DB Watch - Fraud edition

Ok - this really gets my cankles in a bunch.

I love this!

The Prez had lunch today at the White House with a group of CEO's (Verizon, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Nucor) - and charged them for their lunch!! They had to give out their corp credit card #'s so it wouldn't look like a conflict of interest.

I hope they got charged for extra refills.

Hat tip: West Wing Report

Na na na na...

Hey, hey, hey...goodbye!

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late (since Palin's last day in office was last Friday), but the editors at Vanity Fair took their pens to her resignation speech. And since all writers have a healthy fear of the red pen, here is the cringe-worthy final result. OUCH!

Bonus feature: here is video of William Shatner reading her speech on The Tonight Show w/ Conan...priceless!

Just For Fun

Two recent Word of the Day entries from Urban Dictionary:

1. Cankles

The area in affected female legs where the calf meets the foot in an abrupt, nontapering terminus; medical cause: adipose tissue surrounding the soleus tendon, probably congenital, worsened by weight gain and improved in appearance only by boots. From the English "calf" meaning wide portion of the lower leg, and "ankle" meaning slender joint of leg with foot.

"If I didn't have cankles, I might be able to wear those Prada loafers with my capri pants."

2. Weenis

Its actually the skin on your elbow.

"Ow, I hit my weenis on the refrigerator."

Feel Good Piece of the Week

'cuz I'm about to throw down on healthcare soon...

Read this story about a 5-year-old that knows how to make a difference!

Merc-e Me

Merce Cunningham, dancer and choreographer, died today at the age of 90. I only saw his company perform live once, but I really enjoyed how he merged ballet with modern. The dancers looked like ballet dancers, but moved in new ways.

His company will be performing in Chicago in October at Columbia College's Dance Center.

In Honor of Palin's final day as Gov

A spoof of her resignation speech from McSweeney's...

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.

Creepy Good

The trailer for Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland is out...

Watch it here!

Sassy-frass!

The First Lady's new do -
c/o New York Post blog

Healthcare

Liberals would have you think that reforming healthcare will offer many benefits to help children. Turns out they don't want it.

And I thought the GOP was the party of NO!

DB Watch - Racist Old White Guy edition

Wow. This clip of Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan is truly mindboggling. He is being honest and sees nothing wrong with what he is saying.

I know the Sotomayor hearing are bringing up all kinds of racist leaning in the GOP, but I was really taken aback at Buchanan. (More than once I've emailed MSNBC asking why they let him say racist statements on their network...)

Here is a Daily Kos diary rebuttal of Buchanan's theories. Some of the comments are interesting - read beyond the usual YOU'RE A RACIST! ones and there are some smart ones.

Example: Throughout human history, power, wealth and privilege have always fought against any and all challenges.

And the powerful and wealthy have always depended upon the lowest classes to do all the hard work, and that has always required keeping them subservient. The ultimate expression of that, of course, is slavery.

And the ability to maintain clear class divisions based on race and cultural stereotypes of superiority of the wealthy and inferiority of the subservient is a very convenient way of enforcing the class structure -- which ultimately serves the powerful, wealthy and privileged, of course. Hatred of the "inferior" only reinforces the boundaries, and makes it that much easier to suppress, with violence when needed, any attempts to break down the walls.

Plus, human beings seem to be genetically hard wired to mistrust anyone who does not look like and talk like they do. It is a trait that has far outlived its survival benefit, and it may yet destroy us before we evolve a better genetic model.

Buchanan is wrong about just about everything, but he is dead wrong when he says that white men built this country, especially if by "white men" he really means white, anglo-saxon, privileged men. This country was built on the backs of the predominantly ethnic and often non-white working class and the decidedly non-white slaves. Pat's "white men" OWNED the country, they did NOT build it.

from flitedocnm in comments secction -Daily Kos

Racist and classist. Here's to hoping that this particular subsect of the GOP either dies off or gets voted out permanently. It does no good for the country.

Quote of the day

Ok, phrase of the day.

wingnut batshittery

Via Laura Clawson at Daily Kos.

First Pitch

The president will throw out the first pitch at the MLB All-Star game tonight in St. Louis. Here he is talking about his prep.

How cute is he?

Wapo's new Op-Ed writer

Sarah Palin? Yes, it's true. At the risk of being snarky (who? me?), I wonder who helped her write it. And, of course, it appeared in one of Murdoch's papers. Who offered her that mutli-million-dollar book deal?

Soon-to-be ex-Governor Palin wrote an op-ed taking on Obama and his cap-and-trade policy. You can read the full text here.

And here is a rebuttal from The Dish.

And fact checking from Media Matters.

I don't know much about cap-and-trade, but her piece really just seems to be saying "drill, baby, drill" -- nothing substantial or innovative.

Tuesday Quick Hits

*Pres. Obama nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin for his Surgeon General. You can read about her here, here and here. He's nothing if not poetic, even in his nom picks.

*Here is an article from the Washington Post on the grueling White House schedule.

*Yesterday President Obama gave his 200th speech since taking office. Mark Knoller runs down the stats here.

*Eugene Robinson takes on racism and the Sotomayor hearings for Real Clear Politics.

Pres on recovery

President Obama wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post yesterday defending the stimulus..errrrr, American Reinvestment and Recovery plan. He also touched on building up our community colleges. You can read the full editorial here.

Poor Baby Goose!

Or...Hop-along Cassidy. I refuse to call her Veal.

Giselle tore her ACL and is confined to her crate when I'm not home (when I don't give in and gate her in the bathroom with a bone and a duck). We'll find out in the next week or so if she needs surgery.

And, to add insult to injury, the Dr. said she needed to go on a diet. How rude?

Note to self

Don't attempt to make iced tea after 3 glasses of wine and no nap.

Result: shattered pitcher, cuts on hands, burns on legs from boiling water and chunk out of hardwood floor. No iced tea.

Boo.

Grumpy Girl

If you take my picture one more time...

Picture it: sophomore year, Homecoming parade, you have the flu and everyone is telling you to SMILE! Smile and wave, wave and smile...thh. I'm so NOT a beauty queen (at that age it was more of a popularity contest anyway).

Poor Ben.

Birthdays

Yesterday, Tai Shan, a male panda at the Smithsonian Zoo turned 4. He got a bamboo birthday cake.








And my Paulie turned...well, it has a 4 in it...TODAY!!! Happy Birthday! Oh, he got a new bike and tickets to see Wynona Judd.

Apocalypse Watch - Dad edition

Yes, that is Joe using a MAC?!?!?!?! His story is Mom tricked him into it by luring him with a website for a new car. Likely story...

G 8n't that cute?

The media is all a flutter over a picture of the Prez apparently checkin' this girl's butt out. Here is the Newsweek blog's explanation and here is a funny clip from Good Morning America.

Personally, if I were Pres. Obama and I was checkin' some girl out, I'd be way more careful. Michelle ain't playin' that.

Scary Stuff

1. Hacked! US and South Korean computers were hacked - apparently computers at the White House too. That can't be good.

2. Smuggled. The Government Accountability Office, on numerous occasions, found security to be lacking in federal buildings. So much so that bomb materials were smuggled through security check points. Oops!

3. My Mom called late the other night to tell me that a 24-year-old was driven to a secluded spot and sexually assaulted by her cab driver in Chicago. Thanks Mom!

Playing catch up

I've actually been busy at work this week. Finished writing copy for 6 ad videos, so thought I'd reward myself with a little blog time (even though I do have an article due next week I haven't started).

TGIF!!

NO MORE RINGING PHONES!!!!!!!

HP #6

Holy Crap! Watch the new trailer...

One more week - I can't wait!

Sad Day for the Culinary World

Well, at least mine. Oscar Meyer has died. How appropriate that I had a hot dog for lunch.

Franken Is In!

Watch this clip of Al Franken (D-MN) being sworn in today by VP Biden. The length of applause is pretty cool.

Just in case

The fear is that the current strain of the swine flu is going to regroup and come back stronger with immunity to the drugs now being used - probably this winter. So, here is a handy list for pandemic preparedness (via Daily Kos) from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) organization.

More BTC* from Alaska

Here is a clip (via The Dish) from CNN of Anderson Cooper trying to make sense of the non-sensical (aka. Sarah Palin's spokeswoman trying to defend the reasoning of her leaving the governorship). It's kind of funny...

Poor Anderson, he doesn't understand sports. It was probably all of those years hanging out at fashion shows with his mom.

*BTC = bat-shit crazy.

Federer!!!!!

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.

Carl Sandburg

Whoops...I can see your...

transparency?

Today the White House released a list of all employees and their salaries. According to Mark Knoller (via Twitter), this information normally gets out by a leak from Congress - not posted for all to see.

Interesting...

In LA w/ PK!

I spent last weekend in Los Angeles with my peeps, Paul and Krenly. We had a blast just hanging out, driving around and EATING!

Love you two!!!


(isn't that the cutest little orange house behind us? Hmm...living on the Venice canals...)

DB Watch - Murdoch edition

Since Rupert owns the majority of the right-wing-slanted media, the onus falls on him.

Example one - FOX News (which I believe is listed as an entertainment network, not a legitimate news source).

Example two - WSJ (although it is an opinion piece, The Journal tends to lean right in its opinions).

Db Watch - wtf edition

Here is Glenn Beck...enough said.

Another one...

bites the dust (so to speak). Actor Karl Malden has died. I used to watch him on "The Streets of San Francisco when I was little.