Photo: Santorini's Caldera

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Here are a couple pictures of Santorini's Caldera, which we saw on our stop in Santorini a/k/a Thera, Hellas, last July.

The Wikipedia says: "Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. Its spectacular physical beauty, along with a dynamic nightlife, have made the island one of Europe's tourist hotspots."

"The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions the planet has ever seen: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (70 miles) to the south, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis."
---o0o---

Seattle's Blue Scrotumed Monkey

I know this is kind of old news by now. . .after there was a "scandal" and internet meme around the Huffington Post mentioning the b.s.'d monkey. . .but last week, IMAO.US released a FAQ about the monkey escaped from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo (which is in walking distance of my house...or monkey leaping distance). This is pretty good (one slur aside). They also use a pejorative for a group of which I am a member. Live with it, or don't read it.

BLUE SCROTUM MONKEY FAQ (from http://www.imao.us/)

Q. How much concern should I have that a monkey with a blue scrotum is on the loose?

A. This monkey has been rated an orange level threat by the Monkey Threat Index for its tendency to gnaw on a person’s face or genitals when confused or scared and because it has a bright colored scrotum.

Q. What would rate a red rating?

A. Massive size and climbing a famous building.

Q. The monkey escaped from a zoo in Seattle and I live in Alabama. Does this concern me?

A. Yes it does. Monkeys are smart enough to buy plane or bus tickets, so it could be anywhere by now.

Q. What do I do if I see a monkey with a blue scrotum?

A. Immediately contact authorities or kill it with a hammer.

Q. What if I see a monkey with a purple scrotum?

A. Purples scrotum monkeys are common and harmless. Don’t waste our time with sighting of purple scrotum monkeys, homo.

Q. Well, that was uncalled for.

A. There is a blue scrotum monkey on the loose! We don’t have time for your feelings, Nancy!

Q. What kind of monkey is it?

A. An angry one. With a blue scrotum. And possibly a small caliber revolver.

Q. No, I mean what species is it?

A. Do you want to know its hopes and dreams too? It’s an angry monkey on the loose; what else do you need to know about it? What its favorite color is?

Q. Is it blue?

A. Obviously.

Q. Should I be concerned when I call authorities and mention a monkey, they could take it as a racist statement?

A. Don’t worry; the blue scrotum monkey sighting hotline is completely anonymous, cracker.

Q. Anything else I should know?

A. If the monkey’s scrotum starts flashing red, that means he is about to explode. Seek cover.
---o0o---

Rachel Maddow responds to Bobby Jindal's response to President Obama's speech

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's rising star, who is never at a loss for words was just that the other night. Here is Rachel attempting to respond to Keith Olberman:



---o0o---

The watermelon roll. . .

The mayor of the Orange Conty town of 12,000, Los Alamitos, is under heavy national under fire for an e-mail he sent out "No Easter egg hunt this year," showing the White House lawn planted with watermelons.

"I have had plenty of my share of chicken and watermelon and all those kinds of jokes," Keyanus Price, a local business owner told The Associated Press. "As a black person receiving something like this from the city-freakin'-mayor - come on." She wants a public apology.

The Orange County Register reported the email earlier this week.

the almost ex-mayor

Mayor Dean Grose confirmed to the AP that he sent the e-mail to Price and said he didn't mean to offend her. He said he was "unaware of the racial stereotype that black people like watermelons. "

On Thursday The Mayor announced he would resign at a City Council meeting on Monday.

---o0o---

Ed Anger on Bobby Jindal

In an opinion piece this week in the Weekly World News, Ed Anger writes:

"Bobby Jindal says he’s from Crapistan or one of those hellholes, but do we know that for sure? Maybe he’s really a Terminator from the future, except instead of laser beams, he can kill you just by talking. At least that Cheney robot we had for eight years didn’t go on TV and bore you to death, and that Romney one’s programmed to smile once in a while."

---o0o---

Governor Bobby Jindal's Dr. Faustus Bargain?

An update from the weekly world news tells that Senator Bobby Jindal’s talks with Satan appear to be working, since not long after, he was picked to deliver the official GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union. Unfortunately, it was an unmitigated train wreck. . .


It looks like the wheels may be coming off his deal with The Devil.
---o0o---

Painting: Eric

click to enlarge

---o0o---

Poem: Evil Konks Out

1
The sun, and that sweet, sweet moon, cling to heaven.
Bugs, fish, animals, trees, and people
Cling to earth.

Power is like stapling
A target to your back.
Play dumb, play slow, play luckless.

2
Difficulty surrounds
You like a moat,
You persevere.

Spoof, lie, mislead, and spin.
Be a smiler.
Don't awaken their enmity.

3
In the end, evil konks out
Like a squid simmered in its own ink,
Because evil fails the moment

It overcomes good--
Consuming the energy
To which it owed its duration.
---o0o---

Talking Heads video: Burning Down The House

A video of one of my favorite Talking Heads tunes from the Jonathan Demme film Stop Making Sense...

Is the AG deranged? And by extension are the rails coming off the obama juggernaut fast

By Jack Brummet, Publisher
By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

This week, Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing unresolved racial issues.

In a speech we just watched, he explained there were two Americas. One in the workplace, and another one on weekends. . .where the various races largely slip back into their ethnocentric cocoon, with each ethnic group largely separated.

In a speech to Justice Department employees during i Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general.

Holder said, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race." We don't know who he hangs out with, but that is flat wrong. At least in the circles we run with, it is discussed often. And then, what could the AG possible know about average Americans? As it turns out, not much.

"It is an issue we have never been at ease with and, given our nation's history, this is in some ways understandable," Holder said. "If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us."

Attorney General Holder, as Dante asked in Grandma's Boy, "Where do you get your weed?"
---o0o---

Dean, in a new role

click Dean to enlarge
---o0o---

WTF??--> Gary Locke, Ron Simms, and Gil Kerlikowske

Ron Sims

Gary Locke

Gil Kerlikowske

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Man, if this is the cream of the crop. . .we're in for one rocky four years.

President Barack Obama's third pick for Commerce secretary is former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a senior administration official said Monday. This office is starting to look like the piano player's slot in the Grateful Dead--a ticket to oblivion.

Locke, a Democrat, was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he served two terms in the Washington statehouse from 1997 to 2005. Obama's choice of Locke arose less than two weeks after his most recent pick, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, backed out. Just over a week after Obama named him and he accepted, Gregg cited "irresolvable conflicts" with the policies of the Democratic president. And after Bill Richardson bailed out early on, mired in some sordid money scandal. Gary also served as the King County Executive, a slot that the newly appointed Deputy Secretary also held.

Ron Sims - couldn't get elected Senator or Governor. But Obama wants him. I like Ron. I voted for him a few times. But would I have made him deputy Secretary? Probably not.

President Obama's choice to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy — otherwise known as the country's "Drug Czar" — is reportedly Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. Having served in law enforcement for more than 30 years, Kerlikowske is "known as an innovator and fierce defender of community policing principles that emphasize relationships with citizens over force." He got the Seattle Police Chief job when Norm Stamper (a pretty cool guy, and now an activist for relaxed drug laws) presided over the WTO riots in Seattle.

Seattle appears to have a bizarre lock on high profile jobs in the new administration. Hey, BHO, if you can come up with something for our governor. . .!
---o0o---