Shameless Plug

Contest time! My fiancee submitted a modest cost-saving idea that we are using for our wedding to an on-line contest. I promptly forgot all about it. But we have been selected from over a thousand entries as a finalist! So our floral centerpieces could be worth $10,000!! Prizes of that amount will be awarded in cash to the top four finalists who receive the highest number of votes. So if anyone looks at this blog anymore, we would really appreciate your help! Quite apart from the prize, my competitive nature makes me want to win.

Please vote for us by clicking one of the the links below - it takes only a moment to go to the site and click the button. There is no sign in or other information requested. Thank you for your support!!

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The End?

I'm exhausted. Completely tapped out, creatively speaking. I don't know how real writers do it; apparently I am not one. I suppose could continue to riff upon current events and post "witty" comments about internet detritus, but that feels really worn and old these days.

Last night at a work function (a team dinner), my manager spoke about seeing Anthony Bourdain give a lecture. "Nice work if you can get it, just standing up there and telling stories," she joked. "Ya, the only trick is having something to say that people will pay money to hear," I replied half-heartedly. Right now, I don't even want to read what I have to say for free :-)

See you later.

Why Didn't She Call Him Back?

Perhaps the greatest voicemail ever left on a machine. Must be heard.

Guy Tries to Be Sauve sound bite

My question is, how come there isn't an epic love story at the end of this rainbow of love? I wish I knew. And most important, how come I didn't hear about this meme sooner?

Latest Quote of the Day

"Death before discourtesy is my f*cking mantra!"

From the unlikely person of Kevin Smith! Apparently he claims to have really good manners, but he lost it when he was bumped from a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat.

New Poll Shows Democrats Are Dumber Than Republicans And Independents

Ok, that probably got your attention. Now check this out: the New York Times and CBS published a poll today that suggests such an improbable headline: 79% of self-identified Democrats said they favored allowing "gays and lesbians" to serve openly in the military, but only 43% of the self-same Democrats favored allowing "homosexuals" to serve in the military openly. According to the poll results, Republicans and independents did not have nearly as much trouble deciphering the different terms that the poll contained; their numbers were roughly equivalent, regardless of how the question was worded.

Sigh.

Ka-Pow

This hits me like a Mack truck that I'm too dim-witted to avoid:

While his base was distracted with a never very bold health care proposal, designed to mollify the insurance companies while providing at least the appearance of universal health care, Obama ceded the genuinely populist cause in the midst of a banking meltdown by coddling Wall Street. It was only a year into his administration, at a point when the banks had obviously failed to deliver on a promise to aid distressed homeowners and increase lending, that Obama in direct response to adverse poll results once again sounded the populist notes of the early months of his primary campaign.

And for that too-little-too-late response to the catastrophic economic crisis they caused, Wall Street titans will now take Obama to the woodshed to teach him and the Democrats a lesson about who's really in control.

I Can't Get Over It

I already posted about this issue, but this video, Transforming Uganda, from Bruce Wilson, is essential viewing.

Dear Senator

Dear Senator Franken:

I am a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I write to ask that you please oppose the re-confirmation of Ben Bernanke for Federal Reserve Chairman. Bernanke has proven he cannot fulfill the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of price stability and full employment and thus has shown he is not qualified to serve a second term as Chairman. He has become a polarizing figure whose past is inextricably entangled with the financial crisis that grips our country.

Your esteemed colleague, Senator Russ Feingold, succinctly explains Bernanke's lack of qualification for the office:

"A chief responsibility of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is to ensure a sound financial system. Under the watch of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve permitted grossly irresponsible financial activities that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Under Chairman Bernanke's watch predatory mortgage lending flourished, and 'too big to fail' financial giants were permitted to engage in activities that put our nation's economy at risk. And as it responds to the crisis it helped to usher in, the Federal Reserve under Chairman Bernanke's leadership continues to resist appropriate efforts to review that response, how taxpayers' money was being used, and whether it acted appropriately."

In the simple language of a lifelong Minnesotan: we should not give the keys back to the person who crashed the car.

Senator Franken, we need fresh faces and new ideas in government, which is why I supported you in the 2008 election.

Jobs and economic policy are critical issues to my family and to the voters of Minnesota. Please consider my request.

Thank you.

Regards,

<me>

Tip of the hat to Snarf Snarf for the idea.

(My Dreams Have Been) Killed By An Amazon

I thought the point of online retailers is to nurture and exploit one's desire for mindless consumerism! But I've been crushed.

You see, I have been keeping track of a wish list on Amazon.com for a while. I went to daydream upon it at the end of my day, only to find that one of the items on my list has been labeled "item no longer available." I'm pretty sure I don't want "item no longer available." I'm pretty sure I want items, lots of them. That's why I'm keeping a damn list!

Fack. I don't even remember what the item was.

Someone Else's Wisdom

Can't seem to muster any original or insightful or interesting or humorous thought. So I thought I'd post this quote.

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.

H.G. Wells (1866-1946)

Kill or Captcha

After three years of blogging in this space, I've finally had to enable CAPTCHA. I recognize the value of the technology, but I resent having to decipher and enter the letters, and so I long resisted adding it to my site. I suppose I have been lucky enough to escape most spam for all this time. But today I had a number of male enhancement comments on my previous post, and it was time to accept the inevitable. Bastids.

Religion: A Scary Thing, or The Scariest Thing?

Ugandan MP David Bahati has introduced a bill to punish homosexuals with the death penalty. No mention of his religious leanings in that story, but it turns out that Uganda is governed in part by fundamentalist Christians with ties to the American fundamentalist group The Family.

Never let it be said that Christian fundamentalists are less extreme than their Muslim counterparts.

My Dog Knows When I'm Crabby

When I curse under my breath, my dog gets up off the couch and slinks away quietly to his kennel.