Designer Vagina Alert

Judy Chicago's "O'Keefe plate" from The Dinner Party (Keelin and Jack saw this show at the Brooklyn Art Museum in the late 70's). Click to enlarge.


According to the AFP, Australian doctors (e.g., The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) are concerned about clinics offering vaginal cosmetic surgery, and believe the the trend towards "designer vaginas" exploits vulnerable women.

New procedures being offered include

• vaginal rejuvenation
• revirgination
• designer vaginoplasty
• G-spot amplification

"What is involved in these procedures is often unclear since recognised clinical nomenclature is not being used." The college labelled the procedures dangerous, expensive and unwarranted. "The real risks of potential complications such as scarring, permanent disfigurement, infection, dyspareunia and altered sexual sensations should be discussed in detail with women seeking such treatments," it said.

The O & G College said women should understand that there are "a large number of variations in the appearance of normal female genitalia." It's probably too subjective or qualitative for such an empirical body, but the college did neglect to mention that they're all beautiful.
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Jimmy Hoffa - still missing, presumed dead

Yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of the disappearance labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union representing truck drivers and warehouse employees, as well as workers in almost every occupation imaginable, according to their website.

Hoffa became the Teamster's president in 1957 when the prior president was convicted of bribery and sent to prison. Hoffa himself was convicted of jury tampering and fraud seven years later, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. After serving only about half his time, however, President Nixon granted him a pardon on the condition that he not engage in direct or indirect management of any labor organization until at least 1980. However, at the time of his disappearance, Hoffa was actively engaged in an effort to recapture the leadership of the Teamsters.

On July 30, 1975, Hoffa's schedule listed a lunchtime meeting with mobster Anthony Giacolone and New Jersey Teamster official Anthony Provenzano at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Detroit. Hoffa left for the meeting and was never seen again.

Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance, and speculation on where his body might be found (most common speculation: in the concrete at The Meadowlands), fueled a constant supply of newspaper stories and television coverage for many years to come. His body was never found, and he was declared legally dead in 1982.

Click here to download Tom Lee's Ballad of Jimmy Hoffa from the WFMU website.

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Alien Lore No. 136::::::Water found!::::::Is there/was there life on Mars?

In a release yesterday by Dwayne Brown (NASA HQ), Guy Webster (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and Sara Hammond (University of Arizona), NASA has confirmed finding water on the Planet Mars. The full release follows below.

July 31, 2008 - NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

With enticing results so far and the spacecraft in good shape, NASA also announced operational funding for the mission will extend through Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.

"Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday's sample had been exposed to the air for two days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle.

"Mars is giving us some surprises," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We're excited because surprises are where discoveries come from. One surprise is how the soil is behaving. The ice-rich layers stick to the scoop when poised in the sun above the deck, different from what we expected from all the Mars simulation testing we've done. That has presented challenges for delivering samples, but we're finding ways to work with it and we're gathering lots of information to help us understand this soil."

Since landing on May 25, Phoenix has been studying soil with a chemistry lab, TEGA, a microscope, a conductivity probe and cameras. Besides confirming the 2002 finding from orbit of water ice near the surface and deciphering the newly observed stickiness, the science team is trying to determine whether the water ice ever thaws enough to be available for biology and if carbon-containing chemicals and other raw materials for life are present.

The mission is examining the sky as well as the ground. A Canadian instrument is using a laser beam to study dust and clouds overhead.

"It's a 30-watt light bulb giving us a laser show on Mars," said Victoria Hipkin of the Canadian Space Agency.

A full-circle, color panorama of Phoenix's surroundings also has been completed by the spacecraft.

"The details and patterns we see in the ground show an ice-dominated terrain as far as the eye can see," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, lead scientist for Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager camera. "They help us plan measurements we're making within reach of the robotic arm and interpret those measurements on a wider scale."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and development partnership at Lockheed Martin in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

For more about Phoenix, click here.
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John McCain erupts at advance man over somnambulant crowd

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Following his less than successful town hall meeting yesterday in Sparks, John McCain gave a rousing speech today in Altoona, Pennsylvania. However, a fair number of people in the audience appeared to be sleeping. Senator McCain greatly abbreviated his prepared remarks and left early for his next campaign stop. A fellow reporter heard the Senator call his advance man on the carpet as he walked to a waiting limousine: "I flew back here from f***ing Nevada to be greeted by this crowd? Where did you round these ***holes up? At the narcolepsy treatment center?!"
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John McCain: Maverick or Redneck? The Republicans are not quite sure.

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor


At a town hall meeting yesterday in Sparks, Nevada, Republican presidential candidate John McCain attempted to maintain the precarious equilibrium between the independence he boasts of and his purported conservatism. Was the audience buying it? Not so much.

"As many of you know, I've been called a maverick, someone who marches to the beat of his own drum," McCain said proudly before being assaulted with questions on offshore oil, taxes and stem cell research from a mostly Republican audience.

McCain swore he would not raise taxes if elected president and promised to appoint judges like Bush nominees Samuel Alito and John Roberts.

"Anything you can tax he wants to tax it more," McCain said of his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.

But McCain then told a disabled woman facing home foreclosure that he would step up enforcement of the Americans With Disabilities Act. He told a cancer survivor that he supported stem cell research, which pushed a local, Doug Englekirk, to tell McCain that he and other conservatives weren't happy to be supporting the Arizona senator. "There's a lot of us voting against Obama more than anything else," Englekirk said to McCain. "There are a lot of issues I've disagreed with you about, and I would like to know how do you assure me and other conservatives that you will hold to our values and give me something to be excited about?"
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National Enquirer new claim: Rielle Hunter is receiving $15,000 a month hush money/child support from John Edwards' pal

John Edwards with his "other" family?

In an "exclusive," [ed's note: of course anything fictional would be exclusive] the NATIONAL ENQUIRER claims that John Edwards’ purported girfriend and mother of his “love child,” Rielle Hunter, is secretly receiv­ing $15,000 a month "as part of an elaborate cover-up orchestrated by the former presidential contender."



The money is purportedly funneled to Rielle Hunter by a wealthy colleague who was involved in the Edwards’ campaign. "This same man is also shoveling cash to Edwards’ pal and former aide Andrew Young – who tried to take the heat off the ex-Senator by claiming he is the father of Rielle’s baby."
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Music, video and lyrics: Ben Lee's Catch My Disease (a/k/a The TBTL Theme song)

This is my favorite song this week.







This is a fan video of a TV show called House (I think) set to Catch My Disease. The link may not have long to live. No other version on YouTube would allow you to embed, and virtually all fan versions were pulled, (in short, Ben has some vigilant people combing the internets for copyrightviolations).

Not only is this a wonderful song, it's the theme song for my favorite radio show, TBTL, which you really need to hear (live in Seattle, on iTunes, and KIRO always has one week of downloadable shows).

My head is a box full of nothing
and that's the way I like it
My garden's a secret compartment
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
Your body's a dream that turns violent
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
The winter is long in the city
and that's the way I like it

So please
baby please
Open your heart
Catch my disease

I was backstage in Pomona
and that's the way I like it
She drank beer with coca-cola
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
She told me about the winds from Santa Anna
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
She told me she loved me like fireworks
and that's the way I like it

So please
baby please
Open your eyes
Catch my disease

So please (PLEASE!)
baby please
Come on
Catch my disease
Catch it

Na na na na na na na na na

They play Good Charlotte on the radio
and that's the way I like it
They play Sleepy Jackson on the radio
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
I hear Beyonce on the radio
and that's the way I like it
cos that's the way I like it
and they play me on the radio (whoo!)
and that's the way I like it

So please
baby please
Open your heart
and catch my disease
So please
baby please
Come on
Catch my disease
(catch my disease)
nanananananananana
(catch my disease)
nanananananananana
(catch my disease)
nanananananananana
(catch my disease)
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Aphrodite sculpture from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens

click to enlarge

This marble statue of Aphrodite, now residing in the National Museum of Archaeology, was in private hands until about 1924. It was sculpted in the second century, and was later restored by the Italian sculptor A. Canova in the early 19th century. I like nude sculptures, but in this one, aside from the toothsome Aphrodite herself, it is the drapery, discretely covering the naughty bits, that knocks you out...

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Boo-hoo: Senator Ted Stevens is headed for the hoosegow

click Senator Ted Stevens to enlarge

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (Republican, Alaska) was charged Tuesday with hiding more than a quarter million dollars in "gifts," including home renovations, that he received from an Alaska oil company, the Justice Department said. That only includes the hiding, friendos, not the taking and soliciting.


The Alaska politician, who has been in the Senate longer than almost any other Senator (40 years) was indicted by a grand jury indictment on seven counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms. Not surprisingly, he is also one of the biggest scolds in Congress. He joins fellow Republicans like Senator Larry Craig who was busted for atempting to have sex in an airport bathroom; David Vitter who cheated on his wife with prostitutes while haranguing us about "family values;" and even disgraced ex-Governor Elliott Spitzer, who also had a yen for prostitutes, while publicly campaigning to shut down "call girl rings."



Soon to be Ex-Senator Stevens denied the charges, of course, and swore he would be exonerated. But he had to step down from his various committees in the Senate. He has thus far, given no indication he plans to resign from the Senate."I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that," Stevens said in a statement. "I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a U.S. senator."

There was no immediate signal that Republicans would pressure Stevens to resign, but give it a few days. On the other hand, the Senator may well continue with his re-election campaign. I suspect the Senator would want us to believe that he, along with us, are victims of the deviancy amplification spiral.
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Photo: The Brummet-Curran clan dine al fresco at sunset with a view of the Santorini caldera

Click to enlarge

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Obama's VP-stakes--> Come on Barack! Go with Smilin' Joe

While the campaign and Barack himself have been very circumspect about his choice for running mate, they have floated at least the following names:

• Virginia Governor Tim Kaine
• Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius
• Indiana Senator Evan Bayh (an olive branch to Hillary supporters)
• Senator Joe Biden (my personal favorite)
• Georgia Ex-Senator Sam Nunn

Pick Smilin' Joe, Barack! He's got the foreign policy experience you need, and he's great on the campaign trail. He never gets tired of talking!
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Photo: Aphrodite's legs, from the museum at Afrodesia, Turkey

click to enlarge

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