just for fun

As I said on the Senate floor on July 28, 2003, "much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science." I called the threat of catastrophic global warming the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."
[Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK) press release, 4 Jan 2005; emphasis added]

Today's science headline?

Greenland Rising Rapidly as Ice Melts
livescience.com
– Tue May 18, 3:50 pm ET
The ice is melting so fast in Greenland that the giant island is rising noticeably as the weight is lifted. In some spots, the land is rising 1 inch per year.

Worth a watch:

TED: Michael Specter -- The danger of science denial
[courtesy Woody over at The Well-Armed Lamb]

"Lincoln, Halter go to overtime in Ark. Senate race"

A run-off?
hmmm... I'd have preferred an outright Halter victory here... if only 'cuz then I wouldn't be getting quite so many "Give more $$$ to Halter" phone solicitations.

I honestly don't know if Lincoln is the evil witch I believe her to be, but her stance on healthcare reform just pissed me off!
If you're gonna caucus with Senate Dems, support 'em on major, party-defining legislation!

Could Halter win in November? Well - he HAS won state-wide office before!

"Specter loses in PA"

Again, I'm hoping this good news... but am reluctant to wager $$$ on November!

This "good news" theory: no honest Dem really believed Specter's conversion, and would be a less than enthusiastic voter come November. Perhaps Sestak will prove an inspirational candidate, attracting not only Dem base but Independents come November.

"Paul wins in KY"

I'm hoping this is good news... but not sure I want to bet any $$$ on November just yet.

"Good news" theory: pseudo-teabaggers, full-time "libertarians" will drive away the non-crazy wing of GOP, together with whatever Independents Kentucky might house.
This is the "NY-23" theory.
[note: I put "libertarians" in quotes 'cuz I'm not sure the younger Paul understands exactly what Libertarians really stand for!]

Oh, good: a modern-day dynasty in the making

Bristol Palin to hit speakers' circuit

Primaries today: OR, AR, KY, PA...

... I'll start paying attention this evening.

Uh-oh! - I may agree with Palin!

Sarah Palin: 'We're All Arizonans Now'

... but probably NOT in quite the way she means it!

My sentiment is something more along the lines of...

""THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
...
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
[First they came...]

So this time around, LET'S SPEAK UP!

So, why didn't they use this one first?

BP confident latest try to capture oil will work

What is this? The third try? The fourth?

Why am I somewhat less-than-confident?

Just for grins

... how come Condi's sexual orientation was never called into question???

From a FB friend

"Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed."
~G.K. Chesterton

Worth a read

Philoctetes

What a surprise!

AP IMPACT: US drug war has met none of its goals
By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press Writer
13 May 2010
MEXICO CITY – After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.

Well, I suppose it IS a surprise that this is considered "news"!

Meanwhile, from my USMC bud in Afghanistan...
First, a news item

Mysterious Blight Destroys Afghan Poppy Harvest
Richard Oppel
May 12, 2010
Up to one-third of Afghanistan’s poppy harvest this spring has been destroyed by a mysterious disease, according to estimates revealed Wednesday by United Nations officials, potentially complicating the American and NATO military offensives this summer in the country’s opium-producing heartland.

Then his wry comment:

I wonder if 10 months from now the Marines will be applying fungicide to help save the poppy crop…

Ah, yes! ... and this is the supposed "good" war!

What if she were? ... so what???

Elena Kagan's Not Gay, Friends And Allies Say

from a not-so-farflung correspondent

You'd think I'd learn

A month or so ago I sent small $$$ to Bill Halter (Dem primary opponent of Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas)... so now I get phone calls from Halter campaign wanting more $$$.

Yes - I should have anticipated this.
No, I didn't.

People who write better than I do

"The Rant" by Tom Degan: Oil Spills and B Movies

Thought for the day

"... Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."
- Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer

The "Shaggy" defense

No - I'd not heard of this till tonight, from Chris Hayes subbing for Rachel... but still...

"I just work here!"
Tell me again, what exactly was Mr. Fuld's job?
... and WHY was he getting paid many millions of dollars???

[For those of you old enough to remember the TV series Hogan's Heroes, I'll call this the "Sgt. Schultz defense":
"I SEE NOTHING, NOTHING!"
For what it's worth, this defense was pioneered by Ken Lay, Enron's CEO.]

Yes, this is shameless reposting...

Forget Fuld.
Today it was BP's CEO, Lamar McKay, blaming TransOcean.
TransOcean's CEO, Steven Newman, blaming BP & Halliburton.
... and Halliburton's president, Tim Probert, blaming BP.

Tell me again: why do these titans get to take credit for success but not for failure???

"I SEE NOTHING, NOTHING!"

just for fun

From a NYT theater review:

Billed as "an outrageous new comedy," this crass, charmless vehicle aims for contemporary farce, but plays like an episode of "How I Met Your Mother" that would be killed in the writers' room.
...
Bob Clines' direction is so mechanical that you start to watch for the actors' lips moving as they count beats while (literally, at times) tripping over one another on Robert Andrew Kovach's sterile set.

Sometimes it's just fun to read well-written insults.

and speaking of 'mothers'