Christmas Cheer from Hyperbole and a Half

 

Click HERE for another delightful post from my personal hero and comic blogger at Hyperbole and a half.

Census Widget FUN

Click HERE to go to the interactive widget.

Russia invests in high-speed rail before their World Cup

In advance of their hosting the 2018 World Cup, Russia has announced bold plans to update it's rail between key cities.  Said Putin,

“[The tournament] will be a powerful incentive for the development of high speed rail services in the European part of Russia.”

He's promised a line that would connect all of the country’s host cities – Moscow, Kazan, Samara, and Ulyanovsk – by 2018.

Glance at a globe and you'll realize that this is no small feat . . . Even the "Eupopean part" of Russia, like the US, is quite a bit bigger than our quaint European examples of successful high-speed rail.  So while we rely on California and Florida to push us into this century, we'll be eating Russia's dust along with China's dust and that of the majority of developed nations.   It's not like we didn't try!  BILLIONS of dollars for rail projects have been rejected or returned to the federal gov't this YEAR!  I'm lookin at you Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois . . . .

MUST WATCH VIDEO for ALL CHRISTIANS and ENVIRONMENTALISTS

D.A.D.T. to be repealed after 17 years

For anyone who somehow missed the news on the historic week in the push for equality . . . the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy (which has been in effect for some seventeen years) has been overturned in both houses of Congress.   Once the repeal has been enacted into law, Gay and Lesbian service members will no longer be subject to discharge based on their sexual orientation.

The repeal is a major step forward for the LGBT community, for the military (who lost thousands of soldiers to the policy -- including nearly one hundred Arabic linguists) and the American people who have proven once again that progress will not be bound by the small-minded bigotry of a few.   I'm looking DIRECTLY at you, John McCain.

From the WSJ:

"Once the change becomes law with President Barack Obama's signature, the military will need to revise policies and regulations that govern everything from leadership training to standards of conduct. And before the policy officially ends, the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must sign a letter certifying that the changes wouldn't affect military readiness.  Full repeal would take effect 60 days after that certification letter is transmitted to the congressional armed-services committees.
Mr. Gates has appointed Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley, a retired Marine Corps general, to lead the Pentagon's planning effort."

Solstice marked by lunar eclipse

Set your alarms and dash outside tonight at 3:17a.m. EST for the brightest red to bathe the moon during tonight's eclipse which should look something like this:

Then snuggle back in your bed with visions of me being a half-year older dancing in your heads.

Peg a point for the Pope!

 

Those of you who peruse these pages perennially know that I'm not the biggest pro-papacy-pundit, but I'm also not above passing out Pope props in a post when it's appropriate.

The Vatican has become the "greenest" nation-state in the world.  With the bringing on-line of it's massive photo-voltaic array, it has surpassed Germany (the leader in such awesomeness) with it's now 200 watts/capita at peak times (DL has 80/per, but WAY more capita)

From yahoo:

"As Vatican City is the smallest state in the world, it does not exactly require a large amount of renewable energy to achieve this title. However, the city’s solar installations, which include solar panels installed on the rooftop of Paul VI’s conference hall, mean that the city can now generate enough energy to power all of its 40,000 households."

So there you go, Pope.  For the next 15 minutes, I'll look the other way on homos, AIDS, greed, molestation, the Holocaust, the Crusades . . . am I rambling? . . . and thank you for leading the charge to charge with the sun.  Small "s" . . . and a "u".

Uganda: My last trip

This is Uganda, take a look:

Protesters banned from the Smithsonian for life

An update to my earlier post on the art that was censored by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery under pressure from the Catholic League.  Two brave protesters (one wearing the removed video art on an ipad around his neck) were forcibly removed from the institution, and banned for life.  The 1987 video -- a piece made by the artist while he was dying of AIDS, about the ostracized sufferers of the 1980's is hard to watch and intentionally so.  See it HERE.

Noah Knew, who knew? Well, Noah . . . and the Magi.

So just YESTERDAY, I was walking in SoHo and came face-to-face with a billboard on wheels that said exactly this: "Noah Knew" wecanknow.com.  The words were submerged in what looked like rising water.  I thought, "dang, that's interesting . . . appeal to the fundies' sense of dread about floods to educate them about rising sea levels, or fresh water depletion, or scarcity in general . . . great idea!"  But no.  no no no no NO.  It was just one of HUNDREDS of billboards (40 in Nashville alone) about the Apocalypse next May.  Yep, that one.  On the 21st?   You hadn't heard?  Pencil it in. 

So, as it turns out, this:

and my "Noah Knew" street level encounter are just part of a nationwide media push by our darling friends at Family Radio.  One look at their website, and a kindergartner would roll his eyes and go back to Facebook.  Try this nugget:

"Some scientists predict that Global Warming could wipe out life on Planet Earth within a certain number of years."

You. Are. Shitting me.  A "certain" number?  Oh my GOD, that does sound JUST LIKE NEXT MAY, doesn't it?  Like, around the 21st?  [shudder]

I can't even go on.  I, of course, "liked" their site on Facebook.  For giggles.  12,000 others have liked it too.  [faints]

National Portrait Gallery removes video as Christians threaten to fight funding

SHAME on Martin Sullivan, the director of the gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington for bowing to senseless empty threats from the Catholic League. 

To ask for censorship of a piece in the NATIONAL GALLERY based on personal religious preference is boring, but allowed.  TO FACILITATE that censorship from within the organization, based on a "choose our battles" methodology, is an offense deserving of termination.  Shame on you, dude.

From the NYTimes:

"Mr. Wojnarowicz (the artist), who died of AIDS in 1992, made the video in the 1980s. Among the imagery that he uses to depict the suffering of an AIDS patient is a scene of ants crawling on a crucifix. In a telephone interview, Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, said “A Fire in My Belly” was a form of hate speech."

Really, Donohue?  HATE SPEECH?  he also mentioned that if the ants were crawling on Mohammud, we would be having a very different conversation . . . or none at all.  Well, at least he recongizes the similarities between radical Islam and his own warped Christianity.

Out.

BMW introduces new greener rail cars . . . in Poland

Once again Europe gets there a decade or two ahead of the good 'ol USA.  While we're struggling to hold on to Obama's public transit works in several states (light rail plans dropping like flies, as Republicans scream and deny Fed monies) Poland is welcoming these beauties from BMW. 

"The handholds inside the car are lit from above and shaped like tree branches, which according to the designers are a symbol of the cars’ green ambitions. The carriage’s aluminum chassis has been designed to reduce weight and hence reduce the energy consumption. Moreover, the carriages, according to the designers, are 97.5 percent recyclable."

With spacious interiors, hidden mechanics, and wider doors these dreams of the future will be reality in Warsaw next year.  One more pic. . . .

MJ Seide talks to her granddaughter Genna Alperin

Tomorrow is the National Day of Listening.

Check out the official StoryCorps site HERE, and enjoy a selection below:

MJ Seide talks to her granddaughter Genna Alperin

Satan, Colleges, Tongues, and a Double-edged sword - or - Jesus is thrilled.

Cantor (R-Virginia) and his failed bid to screw NPR

This corny crap was nipped in the bud today.  Thank gods.  Watch the vid on the YouCut site (below) it's hilarious.  From HuffPost: 

The proposal to defund NPR was the latest winning item on the Republicans' gimmicky YouCut site, which allows the public to pick the cuts they would like to see receive an up-or-down vote on the House floor. In order to get these votes, they try to make a procedural vote on an unrelated piece of legislation the vote on the YouCut item.

Walking man exhibit brightens construction fence in Lower Manhattan

Wandering around the Financial District the other day, I stumbled across these happy little numbers.  Three, four, ninety-nine.  Construction fences along three sides of the future site of the Four Seasons Hotel at 99 Church St., are boasting 99 images assembled by artist Maya Barkai.  More after the jump:

Wait, I'm loving this HUMMER?

I still think that the coolest overlooked option to inject cash and interest back into Detroit's manufacturing base would be to make any auto industry bail-out money contingent on rapid total transition to either a wind turbine company, or a photo-voltaic producer . . . but perhaps there's dollahs in bikes too . . .

As recently reported in the London Evening Standard, European automobile manufacturers are
sensing that trend is favoring livable cities, walking and biking, and ditching dirty transportation options to the obscurity of the century in which they were born . . . and these automakers are BUILDING BIKES!  From TransportMichigan:  more . . .

The Ben Burnank or Quantitative Easing Explained

THIS IS A MUST SEE

Take the 7 to NEW JERSEY??

Mayor Bloomberg has unveiled an amazing new proposal to run the 7 train from the far west side of Manhattan, under the Hudson and into Seacaucus, New Jersey -- where it will connect with New Jersey transit.  The move will double the capacity of the currently overstuffed trains that link the two states, and bring New Jersey directly to Times Square and the entirety of the NYC subway system.  The glorious new idea comes on the heels of NJ gov. Christie scrapping the heavily subsidised and already begun tunnel plan from his state, and the risk it seems is that he will get credit for "big bro" NYC picking up the slack and fixing his greedy tragedy.  From the NYTimes:

"Last month, Mr. Christie, a Republican, put an end to the long-planned Hudson rail tunnel project after the estimated cost climbed to at least $11 billion, from an initial $8.7 billion. The project would have created two new tracks for New Jersey Transit from Secaucus to a new station deep under 34th Street, near Pennsylvania Station. The federal Transportation Department had pledged $3 billion, as had the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. New Jersey was responsible for the rest."

So Christie thumbed his nose at 3 billion from the Federal Gov't, and might gladly accept a similar proposal . . . as long as NYC picks up the tab?  What thinly-veiled slickery.  And if you know Christie, you hardly want to see him thinly-veiled.

Jeff Sheng's striking images of closeted soldiers humanize the debate over DADT

books of Jeff's work along with more images are available @ jeffsheng.com

  more . . .

Tina Fey accepts the Mark Twain award for American comedy - VIDEO

Watch the full episode. See more Mark Twain Prize.

Detroit: Rising from Ashes

I recently took a day to tour Detroit, Michigan by bicycle -- armed with my point-and-shoot and a desire to find out if what we've heard was true.  Was Detroit a wasteland?  Was it beyond help?  Was it artistic, scrappy, rising? (UPDATE: HERE is an artistic duo that seeks to re-invent Detroit ruins) What's the feeling on the ground in the Motor City?  I biked for about 5 hours, and was only really able to get a glimpse, but what I saw was:

this picture probably sums it up best . . . next to a completely bombed out crack den of an apartment complex -- Spaulding Court (slated, I understand, for renewal itself), a newly renovated house with a great backyard and cute little fence. . . a few blocks from downtown.  This kind of defiant reclamation, a sort of guerrilla gentrification, is what is exciting and inspiring about this Detroit renaissance.   (UPDATE:  Here's that complex's kickstarter PAGE and home PAGE.)

I started in the vicinity of Wayne State University (Michigan's only urban public research University) located in the Cultural District.  Here's the University's first building, Old Main, behind some massive new de/construction project. 

 

Demolition and construction seem to be not quite as prevalent as apathy and general decay, but change is happening.  

Still near the Cultural District, I passed the Masonic Temple, which is the largest Masonic Temple in the world, and boasts some pretty sharp neo-Gothic architecture . . . some of which was fashioned with George Washington's own tools (famously a Mason himself) brought in from VA for the job.  It opened in 1926, and houses the second-largest stage in the country (in the Main Theatre), a Scottish Rite Cathedral, a Ritual Tower and about 5 million other amazing nooks and crannies.  Those Templars are sneaky.  You know, our founding fathers were predominantly NOT Christians, but WERE Masons . . . Way cooler.  More after the jump . . .

New blog Estate 44 reveals the true nature of the "conservative" mind

UPDATE:  Estate 44 has mysteriously disappeared from the web.  This LINK remains with images of the research they did. 

Estate 44 does little more than subscribe to popular (think thousands of subscribers) twitter and facebook channels of self-identified republicans, tea party members, and conservatives and compiles the hate for easy consumption. 

Texan councilman Joel Burns uses his time wisely, compassionately

We've seen a lot of Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project in recent weeks, but here's a particularly heart-felt and well-placed offering in the category:

Will the real Chris Colombus please stand up?

From the HuffingtonPost article by Eric Kasum: 

"Shockingly, Columbus supervised the selling of native girls into sexual slavery. Young girls of the ages 9 to 10 were the most desired by his men. In 1500, Columbus casually wrote about it in his log. He said: "A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand."

He forced these peaceful natives work in his gold mines until they died of exhaustion. If an "Indian" worker did not deliver his full quota of gold dust by Columbus' deadline, soldiers would cut off the man's hands and tie them around his neck to send a message. Slavery was so intolerable for these sweet, gentle island people that at one point, 100 of them committed mass suicide. Catholic law forbade the enslavement of Christians, but Columbus solved this problem. He simply refused to baptize the native people of Hispaniola.

On his second trip to the New World, Columbus brought cannons and attack dogs. If a native resisted slavery, he would cut off a nose or an ear. If slaves tried to escape, Columbus had them burned alive. Other times, he sent attack dogs to hunt them down, and the dogs would tear off the arms and legs of the screaming natives while they were still alive. If the Spaniards ran short of meat to feed the dogs, Arawak babies were killed for dog food."

A great short film about livable streets in NYC.

Simon Robson's film is up for an animation award, but should be up for much, much more. . .

Coalition Of The Willing from coalitionfilm on Vimeo.

Best cover letter ever -- Hunter S. Thompson's brilliance I can only wish I had

I feel like the entire American Workforce could learn something valuable from the candid tone, the commitment to values, the selfish, honest, clarity of his dealing.  Can you imagine if inter-office memos sounded like this?  Bravo. Courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen.

Vancouver Sun

TO JACK SCOTT, VANCOUVER SUN

October 1, 1958 57 Perry Street New York City

Sir,

I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I'd also like to offer my services.

Since I haven't seen a copy of the "new" Sun yet, I'll have to make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job with a paper I didn't know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I'm not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley.

By the time you get this letter, I'll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I'll let my offer stand. And don't think that my arrogance is unintentional: it's just that I'd rather offend you now than after I started working for you.

I didn't make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he'd tell you that I'm "not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the average person." (That's a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.)

Nothing beats having good references.

Of course if you asked some of the other people I've worked for, you'd get a different set of answers.

If you're interested enough to answer this letter, I'll be glad to furnish you with a list of references — including the lad I work for now.

The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am. It's a year old, however, and I've changed a bit since it was written. I've taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for journalism as a profession.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you're trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I'd like to work for you.

Most of my experience has been in sports writing, but I can write everything from warmongering propaganda to learned book reviews.

I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don't give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations.

I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of.

It's a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I'd enjoy the trip.

If you think you can use me, drop me a line.

If not, good luck anyway.

Sincerely, Hunter S. Thompson

It Gets Better Project -- Youth Pride Chorus sings truth

This deserves your time . . . as do many of the It Gets Better Project videos, but this one is not to be missed.  General Hope for the Future starts 0:01, Singing at 1:00, Dancing at 3:50.  If this doesn't get ya, you're steel.

Can Anderson come OUT to play?

Harvey Milk said the single most powerful thing we can do to make the gay stigma go away is COME OUT.  One has to wonder what Mr. Cooper is waiting for.  Still, he's doing good good work.

Bloated military budget misses the target

A brilliant short article.

READ IT HERE

"The reality is that many more Americans die of poverty than terrorism. According to the U.S. State Department, 56 American civilians died due to terrorism worldwide in 2005. That same year, 472 lives were cut short due to homelessness (pdf) in Los Angeles County alone."

Christie ate a whole tunnel (filled with 3 BILLION of "free Federal monie")

Notorious fatty and car LOVER, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has halted the largest American infrastructure project currently -- the ARC rail tunnel under the Hudson River -- based on his own numbers of possible cost overruns.  He plans to GIVE UP THREE BILLION DOLLARS from the Federal Gov't. earmarked for mass transit, and funnel the remaining NJ monies into roads and bridges.  All this to avoid raising NJ gas tax because HE promised no new taxes.  New Jersey has one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation.  The tunnels we are currently using are 100 years old, and at capacity.  As Andy said to his home state,

"Enjoy your cheap gas while your state crumbles away into obsolescence."

Thank you Andy, that's very direct.   I think that ignoring a 3 Billion dollar gift (NJ may have to pay back the money already sunk in . . . . the tunnel is already significantly under way) is an impeachable offense, but what do I know?  This guy is notoriously anti-public transit.  The project promised to grow the economy, shorten commutes, broaden the region, and cut emissions.  Thanks a lot knucklehead.  Here's the only way to get under the Hudson currently:

 

Good News! Obama to "sun-bathe"

From engadget, the White House is bending to pressure to live up to it's green message.  Following the planing of an organic garden -- like Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden -- last year, the Obamas have decided to roof the First Residence with SOLAR PANELS!!  The energy gleaned from the sun will be free (that's how it works, you see) and will heat the First Water, and supplement the First Electric Doings generally.  Carter put solar on the roof during his administration, but Reagan ripped them off first thing.  Idiot.

I've tried to lay off religion for awhile, but when they come up with this . . . god help me.

WHY?  Why now?  Why this topic . . . kids can overcome their gay if only they would be holier?  Really?  NOW?  The week after the fifth suicide of a gay teen in five weeks has rocked the family and friends of an innocent American boy?  Moral standards cannot be changed?  Really!?  From YOUR CHURCH?  With YOUR HISTORY, SIR?  I'm appalled.  Change is essential from you, sir.  "We cannot change, we will not change?"  then blood is on your hands.  End of story.  You cannot push us down, denigrate and subject us to ridicule, make us your moral inferior and NOT EXPECT CHILDREN TO HEAR YOU.  Your are, plainly, the face of evil.  Sign an open letter to the church HERE, to plead with them for the healthy lives of our kids.  News coverage HERE.

Top LDS 'Apostle' Boyd K. Packer: Mormons will always oppose Satan's counterfeit marriages

Ancient Italian towns pull ahead of the US in race to modernize

This is shameful and inspiring. While we putz around trying to make our citizens like GM enough to buy a new car, and promise thrilling 0-60s in electric roadsters, and encourage people to buy FEWER plastic bottles of water and use FEWER plastic bags, entire rural villages in Italy are simply taking the steps necessary to bring themselves online with the future . . . (more)

Water water everywhere

Christian man reminds us that Billy Lucas is in Hell. And he deserved it.

As you watch this video, remember that this guy is talking about a 15 year-old kid who took his own life.  This Christian man is doing this pontificating two weeks after Billy hung himself in his family's Indiana barn, after merciless homophobic bullying.  This Christian man has taken it upon himself to help us all understand Billy's plight in this Christian man's imagined afterlife ONE DAY after 13-year old gay student Seth Walsh, who hung himself nine days ago and was taken off of life support (yesterday), and less than a month after eighth grader Asher Brown put a bullet in his brain after enduring years of anti-gay taunting and bullying at his Texas middle school.   
The pressures of growing up gay are immense.  That's not to say these kids even were gay . . . but in each case it was the bullying and taunting of their peers about their perceived homosexuality that pushed them past rationality and into despair.  The bullies have to be taught to taunt, to hate, and to identify and LABEL a weakness.  Hi, horrible parents.  Hi, society at large allowing this.  How are you all feeling this afternoon?   
THESE ARE VICTIMS OF SHAME,  
and shame is imposed by the outside world.
The majority of the world's religion have decided to take formal stances that make the lives of these kids even harder.  If you're a person of faith, won't you please make your voice heard within your congregation, your diocese, your coven, your whatever the hell you go to?  Now, sorry you have to see this hateful man. . . who is wrong in his interpretation, and hard in his heart, but here it is:  UPDATE:  he's taken his screed down, because in addition to being a bigot, he is also a coward.

Power giants rule, or Why didn't I think of this?

Hobble to the cellar, fatty, she's coming for you!!

Detroit -- musings on metropolitan makeover

It's losing its symphony?  It's flirting with Hollywood.  It's burning, it's shrinking, it's artistic, it's stinking . . . what is to be expected from the next decade in Detroit?

the Spirit of Detroit

pizzicato on the heartstrings
I want so much to be that rotting giant's Jane Jacobs . . .
move myself, a garden, and the power of theater and music
out of the hall
and into the husk of fled industry,
sing folk songs on the twisted steel and
light the toppling bricks with amber-gelled hope for renaissance . . .
and teach the kids to love to listen
to move around and
cluster all the left-behinds to become
strong villages, and the in-betweens to become
fields of strong corn.
and the singing and the working meet the
hammers that forge huge windmills
sending the Spirit of Detroit back
to the Pantheon of Industry
but this time,
cloaked in green.


And now from some hastily jotted poetry, to a hastily assembled gallery after the JUMP:

Well, in THAT case . . .

Michigan's Attorney General's office letting it's bigot flag fly

Nobody likes to hear negative press about his home state, and as a proud Michigander, this story may hit me harder than most, but I think anyone can see the injustice herein.  Here's the skinny on this surprising story breaking this week: Andrew Shirvell, the Assistant Attorney General for the state of Michigan, has taken it upon himself to slander -- in the most heinous language -- the Student Assembly President of the University of Michigan, Chris Armstrong.

Shirvell, a supposed "professional adult" has created a blog dedicated to ruining the reputation of a bright and accomplished student.  

In his shrivelled little screed of a blog, Shirvell calls 21 year-old Armstrong a RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST, RACIST, ELITIST, & LIAR.  Ahh love.  Okay, the homosexual part seems to be true, he is in fact the first student president at UofM to be openly gay.  Armstrong won (a decisive victory) on a platform of reducing tuition hikes, expanding gender-neutral housing and keeping cafeterias open later to make drinking less dangerous.  Shirvell hates this dude.  Here is a video of the small-minded bigot's interview:

What the Bible says about marriage. For real.

From America's Best Christian, Betty Bowers!

Healthy Transit, Healthy City

Good news from the American Public Transit Association:  Cities with well-planned, efficient, comprehensive public transit systems are home to healthier longer-lived citizens than those with car-based transportation networks.  This isn't surprising, I suppose, public transport encourages some walking, standing, even biking . . . but the study also finds that

"the 10  U.S. counties with the “smartest,” most transit-oriented growth have approximately one-fourth the traffic fatality rates as those counties with the most sprawling development. For example, the traffic fatality rate for the Bronx, NY was approximately four per 100,000 residents.  However, for Miami, KS, the rate was almost 40 per 100,000."

So, not only are you less likely to die of heart disease, stroke and other perils of sedentary living, less likely to be made sick by auto-generated smog, but you're also less likely to be hit by some fatty in an SUV trying to eat a Quizno's and put on lip balm at the same time.  The health benefits were seen across economic groups.

The Imaginary Debate (my op-ed in the Advocate)

The Imaginary Debate

Actor and blogger Chad Lindsey asks, if the secular and devout can comfortably share space at a drive-in theater in Michigan, why can’t the political right share lower Manhattan?

By Chad Lindsey

COMMENTARY: My parents taught me to share. They also taught me to work for a living and to mind my own business. I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of Americans are taught some version of these basics, but I’m beginning to think that most of us are losing sight of them as we reach adulthood in this, the Century of Emboldened Stupidity.

Summer 1989: On any given gray and humid early Sunday morning, my best friend Kent would aim his car toward the gravel entrance of the old drive-in theater. As the sky in the east just began to bleed with the colors of a ripe nectarine, he and I would pass through the empty ticket booths and wind along the driveway into the broad lot facing the tall dirty-white plywood screen, looming above the quickly warming scene.

Obama on most boring slide ever.

From Media Matters for America:  If you listen to the mainscream media (particularly Hannity last night), you might think that Obama's poll numbers are falling faster than a hooker's knickers, but in reality they have fallen just 4 points in the last 12 months.  So let's stop listening to the shrill bloodthirsty cries of our beloved MSM, and focus on these mid-terms, shall we?  Gracias.