Fun with YouTube

Here's the deal, Senator Craig. You don't have to declare that you are quote, NOT GAY. Seriously. We don't care about teh gay, we care about teh hypocrite. Lookie here. We live in a country, God bless America, where a national travel agency can make a 30 second spot like this:



Memo to Craig: If you made one of these guys a "family values" GOP Senator, would they be heading to the airport washroom?

Signed up

So I just joined my local Save Darfur group which now has 110 members. Who wants to bet me five bucks the organizers are in my Quaker meeting? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Which is why I'm home there, anyhoo. (I'll keep you posted on that.)

I am completely geeking out here.

Didja know you can make your own Rubik's Cube out of dice, magnets, and a huge table drill? Don't forget to vacuum up the shards of dice left behind or my three year old will think they're Crystal Light drink mix and try to "make it" herself. Watch the Video

Defining Hell

We Quakers don't go much for the whole hell thang, and actually I didn't go for it before I became a convinced Quaker, but I just found out Christopher Hitchens is going to be on BookTV for three hours this Sunday. Okay, you got me there.

And then I forced myself to read this entire transcript of a Glenn Beck show. The one where he says

(a) rebuilding NOLA is a waste of money, but
(b) we should arm all its citizens, and
(c) while we're at it let's take care of the "nutjob" in Iran, and we can be happy that "Iran will be stopped one way or another before Bush leaves office." (And Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough "think" {oh I use the term very loosely} that The American People (tm) will support that big time.)

There are days I'm convinced that the only thing worse than an eternity with Satan would be having cable in my house. Seriously.

9/30/07 Day of the Disappeared

I wrote on this for Crooks to post this afternoon but I didn't mean to disappear my own self! This whole house is getting a run through (literally) with a tummy bug and it's slowing me down, as in, when I don't have it, I have a kid with it, so it's still mommy's problem.

Back in full swing tomorrow.

Katrina Anniversary

Suspect Device posted this terrific image to commemorate today (and Bush's visit to NOLA, heh.) h/t Online Blogintegrity.

Anyone in this entire country and those in particular who type "everything's fine here" are liars. And Republicans who apologize to their constituents for admitting their guilt are demoted two more levels in Dante's hell, imho.

Oh shoot now I'm in a bad mood. Better go knit.

"Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises." --Elizabeth Zimmermann, 1910-1999. She wrote that during the Watergate hearings, which, I hear, was really good knitting time.

By the way...

It looks like I'm staying on at the little blog across the street.

There are no stupid questions, right?

I just want to know what it is with Republican "values" politicians who happen to have a little penchant for homosexual experimentation that makes them go look for it in a PUBLIC BATHROOM?

Is it the "danger" element that turns them on?

Haven't they heard of escort services? Or are they too cheap or worried about blackmail or what?

Yeah, yeah, you can be anonymous there but then you can also get arrested by a plainclothes cop, too. I don't get it.

Update: Oh, good. I'm not the only one asking.

Salon Link

"We won't change your hair, but we may change your mind..."

Salon is here. See you at 9 Eastern.

If you haven't been before, you will need to download skype here. It's just typing. You don't need any special equipment.

Monday Vlog: Blue Gal THUMPS her Bible!

Blue Gal celebrates the Gonzo resignation by thumping her Bible and talks about Richard Dawkins. (10 minutes, I promise it's not ALL Bible thumpin' ha.) Here's a link to Dawkins' announcement about the debate I discuss here.
Skype salon tonight 9 Eastern it's typing not calling...no special equipment needed. Link provided later today.

Don't Sugarcoat It Award for August 26

It goes to FOBG Alicia at Last Left Turn Before Hooterville for her lovely post:

Shut Up, Newt. Just Shut Up. Please, For the Love of God, STFU.

It's from a few, okay, ten days ago, but still worth reading every sweet word. Love on ya, Alicia. (Leave comments over there as usual with the Don't Sugarcoat Its.)

For Drifty

Drifty has written a couple posts about blogging here and here, and it inspired me to revise something I wrote last April.


We are artists.
We all are.
All of us.
And spiritual enlightenment
comes from connecting
with the creativity God has sent us to do.
You can be brave
and do it
or you can watch American Idol, chew on numb mindless shit all the live-long day,
pretend that a paid-off mortgage and a circular drive are the main goals and hey, you've already met those, (congratulations) and then you thought you were invited to the cocktail party of success and they don't speak to you or even pat you on the back.
And still you shut out the work you've been sent here to DO, turn it off, kill it.
so many people shut it out, some even succeed in burying the pain that comes when you connect.
Pain? ah yes.
Connecting to THAT so often requires disconnect from what we thought was feeding us.
We think we'll starve.
Someone said I'm channeling John Coltrane when I talk like this.
So many never, ever, don't connect,
Avoid connection in the belief that to be an artist is irresponsible.
Ha. It's the only responsibility we have.
And when you connect,
the Angels rejoice.
the Angels rejoice.
And we're fed until we're full. Full. Full.

Clarification...

On the whole "Condi is the most eligible batchelorette in DC" story. Matty Boy at Sparklepony, whose comments are often almost as funny as the actual blog (sorry Petey I tried to contain myself) points out:

She's the most eligible by default now that Merv Griffin and Liberace are dead.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Maybe (probably) you've seen this but I had not. So clever.

Stuff we already knew.

You Are More Like Angelina Jolie

Deep, brainy girl with a passionate heart of gold. You are smart, sexy, and deeply committed to making the world a better place. Children first, save the world second, men third. Not that he minds.

Are You More Like Jennifer or Angelina?

Ha. Ceptin' I never had the Billy Bob tattoo or the removal, thank you.

Saturday Song: Oingo Boingo

Just Another Day from their farewell concert (when?). A far cry from their Gong Show appearance, but I love it all the same. BTW, we're too old for the mosh pit, my friends.

Wherein I predict the future....

I predict that this will be the most emailed article in the New York F-in Times today, and that your houseguests will borrow your computer to read it.

I predict that several YOU DECIDE! emails will reach my inbox in spite of the very good Gmail filter I've set up to auto-delete them.

I predict that grocery shopping this morning will take longer than I hope or expect.


Oh gotta tell you what 5yo said in the car on the way to school. BTW she's not known as "Princess" anymore she's Frieda. Because she is an ARTIST.

"Okay, I want to tell everyone in the car about my dream. [Screams at her brother to listen to her and her alone. Restarts "dream" several times.] Once upon a time there were two children who ripped all the cushions off the sofa. Then they got afraid that their mom would find out and be mad, so they covered the cushions with a sheet so she wouldn't find out. The end."

Funny I had that exact same dream yesterday afternoon right after we got back from carpool.

I hate to trash my "home" state...

Yeah I'm not going to testify about this story on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

But hey, Alabamians don't need sex toys, because they get off on executions!

In 2005, Alabama sentenced more people to death than Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee, combined," according to John Carroll, dean of the Cumberland School of Law [in Birmingham].

Alabama is the only state that does not provide indigent Death Row inmates with counsel. Alabama does not use the technology that could assist the accused, as in the case of recently executed Darrell Grayson, chairman of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, in whose case DNA testing could have provided exculpatory evidence.

Alabama has refused to make its lethal injection protocol public. Prejudiced Alabama lawyers handle cases largely comprised of poor racial minorities. The prosecuting attorney referred to Death Row inmate Luther Williams as a "little black rat," according to trial transcripts examined by the board of Holman prison.

Alabama is scheduled to execute Williams today. Despite the fact Williams turned 20 when still in the ninth grade and had been placed on anti-psychotic drugs, there was no money provided for psychological testing.

Seriously Forbes, WTF?

They've got a list of the (ooh!) "best cities for singles;" Washington DC is number 6. I know people from Washington. No where in their survey is the "number of single males who are gay." But nevermind, this is their advice about DC...



Must be a typo. No way are they number 20 on the drunk scale if she's the most eligible bachelorette.

Because I'd rather Bill Frist made NO decisions for me. At all. Ever.

One of my New Year's resolutions (okay it's August now, so?) is to get a living will/advanced healthcare directive written and witnessed, etc. I picked up the paperwork at a local hospital yesterday. You can download the form for your state for free here.

I got new glasses yesterday

...and since you Tina Fey fetishists could have picked them out for me forget it I'll just post a picture of her. No you don't get to leave comments about how attracted you are to Tina Fey and intelligent women are hawt and she's the only reason you ever watch SNL reruns omigod.

Comments are turned off because I seriously want you to STFU. And go over here to feed your addiction. (Thanks ma hunnies. You'll get to see 'em next week at the vlog.)

UPDATE: Alright. Alright. Seriously. Get. Over. It.

Happy Birthday Suzy!

Even this would not phase her.

I mentioned her in yesterday's vlog having no idea that today the 21st is her birthday!

She's a delightful person and a great blogger. Have a birthday as lovely as you, doll. xoxo

Caption this photo

Jenna shows us how to practice abstinence. First, don't spill yer beer.

Photo at Tengrain's, who points out how classy she looks.

Gone all morning...don't sugarcoat it award this afternoon.

Salon tonight and link.

Sally thought she had to beam thick books into her brain before she could chat live with Blue Gal's friends. She was wrong, as usual.


Salon is here. See you there at 9 eastern.

Monday Vlog: Blue Gal being bad?

Okay had to post this to Google video instead of YouTube because it's ten and a HALF minutes long. Geesh. Last week I told you the vlog might not be worth ten minutes of your life. IMHO, this one is worth it. I take a call from Mama Blue Gal and I'm plain bad the whole time. My dad thinks I wear too much makeup and he also thinks I don't moderate the volume of my laughter, so be sure to turn your volume down to a more "moderate" level 'cause there's loud laughing when I get on the phone with Mom. Ironically, mom is calling because she saw the knitting vlog from last week and wanted to say she was proud of me. You'll notice my vowels flatten instantly when I'm talking to her...it's an Ohio thing, you wouldn't understand.

Links from this vlog:

Scone article from Atlantic Monthly
Scone recipe I kinda sorta used
Suzy's blog, Luminiferous Ether
Picture of my boyfriend
Friends General Conference

Salon link will go up later...I think posting it too early and then logging out of Skype caused us to lose our link last week. I'll post it around dinnertime and just stay on.

Because of Sandy. Again.

It's a thing with us. He throws down these verbal gauntlets to see if I'll blink.

I'm a blogger, I don't blink, but I love him for trying. And he knows it keeps me entertained / distracted. Thanks, hon.

A good laugh for Sunday

Oh this is funny. A guy named Mike Reed has caricatured the various personalities present in blog comment threads. Scroll down the "flame warriors roster" and read, in order, deacon, athiest, and "bliss ninny." It's very funny.

Hat Tip True Randomness

No, this is not an open thread. Ha.

BTW happy blogiversary everybody. Blogger, and apparently by inference, the blogosphere, is ten years old this month.

Thank God.

...Falafel Sex is back and blogging. Go say hi. They are so old skool, I can't even talk about it.

I hope this means Fafblog and CFAV will be back soon, too.

If they haven't forgotten their Blogger passwords and omg they may be on old Blogger, too, which means any attempt to save an actual post will result in a server crash. Ah, those were the good old days.

A tale of two t-shirts

So yesterday to protest the whole Jose Padilla travesty I wore my pink "I obey the Geneva Convention" shirt. And then my 3yo got a bump with a nosebleed (she's fine) and ran to mommy crying and rubbed her nose all over my shirt and I paid no attention and hugged her and cleaned her up which is what I would do anyway except half an hour later I realized I'm wearing an "I obey the Geneva Convention" shirt with dried human blood on it. Very much a Terry Gilliam moment, n'est-ce pas?



______________________________________________



So today I wore my Darfur shirt to the grocery store and as I'm walking in there's a guy walking out with an American flag t-shirt and we looked at each other like the other one was crazy. But he was alone and I was with three kids so yeah, I probably was the crazy one, just not because of the shirt.

Saturday Song: Elvis Costello

Okay some people think he sold out with this one but I think it's a nice song.



Of course, things have changed muchly for Prince Charles since then. She who waited 22 years finally has the upper hand.



Okay okay you purists. Here:



So boys, is the "bad girl" in this song Hell-bent or Heaven-sent? Heh. Ask your shower head.

Please reset your watches, civilization has ended.

I mean, I'm not trying to go all Dr. Hook here. But Zac Effing Efron is a synthetic pop star created in the Disney labs. And what is up with Rolling Stone magazine anyway? "John Edwards is a real liberal with big ideas"? Do they just cut and paste from his campaign website?

I'm seriously beginning to think that the real reason there is a disconnect between the blogosphere and the mainstream media is, there's actual writing here.

Which means the only way we're going to segueway this stuff into a real job is to become Hollywood publicists.

Please. Kill me now.

UPDATE: Jeebus Feaking Crisco.

Go say Hi

'cause her Namaste's on fire, baby. Very cool and blogrolled.

Oh one quick thing.

If anybody knows someone at Chicago Public Radio or EBSCO Industries, email me. bluegalsblog AT gmail. Thanks.

Busy Busy Busy

This is the first day this school year that all three kids are in school at the same time. This morning in addition to the Crooks and Liars stuff (I've got some posts going up there sometime today, including a Holy Crap which is hilarious if I do say so myself), I've got the goal of sending out ten resumes (not applying for Tony Snow's job though) and giving my house the serious Flylady treatment. I've got enough clean laundry in baskets waiting to get put away...OMG I've become my mother. Bye for now I may not blog again here today, we'll leave that as a reward for meeting goals though I'd rather have a Grand Marnier on ice. Okay maybe blog and then have a Grand Marnier on ice. It's a plan.

Oh before I forget I AM, as promised, wearing the "I obey the Geneva convention" t-shirt all day long to protest the whole Jose Padilla travesty. BTW I also love this one:



Good article at Huffpo on Padilla and the ATT thing connecting the dots but you've probably already read that.

Love on ya gotta go clean.

Department of "okay, I'm a feminist after all"

Because this totally pisses me off.



Amy Winehouse is apparently some celebrity singer or sumpin'. Whatever. And it's not like I read the Daily Mail online on a regular basis. But I'm bopping around Google and I see this "is fame making this young woman go off the deep end?" story about how addicted to exercise Amy Winehouse is:

The source said: "She has experimented with new piercings, hairstyles and even make-up but the single biggest thing that makes Amy feel better about herself is going to the gym.

"For the past 18 months she has been going to her local women's-only gym, for a two hour session, every single day. She is neurotic about it, completely obsessed.

"Amy will do a full cardio, fat-burning workout followed by lots of repetitions, on a relatively light load, on the weights machines. As her body has become transformed, the more weight she's lost, and the more obsessed she has become."

Miss Winehouse's new size 6 physique - down from a well-proportioned 14 - is largely the result of a daily exercise programme carried out at the Fitness First women's only gym in north London's Chalk Farm.

After an initial free consultation with a personal trainer, the singer - whose debut album, Frank, sold over 250,000 copies and won the 2004 Mercury Prize - has amazed staff with her dedication.

So I looked at the pictures above which YES, ACCOMPANIED THIS STORY and thought, "Oh geez, if I just worked out enough I could look like a total heroin addict."

Whoops. Didn't take much more googling to find this:

Last week, Amy was hospitalised after going on a 3 day bender that included heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine [horse tranquilizer] and [Jack Daniels]...

Only 2 days after her collapse though, Amy was caught smoking heroin with a friend. ...Amy and her husband Blake Civil-Fielder agreed to get help for their heroin and cocaine addictions. The hard-partying couple flew to the US for intensive detox and counseling treatment. The couple are sharing a room, and have agreed to have their mobile phones confiscated so that they can concentrate on conquering their addictions.

Okay, I'm stating the obvious problem in the media when WOMEN and yes it's usually WOMEN celebrities are obviously destroying themselves with drugs and alcohol and the media pats them on the back for "working out" and "getting slender." Sends a horrible message to young women and, well, you get it.

And don't get me started on how giving up their cell phones means they're serious about rehab.

There are some days...

...when the best thing you can do all day is find a good therapist.

But hey, if the one you find looks like THIS guy? Run. Away.

How exactly do I respond to this?

Comment at Crooks:

Blue gal, if you were a guy, I’d want to have your baby.


Geez, why didn't this person contact me nine years ago?

And my hair is way better than Glenn Greenwald's. Just sayin'.

Coming out has its advantages. I can now go public with my long-running relationship with Stephen Colbert.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read Oprah.

...but unfortunately this article from the current (September) issue is not online. The "featured articles" available online are primarily in the "why we shop" motif.

Anyhow this article (page 236 and it's one page so you can just read it at the checkout) points out that with a problem as large as Darfur, there is a psychic mechanism at work that numbs us to a problem this big so that we don't "explode with grief."

I get that. The same is true with Palestine. Some suffering is too big to comprehend and we shut down.

There are some things we can do and I try:

Subscribe to the emails at Savedarfur.org and when they say write somebody do it.

I wear a "Darfur" shirt in public and when somebody says "like your shirt" I try to engage. Even if it means saying this is a huge problem and our tendency is to shut down, isn't it? That gets the conversation started.

Some of you pray, some of you don't. But this "meditation" or whatever I wrote a while ago and I've found it helpful:

Darfur, while more urgent, can be compared to apartheid in South Africa. We CAN, through divestment, international pressure, and demanding our leaders step up to the issue, vanquish hate and turn things around. I may not feel much control over that part of the world, but I have control over my own thoughts, which will not include hopelessness. I have not, and I will not, give up hope for the human beings of the world.

Advice for a myspacer.

Folks, I Google Image Search the words "blue" and "panties" oh, every other hour or so, and I came across this. I hate to be a stinker and reprint it, but then again honey, if you see this you can be glad I'm not linking you, too.

Dear [guy I apparently met in Myspace and may or may not have 'hooked up' with]:

Wanted you to know I bought two pair of crotchless panties, one black and one white, and that electric blue silky nighty you liked, the one with the kinda open shoelace sides to it? Anyway, to prove it, here's the mailing receipt, but I won't post pictures of me in it because I'm pretty sure my Mom reads my blog.

Yeah, I choked on my bagel, too.

So anyhow, I just don't know where to begin talking to this woman. (Yeah, she's over 21.)

I guess the best advice I can give her is:

GET A NEW MOM, honey. My letter to Mama Blue Gal would go like this:

Dear Mom, could use a few more pair of lace crotchless panties. You know the size. No rush.

Love, your eldest daughter

Hilarious.

I did not help with this one. Hats off to Ev and Manila.

We don't talk about the weather at Salon, okay?

This is not a knitting vlog, really.

Okay this video is long and may not be worth nine minutes of your life you'll never have again, but hey, I'm knitting, and if you don't like it, read my coffee mug.



Other blogs mentioned in this video:

Crooks and Liars
Omnipotent Poobah
Knitting Curmudgeon
Yarn Harlot, who's also knitting a sock, go figure.


Salon is tonight 9 Eastern and I won't knit, I'll type. Download Skype here and it's just typing in live chat no special equipment needed.

Blue Gal's Salon -- link is here. See you then.

Funniest thing I didn't read all summer.

If you've ever worked with adolescents, had an adolescent in your home, been an adolescent, and especially if any of the adolescents mentioned here ever, ever, ever went through a "poetry stage," you just have to read this Shouts and Murmurs from the July 23 New Yorker. I'm still catching up with that reading, yeah, but this one had me falling off my chair, which just happens to be in the bathroom, okay too much information.

Something I made for The Aristocrats

Been musing on the whole David Broder thing and here's the vote, according to Google Blog Search:

F word as David Broder's middle name: 6

F word as David Broder's first name: 2*

So I guess by a three to one margin it's David F. Broder.

And he says:

that nearly 75 percent of those who are likely to vote in the coming Republican caucuses and primaries are still loyal supporters of the administration.

All of this suggests that this winter, one of [the GOP candidates] may face an interesting dilemma. How do you reposition yourself after hugging Bush and Cheney for a solid year? What do you do to become suddenly the candidate of change?

I dunno, why not ask Joe Lieberman?

*all references to "f-ing David Broder" made by the National Review Online staff have been eliminated because they use the f word as a standard verb rather than a perjorative in those instances, as in, "I hope I don't have to wait too long in line for my chance at f-ing David Broder."

Connect the dots.

Um. Not that Barney.

The deal is that a Dubai-owned firm has purchased Barney's New York.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the country that is too

Arab

foreign

non-American

to own and operate a port inside the United States. Our friend Frist and others "feared giving a state-owned Arab company control of U.S. port terminals would threaten national security."

But I guess it's perfectly okay if "potential terrorists" dress the cast from the Sex and the City Movie.

A Quaker Post

I had an interesting exchange with Forrest of A Quaker Watering Hole about this post. I, in my pushy/helpful way, offered to help set up some kind of discussion/Skype group on "taking back Jesus" for Quakers and perhaps other lefty Christian seekers. He responded that "Back at the old blog, we're already getting rowdy on the old one-post-at-a-time system, which I'd expect to lend itself better to reflective comments."

My response:

I think in terms of reflective comments you may be right. It's the difference between sitting in a meeting and just talking, or, having only those who write a prepared statement ahead of time be allowed to speak. The prepared statements will definitely be more reflective but not everyone will participate. Those of us who have been blogging for a number of years sometimes pull our hair out over "lurkers," those who read but never comment.

Were the comments at the interest group meeting at Pacific Yearly Conference less reflective than if everyone there had written an article on the subject of "taking Jesus back" for Friends Journal?

Reflection need not be swapped for spontaneity in all cases: one of many reasons I go to Meeting.

He replied:

All right, I play go on dragongoserver.net and I don't necessarily think any longer about those moves than if I were playing a real-time game.

And thinking a long time is certainly no guarantee that the Spirit is being consulted in the process.

Neither I nor John have a copyright on the idea of "Taking Back Jesus." I asked him for permission to use his statement, because I had that opportunity, but my sense was that he didn't mind anyone reprinting it.

The real difference I see in a real-time game is that it ties me to the computer for the duration, keeps me there responding timely to the other guy's moves.

So if you start such a discussion, I'd like you to invite participants to also read & comment on 'my' site, but I don't see the advantage to joining in myself, under that time-constraint. Enjoy!

So this thread is for those who want to discuss the whole "blog post" versus "chat" dynamic, and also for those who want to join a Skype discussion on "taking back Jesus." Or you can just email me see sidebar. Thanks, Forrest, for your willingness to let me post this stuff.

Blue Gal's Saturday Song - Carbon Leaf, Life Less Ordinary

I post a song a weekend just for fun. I've posted a live version of this one before but I love it. And this version has some nice photos and you can actually hear the words.

How the General's manhood measures up.

Thank you for the linky love, honey. I am your loyal soldier, General Sir.

Don't Sugarcoat It Award for August 10...

goes to FOBG D-Cup of Politits for her lovely post:

Bring on The Class Warfare: A Rant That Covers Anal Sex, Solid Gold Strap-Ons and Sean Hannity's Masturbation Habits

Yes ma hunnies the title alone is award-worthy but the whole post is worth reading. Leave comments over there, please.

And correcting two major oversights Politits is now on the blogroll and previous winner DeRosaWorld will be getting his prize sent out the same time as D-Cup's. Sorry 'bout that.

I knew there was a reason I love these guys.

A few days ago I posted a youtube with a folk version of "Baby's got Back" sung by Jonathan Coulton with back-up by a couple guys named Paul and Storm.

Paul and Storm sing a song called "Opening Band" which opines that as an opening band they don't get panties thrown at them on the stage. So their fans have a habit of doing just that. Here's a picture of them with the winner of the "largest pair ever tossed at them" prize:



But that's not enough. Paul and Storm have a Flickr page of their panties collection that you can view as a slide show. And in true geek fashion (and I say that like it's a good thing because it is) they catalog the venue where the panties were tossed. So far they only have nineteen panties but boys I think, just like Dennis Kucinich, you're at the tipping point of greater things to come.

You're also one of us, gentlemen. Welcome to the party.

Want your Jesus back?

Go read Joe Bageant. Very inspiring.

I'd tell you to leave comments over there but he doesn't allow comments so consider this an open thread on that letter. Thanks.

Guys who are going to wait a while. A long while.

Republic of Dogs has been combing the Craig's List personals so I don't have to. Not that I would, but still:

I want a cute petite girl who dont mind moving right in with a man after a few weeks of dating. I hate going out and looking for woman so I figured I would try this.

Yeah, "looking for woman" is such a pain in the butt. They're always out of them at AutoZone.

and this one:

Hi, Matt from Wilmington. Im looking to get a BJ and like twice or three times a week with the same person. I’m clean and disease free so should you. No prostitutes please. I’m just looking for a normal girl who loves roses, who is laid back and up for doing this about 2 or 3 times a week. Thanks Matt.

If your serious, please send a few photos and your stats.

Oh yeah, you had me until you asked for "normal." And not knowing the difference between your and you're is an automatic disqualification, anyway.

I've been reading a few "self-help/relationship" books this year and gotta say there's a real proclivity, even among male Ph.D. authors, to portray men as having absolutely no emotional needs apart from sex. I don't support that, in spite of the above.

By the way, you two Craig's List guys: "proclivity" is not a sapphic or even gynocentric term--oh nevermind.

Carrying the torch...

From the Save Darfur Coalition:

"One year from today, the Summer Olympic Games will begin in Beijing, China.

To mark this date, Save Darfur Coalition partner Dream for Darfur is launching its own Olympic torch relay in Chad, across the border from Darfur. The torch will tour the world, including sites of other genocides and many U.S. cities, until it reaches China's doorstep in December.

China is more than Sudan's largest trading partner, foreign investor, and arms provider. China has also consistently defended Sudan on the world stage, even fighting to weaken last week's UN Security Council resolution that authorized the deployment of peacekeepers to Darfur.

Thankfully, global pressure is mounting, and ultimately helped force China to vote for the resolution.

You can sign an online petition here to tell China to live up to the Olympic dream and help end the violence in Darfur."

Great night for Dennis the K.

Apparently this is Jello Biafra. Image from here.

Although if Special K couldn't do well with a fecking UNION audience, he might as well hang it up.

I'm so sick of the media and others saying he can't win so don't vote for him. This isn't American Idol. It's our country, dammit. The Republicans have won and won and won because they convinced a lot of sheep that if they supported the GOP they would be "voting their values." Why can't we Democrats do the same?

You're against this war? Vote Kucinich.

You hate that our health care system is run by insurance and pharmaceutical conglomerates? Vote Kucinich.

You think American workers should be able to have that old fashioned thing called "collective bargaining" and the "right to strike"?

Geez Louise. Is that an issue of debate in 2007? Hanging my head here.

Manila? You're kidding about missing Mike Gravel at that thing, aren't you?

UPDATE: GOTTA include this. Gotta.

It's about time something like this happened!

Can I get this band to show up the next time I go to the MOVIES? Here's one guy who will never answer his cell phone during a public performance again. And that's a start.

Baby names

Having sent two thirds of my offspring off to their first day of school this morning, thought I'd combine these stories:

Recently the UK Daily Telegraph reported that, "Mohammed, and its most common alternative spelling Muhammad, are now more popular babies' names in England and Wales than George." Apparently Mohammed is the number one baby boy's name in many European cities. Let's not get all John Gibson here about how white women need to be more like white-baby PEZ dispensers or European civilization will end.

Apparently white affluent women are way too busy freaking out about naming their firstborn to have any more. From News of the Weird:

Some parents feel "unprecedented levels of angst" to pick cool enough names for their kids, with some even hiring consultants, according to a June Wall Street Journal report. Baby-book authors charge clients $50 for a list of "special" names, and half-hour phone consultations go for $95. Another adviser charges $350 for three calls plus a comprehensive linguistic history of the selected name, and one California mother paid $475 to a numerologist to "test" the name Leah Marie for "positive associations." The Journal blames the problem on too much information about names (from the Internet), as well as parents' fear of dooming their child for life by insufficiently distinguishing their kid from others. [Wall Street Journal, 6-22-07]

Aw hell, they should just name her Mohammed.

You think we've got it bad here.

There's lots of reasons I can't imagine living in the Middle East but I never really gave Israeli bureaucracy much thought until I read this post by my buddy Yossi Gurvitz, whose brand spankin' new English blog, Friends of George (Orwell) is a late addition to the blogroll:

About a week ago a smiling young girl knocked on my door. She wore a very unique shirt, showing the logos of the Katz courier company and of the Home Front Command. She wanted the gas mask, God only knows where it is. It turns out that the Home Front Command wants it back, and threatens not to issue me a replacement in case of emergency, unless I provide it with the old mask. To perform the operation, just as it privatized the sirens, it also privatized the collection of the masks.

I'll betcha Michael Chertoff is totally jealous right this minute.

He doesn't look a day over 19.

Happy Birthday Mark Hoback of The Aristocrats xoxoxo. Leave greetings over there.

Damn right we need to watch this again.

OR you could go Tivo "Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge" with Vanilla Ice and Leif Garrett.



Some youtube genius put a Fox News scroller at the bottom of part of this, as if we needed it.

Song for those of us blessed with butts.

So last night at Salon I suggested I should post a poll as to which should be BG's personal theme song, "Baby's Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot or "Fat Bottomed Girls Make the Rockin' World Go Round" by Queen. They're both great songs for those of us who celebrate our breeder-hips but folks this cover of the first one had me on the floor. I love it love it love it.



Update: No I didn't forget Big Bottom by Spinal Tap I just don't want it for my theme song. Thanks.

Get well soon, Captain

Cap'n Dyke is under the weather and couldn't stay to co-host salon last night.

Hope this photo cheers you up, Cap'n.

Send good wishes to capndyke@aol.com or visit her blog.