An Open Letter to a Creepy Little Punk

Not at all a spoiled little jerk.Insufferable little shit Tucker Carlson, in response to the campaign HQ "bomb"/hostage crisis & a suggestion by former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt that the hostage taker had no means to be heard, would be found to have written many letters to the editor, etc., suggested that the hostage taker, like "most mentally ill people in this country," should have started a blog. (Not an exact quote.) Hey, we resemble that remark!!

We'd also like to make an explicit physical threat against Mr. Carlson, who just rubs us the wrong way. (Not because of that remark in particular, although we'd like to know what's wrong w/ free speech in a democracy.) Next time you're here on The Coast, please let us know where you & we can get together, so we can shove a Swanson Frozen TV dinner down your craw, & another one up your poop chute, after which we'll strangle you w/ one of your no longer worn bow ties.

Seriously. No security flunkies. No getting one of your high school buddies to help you slam the head of some guy who'd allegedly grabbed at your crotch in the men's room into the wall of said men's room. Just you, us (editorial "we," there, by the way) & a couple of those frozen dinners whence your mother inherited her money and passed it on to you, you privileged, spoiled little twit. Seriously. Next time you're out here, trying out for another C-List celebrity reality show, look us up. We dare you, punk.

The Personal Is Political

Less than a yr. until the presidential election, & w/ it the possibility of virtually anything happening, as the usual collection of right-wingers, neo-cons, bed-wetting paranoids, Christian Dominionists, militia members, shadow gov't./national security apparatchiks & the like see that Hitlery or even, Gawd forbid, that "halfrican" fellow, is up in the polls, & not even the Supreme Court will be able to help this time. That's when the shit will be hitting the fan, & whether it's a false flag "terrorist" attack or just Blackwater "helping w/ election security," any one w/ half a lick of sense & a steady hand should be thinking about self-defense. And we all know that the best defense is a good offense.Part of the former arsenal
Unfortunately, the staff weapons here @ Just Another Blog (From L. A.)™ were confiscated last yr. by the jackbooted thugs of the LASD's West Hollywood contractors, after they threatened to tase us. And we don't know if we're on the list of "mental defectives" that California just turned over to the ATF.

[T]he FBI's "Mental Defective File" has ballooned from 175,000 names in June to nearly 400,000, primarily because of additions from California. The names are listed in a subset of a database that gun dealers are supposed to check before completing sales.

[...]

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a group favoring tighter firearms controls, said the most optimistic estimates suggest that even the FBI's expanded list is missing 4 of 5 Americans who have been ruled mentally dangerous to themselves or others.

"If people realized how weak our system is in terms of background checks for people who are dangerously mentally ill, they would be shocked," Helmke said. "It's clear that there could be another Virginia Tech killer buying a gun today, and there's nothing that can be done about it."

Well, good, we may have slipped through the cracks. Or not:

The vast majority of the individuals who were added to the FBI's list were identified by California, which provided more than 200,000 names in October, the Justice Department said.

[...]

The measure passed easily in the House, but it has stalled in the Senate because of a hold by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). He has said he opposes the legislation because he thinks its implementation would cost too much and because it lacks a mechanism to challenge inclusion on the list. He was joined by some veterans' groups, which argued that former soldiers might be denied gun-owning rights without due process.

Sure, we want as many veterans who've been totally fucked up by this most recent adventure in American idiocy to be well armed. You never know when the wife or one of the kids will turn into Johnny Jihad before your very eyes, & you'll want to be able to shoot him as soon as possible.

The Editor here may be depressed, but he damn well knows who's out to get him, & it's neither hallucination or delusion.

Cranky Author Birthdays

Today is Friday, November 30th, the 334th day of 2007. There are 31 days left in the year.
In 1782, the United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
In 1803, Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France, which had sold it to the United States.
In 1804, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial, accused of political bias. He was acquitted by the Senate.
In 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens -- better known as Mark Twain -- was born in Florida, Missouri.
In 1874, British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.
In 1900, Irish writer Oscar Wilde died in Paris at age 46.
In 1936, London's famed Crystal Palace, constructed for the Great Exhibition of 1851, was destroyed in a fire.
In 1939, the Russo-Finnish War began as Soviet troops invaded Finland.
In 1962, U Thant of Burma, who had been acting secretary-general of the United Nations following the death of Dag Hammarskjold the year before, was elected to a four-year term.
In 1966, the former British colony of Barbados became independent.
In 1974, the fossilized remains of a female human ancestor named Lucy (after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") were found in Ethiopia. [Closest to a Beatle reference today. — Ed.]
In 1981, the United States and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.
In 1987, author James Baldwin died in Saint Paul de Vence, France, at age 63.
Ten years ago: Czech Premier Vaclav Klaus formally handed in his government's resignation in the wake of a campaign financing scandal. In Tajikistan, French hostage Karine Mane was killed with five suspected kidnappers when a grenade exploded during a failed rescue operation; a companion had been released hours earlier.
In 1999, the opening of a 135-nation trade gathering in Seattle was disrupted by at least 40,000 demonstrators, some of whom clashed with police.
Five years ago: International weapons hunters in Iraq paid an unannounced visit to a military post previously declared "sensitive" and restricted by Baghdad. A nightclub fire in Caracas, Venezuela, killed 50 people.
One year ago: President Bush met in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki; Bush said the United States would speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces but assured al-Maliki that Washington was not looking for a "graceful exit" from the war. Pope Benedict the 16th visited Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque in a dramatic gesture of outreach to Muslims.

Birthdays of the (Still) Living:
Actor Efrem Zimbalist Junior is 90. Actor Robert Guillaume is 80. TV personality and producer Dick Clark is 78. Radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy is 77. Movie director Ridley Scott is 70. Singer Rob Grill (The Grassroots) is 64. Movie writer-director Terrence Malick is 64. Rock musician Roger Glover (Deep Purple) is 62. Playwright David Mamet is 60. Actor Mandy Patinkin is 55. Musician Shuggie Otis is 54. Country singer Jeannie Kendall is 53. Singer Billy Idol is 52. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is 50. Rock musician John Ashton (The Psychedelic Furs) is 50. Former football and baseball player Bo Jackson is 45. Actor-director Ben Stiller is 42. Actress Sandra Oh is 37.

Birthdays of the Dead:
Andrea Palladio, architect (1508)
Jonathan Swift, author (1667)
Gordon Parks, photographer, filmmaker, writer (1912)
Shirley Chisholm, congresswoman (1924)

"Entertainment" History:
In 1940, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married.
In 1965, the state of Colorado declared "Rolling Stones Day," in honor of the Stones concert in Denver.
In 1969, Simon and Garfunkel's first TV special was broadcast in the US.
In 1976, singers-songwriters Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson got married.
In 1977, David Bowie sang a duet of "Little Drummer Boy" with Bing Crosby on his Christmas special. [30 yrs. ago today! — Ed.]
In 1988, LL Cool J performed the first rap concert in Africa, in Cote D'Ivoire.
In 1996, entertainer Tiny Tim died after performing his signature song, "Tiptoe Thru' The Tulips," at a benefit concert in Minneapolis. Reports put his age at either 64 or 66.
In 2000, Loverboy bassist Scott Smith was washed off his boat about four miles off the coast of San Francisco. His body was never found.
In 2004, Ken Jennings won 74 times and $2.5 million on "Jeopardy!" before finally losing.

There Will Always Be an England

Or there'll always be a Rupert "Morality Boy" Murdoch-owned Sun. Latest story: A celebrity breast reduction. Technically, an implant reduction. And (need we say) most (all?) of her celebrity stemmed from her huge implants. Still, they aren't talking bangers & mash here.
Bye to Britain's biggest bangersThis should fulfill our Monthly Requirement for this sort of thing.

The Sacrificial Republicans

El Boggo leads us to an interesting reaction (By one "Richelieu." How ridiculous/pretentious can one be?) to the Republican YouTube debate Q&A session.

So, a good night for for the lowest denominator, a bad night for the GOP. America got to see a vaguely threatening parade of gun fetishists, flat worlders, Mars Explorers, Confederate flag lovers and zombie-eyed-Bible-wavers as well as various one issue activists hammering their pet causes. My cheers went to a listless Fred Thompson who easily qualified himself to be president in my book by looking all night like he would cheerfully trade his left arm for an early exit off the stage to a waiting Scotch and good Cuban cigar. The media will probably award a win to Mike Huckabee, the easy listening music candidate at home in any crowd, fluent in simpleton speak and the one man on the stage tonight who led the audience to roaring cheers by boasting that he had a special qualification to be president that none of the second-raters on the stage could match: A degree in Bible Studies from Ouachita Baptist University of Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Bloody Bill Kristol's reaction:

Richelieu, being an aristocrat, indeed a French aristocrat, may scorn the "vaguely threatening parade of gun fetishists, flat worlders, Mars Explorers, Confederate flag lovers and zombie-eyed-Bible-wavers as well as various one issue activists hammering their pet causes" that we saw asking questions tonight, courtesy of CNN and YouTube. We Americans don't dare scorn our fellow citizens (at least not publicly). We recognize that parade as...the electorate.

Yep, the part of the electorate that allows shitheels like Kristol continued influence in Washington. Proud of yourself Billy? How's that "appeal to national greatness" working out for you?

If you're not feeling ill yet, this load of crap will reverse the course of your cookies.

It is unfair of course to call this a stab in the back, as the Democrats have been engagingly open about their intentions. In the course of the past year, they have gone from attacking a plan that had not been effective to attacking one that hadn't been tried yet, to attacking one that exceeded all expectations, while in the process ignoring reality, slandering a commanding general, and denying American forces in battle due credit for what they had done. If not backstabbing as such (see above), it is diverting enough a spectacle to merit a replay.

As covered here & here, for example.

And if you'd like more from the weekly ReaderStandard, start saving now.

Unbearable Lightness of Being & Nothingness

To borrow a phrase from the lovely & talented self-described "overgrown elf" Megan McArdle, "blogging will be light," as the agony of so-called existence is taking its toll chez Bouffant.What? There's no one out there & they wouldn't give a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut anyway? Oh yeah, we forgot. Heh, indeed.

Celebrity Morbidity

Today is Thursday, November 29th, the 333rd day of 2007. There are 32 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
In 1963, President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
In 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, onetime adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.
In 1864, a Colorado militia killed at least 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians in the Sand Creek Massacre.
In 1890, the first Army-Navy football game was played, with Navy winning 24-0 at West Point, N.Y. [Navy Blue & Gold, baby! — Ed.]
In 1924, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels before he could complete his opera "Turandot." (It was finished by Franco Alfano.)
In1929, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd radioed that he & three crew members had made the first airplane flight over the South Pole.
In 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the partitioning of the British-mandated territory of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
In 1952, President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower kept his campaign promise to visit Korea to assess the ongoing conflict.
In 1961, Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited earth twice before returning.
In 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.
In 1987, a Korean Air jetliner disappeared off Burma, with the loss of all 115 people aboard; South Korean authorities charged North Korean agents had planted a bomb aboard the aircraft.
In 1989, in response to a growing pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power.
In 1990, the U.N. Security Council voted 12-2 to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by Jan. 15, 1991.
In 1996, a U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims - the first international war crimes sentence since World War II.
In 1997, former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, the city's first black mayor who held office for an unprecedented five terms, died at age 79.
In 1999, Protestant and Catholic adversaries formed a Northern Ireland government.
In 2001, George Harrison, the "quiet Beatle," died in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer; he was 58. [Beatle news. And it's always a "battle" w/ cancer, innit? — Ed.]
Five years ago: The White House quietly announced that federal workers would get a smaller pay raise the following month because President Bush was freezing part of the increase, citing the fight against terrorism. [? — Ed.] Celebrity publicist Lizzie Grubman left the Suffolk County, New York, jail after serving 37 days of a 60-day sentence for backing her sport utility vehicle into a crowd outside a trendy Hamptons nightclub and fleeing.
One year ago: The first of two high-profile meetings in Jordan between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was abruptly canceled amid conflicting explanations. (Bush met al-Maliki the next day.) Still losing money after job and factory cuts, Ford Motor Company said 38,000 workers, almost half of its hourly production force, had accepted buyouts or early retirement offers.

Today's Birthdays: Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Vin Scully is 80. [Or so. — Ed.] Former president of France Jacques Chirac is 75. Blues singer-musician John Mayall is 74. Composer-musician Chuck Mangione is 67. Country singer Jody Miller is 66. Actress Diane Ladd is 64. Pop singer-musician Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals) is 63. Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee is 61. [Suzy Chapstick? — Ed.] Comedian Garry Shandling is 58. Movie director Joel Coen is 53. Actor-comedian-game show host Howie Mandel is 52. Governor of Arizona Janet Napolitano is 50. Actress Cathy Moriarty is 47. Actress Kim Delaney is 46. Actor Tom Sizemore is 46. Actor Andrew McCarthy is 45. Actor Don Cheadle is 43. Musician Wallis Buchanan (Jamiroquai) is 42. Pop singer Jonathan Knight (New Kids on the Block) is 39. [Not a kid any more. — Ed.] Rock musician Martin Carr (Boo Radleys) is 39. Baseball player Mariano Rivera is 38. Actress Gena Lee Nolin is 36. Rapper The Game is 28.

Birthdays of the Dead:
Louisa May Alcott, author (1832)
William V. S. Tubman, president of Liberia (1895)
C.S. Lewis, author (1898)
Madeleine L'Engle, author (1918)

In Show Biz on this date:
In 1948, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" made its debut on NBC. "Kukla," puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, Fran Allison, "Ollie"
In 1959, the Record of the Year Grammy Award went to Bobby Darin for "Mack The Knife." Frank Sinatra's "Come Dance With Me" won the Album of the Year award. Sinatra didn't show up to the ceremony, supposedly because he had gotten shut out at the very first Grammys, only six months earlier.
In 1963, The Beatles released "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in Great Britain.
In 1969, John Lennon was convicted of marijuana possession and was fined. [Three Beatle items today! — Ed.]
In 1976, Jerry Lee Lewis shot his bass player, Norman "Butch" Owens, twice in the chest while trying to hit a soda bottle. Lewis was charged with shooting a firearm within the city limits.
In 1979, the four original members of Kiss performed together for what they thought was the last time. They reunited in 1996. [$$$$!! — Ed.]
Also in 1979, model Anita Pallenberg, Keith Richard's common law wife, was cleared of murder charges. Her young male companion had been found shot to death in her home in New York state. [How'd we miss that one? — Ed.]
In 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island, California, at age 43. The death was ruled accidental.
In 1986, actor Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82.
In 1997, singer Whitney Houston canceled an appearance at the last minute at a Unification Church mass wedding in Washington, citing illness. She had said earlier she didn't know the Unification Church was behind it when she agreed to the event. [Fuck "Reverend" Moon. — Ed.]

Gawd Speaks

We'd bet Richard Roberts (pasty vampire-looking jerk below) is never closer to gawd than when he's on the ORU jet (pretty much reserved for the exclusive use of the Roberts family) at altitude. Photo found @ this web log, which pulls no punches.From gawd to the AP, via Richard Roberts:

Richard Roberts told students at Oral Roberts University Wednesday that he did not want to resign as president of the scandal-plagued evangelical school, but that he did so because God insisted.

God told him on Thanksgiving that he should resign the next day, Roberts told students in the university's chapel.

[...]

Roberts said he wanted to "strike out" against the people who were persecuting him, and considered countersuing, but "the Lord said, 'don't do that,'" he said.

[...]

Roberts has previously said that God told him to deny the allegations. The week the lawsuit was filed, Richard Roberts said that God told him: "We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit ... is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion."

On Wednesday, Roberts said God told him he would "do something supernatural for the university" if he stepped down from the job he held at the 5,700-student school since 1993.

There's a bit more to the story, but we felt we should just share gawd's invaluable advice on crisis control & legal matters. Said advice consisting mostly of: "Deny, deny, deny, but if the lawsuits continue to pile up & your flunkies are about to throw your under the proverbial bus to save their own shares of the scam, get out on the day after Thanksgiving when almost no one will notice."

It Just Keeps Rollin'...

Today is Wednesday, November 28th, the 332nd day of 2007. There are 33 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On November 28th, 1942, nearly 500 people died in a fire that destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston. On this date: In 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait that now bears his name. In 1907, future movie producer Louis B. Mayer opened his first movie theater, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. In 1919, American-born Lady Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the British Parliament. In 1943, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began conferring in Tehran during World War II. In 1958, the African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community. In 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 on a course to Mars. In 1967, actress-model Anna Nicole Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston. In 1979, an Air New Zealand DC-10 en route to the South Pole crashed into a mountain in Antarctica, killing all 257 people aboard. In 1987, a South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean with the loss of all 159 people aboard. In 1990, Margaret Thatcher resigned as British prime minister during an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, who conferred the premiership on John Major. In 2001, Enron Corporation collapsed after would-be rescuer Dynegy Incorporated backed out of an 8.4 billion-dollar deal to take it over. Ten years ago: India's powerful Congress Party withdrew its support from India's ruling coalition, forcing Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral to resign. Five years ago: In twin attacks in Kenya, three suicide bombers killed 14 people at an Israeli-owned hotel, while at least two missiles were fired at, but missed, an Israeli jetliner taking off from Mombasa airport. One year ago: At the opening of a NATO summit in Latvia, President Bush rejected suggestions Iraq had fallen into civil war and vowed not to pull U.S. troops out "until the mission is complete." The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to extend for a year the mandate of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq. Pope Benedict the 16th, in Turkey on his first visit to a Muslim country, urged all religious leaders to "utterly refuse" to support any violence in the name of faith. Today's Birthdays: Recording executive Berry Gordy Junior is 78. Former Senator Gary Hart (Democrat, Colorado) is 71. Singer-songwriter Bruce Channel is 67. Singer Randy Newman is 64. Movie director Joe Dante is 61. CBS News correspondent Susan Spencer is 61. "Late Show" orchestra leader Paul Shaffer is 58. Actor Ed Harris is 57. Actress S. Epatha Merkerson is 55. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is 54. Country singer Kristine Arnold (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 51. Actor Judd Nelson is 48. Movie director Alfonso Cuaron is 46. Rock musician Matt Cameron is 45. Comedian Jon Stewart is 45. Actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon is 41. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dawn Robinson is 39. Hip-hop musician apl.de.ap (Black Eyed Peas) is 33. Those Who Won't Be Celebrating Their Birthdays Today: John Bunyan,author (1628) William Blake, English poet & artist (1757) Friedrich Engels, socialist (1820) Anton Rubinstein, pianist, composer (1829) John Wesley Hyatt, inventor (1837) Henry Bacon, architect (1866) Show Biz Events: On November 28th, 1925, the Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut on station WSM. In 1964, Willie Nelson made his Grand Ole Opry debut. Also in 1964, "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las hit number one on the Billboard pop chart. In 1974, John Lennon performed in concert for the first time in several years. He sang three songs with Elton John at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was payback for a bet in which John had made Lennon promise they'd perform together if "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" hit number one. [More Beatle news! — Ed.] In 1976, actress Rosalind Russell died. She was 68. In 1989, IRS agents raided the Las Vegas home of actor Redd Foxx, who owed an estimated $755,000 in taxes. In 1990, officials in Los Angeles decided there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute singer Axl Rose for assault in connection with a dispute with his neighbor. The neighbor claimed Rose hit her over the head with an empty wine bottle. In 1997, Chumbawamba singer Danbert Nobacon was arrested in Florence, Italy, for wearing a skirt. He was released when a police officer recognized the name "Chumbawamba." Also in 1997, the last episode of "Beavis and Butt-head" aired on MTV.

The Trent Lott Story

A masterpiece of the non-admittance admittance can be found @ Big Head DC:

Once, he even scolded gay escort Mike Jones for outing Rev. Ted Haggard as one of his gay escort business participants.

“You were paid for sex, Mike,” he wrote in 2006. “The most important rule you can follow when taking people’s money in exchange for sex is that—no matter what—their lives stay their own and whatever passes between the two of you remains private. Period.”

[...]

The boy happens to be real, and his “stage name” is Benjamin Nicholas. One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was
also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.

Nicholas told Big Head DC today via e-mail that he didn’t want to go on the record to talk about his dealings with Lott, because, said Nicholas, “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.” However, e-mail and other records confirm that the two have met on at least two occasions.“All I can say at this point is no comment,” Nicholas told us. “It’s the professional thing for me to do.”

In a subsequent e-mail message, Nicholas confirmed that another publication is working on a story about a “possible relationship” between Lott and himself, but Nicholas also “politely declined” an interview for that story.

“As I said before, Lott has quite a bit on his plate right now and I don’t really want to add fuel to the embers,” Nicholas told Big Head DC.

An honest whore. Well, semi-discreet.

Then the party-poopers @HuffPo put a wet blanket on the whole thing. Responsible journalism is boring & stupid, makes little money, & doesn't topple governments or start riots in the streets.

The charge was first published by the Washington DC blog Big Head DC, which claimed to have emails where the escort, Benjamin Nicholas, allegedly playing coy, declined to go on the record because "Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don't want to add to it."
But in an email message, Nicholas himself said the item was false.

"There's nothing to be said, as Lott and I have no connection whatsoever," Nicholas wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. "How these 'quotes' have been fabricated are beyond me. The Senator is someone I have had no personal dealings with, ever."

In a subsequent posting on his own Web site, Nicholas wrote, "I have not, nor have I ever seen or had contact with Senator Trent Lott. It's as simple as that. It never happened."

There's always hope Trent's 'phone # will be in the latest D. C. Madam's Big List of Congressional Pervs.

(FWIW: This is Item #600.)

Like Sand Through The Hourglass...UPDATED

Today is Tuesday, November 27th, the 331st day of 2007. There are 34 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On November 27th, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White. [Again, this is a "highlight?" Twinkie™ Defense. — Ed.]
On this date:
In 1701, astronomer Anders Celsius, inventor of the Celsius temperature scale, was born in Uppsala, Sweden. [Inventor? He calls the freezing point of water 0° & its boiling point 100°, & for that he gets called the "inventor?" — Ed]
In 1901, the U. S. Army War College was established in Washington, D. C.
In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad began service at New York's Pennsylvania Station.
In 1942, during World War II, the French navy at Toulon scuttled its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis.
In 1945, General George C. Marshall was named special U. S. envoy to China to try to end hostilities between the Nationalists and the Communists.
In 1953, playwright Eugene O'Neill died in Boston at age 65.
In 1970, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.
In 1973, the Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.
In 1983, 181 people were killed when a Colombian Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crashed near Madrid's Barajas airport.
In 1989, a bomb blamed by police on drug traffickers destroyed a Colombian Avianca jetliner, killing all 107 people on board. [Do not, under any circumstances, get near an Avianca plane on 27 November! — Ed.]
Ten years ago: A day after saying it would open its presidential palaces to international observers, Iraq declared that U.N. weapons monitors were not included in the invitation. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York was marred when a gust of wind knocked part of a lamppost onto a 34-year-old woman, fracturing her skull and leaving her in a coma for almost a month. Five years ago: U.N. specialists began a new round of weapons inspections in Iraq. President Bush appointed former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to lead an investigation into why the government failed to foil the September 11th attacks. (The following month, Kissinger stepped down, citing controversy over potential conflicts of interest with his business clients.) [OK, now can we prosecute him as a war criminal? — Ed.]President Bush gave the go-ahead to open US highways to Mexican trucks.
One year ago: President Bush, stopping over in Estonia en route to a NATO summit in Latvia and meetings in Jordan, intensified diplomatic efforts to quell rising violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fire burned down a group home for the elderly and mentally ill in Anderson, Missouri, killing 10 residents and a caretaker.

Today's Birthdays: Ret'd. general & former Sec'y. of State Alexander Haig is 83. ("Here at the White House, I'm in control." Whatta maroon. — Ed.] TV host Bill Nye ("Bill Nye, the Science Guy") is 52. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is 50. Rock musician Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds) is 48. Rock musician Charlie Benante (Anthrax) is 45. Rock musician Mike Bordin (Faith No More) is 45. Actor Fisher Stevens is 44. Actress Robin Givens is 43.

Birthdays of Those No Longer W/ Us:
Chaim Weizmann, scientist and Zionist leader (1874)
Charles A. Beard, historian (1874)
James Agee, writer (1909)
Alexander Dubček, statesman (1921)
Bruce Lee, martial-arts actor (1940) Jimi Hendrix, rock musician, guitarist (1942) [Would've been 65 today, having a retirement party & copping a gold watch or something. — Ed.]

In Show Bidness Today:
In 1957, "The Chirping Crickets" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets was released. It contained the singles "That'll Be the Day," "Maybe Baby," and "Not Fade Away."
In 1967, The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" album was released in North America. [What is it, every day in November the Beatles did something? — Ed.]
In 1969, the Rolling Stones opened a four-night stand at New York's Madison Square Garden. Portions of the first two concerts were released on the album "Get Yer Ya-Yas Out."
In 1970, George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" album was released.
In 1980, the sitcom "Bosom Buddies," starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari, premiered on ABC.
In 1985, actress Amy Irving married filmmaker Steven Spielberg. They have since split up.
In 1995, The Beatles' "Anthology One" set a record for first-week sales, selling 1.2 million copies. That record has since been broken.

UPDATE (2 December 2007 @ 0001): Looks as if Al Haig was born 2 December rather than 27 November, though infoplease still thinks both. The AP seems to have changed its mind.

Stealth Richard Roberts Resignation

Oh, look what happened over the Thanksgiving Wknd. Quite possibly as a result of another wrongful termination law suit filed against dear old ORU last Wednesday,

A senior accountant for Oral Roberts University claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that he was ordered to help school president Richard Roberts and his wife "cook the books" by hiding financial wrongdoing from authorities and the public.

Trent Huddleston said in the wrongful termination lawsuit that he was directed against his will to falsely list tens of thousands of dollars as expenses rather than assets — which were spent remodeling the home of Richard and Lindsay Roberts — in order to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.

He claims nearly $123,000 was paid by Oral Roberts University and Oral Roberts Ministries for remodeling the home.

as well as an effort, no doubt, to fly under the radar (& a successful one, we didn't even notice until today) Richard Roberts quit his gig as president of the university his father, Oral, founded as another of his "prosperity gospel" scams.

Times have changed at Oral Roberts University.

The once rigid dress code has been loosened so much that, as one student puts it, aside from the lack of guys wearing earrings the campus could be Oklahoma State. The prayer tower is showing rust. Students still sign an honor code pledging not to lie, steal, curse, drink or smoke — but they also hold hands during chapel.

Oral Roberts, now 89, recently returned from semiretirement to try to quell a scandal that has shaken the flagship university of charismatic Christianity, but on Friday the scandal caused the downfall of his heir.

[...]

"I'm sure there is corruption everywhere," said freshman Ben Conners, one of a number of people interviewed before the resignation. "But if you're holding students to such a high standard, making them sign an honor code and live by these strict principles, I expect the administration to be living an even stricter set of principles. To see something like this, it feels empty, like an elaborate masquerade party."

At a university that is hardly a den of dissent, the reaction to the scandal has been striking. Before Richard Roberts stepped down, tenured faculty gave him a no-confidence vote and his hand-picked provost said he would resign if Roberts were reinstated.

"There was a time when the wagons would circle and we'd protect our own," said the Rev. Carlton Pearson, a former member of the ORU board of regents who is now a United Church of Christ minister. "But we don't know what our own is anymore. People are asking questions and questioning answers, and we're not used to it."

Those Dirty Fucking Hippies & their "Question Authority" crap from the '60s. Oh, if only we'd nipped that in the bud, we could just keep the scams going w/o any work, but now we have to keep the sheep from seeing what's going on right under their noses.

To outsiders, Oral Roberts may seem a relic, a man who drew scorn for saying in 1987 that God would "call me home" if he didn't raise $8 million in three months (he raised more than $9 million). But in the 1950s and 1960s, Roberts had brought spirit-filled Christianity into the mainstream. He took his revivals to a new frontier for religion: television.

"Here was this Pentecostal preacher who speaks in tongues, was brought up in poverty like many of us, and he builds this place that looks like it landed the night before from another planet," Pearson said. "I can't tell you the pride."

Isn't pride of those not-approved-of-in-the-Bible deals? Let alone pride in some dated '60s (there they are again) architecture that's starting to rust?

Most ORU students grow up in charismatic or Pentecostal churches. For some, the liberal arts school is the only education their parents will pay for, at a cost of almost $30,000 a year.

The rules are an endless source of curiosity. Curfew for female students is midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. weekends, and a half hour later for men. A violation can result in a $50 fine, which helped birth the ORU saying: "The wages of sin is $50."

[...]

[Tim] Brooker is one of three former professors who sued the university last month. He accused the school of forcing him to quit after he warned Richard Roberts that requiring students to work on a Tulsa mayoral candidate's campaign jeopardized the school's tax-exempt status. Brooker traces the scandal to a distortion of the "Seed-Faith" theology pioneered by Oral Roberts, which holds that those who give to God will get
things in return.

"Instead of focusing on what can we do for God, we've been focusing on what can I get from God," Brooker said.

And is it just a coincidence that this "God" of which they speak has no PayPal acc't. or the like, so any donations to curry his favor end up in the grasping mitts of a "ministry" somewhere?

Oral Roberts' teachings influenced a whole new generation of "prosperity gospel" preachers, six of whom are the target of a financial inquiry led by the ranking Republican on the Senate finance committee. Three of those under scrutiny — Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar — sit on the ORU board of regents.

[...]

Oral Roberts felt God used him as instrument to heal, and claimed Jesus had commissioned him to find a cure for cancer. Roberts also felt called to build the City of Faith, an enormous hospital complex that was to marry prayer and medicine, anchored by a 60-story tower. The project's collapse in the late 1980s is one reason ORU is a staggering $52.5 million in debt.

Still waiting for that cure, Oral. Wouldn't it be ironic if "God" used cancer to "call you home?"

We are, of course, terribly disappointed that Mr. Roberts & his wife Lindsay have not continued to fight these scurrilous accusations as they previously promised. (You know how that goes: First, the "this is all a hideous lie, I/we deny everything, & will fight this to my/our last breath" statement. Second, "I am temporarily stepping down from my position, as this is all too much of a distraction, & I/we will be better able to fight this to my/our last breath, & this will allow the work of the organization to continue." Then, the resignation, as quietly as possible, perhaps w/ an "I hope we can put all this behind us" statement.)

Not that we think these two hypocrites had anything to defend, we just wanted to learn more about Mrs. Roberts' sex life, as implied here. Juicy, to say the least. From the Tulsa World:

The full, unsubstantiated report now attached to the lawsuit contains new allegations that Lindsay Roberts, Richard Roberts' wife, spent the night in an ORU guest house with an underage male nine times, was photographed 29 times in her car with an underage male after midnight and after minors' curfew, visited Victory Christian School with an underage male 81 times in 2004, smoked with an underage male at her house and repeatedly moved her "male 16-year-old friend" into her family's house.

The summary of the report in the first version of the lawsuit stated that Lindsay Roberts had sent text messages to underage males late at night. She said earlier this week that one of her daughters used her cell phone and that the family sends cell phones home with the daughters' friends to ensure that they get home safely.

In case you're interested (& who wouldn't be?) here's a picture of Mrs. R.
(lovely, isn't she?) & a link from her website:
PLANT A SEEDIf you would like toplant a seed of yourfaith today, click here.
We're just assuming that's how she trolls for younger dudes on the web.

"An Educational and Thought provoking site, presented as a Public Service."

That would be this site, the United Progressive Socialist States of America. If the right wing droolers don't have actual senses of humor, their ability to inadvertently make mock of themselves is never ending. As an example, they link to this "entered into the Congressional Record" speech from 1963, which outlines "Current Communist Goals." Yes, 1963. Those Godless Commies just never give up.

Content provided here is purely for provoking thought. Nothing is intended to represent positions of anybody. If you consider this a joke, try waking up to reality!

Yeah, wake up to the reality of the American Criminal Liberties Union.
Wake up before it's too late!!

More Music More Often

U. K. version of Abbie Hoffman, now an antique boho.Mick Farren, local scribe, author, ex-pat (from the U. K.) has the patience to prowl YouTube & other sources for music vids, & he's just set up a companion web log to his DOC 40 site w/ nothing but videos.

We quote:

The regularly updated content will simply be the very best stuff I can find, although some may find it the predictable taste of a antique boho, but what the fuck. It’s something to do in the long winter evenings and some of this stuff is truly amazing.

As an antique boho & pathetic wallower in nostalgia ourself, we approve. DOCTUBE. Already on the Just Another Blog™ Locals Only Bogroll®.

Be sure to dig the Rolling Stones 1963 Rice Krispies™ advert!

Days of Our Lives

Today is Monday, November 26th, the 330th day of 2007. There are 35 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: November 26th, 1607, is believed to be the birthdate of London-born clergyman John Harvard, the principal benefactor of the original Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On this date: In 1825, the first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, New York. [Frat-boys. Great. — Ed.] In 1832, public streetcar service began in New York City. The fare: 12 1/2 cents. In 1933, a judge in New York ruled the James Joyce book "Ulysses" was not obscene and could therefore be published in the United States. In 1942, President Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing, beginning December 1st. In 1943, during World War II, HMT Rohna, a British ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed. In 1949, India adopted a constitution as a republic within the British Commonwealth. In 1950, China entered the Korean War, launching a counter-offensive against soldiers from the United Nations, the U.S. and South Korea. In 1965, France launched its first satellite, sending a 92-pound capsule into orbit. In 1973, President Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she'd accidentally caused part of the 18 1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape. [Oops! — Ed.] In 1986, President Reagan appointed a commission headed by former Senator John Tower to investigate his National Security Council staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair. Ten years ago: Under heavy international pressure, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said he would allow visits to presidential palaces where U.N. weapons experts suspected he might be hiding chemical and biological weapons. In a small but symbolic step, the United States and North Korea held high-level discussions at the State Department for the first time. Five years ago: WorldCom and the government settled a civil lawsuit over the company's 9 billion-dollar accounting scandal. A United Nations report said that for the first time in the 20-year history of the AIDS epidemic, about as many women as men were infected with HIV. One year ago: In New York City, an angry crowd demanded to know why police officers killed Sean Bell, an unarmed man, on the day of his wedding by firing dozens of shots that also wounded two of Bell's friends. In Turkey, tens of thousands of protesters denounced Pope Benedict the 16th as an enemy of Islam two days before the pontiff's scheduled visit. Rafael Correa won Ecuador's presidential runoff. Today's Birthdays: Impressionist Rich Little is 69. Singer Tina Turner is 68. Singer Jean Terrell is 63. Pop musician John McVie is 62. Blues singer-musician Bernard Allison is 42. Today's Birthdays of The Dead: Sarah Moore Grimke, abolitionist (1792) Ellen Gould Harmon White, Seventh Day Adventist co-founder (1827) Mary Edwards Walker, surgeon and feminist (1832) Katharine Drexel, Roman Catholic nun and saint (1858) Willis Carrier, air conditioning pioneer (1876) Norbert Wiener, mathematician and educator (1894) Eugene Ionesco, French playwright (1909) Charles Schulz, cartoonist (1922) [Good Grief, Charlie Brown! — Ed.] Robert Goulet, singer, actor (1933) Show Biz History: In 1942, the motion picture "Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere in New York City. In 1956, bandleader Tommy Dorsey was found dead at his Connecticut home after apparently choking. He was 51. In 1962, The Beatles recorded "Please Please Me." [Beatles three days in a row. — Ed.] In 1968, Cream performed its farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker continued working together in the band Blind Faith. In 1976, 10cc broke up. In 1982, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis married actress Cicely Tyson in New York. Comedian Bill Cosby was the best man. In 1989, more than 45 acts participated in an earthquake relief "Rock-A-Thon" broadcast on public television and in northern California. Three concerts were held in San Francisco, Oakland and Watsonville, the town hit hardest by the quake.

Sunday A. M. "Stunning" Architecture

Winslow House, first major commission. Hollyhock House, Hollywood "Rising Mildew", PA Storer House, 8161 Hollywood Blvd.From the pages of MSN, a Frank Lloyd Wright slideshow. Didn't bother to check the stories, we'd no more read something there than look at Parade Magazine for anything besides that big funny dog. If you must read about FLW, try the obsessional Dr. Storrer's FLlW website.

Huckabee Hounds Mormon Mitt

For today's dip into the Old or Mainstream Media, we'll go to the Washington Post & its story on Tax Hike Mike pulling up to Mittens' station wagon, hoping that damn dog isn't still tied to the roof. The suddenness of Huck's Iowa surge past the other Republican toads & weasels has been a surprise to all.

Even Huckabee appears to have been caught unprepared by the sudden turn of events. His Iowa state director is in Costa Rica hunting snakes over the Thanksgiving weekend and will not return to the state until tomorrow. On Friday afternoon, Huckabee's Iowa headquarters at the corner of Locust and 6th in downtown Des Moines was locked and deserted.

Think he was hunting snakes for some good ol' time Bible-based snake-handling? 'Cause really, what's the challenge in shooting a dumb old snake just lying on the ground waiting for the sun to warm it up? Are there no snakes in Iowa to kill?

Looks like the Hound will be getting it from both sides of the Republican party, the stupidity wing & the insanity wing.

With just a few weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses, Huckabee is frantically trying to organize his supporters in the Hawkeye State. They include a network of evangelical Christians who like Huckabee's antiabortion, anti-same-sex marriage rhetoric, home-school activists who appreciate the work he did for their cause in Arkansas, gun-rights groups, and advocates of replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, an idea that Huckabee has championed.

His political enemies -- no shortage of whom have popped up in recent days -- have gone on the offensive, accusing Huckabee of numerous tax increases, ethics violations and an ill-advised pardon. The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group in Washington, has all but turned itself into an anti-Huckabee machine. The Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly charges that Huckabee "destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas."

Good thing to destroy, & a swell person to piss off, but he still doesn't have our vote.

History Shows Again & Again...

Today is Sunday, November 25th, the 329th day of 2007. There are 36 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On November 25th, 1783, the British evacuated New York, their last military position in the United States during the Revolutionary War.
On this date:
In 1758, in the French and Indian War, the British captured Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh.
In 1881, Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli near Bergamo, Italy.
In 1947, movie studio executives meeting in New York agreed to blacklist the "Hollywood Ten" who'd been cited for contempt of Congress the day before.
In 1957, President Eisenhower suffered a slight stroke.
In 1963, the body of President Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. [See photo below. — Ed.]
In 1973, Greek President George Papadopoulos was ousted in a bloodless military coup.
In 1974, former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant died in New York at age 65.
In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.
In 1987, Harold Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago, died in office at age 65.
In 1999, 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez was rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off Florida, setting off an international custody battle between relatives in Miami and Elian's father in Cuba.
Ten years ago: Teamsters President Ron Carey announced he was taking an unpaid leave of absence to fight an election overseer's decision barring him from a rerun.
Five years ago: President Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, and appointed Tom Ridge to be its head. Space shuttle Endeavour arrived at the international space station, delivering one American and two Russians, and another girder for the orbiting outpost. Former State Department official Eugene V. Rostow died at age 89. Movie director Karel Reisz, who was part of British cinema's gritty 1960's renaissance, died in London at age 76.
One year ago: A police shooting outside a strip club in Queens, New York, resulted in the death of Sean Bell hours before his wedding. (Two officers were later indicted for manslaughter, and a third was charged with reckless endangerment; all three have pleaded not guilty.) Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire to end a five-month Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and the firing of rockets by Palestinian militants into the Jewish state.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Ricardo Montalban is 87. Actress Noel Neill is 87. Actress Kathryn Crosby is 74. [Der Bingle's daughter? Yow! — Ed.] Singer Percy Sledge is 67. Author, actor, [idiotic asshole — Ed.] and game show host Ben Stein is 63. Singer Bob Lind is 63. Actor John Larroquette is 60. Actor Tracey Walter is 60. Movie director Jonathan Kaplan is 60. Singer Amy Grant is 47. Rock singer-musician Tim Armstrong is 42. Singer Stacy Lattisaw is 41. Actress Jill Hennessy is 38. Actress Christina Applegate is 36.

Today's Dead People's Birthdays: Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist (1835)
Carry Moore Nation, temperance advocate (1846)
Pope John XXIII, religious leader (1881)
Virgil Thomson, composer (1896)
Ba Jin, modern novelist (1904)
Joe DiMaggio, baseballer (1914) [Oddly enough, we came across this wonderful item concerning Joltin' Joe, AKA Mr. Marilyn Monroe, just a few minutes ago]:

Furthermore, elites often expressed or ignored other forms of bigotry. Anti-Italian sentiment, while less acceptable than anti-black sentiment, could still be seen in major news publications before the war. Indeed, this rhetoric appeared in descriptions of the most popular Italian-American of the day, New York Yankees star Joe DiMaggio. In May 1939, Life wrote, “Although he learned Italian first, Joe, now twenty-four, speaks English without an accent and is otherwise well-adapted to most U.S. mores. Instead of olive oil or smelly bear grease he keeps his hair slick with water. He never reeks of garlic and prefers chicken chow mein to spaghetti.” The article also included a picture of DiMaggio with Joe Louis, captioned “Like Heavyweight Champion Louis, DiMaggio is lazy, shy, and inarticulate.”

John F. Kennedy, Jr. publisher, lawyer (1960)
[So just a dad-gum minute here. If the AP & Infoplease are correct, the photo above was taken on John-John's third birthday? There's some trauma. That, & wearing an outfit that matches your older sister's to the funeral of your assassinated father. Going down in your plane is probably the best outcome to something like that. The Editor would've been a heroin addict by the age of fifteen. — Ed.]

Show Bidness History: On November 25th, 1952, the Agatha Christie play "Mousetrap" opened in London. It became the longest-running play ever.
In 1961, Don and Phil Everly were sworn in to the US Marine Corps Reserves in Nashville and later reported to Camp Pendleton in San Diego.
In 1968, The Beatles' "White Album" was released. [Beatles news two days in a row. — Ed.]
In 1969, John Lennon returned his MBE medal to Queen Elizabeth to protest Britain's support for U.S. involvement to Vietnam, among other things. The other three Beatles kept their medals, which they received in 1965.
In 1976, The Band gave its final performance in San Francisco. The concert was documented in the movie "The Last Waltz."
In 1984, the Ethiopian famine relief song "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid was recorded in London. The session was organized by singer Bob Geldof.
In 1985, Bobby Brown announced he was leaving the group New Edition for a solo career.
In 1992, Whitney Houston's first movie, "The Bodyguard," opened nationwide. The movie's theme song "I Will Always Love You" was already a number one song when the film opened.
In 1998, comedian Flip Wilson died of liver cancer at his home in Malibu, California. He was 64.
Also in 1998, actor Michael J. Fox revealed he had Parkinson's disease.
In 2002, actor Nicolas Cage filed for divorce from Lisa Marie Presley. They had been married for four months.

Paleo-Humour

Who says conservatives don't have a sense of humor? We here @ Just Another Blog (From L. A.)™, for one. But once you get past the humor-less, self-righteous drones of the RW blog-o-sphere (whose idea of a joke, let alone humor, is trying to explain their latest idiotic rant as "meant to be funny") there is moderately amusing satire available, especially from the paleo-cons who aren't in total sync w/ Fearless Leader. Of course, F. L. is a satirical gold mine, & one Leon Hadar has taken his pick & shovel & extracted several nuggets from this mine. Of course, on a certain level it's far from funny at all, it's just plain sad. Not even the staff here will be that happy if the Fall of the West actually comes to pass because of Fearless Leader Bush's knee-jerk reactions & idiotic mistakes. But we'll still be gleefully jumping up & down & screeching: "Nyah nyah, told you so!!"

Buy Nothing Day

Just Another Blog™ is proud to note that it fully participated in not consuming on the day after Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, the staff fully participated in Don't Even Leave The House to Get The Mail Day. And today we vicariously participated in Buy Nothing Day (U. K.). International solidarity!!

Good News Down Under, Bad News Up Here

Big time Aussie asshat John Howard had his hat handed to him, along w/ an invitation to fuck off & die from the electorate.

The surge to Labor left conservative Prime Minister John Howard struggling to win even his own parliamentary seat, which he has held since 1974, putting him in danger of becoming the first prime minister since 1929 to lose his constituency. [...] A staunch U.S. ally committed to keeping Australian troops in Iraq, he offered voters income tax cuts, but few new policies, instead highlighting his strong economic record and attacking Labor's links to the trade union movement.

Typical right wing idiocy. As to economic strength:

The election was fought mainly on domestic issues, with Labor cashing in on anger at workplace laws and rising interest rates which put home owners under financial pressure at a time when Australia's economy is booming.

Sounds like "strength" for the already strong, especially w/ tax cuts no doubt aimed at the rich. The American economy appears to continue its division into two separate & unequal parts, judging from this NYT report:

With an uncertain economy, a slowdown in the housing market and high gas prices hanging over their heads, consumers flocked to discount chains like Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, brandishing bargain-filled fliers. In a reversal from years past, they largely bypassed more expensive retailers, including such powerhouses as Nordstrom, Coach and Abercrombie & Fitch, according to shoppers and merchants interviewed around the country. [...] Like thousands of Americans, Ms. Johnston has an adjustable-rate mortgage, and her rising payments have stolen from her holiday spending budget. “Before this, I shopped mostly at Macy’s and some at J. C. Penney, so shopping at Big Lots is, like, two big steps down for me,” she said. “This is going to be a hard Christmas.” [...] Yesterday, an employee at the Abercrombie & Fitch in Waterford, Conn., called the sparse crowds “scary.” A clerk at the Macy’s in the Westfield Old Orchard shopping center outside Chicago described the number of shoppers as no greater than a normal weekend morning.

And locally, Malibu seems to have caught fire again.

Historical Today Not Actually Uninteresting

Today is Saturday, November 24th, the 328th day of 2007. There are 37 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:On November 24th, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.
On this date:
In 1784, Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange County, Virginia. [OK, that's a bit dull. — Ed.]
In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," which explained his theory of evolution.
In 1944, during World War II, US bombers based on Saipan attacked Tokyo in the first raid against the Japanese capital by land-based planes.
In 1947, a group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the "Hollywood Ten" was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry.
In 1947, John Steinbeck's novel "The Pearl" was first published.
In 1950, the musical "Guys and Dolls," based on the writings of Damon Runyon and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opened on Broadway.
In 1969, Apollo 12 splashed down safely in the Pacific.
In 1971, hijacker "D.B. Cooper" parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 dollars in ransom, his fate remains unknown.
In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles.
Ten years ago: President Clinton and Pacific leaders began meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, to discuss ways of calming the Asian economic crisis. That same day, Japan's Yamaichi Securities closed its doors, becoming the third Japanese financial company to collapse in a month. Space-walking astronauts from the shuttle Columbia grabbed a spinning satellite with their hands, enabling the cockpit crew to use the shuttle's robot arm to return it to the cargo bay. [Remember the Columbia. — Ed.]
Five years ago: In a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Iraqi government complained that the small print behind upcoming weapons inspections would give Washington a pretext to attack. [No shit! — Ed.]Lucio Gutierrez, a populist former army colonel who'd led a coup in 2000, was elected as Ecuador's sixth president in six years. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's conservative party dominated parliamentary elections in Austria.
One year ago: Shiite militiamen in Iraq doused six Sunni Arabs with kerosene and burned them alive and killed 19 other Sunnis, taking revenge for the slaughter of 215 Shiites in Baghdad's Sadr City the day before. Belfast's most infamous Protestant militant, Michael Stone, stormed into the Northern Ireland Assembly headquarters with a bagful of pipe bombs; he was quickly subdued. Opera singer Robert McFerrin Senior, the father of Grammy-winning conductor-vocalist Bobby McFerrin, died in suburban St. Louis at age 85.

Today's Birthdays: Columnist William F. Buckley is 82. Country singer Johnny Carver is 67. Rock-and-roll drummer Pete Best is 66. Rock musician Donald "Duck" Dunn (Booker T. & the MG's) is 66. Actor-comedian Billy Connolly is 65. Former White House news secretary Marlin Fitzwater is 65. Motion Picture Association of America President Dan Glickman is 63. Singer Lee Michaels is 62. [As in Lee Michaels, who played the organ & was accompanied only by "Frosty" on drums? "Do You Know What I Mean?" Lee Michaels? Huh. — Ed.] Actor Dwight Schultz is 60. Actor Stanley Livingston is 57. Rock musician Clem Burke (Blondie; The Romantics) is 52. Record producer Terry Lewis is 51. Actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson is 51. Actress Denise Crosby is 50. Actress Shae D'Lyn is 45. Rock musician John Squire (The Stone Roses) is 45. Actress Lola Glaudini is 36. Actor Colin Hanks is 30. Actress Katherine Heigl ("Grey's Anatomy") is 29.

On November 24th, 1966, The Beatles began recording sessions for their album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." However, the song they recorded on this date, "Strawberry Fields Forever," did not make it onto that album.In 1972, ABC premiered the late night rock show "In Concert," which was produced by Don Kirshner. Guests on the first show included Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Poco and Seals and Crofts.
In 1985, singer "Big" Joe Turner died of a heart attack. He's known for the hits "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and "Honey Hush."
In 1991, Queen singer Freddie Mercury died of complications from AIDS at his home in London. He was 45. He had sent out a statement confirming rumors that he had AIDS only two days before his death.
Also in 1991, former Kiss drummer Eric Carr died of cancer in New York. He was 41.
Also in 1991, singer Cyndi Lauper married actor David Thornton in New York.
In 1992, lawyers for musician Bill Wyman and his ex-wife Mandy Smith announced the terms of their divorce settlement. She got to keep their house and its contents, plus legal fees.
In 2005, singer Scott Stapp and members of the band 311 got into a fight at a hotel bar in Baltimore.

The Transparent Society

If you doubted whatever previous references we've made to the forces of terror & repression keeping track of your physical location w/ that little GPS chip in your mobile, you can stop doubting. Those of you who, like us, receive most of our knowledge about the criminal justice system from Law & Order re-runs may already have noticed that Benson & Stabler have little or no problem tracking a "suspect" by his 'phone, & we don't hear much complaining about it from token civil libertarian Munch.

And it's not just the gov't. that'll be keeping a closer eye on you. In the name of profit, your privacy & safety are being eroded by the same corporate entities that are so willing to coöperate w/ Uncle Sam (who conveniently made it possible in the first place):

The issue is taking on greater relevance as wireless carriers are racing to offer sleek services that allow cellphone users to know with the touch of a button where their friends or families are. The companies are hoping to recoup investments they have made to meet a federal mandate to provide enhanced 911 (E911) location tracking. Sprint Nextel, for instance, boasts that its "loopt" service even sends an alert when a friend is near, "putting an end to missed connections in the mall, at the movies or around town."

Face it, you are no longer safe from anyone, anywhere. Gov't., spouse, significant other, parental units, irksome relatives, casual acquaintances; if they have your literal number, they have your figurative number as well. Or your latitude & longitude.

With Verizon's Chaperone service, parents can set up a "geofence" around, say, a few city blocks and receive an automatic text message if their child, holding the cellphone, travels outside that area. "Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket," said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Cellphones can reveal very precise information about your location, and yet legal protections are very much up in the air."

The specific thrust of the WaPo story is that warrants for tracking by mobile 'phone are being requested & given w/o what some Nervous Nellies say is "probable cause."

"Law enforcement routinely now requests carriers to continuously 'ping' wireless devices of suspects to locate them when a call is not being made . . . so law enforcement can triangulate the precise location of a device and [seek] the location of all associates communicating with a target," wrote Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA -- the Wireless Association, in a July comment to the Federal Communications Commission. He said the "lack of a consistent legal standard for tracking a user's location has made it difficult for carriers to comply" with law enforcement agencies' demands. Gidari, who also represents CTIA, said he has never seen such a request that was based on probable cause. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said field attorneys should follow the department's policy. "We strongly recommend that prosecutors in the field obtain a warrant based on probable cause" to get location data "in a private area not accessible to the public," he said. "When we become aware of situations where this has not occurred, we contact the field office and discuss the matter." "Law enforcement has absolutely no interest in tracking the locations of law-abiding citizens. None whatsoever," Boyd said. "What we're doing is going through the courts to lawfully obtain data that will help us locate criminal targets, sometimes in cases where lives are literally hanging in the balance, such as a child abduction or serial murderer on the loose."

Absolutely no interest. Sometimes. Don't forget they're already doing their best to keep you even stupider than you already are w/ mobiles.

You May Have Missed This

At yesterday's Thanksgiving fest (featuring The World's Only Edible Turkey™, juicy & tender to a "tee" 'cause it was brined & cooked perfectly by Mr. Mike, of the Clash City Rockers) we were made aware that a certain photo of one Pat Boone "showing off" may not have been made clearly available here. Frankly, we draw the naked parts line just past nipples here, though we aren't promising you might not see some bush at some time in the future. So you'll have to click to see this Not Safe For Work item. From Hustler, via Boing Boing.

The March of Time-Life, Inc.

Today is Friday, November 23rd, the 327th day of 2007. There are 38 days left in the year.
[Dull fucking day, as far as history goes. — Ed.] On this date:
In 1804, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, was born in Hillsboro, New Hampshire.
In 1889, the first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco.
In 1903, singer Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto."
In 1936, LIFE, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.
In 1943, during World War II, US forces seized control of Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese.
In 1945, most US wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter, was set to expire by day's end.
In 1963, President Johnson proclaimed November 25th a day of national mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
In 1971, the People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.
In 1980, some 2,600 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.
In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the waves off Comoros Islands, killing about two-thirds of the 175 people on board.
Ten years ago: Iowa mother of septuplets Bobbi McCaughey left the hospital and returned home while her seven babies stayed behind in intensive care. Artillery shells fired by Lebanese guerrillas accidentally struck a village near the Israeli border, killing eight Lebanese.
Five years ago: President Bush visited Vilnius, Lithuania, and Bucharest, Romania, where he vowed to defend hard-won freedoms behind the former Iron Curtain. [Heck of a job, Bushie. — Ed.] Miss World organizers moved the beauty pageant from Abuja, Nigeria, to London after about 100 people died in violence triggered by a newspaper's suggestion that the Islamic prophet Muhammad would have liked the event.
One year ago: Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin. Car bombs and mortar rounds struck a Shiite slum in Baghdad, killing 215 people. Death claimed Broadway librettist Betty Comden at age 89; jazz vocalist Anita O'Day at age 87; and French actor Philippe Noiret at age 76.

Today's Birthdays: Broadway composer Jerry Bock is 79. [No other even slightly interesting birthdays today. Jerry's is interesting only because of the next item. — Ed.]
In 1959, the musical "Fiorello!," with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, opened on Broadway. It was based on the story of New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.
In 1964, the BBC banned the Rolling Stones from its airwaves after the band arrived late for two radio shows.
In 1974, singer-musician Gary Wright left the band Spooky Tooth for a solo career. He went on to have success with "Dream Weaver." [Suck Fest. — Ed.]
In 1976, Jerry Lee Lewis was arrested outside of Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis. Authorities said he was brandishing a pistol and was demanding to see Presley. Lewis was charged with public intoxication and possession of a weapon.
In 1983, actress Mary Tyler Moore married cardiologist Dr. Robert Levine in New York.
In 1989, Paul McCartney began his first North American tour in more than a dozen years, playing the first of several shows in the Los Angeles area.
In 1992, country legend Roy Acuff died in Nashville at age 89. He had joined the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930's and appeared regularly up until several months before he died.
In 1995, director Louis Malle died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, of complications from lymphoma. He was 63. He's known for films like "Pretty Baby" and "My Dinner with Andre."
Also on that day, singer Junior Walker of Junior Walker and the All-Stars died of cancer in Battle Creek, Michigan.
In 1996, Bob Hope set a record for the longest continuous contract in the history of radio and television when his last TV special aired. Hope had been with NBC for 60 years.
Also in 1996, actor Woody Harrelson and eight other environmental activists were arrested after scaling the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as a protest to save redwood trees in Northern California. They were accused of tying up traffic for hours.

Death in The Suburbs

For a completely bogus holiday, here's one from the "people are no damn good" file.

For nearly a year, the families who live along Waterford Crystal Drive in this bedroom community northwest of St. Louis have kept the secret about the boy Megan Meier met last September on the social networking site MySpace. [...] "All we feel is frustration, anger," neighbor Kriss said. "For months, we've been asking ourselves, 'What mother in her right mind would do this? And why won't the cops do anything to punish them?'

"We just want them gone."

Imagine living along "Waterford Crystal Drive." In the suburbs of St. Louis.

1 Picture = 1,000 Words

Therefore, several pictures should really save us some time & words!

More Bu'shit Concerning Mushy Pervis

We've picked the most damaging & insulting quotes from this WaPo article. Go ahead, click & read the whole mess if you're interested in so-called "objectivity." But it'd be a waste of your time. The good stuff is right here.

President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general "hasn't crossed the line" and "truly is somebody who believes in democracy."

Bush spoke nearly three weeks after Musharraf declared emergency rule, sacked members of the Supreme Court and began a roundup of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. Musharraf's government yesterday released about 3,000 political prisoners, although 2,000 remain in custody, according to the Interior Ministry.

The comments [...] contrasted with previous administration statements -- including by Bush himself -- expressing grave concern over Musharraf's actions. In his first public comments on the crisis two weeks ago, Bush said his aides bluntly warned Musharraf that his emergency measures "would undermine democracy." [...] Several outside analysts and a key Democratic lawmaker expressed incredulity over Bush's comments and called them a sign of how personally invested the president has become in the U.S. relationship with Musharraf. "What exactly would it take for the president to conclude Musharraf has crossed the line? Suspend the constitution? Impose emergency law? Beat and jail his political opponents and human rights activists?" asked Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate. "He's already done all that. If the president sees Musharraf as a democrat, he must be wearing the same glasses he had on when he looked in Vladimir Putin's soul."

[...] Bush replied, according to an ABC transcript[:] ". . . We didn't necessarily agree with his decision to impose emergency rule, and . . . hopefully he'll get . . . rid of the rule. Today, I thought, was a pretty good signal, that he released thousands of people from jail." Tom Malinowski, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said that "it's hard to imagine how the administration will be able to achieve anything in Pakistan if the president is so disconnected from reality." "Almost everyone in Pakistan who believes in George Bush's vision of democracy is in prison today," Malinowski said. "Calling the man who put them in prison a great democrat will only discredit America among moderate Pakistanis and give Musharraf confidence that he can continue to defy the United States because Bush will forgive anything he does." [...] Although the current crisis has prompted the administration to launch a review of its aid to Pakistan, officials said yesterday that they are looking favorably at continuing most economic and military aid, which has surpassed $10 billion since 2001. Musharraf has provided extensive assistance to the United States in its efforts to seize high-profile al-Qaeda suspects, but his devotion to the fight has been increasingly questioned by some U.S. officials and outside experts. Musharraf "is not only not indispensable; he is a serious liability" to U.S. policy, a new report by the International Crisis Group said.

We're just copying this part so we may show you the successor to Tony Snow, who was the successor to Scott McClelland.

White House press secretary Dana Perino

said in an e-mail message that the president was sincere in his comments to ABC. "He does believe that President Musharraf believes in democracy, and there is evidence to that fact based on the reforms he'd put in place over the last several years," she said. "Musharraf has made a mistake and took a detour -- we are hopeful that he will restore the constitution and get the country back to that path to democracy."

[...]

"Unless the opposition parties can mount some kind of street campaign, it looks like Musharraf will stay in power for the near future," said Stephen P. Cohen, a Brookings Institution scholar and an authority on South Asia. "It is now up to the generals. When you have no effective state, no rule of law, it's only people with guns who can remove a leader -- and that means the generals."

Husain Haqqani, a longtime adviser to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who now teaches at, Boston University, said Bush's comments yesterday suggest that "the president of the United States does not grasp the situation in Pakistan correctly," adding: "Musharraf's support and significance to the United States is overestimated by a White House that is bogged down by other concerns."

[...]

"He's been a loyal ally in fighting terrorists. He's also advanced democracy in Pakistan," Bush said. "He has said he's going to take off his uniform. He's said there will be elections. Today he released prisoners, and so far I've found him to be a man of his word."

Let's take a page from the original inhabitants of this continent, to whom honkies give thanks today, though we suspect the O. I.'s descendants may not be so thankful: "White man & Pakistani speak w/ forked tongue."