Top 20 Favorite Albums of 2007

and the lists continue...

1. The Pigeon Detectives Wait for Me [Dance to the Radio]

2. The Enemy We'll Live and Die in These Towns [Warner Music Group]

3. Hard-Fi Once Upon a Time in the West [Necessary Records/Warner]

4. Tiny Dancers Free School Milk [Parlophone]

5. The Cinematics A Strange Education [TVT Records]

6. Interpol Our Love to Admire [Capitol Records]

7. Dolores O'Riordan Are You Listening? [Sanctuary Records]

8. The Automatic Not Accepted Anywhere [B-Unique Records]

9. The View Hats Off to the Buskers [1965 Records]

10. The Cribs Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever [Warner Brothers Records]

11. Editors An End Has a Start [Kitchenware Records]
12. The Libertines The Best Of [Rough Trade]
13. Little Man Tate About What You Know [Yellow Van Records]
14. Babyshambles Shotter's Nation [Regal Records]
15. Jamie T Panic Prevention [Virgin]
16. 1990s Cookies [Rough Trade]
17. Bloc Party A Weekend in the City [Vice]
18. Various Artists Radio 1 Established 1967 [Sony Music Entertainment]
19. Biffy Clyro Puzzle [14th Floor]
20. Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare [Domino]

Top 100 Favorite Singles Released in 2007

last year i stopped at 75...yes, my music nerdiness is increasing...oh, and thanks to my itunes for counting play stats for me...i have tried to limit the list to singles with a commercial or radio release in the US or UK in 2007:

1. Hard-Fi Suburban Knights [Once Upon a Time in the West]

2. Athlete Hurricane [Beyond the Neighbourhood]

3. Stereophonics It Means Nothing [Pull the Pin]

4. Against Me! Thrash Unreal [New Wave]

5. Silverchair Straight Lines [Young Modern]

6. Klaxons Golden Skans [Myths of the Near Future]

7. Interpol Mammoth [Our Love to Admire]

8. Snow Patrol Shut Your Eyes [Eyes Open]

9. Biffy Clyro Folding Stars [Puzzle]

10. Bloc Party I Still Remember [A Weekend in the City]
11. Editors Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors [An End Has a Start]
12. Arctic Monkeys Fluorescent Adolescent [Favourite Worst Nightmare]
13. Tiny Dancers I Will Wait For You [Free School Milk]
14. Field Music A House Is Not a Home [Tones of Town]
15. Kate Nash Foundations [Made of Bricks]
16. The Pigeon Detectives Take Her Back [Wait For Me]
17. The Enemy Had Enough [We'll Live and Die in These Towns]
18. The Wombats Let's Dance to Joy Division [The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation]
19. Snow Patrol Signal Fire [Spiderman 3 Soundtrack]
20. The Cribs Men's Needs [Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever]
21. Kaiser Chiefs Ruby [Yours Truly Angry Mob]
22. The Bravery Time Won't Let Me Go [The Sun and the Moon]
23. The View Same Jeans [Hats off to the Buskers]
24. Dolores O'Riordan When We Were Young [Are You Listening?]

25. Little Man Tate This Must Be Love [About What You Know]

26. Mat Kearney Undeniable [Nothing Left to Lose]
27. Kings of Leon Fans [Because of the Times]
28. Andrea Corr Shame on You [Ten Feet High]

29. Interpol The Heinrich Maneuver [Our Love to Admire]
30. The Cinematics Break [A Strange Education]
31. The Enemy It's Not Ok [We'll Live and Die in These Towns]
32. Manic Street Preachers Your Love Alone Is Not Enough [Send Away the Tigers]
33. Silversun Pickups Lazy Eye [Caravans]
34. Hard-Fi Can't Get Along (Without You) [Once Upon a Time in the West]
35. Modest Mouse Missed the Boat [We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank]
36. Fields If You Fail We All Fail [Everything Last Winter]
37. Dogs This Stone Is a Bullet [Tall Stories From Under the Table]
38. Eisley Invasion [Combinations]
39. The Automatic Monster [Not Accepted Anywhere]
40. Ian Brown Feat. Sinead O'Connor Illegal Attacks [The World Is Yours]
41. Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan Some Surprise [The Cake Sale]
42. Editors An End Has a Start [An End Has a Start]
43. The Pigeon Detectives I Found Out [Wait For Me]
44. LCD Soundsystem North American Scum [Sound of Silver]
45. The Enemy You're Not Alone [We'll Live and Die in These Towns]
46. Mat Kearney Breathe In Breathe Out [Nothing Left to Lose]
47. The Thrills The Midnight Choir [Teenager]
48. Scouting For Girls It's Not About You [Scouting For Girls]
49. The Twang Wide Awake [Love It When I Feel Like This]
50. Maximo Park Our Velocity [Our Earthly Pleasures]
51. Snow Patrol Open Your Eyes [Eyes Open]
52. Arcade Fire No Cars Go [Neon Bible]
53. Modest Mouse Dashboard [We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank]
54. Travis Closer [The Boy With No Name]
55. The Cinematics Keep Forgetting [A Strange Education]
56. Spoon The Underdog [Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga]
57. Aqualung Pressure Suit [Memory Man]
58. The Pigeon Detectives Romantic Type [Wait For Me]
59. Regina Spektor Better [Begin To Hope]
60. Vega4 Life Is Beautiful [You and Others]
61. The Killers Shadowplay [Sawdust]
62. Biffy Clylo Living Is a Problem Becasue Everything Dies [Puzzle]
63. The Shins Phantom Limb [Wincing the Night Away]
64. Cold War Kids Hang Me Out to Dry [Robbers & Cowards]
65. Babyshambles You Talk [Shotter's Nation]
66. Republic of Loose w/ Snow Patrol Comeback Girl [Aaagh!!!]
67. Test Your Reflex Pieces of the Sun [The Burning Hour]
68. Guster C'mon [Ganging Up On the Sun]
69. Newton Faulkner Dream Catch Me [Hand Built By Robots]
70. The Automatic Raoul [Not Accepted Anywhere]
71. Mêlée Built To Last [Devils & Angels]
72. Tiny Dancers Ashes and Diamonds [Free School Milk]
73. The Killers Read My Mind [Sam's Town]
74. Mark Ronson feat. Lily Allen Oh My God [Version]
75. Kaiser Chiefs Everything Is Average Nowadays [Yours Truly Angry Mob]
76. Babyshambles Delivery [Shotter's Nation]
77. Dolores O'Riordan Ordinary Day [Are You Listening?]
78. Little Man Tate Sexy In Latin [About What You Know]
79. The Pigeon Detectives I'm Not Sorry [Wait For Me]
80. Jamie T Shelia [Panic Prevention]
81. Sara Bareilles Love Song [Little Voice]
82. Rooney When Did Your Heart Go Missing [Calling the World]
83. Nina Gordon Turn On Your Radio [Bleeding Heart Graffiti]
84. The 1990s You Made Me Like It [Cookies]
85. Leona Lewis Bleeding Love [Spirit]
86. The Maccabees Precious Time [Colour Me In]
87. Orson Ain't No Party [Culture Vultures]
88. The Hoosiers Worried About Ray [The Trick to Life]
89. Athlete Tokyo [Beyond the Neighbourhood]
90. Marc Ronson Feat. Amy Winehouse Valerie [Version]
91. Bloc Party Hunting for Witches [A Weekend in the City]
92. The Thrills Nothing Changes Round Here [Teenager]
93. Kings of Leon On Call [Because of the Times]
94. The Good, the Bad, and the Queen Kingdom of Doom [The Good, the Bad, and the Queen]
95. The Cribs Moving Pictures [Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever]
96. Arctic Monkeys Brainstorm [Favourite Worst Nightmare]
97. The Courteeners Acrylic [Acrlyic]
98. Interpol No I In Threesome [Our Love to Admire]
99. Turin Brakes Stalker [Dark On Fire]
100. Klaxons It's Not Over Yet [Myths of the Near Future]

Some great songs that did not get released as singles, or they would have made the list:
Phil Campbell Joy [Joy]
Snow Patrol Isolation [Instant Karma]
The Cribs I'm a Realist [Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever]
Leigh Nash Ocean Sized Love [Blue on Blue]
Tiny Dancers Shame [Free School Milk]
The Twang Don't Wait Up [Love It When I Feel Like This]
Feist I Feel It All [The Reminder]
Against Me! Stop [New Wave]

gop state charman in kansas boasts of voter suppression

well, what else is new...via bluetiderising:

Earlier today Kris Kobach, chairman of the Kansas GOP, sent out a self-congratulatory litany of accomplishments. Among them was one particularly eye-catching item:

To date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years!

We're going to move past the fact that any amount of voter identification would be more than the amount the GOP has done in the last two years, or four for that matter. The practice of caging is what caught our eye.

Caging is a particularly devious and underhanded method of purging likely Democratic voters from the pollbooks. It's also illegal.

How does it work?

The use of direct mail caging techniques to target voters resulted in the application of the name to the political tactic. With one type of caging, a political party sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliverable - because, for example, the voter refuses to sign for it, the voter isn't present for delivery, or the voter is homeless - the party uses that fact to challenge the registration, arguing that because the voter could not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudulent. A political party challenges the validity of a voter's registration; for the voter's ballot to be counted, the voter must prove that their registration is valid.

Voters targeted by caging are often the most vulnerable: soldiers deployed overseas, those who are unfamiliar with their rights under the law, and those who cannot spare the time, effort, and expense of proving that their registration is valid. On the day of the election, when the voter arrives at the poll and requests a ballot, an operative of the party challenges the validity of their registration. Ultimately, caging works by dissuading a voter from casting a ballot, or by ensuring that they cast a provisional ballot, which is less likely to be counted.

Slate.com has the best comprehensive write-up on how the Republican Party employs caging techniques to suppress the votes of the poor, the deployed, and college students. (You know, likely Democratic voters.)

Did we mention it's illegal? And that Kris Kobach is proud to be doing it?

Since Kris Kobach can't expand his own party or force his own Party's members to support his candidates he's shamelessly trying to keep Democrats from voting instead. This is the stratagem of a desperate and shrinking party.

Someone needs to ask Kris Kobach which voters he's caging and how he's doing it. Someone like a newspaper editor or perhaps a Grand Jury.

the president cuts millions in childrens health care. again.

first s-chip for the middle class kids, now medicaid for poor and disabled kids is being targeted by the bush administration...and this time, it impacts education, too, and likely will cause local school disrits to find the money elsewhere for speech and physical therapy for kids...so school tax will ilkey be raised, thus meaning the president both cut health care for poor kids and raised taxes. merry christmas, indeed:

President Bush drew criticism this fall for his refusal to fund a children’s health insurance program. On Friday, his healthcare slashing continued.

According to the Washington Post, “the Bush administration eliminated about $700 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements to schools, sidestepping an attempt by Congress to block such a move.”

Issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the new rule is projected to save the federal government $3.6 billion over five years, transferring those costs to school districts. Many school principals and superintendents said that the loss of the funding could force districts to cut other programs.

gun control legislaion supported by the NRA?!

file this under "things i never thought I'd read"

via rawstory:

The US Congress, spurred into action by the Virginia Tech shooting rampage in April, approved Wednesday a measure broadening background checks for gun buyers.

The measure, the first major gun control legislation approved since 1994, passed by voice vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives

The legislation provides funds to improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the main US background check system for gun purchases, and to encourage states to broaden checks on local gun owners.

"A credible ... federal database to provide accurate background checks benefits everyone," said Senator Patrick Leahy, one of the bill co-sponsors.

Improving the background check system "will help curb the number of firearms that get into the hands of troubled individuals," he said.

The measure was supported by the powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and now awaits President George W. Bush's signature to become law.

"The end product is a win for American gun owners," the NRA said in a statement, describing the measure as "pro-gun legislation."

oh, how i loathe the grammys

so, every year the grammy nomoinations come out, and every year i yell something along the lines of, "what the motherfing hell do you mean _____ is nominated?!" or "i wish hadn't seen these stuipid nominations so i wouldn't feel so outraged at how awful they are!" this year is no exception to this personal umberella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, rule, but i think the good folks at best week ever have summed up exactly why the grammys are completely irrelevant:

The Five Types Of Grammy “Best Album” Nominees

The 2008 Grammy nominees were announced today, and at the risk of implying that the annual statue factory that is the Grammy Awards is in any way relevant, let’s handicap the field for this year’s “Album of the Year” nominees, which kiiiind of resembles last year’s “Album of the Year” nominees, and the year before that…

1. The New Album By Rock N’ Roll Band That Grammy Voters Have Actually Heard Of Because They’ve Been Around For 10+ Years: “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” by Foo Fighters.

Past Nominees: “American Idiot” by Greenday, the last six or seven albums by U2

2. The Rap Album By Artist Who We’re Pretty Sure The Kids Are Listening To Because We Saw A Joke On Leno That Mentioned Him/Her, So We Might As Well Give Them One Nomination In a Category Without ‘Urban’ In The Title: “Graduation” by Kanye West

Past Nominees: “Late Registration” by Kanye West, “The College Dropout” by Kanye West

3. The Country Album That We Assume Is Probably Really Popular Because We Heard That Country Is Really Popular Because It Sells A Lot Of Albums: “These Days” by Vince Gill

Past Nominees: “Taking The Long Way” by the Dixie Chicks, “Come On Over” by Shania Twain

4. The Album By The Person Who We Heard Is Generating A Whole Bunch Of Controversy So They Must Really Be The Bee’s Knees: “Back To Black” by Amy Winehouse

Past Nominees: “The Marshall Mathers LP” by Eminem, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” by Lauryn Hill

5. The Album That No One Has Heard Of Or Possesses Any Evidence That It Actually Exists, But Holy Sh*t, We Have To Let It Win: “River: The Joni Years” by Herbie Hancock, featuring Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, and Tina Turner.

Past Nominees: “Genius Loves Company” by Ray Charles, “Two Against Nature” by Steely Dan

well, it's not a news network anyway

maybe they can sell it to fox noise. or the sci-fi channel.

from thinkprogress:

The latest National Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran discontinued its nuclear weapons program four years ago has claimed one casualty: CNN has postponed speculative documentary “We Were Warned — Iran Goes Nuclear.”

The two-hour spec, which was slated for Dec. 12 under the “CNN Presents” banner, was “set partially in the future,” featuring a what-if scenario as former government officials — playing fictional cabinet members — debate how to deal with the Iranian threat.

That special was “based on a different set of rules and a different set of conditions,” said CNN veep-senior exec producer Mark Nelson, noting that the surprising NIE report “changed everything.”

take that, weimar republic inflation!

100,000 percent?!?! donde los yikes...via bbc news:

Zimbabwe's chief statistician has said it is impossible to work out the country's latest inflation rate because of the lack of goods in shops.

"There are too many data gaps," the Central Statistical Office's Moffat Nyoni told state media.

Many staple goods are often absent from shop shelves after the government ordered prices to be halved or frozen in a bid to stem galloping inflation.

September's inflation rate was put at almost 8,000%, the world's highest.

Other reports suggest the rate could be at near 15,000% and the International Monetary Fund had warned it could reach 100,000% by the end of the year.

sideboob!

best week ever introduces us to a wonderful new term: sideboob! and it has to do with the umbrella, ella, ella, ella, eh, eh lady....the clip in question is after the talk of uncle jesse on the airplane...

yeah, just draw your own conclusions...

These are the most viewed pages on Conservapedia, which Phyllis’ Schlafly’s son created in response to Wikipedia’s “liberal bias” (source: Wikipedia’s “Conservapedia” entry). So I guess these are the most popular pages from a conservative bias:


as if all of this wasn't strange enough, according to the site's FAQ, Conservapedia originated as a project for homeschooled children...

the thanksgiving pardoning of turkeys (but not pigs)

i'm sorry, but i can't get behind ham for thanksgiving...
via wonkette.com:
A group of Virginians are claiming that Virginian settlers held the first Thanksgiving in 1619, a full year before the better-know Puritans broke their bread of thanks. Also, there was no turkey served, but there was probably ham. So, a children’s author in Virginia Beach, Lisa Suhay, is trying to get President Bush to pardon a pig in addition to the regular Thanksgiving turkey. The White House is saying no dice (because bacon tastes good and pork chops taste good), but Bush did head down to the less No. part of Va. yesterday to acknowledge that they are saying that their Thanksgiving was first and then came back here for his obligatory photo op with two turkeys. No, he’s not posing with any of the Presidential candidates.

So, this week the President once again pardoned a turkey (no, not scooter libby), which always makes me think of how this barbaric and silly photo op was so wonderfully enacted on The West Wing (as so many things are)...

CJ : I need you to pardon a turkey.

Bartlet : I already pardoned a turkey... aren't I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?

CJ : They sent me two turkeys. The most photo-friendly of the two gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children's zoo. The runner-up gets eaten.

Bartlet : If the Oscars were like that, I'd watch.

At least the President did better this year...we all remember how last year, the pardoned turkey proved to, um, choose an interestingly humorous pose during his photo op with the President. *(insert your own gobble gobble joke here)

i didn't think sweethart meant that!

Via BBC World:
The latest novel by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been banned in Iran - but only after censors noticed its title had been sanitised.

The book, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, was published in Farsi as Memories of My Melancholy Sweethearts.

The first edition of 5,000 had sold out before the authorities realised.

The novel tells the story of a man who wants to mark his 90th birthday by sleeping with a 14-year-old virgin in a brothel and ends up falling in love.

Iran's culture ministry said a "bureaucratic error" had led to permission being granted for the book's publication, the Fars news agency reported. The official responsible had been sacked, Fars said.

The book sold out within three weeks of arriving in Iranian bookshops.

so, if you need an idea of an x-mas gift for me...

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

the sad state of our republic, part 428

1 in 5 NYU students would swap their right to vote for an iPod Touch

via wonkette:

There's one thing dorky-sexier than Barack Obama: An iPod Touch, the $300 toy that 20 percent of New York University students would trade for their vote in the next presidential election.

your guide to automobile open container laws and related oddities

courtesy of jalopink.com

11 states where there are significant variations in the law:

Alaska
Generally speaking, the laws in Alaska are not at great variation with the federally mandated requirements. The one major exception is that you can have an open container on a "Motor-Driven Cycle," which basically means a motor scooter with less than 50 cc of engine displacement.

Arkansas
Technically, there is no federally complaint law regulating open containers specifically in vehicles according to the National Institute of Health's Alcohol Policy Information System. That being said, it's illegal in Arkansas to drink in a public place, which includes highways or any vehicles commonly used for transportation. [U of A]

Connecticut
Illegal for someone to drink while operation of a car on a public road, in a parking area for 10 cars or more, on a private road with an established speed limit or on any school property. Your passengers can get as blitzed as they like, assuming they are of legal age. Of course, the law doesn't make driving with drunks any less distracting or annoying.[CT.gov]

Delaware
Limited. No state-wide Open Containers law.

Louisiana
Though Louisiana does have a ban on open containers, there is an exception for frozen alcoholic beverages with lids on them. While you can't drink it, or put a straw in it, you can order a 60-ounce Hurricane or Strawberry Daiquiri from adrive-through.

Mississippi
Limited. No state-wide Open Containers law.

Missouri
Limited. No state-wide Open Containers law

Tennessee
While the law prohibits the possession of a beverage or consumption by the driver of a motor-vehicle, the law states that a passenger can have possession of a beverage.

Virginia
While there is no state-wide Open Containers law, the law does prohibit the consumption of a beverage by a person driving a car and says that it is presumed that the driver has consumed a beverage if there is an open container and some other indicator that the driver may be drunk (slurred speech, appearance, odor, et cetera).

West Virginia
Limited. No state-wide Open Containers law

Wyoming
As you probably have guessed, oenophilia runs rampant in Wyoming. While the law does state that you can't have an open container while driving (your passenger may), you can have resealed wine with you and that does not count as wine.

congress overrides bush veto....no, really!!!

file this under "about damn time."

Senate Enacts Water Resources Bill, Overriding Bush Veto

President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unecessary projects. The vote was 79-14 to pass the bill. Enactment was a foregone conclusion, but it still marked a milestone for a president who spent his first six years with a much friendlier Congress controlled by his Republican Party. Now he confronts a more hostile, Democratic-controlled legislature, and Thursday's vote showed that even many Republicans will defy him on spending matters dear to their political careers.

The bill funds hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration, that are important to local communities and their representatives. It also includes money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts.

The House voted 361-54 to override the veto Tuesday. Both votes easily exceeded the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to negate a presidential veto.

The last such veto override happened when Congress dealt President Clinton the second of his two overrides in November 1998.

up next: schip and the war...we hope...

president bush sets more records...for unpopularity

via rawstory:
For the first time, George W. Bush has surpassed Richard M. Nixon in unpopularity in the Gallup Poll, receiving the highest "strongly disapprove" rating for a president in Gallup's history.

The little noticed statistic -- publicly noted on Gallup's poll writeup -- made a single headline in Google News. The story, at Editor and Publisher, was titled "GALLUP: Bush Finally Tops Nixon -- In Unpopularity -- As Call for Iraq Pullout Hits New Peak."

Gallup details Bush's falling numbers in a series of graphs that appear below. They note that Bush's "strongly disapprove" rating is the highest Gallup has ever measured for a US president, though the category is not polled in every survey.

"Gallup has followed its classic job approval measure with this “strongly” probe on only an intermittent basis over the years, so it is important to note that the historical context is fairly limited," the pollsters note. "Additionally, other variations in polling over the years make comparisons of this measure inexact. Still, it is worth noting that the current 50% “strongly disapprove” figure for Bush is as high as Gallup has ever measured. (A February 1974 poll showed Richard Nixon’s strongly disapprove number at 48%, statistically equivalent to Bush’s current reading on this measure.)"

On Feb. 6, 1974, the House voted to authorize the Judiciary Committee to investigate grounds for impeaching President Nixon; in March of that year, seven of Nixon's former staff were indicted for Watergate-related crimes.

Nixon resigned the presidency August 9, 1974.

Gallup's survey was conducted last Friday through Sunday and involved 1,024 Americans.

talk about going off the deep end...

Rachel Mardsen, conservative commentator, on waterboarding, aka torture, on cnn's the situation room:

"Well I think we do have to define torture. One man’s torture is another man’s CIA’s sponsored swim lesson."


wow, what an idiot...they will let any old nimrod on tv...that, or maybe only someone this mentally impaired would defend the bush administration's stance on waterboarding.

keith's special comment on waterboarding and torture

brilliant, as always:

It is a fact startling in its cynical simplicity and it requires cynical and simple words to be properly expressed: The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.

All the petulancy, all the childish threats, all the blank-stare stupidity; all the invocations of World War III, all the sophistic questions about which terrorist attacks we wanted him not to stop, all the phony secrets; all the claims of executive privilege, all the stumbling tap-dancing of his nominees, all the verbal flatulence of his apologists...

All of it is now, after one revelation last week, transparently clear for what it is: the pathetic and desperate manipulation of the government, the refocusing of our entire nation, toward keeping this mock president and this unstable vice president and this departed wildly self-overrating attorney general, and the others, from potential prosecution for having approved or ordered the illegal torture of prisoners being held in the name of this country...

view the rest (and it gets better) here:

Special Comment: On waterboarding and torture

the next olympic sport?

well, we already have several equestrian events, i suppose this "horse dancing" (for lack of a better term) can't be too far off.  i particularly enjoyed the bit towards the end of the video where the horse dances to "lady marmalade"  [insert christina aguilera joke here].  

just when you thought americans might be wising up...

so, the president's approval ratings may be at nixonian levels, but tthat doesn't mean that americans aren't buying his arguments about the upcoming world war III in iran.  

via rawstory:

Despite President Bush's perpetually abysmal approval ratings, it appears his increasingly hostile rhetoric against Iran has drummed up enough fear of a "nuclear holocaust" or aWorld War III that a majority of Americans are in favor of a US strike against the country aimed a curtailing its apparent nuclear ambitions, a new poll shows.

The Zogby International survey shows 52 percent of Americans would support a strike on Iran, while 53 percent expect President Bush to launch such an attack before the end of his second term...Just 29 percent of Americans think the US should not attack Iran.

well, there goes that idea...

Obama would snub VP offer from Hillary if asked

asked if he would serve as the vice presidential half of a Clinton-Obama ticket...“No,” he said. “I’m not running for vice president, I’m running for president of the United States.”

pot to kettle: "you're black!"

comment on thee federal response to the wildfires in california:

"We have learned those lessons (from Katrina) and those lessons are being applied...The White House needs to recognize that we are overstretched and that there is a problem. They need to increase the size of the regular Army and stop relying so much on the National Guard.”

damn skippy, right? but guess who said it...yep, eck of a job brownie," aka michael brown of arabian horse and fema fame. oy.

right-wing facebook

i wonder if larry craig taps you instead of poking...hmm...that and other deep, very important issues are addressed at a new (satirical) website that answers the question every single american has wanted to know: what if republican presidential candidates has their own facebook!?

fire pope!!!

again, kudos to wonkette on picking this up off the ap wire:

Beloved anti-Nazi pope John Paul II is back, according to Vatican TV. And this time, he is a terrible fire monster! We know about this because we accidentally had CNN Headline News on the other day, with the sound off, for some reason we can no longer remember, and suddenly there’s a terrible picture of the dead pope next to another picture of the Fire Pope. (It was on that douchesack Glenn Beck’s show that nobody has ever intentionally watched.)

This hilarious picture of a campfire has been in every downmarket tabloid in Europe this week, and the poorer/dumber people apparently really believe the beloved pope has returned to Earth, briefly, in the form of a terrifying burning devil. Or a campfire.

The thrilling development was also on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends,” according to some people who actually watch “Fox & Friends”:

The headline read ‘Bonfire Miracle’ and underneath it said ‘Believers see Pope’s image. Several times they said that a fire would never take that shape and used the miracle word. Comments: Fox and Friends spoke several times about the miracle fire that appeared to be the Pope. Doocy said, “That’s the Pope” and Camerota said, “Absolutely.”

“Bonfire Miracle.” That is kind of awesome.

Because the Catholic god apparently has a hell of a sense of humor, when Nazi Pope Joseph Ratzinger dies he’s going to come back to Earth as a nice puppy.

"perfecting" coultergiest

since she thinks the jews need some perfecting, the good folks at maxim (there's a phase i never thought i'd utter) have put together some tips for how coultergiest can perfect her/him/its - self

obama related to bush and cheney?!?! wtf!?!?

ughhh, not that this really means anything, it just seems depressing for some reason:

via rawstory:

Vice President Dick Cheney and aspiring Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may not share a political philosophy, but they do share a family tree.

The vice president's wife, Lynne, said during an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday that her husband and Obama were eighth cousins, a fact she discovered while researching family ancestry for her new memoir.

“This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor ... could be responsible down the family lines for lives that have taken such different and varied paths as Dick’s and Barack Obama,” she said.

Ginny Justice, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Cheney, told MSNBC that Obama is a descendant of French Huguenot Mareen Duvall, whose son wed the granddaughter of the Englishman Richard Cheney in the 1600's.

Fox News on Wednesday also cited a report last month in the Chicago Sun-Times, which indicated Obama also had a distant genealogical connection to President Bush. The two are 11th cousins, according to the paper.

"Every time some new president gets installed -- elected to the United States presidency -- somebody does the whole lineage and, invariably, it leads back to the Queen of England," said Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy. "Everybody's always related to the Queen of England."

An Obama spokesman commented that "every family has a black sheep."

the new rationale for supressing the black vote in ohio in 2004

apparently, your constitutional voting right only works in the early part of the day...

via rawstory:
Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) rebuked a Justice Department voting official Friday night who said Ohio's African American voters faced long lines in the 2004 presidential election because blacks tend to vote at night.

Justice Department Voting Section Chief John Tanner's "investigation of the 2004 election in Ohio concluded that long lines and late voting precincts were due to the fact that white voters tend to cast ballots in the morning and black voters cast ballots in the afternoon."

Why did African American voters suffer long lines in Ohio?

Tanner wrote in a letter TPM Muckraker uncovered that "...the principal cause of the difference appears to be the tendency in Franklin County for white voters to cast ballots in the morning, and for black voters to cast ballots in the afternoon. We have established this tendency through local contacts and through both political parties, and it accords with our considerable experience in other parts of the United States. Morning voters may wait in line several hours, as happened in white precincts, without keeping the polls open after 7:30 am; this is not the case, however, at sites where voters arrive after 5:30 p.m."

Voters in black counties faced far longer lines than those in the more white Ohio suburbs. Investigations showed that Ohio officials had deliberately placed fewer voting machines in some areas and in some instances even kept voting machines out of service. The resulting lines generally resulted in less individuals voting because the lines were so long.

coultergiest wants jews to be "perfected," just like her/him/it

the female impersonator herself is again in the news for making an outrageously awful statement.  i could rant about her/him/it, but instead i will wisely bow to wonkette's much better analysis of this:

OH SHUT THE FUCK UP:

ANN COULTER WILL ANNIHILATE THE JEWS

We’re on a pretty strict “Ignore People Who Deliberately Say Provocative Shit For Big Money,” because otherwise we’d spend all day repeating whatever dull outrage from Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Bill O’Reilly, Pat Robertson, etc. But today we are sort of compelled to note that beloved entertainer Ann Coulter has called for the end of Judaism, and the end of the Jews in general.

How will the hard-living old gal finally complete Hitler’s Dream? She’s going to convert all the poor lost Jews to her religion. (Christianity, apparently. Who knew?)

On a CNBC talk show Monday night — who watches CNBC after the markets close? — Coulter was talking to host Donny Deutsch about whatever, and then she demanded that all Jews be converted to Christianity so they would become “perfected,” like she is.

We assume all the people who are so excited about nuking Iran because Ahmadinejad is one of those holocaust-denier nutcases will immediately call for the U.S. to bomb Ann Coulter — or at least boycott Coulter and any teevee station that lets her on the air and any book store that sells her terrific books, right? Right?

and the amsterdam tourist industry takes a hit...

watch fox noise cover this and not one word about al gore winning the fricking nobel peace prize...

Netherlands bans magic mushrooms

The Dutch government is banning the sale of all magic mushrooms after a series of high-profile incidents involving tourists who had taken them.

The decision will go into effect within several months, said a spokesman for the Dutch justice ministry. A major Dutch producer of the psychedelic mushrooms said he stood to lose millions of euros as a result. The Netherlands is famed for its liberal drugs policy, with marijuana openly sold in licensed cafes. Magic mushrooms, more properly known as psilocybe, contain the psychedelic chemicals psilocybin and psilocin. "We intend to forbid the sale of magic mushrooms," said justice ministry spokesman Wim van der Weegen. "That means shops caught doing so will be closed." Currently in the Netherlands the sale of dried magic mushrooms - in which the psychoactive chemicals psilocybin and psilocin are stronger - is banned but fresh mushrooms are allowed. This is because it is more difficult to ascertain how much of the chemicals fresh mushrooms contain. But Mr Van der Weegen said this was exactly the issue.
"The problem with mushrooms is that their effect is unpredictable. It's impossible to estimate what amount will have what effect." Calls for a re-evaluation of the drug grew after a 17-year-old French girl jumped from a building after eating magic mushrooms during a school trip to Amsterdam in March. Other incidents involving the drug have included an Icelandic tourist jumping from a balcony and breaking both legs and a Danish tourist driving his car wildly through a camping ground, narrowly missing sleeping campers. "It's a shame, the media really blew this up into a big issue," said Chloe Collette, owner of the FullMoon shop, which sells magic mushrooms in Amsterdam. She said all the incidents had involved magic mushrooms in conjunction with other drugs. Murat Kucuksen, whose farm supplies about half the magic mushrooms on sale in the Netherlands, said he stood to lose several million euros as a result of the ban. Users of fresh mushrooms experience effects ranging from giggling fits and intensification of colours, lights and sounds to, more rarely, hallucinations. Negative effects can include vomiting, and anxiety.

another one?!?! what is it with republicans and getting caught soliciting gay, toe-tapping, bathroom sex?

Another Republican elected official– a pal of David Diapers Vitter no less– caught toe-tappin’ in the boys room! And he wants wanted to be a state senator too! Yesterday’s Times-Picayune painted another dismal picture of another Republican pervert who trawls from public restroom to public restroom looking for… love? Well, looking for something. Joey DiFatta is the chairman of St. Bernard Parish Council and a prominent Republican leader (until 2004 on the GOP state party Executive Committee). He just withdrew from his state senate race, after his arrests for lewd behavior in a public restroom were made public. Read more…

From the Times-Picayune article it appears DiFatta may have been Larry “Super Tuber” Craig’s mentor:

The report said DiFatta slid his foot into the deputy’s stall and tapped the deputy’s foot. In the report, Conley noted that such activity is common among men to indicate a willingness to participate in sex.

The deputy inside the stall, Detective Wayne Couvillion, responded by tapping his foot, and DiFatta reached under the partition and began to rub the deputy’s leg, the report states.

The detective asked DiFatta, “What do you want?” according to the report, and he replied, “I want to play with you.”

dick nixon on fred thompson

"Oh shit, he's dumb as hell." - May 1973

thank god for recording devices.

wonkette celebrates columbus day

Christopher Columbus Was a Dick

One thousand years ago today — or Friday, the 12th — a terrible slave-trading murderer/imbecile who did not even know how to spell his own name, which is Latin for “asshole,” landed at the “Sandals” resort in Puerto Rico or some such Caribbean island and thought he was in Bangalore. What an idiot!

There is no political news today and the Capitol is vacant and even The Capitolist is quiet all because Cristóbal Colón basically did not know math and mistakenly went to the Bahamas because the Islamofascists had cut off the road to India, where Europe outsourced all the white people’s jobs. (Previously, Genghis Khan was a NAFTA signatory so it was all fine, until the Muslims!)

Seriously, Columbus was retarded. To his death, he was convinced the mountains of Cuba were the fucking Himalayans. George W. Bush is smart compared to Christopher Columbus, that’s how stupid Columbus was.

So on his third journey to the “Wrong India” he set up a death camp for all the “Indians” who were actually Carib tribespeople known for their colorful reggae hats and “ganja.” He killed all of those people and also many Spaniards, who finally overthrew his cruel regime and sent his ass back to Spain, where he became a total Jesus Freak and spent the rest of his life bumming people out, the end.

To this day, hippies have protests against “KIillumbus” landing in the Bahamas 515 years ago, because marching around with signs is a very effective form of going back in time and killing Columbus.

more san francisco values

not only is she a grandmother (republicans say booooooooo), but she prays (i thought all democrats hated the baby jesus?!) and she's thinking of the children...cause someone needs to seeing as the president hated (read, vetoed) children and their healthcare last week.

via rawstory.com

Fox News' Chris Wallace, during an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Fox News Sunday, mentions a recent assertion by the Speaker that she was praying for President Bush to have a change of heart in his veto of recent legislation to increase the scope of the SCHIP program.

Wallace probes Pelosi to see who else, and what else, she includes in her prayer sessions.

Transcript follows:

WALLACE: You said the other day that you were praying for President Bush to change his mind about vetoing SCHIP. Do you pray for our soldiers to win in Iraq?

PELOSI: Of course I do.

WALLACE: To win?

PELOSI: Of course I do. Of course. What a question. First of all, I pray for President Bush all the time, and I--prayed especially hard that he would sign the...children's health bill, because it's so important to America's children.

WALLACE: When you pray for President Bush, what do you pray for?

PELOSI: I pray that, that--well, at the same time as I pray for him, I pray for America's children, and that there can be some compatibility in their thinking. But I pray for his health; his well-being. I pray that he makes the right decisions for the American people, but, when I was--

WALLACE: --Do you ever pray for him to change his policies?

PELOSI: All the time! But--let me draw a line: When I was growing up in politics, we were always told that we shouldn't pray for a political outcome -- that we just pray that God's will would be done. We pray for the children, we pray for the poor people, we pray for people who need help; and we always, always, always pray for our men and women in uniform, who make our freedom to pray possible

coutergiest wants to take the vote away from women...

...but of course female impersonator coultergiest could still vote, adam's apple and all...

In an interview with the New York Observer, conservative commentator, frequent Fox guest, and alleged plagiarist Ann Coulter left this choice quote, which the Observer highlighted as "On women:"

COULTER: If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it’s the party of women and 'We’ll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?'

and it's DEMOCRATIC president, ann...at least get the name of the party right. oh, and lets not forget that in 2006, coultergiest allegedly violated Florida law by voting in the wrong precinct. The short version, according to The Brad Blog, which has closely followed the ongoing story:

"She committed third-degree voter fraud in Palm Beach County when she lied on her registration. Period. Dead to rights. She also lied on her driver's license down there (another third-degree felony) and knowingly voted at the wrong precinct (first degree misdemeanor). Again, all dead to rights. The link above offers all the proof any attorney with balls bigger than Coulter's would need. And here's her fraudulent Voter Registration form to boot."

mr. president, what is your job?

via thinkprogress.org:

During the course of an hour-long speech today, President Bush used the word “decisions” — or a derivative of it — at least 30 times. At the outset of his speech, “the decider” (aka “the decision-maker” and “commander guy“) declared:

"My job is a decision-making job. And as a result, I make a lot of decisions. And it’s important for me to have an opportunity to speak to you and others who would be listening about the basis on which I have made decisions, to explain the philosophy behind some of the decisions I have made."

...and he didn't stop there...later in the speech, he declared:

”I delegate to good people. I always tell Condi Rice, ‘I want to remind you, Madam Secretary, who has the Ph.D. and who was the C student. And I want to remind you who the adviser is and who the president is.’

I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, ‘Mr. President, here’s what’s on my mind.’ And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device (sic), I decide, you know, I say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And it’s ‘Yes, sir, Mr. President.’ And then we get after it, implement policy."

president bush - veto #4

so, now we can add stopping expansion of children's health coverage to stem cell research and bringing the troops home as the only things the president has ever deemed worthy of a veto. ughhhh....

dateline: washington d.c.:

President George W Bush has vetoed a bill to expand a children's healthcare insurance scheme, after it was passed with a large majority in the Senate.

Mr Bush argues it takes the programme beyond its original purpose of insuring children from low-income families.

The vetoed bill proposed higher tobacco taxes to provide an extra $35bn (£17bn) to insure some 10 million children.

Children's health insurance is set to be a campaign issue in next year's elections, analysts say.

Eighteen Republican senators joined Democrats last week in passing the legislation by a 67-29 vote.

But the House of Representatives, which approved the bill by 265-159, was well short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

It is only the fourth time Mr Bush has used his veto power in the course of his presidency....Democrats in the House say they will seek to persuade sufficient Republican congressmen to change sides to be able to override Mr Bush's veto.

But House Republican leader Roy Blunt said he was "absolutely confident" that he would be able to prevent that happening.

slavery "history," right-wing style

ok, so michael "just go back to reviewing movies already you big blow-hole" medved decided to write a column trying to address what he believes are liberal falsehoods (read: the truth) regarding slavery. as if that wasn't scary enough in the abstract, he manages to outdo even his own inner racial doucebaggery with these assertions:

SLAVERY EXISTED ONLY BRIEFLY, AND IN LIMITED LOCALES, IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC – INVOLVING ONLY A TINY PERCENTAGE OF THE ANCESTORS OF TODAY’S AMERICANS.

WHILE AMERICA DESERVES NO UNIQUE BLAME FOR THE EXISTENCE OF SLAVERY, THE UNITED STATES MERITS SPECIAL CREDIT FOR ITS RAPID ABOLITION

and extra doucebaggery points for this one:
THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT TODAY’S AFRICAN-AMERICANS WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF THEIR ANCESTORS HAD REMAINED BEHIND IN AFRICA

briefly? rapid abolition? better off not enslaved? wow, this is a true lasagna of right-wing awful. layers and layers...i can't wait to see the doucebaggery of his inevitable sequel: how smallpox actually helped native americans and how much better off they were thanks to the Dawes Act.

we will smoke you out of your cave, osama bin ducky

via Fedblog:

Here's another one for the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" files: The Rocky Mountain News reports that Scott D. Clark, an auditor with the Denver office of the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general office, is facing a felony animal cruelty charge related to an incident at an Embassy Suites hotel in St. Paul, Minn., where he had traveled for work.
According to witnesses, Scott cornered a duck near an atrium pond at the hotel and ripped its head off. Announcing, "I'm hungry. I'm gonna eat it," Clark got on an elevator with the headless bird and took it up to the fifth floor. On top of that, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, local law enforcement officials said in an official complaint filed against Clark that after police arrived on the scene, Clark said "that he worked for the federal government and when this was over he would have the officers' jobs."When told that he was in trouble for killing the duck, Clark told officers, "Why, because I killed it out of season? Big deal, it's just a [expletive] duck."

...moreoever...some newspapers reporters were IMing about this...and someone got a hold of the hilarious conversation. enjoy, for freedom's sake:

bush and ahmadinajad: both love texas longhorns and/or satan

wonkette has a great comment on the above photo:

"Did you know the whole Iran-White House thing is a big scam because both Bush and Ahmadinejad answer to the same boss, Satan? Well it could be true, as proven by this Conspiracy Planet photo comparison showing both unloved presidents doing the HAIL SATAN gesture. We’ve often posted pictures of Bush Junior worshiping his father in hell, but this is the first time we’ve seen Iranian McBeardy guy rocking the Heavy Metal Hands — and check him out, all double-barreled and whatnot.

But what if Mahmoud y Jorge are both just lifelong devotees of Texas collegiate sports?

There is, of course, the possibility that the Iranian president is a covert Longhorn fan and is signalling other Longhorn fans that he is one of them, but the chance of that being true is little to none.

Oh good, well that’s settled."

exploiting the 9/11 attacks for profit, rudy style

more proof that he is running for president of 9/11, not america:

dateline, washington d.c.:

"The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd said Tuesday a fundraising party for Republican Rudy Giuliani seeking $9.11 each from guests exploits the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for political purposes.

The Dodd campaign called on Giuliani to refuse the money raised at the event, saying the theme "is absolutely unconscionable, shameless and sickening." A Giuliani spokeswoman said the $9.11 idea was selected without the campaign's knowledge.

"Mr. Giuliani was quick to express much vitriol for the independent ad created by MoveOn.org last week; we would hope he would express the same kind of outrage and indignation about this group that he is the beneficiary of," Colleen Flanagan, a spokeswoman for Dodd, said in a statement released by his campaign."

50 years since little rock high

50 years ago today, federal troops were sent to little rock high to enforce the Brown decision and integrate the school. the bbc has a great piece on the huge importance of this event (and of its continued relevance with recent court rulings against affirmative action in college admissions).


"with all deliberate speed..."

oh, those crazy canadian magazines

via wonkette:
Now that their “dollar” is no longer worth less than a real dollar (but they still have to pay more for our hardcover books, suckers!), the Canadians are getting uppity. The October cover of their cute “political magazine” Maclean’s portrays our President as a distinguished gay British army general, er, I mean, Saddam Hussein.