Obama and FISA

Okay. I think I'm ready to talk about FISA.

Clearly Obama judged that this was not an issue to get in front of, and so far as I can tell, the FISA fight has had NO impact on low-info voters.

So he's just pissed off us political junkies, and we really should have known, or remembered, really, that he was never anything but a centrist in the first place.

(Note to Meander: Do stop falling in love with candidates. Not. Healthy.)

Now short of nuking the Senate, and THAT is NOT gonna happen, Bush and the telecoms get everything they want. I hope that it's like ashes in their mouths, because I suspect that they've now raised up a Great Beast like MoveOn.org to oppose them forever.

Me personally, I'm going to remember to make my contributions through ActBlue from now on.

Keep calling and go to the petition site...

Memento Mori: George Carlin

New York Times:

George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.

I don't think that I've ever heard a funnier man who raged so hard.

Antifunny

A.O. Scott’s review of Mike Myers’s new movie...

...To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again...

Saw this one coming. The marketing for this thing has been all about the desperation. And looking at that hair makes me want to shower.

Increasing Service, Part 2

More on this...

Chronicle Article yesterday.

Atrios notices today.

It's important to realize that it took the better part of 30 years to get the first rail line, only seven miles long, built. It was put on the ballot more times than I can count and the people voted for it every single time, but DeLay, et al, managed to stall it every single time.

It took DeLay getting wacked politically on the state and federal levels to get the project moving forward. Since Mayor White, who is a hugely popular Clintonista, BTW, has been pushing mobility, we've seen a lot of progress. He's also fond of sidewalks, apparently, and changed the city's rules so that new street repairs INCLUDE new sidewalks!

Crushes: Carla Gugino

Carla Gugino @ "Get Smart" Premiere in L.A.

She will play Sally Jupiter, the original Silk Spectre, in the upcoming Watchmen movie.

Awesome.

Increasing Service

Houston METRO announced last week that due to increased ridership, they are increasing frequency on the most traveled routes.

They also expect to have FIVE light rail lines in operation by 2012.

Color me impressed at their rapid adaptation to our changing situation.

Morford: Thank you, George W. Bush

Meander: No, really. Read forward...

Maybe Bush's brand of frighteningly inept politicking has been just the right kind of sociocultural emetic to induce a true purge of our congested system, just the thing to finally snap us out of our lethargy. Hell, sometimes you gotta go deep into the darkness to realize just how much you need the light.

So thank you, George, for exemplifying and embodying everything that's wrong with the neocon agenda, for serving as the final death knell of the failed conservative movement, of a once-noble Republican Party that's run out of ideas and has turned bitter and nasty and paranoid...

More...

Why are YOU voting Republican?

Oliver Willis and other folks ask: Why are YOU voting Republican?



You'll get what you deserve.

Gas Cans

Over at Eschaton - Rmj : This is the new mythology: there are no "working poor" in America. Only those who don't work at all, are poor.

Yeah, right.

I don't need another reason to hate Thugs, I really don't - but the working poor are getting FUCKED. TODAY. RIGHT NOW.:

Rural U.S. Takes Worst Hit as Gas Tops $4 Average

Here in the Mississippi Delta, some farm workers are borrowing money from their bosses so they can fill their tanks and get to work. Some are switching jobs for shorter commutes.

People are giving up meat so they can buy fuel. Gasoline theft is rising. And drivers are running out of gas more often, leaving their cars by the side of the road until they can scrape together gas money.

The disparity between rural America and the rest of the country is a matter of simple home economics. Nationwide, Americans are now spending about 4 percent of their take-home income on gasoline. By contrast, in some counties in the Mississippi Delta, that figure has surpassed 13 percent.

As a result, gasoline expenses are rivaling what families spend on food and housing.

I'm seeing more people walking around with friggin' GAS CANS than ever before.
~

War crimes...

I'm getting a serious sense that collectively, the Europeans are HOT to nail someone for the Iraq mess...


U.S., German lawyers demand Germany extradite CIA agents

BERLIN (AP) — A group of German and American civil rights attorneys on Monday sued the German government to demand that it pursue the extradition of 13 CIA agents sought in the alleged kidnapping of a German citizen.
The civil suit filed with a Berlin administrative court seeks to force the German Justice Ministry to pursue the extradition of the agents in the case of Khaled al-Masri, attorney Wolfgang Kaleck told reporters...


If they can get somebody, anybody in the dock, it will be time to get the popcorn.

Kylie Minogue - "Wow"

Yes, yes - I know more important things happened this week. I'm busy.

So...Kylie Minogue does one seriously cute turn on Doctor Who, and gets a "sci-fi" bug. More like the 80s, actually...

Kylie Minogue - "Wow"



I'm going to learn some of those steps...