Floridian Repub Results

Come on, y'all...are you the Republican Party or the Republican't Party?

Apparently, with only 15% of the Florida vote, Rudy has followed the lead of Granpa Fred and bailed on his Presidential aspirations. He's tossing his endorsements against The Freakin' Mormon. Ya big authoritarian wuss!

(I now post a link to a video of The Clash's "Rudie Can't Fail". Just substitute "Can" for "Can't" and it tells a timely story. Link.)

Oh well...it would have been nice if the Republicant's had spent more time and money on internecine infighting, but such are the breaks. I guess we now have to watch MyCane!* battle it out with Mittens, while Huckleberry and Ron Paul try to catch up. As a bonus, we get Billary tossing out vaguely racist comments against Obama.

Give me Edwards, or give me Gore! That's what I say.

"Meh!", I say..."Meh!"

******************************************

* Wilford Brimley v. Chuck Noriss, Fer Real, man...WTF??!! Way to court the 80's Quaker Oats demo, Straight-talker!

Big Audio Dynamite

The Globe, yeah...

It's like 1990 all over again.

"It's 1 AM -- let's go out to a RAVE. It's hotter than a MI-CRO-wave!!!"
(Note: redirect, no apparent embed option)



Also, hippychick, yeah.

(Update: 2008-01-30: Big Audio Dynamite ~= Mick Jones from The Clash, for those who do not know. Soho just rocks.)

Random Observations

1. BDS, this is for you, Man.

Several years ago, BDS and I discussed the idea of doing a wacky skit, in order to achieve "InterTubes Fame". I was intent about the concept that my character would be the intense-but-clueless dude who could not understand why all my friends couldn't appreciate how BADASS my "Hello Kitty" Tattoo was. Like...because of the irony, and all.

BDS is a huge Star Wars fan, with (I belive, correct me if I'm wrong) major Vader tats. Today, however, the singularity has been achieved.



2. Speaking of Hello Kitty, I wasn't blogging much when this came out, but for those who missed it, I present the MOST AWESOME CONSUMER ITEM of 2007!!!! The "Hello Kitty"-themed assault rifle!!!

It's an AK-47!! With Hello Kitty styling!!


You can't get any more wrong while still being so right!!! I need one of these, if only to show off the "hand-crocheted shoulder-stock muffler" w/ HK theme!!!

3. In Northeastern PA, it appears that it is no longer possible to buy a "Firm" toothbrush. I didn't exactly do an exhaustive search, but after checking three places, I gave up and bought a multi-pack off amazon.com. 6 years-worth of teeth-brushes in one order...Dag, yo!

I find "Medium" brushes to be wussy and unsatisfying and unworthy of my time.

Rout 2008

Okay, this has been noted elsewhere, but the global stock markets ain't looking too good right now. As of this writing, looking at Yahoo! Finance, every major global stock index is taking a serious spanking. Also, for much of the (EST) evening, the Dow futures have been running around the -500 territory.

This was probably the case back in 2000-2001, but I didn't use Yahoo back in the day, so I don't know. (old_guy)When *I* was a kid, regular people didn't have access to live stock market data!! We had to *pay* for it, dad-gummit!! Nowadays, you can walk down any street and pluck stock market data off a tree like it was an *onion*!(/old_guy)

Europe:


Asia:


Furthermore, you've got a lot of "In-the-know" people freaking the Eff out lately:

Pimco’s McCulley Calls for Emergency Rate Cut

The O.C. Register's Jon Lansner shares an email from Pimco's Paul McCulley:

“Sometimes when you are ill, you make an appointment with your doctor; other times, you go straight to the emergency room. Now is an other time. ... Time is of the essence. What needs to be done needs to be done. Now."

Wow. Some people are really scared. (Link: Calculated Risk)

And since "The 'R' Word" is now not only *speakable*, but being openly discussed and the "Great Depression Comparisons" are coming faster and furiouser, I'm a wee bit concerned.

More Happy Talk

From billionaire Mort Zuckerman.


Zuckerman: I don't think it's an exaggeration. It's an understatement. You've heard me say here I think we are facing the worst financial crunch and crisis since the Great Depression. You have the entire banking system now that is virtually frozen and there are not just the sub-prime mortgage thing. (Link: Eschaton (Atrios' Joint)

I guess everybody decided to take their New Year's Resolution seriously this year: ("I will no longer believe the Party-Lines about how the current Global Economy is truly sustainable!")

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to stockpile some guns, gold bullion and canned goods.

WWI Vet - Follow-up - Louis De Cazenave

The BBC has followed-up on the original reporting of the death of Louis De Cazenave, who was until this past weekend one of the two surviving French WWI Veterans. The follow-up gives a bit more of a biography to Messr. De Cazenave. It sounds like he experienced first-hand some of the worst that "The World War" had to offer.

In April 1917, assigned to the Fifth Senegalese Rifles, he fought in one of the most disastrous French actions of the war, at the Chemin des Dames, during the Second Battle of the Aisne.

...

Forewarned, the Germans dug in so well that the creeping artillery barrage ahead of the French advance did little to dislodge them.

Across the battlefront the French lost 40,000 men on the first day.

Some reports say the advancing French bleated in mocking acknowledgement that they were lambs to the slaughter.

The article, though brief, is well worth reading.

Au revoir, Monsieur.

(Messr. De Cazenave's English Wikipedia page here. Original exitramp discussion here. Or just scroll down an inch or so.)

One of Two Surviving French WWI Vets Passes

The BBC reports that Louis De Cazenave, one of two surviving WWI veterans, has passed away in his sleep. He was 110.

Mr de Cazenave, born on 16 October 1897 signed up in 1916 and served with a number of different infantry and artillery regiments, including the fifth Senegalese battalion.
After the liberation of France and the end of the war he returned to civilian life and became a railwayman. He married and had three sons before retiring at the age of 41.

The article reports that he fought in the Battle of the Somme. His passing means that Lazare Ponticelli, aged 110, is now France's sole surviving veteran of the War to End All Wars.

Peace, Louis.

Colber Report - Lou Dobbs - PMP

The "PMP" in the title refers not to "Project Management Professional", but rather "Piss My Pants".

This clip is rather hard to explain, due to what appears to be post-interview editing magic, but I'll let Paul K. do his best:

This has to rank up there as one of the strangest moments in recent television history. We have Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, playing off-kilter right-wing talkshow host "Stephen Colbert", who in turn is playing Esteban, himself some sort of Colbert-created Mexican talkshow show, interviewing CNN host Lou "Stronger U.S. Borders" Dobbs

Nothing against The Daily Show, which I still love, but Steven has really taken the Faux News thing to another level.

Housekeeping Linkfest

This year has certainly started out as a crappy one from the financial and/or economics perspective. Markets and spirits are lower than a snake's toenails.

Turning away from that, however, I wanted to take a moment to point out the following:
1. Yesterday was the FIFTH (Yep! With a 5!) Trogday. I certainly can't believe it's been that long. Happy anniversary, big guy.
2. Today is the 89th anniversary of the start of Prohibition. Let us never forget this dark time in our history.

Amen.

"Common Sense" 232nd Anniversary

Today is the 232nd anniversary of the publishing of "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine.

Foundation of the Nation, y'all!

Happy Anniversary.

President Carter via The Onion

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

United Artists strikes Interim deal with WGA?

It's being reported on the UnitedHollywood site as well as on Variety that United Artists has struck an interim deal with the WGA. Also, the Golden Globes are cancelled.

The pressure is on, moguls.

Iowa Caucus

How small is your cock? Is it small enough to fuckabee?

Bwahahahah!!!!!!!!

Wow, Obama beats Hill, and the nutjob bible-banger tops out the Mittster.

As the BushAdmin would say, "Nobody could have predicted this outcome..."

New Hampshire should be interesting.

UPDATE 2008-01-22: Somehow, I started this post with a "cock" joke, and then proceeded to toss out a few lines about the "caucus", but missed the opportunity to deliver any related quips. As your devoted commentator, I apologize sincerely.

And the Band Played "Waltzing Mathilda"....

Another WWI hommage, Aussie-style.... (via Eschaton)


Remember the war of your great-grandparents (depending on your age...) The lessons of the past keep getting learned over and over again.

Previous WWI Vet posts here.

Happy New Years 2008!!

Yeah, we're lame this year, and we stayed home.

Huttah!