Talking Turkey

Not a Thanksgiving post, but a short bitching about the British and American leaders turkeys in this morning's London press conference who dared to use the tragedy in Turkey as an excuse for why "the coalition" should continue to occupy Iraq so they can, you know, keep feeding a situation that encourages more terrorist incidents. Oh well, at least it gets my blood boiling enough to get out of the house.

Another Kennedy Heard From

Yes, I watched the first half of The Kennedys: An American Experience this week (I couldn't deal with the second part, which story I figured I mostly knew because it took place during my lifetime and I can't not follow American royalty, I'm just that way), but this item is actually a sort of spiritual follow-up to the Ken Livingstone remarks about which I blogged on Monday. Via Susie Madrak, there's a fascinating interview up today at Salon with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (and my God but he looks like his dad in that picture!) regarding the Bush administration's "crimes against nature" and other subjects of interest. An excerpt:

I believe that George W. Bush is stealing my country, that he is absolutely stealing the environment from our children, stealing the breath from my children's lungs and stealing the Bill of Rights, selling off the sacred places, and trashing all the things I value about America. Our reputation across the globe, the love and admiration that other peoples and nations once had for America, the safety of our nation, the security of our children, the economy, the ability of our children to educate themselves for the future -- it's all being liquidated by this president for his wealthy friends and contributors. And I am so furious at this man for stealing the thing I love most, which is America, my country.

I now have a new favorite word: "biostitutes." And, Kennedy does touch on the topic of Ahnuld, in a fairly surprising way (at least to me). Plus, he likes Triple Delight with Scallions, too. :) You probably know the drill, you need to click through an ad to get a Free Day Pass, but hey, today's is sponsored by PBS' Great Performances presentation of the London stage production of Oklahoma, about which Natalie Davis has blogged, so I got to see the ad (le sigh, le pant) and, you know, it's Hugh Jackman so I'm so there (Saturday at 7 PM and 11 PM for me, check your local listings).

Just When You Think It Can't Get Any More Bizarre...

...the Bushies keep topping themselves on this London fiasco. Via Maru Soze, who always finds the bestest and most outrageous stories, "Phone operators have refused to co-operate with police to block anti-Bush protesters from using mobile telephones in Central London."

All Hail the Mouse!

While Disney is busy celebrating Mickey Mouse's 75th birthday (by, notes Heidi MacDonald, posting a $66 million loss at EuroDisney and preparing to shut down their Orlando animation studio), I want to take this opportunity once again to tout my favorite mouse, Cyndy Roy of Mousemusings, who's been posting up a storm of tasty links. Here's a great gift idea for the holidays! Here's exclusive (Flash) video on the capture of the main suspect in the war on terror! Here's her update on fun stuff going on today in London! (Wow, the fountains ran red?! DeMille would be proud...) Great stuff, all of it.

Working to Rule

Blogging may or may not be light throughout work hours for the next few days, as my boss is in. But as I've now been informed that an ad has gone up for my replacement, even though I don't yet have another job to escape to, I'm less and less interested in playing by their arbitrary rules. However, if you still care about your job and don't want to get caught blogging or reading blogs, you can now check the green Fire Escape key at left. This ingenius device by Gary Turner was referenced in Blogger's latest advice page, which is all about blogging at work. Unfortunately, at the moment all it does is redirect me to Google, which wouldn't seem to be of much help if someone's being spied upon for excessive Internet activity...

Another Nostalgic Game to Bookmark

Pac-Man. Thanks a lot, Brooke, like I wasn't spending enough time playing online games? :)

Why People Hate Myopic, Provincial, Arrogant Bullies

Barbara O'Brien does a bit of fisking on the Mahablog of this clueless analysis by Charles Krauthammer in Time magazine. His premise is that, in the words of Riff Raff regarding Frank 'N' Furter: "He doesn't like me! He never liked me!" See, all that "nous sommes tous Americaines" bit? Faked. Yep. They're really just jellus (that's how we used to deliberately misspell it when mocking trolls on alt.showbiz.gossip), and they have been for years. Quoth the idiot, "It is pure fiction that this pro-American sentiment was either squandered after Sept. 11 or lost under the Bush Administration. It never existed. Envy for America, resentment of our power, hatred of our success has been a staple for decades, but most particularly since victory in the cold war left us the only superpower."

This is wrong on so many levels that I can feel my blood pressure rising just to try to deal with even a couple of them. Fortunately, Barbara does a great job of showing how Western Europe in particular has treated past American presidents very well indeed. But then, those were the days when we signed treaties with other nations and strove to honor them (okay, with some exceptions) instead of trashing them with a "nyah nyah, whatcha gonna do about it?" attitude. And the sheer hubris that causes this revisionist historian to actually believe we're naturally more successful than all other nations is mind-boggling. As for "victory in the Cold War," don't get me started. Just don't.

I will agree with one bit, though. Yes, people generally resent entities with a lot of power. Particularly when that power is misused time and time again. How dare we demand that other countries disarm when we're not prepared to do so ourselves? How dare we constantly rail against international organizations that are actually trying to achieve peace? How dare we invade countries under utterly false pretenses and flimsy pretexts, kill thousands of people in the process including our own soldiers, and keep lying and lying and lying about it? We've long since lost our footing on any sort of moral high ground that would allow us worldwide credibility. Let's turn this around and pretend we were being imposed on by another country that's acted the way we have to others. Would we like it? Or would we resent the hell out of their constant bullying?

If you ask me, it's a miracle that as many people throughout the world still like America as much as they do, considering all the things we've fucked up over the years (particularly the last 23, and in specific the last 3). Perhaps they, like many American citizens, acknowledge the ideals on which this country was founded, and believe that with the right leaders we will someday strive for these ideals once more.

Britain on the Brain

Our resident in chief and his entourage aren't the only ones lying back and thinking of England today. As it's a fairly slow work-day (doubtless my last breather in awhile, as my boss returns tomorrow) and I'm halfway through my blogroll already after making it all the way through yesterday, not that much stuff has caught my eye. So throughout the day I hope to be adding to this post, as the mood strikes me:

Via my ex-pat (UK to US) husband, sales of the Harry Potter books have hit 250 million.

Via ex-pat (US to UK) Avedon Carol, here are the new animated Doctor Who episodes.

A new adults-only science center has opened in London, dealing with subjects such as "genetically modified foods, face transplants, sex over 60, male pregnancy, death or AIDS." Says the write-up, "The center will feature stand-up comics, neuroscientists and researchers and use documentaries, discussions and even an MRI scan of a contortionist to show what happens inside her twisted body to delve into all areas and aspects of science." Hey, stand-up comics, good luck with those death or AIDS jokes.

Also via Robin, Meatloaf collapsed on stage at Wembley Arena last night and is being treated for exhaustion brought on by a virus. Get well soon, Meat!

Looks like a rather dim Christmas in Diss, after a call for funds to build on last year's light display elicited "a solitary £5 note."

Bill Connolly recommends following the news of Bush's "anti-welcome" at both Indymedia.UK and this "Chasing Bush" site.

"A Threat to Life on Earth"

Well, I've been waiting for official pronouncements from London mayor Ken Livingstone on Bush's upcoming visit (which as you can imagine, our household being binational, Robin and I been following fairly closely) and, by gosh, I'm not disappointed.

Smile of the Day

From Tom Burka's Opinions You Should Have, naturally, on the Sun's interview with Bush: " 'It's not that big a change, really,' said Tycho Firth, a miner in East Chasbrough. 'Page Three still has two big boobs on it.' "

The Road Not Taken

I was pleased to learn, via Mark Morford's Daily Fix e-mails, that his sponsor the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus is directed by a woman. This would have been my dream job when I was a college freshman hanging out with these guys. Also via Morford: The Meatrix.

Disappearing Up One's Own

You know the blogosphere has gotten too self-referential and insular when even the Washington Post comments on it. And she's only talking about literary blogs; I think the problem is even more endemic with politically-oriented ones. Come on, folks, we're sooo way better than this. Can't we just have, like, an "ignore the right-wing bloggers who annoy us and stop giving them more publicity by bitching about their posts" moratorium for maybe a week? Via Avedon Carol, who also passes along the frightening news, via the Daily Kos, that that stupid Poindexter-led Policy Analysis Market (you know, essentially betting on terror) is set to quietly open for trading in March 2004 after all!

Nighty-Night!

Via Linkmeister, a bedtime story for grown-ups about the recent Frist sleepover.

Post-Thanksgiving Plans

As some readers may have noted, Robin and I are headed to Columbus, Ohio the day after Thanksgiving to participate in the 24th annual Mid-Ohio Con on November 29-30. Laura Gjovaag has soooo earned a special Aquaman sketch by graciously agreeing to help me keep my promise of new daily content on Pen-Elayne on the Web and guest-blogging for me during the con, in case I can't locate a computer with online access when I'm there. I've previously mentioned the convention program cover (pencilled by Alan Davis) which Robin inked and colored, snapping a picture of the piece during the inking process. It's now officially up on the con page, so I'm reproing the final result below:



I've also talked previously about the panel I'll be moderating within the text of this entry. Hope to meet lots of folks there!

Happy Birthday...

...to Liz Farber, wife of The Talking Dog's Seth. I met Liz, as well as their daughter the Locquacious Pup, at the NY Blogger gathering on October 11 (reviewed here).

If You've Got An Hour to Spare...

...and you didn't catch it on C-SPAN last week, I highly recommend watching and/or listening to Al Gore's speech from last Sunday at Constitution Hall, in an event co-sponsored by MoveOn.org and the American Constitution Society. The link to the video is here (first item on the list).

Yes, We Have No Bananas

Via Steve Bates, who got it from the Farmer at Corrente: in about a decade you can say bye-bye to bananas forever.

Sue for Infringement, Please!

Over at Terry Welch's Nitpicker, guest blogger Amanda reports on the strange phenomenon of US parents naming their kids after trademarks and companies. Now, some of them I can understand; for instance, Armani is not only pretty-sounding but an actual surname of an actual person. But ESPN? Canon? Timberland? Are these people so bereft of imagination, or are they just so self-centered and media-stoned that they're oblivious to how much mockery their kids are going to face? Geez, compared to this crap, celeb-chic names like Rumer or Dweezil are friggin' normal...

Protesting the Bubble Boy

Via my husband, a nice Forbes sum-up of how Bush's handlers plan to "avoid unflattering images" on his upcoming trip to London. If you're in the neighborhood, here's the Stop the War Coalition information on plans during Bush's visit. Some things that won't be happening are listed here, including the granting of immunity to American snipers who "accidentally" shoot protestors, closure of the Tube network, the use of US Air Force planes and helicopters, and the shipping in of battlefield weaponry (also to be used, they'd hoped, against protestors). This was essentially the quid pro quo that allowed a "sterile zone" (gotta love that euphemism!) around Bush. Still, 250 Secret Service agents to protect a sitting American President visiting a country that's supposed to be his strongest ally? Surreal. Oh, and as Bush will apparently be visiting with the Queen prior to his confabs with Tony Blair, it's probably worth remembering their previous conversation (thanks, Mary Beth!). Update: The "unwelcome" has begun. And via Jenny and Hesiod, apparently the Queen is not amused by Bush's security demands. Oh, there's just so much to review, here's the Google link to it all...

BASIC Instinct

Excellent and highly recommended proto-investigative entry today by Tristero, who saw this editorial linked to at Calpundit and started wondering what kind of structure actually existed underlying all these supposedly-autonomous high school chapters of Brothers And Sisters In Christ (BASIC).

Forbidden Cinema

I've always been fascinated by movies, newsreels and other bits of cinema that were societally acceptable during the era in which they were made, but have since proven wince-worthy in an era where we like to believe we're more enlightened. No, I'm not talking about Xanadu or Car Wash, but those bits of entertainment and propaganda where I usually observe that "you can't blame people for not being ahead of their time." Case in point, via Ampersand, is this fascinating overview of "Banned Cartoons." I remember first watching a lot of these in Leonard Maltin's cartoon class at the New School and "Cartoozday" at the Thalia Theatre back in the pre-VCR days (and long before the Thalia was bought by Symphony Space and renamed for Leonard Nimoy). And I would think, "what's the real difference between Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves and, say, [the then-contemporary movie] The Wiz?" I found neither terribly offensive, and both quite entertaining. Likewise with the idea of "oh, we're ever so much better now" - the Banned Cartoons page makes an admirable argument for resurrecting these important glimpses into entertainment history, certainly as discussion starting points, but at the same time implicitly asks, is it really such a great leap forward from something like Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips to South Park's portrayal of Saddam Hussein (or the way entertainment still stereotypes ethnicities and The Other in general)? Incidentally, whilst I was looking for sites that described the Thalia, I came across this neat page about 42nd Street in the Late Forties. Says the author, "This is not nostalgia. There is no desire to return to the settings I’m about to describe, nor longing to live once more the life that centered on them. All in all, it wasn’t cheerful. It had its rewards, though, as what’s called a learning experience…in a unique and impermanent environment, the like of which no one will ever see again." Worth a glimpse.

Scariest Commercial of the Weekend

Now, mind you, I tend not to watch the Country Music Channel as a rule, but this evening I wanted to see the Johnny Cash tribute concert. And one of the sponsors is Crest, which apparently has a new commercial out, featuring William Shatner... okay, a whole clone army of Shatners doing Irish dancing. In case anyone still in their right mind was wondering, Darren Smith assures us that no, Shatner doesn't know how to Irish-dance, that was his (Darren's) work. Be that as it may, it's a somewhat disturbing image. Given the choice, I'll take Irish dancing by a duck, a vole, and a herd of sheep...

LoL Saturday

Things that caught my eye in blogs by some League of Liberals members this afternoon (going alphabetically by surname, then by first-name-onlys, then by pseudonyms):

LoL leader Barry Bozeman has some depressing casualty numbers. And that's not counting the thousands of Iraqis we're killing and maiming in the name of liberating them from... um, something. Their resources, I think. New member Stageleft is skeptical that we couldn't count Iraqi casualties if we wanted to.

James Chappell thinks it's news that Guinness is officially good for you, but heck, we've known that in the Riggs household for years. Did I ever mention that one of Robin's mutant powers is, when we're out with a group of people, the ability to order a Guinness and suddenly have everyone at the same table crave a Guinness as well?

Len Cleavelin explains The Differential Theory of US Armed Forces (Snake Model).

Natalie Davis (I'll come back to Reindeer Games soon, Natalie, I promise) says, "Murder, he wrote!" with a great sum-up of Aaron McGruder's appearance on America's Black Forum.

New member Robert Dobbs seems to be into CafePress in a slightly skewed way...

Jo Fish has more damning evidence against Governor-Elect Ahnuld.

PZ Myers warns us of a threat from God, via radical fundie wacko Bryce Gaudian. Wow, I didn't know you could pass the buck that high up!

N. Todd Pritsky reports on an EFF alert that the students (and their ISP!) being harrassed by Diebold are fighting back.

Maru Soze reveals that Bush gave an interview to Murdoch's Sun tabloid, famous for its Page 3 babes. As Gene Kelly's character said in Singing in the Rain, "Dignity, always dignity..." Kriselda Jarnsaxa has also picked up on this.

Mike Stabile examines Bill O'Reilly's desire to run for the White House.

A very happy birthday to Joe Vecchio - and his wife! Go crazy, kids. Someone give Joe a way cool job so he can celebrate in style. Byte Me Back mentions that it's also the birthday of an honorable opponent named Michael. Meanwhile, Futurballa's Rick and his wife are off to Vegas; don't y'all bump into my parents, hear?

BJ (new member?) at The Sesquipedalian provides some needed perspective for people who take this blogosphere thing a bit too seriously.

Dawn notes that China's currently in the lead as far as serial killers go. And what the hey, we aren't even tops in spies any more; Manis2Society reports that the Iraqis have us beat in that category!

Gunther recommends reading up on Kennedy's neurosurgeon.

Hammerdown recommends we stay away from Chi-Chi's hepatitis-linked green onions.

Jesse at The Gotham City 13 visually captures Bush's rhetorical style.

Only eight entries so far in Norbizness' Wolfowitz caption contest?

Northstar creeped me out with his news about the Hungarian corpse. The really tragic thing is, Americans are no less immune to the stupidity of (and confusing real life things with) performance art.

Find out why Pompey at The Felonious Elephant singles out the Ithaca (NY) Journal for this week's Pollyanna Award.

Rick at the Cafe Americain outlines what would make him vote for Bush.

Scout sizes up the competition for this week's New Blog Showcase. Not to worry Scout, we gotcher back.

Veralynne observes that things don't look so good pharmaceutical-wise for oceanic species.

Blogs Canada asks us to just suppose the shoe were on the other foot as far as invasions go...

The Estimated Prophet tracks down where 9-11 terrorist asshole Mohammad Atta actually partied.

Hell for Halliburton says those Enron legal fees are mounting up.

Indigo Ocean catches us up on her "holographic healing" career. Wow, a LoL blogger more into String Theory than me!

Ink from the Squid tells us about rich zoo honcho Damien Aspinall letting a gorilla babysit his daughter Freya. So this is, what, thinning the herd or survival of the fittest?

Awww, the Poison Kitchen has birthed news about the Embrio! Don't you just want to chuck it under its widdow chin? (And where's my friggin' jet pack already?)

New member the Politburo Diktat translates, I think, the Gettysburg Address.

Savage Cruel Bigot says Japan don't want to play the Iraqi soldier game neither, nuh-uh.

The 18½ Minute Gap provides more bad news about health insurance.

And finally, Treason Online celebrates the Bush version of the economic boom, with a 98% increase in bankruptcy filings! Woo hoo, we're Number 1, we're Number 1!

Sisyphus Speaks!

I was catching up on my CJR reading, and came across this lovely article on weblogs by Matt Welch in the September/October issue. I don't remember anyone talking about it at the time but I'm sure some blogs must have mentioned it. It's a nice overview of how weblogs are changing the national discourse. There's little question now that we're Being Paid Attention To. So maybe it's more important not to waste time and bandwidth being so insular. Julia H, who has been on a major roll lately, has some great advice in that respect, which I consider must-reading.

Sidebar Maintenance Notes

Despite the phenomenal coding work of Laura Gjovaag (who I'm still hoping will agree to guest-blog here during my trip to Mid-Ohio Con in case I can't find a way to blog remotely, thereby keeping Pen-Elayne's "at least a post a day" habit more or less intact), the Google search function just wasn't working so I've scrapped it. Also took my various wish lists off the sidebar and put them into personal bookmarks, as I've gotten less and less comfortable with the idea of bloggers (particularly left-leaning ones) using this type of forum to ask readers to send them money and gifts. Someone reads this, sees my resume, and wants to offer me a job, that's one thing; someone wants to give me a pressie because I happen to entertain or inform them through my hobby, they can certainly approach me in e-mail with a wishlist query. Lastly, I've eliminated the Eatonweb rating thing because the buttons never loaded properly even though I'm pretty sure the site's still working. And I rearranged some stuff so the order now makes a bit more sense to me:

the introductory stuff (what's a blog, who I am, the new window checkbox, my resume, Rob's portfolio)

my blogrolls, as well as links to columnists, op-eds and politicians

links to news round-up sites, message boards and various resources

the Pen-Elayne archives

my self-reminder to ping Blogrolling (which I never remember to do)

cool buttons having to do with blog listings (always looking for more!)

my TTLB status

the section that reads like I'm barking orders at folks (rate me! review me! bare your bum! take back the media!)

lastly, the blog webrings and such of which I'm a member
As ever, suggestions for additions to any of these sections are most welcome.

Around the Town

The 6th Annual Chocolate Show is going on right now at the Metropolitan Pavilion. My coworker informs me that tomorrow is also the Diabetes Expo at the Javits Center. I'm sure there's a punch line in there somewhere just waiting to come out...

If you've decided against doing the Billy Bragg show on the 22nd, there's always the Alex Ross signing to benefit the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

Come and See the Show

Congratulations to Avedon Carol at The Sideshow, celebrating its second blogiversary today! (You know, someone ought to create a "milestone" blog for the sole purpose of listing blogiversaries and birthdays and such...)

Science News

These stories on Google's news site caught my eye this morning:

AidsVax fails to prevent HIV spread - The US manufacturer has admitted reported, upon the failure of Thailand's Phase III trial of this prevention vaccine, that it doesn't work. Not very good news considering the threat of the epidemic expanding in the Middle East and North Africa.

Diabetes is potentially 'reversible' (this one's for you, Natalie!) - "Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said they had reversed the disease in mice by injecting them with spleen cells from healthy animals." It's a long way from mice to humans but this is pretty positive news anyway.

Okay, just what the hell are we doing celebrating the creation of an artificial virus? Don't we have enough problems with the real ones?

Just thought I'd throw this one in - If you haven't caught any episodes of The Elegant Universe yet, do yourself a favor and check your local listings. I'm finding it way neat stuff.

Scrum, Scrum, Scrum, Scrum

Bob Harris, guest-blogging at Tom Tomorrow's weblog, has a nice entry up about the Rugby World Cup, with which I completely agree (particularly about hearing the South African anthem). We caught much of the New Zealand v South Africa match a few days ago. Much more interesting than American football, which is so stop-and-go and military-violence tactics and grotesque padding and stupid cheerleaders that it bores me to tears. Now rugby, on the other hand - I mean, come on, you gotta love a sport whose website features hair highlights. Between the hair and the shorts (yum!) and my husband (an occasional prop forward back in his school days) explaining the game to me as it progressed, I was utterly enthralled. Although the All Blacks' haka still kinda freaks me out. By the by, one interesting thing I've recently discovered whilst watching Premier League football is that, where the score is shown, the home team is listed first (either on the left or on top) rather than last (on the right or the bottom) as in American sports. It's one of those continental cultural differences I'd never seen mentioned before, and Robin admitted it took some getting used to when he first started watching baseball with me. (P.S. Sports-lover Bob's also been following the Kasparov-X3D Fritz chess match.)

Giant Rat Update

I wrote about the giant rat balloon here, and noted that "the union [in question] doesn't even seem to have any handbills to educate passers-by so I'm not sure how successful this action is." Well, I finally remembered to look them up online, and here's the page on their site that shows the rat at another local demo. Still couldn't find anything on their entire site about what's going on with picketing the 7th Avenue office building, though...

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

Just a little something to tide me over when I'm at work:


I'll doubtless be looking at this one throughout the day wishing I were sleeping as well...

LoL Recommendation of the Week

League of Liberals member "Scout" muses about all the cool things that might be in store during Bill Frist's sleepover party. My guess is they'll spend lots of time playing with the surveys on Frist's website... The recommendation comes via Barry Bozeman at Rush Limbaughtomy, who's just reprinted his 12 Step Program geared towards Dittohead Recovery.

Wednesday Cat Pussy Blogging

I tend not to pay too much attention to blogosphere screeds and feuds that are so self-referential that nobody outside of our little hobby would care all that much, but I did want to call attention to Ampersand's wonderful response yesterday to some fellow named Kim du Toit, in an essay he (Ampersand) likes to call Let's All Get Pussified! Terrific entry, but the title got the song Let's Get Physical stuck in my head, replacing the much-preferred earworm of Windy (which started this morning due to NYC's current weather).

Trish Has Me Scooped

Back on November 1, I wrote about The Strange Case of Steven Kaye. Something about it didn't sound right. Well, Trish Wilson found an update to this saga. Turns out, in her words, "the Dude lied! He's happily married. The guy - real name is Steve - just made shit up for the fun of it. Word of his funny entry got around. He's had half a million hits." Trish also breaks the very welcome news that Justice Roy Moore has been removed from office for not obeying the laws he'd sworn to uphold, whether or not he personally agreed with the separation of church and state. Hey, at least I scooped Trish on the whole "metrosexual" thing, which I noticed back on July 5... And while you're checking out Trish's blog, don't forget this important entry regarding propaganda vs. truth about the "AWOL Mom."

The Personal Concierge

Susie Madrak at Suburban Guerrilla has been following the story of Republican plans to dock "a luxury cruise ship in New York Harbor where members of Congress and lobbyists could stay and play during the GOP convention next summer." Just when you think they can't get any more elitist and arrogant... This is little different from their trumped-up excuses for wanting to increase security during Bush's visit to England next week (see yesterday's entry). We must remember this is the Party That Cries Wolf. Every time the powers that be start whining "protect us from terrorists!" you need to read that as "protect us from citizens' right to protest our actions!" You also need to recall the record of what they've actually done to make the world a safer place and prevent the rise of further terrorism (hint: nothing).

Balancing the Scales

I'm in a pissy mood, so all due apologies and please bear with me. Today didn't start off well, and yesterday didn't end that terrifically either.

First off, another 10+ hour workday precluded me from doing needed errands like shopping for new footwear. I'm not an easy fit - I'm a 9½ wide, I wear mandatory medical orthotics (long and boring story), I don't balance well on heels (and I'm too tall for 'em anyway) and shoes just make me uncomfortable. For years I haven't worn anything that didn't have rubber soles, and most of my footwear has never lasted too long anyway as my pinky-toes wear them out on the insides - and no, price doesn't make a difference, so I'd rather buy 'em cheap if I know they'll need frequent replacing. My current pair (which look more like bowling shoes than sneakers but never mind that) has lasted me longer than most, but they're now effectively shot after almost a year of daily wear. Something seems to have split inside the left sole, letting air out with a loud crack every time I put weight on that foot. Also, my knees and lower back are aching worse than usual (I had to don a knee brace last evening), always a sign that I desperately need to go to PayLess. If, you know, I were allowed anything approaching a lunch hour or a guaranteed quitting time.

Then there's the idiot who's been nasty and snide to me for no apparent reason on every mailing list we've shared for the past decade or so, having at me again on the newest list where we both happen to participate. I don't respond, he's scored his little points; I do respond, and I get tagged the meany. Damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't is usually much more the province of conservatives than liberals, but it just goes to show you there are assholes all across the political spectrum. Then there are the stupid cheating teenagers who keep trying to board the bus from the rear exit door so they can skip out of paying their fares, and who mock and despise me because I won't let them on and I block the exit when I get off the bus, and that actually came to a physical altercation this morning which was not a whole lot of fun. Then there's just working in midtown Manhattan where I come close to getting knocked down at least a half dozen times in the block and a half between the subway and the office. Then there's the situation in the office itself, which as you may intimate from previous posts is far from optimum in more ways than I wish to enumerate on a public weblog. Then I come home (eventually) to the sounds of stomping from upstairs...

So it's at times like this, with my body aching and my heart full of anger over just really, really stupid things (okay, yes, there's that too but even so), that I break out the scales.

Oh good lord no, not bathroom-type scales. I haven't owned one of those, well, ever. After all these years I have too much respect for my body the way it is (albeit a bit too sedentary, and a change of jobs and living spaces ought to remedy that so I see it as a short-term situation) to subject myself to someone else's idea of what it should look like. I'm talking about the imaginary scales of balance. You know, when you imagine holding your hands out, and in one hand is the person or situation that's pissing you off, and in the other is someone or something that gives you great joy. And inevitably the "bad" hand will float insubstantially and the "good" hand will be weighted down by all the blessings I wind up counting. A mantra also helps, where you name the bad person/thing then the good person/thing a few times in succession to remind yourself which has more value, and you imagine the balance tipping more and more in favor of the good. One of my favorites is "[Asshole], Alan Davis; [Asshole], Alan Davis; [Asshole], Alan Davis..." and the Asshole's effects disappear pretty quickly compared with my memories of all the cool e-mail conversations I've had with Alan.

Speaking of which, one of the latest conversations has concerned a panel I'm moderating at the upcoming Mid-Ohio Con at the end of this month, which is sort of a follow-up to the "Writing the Other" panel I moderated at Heroes Con a few years back. The panel isn't exactly what's listed on the website, so I wrote to all the panelists and sent them my original write-up to let them know what they could actually expect:

FROM THE INSIDE, OUT: Characterization and Constraints
How do writers work with established characters given the imposed limitations of publishers and the expectations of the readers? Considering the nature of fantasy genres, do character and plot ideas come from personal experience or are they more imagined, or a little of both? Join Alan Davis, Mark Waid, David Mack, Pam Bliss, and Scott Roberts for what's sure to be a productive panel for writers and readers alike!

So I got a few thank-you's from the panelists for the corrected wording and the heads-up, which led to a few cool e-mail exchanges, and that's made me feel a bit better. And I've started writing up my intro and some basic notes, so I'm hoping it'll be a lot of fun. With any luck, maybe I'll even be sporting new sneakers by then.

All Facts and Birthdays

A very happy birthday to Natalie Davis, who celebrates by passing along The Speech That Bush Didn't Give.

Art for Art's Sake

It should come as no surprise that there's a lovely and well-written eulogy for Art Carney on Mark Evanier's site.

Anatomy of a Spin

So, what's London really doing to gear up for Bush's visit next week? Depends on what paper you read. Check out this list of articles on Google. The headline of American corporation CBS says security has been beefed up, but if you actually check the article - where they only asked one guy, Andy Trotter, deputy assistant commissioner of the capital's Metropolitan Police - even Trotter said "that demonstrations against the Iraq war and other Bush policies will go ahead as freely as possible." UK-based Reuters is probably closer to the mark, not burying their lede at all: "Police say there will be no special 'exclusion zones' for U.S. President George W. Bush's visit next week and he could easily come into contact with anti-war protesters." Horrors! India seems to wants to sow mistrust and fear; the Statesman suggests that "Al-Qaida may target Bush in London" and The Hindu agrees. So does China View. Singapore's Strait Times insinuates that maybe central London should really be shut down to protect Bush from reality terrorists. Nothing like conveniently dangling the spectre of Al-Qaeda bogeymen to stifle legitimate protest, eh?

Taking the Piss

Catching up on my Morning Fix reading, I was amused by something that Mark Morford mentioned in his e-mail newsletter, but the link was bad and I can't find the story anywhere on the SF Gate's website. So I looked around, and found something on an Aussie site. Apparently urinals are becoming a de rigeur fixture (pun absolutely intended) in many well-to-do American homes. As it's been a heavy workday, I'm honestly not quite sure how I feel about this.

Much Wampum

A very happy blogiversary to Mary Beth Williams!

When I Was Born...

I always get a bit introspective as my birthday approaches, so when Maru Soze asked, "What was on the cover of Time magazine when you were born?" I figured it was worth a look. Cool.

Eleven Eleven

Today is Remembrance Day in the UK, Canada, Australia and much of the world, and Veterans Day in the US. It commemorates the day in 1918 when, "on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, an armistice was signed. The 'war to end all wars' was over." Here's an interesting VD/RD/AD page.

Alas, war itself isn't over, nor are the pervasive myths surrounding the military. Today you'll probably hear a lot of "This day is not to honor war, but the sacrifice made by others for our freedom." But increasingly, the US military consists of poor kids who joined primarily for economic reasons (like Jessica Lynch) with no real desire to sacrifice themselves (I always cringe at that euphemism - they get killed, okay?, they don't "sacrifice" themselves!), and as we see our freedoms erode daily this line is almost becoming a cruel joke.

Now, none of this is to say that the men and women in the military don't deserve respect. Considering they're being asked to do the dirty work of rich old guys who have probably never face dangerous situations in their entire lives, they deserve to be treated like royalty by those rich old guys. It probably goes without saying that they are not. Check this space throughout the day for various examples of how the Bush administration is shafting our armed forces while the empty rhetoric flows (as well as other RD notes of interest).

Paul Krugman gives an overview of the situation.

You've probably heard about the money being denied soldiers who were tortured in Iraqi prisons during Gulf War I. Check out Tom Tomorrow's reprinting of the press conference wherein this decision was queried.

Via Eric Hananoki - the closing of the commissaries and schools on military installations, as detailed in Navy Times.

My favorite Democratic Veteran, Jo Fish, discusses how extended active duty is taking its toll on reservists.

Here's a nice article about Jessica Lynch and Shoshana Johnson accepting the Glamour magazine Women of the Year awards that mentions, among other things, the disparity in their disability pensions.

I'd read that some Canadian businesses wanted to ban the sale of poppies today, but I hadn't heard they were backing down due to public outcry. Frankly, I wouldn't mind wearing a white poppy today.

The Underground Grammarian Would Be Prideful Proud

Mark A.R. Kleiman is collecting examples of "unnecessary 'suffixization.'" I'm loving it (™ Mickey D's). And a part of me would like to believe that Richard Mitchell is beaming from on high.

Leaking Body Parts and Turning the Tables

Len Cleavelin is quickly becoming one of my favorite go-to bloggers for weird stories. He has his finger (not literally) on the pulse of this item about body parts found in FedEx packages (discovered because one was leaking), and he's on top (um, also not literally) of the Connecticut woman who turned the tables on a 419 scam. Oh, and Len, here's why there's a gorilla in front of that vacuum-cleaner shop on Madison.

Know Your Dick

No, this is not a reference to the Nixon photo mentioned on Saturday (scroll down), but a recommendation to read an article reprinted by Kevin Drum that's essentially a profile of Dick Cheney by someone who knew him when - John Perry Barlow, former Grateful Dead lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Another Brick in The Wall

A number of demostrations were held worldwide yesterday calling for Israel to tear down the wall they're building to grab even more Palestinian land and turn the West Bank into even more of an apartheid-level bantustan. Here's the scoop. Via Bill Connolly. Update: And via Eli Stephens comes a fascinating article about Israeli soldiers escaping the troubles in their home country via drug-induced hazes in India. Says author Gadi Taub, "There is this strange mood in Israel now, this intense anxiety coupled by a dreamlike apathy." Doesn't sound that much different than a drug-induced haze, come to think of it...

Be Careful What You Wish For...

After struggling for the last week and a half with The Worm, I finally have a new hard drive. This one has Windows XP on it, which takes a bit of getting used to, but I set the screen on "Windows Classic" for now. Thing is, I also expanded the screen, which means I'm seeing everything tinier (yes, even after setting the desktop fonts at a larger size). So I think this moves my bifocals timetable up a bit earlier than I'd anticipated; I was hoping to hold off until I got a new job which offered me vision benefits but I think I'll just bite the bullet and get 'em by year's end so I can see what I'm doing... In any case, it's a blessing not to have my screen freeze up every time I go online! Back in business - and back to my blogroll reading! At least until my boss returns tomorrow. :)

London Calling

Via Maru Soze, it seems the White House has demanded unprecedented shielding of Bush from reality security measures when the pResident visits London later this month. "American officials want a virtual three-day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protestors. They are demanding that police ban all marches and seal off the city centre." So far Scotland Yard officials seem to be mulling it over but leaning against the draconian request. I'm looking forward to hearing what Mayor Ken Livingstone has to say about it (not to mention the Bare Your Bum folks).

Birthday Wishes

A very happy 43rd birthday to Neil Gaiman, one of most charmings Brits I've ever met and a hell of a writer.

Descendents of the Blacklisters

Via Bryant Gries, there's actually an organization out there which specializes in whining about actors they consider "anti-American." You know, ones that have minds of their own and exercise their rights as citizens to speak out when the country they love does things they feel are wrong and contrary to its own stated ideals in such irrelevant and boring documents as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. As opposed to actors who weren't even born here, have no knowledge of or experience in politics, and brainlessly parrot the current Administration line as a stepping-stone to power. But I digress. The organization is called =giggle= Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti American Hollywood (PABAAH!), an acronym bound to lend weight and credibility to their cause. I believe their most effective tactic is stamping their feet and holding their breath till their faces turn blue.

The Best Nixon Photo Op Ever

General JC Christian is a sick, sick dude. And I'm loving it. Via Jeanne D'Orleans.

The Down Side of Arrogant Assumptions

Well, so much for Roger Clemens' dream to pitch for the US baseball team in next year's summer Olympics. Turns out the team didn't qualify.

League Out Loud Saturday

One of the unspoken "obligations" of being a member of the League of Liberals is the expectation or hope that we'll write about what we like in each other's blogs from time to time. The situation with my work computer and my job in general has precluded me from doing this during the week, but I'm going to try to start a LoL Saturday and see if I can't give you a bit of a round-up each week. So, alphabetically by surname:

Barry Bozeman at Rush Limbaughtomy isn't happy that Katherine Harris is considering a Senate run, but I wish he hadn't referred to her as "butt ugly." After all, there's no need to focus on her looks (something done overwhelmingly with women in the public eye over the years) when calling her a "Bush paramour" (i.e., mentioning her personal-is-political connections) does the trick much better.

Len Cleavelin at Musings of a Philosophical Scrivener takes a look at the "SUV loophole" in this year's tax incentive for new equipment orders.

Natalie Davis at All Facts & Opinions examines the Coalition of the Killing.

Jim Elve at Officially Unofficial tests himself using the Political Compass.

Jo Fish at Democratic Veteran makes note of a correction to last year's propaganda about how well Austin High School did last year.

Kriselda Jarnsaxa at Different Strings puts on his trenchcoat and examines the Matrix, Bush-style.

Barbara O'Brien at The Mahablog does a great job parsing Bush's NED speech from Thursday. I actually don't think the speech is "related to 'Bring It On'" as much as to the Cabal's overreaching purpose since before Bush took office. My favorite line: "Never mind that the Iraq War resembles the Berlin Airlift about as much as Bill O'Reilly resembles Brad Pitt."

N. Todd Pritsky at Dohiyi Mir does some Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum) too!

Maru Soze at WTF Is It Now?? is disgusted (so am I) that Bill Frist yesterday froze the Senate probe of prewar Iraq data because he was pissed about a leaked memo that outlined possible Democratic plans to extend the investigation to include the White House and executive branch. You know, the people who started the war.

Patrick Taylor at The Poison Kitchen offers some good tips on increasing traffic from Google.

Joe Vecchio at Cup O' Joe wonders about the vagaries of blogger begging.

And among the first-name-onlys and pseudonymous:

Annthrax Coultergeist at Treason Online goes to the movies.

Dawn at Clareified extols the virtues of blogs as open public spaces. Although I gotta disagree with her friend about movie theaters, at which I generally prefer audiences to be quiet.

Gunther at The Gunther Concept suggests taking action on the anti-abortion movement's harrassment stalling construction of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Austin.

Indigo Ocean examines Maui in mythology. I want to know more about what Hina did when he cut off her sacred tresses; sounds like that might make for a much better story.

Jeff at Speedkill tries to cheer himself up with good news.

Jesse at The Gotham City 13 proposes a new docudrama about FDR.

Major Barbara at Arms And The Man takes a look at the corruption problems inherent in the US' "emerging strategic partnership with Vladimir Putin's Russia." Corruption in Russia? I'm shocked-do-you-hear-me-SHOCKED...

Manis2Society warns of the continuing war on gays as a political issue in '04 at the Cosmic Iguana, and mentions more White House buck-passing towards the CIA in The Spy Game.

Norbizness at Happy Furry Puppy Story Time discovers a Make your Own Church Sign Generator.

Northstar at the People's Republic of Seabrook muses that perhaps the Iranian Foreign Minister has a point when he observes that the US doesn't exactly have a lot of moral high ground at present.

Pompey at The Felonious Elephant reports on CT governor John Rowland's ties to Enron. Wonder if that fuel-cell project was going to be built anywhere near the casinos?

Rick at Rick's Cafe Americain seriously poses the question to conservative readers, "What's so great about Dubya, anyway?"

Scout at And Then... finds amusement in the latest antics of Young Republicans clubs.

Veralynne at A-Changin' Times checks out the good folks at the Bioweapons and Biodefense Freedom of Information Fund.

Estimated Prophet salutes the real Jessica Lynch.

As you may expect, Hell for Halliburton is all over the story of Canadian entrepreneur David Hudak and his warheads being used to train UAE soldiers.

The 18½ Minute Gap recommends what it terms "a fine, fine article by Michael R. Gordon" about the US sending some of the Army's Old Guard troops (the ones who stand vigil at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery) to Iraq. The Gap also notes that everything we know about lightning may be wrong. As Robin observed, it's like Hulk meets Star Trek...

T Rex's Guide to Life predicts that Bush is goin' down, goin' down...

The League is always looking for new members, which may make doing these overviews even more cumbersome but the more the merrier! Check out the site for more info.

Good for What Ails Ya

Between work and Amy's Adventure and the upstairs neighbors stomping in at 11:30 and moving furniture, etc. until after midnight, I didn't digest my dinner very well last night, and am up trying to give the ENO® a chance to work. So it was kind of ironic yet kind of gratifying to see that Margaret Cho has come to terms with food. (Hooray, her blog finally has permalinks!)

Assassination Anniversary Plans

You know, if you're in NYC and you're young enough not to remember JFK's assassination but old enough to like good protest-music concerts, and you happen to be looking for something to do on Saturday night, November 22, you could do a lot worse than to see Billy Bragg and friends at Webster Hall in the East Village. The venue doesn't have the info up yet (although you can get directions from their site) but, via Cyndy at Mousemusings, you can catch up on what the tour's all about here at CommonDreams.

Friday Cat Bowling Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

I'll be uploading my weekly Datsa and Amy picture(s) when I get home, assuming Robin's got my GoLive! FTP connection up and running again, but in the meantime, via Anne Zook, it's Cat Bowling!

Update: Amy's Amazing Adventure

I had a photo up here but I've since taken it down to save for another time. Because, as I was going through my blogroll, Amy started playing around on the bookcases in the studio and Rob prompted me to snap her squeezing onto a shelf. Now, as I've mentioned in the past, we've almost a dozen bookcases loaded with comics, all in order (alphabetized by title and separated by company) for easy reference. And they look spiffy and help Robin do his job better and all that. And Amy likes slipping behind things. Unfortunately, the floors in this apartment all lean inwards, so unless the cases are wedged there's a bit of a gap on the top. You know where I'm going with this. Or rather, where Amy went. Up atop, then sliding behind, one of the bookcases. Where there's no way out because there are no gaps between them. And the further it leaned forward from her attempts to get out, the further down she slipped, and the more pressure there was on her.

I hope you never hear such caterwauling. My goodness, for a tiny thing she has a set of lungs on her! And I've never seen Robin move so fast. The case was much too heavy to shift by itself, he had to remove each stack of comics individually at near-lightning speed, shelf by shelf, taking care not to move the case lest it crush Amy behind it. The long and the short of it is, she's fine now, although a bit bruised and even looking a bit sheepish. We've stuck wedges under the cases to move them as flush against the wall as possible, comics are strewn (okay, stacked neatly in piles) all over the studio, a lot of dust has been kicked up, and between all that and the burst of exertion Robin's feeling rather poorly and has been hacking and coughing for the last 15 minutes. But Amy's alive and unharmed. That's the closest we'll ever come to having a kid fall down a well, and lord knows I never want to go through it again.

The Worm Doesn't Turn

Well, the IT guy had all day yesterday to play with my computer and see if he could get rid of the nasty worm that's attached itself somewhere (it keeps moving), slowing my Internet activity to a crawl while it sends out malware and data mining files... but to no avail. The insidious thing still lives (Robin speculates that maybe it's from a company that creates pop-up problems so they can sell you the bug fixes), so until all the programs that are (naturally) unique to my computer can be gathered and put onto another machine, I'm stuck reading and posting molasses-like during working hours. Ah well, I should probably learn how to take it easier anyway, right?

"I have a personal bank account at Gringott's Bank based in Diagon Alley in London. I'm sure that it would be suitable for this transaction."

Via Jonathan Edelstein, it's Harry Potter and the 419 Scam.

Despotism & Democracy

As I type this, "Springtime for Hitler" is playing in the TV in the bedroom and I'm on the Firesign Chat. One of the chatters, Ken DeBusk (aka Dr. Headphones), led me to this lovely old piece of film. I love weird convergences like that. Please watch the little film when you get the chance, though. It's as timely now (some might say even more so) as it was when it was made. Update: More on despotism from Gore Vidal, also courtesy of Ken.

Do We Want Fries With That?

I still may never set foot in a Mickey D's except for the occasional shake and aforementioned fries, but I did think it was cool of Joan Kroc to leave NPR so much money. She seemed like a pretty philanthropic lady, at least in her last few years.

Discordant Harmony

"Nobody in the mostly middle-aged crowd cared that they barely acknowledged each other," says a review of the Simon & Garfunkel concert in San Jose. During one segment of the concert, the pair ceded the stage to (and then briefly joined) another oft-contentious duo, The Everly Brothers. "It was a delightful parallel that, no doubt, was part tribute, part demonstration that advancing age and flawless harmonies can remedy old spats (the Everlys went a decade without speaking after a pre-show blowup in 1973)."

Don't Forget Your Towel

Aziz Poonwalla can hardly contain his excitement, and I don't blame him. Production is now underway on the sequels to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, featuring almost all the original radio cast! Very cool news.

The Devil Made Them Do It

I'm waiting for this one to show up on Mark Morford's "Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God" section (which this week features The Warthog Bar, don't ask), but Natalie Davis has it first! What is it? Why, a fantastic opportunity, and all it will cost you is your soul - literally!

Maintenance Note

I've started adding titles to the blogroll on my sidebar, so that you see blog names or other comments when you run your cursor over the blogs in question. If you want to title something it's really quite easy; Maru Soze gives a good example of how it's done. I'll try to finish labelling at least through News+Views today. If you don't like how I've labelled your blog please let me know and I'll change the title accordingly.

Customer Disservice

Here's one Robin shared with me today. It should come as no surprise that some CS people are rewarded for thinking up ways to screw consumers. (If you can't open the article due to the NY Times' intrusive reg process you can get to it from the author's site.) As a reader put it, "If these were truly random errors, one would expect that some of them would work in our favor. I know of no one who ever got extra minutes, extra money, or extra anything else." So is it then some sort of karmic justice when their jobs are outsourced to other countries? Seems to me it's nothing but a lose-lose situation.

Rocking the Vote

Emma has some great advice for the Democratic candidates.

Stuff I Missed This Past Week

I'm staying home today, feeling a bit under the weather after yesterday's 11-hour workday, and using the time not spent in bed to catch up on my blogroll, with which I just haven't been able to keep up for the past week or so (see previous entries whining about that stupid worm on my work computer, etc.). Please keep checking this entry throughout the day for updates as I keep finding milestones and some great posts I've missed.

A very happy belated birthday to Anne Zook, who celebrated yesterday. Anne has quickly become one of my total blog heroes.

A happy belated birthday as well to Linkmeister, who turned 53 on Tuesday.

Congrats to Seth Farber at finishing the NY Marathon.

Fortunately New Yorkers weren't fooled by the Bloomberg PR machine (which is saying something considering he's a local media mogul as well as mayor and even the media he doesn't own seem to defer to him) and voted no on Question 3 last Tuesday. Julia H, bless her heart, has been following this story all the way through. Here's an utterly brilliant bit she wrote that evokes Lenora Fulani. "Now, there's a name I've not heard for a long time..."

Bob Goodsell reported that, according to the Guardian, "Anti-war campaigners will prop grinning effigies of George Bush on to pyres around the country, hoping to stoke up opposition to his state visit to Britain this month." This apparently happened yesterday (see "Remember, Remember" below). The Bare Your Bum At Bush people were all over this one too.

Some guy calling himself Kos has become a daddy. Seriously, many congrats to Elisa and Markos Zuniga on the birth of their son Aristotle Alberto.

Eli Stephens reports on a UN General Assembly vote I'm ashamed to admit I didn't follow, the 179-3 vote against the US blockade of Cuba.

A couple good caption contests are going on at Counterspin Central and The Hamster.

Possible Hacking Notice

Looks like hackers may have gotten into the Blogger templates again this morning. If this page doesn't load right, please keep refreshing and be patient. Then again, if this page doesn't load right, you probably won't be able to read this anyway...

Master Debaters

Atrios discusses what he terms the four types of wingnut debate tools, which I found can also be pretty easily applied to many online arguments in general by removing his specific examples and the word "conservative." He and his readers also supply Ambrose Bierce-like definitions (link bloggered, it went up about five minutes ago), some of which are fairly in-jokey unless you're one of the blognoscenti. Speaking of which, for those keeping track, Atrios and Donald Luskin have issued a joint statement.

Taking Up the Cause of Putting Down the Arms

Via Tom Tomorrow: it looks like the current administration may be gearing up to reinstate the draft. What I want to know is, are all the so-called "men's rights" groups (whose anti-feminist activities have been written about at great length in, among other places, Trish Wilson's blog) going to stage protests on the justifiable basis of mandatory conscription being inherently unfair to men? Somehow I'm not holding my breath. Update: Atrios also raises a good point.

Vote Early, Vote Often

One of the great things about blogs is that you can post as many entries as you want. In fact, the format encourages it. Due to circumstances such as the worm that's infected my work computer this past week with malware and data miners, slowing my regular Internet activity to a crawl (although it does give me a rush of nostalgia for the old dial-up days), I haven't been posting or reading my blogroll as easily or frequently as I had been. I noticed the bottom of my sidebar containing the Javascript-generated auto-listing of all League of Liberals blogs has sort of trailed off beyond the end of the Blogger template I use because I've made so relatively few (and shorter) posts lately. As time permits I'll try to remedy that, but I wanted to get a jump on something in which I participated too late last week. The Truth Laid Bear's weekly New Weblog Showcase contest has changed its rules slightly, but at least they're all spelled out clearly enough now for even me to understand. I'm going to cast my votes early this week. In the Political category, I liked two posts from Dawn at Clareified, Death by Invitation and What Does A Lawyer Look Like?. In the Non-Political category, I found Muggle Migrane on Michelle's And Then? blog pretty interesting. Now mind you, I still haven't figured out how these "votes" get from my blog onto the list of entries on TTLB's showcase, but if I did it wrong or if the LoL's choose other entries, the beauty of it all is that I can always make another post!

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

The UK papers are playing the "what if" game today. The RSPCA and other animal groups want to ban the Guy Fawkes Day fireworks 'cause it disturbs pets; tell me about it, my cats are nowhere to be seen on the Fourth of July. And apparently it's a big night for burglarly as well. But Robin's old home town plans to carry on the tradition nonetheless. Say, did you know Guy Fawkes Day is actually catching on in places in the US? Being Americans, of course, they commemorate it on a more convenient weekend day...

LuluBlog!

Friends of Lulu has done a very smart thing, in my opinion - they've turned their homepage into a weblog. It seems to be maintained by current president Katie Merritt, and it has a comment section courtesy of Haloscan. It's been blogrolled under "Kultcha."

And while on the subject of organizations having to do with women and comics, Neil Gaiman mentioned that he has a cute "13 Questions" interview up at Sequential Tart, the monthly online comics zine with a virtually all-female editorial and writing staff.

Get Out the Vote

Here's the 2003 General Election Voter Guide from the NYC Campaign Finance Board. The big hoo-ha this year is over Question 3 on the ballot proposals. After I'd determined I was voting "no," I noticed that big money and a lot of politicians I neither like nor trust seemed to be behind convincing people to vote "yes," so I'm hoping others see through their efforts as well. If you live in NYC and you're not sure where to vote, this could have helped if it were working correctly; I suggest you call the number listed. How utterly convenient that the online method of locating your polling place just happens to be on the fritz today.

You Spin Me Right 'Round Baby Right 'Round

MadKane is back!, and has posted The Spinning Song for our "listening" pleasure. Her creativity never ceases to amaze. I'm also impressed by Julia's Caesar parody dealing with Donald Luskin, as well as being grateful to Linkmeister for his reprint of Henry Beard's The End of the Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe's Cat for Halloween.

Showcase Vote of the Week

I'm still not quite sure how the whole New Blog Showcase thing works, but I've seen two postings so far on fellow League of Liberals blogs voting for (i.e., linking to) Ink from the Squid, particularly this post about a trust fund being set up for every newborn baby in Britain, so I'll throw my vote to this one as well.

The Chomsky Reader

Via Bill Connolly: It seems Noam Chomsky has a new commentary at ZNet after an absence of more than a year, this time talking about The Iraq War and Contempt for Democracy. I'd put him on the sidebar but given the sporadic nature of his commentaries I don't think it's worth it yet.

So There!

Andrew Northrup provides the best laugh of the weekend.

Provincialer and Provincialer

Via Maru Soze: Oh hey, what's the difference - Romania or Russia, Iraq or Afghanistan... It's not like any of these countries are real anyway, are they?

Old Friends

Aaron Hawkins had a great idea - since search engine queries often lead people to blogs that have nothing to do with what they're searching for (for instance, my last 20 include "everybody loves raymond transcript download", "KROSS KULCHAH" and "smeagle wallpaper" among others), why not use this amazing power for good? So he put out a list of names of friends with whom he's lost touch, in the hopes that someone who knows any of them will do a name search and be led to Aaron, or that the people in question will Google their own names, resulting in a re-contact. With that in mind, I want to give a shout-out into the aether towards Bill-Dale Marcinko, my best friend from college whom I miss tremendously. He's #2 on my list of "people I wish had weblogs," although chances are his blog would, like his (in)famous zines, be mostly a hoax. But, you know, a brilliant hoax. Anyway, it's worth a try. You out there anywhere, Billy?

Animals Were Harmed During the Making

Via Anne Zook, an article about a study of lemmings just published in the journal Science, which has determined the 4-year fluctuation cycles in lemming population are entirely due to predation, not the "throwing themselves off cliffs" myth. What really shocked me was at the article's end:

Despite the new finding, lemming scientists expect to continue to be plagued by suicide queries. In particular, they blame a 1958 Walt Disney nature film, "White Wilderness," in which lemmings were shown hurling themselves off a cliff.

In 1983 a Canadian documentary, "Cruel Camera," about abuse of animals in movies, asserted that the scene was faked, using lemmings bought from Eskimo children and herded into the water. That conclusion has come to be widely accepted, and yesterday Rena Langley, a spokeswoman for the Walt Disney Company, did not dispute it.

Naturally, Snopes is all over this, and I expect the referenced page may be updated even more now that the Science finding is out.

The Strange Case of Steven Kaye
or, What Do You Do With a DrunkenSailor?

White Rabbits! If you follow auctions at all, and even if you don't and you just find public tantrums somewhat amusing, you've probably heard of Steven Kaye selling his "Collection of 26 Beanie Babies from Ex-Wife." Even though the bidding supposedly ended in late September, this page seems to just be making the rounds this week. I've seen it linked to from at least four people in the past few days. Together with the response from someone who had a negative dealing with this fellow - particularly as the latter website is dated about two weeks after the auction was supposed to have closed - this was enough to set my hoax alarm to ringing pretty loudly. I've written to Snopes to see if they'll be tackling this one.