Just Another Contrail

What is it about contrails? Some people think they are actually chemical sprays coming from the government to kill everyone; others confuse them with missiles and meteors...



Just take a look at that report and marvel at the profound ignorance and sensationalism. All over a damned airplane.

On the other hand this was likely not a contrail, but it caused very little stir.

Break Time

That's basically what our politicos are doing to us.

Here and There

Came across this commercial shown on the Super Bowl a number of years ago..



It took me until the second viewing (live) to say, 'what the..?' Anyway, E-trade is better off with the talking baby, but I thought this was funny considering some of side-effects they prattle off during med commercials.

McCartney

Paul McCartney, with some historical thoughts after his Gershwin Award in the White House:

Later, after the TV cameras had left, he expressed appreciation for the Library of Congress and added a zinger: "After the last eight years, it's great to have a president who knows what a library is."

Too bad the cameras were gone--it would have been must see TV to watch the current occupant's reaction. Probably about the same as the Washington Post newsroom when his victory was announced. But hey, O knows what a library is after spending most of his Columbia years buried in one, according to the book he co-wrote with a former domestic terrorist.

Anyway, the former Beatle played a lot of his great hits. For some reason left out this one..



If nothing else it could have been a sort of self-reflective piece.

MORE 6/3/10

Contrary to what HuffPo said there were some cameras rolling. It cut off pretty fast, but the crowd seemed appreciative. So who has the reaction shot?

MORE 6/4/10

Althouse is running a poll on O singing Hey Jude--hey, it doesn't bother me. Bush did some silly things, as do all presidents. Apparently after all the singing, praise, and raucous laughter about the former president died down Obama retired to the mansion and ended his day thinking of nothing but the oil spill and jobs, jobs, jobs.

In her comments section people are recommending other appropriate Beatle songs Paul didn't play: Taxman, Back in the USSR, Nowhere Man, Fixing a Hole.. I'd add "Help".

Testing for Earthquakes

Earthquakes seem to be on the increase but folks cannot seem to settle for a natural explanation to anything anymore. So we appear to have two running theories now--on the one hand a liberal tree-hugger who blames the increase of both quakes and volcanoes on western democracy, and on the other a Muslim cleric who blames them on too much western-style cleavage. I'll just go ahead and blame Bush, but both of these guys can't be right!

Which is why this question calls for a scientific experiment:

The campaign to trigger a 'Boobquake' was begun by American student Jennifer McCreight who has so far got 40,000 people to sign up to the idea on a special Facebook page (where another 150,000 have been invited) and has attracted a large following on Twitter.

April 26, mark it down. Observations will certainly be taken far and wide, perhaps with more precision that a mercury thermometer. We look forward to seeing the data. Oh, and by the way, to be on the safe side you may want to avoid West Lafayette next week. Just sayin'.

Break Time

Into each blog a little silliness must come..


Human Dog Hybrid Eats Its Lunch - Watch more Funny Videos

Happy Friday..

Odds n Ends

A few things on my mind, so here goes..

BURY ME IN MY OBAMA TEE

This is a very sad story, one that shouldn't get wrapped up in the echo chamber of political back-forth. But since it most definitely will anyway here's a few thoughts.

She did have insurance, albeit a pretty poor plan. Not sure it's very nice to make light of this but in another way it's part of the political strategy where anyone who does question it will be called names by the echo chamber. Surely a public option may have helped her yet we just heard they wanted to limit mammograms to those 50 and older, and she died at 41. Palin was overdramatizing with the 'death panels' but surely fiscal cutbacks will be necessary in any govt-funded/managed system, including limiting mammograms and research.

SNOW IN DC

This headline is humorous:

Snow piles up, paralyzing nation's capital

As if it wasn't paralyzed already. The new phrases are creative, though. BTW, is it proper to call it 'the nation's capital' or 'Capitol'?

Anyway, prepare for the "more extreme weather--a sure sign of global warming" from the left, who have also been known to lecture everyone that "weather is not climate". To be fair and balanced, get ready for the "what global warming?" cry from the right, which is equally nonsense because as we know, weather is not climate.

PREVIOUS POST

Some may think me a crazy person for continuing to harp on weirdities like Saddam/Baathist-terrorist connections and unexplained aviation incidents and the like. Maybe I should get a life. But unexplained things in the wide open have always been frustrating, which is why I can't figure out how the UPI could run a story in mid-January about high level negotiations between ex-patriot Iraqi Baathists and the current Shia-led Iraqi government, all brokered by the CIA, and including former Saddam right hand man Izzat al-Duri as one of the parties, with a mention of him operating in the AQ hotbed of Yemen. Why isn't that news?

Here's a screenshot from a search done this morning on the Washington Post. I also tried the "Duri" spelling and got nothing. Even if he's hiding somewhere in their database the mainstream press at large has not made this a big headline. Why? Is it because al-Douri was a right-hand man of Saddam and is now working closely with AQ, relationships he began cultivating well before the invasion? Surely they are not afraid it might make Bush's legacy look better since he never played up this angle either. So I remain confused.

UPHOLDING OUR VALUES

Sweetness and Light found this Obama interview on 60 Minutes from March 2009 where he laid out his views (and sneered at Cheney's) on captured terrorist processing. Even then he was laying the groundwork for the "we captured and killed more terrorists than Bush, na na na na na na" strawman but he also said:

I fundamentally disagree with that. Now– do these folks deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter– down the block? Of course not…

CBS, or at least Steve Kroft, surely remembers. But will they remember to remember?

SHAMELESS

Yes, we're scraping the bottom now. The Aussies recently said they were going to ban A cup women from porn (it's for the children) so I got to wondering how that bureaucracy might work. Would they have middle aged govt inspectors present at the seedy motels when filming starts with measuring tape in hand? Would women demand equal treatment for the men in other areas? And what would they call that govt department? The Bureau of Porn Control? How about the "Bureau Of Overseeing Breast Sizes"?

BUSINESS

Not gonna let boobs be the last story here. Just as sexy, super billionaire Warren Buffet has purchased the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad. This is venerable old Santa Fe (folks around these parts know the time of day) and the Burlington Route (don't know their song). Railroad activity has long been known as a barometer of the economic engine of America and Buffet's purchase seems to be a sign he's optimistic about future freight markets. Either that, or he sees a lot of real estate potential when Obama's High Speed Rail surveyors come to town.

the end

ABC's Celebrity Politicians

It's always fun to read dumb comments from celebrities, and ABC did a puff piece on some today entitled..

Uh, What? Dumb Celebrity Quotes

The piece featuried 38 quotes taken mainly from typical Hollywood airheads. But maybe they had ulterior motives as well.

Scrolling to number 25 brings a politician--the governor of California. OK, Arnold was the Terminator and a former celeb, so no biggies.

But right behind him at number 26 is the butt of all political jokes, Dan "potatoe" Quayle. Well, he's no longer a politician, but a red flag pops up.

And soon, many more red flags. After a few more airheads we get celebrity Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, then number 33 features "celebrity" George W. Bush, followed by John McCain and the real Sarah Palin bringing up the rear.

No dumb comments from the human gaffe machine or any variety of liberals, just a less than clever lumping of popular coservatives with the likes of Jessica Simpson, Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton. They just can't help themselves, can they?

Obama Press Conference

Obama held another filibuster disguised as a press conference, answering about five questions. For some reason the White House web site had this announcement along with the video,



Why would they need an Arabic translation again? Is this now standard? It certainly has nothing to do with Iran, unless it was designed as a subtle jab at the Mullahs. Oh well, surely there's a good reason.

As to reaction, the righty pundits have weighed in and pointed out the lack of questions on North Korea, none on the wars, none on why the big guy fired Gerald Walpin and the other two IGs. OK, Politico is not 'righty'. Good point.

Adding here--there were no decisive follow-ups on how we're going to afford cap and trade as unemployment rises to 10+ percent; no explanation of how he could have been consistent on his Iran rhetoric from day one while at the same time saying he was measuring his comments to avoid becoming a 'foil' or leaving the impression the US was 'meddling' (when this dichotomy was pointed out the reporter was cut off, and quite brusquely); and no questions about the Gitmo detainees. What about the Uighurs! But we are all up to speed on Obama's smoking habits.

The big guy singled out a Huffington Post reporter for an Iran question (those pesky neocons at Politico again). Imagine Bush singling out Ed Morrissey or John Hinderaker, or perhaps Matt Drudge. Yes yes, we know, "Jeff Gannon".

Health care got the most attention and some of these twits managed to ask a few pertinent questions, such as how private insurers might compete against a government subsidized public pool, or whether companies would have any reasons not to dump their current plans and let their employees sink or swim with Uncle Sam. Obama's answers were almost reminiscent of his AIG pitchfork populism, subtly bashing the private insurance companies and taunting them about competition, as if they could actually fairly compete against a publicly-backed political monolith.

On the same note, Jake Tapper managed to crack the veneer as to what might happen if a person who likes their current health care, which Obama says they can keep, ends up being on the receiving end of their employer deciding to dump that health care for the public pool (which of course will happen, especially with struggling companies). Not a real coherent answer but surely one Charlie Gibson will unravel tomorrow night while entertaining America live from the White House Blue Room.

Lack of Stimulation

Hard to write anything today. Sometimes it seems like the events of the day become so overwhelming as to prevent even sarcasm or satire or, God forbid, thoughtful insight.

Blago's theatrics compel a response, but others have done it more justice than is possible here. We see the Baltimore Mayor joining the fray, and perhaps our own King here. Meet the new culture of corruption, same as the old one.

On the national front, Obama and Bush are apparently conspiring to find a way to use the rest of the TARP bailout money before the Congress can disabuse it. Like others, I'm growing tired but also amused at the use of words like 'recovery' and 'injection' in referring to fiscal matters--so fitting in describing our present patient.

Actually, the word 'stimulus' brings to mind a gadget advertised on TV back in the 90s called 'The Stimulator' (picture is not the real one). This hand-held shock device was later found to be a modified gas grill starter and a very poor healer overall (not sure if its use was ever responsible for any spontaneous human combustion, but it wouldn't be surprising). There's a foggy analogy to our current mess in there somewhere.

Speaking of stimuli and TARP, a few talking heads have been mentioning some kind of Gomer bill before the House that would forestall all federal taxes for 2 months instead of plowing the money into banks, such as State Farm, or repaying ACORN and the unions for their tireless work during the election. What a silly idea. Doesn't this guy understand the massive size of the tax break for a guy making 400,000 compared to say Alberto Gonzales? How utterly unfair.

But let's not let our hearts be troubled (not a plug for Hannity!) we can be comforted that journalists are working their hearts out to make sure Obama succeeds, whatever his definition of success might be. Hopefully it's the same as most of America's, which if I had to guess would probably be to survive this near unsurvivable crisis created by government, which only a government can fix.

Tied up in Knots

For the record, there will be no effigies hanging outside the McCloud household this Halloween. Not even one of bin Laden.

But if we were tempted to do such a thing there would be two of them--one with a likeness of Sarah Palin hanging directly next to another resembling Obama. It might be fun to watch the city police arrive with a court order demanding we unhang the Obama effigy then drive off as the Palin dummy twisted around in the fall breeze.

Speaking of nuts...

At least Obama was only figuratively castrated:

Sheriff’s officials say the 43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley.

But she accidentally dropped the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the woman’s kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old man in the trailer and grazed the man’s groin before ending up in his coin pocket.

Awesome. Sort of like a real world Mouse Hunt, where the mouse ends up tearing down the entire house. But dang, a .44 magnum to shoot mice in a trailer? What are the odds alcohol wasn't involved in that one? Hell, what are the odds mice were involved?

Side tracks

Summer's here, and LASunsett has an excellent musical tribute over at Poli-yy. Following his lead here's a few more....







Off to get some fire crackers..