In My Email...

From Senator Chris Dodd:



Be well, Senator, and thanks for putting a spotlight—and a face—on a big part of the problem. Without a health plan a simple procedure to remove a cancerous growth in the early stages would instead result in the cancer being undiagnosed until far more serious and expensive treatment would be required—if it wasn't too late for that.

Yes, Senator Dodd's procedure will cost money—but less than it would at later stages, and will save his life. If you are currently un-(or under)insured, Republicans would rather you wait until your prostrate cancer is so bad you need to be treated in the emergency room.

That's the real debate.

Today In Unfortunate Ad Placement...

A bit dusty in here...

A nice story about Jim Rice I forgot about...



Welcome to the Hall, Mr. Rice.

UPDATE: ESPN sucks, as the video became unavailable after a day or so. It was the story of Rice leaping into the stands to help a child struck by a line drive. He saved the kid's life, and watching Rice, the boy's father and the now-grown child talk about it now was pretty moving.

In My Email...

From one liberal activist source or another...the subject reads: "Is Harry Reid going to screw us on health care?"

The appropriate and immediate response?

a. "When does Harry Reid NOT screw us?"
b. "Does a bear shit in the woods?"
c. "Is the Pope Polish? A Nazi?
d. All of the above.

Memorable Movie Quotes

This is a pretty good way to waste three minutes...



I'd swap out maybe ten percent of those. Notable ommissions?

"KKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHNN!!"

"We're on a mission from God." (or something from the Blues Brothers)

"On my signal, unleash hell."

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." or "WAAAAHOOOO" as Slim Pickens rides the bomb in Dr Strangelove.

"It was beauty killed the beast."

"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker." Is a much better Die Hard line...though I can understand why they didn't pick it.

"Well you're better than any player I ever had. And you're the best God damn hitter I ever saw. Suit up."

Bridge to Nowhere—In a Good Way…

I cannot believe The High Line [article, slideshow, another article] is real and actually finally happened. Makes me SO want to move back to New York.

Greatest. City. In. The. World.

UPDATE: More from the Times. Plus, a Flickr pool.

Dick of the Week: Ann Althouse

Never one to let a ginned-up anti-Obama scandal go to waste, Ann Althouse takes this Drudge-pushed photo of Obama appearing to stare at a teenager's ass and gets all Art Appreciation 101 on us and dissects it as if it were a painted masterpiece hanging in the Met, detailing how each gesture and pose is carefully considered and deliberately executed by an artist portraying not just characters but a story. When in reality, this photo is a candid snapshot taken without context from an actual fluid series of events.


Once the contortions of her analysis are complete, A-house throws open the cage of her zoo of PUMA commenters to cruelly ridicule everyone from the totally innocent teen to Obama's wife, Michelle, and their daughters.

Althouse doubles down at the end of her post, claiming to stand by her analysis "even after watching the video."

This video, that shows without any doubt that Obama is simply glacing downward while reaching his hand up and helping the young woman behind him, who is actually the American youth delegate accompanying him, step down from the 18-inch riser onto her mark on the stage.

Stay classy, Ann!

(Yes, I realize this is a stupid story and doesn't deserve to be dragged up again, but once I saw Althouse's take, my disdain for her just took over.)

Dammit!

So glad I found out about this at 11:24 p.m. There was one of these in Asheville today and I missed it.

(btw, Scott Kelby gives the most informative and entertaining seminar demo/speech I've ever seen. If you're a photographer or graphic designer, he's worth the price of admission)

Welcome Home

I'm back from the arctic tundra that was Northern Michigan—the last three days never climbed out of the 60s. Unfortunately, it was probably a bit more "seasonal" back here in NC. During my temporary bachelorhood while Mrs F and the girls are Up North I was tasked with keeping the garden alive. The garden consisting of four pots on the front steps: two tomato plants, a pot of herbs, and a green leaf lettuce plant. Oh, and beating back the invasive morning glory across the walk.

Before my departure the tomato plants were assuming sequoia-like stature while the viney interloper across the way had remained more or less unchanged over two or three weeks—never making the threatening moves Mrs F feared.

One week later, this is the botanical horror show that greets me...



The tomato plants and other potted desirables look straight out of the dust bowl, while the unwanted morning glory is thriving like kudzu on goddamn steroids. A closer look:



The actual fruit (vegetable?) on the tomato plants look fine, and hopefully the gigantic drink I gave them will bring the rest of the plants around. As for the morning glory...it appears to have strategically entwined itself all over each and every perennial Mrs F planted in the garden and will require delicate surgery to excise.

Later...

I'm off to join Mrs F and the kids up at the cottage. I'll be gone a week, and from the sound of it, internet access is sporadic at best...so might be a slow week on the blog.

Cover Me

So, here's a different spin on Random Friday Tens or Desert Island Lists...Occasionally I'll come across a song that for one reason or another is so thoroughly enjoyable that I'll think to myself, "If I was in a band, we'd play that."

So here's the question: If you were in a bar band / cover band, and you and your bandmates had the chops to play whatever you wanted—whether a straight cover, or adapted somewhat to your style—what songs would you have scrawled on a napkin and taped to the lead singers mic stand?

The song that just prompted this for me? Cracker's "Eurotrash Girl"

Along with that, we'd play "Born On the Bayou" and "Radar Love."

More as they come to me...

Watch "My Bodyguard" and It Makes Sense

DougJ at Balloon Juice has a post on the myth of Obama's eroding support and concludes with a (mostly rhetorical) question...

I can’t escape the feeling that many in the media are fixated on puncturing the Obama image in a way they never were with Bush. From 2001—2005, reporters boasted about the nicknames Bush gave them, now they boast about having asked Obama a “tough question”. What changed?

Party. And the psychology.

The D.C. media is all caught up in a high school bully-nerd dynamic.

With Bush, he was the bully, and they were happy to roll over and submit. His snide nicknames were lapped up as endearing, “Did you see that? The star quarterback talked to me!” (Sure, he made fun of your mustache and called you "Pubes" but who's counting?)

It wasn’t until Bush was completely exposed and isolated that they felt like they could even question him…think everyone laughing at the bully in a movie after he gets his nose bloodied.

But with Obama (and Gore) they felt emboldened because while they were the valedictorians, and thus superior to the rabble in the press, they needn’t be feared—and also deserving of being taken down so the press could feel better about itself for being abused for 8 years.

So the media would assume the bully role and then denigrate the President.

As it happens that dynamic favors the GOP at the moment (as opposed to during JFK/LBJ), and that will be tough to ever shift all the way over, but the GOP is rapidly becoming the wannabe jock that can’t make the team, and while a loudmouth and a bully in style, cannot back it up.

The GOP gets play now simply as a weapon or tool for the media to use to bring Obama down a notch—not because Cheney, Boehner or Newt are feared or respected in the media any more.

Adjunct Perfessor

So, "Between the Sun and Moon" comes up on iTunes...it's one of those "new" Rush tracks that only come into my life on shuffle—but it's really good. So I turn it up. Then I listen again, drumming away on my desk. After it ends, I decide to go online and see if there's a video. Sometimes watching Neil Peart play can be the most gratifying experience for me, and since I'm in the midst of what might turn into an all-nighter, I deserve it. Alas, there is no video...but I did find this.

Not quite Neil Peart, but pretty damn close. He runs out of toms on the big fills, but despite a 5-piece kit, he hits every mark. God, I wish I could play drums...

UPDATE: He nails Xanadu too. My favorite all-time Rush track.

UPDATE 2: The man.

"Hey, Joe"

Since I can't "help" the cause with any cash—in no small part because I now have to cover my family's health care premiums—so I figured the least I could do is help spread Mr Stranahan's message...

An Insane Narcissist Republican Governor Resigned Today… and, No, It Wasn't Mark Sanford

Holy shit. Not the resignation—though that IS shocking—I've already read about that. I cannot believe that trainwreck of a speech. Watch it and see for yourself. It's insanity is contagious—it started making me feel crazy the more I watched it.

More on this later, but my initial take? She's done. This was involuntary political suicide.

Dick Testicles of the Week

Mr. Glenn "Straitjacket" Beck and Michael Scheuer. Take it away...



Leave it to Glenn Beck to spend his weekend wondering what he would do if he was Osama Bin Laden. Holy Fucking Batshit.

It's no secret Beck's damaged goods, but this Scheuer is a real piece of work. I suppose in a way, I should be grateful this asshole is bold enough to reveal exactly how fucking codependent these neocon motherfuckers are with Bin Laden and terrorists, and Becks nods right along.

So there it is: The last best hope for the country the Republicans is a massive attack on our soil and the deaths of untold thousands.

What a couple of patriots.

UPDATE: If you can handle it, watch the whole segment. Scheuer spits up on cue every time Beck spoonfeeds him.

Another Band?

Yes, Jack White is not content with fronting the White Stripes and The Racoteurs, and is now got another project: The Dead Weather.

Jack White has formed a new group called The Dead Weather with The Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart. White takes drum and vocal duties, while The Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence and Queens of the Stoneage guitarist Dean Fertita round the four piece out.

If you like grainy, avant garde videos, apparently this is your band...I've watched this once already, and while the video is tedious, the song is pretty good, and Jack is a better drummer than Meg... I suspect simply listening to it, rather than watching the video, will only make it grow on me. Same with the video that launches when you click on the homepage.

Check it...



UPDATE: Letting this tune play in the background—cranked—has me already declaring it a "win."