat Wave Yet?

UPDATE: For more proof that the planet is warming, see Foreign Policy, They're Really Melting,Three glaciers that are fast receding from their icy peaks.

There may be more to come. Read The New York Times, Is It Hot in Here? Must Be Global Warming.

It's the Ecomony, Stupid!

UPDATE: Who said: "President Bush increased government spending more than any of the six presidents preceding him, including LBJ." Read the Washington Post, GOP shows historic amnesia on spending cuts.

And it ain't lookin good. For an update, read the New York Times article:

A Sin and a Shame, which posits that "[s]o long as American corporations keep squeezing their work forces, there can be no real economic recovery,"

What They’re Not Telling You, which discusses the federal budget and "the tough truths about the causes of the deficit and the painful choices that will have to be made,"

Defining Prosperity Down, which argues that "[t]here is growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn’t care about the prospects of American workers — that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal," and

Four Deformations of the Apocalypse, written by David Stockman, a director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan and which outlines how the "Republican Party destroyed the American economy." he writes:

That "new policy doctrines have caused four great deformations of the national economy, and modern Republicans have turned a blind eye to each one.

The first of these started when the Nixon administration defaulted on American obligations under the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement to balance our accounts with the world. . .

The second unhappy change in the American economy has been the extraordinary growth of our public debt. In 1970 it was just 40 percent of gross domestic product, or about $425 billion. When it reaches $18 trillion, it will be 40 times greater than in 1970. This debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party’s embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don’t matter if they result from tax cuts. . .

The third ominous change in the American economy has been the vast, unproductive expansion of our financial sector. Here, Republicans have been oblivious to the grave danger of flooding financial markets with freely printed money and, at the same time, removing traditional restrictions on leverage and speculation. As a result, the combined assets of conventional banks and the so-called shadow banking system (including investment banks and finance companies) grew from a mere $500 billion in 1970 to $30 trillion by September 2008. . .

The fourth destructive change has been the hollowing out of the larger American economy. Having lived beyond our means for decades by borrowing heavily from abroad, we have steadily sent jobs and production offshore. In the past decade, the number of high-value jobs in goods production and in service categories like trade, transportation, information technology and the professions has shrunk by 12 percent, to 68 million from 77 million. The only reason we have not experienced a severe reduction in nonfarm payrolls since 2000 is that there has been a gain in low-paying, often part-time positions in places like bars, hotels and nursing homes."

Mama Grizzly's Endorsements

UPDATE II: How does the Mama Grizzly choose her cub? Is it the tea party-esque alternative, except in key primary states? Read the Washington Post, Palin makes her most surprising endorsement yet.


UPDATE: Come November, Mama Grizzly may have poisoned her cubs. Read the Washington Post, Still more proof Sarah Palin is toxic outside her bubble.

"Sarah Palin has thrown her support behind more than two dozen candidates, a mixture of Tea Party favorites and more established Republican types. Use this graphic to explore Mama Grizzly's endorsements, and see how they fare." Read the Washington Post, The Politics of Palin: Endorsement tracker.

Health Care Lawsuit Update

UPDATE: "A federal judge has refused to block the challenge to the law by Virginia, one of 21 states bringing similar suits." To read the opinion click here.

Having trouble sleeping. Never fear, the heath care lawsuit update is here. Read the federal government's memorandum in support of their motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the states, and you'll be asleep in no time.

To read the memorandum and some of the other recent court documents, click here.

Sweet dreams.

Cheer Up Monday, Bonus

From a friend:

Why Some Men Have Dogs And Not Wives:

1. The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.
2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.
3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.
4. A dog's parents never visit.
5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
6. You never have to wait for a dog; they're ready to go 24 hours a day.
7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk..
8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.
9. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, "If I died, would you get another dog?"
10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.
11. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert.
12. If a dog smells another dog on you, they don't get mad. They just think it's interesting.
13. Dogs like to ride in the back of a pickup truck.

And last, but certainly not least:

14. If a dog leaves, it won't take half of your stuff.

Ultimate True Test: Lock your wife and your dog in the trunk of your car for an hour. Then open the trunk and see who's the happier to see you.

Cheer Up Monday

From a friend:

Best 'Out of Office' Automatic Email Replies:

1. I am currently out of the office at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Please be prepared for my mood.
2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.
3. Sorry to have missed you, but I'm at the doctor's having my brain and heart removed so I can be promoted to our management team.
4. I will be unable to delete all the emails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient, and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
5 . Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first 10 words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.
6. The email server is unable to verify your server connection. Your message has not been delivered. Please restart your computer and try sending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see who did this over and over and over...)
7. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
8. Hi, I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.
9. I've run away to join a different circus.
10. I will be out of the office for the next two weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as 'Lucille' instead of Steve.