If you’ve been waiting for a higher authority to tell you what to think about healthcare reform, you’re in luck. This week, the esteemed Republican token Governor of Louisiana, Booby Jindal, will be penning a series of op-ed in Politico and the WSJ, and of course hitting the cable “news” shows. This is, no doubt, the most anticipated expert opinion since Sarah Palin’s energy op-ed, where she slammed Obama’s “cap and tax” position (which she was for, before she was against). I, for one, hope these brave Republicans and DINOs can save us all from the horrors of healthcare reform.

Of course, the President is fighting back, inviting godless bloggers to help push his message to the unwashed masses. Sadly, he hasn’t reached out to me, despite my being godless, unwashed, and commanding an audience of sometimes several people in a single day. Clearly, he’s uncomfortable with the fact that I don’t toe the line on some of his other policies, and probably that I think “reform” without doing away with for-profit insurance is crap.

Is there any chance we can have Jimmy Carter back?

Ever wanted to own a hotel with a little bit of history? Well, today’s your lucky day, as the Watergate hits the auction block, having defaulted on something like $40 million in loans. The hotel, as you are probably aware, is most famous for being featured in the 1999 movie “Dick” starring (among others) Kirsten Dunst, Terri Garr, Dan Hedaya (the guy who played Carla’s ex-husband in Cheers) as the title character, and Will Ferrell as Bob Woodward.

Today’s “Two for Tuesday” Woot is actually a “Six for Tuesday” collection of Star Wars bobbleheads. For $30, you can line them up on top of your teevee, and pretend it’s Sunday every day (and probably get more intelligent conversation, too).

If you get bored, play around with the Nukeometer today. Put in your city and country, and it’ll tell you how many nukes are in range of you. Here, there are 6,404 that can be delivered by long range ICBMs, bomber aircraft, and nuclear submarines, from the US, UK, China, Russia, and France.

Funny, I don’t see Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, or North Korea in that list. Why am I supposed to hate and/or be afraid of them again?

Have a good’un.

Forty years ago we sat around late into the evening, waiting for Neil and Buzz to go and take a walk. They made us stay up awfully late on a Sunday night, but that was OK, since I was only 8 years old, and it was summer, so I didn’t have to get up to go to school. Not that it would have mattered, of course. Like any kid back then (especially boys, I imagine), I knew everything there was to know about the space program. I honestly don’t recall whether we were watching Walter Cronkite or not for the actual landing or that first moon walk (I was flipping the channel every time the coverage on one station broke for a commercial; we didn’t have a remote control back then, but we didn’t need one, as I was sitting with my face practically up against the picture tube – radiation be damned).

I seem to recall ABC having good coverage back then too, with anchor Frank Reynolds chatting with Jules Bergman, who got to play with a really cool model of the command module and the “lem” that I would have killed to have had (much bigger than what I had, and all the little pieces came out and attached, so he could demonstrate, for instance, how the command module would separate from the service module, and then turn around to dock with the lunar landing module and pull it out. Hard to believe Jules has been dead for over twenty years now, and Frank died 26 years ago today.

As I recall, we hung out around the teevee all day (might have gone to church at some point back then), before the Eagle separated from Columbia and made its descent to the moon late in the afternoon. Little did we know at the time how much trouble they had, and how Armstrong had to fly the thing to the point where it was within a second or so of running out of gas. I remember them describing how they’d rigged up a sort of a camera on a clothesline thing that they would deploy so we could see Neil climb down that ladder, and make that final small step onto the lunar surface.

Ah, those were the days. We were still the good guys (Vietnam and that whole race thing notwithstanding), and that great American spirit, ingenuity, and “can-do” attitude meant we could do anything we set our minds to.

Now, it seems we’ll struggle to pass crappy health care reform legislation, the economy is in the crapper, we don’t actually “make” much of anything anymore, science is now godless voodoo to be shunned in favor of “intelligent design” (mosquitoes and deer flies? How intelligent is that?), and the people who are making billions in profits burning fossil fuels and selling parts for the internal combustion engine are paying off our politicians to prevent any chance of innovation.

The only thing we seem to have in common with the sixties at this point is the escalation of an unwinnable and unsustainable war in some shithole part of the world.

And, to top it all off, Tom Watson went and blew it (though finishing second at the British Open is no shame for anybody – at any age).

It all sucks. Oh, well, not really. I guess that’s just Monday talking.

On Press the Meat today, Gilligan Gregory has Mitch “the groper” McConnell on to talk trash about Obama, health care reform, and Sonia Sotomayor (if you watch, see if Mitch keeps his hands above the table), and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Then it’s a political roundtable with WSJ hack Paul Gigot (who is nothing without Mark Shields), CNBC’s John Harwood, NPR’s Michele Norris, and frequent Olbermann guest, Richard Wolffe.

At CBS’s Faze the Nation, you’d think Bob Schieffer would be doing a Walter Cronkite retrospective, but, instead, he’ll have the creepy Senator Orrin Hatch from the “Big Love” state, the always entertaining (if slightly less than ethical) Charlie Rangel, and token RNC Chairman (and African-American answer to Bozo the Clown), Michael “gangsta” Steele.

On Fux News Sunday, shameful spawn of the new CBS News legend at the top of the death watch list, Weaselface Wallace, has Peter Orszag, Director, White House Office of Management and Budget, and Sen. Judd Gregg, the Rankest Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee. Plus, what with the 40th anniversary of the moon landing approaching, Wallace will chat with Buzz Aldrin. I hope Wallace tells him the landing was a hoax, and Buzz punches his lights out. They’ll also rerun an old segment with Pete Souza, Chief White House Photographer, and the usual Fuxheads will be on hand to spread around copious amounts of their typical manure.

No “This Weak” this week, as ABC will be providing coverage of the final round of the British Open from 8 AM (EDT) ’til about 1:30 PM. Fifty-nine year old Tom Watson (he’ll turn 60 on September 4th) heads in to the round with a one-shot lead, and is scheduled to tee off at 9:20 AM (EDT). If you’re up early, you can start to catch the action on TNT at 6. Good luck, Tom! I only wish my dad was around to watch it with me.

At CNN, Rwandan President Paul Kagame sits down with Fareed Zakaria to discuss his nation’s 15 year journey from genocide to economic growth and autocratic, but stable governance. Plus, what with this being the deadliest month ever for NATO forces in Afghanistan, should we really have so many troops there, and does our military presence help or hurt our interests in Pakistan? Both sides of the issue will be debated with former Patreus lackey and State Department counterinsurgency and counterterrorism “expert” (as well as advisor to the UK, Australia, and NATO), David Kilcullen, and author and professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, Andrew Bacevich.

Later, in place of 60 Minutes, CBS will air “And That’s The Way It Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite” at 7PM EDT.

Have a good Sunday.

One more night alone, and then da wife will be back tomorrow. That should make the cats happy, since they aren’t used to nobody giving a shit whether they eat or not. Not that I’m starving them, of course; their dry food bowl is always full, and I give them some canned food if they’ve eaten the last bit I gave them (and they schmooze me sufficiently). But if they don’t think that’s good enough, well, that’s OK by me, too. And, funny, they eventually eat what I give them (the real trick is to not give them too much at once). I run a tight ship here.

The dogs’ beds are on my side, and one nice thing about having our bed to myself is that I can slip out the other side without having my toes licked and my egress blocked. It doesn’t mean I can go to the bathroom without an entourage, of course, but I get a bit of a head start. It’s nice to be able to get to the toilet w/o having to step over a dog, though Fritz is short enough to come up behind me and stick his snout between my legs. Sometimes, when I’m still sleepy and my vision’s a bit foggy, I look down and think, “Holy Shit! what the hell happened with that last night?” It can also be difficult not to piss on his head, necessitating a last second change in trajectory. Not that he’d really care, I guess.

Some good news on the single payer healthcare front, as the House Education and Labor Committee approved – by a vote of 27-19, including 13 Republicans voting yes – an amendment introduced by Dennis Kucinich. Does it mean we get single payer? Well, no. The amendment mandates that a single payer state will receive the right to waive the application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which has in the past been used to nullify efforts to expand state or local government health care (John Nichols has more, over at The Nation). Bernie Sanders is introducing a similar bill in the Senate. So, if both Houses pass a healthcare reform bill with these amendments intact and if they make it through the conference committee and if the President signs it, and if your state enacts single payer, then you get it.

Easy enough. Other than the coalition of Senate DINOs who are trying to put the brakes on things while they figure out how they’re gonna make money off all this, and the Republicans who think killing reform will sink the Obama presidency.

So, while the Federal HC (sorry, tired of typing healthcare, and not certain if it ought to be healthcare, health care, or health-care, and don’t even get me started on singlepayer/single-payer/single payer) reform will most likely suck, this amendment breathes a little hope into the SP hopes of the ten states with active single payer efforts in their legislatures: California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

I’m never overly optimistic about our state legislature, of course, but if they’re smart (for once) they’ll do it. It would be a real advantage for us to have over the Southern “fuck labor, fuck schools, fuck the environment, fuck the poor people – we don’t want no stinking taxes” states in attracting employers to the area, since it would save the huge cost of providing and administering health insurance for employees.

I wonder if Walter Cronkite’s family will be renting out Madison Square Garden to hold a memorial service, and holding a ticket lottery for admission? Well, of course not. That would be a circus, and I doubt Walter would be down for that. No golden, pharaoh-like casket, no performance by Dan Rather doing the JFK assassination report wearing one white glove, no trotting out the grandkids for a tearful soundbite, no paternity tests, no wondering who’s going to take care of the pet giraffe.

No doubt, Walter will be memorialized and eulogized, but I reckon it will be a dignified and somber celebration of possibly the last man people of my generation ever trusted (perhaps in large part because he looked a bit like a cross between Walt Disney and Captain Kangaroo). Somebody ought to hold a much-bleated memorial for the death of Journalism – at least as it applies to the “traditional” media in general, and network teevee in particular.

We haven’t really seen ya in a while, Uncle Walter, but we’ll miss ya.

Break Room Live and Walter Cronkite both dead within 48 hours of each other? My heart can’t take much more of this.

Our streets are filled with classic cars, custom trucks, and hot rods, which can only mean that it’s Syracuse Nationals weekend. Last year they had Shirley Feeney and the Fonz, but this year the mayor of Quahog himself, Adam West, and the original catwoman, Julie Newmar, will be on hand to meet and greet. Appropriately, one of the vehicles in town is the batmobile from the 60’s TV show. Well, I guess it isn’t the original (which is in a museum someplace), but it looks cool anyway. I wonder if either one of these folks ever thought, “some day, I hope my career takes me to a car show in Syracuse to sign autographs”?

Sticking with the car theme for a moment, the Chief of a local volunteer fire department slammed into another car, sending its two occupants to the hospital (the driver of the other car – a teenage girl – had to be airlifted with “critical head injuries”). Police determined the the fire chief dude didn’t notice that the other car had slowed down to turn into a driveway. I mention this only because no tickets were issued, with the police explanation being “…failure to pay attention is not a violation of vehicle and traffic law.” Really?

Somehow, I think if it was the teenage girl who’d slammed into the Fire Chief, they’d have come up with a couple of tickets.

Personally, I think “paying attention” ought to be at the top of the list (and that includes while you’re in motion as well as when you’re sitting at the goddamn red light in front of me – especially that very short left turn arrow on the way to the grocery store; WTF!).

Driving a motor vehicle is not the time to pick your nose, brush your hair, adjust your underwear, futz with your makeup, paw through the glove box, find the “perfect” radio station, read the newspaper, catch up on your goddamn e-mail, or chat on the friggin’ phone. Driving is not “wasted” time when you need to multitask to be more productive. Pay attention, or take the freakin’ bus.

And for chrissakes, if you’re gonna pop it into neutral ‘cuz it’s too much trouble to keep your foot on the clutch, be prepared to put it back into gear in less than five minutes, OK? First gear is in the same place it’s always been; you shouldn’t need to look to find it. Practice blindfolded in your driveway, if necessary.

The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, was in our neck of the woods yesterday, visiting the troops of the 10th Mountain Division (those who aren’t currently deployed, anyway) up at Fort Drum in Watertown. He had cheerful news: he may send more troops to Afghanistan this year than he expected. The 10th Mountain has had more troops killed in the past month in Obama’s war in Afghanistan than they did in their previous Bush-era deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

“The Express” has taken the ESPY for best sports movie, beating out “The Wrestler” and “Sugar.” You haven’t seen it yet? Shame on you. Sadly, the 6 OT SU-UCONN basketball game lost out to some football game between Pittsburgh and Arizona. In other ESPY news, Michael Phelps won out over Tiger Woods as best male athlete. I think the voters might have been stoned.

In addition to the Breaking News of Michael Jackson’s hair getting set on fire 25 years ago, the Today Show is touting a story about a dachshund named Smoky who was impaled (through the head) with a barbecue fork. I don’t know what the “official” story is on this, but here’s some free advice: when dad’s grilling out in the back yard with a fork in one hand and a cold frosty in the other, keep the frickin’ hotdog and/or sausage-shaped critters locked in the house.

Speaking of the Today Show, Erin Burnett is on again with Matt Lauer, filling in for Meredith Viera, who is “on assignment.” Watch out, Meredith. Erin is young and shiny and new (and looks pretty good in HD), while you’re, well, not. And we all know what happened to Sue Ellicott when she went on to do “field reports” for Morning Sedition (and now she doesn’t even seem to be on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me anymore; no doubt she’ll be signing autographs in Syracuse soon).

Heh, that could became a new euphemism, like “hiking the Appalachian Trail.”

His career was going along great until he got caught on video screaming out the ‘N’ word. Now he’s “signing autographs in Syracuse,” if you know what I mean.

Well, time to get ready for work. Have a good (and fast) Friday.

We really need to stop meeting like this.

I guess one thing the new suits over at AAR learned from the old suits was to rip the band-aid off quickly when killing a show. No long goodbyes or opportunities for ineffective petitions from feckless frothing fans this time around. Too bad, though I never really detected any sort of a business plan for the show. Never understood how they were going to pay for it (coffee sponsorship aside) in the long run. They never asked me to pay (I would have, too; God knows I pay for less). Hell, I’d have paid just to get access to the post-show, even though I think I only saw it live once or twice. I don’t know how many other people would have paid. Maybe not enough to make the show financially viable, but it would have been worth a shot.

It seems nobody over there understands that it takes quite a bit of time – and a frickin’ plan – to build an audience and become profitable. Especially when you’re trying to do something innovative, like an Internet-only video show. And if you’re able to use something like BRL as a gateway to exposing new people to your “traditional” content in order to build a new audience (and surely AAR must be in need of a new audience, having all but held a gun to the heads of those of who were so enthusiastic about the prospect of “progressive” radio, way back in 2004), making a “profit” isn’t as important. But, whatever. I never really thought of BRL as part of AAR, and I couldn’t even tell you what else they have on the air these days.

It was nice to be able to stay in touch with Marc on a daily basis again. Kind of like reuniting with an old friend who’d moved away for a while (twice), but was back again. Granted, it was a one-way friendship (which is good, I guess, since he’d no doubt find me disgusting and lacking self-respect), but it was nice. Now he’s moved away again (or, rather, been taken away again), and who knows when we’ll see him next (unless you’re planning on seeing on of his nine “Scorching the Earth” shows in Montreal between July 16th and the 25th).

In other news, I read through the live-blogging of the Sotomayor confirmation hearing that Andrew Pincus is doing at TPM. I can’t watch live, and, frankly, I find people like Graham, Sessions, etc. so repugnant that I can’t really take listening to them for long. Pincus is an appellate litigator in DC whose argued 19 cases in front of SCOTUS, so he’s able to supply some context for we non-lawyers. From Pincus’ account (unlike anything you’ll hear from the traditional media, which just reports that Republicans “got tough” and dutifully regurgitate the GOP spin), it seems pretty clear to me that Sonia is one sharp cookie. Or maybe “enlightened enchilada.” Today is witness day, with witnesses for and against her. Such a waste of time, since these hearings are all just a dog and pony show that won’t influence anybody’s vote (unless she comes out and says something like “usted bastardos blancos viejos me hacen quiero vomitar”).

Some good news, as we’re on Forbes list of “Best Cheap Cities,” coming in at #21 (second only to Albany in NY State). Even better, we’re not only cheap, we’re easy, too.

My stepdaughter flew into town yesterday. Haven’t seen her in something like 5 years. I didn’t see her for long, though, as she and her mother left for Lily Dale this morning at about six o’clock, and the dogs and I will be bach’ing it until Sunday.

Guess I’d better get a move-on and start my day (a day with no BRL podcast to look forward to).

I was really surprised to learn that the All-Star game was last night (not that I really pay much attention to baseball; for some reason, it never really piqued my interest). Then I looked at the date, and it seems we’re already halfway through July. Too bad; I hate the thought of the nights getting longer again, though autumn is my favorite season, what with the leaves changing, cool, crisp nights, and football. Speaking of cool nights, I hope the rest of the summer stays as cool as this one has been so far (apologies to those of you in those good God-fearing Kristian parts of the country where it’s been really hot; I guess that’s the good lord’s way of giving you a little hell on earth so you’ll know what those of us in the godless northeast have in store for us come judgment day). Anyhow, unlike yesterday, there seems to be lots going on in the world today. First, the good news.

Back in January, a boxer named Flower wandered out of her back yard in El Paso, TX. Well, Flower turned up 1,800 miles away, in Ohio. Continental Airlines is flying the pooch to Albuquerque to be reunited with her mommy. Too bad she isn’t flying Southwest; she could stick her head out the roof.

More good news (I think) in that our beloved NY State Senate gets back to work today, now that prodigal son Pedro Espada has returned to the Democratic side of the aisle, having bravely forced “reform” on the esteemed (and well-respected) legislative body. Hopefully Pedro is up for a little personal reform courtesy of the NYS penal system, after he goes to prison for his campaign contribution shenanigans. But I don’t really reckon that’ll ever happen. He’ll probably wind up as Governor.

Less than good news may be in store for New Zealand, unfortunately. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake has triggered a Tsunami alert for the island from the USGS. Hopefully nothing major will come of it, but they may want to ask Gandalf if he can do a protection spell or something. Hopefully Bret, Jemaine, and Murray are all on high ground.

A major plane crash in Iran this morning, with all 168 aboard believed to be dead. Even given that way more people die in car accidents in the US alone, I still have no desire to fly anywhere. It’s not just the potential for death or the roof ripping off, but the whole goddamn hassle factor, and getting to the airport early to ensure you have a long wait. Plus they always seem to search all my shit.

Another day of listening to a bunch of old white men tell her that “you people” are a bunch of racists (unlike us good Christian white guys) is in store for Sonia today. I really shouldn’t be amazed at the extent of their hypocrisy, but, by golly, I’m in awe of the depths to which they dive. I hope the job is worth all the bullshit.

The CBO says they House version of health care reform will cost a trillion dollars and insure 97% of Americans. Half the uninsured will be “unauthorized immigrants” (who will also be legally proscribed from getting sick, I guess), with the other half either being too rich to be bothered with such nonsense, or too poor or “out of the loop” (like, living in a refrigerator box) to sign up for the program. This is apparently the best we can do, though Rep. Anthony Weiner of NY is supposedly going to introduce a Single-Payer amendment in the House, and Bernie Sanders a similar amendment in the Senate. If you’re so inclined, you can go here to urge your congress critter to vote for the amendment, and/or here to contact your US Senator.

Well, time to make the donuts (or, in my case, the turkey burgers).

Maybe I’m just not paying attention, but there doesn’t seem to be much going on out there today (even the Two for Tuesday Woot sucks). Nothing to provide me with the morning dose of righteous indignation I require to get me up and motivated for another day at the salt mines, anyway. Glenn Beck is an idiot, but that’s nothing new. Kim Jong is ill (and misunderstood, no doubt). But that seems to be about it (other than next time I fly, I’m gonna request a plane w/o a sunroof). I guess I need to head over to Brilliant at Breakfast. Jill always seems to be able to work up some morning anger.

The whole John Ensign thing is pretty darn funny, if you ask me. All I know is, if I’d asked my mom to pay off the family of the woman I was schtupping, she’d have told me, “you’re on your own, buster.” Of course, we weren’t sanctimonious, wealthy Republicans. We were union, blue-collar Democrats, so we didn’t know any better.

Locally, after four days of the police insisting that reports of somebody falling into our inner harbor (yes, smack-dab in the middle of NYS, yet we still have an inner harbor; pretty sure we don’t have an outer harbor, though) and drowning was a bunch of hooey, a body was found floating in the water, and the Common Council has approved holding a weekly drinking party on the roof of a parking garage (doesn’t really seem like a good idea to me, but what do I know).

Back in May, over a quarter million dollars “fell out the back” of an armored car. Most of the money way recovered, but one guy apparently picked up about ten grand, and he’s been charged with grand larceny for not returning it. Really? You find a bag of money in the street, and you’re legally required to turn it in? That doesn’t seem right.

This screws up my whole retirement plan.

Big day here today, as our very first-ever hate crime trial begins. Dwight DeLee is accused of murdering LaTeisha Green (nee Moses Green) back in November. It’s apparently the first murder trial for a hate crime involving a transgender person in New York state and, if found guilty, DeLee would be just the second person in the US convicted of a hate crime in the murder of a transgender person. LaTeisha would have celebrated her 23rd birthday last Saturday.

Speaking of hate, all those grumpy old Republican white men in the US Senate can start taking their official cracks at Sonia Sotomayor beginning today. Her confirmation is pretty much a done deal, but they have to show their “base” how tough they are first (and hopefully show the rest of us just how racist they are in the process).

The town water department has been going around painting all the fire hydrants, changing them from yellow to red. I don’t know if they just had some extra red paint lying around, or if some town genius had an epiphany. Back in the olden days, the firetrucks were red, but then some study cam out saying that yellow was more visible than red, so they changed ’em to yellow. But later on, they found that, while yellow might technically be more visible, the color red draws people’s attention much more quickly. So, back to red they went. As for fire hydrants, I dunno; maybe they just didn’t want them blending in with all that yellow snow.

Been feeling the urge to build a new computer lately – especially since my aging 2.4 Ghz P4 desktop with a mere gig of RAM (which was pretty hot back in October of 2003, when I put it together) is having a tough time transcoding video while running my media server). Plus, it can’t put out 1920 x 1080, so I can’t quite take advantage of my monitor. But, since I tend to use my aging laptop more than I use my aging desktop anyway, I decided I’d try and squeeze a little more life out of the old one. So I’m bumping up the processor to a 3 gig one (my mobo doesn’t support a dual core one, sadly), adding a couple more gigs of RAM, and a getting a new video card (not exactly a screamer, but it ought to do a bit better than what’s in there now). Hopefully that’ll help.

Oh well, running late for my appointment with destiny.

Last week, we had Wimbledon. Not so lucky this week, so we’ll have Press the Meat back instead. Today it’s a pair of Senators: Chuck Schumer and Grampa McCain (on to tell us how proud he remains of his choice of a running mate in the 2008 election). Then there’s a roundtable with transvestite Karen Hughes, Andrea Mitchell, Bob Shrum, and Roger Simon of Politico.

More Senators on Faze the Nation as Pat Leahy and Jefferson Davis Session III of the Senate Judiciary Committee talk about the upcoming Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

It’s more Sotomayor (and Senators) on Fux News Sunday, as Weaselface Wallace hosts Republican John Cornyn and Republican-lite Dianne Feinstein. Also up, crazy ass wingnut Eric Cantor. And a bunch of fuxheads, of course.

At the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus rounds out Senator Day with Krazy Jon Kyl of Arizona and Dick Durbin of Illinois. Then the axis of drivel is reunited around the roundtable as George :jerk: Will, Cokie “the hag” Roberts, and Sam :omg: Donaldson are joined by Donna Brazile Bob Woodward.

Over at CNN, Fareed Zakaria has Timothy Geitner, and the biggest pain in Vladamir Putin’s ass, Boris Nemtsov.

Have a good Sunday.