Jeez - I'm Gone for a Month and Now The Russkies are Coming!

So when are we airlifting Swayze and Sheen into Tblisi to take care of these Commie bastards already?

Not to make light of the situation - there's nothing funny about bombs being dropped on people - but, I'm having the strangest sense of deja vu from my childhood:

1. Nasty-grams sent amongst Russian and U.S. Officials: Check

2. Political demagoguery about "foreign oil", but doing zip about it: Check

3. Day-glo wearing hipster-douchebags (not the 1981 L.A. version, but the 2008 NYC version): Check

4. And then there's this atrocity:

But back to my two minute rant about our current Cold-War flashback. It is truly wondrous to watch how "surprised" everyone is acting about the Russian-Georgian conflict. Everyone on all sides knew this was coming, i.e. knew that:

- Russia had been poking at the Georgians for years now;

- Georgia had been poking back;

- Russia, flush with petro-cash, would soon become bold enough to not just poke, but punch;

- Georgia had co opted the U.S. enough, through its participation in the Iraq cluster-f*!k, to get a little uppity;

- Russia would accurately surmise that the U.S., because of the above noted cluster-f*!k and a desperate need to keep oil below $1000 a barrel, wasn't going to do much.

So my question is, if everyone in the foreign affairs world knew this was coming, why was there precious little done to avert it?

Well, that appears to be the most tangled web of all.

You could argue that this makes Russia a huge winner: the Mother Bear gets to flex her regional muscles, deter further NATO expansion, tighten her grip on C. Asia's energy supplies, and generally shove its way back on the global stage.

You could just as easily argue that Georgia will ultimately get what it wants - no, really. The U.S. now realizes it has to actively stick its nose into the Caucuses to ensure its interests in the BTC pipeline, Caspian oil/gas fields, etc. are secure; U.S. troops are showing up to conduct humanitarian relief, but may just end up being part of a "international peacekeeping force. thus Georgia gets the security it was looking for, but never going to get through NATO previously; plus Saakashvili now gets to look like a hero to his people.

What you can't argue is that this is good for the U.S. - we were completely played by both sides.

To all my peeps at State Dept. - keep your chins up! Someday you'll have people in charge who know what the hell they're doing!

Rant complete...

BEWARE: Your Food is Coming to Kill You During the 7th Inning Stretch

The end of the world is nigh'! You need proof? The Seattle Times has it:

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks?

Not in sections 311 and 312 at Safeco Field on Aug. 5 and Sept. 9. Those will be peanut-

controlled zones on those days, the Mariners announced this week, cleaned thoroughly

the night before and all peanut products will be banned on those games. Peanut products

will not be sold at nearby concession stands. Tickets will be $10 each for those days.

It is estimated 12 million people in the U.S. have food allergies, about one-quarter of

them children. The incidence of peanut allergies among children doubled over the five-

year period from 1997 to 2002, according to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

And lest you think this is just some namby-pamby, overprotective, warm and fuzzy Seattle thing, the Cards and Twins have jumped on board as well.

So it's come to this: I may soon no longer have the simple pleasure of watching a ball-game and dumping piles of peanut shells on the guy sitting one row below me? How did this happen?!

Perhaps if we took a moment to look at our disinfected, anti-bacterial, synthetic clothed, poly-sorbate 60 filled, peanut oil fried, corn syrup drenched life-style, we might realize that a number of our technological "marvels" are no biting us in the proverbial ass1 No I do not profess to be an epidimiologist, allergist, or any other manner of "ist", so I have no evidence to back up my wild claims. But this is the Internet damnit, so facts be damned!

I'm just supremely sad for Mr. Peanut...

Jesse Jackson: Black-balled?

New Jesse vs. Old Jesse



I'm not going to comment on the ridiculousness of this; the blathering talking heads "Will this help Obama with white folks?" / "Will Jesse be invited to the convention?" / "Was this a FOX News conspiracy?"; or the not-so-shocking nature of the comments, given Rev. Jackson's prior off-the-cuff remarks (Hymietown) and long-standing reputation of being a bit of an a#sh*l!.

This is just a reminder that before he became a caricature of himself, the good Reverend could deliver a powerful speech.

Buns and Guns in Beirut - Maybe Just a Little Too Soon?

Just a few thoughts:

- Would it have a "drive thru" or a "drive by"?

- If you spill ketchup on the table, do they call a "medic" to clean it up?

- How would you determine if there was a "hostile workplace environment"?

So many more bad puns... so little space on the page...

Maybe this is a turning point of some sort? Gallows humor + crass materialism = people realizing the ridiculousness of blowing each other up for all of eternity?

I Wanted to Hate Nader For this Soooo Much

In the interests of full disclosure, I voted Nader in 2000 (no, not in Florida; I voted in DC where my vote had all the import of an ice cube in the Sahara).

I've always respected his single-mindedness and willingness to speak truth to power. That said, when I saw the "he talks white" blurb posted all over the Net, I figured the old crank had finally gone over the cliff.

However... when you actually listen to what Ralph says, there's more than a drop of truth. I do get the sense that Obama does self censor and as impressive as his "small donor" fund-raising is, we all know that those aren't just auto mechanics and college kids sending in $20 a piece.

Say Hi to Uncle Dave for Me

I will leave the sentimental bs eulogies to George Carlin for others. He was an ornery SOB and probably would have hated all of the glowing tributes being laid at his feet.

I'll simply say that I'm glad I got to see him perform before he passed, and I don't think I fully appreciated what a great riff this was when he performed it - but I sure do now.

A Clearly Horrible Person(?)

Just to be clear "the truly horrible person" is this photo is apparently Scott McClellan.

Not that I don't think the man is a weasel on many levels - dude, nobody goes to work in the WhiteHouse press office as an "idealist", come off it already.

That said, listening to the esteemed Rep. Lamar Smith (R - TX), you'd think ol' Scottie-boy might just be the bastard love-child of Satan and Osama.



I seriously need to check out the constituents this guy represents. I know Austin falls in this district, so clearly they are not his target demographic, but who the f*@! would actually elect this jackass?

Sigh...