Morning Seditionists

Unlike NY’s 23rd District, we don’t have any marquee (perhaps “marquis” would be more apt, given who’s stuck their noses – and money – into that one) races in my town on Election Day, but there’s still stuff to vote on, and I feel obligated to go and be a good little citizen taxpayer. Plus it’s the last time I’ll get to use the lever voting machines that have served me well for the past 30 or so elections (and served my parents and grandparents before me). I don’t like any surprises when I pull that curtain closed, so I’ll be spending this weekend trying to decide how to vote. (more…)

Somebody wrote a letter to the editor here, suggesting that parents have their kids dress up as biblical character to offset the pagan influence of Halloween. He wrote that Halloween “…has become a superstitious and empty way of imposing mindless triviality.” Funny, that sounds more like religion than trick-or-treating to me. He also writes that those who celebrate Halloween “are in reality celebrating death….” Unlike Good Friday, I guess. In the comments, one person suggested that adults dress up like priests and chase the little boys around. I thought maybe I’d dress up like Jesus (got the beard, but I think I look to Irish; if Jesus had been Irish, they’d have had beer instead of wine at the Last Supper) and bring a big bag of stones, which I would toss at people who are, themselves, with sin, yet cast aspersions on others. I’d need an awful lot of rocks, though.

Looks like you folks out in the Denver area have a little bit of snow to deal with. I see it’s supposed to heat up in the next few days, though, so no white Halloween for you. I say just call in sick ’til it melts. Speaking of heating up in Denver, the Nuggets opened the NBA season on fire last night, with everybody’s favorite former Orangeman Carmelo Anthony picking up where he left off in preseason, scoring 30 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and handing out 5 assists. Let’s hope they keep it up. Everybody’s other favorite former Orangeman, Jonny Flynn, scored 18 points in his NBA debut, overcoming the flu (swine, no doubt) to help the Minnesota Timberwolves win their season opener over the Nets. Everybody’s other other favorite ex-Orangeman – Etan Thomas – only had 2 points in 9 minutes in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s season opening win. I feel kinda bad for Etan. I hope it’s OK (so to speak) for an articulate, outspoken black man to live in Oklahoma City. That’s enough sports, I guess (don’t have time to look up all the former SU players and see how they did, and I’m not really an NBA fan anyway), except I feel obliged to mention that the Phillies stomped the Yankees last night in Game One of the World Series. I’m not a Phillies fan (not much of a baseball fan in general), but everybody hates the Yankees, right? (more…)

There are plenty of reasons to despise “Blue Dog” Democrats. But now one of these monsters – Arkansas Congresscritter Marion Berry (that’s Berry, not Barry) – has gone too far. On Monday evening, HR 562 passed 359-1. That’s right, 146 Republicans joined 213 Democrats in passing this most vital resolution. The one “nay” vote? Marion Berry. It’s high time we drove deranged Blue Dogs like this out of our government. If you live in Arkansas, I urge you to run against Barry in the next AR 1st primary. (more…)

So, the “Public Option” will be in the Senate version of health care reform (albeit with a state “opt-out” provision), assuming all the Democrats, Joe Lieberman, and Bernie Sanders vote for cloture when the Republicans try to filibuster. Olympia Snowe is very “disappointed” by all of this. Aw, poor Olympia. No more queen for a day. This is being hailed as a big victory, though I think we’ll have to see what the public part consists of – and what this opt-out really looks like – before we do any celebrating. Then there’s the whole House version, which isn’t set yet, and appears to not have the votes for a “robust” public option (which is thought to mean reimbursement rates set at the current Medicare rates + 5%). We also don’t know what it’ll cost to buy into the public plan. But Republicans and insurance companies seem to be really pissed, so it must be OK. (more…)

I watched Milk last night (the movie, that is), and it reminded me that long before Florida was known for electile dysfunction, it was known for Anita Bryant. I’d kind of forgotten about good ol’ gal Anita. Her 15 minutes should have ended in 1959 when she was runner-up for Miss America, but she actually managed to turn a mediocre singing career into the prized position of FCC (Florida Citrus Commission) spokesmodel. Sadly, as is often the case with halfwits, bigots, and Miss America losers, she started to believe that people should actually give a shit about what she thought. Her third (and final) fifteen minutes of fame ended after she managed to galvanize the gay community against her twisted homophobic “Kristian” views. After divorcing, going bankrupt, and getting remarried, Anita tried to revive her singing career by playing Pigeon Forge Tennessee, but she was a bust (if you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere). (more…)

Not feeling particularly motivated this morning, so here’s a quick and dirty look at today’s lineup:

Press the Meat: Schumer, Cornyn, Erin Burnett, Andrew Ross Sorkinm roundtable of Jane Mayer Joe Scarborough, Dan Senor, Tavis Smiley.

Faze the Nation: John McCain, Russ Feingold. (more…)

When asked about Dick Cheney’s criticism of Obama’s “dithering” on Afghanistan, Joe Biden said what I’d have said: “Who cares?” OK, actually I’d have said, “tell Cheney to go f*ck himself.” But then I’m no genius, since I didn’t watch Baby Einstein videos as a kid (since there weres no such thing as videos way back then – not for your home, anyway). Of course, if you or you kids watched Baby Einstein, you’re probably no genius either (if you bought them for your kids expecting them work for your kid, you’re definitely no genius. You can get a refund, at least (not sure if you have to sign an affidavit admitting your kid’s a moron or what). (more…)

Looks like Granny gets to keep her job, as the NY State Department of Health has ended its mandate for health care workers to get flu vaccines – for both H1N1 and the seasonal flu. Governor Blinky is attributing this to a shortage of vaccines (supposedly the entire seasonal flu vaccine has been distributed, and drug companies have only managed to produce 23% of the anticipated amount of H1N1 vaccine), but I suspect its more like they thought everybody would roll over for them, and when there was resistance (and law suits), they decided it wasn’t worth it. They’re not giving up on the idea, though, intimating that they may bring the mandate back next year – providing there’s enough vaccine to go around. As for the lawsuits currently pending, they’re a little up in the air, now. Hopefully they’ll continue. (more…)

It appears that, with a bit of a lull in the Balloon Boy story, there’s nothing much going on in the world. Well, except that Amy Winehouse’s dad likes her new boobs. That’s nice. I guess if you’re a young woman with a shithead for a husband and a drug problem, nothing will make you feel better than a little plastic surgery. As long as your dad approves, of course. I don’t really get the appeal, personally. Having grown up seeing my sister’s Barbi dolls in various states of undress, fake plastic boobs really don’t do it for me. I much prefer the real thing. I’m also not much for garish makeup or false eyelashes that make you look like you have a couple of bats glues to your eyes. But, to each his (or her) own. (more…)