Fox News Doesn’t Know Who Frederick Douglas Is

Fox News anchors think Abraham Lincoln ran for President against a black man. Those were such progressive days after all. In this clip, the TV hosts discuss the stupidity of their intern while never noticing that the photo that is meant to be Lincoln’s opponent Stephen Douglas is actually abolitionist Frederick Douglas. Nice work dumb [...]

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You’re Not a Lesbian!

A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world’s gay women. Three islanders from Lesbos – home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women – have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian [...]

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Buying the Presidency

Can there be anything more flagrant than offering to suspend the gas tax for the purpose of getting elected president of the United States? Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain are pushing for a gas-tax holiday, but Sen. Barack Obama says the plan is a quick fix that would do more harm than good. McCain, [...]

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Penguin Stays Snug Wearing Wet Suit

Pierre lost all his feathers. Now he has a wet suit that allows him to swim with his padres.

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Animaniacs Teach The Presidents

I wish the Animaniacs were still around just so we could see what their depiction of George W. Bush would be.

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Your Supreme Court at Work

Despite absolutely zero testimony regarding known voter fraud, the Republican inspired rules to require photo identification to in order to vote is upheld by the Supreme Court. Still think we can survive another four years with McCain? The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional [...]

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Brew Espresso in the Woods

This is why I have a coffee category. If you prefer your coffee fresh-brewed when hiking, Spokane-based GSI offers a number of coffee solutions. If you want a steaming mug of Starbucks Yukon blend during your hike, toss your favorite lightweight stove into your pack, then add a GSI Lexan Javapress — a French-press style [...]

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Bush’s Neilsen Ratings Not Good Either

In addition to low approval ratings, Bush’s appearance on the game show Deal or No Deal was the second to the worst viewed show of the show’s existence. President Bush’s videotaped cameo on Monday’s “Deal or No Deal” didn’t spur much interest – tying the show’s worst-ever Monday-night performance. Monday’s show averaged 10 million viewers, [...]

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Costco/Walmart Ration Rice

Ah, the good old U.S. of A. where you can buy 5 gallon containers of mayonnaise but you can’t buy more than 20 pounds of rice. For the less than 20 some odd percent of Americans out there that still think George Bush is doing a good job, what do you think of this: The [...]

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What Would You Rather Wear?

A 19th-Century puff-sleaved knockoff with a 3 inch curled back bang (fringe) worn by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints women? Or a designer couture jilbab and hijab? Above two photos via Kuwait-Style. Last photo via Alixianne’s Photostream on Flickr.

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Really, Really Bad Food

An oldie but goody. You’ll especially like the commentary for each recipe card. Weight Watchers Recipe cards from 1974. These cards mystify me. None of them have calorie or nutrition information of any kind, and in some instances it’s hard to tell what’s dietetic about the recipes at all, except that they’re unspeakably grim. And [...]

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The Onion gets the scoop

Once again a joke article on the Onion becomes reality shortly afterwards. Here’s an Onion piece about Al-Queda disputing 9/11 conspiracy theories. And here’s a BBC news article about Al-Queda disputing 9/11 conspiracy theories. hat tip to TPM

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Women and War

An often used argument for electing women leaders around the world is that women by their nature are not warmongers and that the world would be more peaceful if ruled by women. It is said women and mothers in particular better understand the value of life because they have the ability to give life. Yet [...]

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Hobson’s Choice

A few months ago, we bought a region-free DVD and I was able to catch a film I hadn’t seen in years. Hobson’s Choice with John Mills and directed by David Lean. I risk spoiling a small part of the film just to get you interested and that is why I am showing this clip. [...]

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Quote for the Day: What a Great Wall

Thank you Marcella Proust for this. I had to send you this quotation, which I got from the book I am teaching tomorrow, a book of poems by Yunte Huang called _Cribs_. It appears in a footnote to the poem. “Note–When Richard Nixon went to China in 1972, his Chinese hosts took him to see [...]

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The Politics of War

Thanks to the New York Times, we now know that the Bush Administration has taken great care in fabricating a successful Iraq story by carefully manipulating the media. They trained former military officers who would be readily accepted by media outlets as “war analysts” to portray the constructed truth that the war was going well. [...]

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Pettin’ in the Park

“Pettin in the Park” from Goldiggers of ’33 is a great song and dance number. By today’s standards it’s surprisingly risque and subversive. Watch the whole thing.

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Ouch!

And oh so The Italian Job. A stunt driver has crashed the car used by movie secret agent James Bond into Italy’s Lake Garda during filming of 007′s latest movie Quantum of Solace. The driver was delivering the iconic Aston Martin DBS to the film scene in heavy rain when he lost control around one [...]

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He’s Dead Jim

More opportunities to see our Greatest Living Actor. Click the picture for the link.

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Conforming Loans All Window Dressing

My husband and I are looking to buy a new house. On March 6, 2008 we we’re pleasantly surprised that the cap for regular mortgages would be lifted from 417k to 567k — which is definitely an advantage when you live in Seattle where the average home sells for over 400 grand. Even the headline [...]

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Electronic Waste

Green-minded consumers beware. Free electronics collection events touted as planet friendly aren’t always as ecologically sound as they seem, says a watchdog group focused on preventing the export of dangerous e-waste. The trouble is it’s nearly impossible for well-meaning consumers to know what happens to the pollutants in the products they’re dropping off. The products [...]

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This Almost Beats Yo Blair

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UK, said the following: “The world owes George Bush a huge debt of gratitude” for his efforts against terrorists.” Did he mean to say Bush’s efforts to increase recruitment for said terrorists, because he’s been absolutely remarkable in that respect. What about Bush’s failure to capture number one terrorist [...]

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The Martha Stewart Defense

I’m too smart to have lied. That was answer Hillary Clinton gave when asked about how she could reconcile her credibility after misrepresenting her visit to Bosnia as First Lady. Well, Tom, I can tell you that I may be a lot of things. But I’m not dumb. And I wrote about going to Bosnia [...]

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Man Proposes on Bus

This is one of the sweetest stories I’ve ever heard, and so true to Seattle. A man falls in love with a woman he met on the bus, then he proposes to her — on the bus! Apparently he had arranged with Metro that he would walk up to the front and take over the [...]

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How is the Vice President Elected?

In last night’s Democratic debate the question was posed: Governor Cuomo, on elder statesman in your party, has come forward with a suggestion. He has said, “Look, fight it to the end. Let every vote be counted. You can test every delegate. Go at each other right till the end. Don’t give an inch to [...]

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