There are plenty of reasons to despise “Blue Dog” Democrats. But now one of these monsters – Arkansas Congresscritter Marion Berry (that’s Berry, not Barry) – has gone too far. On Monday evening, HR 562 passed 359-1. That’s right, 146 Republicans joined 213 Democrats in passing this most vital resolution. The one “nay” vote? Marion Berry. It’s high time we drove deranged Blue Dogs like this out of our government. If you live in Arkansas, I urge you to run against Barry in the next AR 1st primary.

The NY Times says Hamid Karzai’s brother – Ahmed Wali Karzai – is on the CIA payroll (which supplements his income from the opium trade). The CIA denies it, though, and they wouldn’t lie.

A cable on the Bay Bridge in San Fran snapped yesterday afternoon, prompting the closing of the bridge for repairs for at least 24 hours. Should make life pretty miserable for commuters in the area this morning (hope you don’t need to go that way, Vernon). It’s sad, but the way things have gotten in this country, I don’t know that I’d trust any bridge these days.

A car bomb in a Pakistani marketplace has killed at least 90 people (mostly women).

Otherwise, not much going in in the world. Joe Lieberman’s still an asshole trying to get somebody to pay attention to him. In other non-news, those two pilots have had their licenses lifted (I mean, really, you can screw off all you want, but you really ought to keep an eye on all those blinky lights and dially things in the cockpit – plus pay attention to the radio; they might need to tell you that you’re about to hit another plane or something). You have to wonder just what the hell these people are up to when they’re supposed to be driving the bus.

So, just to reiterate: if you have to leave the house today, stay off airplanes and bridges (and away from CT “Independents,” AR Blue Dogs, and Pakistani marketplaces).

So, the “Public Option” will be in the Senate version of health care reform (albeit with a state “opt-out” provision), assuming all the Democrats, Joe Lieberman, and Bernie Sanders vote for cloture when the Republicans try to filibuster. Olympia Snowe is very “disappointed” by all of this. Aw, poor Olympia. No more queen for a day. This is being hailed as a big victory, though I think we’ll have to see what the public part consists of – and what this opt-out really looks like – before we do any celebrating. Then there’s the whole House version, which isn’t set yet, and appears to not have the votes for a “robust” public option (which is thought to mean reimbursement rates set at the current Medicare rates + 5%). We also don’t know what it’ll cost to buy into the public plan. But Republicans and insurance companies seem to be really pissed, so it must be OK.

I’m really looking forward to next Tuesday, because I’m really tired of the negative campaign ads running on the lo-cal news (which is pretty much the only time I ever see commercials). It’s bad enough I have to watch these things for an election that’s not in my district, but since there are three people running, there are at least 33% more ads than usual (maybe more). There are ads by the Democrats attacking the Republican, ads by the Republicans attacking the Democrat, ads by the Conservative, attacking both the Republican and the Democrat – sometimes in separate ads, sometimes together – and now an ad by the Democrat attacking the Conservative (and his riverfront mansion and classic car collection). I haven’t seen an ad by the Republicans attacking the Conservative yet, but we’ve still got a week to go. It’s good for the local teevee stations, I guess (since it’s the only Congressional race going on – I think – the RCCC and DCCC are spending big bucks on ads, and the “Conservative” Party candidate – now backed not only by Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman, but also by Tim Pawlenty and Grampa Fred Thompson – apparently has deep pockets, too), but annoying for viewers.

Turns out those two pilots who missed Minneapolis had a good reason: they were on their personal laptops and lost track of time and ignored the radio. The claim to have been all involved with new scheduling procedures or something, but come on. I don’t buy that. As far as I know, Northwest flights don’t have the Internet, so what the hell could they have really been doing? Watching DVDs or something? Is that what they do up there in the cockpit? I mean, I’ve been known to spend a little time on the old computer at work (which is actually part of my job description), but I still answer the damn phone. Now, if they’d been bangin’ the stewardesses, I’d be more understanding. Personally, I think they suffered lost time due to being abducted by aliens, and either don’t remember what happened or aren’t willing to admit the truth.

Here in NY State, we’re about to be officially in the red as our General Fund hits a $1.4 billion shortfall. The Governor is calling a special session of the State Legislature (like that’s gonna do any good), and is proposing $90 million more in cuts to SUNY, $53 million to CUNY (City University), cutting $260 to state aid provided to each community college student, and getting rid of the $120 TAP payments for poor kids. I think he’s proposing even more cuts to school districts, too. As far as I can tell, that doesn’t come close to $1.4 billion (doesn’t even come close to the “.4” part).

Meanwhile, State residents are bailing out as fast as they can. Eight percent of population has left since 2000. Well, they’re not getting rid of me that easy. Unless my job becomes part of the budget cuts, of course. If that happens, I’m outta here as soon as my unemployment runs out.

Till then, I guess I gotta go to work.

I watched Milk last night (the movie, that is), and it reminded me that long before Florida was known for electile dysfunction, it was known for Anita Bryant. I’d kind of forgotten about good ol’ gal Anita. Her 15 minutes should have ended in 1959 when she was runner-up for Miss America, but she actually managed to turn a mediocre singing career into the prized position of FCC (Florida Citrus Commission) spokesmodel. Sadly, as is often the case with halfwits, bigots, and Miss America losers, she started to believe that people should actually give a shit about what she thought. Her third (and final) fifteen minutes of fame ended after she managed to galvanize the gay community against her twisted homophobic “Kristian” views. After divorcing, going bankrupt, and getting remarried, Anita tried to revive her singing career by playing Pigeon Forge Tennessee, but she was a bust (if you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere).

The Obama administration continues to fall all over itself, trying to figure out where it stands on the “public option.” The only thing I can think of is that they feel a need to get one Republican to vote for reform, so they can pretend it was bipartisan. Either that, or they’re just as deep in the pockets of the insurance industry as the Republicans and Blue Dogs are. Or maybe they really just aren’t as smart as I thought they were. It’s not all that unusual, I guess. Good at running a campaign doesn’t necessarily translate into good at governing. Oh well, at least he’s better than Bush.

Basketball season officially began yesterday (if an exhibition game against a Division II team can be considered “official”), and the home team looked pretty good. I actually got to watch the second half, after schlepping my 3 tons of wood pellets down to the basement. Granted, they were only playing Cal State-Los Angeles, but for a first game barely a week into practice, they looked OK. Hopefully they’ll still be looking good next March.

Oh well, time to face Monday.

Oh well,

Not feeling particularly motivated this morning, so here’s a quick and dirty look at today’s lineup:

Press the Meat: Schumer, Cornyn, Erin Burnett, Andrew Ross Sorkinm roundtable of Jane Mayer Joe Scarborough, Dan Senor, Tavis Smiley.

Faze the Nation: John McCain, Russ Feingold.

Fux News Sunday: Abdullah Abdullah, Jon Kyl, Carl Levin, fuxheads.

This Weak: Mitch McConnell, Claire McCaskill, Laura Ingraham, Cynthia Tucker, Al Hunt, John Podesta, George :jerk: Will.

Fareed Zakaria: Hamid Karzai, Shashi Tharoor.

OK, back to moving pellets.

.

When asked about Dick Cheney’s criticism of Obama’s “dithering” on Afghanistan, Joe Biden said what I’d have said: “Who cares?” OK, actually I’d have said, “tell Cheney to go f*ck himself.” But then I’m no genius, since I didn’t watch Baby Einstein videos as a kid (since there weres no such thing as videos way back then – not for your home, anyway). Of course, if you or you kids watched Baby Einstein, you’re probably no genius either (if you bought them for your kids expecting them work for your kid, you’re definitely no genius. You can get a refund, at least (not sure if you have to sign an affidavit admitting your kid’s a moron or what).

A rather startling admission from Michelle Obama last night, that the liberal media is, in typical fashion, all but ignoring.

“He beats me quite often,” she said on NBC-TV’s “The Jay Leno Show,” appearing via satellite hookup from the White House. “That gets to be pretty annoying.”

Shocking, indeed. Though if you’d forced me to place a bet, I’d have guessed that she’d being the one doing the beating.

Sad news this morning, as I’m forced to admit that I agree with Lou Dobbs.

Fox Business News — their new hire John Stossel — weighing in with his own brand of myopic idiocy and no information whatsoever sat down with self-described rodeo clown Glenn Beck…what a self-important ass. … He doesn’t understand basic economics. … He’s just a silly little trick waiting to do some sort of Libertarian flip. […]
Immigrants wrecking America — I’ve never said anything close to that. As a matter of fact, I embrace immigrants to this country, I welcome them, I want more — and as a matter of public policy, we need them. In no way am I restrictionist, and to hear this ass continue his act over at Fox News. I just can’t wait until he starts blowing bubbles in the air — that’s about all he’s equipped to do.

Oh well, time to get ready for the day. I’ve got 6,000 pounds of wood pellets to drag to the basement (though I think I’ll save that joy for Sunday).

Looks like Granny gets to keep her job, as the NY State Department of Health has ended its mandate for health care workers to get flu vaccines – for both H1N1 and the seasonal flu. Governor Blinky is attributing this to a shortage of vaccines (supposedly the entire seasonal flu vaccine has been distributed, and drug companies have only managed to produce 23% of the anticipated amount of H1N1 vaccine), but I suspect its more like they thought everybody would roll over for them, and when there was resistance (and law suits), they decided it wasn’t worth it. They’re not giving up on the idea, though, intimating that they may bring the mandate back next year – providing there’s enough vaccine to go around. As for the lawsuits currently pending, they’re a little up in the air, now. Hopefully they’ll continue.

Speaking of Swine Flu, turns out you can catch it from living with a pig.

Rep. Joe Wilson’s wife Roxanne has been diagnosed with swine flu, the congressman’s office confirmed to CNN on Thursday.

Chuck Schumer, among others, will be in town today to officially announce that Indian car company Reva (the world’s largest manufacturer of electric cars) will be opening its first US manufacturing plant here. They plan to begin building their NXR model (introduced at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show) here. It’s a 2-seater which runs on lithium-ion batteries, does 65 MPH, and has a range of about 100 miles on a charge. It takes 8 hours to charge up, but has a 15-minute “quick charge” (good for about 30 miles) as well. That would cover pretty much all of my driving. They’re a bit on the pricey side (looks like they’re going for about €15,000 – about $22,500) for a 2-seat car, though. They’ll be starting out small – only employing 120 people to start – but hopefully these things will catch on. Aside from the obvious irony that now India is outsourcing jobs to the US, we could use the jobs around here.

Ever wished you were homeless, but have just gotten too darn accustomed to having heat, a roof over your head, indoor plumbing, and an actual bed? Well, now you’re in luck, as Dutch By Design is offering bedding to make it look like you’re sleeping on pavement with cardboard boxes for blankets. Don’t worry, 30% of gross (so to speak) profits on the rather overpriced goods go to a charity for homeless youth. And, really, what a chic way for those with a home and roof over their heads to simultaneously support and make fun of the homeless (or, if you’re not an asshole you could just donate directly, I guess).

You might have heard about an off-year special election taking place this year in one of my neighboring congressional districts – the NY 23rd. A special election was required when John McHugh stepped down to become Secretary of the Army. This district hasn’t been represented by a Democrat in a long time (it’s pretty hard to tell just when, what with all the redistricting that’s gone on over the years – NY’s districts have been severely gerrymandered by Republicans). This year, Democrat Bill Owens is running against “moderate” Republican Dede Scozzafava, and we’ve been subjected to a great deal of negative campaign commercials – particularly snotty ones paid for by the NRCC. What’s interesting this year, of course, is that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is simultaneously running against both Owens and Scozzafava. And now Sarah Palin has decided to weigh in on the race, throwing her support (for whatever that’s worth) behind Hoffman. All of which is good news for Owens, who’s in a good position to win the seat (for a year, anyway) with a decidedly small percentage of the vote. And with the census coming up, guess who gets to gerrymander now?

This just in: it’s illegal to be naked in your own home. In Virginia, at least. Now, I was pretty sure I once read that what you do inside you own home was up to you, and there was no way you could be charged with indecent exposure, whether you had your curtains closed or not. In fact, I thought it was quite the opposite – that there were “peeping Tom” laws that made it illegal to peer through the windows of private residences.

Big day today. Not only is it Friday, but we have 3 tons of wood pellets being delivered tonight. That ought to keep us nice and warm this winter. It ought to keep me nice and warm this weekend, too, as I’ll have to drag all three tons from the garage and down the stairs to the basement. That’s 150 round trips, which means my back will probably be a little sore by this time Monday morning.

Oh well, time to go.

It appears that, with a bit of a lull in the Balloon Boy story, there’s nothing much going on in the world. Well, except that Amy Winehouse’s dad likes her new boobs. That’s nice. I guess if you’re a young woman with a shithead for a husband and a drug problem, nothing will make you feel better than a little plastic surgery. As long as your dad approves, of course. I don’t really get the appeal, personally. Having grown up seeing my sister’s Barbi dolls in various states of undress, fake plastic boobs really don’t do it for me. I much prefer the real thing. I’m also not much for garish makeup or false eyelashes that make you look like you have a couple of bats glues to your eyes. But, to each his (or her) own.

In other big news stories, Rosie O’Donnell and her wife are having “issues.” Why I should care about that is uncertain, but there’s a mention of it on the front page of the HuffPost, so I know I should. I just wonder if I should be surprised or not (no offense to Rosie, but she strikes me as somebody that might be just a tad difficult to live with).

Speaking of gay people, I’ve never actually heard of Adam Lambert (I take it he’s famous), but why do the gay guys always get the girls? Just doesn’t seem fair.

I may be disappointed in Barack Obama’s presidency, but this study makes me glad I didn’t vote for John McCain:

Men who voted for Obama maintained stable testosterone levels, while men who voted for McCain saw those levels drop more than 25 percent.

Makes you wonder what happened to the PUMAs when Hillary lost the nomination.

Poor Glenn Beck. He’s apparently come to the conclusion that he’s relevant, and is now employing an armed bodyguard (despite nobody seeming to know of any threats against him). My guess is he picked him out of the Jeff Guckert catalog.

In the “they all look alike” department, fellow SU alum and MSNBC, um, anchor or whatever you call those people, Contessa Brewer called Jesse Jackson “Al Sharpton.” Both black, both Reverends. Eh, close enough.

In New York (and probably every other state), the native populations were forced onto tiny slivers of their own land. On the bright side, these lands are considered sovereign nations (and, as we all know from George W. Bush, sovereign means they have sovereignty). Among other things, these nations aren’t required to collect the $2.75 per pack NY State cigarette tax. Well, except for a law that was passed quite a while ago that said non-Native people were required to pay the tax, but nobody’s really ever tried to collect it. Except for George Pataki, that is. He tried in 1997, which led to protesters shutting down the New York State Thruway, setting fires, and duking it out with State Troopers. Pataki then retaliated by blockading the reservations, but he eventually caved in, and that was that. Since then NY’s tribes have sold something like 300 million packs a year, and are now getting into the manufacturing process. Times being what they are, with NY trying to close a huge budget gap, Governor Blinky is once again looking at trying to get his hands on all those potential tax dollars (which would be over $800 million a year, which aint chump change).

The Governor has sent a letter to US Attorneys, asking them to assess the potential for “violence and civil unrest” if NY once again tries to collect tax revenue. I reckon there’s quite a bit of potential there, personally. Or, as Richard Nephew, chairman of the governing council of the Seneca Nation – NY’s biggest tribal seller of cigarettes – puts it:

“We see the letter as nothing more than the Governor doing his job to assess the historic consequences of what happens when the state tries to violate our treaty rights.”

Indeed.

Looks like Nancy Pelosi will soon announce the House version of Health Care reform – including a “public option” tied to medicare rates + 5%. A preliminary CBO report says the plan is revenue neutral, will cover 96% or Americans, and will require $900 billion of new spending over ten years. If you’re keeping score, that’s only slightly more than Max Baucus’ bill w/o a public option that will cover less people. Hopefully this will meet with President Snowe’s approval.

Oh well, time to get it on.

Locally, some people seem to be in a snit over boobs. There’s a local bottle return center that’s raising money in support of the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of CNY (that’s Alec’s mom, BTW), which put up signs reading, “Bottles for Boobs.” The professionally offended are outraged – outraged, I say – at such language. I’m not really sure why, though when I first read the sign, I thought there was some sort of trading thing going on (which didn’t seem like much of a deal to me; if it was the other way around, maybe). But, whatever. It’s in one of our more affluent suburbs, whose residents are apparently too high class and humorless for such crude language. Maybe for Christmas they can have “Toys for….” Well, never mind.

Speaking of boobs, the Miss California Pageant wants theirs back. Well, maybe not the boobs themselves, but they’re suing (counter suing, actually) Carrrie Prejean (aren’t her 15 minutes up yet?), demanding that she give back the $5,200 they shelled out for her boob job. Personally, I think they ought to just demand the implants back. Perhaps they can pass them along to their next pageant winner. You know, instead of a crown. That way, they can ensure that California is always represented by a nice pair. :boobs:

Speaking of a nice pair, today’s “Two for Tuesday” Woot is a pair of talking smoke detectors. They not only speak to you (I wonder if you can record a personal greeting? “Get your ass outta bed! The f*cking house is on fire!“), but they talk to each other. So, if one goes off, they all (up to 18) go off, and supposedly tell you where the fire’s at. Pretty nifty, though, to me, not worth the $45, even if they do come with an instructional DVD (really? There are really people that need a DVD to figure out smoke detectors? How do they figure out the DVD player). That reminds me, I really ought to check the batteries in our smoke detectors. I’d have to find them, though. We took ’em down to paint a few years ago, and that’s the last I remember seeing them.

The “first pair” – Barack and Michelle Obama – head to Wall Street today, trying to get some of our bailout money back. No, not in the form of home mortgages for working people or loans to small businesses. In the form of a $30,000 per couple fundraiser for Democrats. Oh, only about half a dozen of the attendees are from the big bailout bucks winners, so I reckon it’s all OK. But it gave Newt Gingrich a chance to tell Matt Lauer that the Obama Administration is a bunch of hypocrites, creating unaccountable “Czars” and whatnot, and that the Democrats are making bipartisanship “impossible.”

What a boob.

So, by now, everybody’s heard the shocking and surprising news that the balloon boy thing appears to have been a hoax. And oh, the outrage. From the media at least, which once again got punked by turning what might have made for a cutesy fluff piece at the end of a nightly news piece into the focus of national (nay, global) attention. It was the story of a quirky family epitomizing the ideals of American ingenuity and adventurism. At first, anyway. Then it became the story of a shallow and gullible media feeding the egos of a publicity-seeking family of media whores (which are the 21st Century American ideals). As usual, I’m pretty sure most of us were way ahead of the media on this one. Not that it seemed unlikely that a big Jiffy Pop thing (oh, excuse me, an experimental aircraft) made from tinfoil covered tarps could lift up a kid and whisk him away across the sky or anything. I’m just surprised Dad didn’t stuff Junior in a box and throw him off the roof or something. Oh well, much like the Octomom, I’m sure this “story” will be the big news for weeks (maybe months) to come. In other words, balloon boy’s parents will get exactly what they wanted. And if this doesn’t become an episode of South Park some day, I’ll be shocked.

Afhan President Hamid Karzai appears to be ready to say “screw you” to the country’s election recount, hinting that he may not accept the results as his supporters began demonstrations against “foreign interference” in the elections. This might actually provide Barack Obama with a good excuse to get us the hell out of there, though I still get the feeling that he’ll wind up sending another 50,000 or so troops in. After all, it’s one of the few things he can get the Republicans on board with (which really ought to give him a clue as to whether it’s a good idea or not). I just wonder if anybody will insist that escalating the war in Afghanistan needs to be “revenue neutral.”

Speaking of revenue neutral, I’m trying to figure out what to cut out of my budget to pay for my WTF monthly subscription. I guess it should be easy to find $10 a month somewhere, but I need all those premium teevee channels, and the price of beer continues to skyrocket.

Turns out that, injunctions on mandatory flu vaccinations aside, due to the supposed vaccine shortages, I’ve been excluded from the list of those who are “allowed” to get the shots where I work. If I get the flu, I will, of course, sue.

Oh well, I suppose I ought to get going. It’s another scrape the windshield kinda morning, and I wouldn’t wanna be late.