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This probably isn't your father's Oldsmobile or Betty Crocker commercial. But it does grab your attention.


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None of the above: the top Republican Presidential candidate

Lanky Link is turning triple axels in his grave, considering the

shambles into which his beloved party has fallen

A recent A.P./Ipsos poll found that nearly a quarter of all Republicans are unwilling to back any of the top four hopefuls—Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain or Mitt Romney—and that nary a candidate is a clear front-runner among Christian evangelicals. The top vote-getter in the G.O.P., so far, is "none of the above."

The moribund G.O.P. not only can't make up their minds about a candidate, but they seem to he hanging onto their shekels, piastres, and pesos. The Democrats have thus far raised far more cash--$80 million against a meager $50 million in the most recent quarter, as they also did in the previous period (Jan.-March 2007).

"Democrats are reasonably comfortable with the range of choices. The Democratic attitude is that three or four of these guys would be fine," David Redlawsk, a University of Iowa political scientist. "The Republicans don't have that; particularly among the conservatives there's a real split."

More Republicans have become apathetic about their options over the past month. 23 percent can't or won't say which candidate they would back, a jump from the 14 percent who took a pass in June.

Interestingly for the party of "the family," the three-times married Giuliani was still at the top of the polls, followed by Fred Thompson and John McCain, who have each been married twice. Mrs. Giuliani was even recently forced to admit thatRudy was actually her own third marriage. The candidate--Mitt Romney--who actually remained married for 30 years was at the bottom of the polls, in the single digits.

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Video and lyrics: The Kinks' Celluloid Heroes

This is a concert video of one of The Kinks great tunes. I always liked the early Kinks songs, but it was this song and this album that turned me into a late and rabid fan. In my first year in college--1973--this album, along with The Grateful Dead's Europe '72, Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken, a Deep Purple album I can't remember, Humble Pie's Rockin' the fillmore, Yes's Close To The Edge, and the MC5 were in constant rotation.

I was lucky enough to see The Kinks when I lived In New York City--we rented a car and drove out to see them play in Asbury Park, New Jersey (a town with a serious rock patina, thanks to The Boss, Little Steven, and The Asbury Jukes) in 1977...



Celluloid Heroes

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star,
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down hollywood boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!

Don’t step on greta garbo as you walk down the boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies’ dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on bela lugosi
’cos he’s liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by bette davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on mickey rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don’t tread on dearest marilyn
’cos she’s not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are.

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along hollywood boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
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Code Pink bare their breasts again, this time protesting against Hillary & Speaker Pelosi

click to enlarge the photograph of the protest outside the Speaker's office



Code Pink and Breasts Not Bombs whipped them out this week, protesting Senator Clinton and Speaker Pelosi's inaction on ending the war, and on the impeachment issue. “We want to invoke for them the feminine priorities of nurturing, safety, and justice,” explained Sherry Glaser of Breasts Not Bombs. “The American people are tired of the rising body count and spending $1.8 billion a week on the war in Iraq, and they have made clear their priorities are the health and well being of this nation.”


The radical activists staged a surprise mammary protest to publicize their anti-war message on July 23. As The Hillary Clinton for President Campaign celebrated San Francisco headquarters launch party on July 23, 2007, the activists hit. Earlier in the day, they held a similar demonstration outside the offices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.


The protest continued even after the protesters were ejected from
Clinton HQ - click to enlarge

A curious sidebar: one Democratic Senate aide asked: "Why do all the hot naked protesters just do stuff for PETA?"

Link: sevenload.com - Video of the topless protest at Hillary HQ
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All This Is That callback: President Bush's new Press Secretary Tony Snow lambasts Bush "off the record"

From All This Is That, April 2006: President Bush's new Press Secretary Tony Snow lambasts Bush "off the record"
_____________________________________

WASHINGTON, DC—With an administration in shambles, hounded by criminal allegations, a plunge in approval ratings that shows no signs of ending, and bi-partisan calls for the resignations of various cabinet members and advisors, the President this week named Tony Snow of Fox TV and radio, as his Press Secretary/Spokesman. The choice is considered both odd and bold by many Beltway insiders.

An anonymous White House source disclosed to us that the night before Snow's appointment was announced, he lambasted Bush and his henchmen at a private party celebrating his ascension to the White House.

"Look around the White House, " Snow told his friends, "Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove and Cheney are crippled! They've been shunted off into the shadows. The President is showing signs of battle fatigue. And worse. And you guys ask why I'd want this job! With this gang of f***-ups, I'll practically BE President! How could I miss that? On the Q.T., and I mean don't even tell your wives, Bush is a basket case. They just shuffle him in and he reads the TelePrompTer as best he can. It doesn't matter if he agrees or understands it or not. That's no longer an issue. He is no longer a functioning member of the government. And let's face it, he wasn't all that swift to begin with. You still ask why I'd do this? OK. Yeah, I'm losing a million or so a year. It's not like I won't make that up the first month after I leave office. But most importantly, I can basically run this f***ing country. And the rest of these sycophants, ass-kissers, and thugs can't say jack s**t. They're so petrified they'll be the next on the chopping block that I can do whatever the f*** I want! Whatever I say becomes White House policy and none of these fools, cowering in their offices with their lawyers and shrinks will dare make a peep."

Snow also told his assembled friends "I can't tell you everything, but some of the stuff I've been hearing about Bush would shred your minds. He makes Captain Queeg look rational. As Huxley said 'In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.' Well, pals, I have two fine f***ing peepers. This is gonna be a sweet f***ing ride."
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Animated video with music by Jon Auer, and animation by Michelle Auer

A song/video--Adios--from Jonathan Auer's Songs From the Year of Our Demise, with his wife Michelle's animation.

The drunk astronauts

Click to enlarge this photo of Baker, a squirrel monkey who
rode a Jupiter IRBM into space and back in 1959.
(photo courtesy of the U.S. Army)

According to the Associated Press: "After drinking heavily, an astronaut flew on a Russian spacecraft and another was cleared to launch on a space shuttle, according to interviews by a panel of outside experts, the panel's chairman said Friday.

"In the case of the shuttle, the mission was delayed for mechanical reasons and the astronaut wanted to fly a jet from Florida back home to Houston, said Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., head of the panel, created to assess astronaut health. He said he didn't know the outcome.

"In none of these can we say factually they did or did not occur," he added, speaking by telephone to a news conference held in Washington. He said it was not the panel's mission to investigate allegations and that NASA would have to ferret out details.

"The independent panel was created by NASA after the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in February on charges she tried to kidnap her rival in a love triangle.

"NASA said it is unaware of any astronauts who were drunk before a flight but that it is investigating. Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said the panel provided no details and did not verify the troubling revelations and promised the space agency would pursue the truth. "
______________________________________________

OK. So what? If you read The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe, or any of the other many accounts of America's space program, you know that being drunk is not much of an impediment to being an astronaut. It's not like they drive the shuttle. They're passengers! Remember in The Right Stuff, how the astronauts complained that they were trained for years as astronauts, but when it came time to launch those early rockets, they were essentially strapped in for the ride? And that they were really just public-friendly versions of the chimps and other primates launched in the early space rockets.

So why all the outrage about astronauts flying drunk? If you're a regular here, you know I suffer from a case of aviophobia. Now, if you were an astronaut about to fly on what is essentially a gi-normous airborne rocket fuel bomb , are you telling me you might not want a touch of the gargle too? We've watched two of these things blow up right in our faces on TV! I'm not sure I could even get on the shuttle unless I was fried to the hatline.
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The Blog War, continued

The blog Almost There In No Time recently posted this follow-up:

"Q: Is the blog war with Jack Brummet still active?

A: I think about it all the time. In cyber-terms, he is no better than Pol Pot and/or Idi Amin. He's a shoddy cook too, constantly over/under-spicing food."


In fact, Almost There In No Time, rolled over almost exactly like the French have in every smirmish they've become involved in in modern times. Almost There In No Time talked a great blog war, but when push came to shove, they hoisted the white flag immediately, all the while declaiming their valor and righteousness. This particular blog war ended weeks ago. After the initial volleys were launched, the proprietor of Almost There In No Time scampered off like a scared jackrabbit into the infamous Marxist stronghold of Nicaragua.
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The final frame of The Sopranos

click Tony to enlarge

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The McCain campaign meltdown picks up steam

According to dozens of media outlets, Sen. John McCain's media team has resigned--an indication that the campaign's firings two weeks ago have resulted in a hellish blowback that threatens to sink the one-time frontrunner's moribund campaign.

Political ad-jockeys Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens (vets of the '04 and Y2K Bush campaigns) emailed the new campaign manager--to say that they were quitting (nice touch, you gutless pansies). The campaign manager, lobbyist Rick Davis has not exactly won friends on the campaign staff. Schriefer and Stevens told friends they had considered leaving for days because they had not been paid and it was not clear when, if, or how much they might actually be paid.

The Schriefer and Stevens resignations follow close on a story in The Wall Street Journal Monday about Rick Davis's business and lobbying activities. McCain campaign advisers say those activities involving a business he started, and another launched by an acquaintance of his, risked embarrassing the senator. I'm not so sure they would do anything he hasn't already done to himself. At this juncture, it looks like McCain could f**k up a two-car funeral procession. He has perfected the Reverse Midas Touch. Who'd have thunk this a short four months ago? I was sure it was Giuliani who would implode; we still have that to look forward to.

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Poem: Dawdling

Walking up to the crosswalk
I think about dawdling & how it drives
Keelin mad when I slow down to gawk or miss a turn.

The light turns green and before I step
From the curb, I stop one second
And think about Winnemucca, Saksatoon, and Walla Walla

And how those dawdling episodes
Are precious moments
That may have saved our bacon,

Keeping us seconds away from the car
That blew through the red light
The rock dropped from the overpass,

Or the one in a billion
Gargoyle that peeled from the tower
And tumblied on to the sidewalk.

Walking on the other side of the street,
I think about William Blake coloring prints.
I stop to look in the junk store window

With two mannequins propping each other up,
Old telephones, movie projectors and motherboards.
I wonder if those moments are lost at all,

But lifetimes gained exploiting synchronicity—
Where all this is that and every step
Taken or not taken counts—

Because everyone I love is here,
In one piece, with a smile in our hearts,
A pulse, and a steady heartbeat.
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Alien Lore No. 110: UFO Invasion at Shakespeare's birthplace

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for pointing out this story...

Last Saturday the pubs emptied out, and crowds stared up at the sky, where about five UFOs seemed to hover in formation in the sky for about half an hour above Stratford on Avon. Air Traffic Control, of course, reported no unusual activity, but witnesses believe they saw an extra-terrestrial visit.

The lights hovered over the town before three of them formed a triangular shape with one positioned just to the right. Minutes later, a fifth object came into view, racing towards the others at breakneck speed before slowing down and stopping.

The usual skeptics dismissed the UFOs as nothing more than hot air balloons, or fireworks. Others, however, claimed the speed and agility of the objects was unlike any known object and that the odd movements, lack of noise and the length of time ruled out these objects being terrestrial.

"The objects were there for about half an hour. It was very eerie because they didn't make any sound and they stayed still before moving slowly beyond the horizon. There were no stars in the sky, just them."

Hillary Potter from The British Earth Aerial Mystery Society (BEAMS) said they received many calls from across the country and that it was rare for purported UFOs to be witnessed by so many people.

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