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December 08, 2007
It's Catching On...
...This idea that you don't have to waste as much money on gasoline if you drive a fuel-efficient car.
Sales of hybrid cars rose 82 percent from Nov. 2006 to Nov. 2007, with sales of the Toyota Prius up 109 percent.
You know how I know Bush Republicans are stupid? It's taking them way too long to figure out that a green economy will be exponentially more profitable than a fossil fuel economy. I also have this crazy theory that certain large truck and SUV drivers become even more attached to their vehicles when they have to pay more for gas. It's a form of backwards hillbilly defiance.
09:50 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
This Week's Myerstown Herald
My favorite headlines from this week's all new Myerstown Herald (website or pdf):
-Knuckleheads let air out of tire
-Phone Fool Threatens Man's Life
-Vehicle Hits Vehicle, Flees
-Police: Two Men Swipe Beef Jerky
-Dorks Use Object to Vandalize Mailbox
Also, on page 13 (pdf), the Herald responded to my remarks in this blog. My favorite quotes from their editorial response:
The use of the words goons, punks and thugs is not irresponsible. [...] We think these words are appropriate to describe these people.
Sure. It's totally responsible to editorialize in straight news stories. Please don't stop or else the four people who live in Myerstown won't know whether a bad guy is bad or not.
Myerstown obviously has more than four people.
Right on, Dr. Obvious McLiteral. Anyway, I love the Myerstown Herald. May its supply of goons and dorks be plentiful for many years to come.
09:03 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
By Grabthar's Hammer, this is one of the most underrated comedies ever.
08:50 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 07, 2007
Origins of 'Huckaboner'
TBogg is awesome and funny, and now he's part of Firedoglake. However, I want the historical record to show that I invented the word "Huckaboner" on this site two days ago. It seems to be catching on.
04:05 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
No America For You!
There's no place for me and my friends in Romney's America. This was one of the sections of Romney's speech that made me scream at my Sirius radio yesterday.
I'm putting Festivus poles next to every public nativity scene I find.
01:45 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Freelove Freeway.
08:41 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 06, 2007
Anderson Cooper Eats Mexican
I had lunch today at a Mexican restaurant called Hell's Kitchen on 9th Ave near 46th Street today and Anderson Cooper happened to be eating lunch about two tables away.
I was tempted to interrogate him about the YouTube debate -- until he suddenly exploded into a psychotic rage and flogged some "insufferable hipsters" with a barstool. He kept screaming, "They'll find your corpses... in the FUCKING... RIVER! Arrrrr!"
The part about Anderson Cooper eating at the Mexican restaurant is true.
The drunken rage part is not.
08:15 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Willard's Christian Nation
Back from New York City.
And Romney's speech this morning was a mess. The first section about the Constitution and religious tests was reasonable and well-written. The middle section about how much he loves Jesus and how America was founded as a Judeo-Christian nation was fucking awful. The last section could've been amazing, but I wouldn't know because the middle part pissed me off so much that I veered off the Jersey Turnpike in a rage and lost consciousness in a snow bank near the Grover Cleveland rest area.
07:48 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
I'll be away from the internets for most of the day. Be awesome to each other.
08:22 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 05, 2007
He's Lost His Fucking Mind
President Bush's nonsensical gibberish:
"The Iranians have a strategic choice to make," he said. "They can come clean with the international community about the scope of their nuclear activities, and fully accept the long-standing offer to suspend their enrichment program and come to the table and negotiate, or they can continue on a path of isolation."
Hearings on the NIE? Anybody? Senator Biden?
06:23 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Supersizing Bin Laden
Did Morgan Spurlock find Bin Laden?
Rumors are flying that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock of "Super Size Me" fame may have done what the United States government has failed to do for the last six years — find Osama bin Laden.The speculation first began at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, where Spurlock showed a select group of potential buyers 15 minutes of footage from his new documentary, "Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?" The film follows Spurlock through the Middle East in his search for the elusive leader of al-Qaida. According to Slashfilm.com, The Weinstein Co. quickly snapped up the picture after seeing the clips.
Adding to the belief, Daniel Marracino, the film's director of photography, is quoted in Variety, saying of the movie, "We've definitely got the Holy Grail."
If Spurlock found Bin Laden, this will be the highest grossing documentary of all time.
03:59 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
I Wish I Could Hate Pat Buchanan
Sometimes it's really, really difficult to hate Pat Buchanan. One day, he's an evil, racist fearmonger. The next day he's able to hold his own with Ali G. The day after, he's demonizing brown people again. And then he comes out with stuff like this. BruinKid has the post-mortem from today's Scarborough show:
Buchanan went one step further. He said Joe Biden needs to get back to Washington and HOLD HEARINGS on who knew what, and when. He actually called on Biden to haul Condi Rice and Stephen Hadley before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ask them if they knew about the NIE report, and if they had ever told Bush. Pat and Joe were both adamant that if either of those two knew about this report, and didn't let the President know about it, they should be fired immediately. And if they DID tell Bush, and yet Bush still went on warmongering with the knowledge that Iran had stopped its nuclear program in 2003, then, well... they didn't exactly define what the consequence should be then.
Today, I'll ignore Racist Pat and endorse Hearings Pat.
11:40 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Republicans Don't Use Bad Words
Every time I write a new Huffington Post item, I get a dozen or so comments and e-mails about my use of profanity. See, Republicans say they don't use bad words. Shockingly, however, they're full of shit. Kos has news today of an obnoxiously profane series of e-mails from a Very Serious Washington Times reporter. This is a must read.
Get a life, pussy.And if you ever want a piece of me, name the time and place. I'm sick of pussies like you writing these sissy fucking messages. You can't even write - what the fuck are you talking about?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
jcurl@washingtontimes.com
I receive e-mails like this all the time. Here are a couple of recent ones.
11:28 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Huckaboner
This was kind of a big-time fuck up, no?
Reporter: I don’t know to what extent you have been briefed or been able to take a look at the NIE report that came out yesterday …Huckabee: I’m sorry?
Reporter: The NIE report, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it —
Huckabee: No.
Reporter: Have you heard of the finding?
Huckabee: No.
Anyone who agrees with the basic rationale of the Banana Theory is trouble.
11:17 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The More You Know
My Wednesday blog at the Huffington Post is up. It's all about Iran, nuclear weapons, and President Bush's spongy skull.
09:19 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
If you could blow up the world with the flip of a switch, would you do it?
08:24 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 04, 2007
Nucyooler Flashback II
(AP) A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran's nuclear capability is “outrageous and dishonest” in trying to make a case that Tehran's program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.
Can you see a pattern here (this post and the previous post)? The hawks have attempted to create their own reality about Iran -- even though the IAEA has contradicted them at every turn.
12:17 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Nucyooler Flashback
The US has criticised an independent investigation which found no evidence that Iran was working on a secret nuclear weapons programme.
11:52 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Knowledge
The knowledge card:
"Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,'' Bush said during a news conference today at the White House. "What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program?''
11:37 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Iran Nuclear Thing Isn't Over
Don't forget that the president said Iran would be a target if they attained the knowledge to create a bomb. The NIE shows they do. This could be the president's line of reasoning during this morning's petulence conference.
Here's the president's World War III statement again:
"If you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
This isn't over.
08:58 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
From the family tree of old school hip hop
Kick off your shoes and relax your socks
The rhymes will spread just like a pox
Cuz the music is live like an electric shock
08:29 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 03, 2007
You Know What's Awesome?
MSNBC's David Shuster over-pronouncing the word: "Tuuuurdblossom." That's what's awesome.
I wish I had a clip of this from tonight's edition of Countdown.
UPDATE: Speaking of which, Dan Abrams ought to give Shuster the 9PM slot. Now.
11:47 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Paul Tsongas
I was just reading the latest Gallup poll on the race (here) and my memory was jolted back to this point in the Democratic race -- 16 years ago. I was Opinions Editor for the Kutztown University campus newspaper, The Keystone, and I convinced the editorial board to formally endorse Paul Tsongas for the Democratic nomination.
After writing the endorsement opinion, I wrote a weekly item for the paper called Tsongas Tstuff. I don't know whether to be proud of that, but I am proud of my support for Tsongas at the time. And, of course, I threw my support (as insignificant as it was) to Bill Clinton once he officially attained the nomination several months later.
08:24 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
World War III
Goddamn. Remember this?
The administration called new attention to the threat posed by Iran earlier this year when President Bush had suggested in October that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to “World War III” and Vice President Dick Cheney promised “serious consequences” if the government in Tehran did not abandon its nuclear program.
Utter horseshit. And so... where is Congress? The administration has been caught red-handed trying to lie us into war again. How can this be allowed to pass?
08:14 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Reich Smacks Senator Clinton
I just don’t get it. If there’s anyone in the race whose history shows unique courage and character, it's Barack Obama. HRC’s campaign, by contrast, is singularly lacking in conviction about anything. Her pollster, Mark Penn, has advised her to take no bold positions and continuously seek the political center, which is exactly what she’s been doing.
I met Reich one time at Reagan National Airport -- while he was Labor Secretary in the Clinton administration. He's about 4-feet tall, really personable, and one of the top 10 smartest people I've ever met. Anyway, with every passing day I grow closer to officially backing Senator Obama in this thing.
01:48 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Liars
Holy fucking shit. ABC News:
"We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program," reads a declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate key findings.
When will the very serious traditional media (VSTM) stop believing everything the administration says? Iran is NOT a nuclear threat. Yet for months the VSTM, the GOP candidates -- and even some of the Democrats -- have been talking about the "Iranian threat." Why? Because the office of the vice president said so, and just because Cheney speaks in complete sentences and in a very serious tone, he's absolutely trustworthy. I can't describe how truly fucked up that is.
01:34 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
More Washington Post Rumormonger Fallout
Horse's Mouth reports two more Washington Post reporters are blasting Perry Bacon's front page rumormongering:
Jonathan Weisman: Did you see Tom Toles's cartoon today, attacking The Washington Post? Wow. I kinda think we should avoid doing stories on rumors, to be honest.
Howard Kurtz: I can't understand why the story didn't mention that the official at the Indonesian elementary school alleged to have been a madrassa -- according to an unsourced story in the conservative online magazine Insight -- had told CNN it had always been a public school and not a religious school.
The Washington Post's ombud is supposed to address this soon. I wonder if she'll say anything about how Bacon used an anonymous internet quote and how "despite his denials" implies guilt.
(My Huffington Post article about this thing.)
11:33 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Don Imus Is Back
If you want to be on terrestrial radio, you don't even need a pulse anymore.
UPDATE: He apparently has a black female sidekick now. That's... wow... he's terrible. Tomorrow he'll introduce his other staffers: Fartie Bang, Sped Boris and BooBoo Babie.
08:54 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Stretch Blames Bloggers For Polarization
David Gregory inexplicably blamed bloggers for the polarization of the country:
I think it’s because of the internet largely. The polarized atmosphere in the internet and blogs and whatnot have been a major contributor to that.
Yeah, okay. The traditional media has failed over and over during the course of this decade, allowing the administration to play politics with everything from 9/11 to Iraq casualties to torture -- and bloggers are the assholes? Bloggers are citizens reacting to the crapola that's doled out by politicians and very serious traditional media. Just because we're calling them on their horseshit doesn't mean we're to blame when they divide the country for ratings and votes.
08:40 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Anthrax "Inside Out"
08:19 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
December 02, 2007
Tinfoil Hats On The Way
Surprise! Widespread fraud in today's Russian elections. And our NSC thinks it's time to investigate:
White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe referred to the allegations of violations and said: "We urge Russian authorities to investigate these claims."
But not here. To investigate fraud here is the work of kooky conspiracy theorists. Does the following passage sound familiar?
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said his lawyers would need a week to prepare their legal challenge. "These results are not fair. We intend to challenge them in the Supreme Court," he said. [...]"I have been in politics for 20 years and these are the most dishonest elections in the history of modern Russia. Putin won with the help of cynicism (and) lies," [opposition party leader Boris Nemtsov] said.
But head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, a former colleague of Putin who was appointed election chief this year, dismissed the opposition allegations.
Thankfully, our elections are perfect and investigations are unnecessary. Woo!
06:17 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Leno Not A Dick, Pays Staff
Two days ago, I was really nasty to Jay Leno here. I called him a dick, an unfunny douche, and I called his motorcycle collection an unfunny douche as well. What's worse is that I bungled the math in a point I was trying to make.
So as it turns out, Leno has decided to pay his staff after all, thus negating my outrage.
This just in: Jay Leno will now indeed pay "Tonight Show" staffers their salaries through at least next week.According to a source close to the show, Leno plans to extend the pay (to around 100 staffers) on a week-by-week basis, with the hope that a strike will be settled soon.
[...]
Insiders say Leno was caught off guard by the heavy dose of criticism..
So, um, yeah. Anyway. That's cool of him. Paying his staff after all.
Go Jay.
03:56 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Watch Turdblossom Sweat
This is awesome. Congressman Van Hollen takes the pain to Karl Rove.
03:25 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
The Charge of the Rohirrim.
09:31 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
No Country For Old Men
I finally saw it tonight. Goddamn. Alec Baldwin wrote on the Huffington Post that it was a metaphor for Iraq, but I totally disagree. You could make a case for Chigurh (pictured above) as a metaphor for ghostly terrorists who lurk everywhere waiting to kill slack-jawed Americans, but I don't know. I'll be thinking about this movie for weeks.
All I know is that it was brilliant, jarring and intensely suspenseful. If you've ever had a nightmare in which you're being chased and no matter where you hide, the monster or villain in your nightmare somehow finds you... this movie will make you squirm. In a good way.
Anyway, I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian right now, but as soon as I'm done, I'm reading McCarthy's original No Country For Old Men.
12:44 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
