I'm back!

Weird stuff I noticed…
I went to the bank (instead of the ATM). The teller’s name plate said “Soda Pop”. She was too old for it to be Seinfeld inspired. I would have loved to ask her about it…

At the gas station, there was a sign on the pump, notifying customers that paying by credit card at the pump, the limit had been set at $75, so if you needed more than that, you have to stop and start a new transaction after $75, or you could pay by credit card inside. $75 for gas!? Wow.


Get this man a whizzinator!

Rush Limbaugh must pass random drug tests for the next 18 months to satisfy an agreement filed Monday that will lead to dismissal of a prescription fraud charge if he stays out of trouble.

More here


This paints a pretty picture of the “graduating” Iraqi defenders..

Then some soldiers started tearing their clothes off to demonstrate their rage.
The protest was triggered by an announcement that the new soldiers, all residents of Anbar province -- widely considered the heartland of Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgent movement -- would be required to serve outside their home towns and outside the province as well.
The clip showed what appeared to be dozens of angry, shouting troops ripping off their uniforms and throwing them in the air or on the ground. Others shook their fists in the direction of the camera, as Iraqi officers, waving their arms, attempted to stop the tumult. In the background, most soldiers simply milled around, looking confused about what was taking place.
Army graduation ceremonies have often been troubled. In late 2003, according to Kalev Sepp, a retired Special Forces officer who has advised U.S. commanders in Iraq, U.S. trainers of one Iraqi unit so distrusted their students that they carried loaded pistols at a graduation ceremony in case of mutiny.

Details


This isn’t exactly new, though it seems to be getting more attention suddenly

INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON'S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION'S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL."

a little more info here


Stephen Colbert was so impressive! I like this description:

Packing devastating 150 MPH satire, Hurricane Colbert slammed into Washington D.C. last weekend, laying waste to thousands of expensive egos and careers and leaving behind torrential whining.

For more

For list lovers…guess the title of this one!

Helen Thomas is old and batty.
Mexicans are taking our jobs.
Iraq sent its WMDs to Syria.
Democrats don't want to wiretap terrorists.
Joe Wilson admitted that Valerie Plame wasn't covert.
Karl Rove has a faulty memory.
Scooter Libby has a faulty memory.

See the rest here


Funny Colbert photoshophere


Russ has a new statement on troop withdrawal

This body has failed time and again to debate the direction of our country’s policy in Iraq. Three years ago the President landed on an aircraft carrier and declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. Today, with thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars spent, we are still no closer to a policy that lifts the burden from our troops and taxpayers, and that actually makes our country safer from the terrorist networks that seek to hurt us.
By failing to discuss alternatives to the Administration’s failed Iraq policy, we have let down this institution and our constituents. We simply cannot continue to avoid asking the tough questions about Iraq. We should not be appropriating billions of dollars for Iraq without debating – and demanding -- a strategy to complete our military mission there. Not when the lives of our soldiers and the safety of our country are at risk, Mr. President

Full text of floor speech here


More Colbert stuff, I am obviously obsessed

That's what made the audience at the Correspondents' dinner so deadly silent. Colbert made not-very-exaggerated statements that could easily have come out of the mouths of any pompous reporter or Republican flunky, statements that not only made the press and the administration look silly, but also hubristic, heedless, weak, and even murderous. Those of us who were not implicated by his speech could laugh freely at it. I didn't vote for this administration, and I certainly haven't enabled it through silence. Colbert embodied all those whose ambition, toadyism, and cowardice fuel Bush's whims, while also making it clear that only the "backwash" of Americans support his work as President anyway. To laugh at Colbert as a blowhard is to recognize the evil that his kind of blowhardery enables.

For more of this
To thank Stephen


And a little more satire…

What was the president thinking?
." Colbert... Colbert... Got it! His nickname will be "Cheese!" Like Colby cheese! Hi, Cheese!

Hilarious!


An opening that just confuses me..

The notion of Bob Dylan as a free-wheeling radio DJ might seem as plausible as Kevin McHale, the other pride of Hibbing, making productive trades for the Timberwolves.
The first "Theme Time Radio Hour With Your Host Bob Dylan" focuses on weather, and you don't need to be a weatherman to talk about the weather, especially if you're a Minnesotan. Spinning 18 tunes about rain, wind and sun, Dylan talks more about the music, though he bandies about cloud types and comments on the "winds of apocalypse" in California
Musically, the songs run the gamut from Jimmie Davis' "You Are My Sunshine" to Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" to Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind."

Story


Another of my heroes…

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is a crime-busting phenomenon, the scourge of al-Qaeda terrorists, corrupt Chicago political machines, former media tycoon Conrad Black, and—as special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame investigation—the West Wing. Meet Karl Rove's worst nightmare

Interesting Vanity Fair profile


Another Russ in Iowa article

"He's what we consider the Real McCoy," Grimesey said. "He doesn't have to say what he stands for. You can look at what he's done, and it actually matches what he's said."

That certainly sets him apart


More from Vanity Fair, what’s happened to that magazine lately?

Purdum reports that Cheney travels with a chemical-biological suit at all times. When he gave his friend Robin West and his twin children a ride to the White House a couple of years ago, West commented on the fact that Cheney’s motorcade varied its daily path. “And he said, ‘Yeah, we take different routes so that “The Jackal” can’t get me,’” West tells Purdum. “And then there was this big duffel bag in the middle of the backseat, and I said, ‘What’s that? It’s not very roomy in here.’ And [Cheney] said, ‘No, because it’s a chemical-biological suit,’ and he looked at it and said, ‘Robin, there’s only one. You lose.’”

Nice guy!