The free Hump Day concert series begins here in Syracuse’s Inner Harbor today, with the Georgia Satellites. If you’re like me, you’re rather surprised to hear that the GA Sats are still around. I mean, how many years can you keep playing the same song? Oh well, it’s free, and next week is Marshall Tucker (who must be getting kinda old themselves). Speaking of Syracuse, everybody’s favorite Syracusan (not really), Terry McAuliffe, engaged in a three-way in Virgina yesterday and went down.

A three-way primary for the Democratic nomination for Governor. Get your minds outta the gutter. VA State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds ran away with the nomination, taking 50% of the vote, with McAuliffe and Brian J. Moran more or less splitting the rest. Poor Terry just can’t get no post-Clinton respect.

You may remember the 17 Chinese Muslims we decided to lock up in Gitmo. While it was later determined that they weren’t ‘enemy combatants,’ it was also determined that they couldn’t be returned to where they came from, and nobody wanted them here. So, they were left to rot in our Cuban dog pens. Well, good news for them, as the nation of Palau said they’d take them ‘temporarily.’ For about $200 million, we’ve got them off our hands. Seems like we could have just directly given them $10 million each and sent them on their way. We’d have saved money on the deal, and they could have bought Chrysler.

Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah. The Brits do it too! Once again reinforcing the notion that when it comes to imperialism, oppression, and torture, we here in the US of A learned from the best: the British. The Times of London reports that:

Metropolitan Police officers subjected suspects to waterboarding, according to allegations at the centre of a major anti-corruption inquiry, The Times has learnt.

The torture claims are part of a wide-ranging investigation which also includes accusations that officers fabricated evidence and stole suspects’ property.
[…]
However, senior policing officials are most alarmed by the claim that officers in Enfield, North London, used the controversial CIA interrogation technique to simulate drowning. Scotland Yard is appointing a new borough commander in Enfield in a move that is being seen as an attempt by Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met Commissioner, to enforce a regime of “intrusive supervision”.

So-called “Blue Dog” Democrats appear to be starting to waver in their opposition to a public healthcare option. Sort of. They had said a public option would only be ‘triggered’ by the failure of private insurance to meet certain goals (I think the horse has left the barn on that one), but now at least 20 of the 51 members of the DINO caucus say they now back a public option without a trigger. Don’t worry, though, Jane Harman remains “staunch” in her assholiness.

Speaking of Single-Payer, the House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing titled “Examining the Single Payer Health Care Option” at 10:30 AM in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC today.

Scheduled witnesses include Marcia Angell, M.D, Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, Geri Jenkins, R.N., Co-President of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, and Walter Tsou, M.D., M.P.H., National Board Advisor Physicians for a National Health Program. Additional witnesses to be announced.

And tomorrow, the Senate Committee on Health Education and Pensions has invited Margaret Flowers, M.D., of Physicians for National Health Policy to testify at a hearing on health care reform. Flowers was one of the “Baucus 13” arrested three weeks ago protesting the exclusion of single payer from Senate Finance Committee hearings.

Time to boogie. Have a good one.

The debate of healthcare reform is starting to heat up now. I’m pretty sure what we’ll wind up with is lipstick on the pig of our current system that protects the insurance industry, costs a boatload of money, and makes things worse. I could be wrong, of course. While the debate rages, our freshman Congress critter has introduced his first piece of legislation. What issue is our intrepid Representative taking head on? Investigating the torturers? Putting an end to illegal wiretapping? Taking on the insurance industry? A real investigation into 9/11? Bringing to justice those who lied us into an illegal war? Nope, not so much.

Instead, he’s introduced the “Automobile Dealer Economic Rights Restoration Act.” Yes, that’s right. He wants to make it illegal for Chrysler and GM to cancel their contracts with dealers, even though they’re in bankruptcy. 🙄 First he refuses to back HR676, and now this ridiculous piece of dreck. Oh, Dan, what a disappointment you’re turning out to be.

Well, it seems pretty clear that, with only two weeks left on the legislative calendar here in NYS and the Republicans having seized control of the State Senate, there will be no vote to make gay marriage legal here in NY. Our local (Republican) State Senator – John DeFrancisco – claims the plan was in the works for weeks.

The plan was in motion for five weeks, but Democrats remained in the dark — until Monday.

“I don’t think anybody on the Democratic side had any clue, judging from the shock that was displayed when this was happening,” said DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse.

Clueless Democrats? How unusual!

DeFrancisco and others said billionaire businessman Tom Golisano masterminded the plot. Monserrate and Espada said they flipped because Democrats failed to implement real reform in the Senate.

But Democrats accused Monserrate and Espada of turning out of anger toward Smith, who threatened them with disciplinary action. Monserrate was indicted in March of slashing his girlfriend’s face with broken glass, while Espada was reprimanded for failing to file campaign finance reports and pay resulting fines. Several GOP members at the time called for the senators to step down.

“There have been no convictions,” DeFrancisco said Monday. “All we needed were some brave souls from the other side of the aisle to make reform happen. They came forward. What are we going to say? We don’t want them?”

Ah, yes. Amazing how one can go from godless Democrat who should resign in shame, to brave soul and champion of reform. And let’s hear it for Tom Galisano, who just moved his official residence to Florida, because he doesn’t think billionaires should have to pay all those nasty taxes. Nice to know you can abandon the State and still stick your finger in the government (as long as you have a shitload of money).

There is some good news this morning, though. A beer truck overturned nearby (don’t worry, the driver is OK), spilling free brews across the highway. The bad news is that it was Bud Light.

After a big weekend (kind of lost track of Sarah Palin; I hope she made it out of town OK), it’s a bit night tonight as well, with the season premiere of Weeds (allowing me to catch a virtual contact buzz) and the series premiere of Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie on Showtime. Thanks to On Demand, we were able to watch Jackie last night. Over at the “Net for Nurses” bog, “Keith, RN” says the show “disappoints and demeans,” and he calls the show an “insipid dramedy…[that] does nothing to advance the cause of nursing in the eyes of the television audience.” I think Keith needs to pull the stick out of his ass. I thought the show was pretty funny, personally, and so did the nurse I was watching it with. And since when have TV shows been charged with the responsibility of “advancing the cause of nursing?”

Yo, Keith, lighten up dude. And, no, I do not want a sponge bath.

One of the big problems for the very serious nurses out there is that Jackie has a bad back and is addicted to painkillers like Oxycontin, Vicodin (which is acetaminophen and hydrocodone; how good can hydrocodone be if it needs to be cut with Tylenol?). Well, boo friggin’ hoo. If you’ve ever been around a hospital, you know that healthcare professionals are huge self-medicators. I’m not saying that they’re all drug addicts (far from it, of course), but they’re around pharmaceuticals all the time, and they all think they know everything and can dose themselves “safely” (especially doctors).

For instance, turns out the guy who used to be in charge of doing the autopsies where I work was using the morgue as a meth lab. A real pretty boy type with a spray tan. I wonder how he’s making out in prison these days?

Well, looks like I’m already running late here, so I reckon I’d better get a move on. Good Monday, y’all.

I was out getting some fresh air yesterday, in what was just about as perfect a day as you can get. Blue sky, about 70 degrees, with a nice breeze to keep it nice and cool. Turns out, I must be allergic to fresh air. Started sneezing, my eyes got all itchy and swollen, and my head felt like it was going to explode. My right eye is still pretty swollen, in fact. Now you know why I prefer the winter; no pollen. But at least there’s always the Sunday Boobleheads to cheer me up.

On Press the Meat this week, there is no Press the Meat this week. Instead, you can watch the French Open, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. In the womens finals yesterday, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2. In the mens finals today, some kid from Sweden takes on some kid from Switzerland. Eh, Bjorn Borg vs. Guillermo Vilas it aint. Then again, it also aint 1978 anymore, either.

At CBS, Faze the Nation has David Axelrod, and horrible little troll, Newt Gingrich.

On Fux News Sunday, Weaselface Wallace has Austan Goolsbee from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the aptly named “Dick” Richard Shelby, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, andFred Malek, chairman of Thayer Lodging Group and Thayer Capital Partners. Plus the fuxheads, of course.

Over at the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus goes one-on-one with Hillary Clinton. Plus there’s a roundtable with George :jerk: Will, Claire Shipman, Republican ass Matthew Dowd, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Cynthia Tucker.

I reckon there’s more, but my eye hurts and I don’t feel like looking anymore.

I will, however mention an e-mail I got copied on from “a family member,” passing on word of a petition I should sign, due to an outrageous Senate action taken. The subject of the e-mail was:

Senate voted this week to allow ‘illegal’ aliens access to Social Security benefits

…and the main thrust of the e-mail was:

As stated below, the Senate voted this week to allow ‘illegal’ aliens access to Social Security benefits.
Attached is an opportunity to sign a petition that requires citizenship for eligibility to that social service.

It is, of course bullshit. And not even new bullshit. My reply (which I hope won’t cause too much hate and discontent), in part, was:

As for this petition, it’s an old one that’s been around since at least 2006 (then it was Bush, instead of Obama), and is completely false. A quick google search yields plenty of places debunking it, including snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/petition.asp

The vote that this refers to took place back in 2006, and it wouldn’t have granted Social Security benefits to all illegal aliens but it would have allowed illegal aliens who had already paid into Social Security to accrue the benefits of their contributions. Didn’t wind up passing, though.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Illegal immigrants subsidize Social Security and Medicare with billions of dollars every year, which they never collect on, since they use fake IDs and can’t get benefits. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html

Take care,

Have a good Sunday, y’all. Not sure what Caribou Barbie has planned today, but I’ll let ya know if I hear, fer sure.

When I was a kid, D-Day was a big deal. Of course, we were a lot closer to the actual event (and the end of “The War”) back then, with the memories of those who survived still fresh. Now, 65 years after June 6, 1944, there aren’t many folks left who stormed the beaches of Normandy, and even those who were kids back during WWII are getting a little long in the tooth. If Barack Obama wasn’t in Europe this week, I doubt it would merit even a passing mention in the news (I don’t see anything on the lo-cal news sites, which seem to be too enraptured with Sarah Palin’s visit to notice – not to mention the “Man arrested for buying drugs with slaughtered pig ” story).

It always strikes me as odd when I think about the fact that, when I was in high school, WWII was in the history books, in the same way that Vietnam is “history” now. Hell, even the first Gulf War was a generation ago. There are kids serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today that weren’t even born when Poppy Bush formed his marvelous coalition, preserving the way of life of Kuwait’s Al Sabah dynasty, and making the Persian Gulf safe for global oil corporations (and, let’s be fair, preserving our way of life as well; we are one big dirty, oily bunch).

When I watch movies like “Saving Private Ryan”, “Band of Brothers”, or “The Big Red One” (as in: 1) about combat – especially D-Day – I’m always amazed by what these people did. And convinced that I never would have had the guts to do it (though I suppose when they drive your LSI up to the beach and drop open the front, you don’t have much choice but to go forward).

I can’t imagine being told (no doubt after you were already on the way),

“OK, here’s the plan. See that big wide stretch of beach, leading up to those cliffs with Nazi machine guns and mortars? If we don’t get blown up by mines or mortars, or flip over, capsize and drown, we’re gonna storm the beach, and anybody who still isn’t dead is gonna climb up the cliff and go kill all the Nazis. Any questions?

Uh, yeah, just one. Are you fucking nuts?

But, that’s what they did. An estimated 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy alone.

I’m glad the world wasn’t counting on me, that day, and I’m glad I never had to go through anything like that. To the guys that did, all I can say is “thanks.” I might bitch, but I’m pretty sure things would really suck if the Nazis had been running the world for the past 60 years.

And, I know it was a long time ago, but it sure seems like it ought to be worth at least a mention on the news.

The lo-cal news twit just informed me that today is National Donut Day, reigniting the eternal controversy: “donuts” or “doughnuts.” I’ll go with ‘donuts,’ since it’s almost 35% easier to type (and ‘doenuts’ would be a contradiction in terms). Plus I’m pretty sure it’s how Homer would spell it. But, even without Donut Day, this would still be a big weekend up here in the hinterland.

For one thing, it’s the annual “Taste of Syracuse” celebration, with this year’s big ticket item (well, it’s actually free, so there aren’t any tickets, but anyways…) being the Saturday evening performance by the band “Modern West,” led by Kevin Costner. I have no idea what kind of music they play (I’m thinking some sort of Country/Western thing, based on the name), but, as you may have heard, Kevin Costner is a very famous person, so lots of folks will no doubt be going out to look at him (plus, did I mention, it’s free).

As part of TOS, tonight is the annual Syracuse Area Music (aka SAMMY) Awards, and this year’s SAMMY Hall of Fame inductees are Donna Colton, The Dean Brothers, Otis Smith, Mike Greenstein and Carrie Pardee. Never heard of them? Well, too bad for you. Besides, Libba Cotten was inducted years ago, and they had to pick somebody.

As if that wasn’t enough, party girl and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be coming to nearby Auburn to participate in the annual Founders’ Day celebration. Lock up your sons (and maybe your daughters, too 😉 ), CNY’ers, Sarah’s comin’!

The esteemed Governor and wolf murderer will be meetin’ and greetin’ and paradin’ and stuff. And if you’ve got $250 (seems kind of cheap – not unlike the Governor herself – don’t it?), on Saturday afternoon you can have your pitcher takin’ with her at the William H Seward House library, and then go and set a spell with her at a garden party reception. Well, except you better already have your ticket, ‘cuz they’re all sold out (to be fair, there were only 125 of them to begin with, so that wasn’t too tough). But the event is raising $31 grand for the Seward museum, so I reckon that’s a good thing.

But wait, there’s more! It’s also “Oz-Stravaganza!” weekend in Chittenango, birthplace of L. Frank Baum (women’s suffrage advocate, supporter of ‘Redskin’ extirmination [sic] – at least in two editorials he wrote for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer – and author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – the first of something like 40 ‘Oz’ books, and possibly one of the 12,853 books Dubya read – or had read to him – while pretending to be president). It’s also the 70th anniversary of the release of the movie, and the 100th anniversary of the publication of the fifth book in the series, “The Road to Oz” (where Dorothy meets the Shaggy Man, and while trying to find the road to Butterfield, they get lost on an enchanted road) so this should be quite an affair. Oh, there’ll be parades (we love our parades, here in the provinces) and munchkins (well, the widow of a munchkin, anyway; I don’t know if the others will make the trip this year. Sadly, our favorite munchkin – Clarence Swensen – passed away in February, leaving us with only 8 of the original 124) and all sorts of yellow brick road type of stuff, and the whole darn town of Chittenango will be abuzz.

Oh, go ahead and make fun of us yokels, but I guarantee this would never happen here. They’d have towed the sucker after the first couple tickets.

Denise Richards has apparently fessed up to have three boob jobs. I didn’t actually read the story (and I’m not real clear on who she is, though I gather she’s famous), so I don’t know if she had her boobs done three times, or if she has three boobs. Is this her?

Time to make the donuts.

Although Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) met as agreed with advocates of Single-Payer Healthcare“>met as agreed with advocates of Single-Payer Healthcare yesterday, his stance on including single-payer the healthcare reform discussions remains unchanged. His basic argument is, “now that I’ve kept you from the table, gosh and dolly-gee, it’s just too darn late to include you now.

Senator Max Baucus met Wednesday with advocates for single-payer healthcare, including Senator Bernie Sanders, and told them that he might drop criminal charges against 13 people arrested
for speaking up in his hearings, but that he would not include any supporters of single-payer health coverage in any future hearings. According to one report, Baucus suggested that he’d been mistaken to
exclude single-payer but asserted that the process of creating healthcare reform legislation was too far along now to correct that omission.

Senator Sanders said after the meeting that if healthcare reform did not create a single-payer system it shouldn’t be done at all, and that within three or four years we would realize we’d solved nothing. He
said that it would be better to increase funding for community health centers and take steps to make it easier for medical students to go into primary care, than to enact major reforms that didn’t go to the
root of the problem.

It should be noted that a clear majority of doctors, nurses, and that most insignificant of constituencies, We the People, favor single-payer. So, in summary, we have both the best healthcare and best government that money can buy.

On the bright side, the NY State Senate adopted a resolution yesterday calling for Congress to enact Single-Payer, and for the NY Congressional delegation to support John Conyers’ HR 676. Of course, in reality, that’s about as binding as a stern memo from Pat Leahy to Karl Rove, telling him he’s really, really mad that Rove ignored his subpoena. But, whatever.

In other NY State news, our very own Governor Blinky Paterson vetoed legislation that would continue to allow NYS cops and firefighters to retire with a full pension after 20 years. Yeah, go after those horrible cops and firefighters, Governor. Just ‘cuz they managed to survive 20 years on the job doesn’t mean they deserve a pension.

One more step on the way to our next Republican governor. Unless Andy Cuomo runs and defeats Blinky in the primary, I see no way Paterson gets re-elected. The fact is, in NYS, a Democrat who has labor, the Public Employees unions, cops, and firefighters all lined up against him just aint gonna win. Period.

Oh well, off to my cushy State job.

So, former VP, gay marriage supporter, and perhaps the most disgusting person in the United States (though that’s a really tough contest to judge), Dick Cheney, was not only a torture supporter, but its principal cheerleader (just had the image of Cheney in a cheerleader outfit flash into my brain; quite disturbing). Funny, the CIA briefing memos don’t seem to mention him being there. It’s almost like he’s hiding something. I don’t see how Joe Biden can possibly compete with Cheney’s legacy. Those are mighty big shoes to fill.

Speaking of big shoes, there’s a new world’s tallest man: 27-year-old Zhao Liang, who was measured at 8.1 feet tall. No word on whether the Denver Nuggets are looking to make him an offer.

I thought the neck was finally on the mend yesterday, after getting a decent night’s sleep (and, yes, abstaining from the demon alcohol). Very little sleep last night, though (another dry night, I might add), and it hurts like hell again. It’s mostly in one spot, though, as opposed to previous several days, when I ached from the top of my head to my shoulder blades. Just out of curiosity, anybody (especially you Canadians out there) ever try Robaxin (methocarbamol)? It appears to be a muscle relaxer with codeine (sounds like that’d do the trick, relative to getting a good night’s sleep), and is available OTC in Canada. They have much better stuff OTC in Canada; I guess since they have universal healthcare, the CMA lobby doesn’t push to make you go see a doctor for every damn thing.

What I really need is a few (more than two) days off in a row. Sitting at work really tightens everything up, and I can really feel it by the end of the day. But that doesn’t seem too likely, so, I guess it’s time to get a move on. Although I don’t know what my incentive is anymore; now that I’ve given up beer, I no longer have anything to live for. Well, except I just got the full five season set of Six Feet Under off e-bay (brand new, shrink wrapped, for less than half price, and with free shipping, I might add). Once I get through watching all those though again though….

Holy shit, while I wasn’t looking, it turned into June. That means we only have another three weeks or so ’til we start losing daylight. That sucks. Before you know it, it’ll be the fourth of July, and this year, President Obama is inviting the Iranians to the party. Maybe grill ’em up some Hebrew National franks, and toss back a few Genesis Ales (or maybe a couple Messiah Bolds). I hope they explain to them about the fireworks (they might be a little jumpy over there when things start exploding in the sky).

Now that we own 60% of GM, I really wish we’d force them to get the Chevy Volt into mass production as soon as possible, and perhaps encourage consumers to buy them by offering a tax credit or something. A fully electric car (as opposed to a plug-in hybrid) that goes 40 miles on a charge (and then a gasoline powered generator kicks in if you need it) would be perfect for my situation. I could go about a typical day just by plugging the thing in over night. Unfortunately, the Japanese or Koreans will probably do it better (and sooner).

Oh well, maybe Obama and GM will take Michael Moore’s advice, and retool their factories to produce “light rail and bullet trains and cleaner buses.” You betcha. I think we’ll go with a super-sized Hummer instead, Mike.

In an interview at this year’s World Economic Forum, Burger King CEO John Chidsey said that climate change is “an overriding issue of importance for the global community, business community and people in general.” Somebody forgot to pass the sentiments along to BK’s Tennessee franchises, who posted “Global Warming is Baloney” on their signs (once again, Al Gore fails to carry his home state). Maybe they should switch to “Meat is Murder” or something.

I don’t know who Miranda Kerr is, but she’s a fan of the environment and Koalas, and, damnit, I respect the hell out of her for that.

Oh well, time to get ready to seize the day.

I took Vernon’s advice and got a pretty decent night’s sleep last night (I’m afraid I passed on the not drinking part close to bedtime part; I started way, way, before bedtime, if that counts). We watched a bunch of olde tyme teevee shows (Have Gun, Will Travel and Perry Mason) courtesy of Hulu (it really does help rot your brain faster) via the PlayOn media server through the XBox. With my brain adequately mushified, I was able to sleep fairly well. Then I languished in bed listening to Sedition Radio until after 6:00 (I’d have gotten up sooner, but I was pinned in by a dog, and we were both too damn comfortable to disturb). So, I’m getting a bit of a late start this morning, and have to hurry. Damn neck still hurts though. Sucks to be old.