I didn’t watch Obama’s speech last night, but by all accounts it was a really good speech, which is great as far as it goes, but speechifying doesn’t go far enough. Obama needs to be able to twist arms in Congress, and I don’t think he’s got it in him to actually put up a fight. Could be I’m wrong. I hope so. One thing that ought to motivate him to fight is the behavior of the Republicans – especially that consummate asshole Joe (not the good one) Wilson. These creatures have no shame, but I reckon their antics play well with the mouth breathers they represent. Can you imagine what Fux and the other traditional media sources would have done with the story of a Democrat yelling out “YOU LIE!” when Bush spoke about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Or if they’d held up insulting or inflammatory signs? Christ, you’d been hearing about this 24/7 until the 2012 election. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly would be whipping up murderous outrage from their mindless followers, and Karl Rove would be outing Wilson’s wife as a CIA agent or something.

So, you’d think it would be pretty clear to Obama and the non-DINO Democrats that Republicans have no place at the table for health care reform. They can sit at the kids’ table in the other room and have a food fight or something, but the grownups will have to do the big work by themselves. And it would be nice if Obama could do more than give a good speech. I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I feel compelled to repeat that the friggin’ Democrats have the House, the Senate, the Presidency, and Public Opinion on their side. I mean, as Maron might say, WTF! If they can’t get it done with all of that, how can they ever get anything done. Screw the speeches, I want action.

I have to laugh, reading some of the commentary of the speech, lauding Obama’s “comeback,” and his playing “rope a dope.” Yeah, whatever. How many of the minority of people who think there’s gonna be death panels actually watched the speech (never mind were moved enough by it to see the error of their ways)? The only thing that’d change their minds would be if Obama woke up white this morning (but he’d still be married to one of “them,” so I guess the whole damn family needs a Michael Jackson bleach job – especially that voodoo-practicing grandmother). And since when do politicians give a flyin’ frack about “public” opinion anyway? If they did, reform would have been done already (and we’d be out of both Iraq and Afghanistan).

This speech will be forgotten by the end of the week (except how brave Joe Wilson gave that colored fella hell). If Obama really wants reform, he’s gonna have to go kick some ass in Congress. How? I dunno. Maybe threaten to take Max Baucus’ daughter out on a date or something.

Granted, Republicans and DINOs have money and the traditional media on their side (or, rather, the corporate interests that control the media and have all the money have Republicans in their pocket), but, hey, nobody said it was gonna be easy.

What they really need is a big bag of weed.

A big day today, I guess, for Beatles fans, as “The Beatles Rock Band” will be officially released. I’ve never played any of those “Rock Band” type games, mostly because I only like a couple of the songs that I’ve seen on them, and I always thought maybe it would be better to put all that time and energy into actually learning to play a real instrument. This one, though, has me tempted, not just because I grew up with the Beatles and their music, but also because it would be fun to pretend to be able to play a replica of John’s Rickenbaccker 325, or to pluck out the bass line in “Rain” on Paul’s Höfner (I used to turn the treble all the way down and the bass way up and crank that song). Sadly, Rain is not in the forecast for the game. I guess I’d have to settle for playing Eric Clapton’s part in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

In more Beatles news, the entire Beatles catalog – freshly remastered – is being re-released today, including a 14 album (though not LP, sadly) stereo box set, a mono box set and individual CDs painstakingly digitally remastered and repackaged with lots of photos, extensive CD booklets, and new liner notes.

Speaking of the Beatles, today is the late Billy Preston’s birthday. 9/9 is also Roger Water’s birthday (he turns 66, which is 99 upside down), and Otis Redding’s as well. It’s also the anniversary of the 1971 release of John Lennon’s “Imagine” album (which coincided with his and Yoko’s appearance on the Dick Cavett Show). On that same day, the inmates took over Attica prison. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung croaked on this date back in 1976, and a fella by the name of Elive Presley made his national teevee debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.

Of course, it’s also a big day today because President Obama, fresh off of indoctrinating the youth of America with socialist dogma like “listen to your parents,” “do your homework,” “work hard and go to college,” and “watch what you write on your Facebook page,” will attempt to work his voodoo on Congress. I’d really like him to say something to the Republicans, like

And to my “friends” on the other side of the aisle. You know there are no death panels under consideration, and you should all be ashamed of yourselves for the fear and hatred you’ve been fomenting. Shame on all of you. You had your chance to be a part of much-needed health care reform, and you’ve squandered it playing the politics of fear and division at a time when this country desperately needs the courage to come together as one.”

I’d like to hear him send a message to the Blue Dog Democrats, too. But it’s only a two-word message, and probably not appropriate for TV.

Of course, September 9th only means one thing to me. It was 15 years ago today that the phone rang in the middle of the night, and my mom told me that my dad had died. To this day, the sound of a telephone ringing puts me on the verge of a panic attack (fortunately, phone don’t really ring anymore – they kind of chirp or play songs; mine is permanently on vibrate). Fifteen years. Hard to believe. In some ways, it seems like yesterday, and in others, a lifetime ago.

Oh well, back to work again after four days off. This will no doubt be a long one. All I can say is:

Firetruck!

So, tell me again, why is it controversial for the President of the United States to give a back to school pep talk to the nation’s kids? Oh, that’s right. To paraphrase Gabby Johnson from Blazing Saddles, “the President’s a nig….”
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Other than having a day off today, there isn’t much reason for “labor” to celebrate. Unemployment is close to 10% (I’ve seem estimates that the “real” unemployment rate is more like 17%), there appears to be little chance of getting meaningful health care reform, money-changing middlemen who add no value get billions in taxpayer dollars to keep doing what they’ve been doing, and “labor” is forced to eat shit, just to keep their jobs.

A case in point where I live is a company called Crucible Steel. The Sanderson brothers came over from Sheffield, England in 1876, and opened up a steel plant here. It was the beginning of what would become a 13 plant corporation. As is the American way, buyouts and mismanagement ensued, to the point where the company – with three plants left – is on the verge of bankruptcy.

A potential buyer – BlackEagle Partners – demanded the Steelworkers local accept a new contract, including major wage cuts, increases in health insurance premiums, the elimination of retiree health insurance, and the switch from a guaranteed pension plan to a 401(k). Workers had little choice, and accepted the new contract by a 4 – 1 vote. BlackEagle hasn’t actually secured the financing at this point, so the deal could still fall through, leaving some 700 families without health insurance or a primary wage earner.

Of course, this isn’t unique in a current economy that’s lost a net 7 million jobs in the past two years. It certainly isn’t unique here, where companies founded locally have been bought out by corporate vultures, only to be run into the ground and moved to the third world (or Mississippi), where they can pay slave wages and don’t have to worry about poisoning the environment.

Carrier, Syracuse China, Syroco, GE, New Process Gear, Pass & Seymour…. Too many to list, either completely gone, or mere shells of their former selves. Now, the largest employers in the areas are the SUNY hospital and Syracuse University – and even they’re seeing hard times (especially with Governor Blinky holding Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements hostage and demanding pay cuts or layoffs).

So, for those of us lucky enough to have jobs with health insurance and who are getting today off with pay, have a good holiday. And try not to worry about whether it’ll all be gone tomorrow.

I’m just gonna cheat, and mostly copy and paste this week, so…

Press the Meat, with Gilligan Gregory: White House senior advisor David “Ollie” Axelrod, 9/11 hero (and genius inventor of the above ground emergency command bunker, not to mention no-bid emergency radio contract evangelist) Guidi Ruliani, former Rep. Harold “Where’re the White Women” Ford, Jr. (D-TN), NBC’s Tom Brokaw and NYT’s Tom “My Head is Flat” Friedman

Faze the Nation: Education Secretary Arne Duncan

This Weak with George Snufalufagus: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and a roundtable with former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd, The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel, NYT’s David Sanger and ABC News’ and columnist George :jerk: Will

Fux News Sunday, with Weaselface Wallace: Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), former Democratic National Committee Chairman Gov. Howard Dean, Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta, disgraced former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and this week’s fuxheads, Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, NPR’s Mara Liasson, Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes and NPR’s Juan Williams

CNN’s State of the Union: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, Gov. Tim “That Bridge Looks Fine to Me” Pawlenty (R-MN), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Republican strategist and CNN political contributor Ed Rollins and Democratic strategist Joe “Hippy Dippy” Trippi

CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howie Kurtz: The Baltimore Sun’s TV critic David Zurawik, BBC’s Rome Hartman, The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown and CBS’ chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara :hubba: Logan

CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and the Dalai Lama

The Chris Matthews Show: Time’s Michael Duffy, BBC’s Chatty Katty Kay, WaPo’s Eugene Robinson and CNN’s Gloria Borger

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: WaPo’s Dan Balz, Slate and CBS News’ John Dickerson, ABC’s Martha Raddatz and NYT’s Jackie Calmes

Notice any talk of Labor Day? Or how organized labor paved the way to create a prosperous middle class in this country? Or, speaking of health care, how the only reason those who have insurance in this country (whether represented by a union or not), have it because unions paved the way for decent pay, safe working conditions, and health insurance for workers and their families?

No, didn’t think so. The corporatists that run this country and the traditional media hate unions because they hate the middle class. Sadly, they’ve also managed to turn much of the middle class against unions and their own self interests.

Health care isn’t the only way Europeans have it all over us, either. We’re the only advanced country that’s a “no vacation nation,” meaning that we are not leagally guaranteed paid vacation or holidays. Twenty-five percent of U.S. workers receive NO paid vacation or paid holidays, and it’s the worst for (surprise, surprise) low-wage and part-time workers, as well as for employees of small businesses (which Republicans pretend to revere, even as they cede power to the mega international corporations undermining those small businesses).

And these idiot tea baggers, birthers, racists, and death panel evangelists are happy to goose step along, demanding that the government screw them, ‘cuz they hate those damn dirty anti-capitalist unions, and you’re goddamn right health insurance ought be for profit, and those CEOs deserve hundreds of millions of dollars more in a year than most of us will make in a lifetime.

You know, they say you get the government you deserve, and for these folks, that’s true. But, damn, how come I have to get stuck with the government they ?

But, hey, at least we’re not Socialists, right?

Sorry, but I’ll be indulging in sports – specifically SU – talk this morning, because today the Syracuse football team will try to do something they haven’t done since 2003: win their season opener. It’s been an ungodly horrible four seasons here in the ‘cuse – the worst stretch in our history, which, for football, dates back to 1889. That’s, what, 120 years or something. But, having disposed of the previous coach (and I use the term “coach” loosely), and hiring an SU alum who feels our pain (and shame), we’re hopeful that things are back on the right track (though we’re painfully aware of how bad things have gotten, and we know it’ll take some time to turn things around).

For one thing, 19 scholarship players have quit the team since the new coach took over. I think a lot of them were in shock over the change. Our new coaching staff apparently forces them to bust their asses every day, and some of these kids just weren’t up for it. Of course, since they pretty much sucked, it’s hard to call it a “loss.” Still, we’re very thin in a lot of areas (most notably linebacker), and our offensive line has nearly gotten our parade of quarterbacks killed. This season, a local kid who played basketball for Duke for four years decided to go to grad school here and got a waiver to play one year of football. He subsequently won the starting job after one week of practice, which perhaps tells you about our QB situation (though, to be fair, as a senior in high school, he was a football Parade All-American, and he won the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Award). So, we’ll see.

There’s been a big push to fill up the stadium with Orange-clad fans, and I shall be doing my part by taking my stepson to the game (me in my #44 Ernie Davis replica jersey- by the way, if you haven’t seen “The Express,” they’ve been playing the hell out of it on HBO this month, and even my wife, who would rather have teeth pulled than watch sports, thinks it’s a great movie – which I purchased for myself as a gift for my 44th birthday, and the kid – who aint really a kid anymore – wearing his other birthday present – a newly purchased orange polo shirt). Last I looked, there were only about 3,600 tickets left despite the holiday weekend, gorgeous weather, competition from the NY State Fair and the fact that the game is on national TV (noon Eastern; on ESPN2 in HD if you got it). With a decent walk-up crowd, it may even sell out, which hasn’t happened in a looooong time. Seems we’ve all drunk the Kool-Aid here (or at least the Orange Juice).

It’s also the 50th anniversary of our only football National Championship (did I mention “The Express”), which I missed by being born 11 months too late. Still, as a kid, we had teams with people like Floyd Little, Larry Csonka, Jim Nance, and John Mackey. Sadly, as time went on, college football changed, and our “three yards and a cloud of dust” coach didn’t. The cheapskate Chancellor didn’t put enough money into our facilities, our stadium, which was state of the art when it opened in 1907 was small and crumbling. Recruiting suffered (with a few exceptions, like Art Monk), a new coach had little success (though compared to what we just went through, he was a savior), but he was successful in getting the university to build a new stadium – the Carrier Dome (which is also getting a little long in the tooth as it opens for its 30th season) before being shown the door.

With a new coach came the renaissance of SU football, with players like Joe Morris, Marvin Graves, Don McPherson, and, of course, Donovan McNabb. I never thought they’d let the team get so shitty again, but, as with so many things in my life, boy was I wrong.

Last season, we won 3 games, and, out of 119 teams in whatever it is they call Division I football these days, we ranked 114th in total offense, and 101st in total defense.

For those of you non-sports fans, let me explain: no offense + no defense = 1 big steaming pile of shit.

So, while we have high hopes as the season begins today against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-6 last year – they started out 7-1 and lost five straight, but they still went to a bowl game), we’re trying to temper our expectations. Mostly, we just hope to see something that resembles a football team out on the field. If they don’t really, really suck, it’ll be an improvement.

Anyhow, if you tune in to the game today, look for me. I’ll be the guy wearing orange.

Time to kill some gophers.

I’ll try and keep it mellow and non-controversial this morning. For starters, today is my stepson’s birthday. Happy b’day, Reub. He’s, um…let me do the math here…. Holy shit! He’s 26 already. How did that happen (even worse, one of his sisters hits the big 3-0 this year)? :omg: Seems like it was just yesterday when he was hiding from me in the basement, too shy to come up and say hello, and now he’s all grown up and out on his own. Must mean I’m gettin’ old. Fortunately, if this study from Denmark can be believed, it appears that I’ll live longer, thanks to my beefy thighs. That’s right, you skinny-thighed people have “a two-fold greater risk of heart disease and death, and the risk [rises] as [your] thigh size decline[s]. ” Ha! Take that, ya chicken-legged bastids (yes, I’m looking at you, Maron)!

The NFL preseason is pretty much over; just three more games to get through tonight, and then we can eagerly await the start of the real season next Thursday. They expect to have a lot more TV blackouts this year (if a game isn’t sold out 72 hours before kickoff, it’s blacked out in the local market), which they’re blaming on the economy, and there’s a certain amount of pressure on the NFL to change the rules. Personally, I think that’s a bit of a load of crap. Some teams (Jacksonville comes to mind; how the hell did J’ville get an NFL team anyway? It’s kind of the taint of the South – ‘taint Florida, ‘taint Georgia) have trouble filling the stadium no matter what the economic climate, while a place like Buffalo sells out every game, every year, no matter how crappy the team, the economy, or the weather. And, population-wise, Buffalo aint exactly New York or LA. Speaking of LA, do you people even have a team these days? I haven’t been keeping track of where fellow SU alum (and renowned scumbag) Al Davis has the Raiders, but now that I look, it appears they’re calling themselves “Oakland” again (or still). Shameful. Can’t spell lame without LA, I guess.

Apparently Charlie Gibson is “livid” over the choice of Diane Sawyer to replace him, to which I ask: “in what sense, Charlie?” What is he, the epitome of the ultimate “news man,” such that Diane can’t live up to his lofty standards? Puhleeze. Walter Cronkite you aint, Charlie. Besides, when’s the last time anybody really gave a shit about who replaced you when you quit your job (I mean, unless you’re a coach or President or own a lot of stock or something)?

I got an e-mail from somebody the other day, telling me that I was incorrect in asserting that Norman, OK was named after Norman Bates. However, I stand behind my statement. It’s a little known fact that, until 1961, Norman was named Morman, OK. It was named that because Jesus had a house there when he came to North America to bury fake dinosaur bones in order to test our faith (though he spent the majority of his time at a home he shared with Mary Magdalene – plus Barb, Nicki, and Margene – in what would become Indiana. This is also how French Lick got its name, but I digress).

Anyhow, after the 1960 release of the movie Psycho, people realized that the residents of Morman had more in common with Norman Bates than Jesus, and so they changed the ‘M’ to an ‘N’. A rather elaborate alteration of maps and history books ensued, and, in an astonishingly brief period of time, people forgot all about Morman (this was primarily due to the combination of Oklahoma residents tending to have a rather short attention span – which is how the descendants of Tom Joad came to be Republicans – and non-Okies not really giving a shit).

Oh well, time to toddle along to put this week to bed, and I believe I managed to avoid talking about anything too controversial – with the possible exception of the Oklahoma stuff – this morning (I hope thin thighs and the lack of an NFL team in LA hasn’t ruffled any feathers). Have a good day: long weekend to look forward to (for me, anyway).

Keep it mellow.

Yesterday morning at work, it felt like Tuesday for some reason. Every time I realized it was actually Wednesday, I thought, “cool, Friday will come a day early this week.” Unfortunately, after several hours of that kind of thinking, it started to feel like Thursday. Now the damn weekend will come a day late. Just can’t win.

Speaking of not winning, after all but saying the “public option” was dead, David Axelrod (who looks a lot like Oliver Hardy when he doesn’t have his glasses on; he should be required to wear a bowler hat) now says the President “embraced” it (translation: is still willing to throw us under the bus, but feels a need to assuage – slightly – the “liberal” base), because it will be a “boon to consumers.”

And that, folks, is exactly what the problem is. We aren’t patients, or humans – or even Americans. We’re consumers, and our only value in a Capitalist/Corporatist State is measured by the extent to which we consume. Nothing is exempt. This isn’t France or Canada or Great Britain (or Cuba); this is America, goddamnit! Consume, or be consumed.

Lost your job? You no longer have the means to consume, therefore there’s no reason to keep you alive. The real “death panels” are run by the boards of directors at AIG, Exxon, Wal-Mart, and Blue Cross. You won’t read that in your copy of the “USS Constitution,” but that’s how it is.

Oh, I know, there are those that think Obama is the “Great White Hope” (by that, of course, I mean a “bright, shining light”) and this is all part of his stealth plan to slip socialized medicine in through the back door while nobody’s looking. While the members of his administration appear to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, delivering conflicting messages and looking more like Mayberry than Chicago, what they’re really doing is playing “rope a dope,” and whomping up a huge audience for Obama’s big speech next week, at which point he’ll be so eloquent and so clear in his message that the Blue Dogs will have to fight off the Republicans for the right to crawl under the podium and service him first, while insurance industry executives will resign or commit suicide after after being forced to see the error of their ways.

Well, I hope so. Maybe he’s finally realized that the Republicans are obstructionist scum who only want to stand in the way of reform. Maybe he’ll get in front of that joint session of Congress, ignore Republicans, and tell the f*cking Democrats to get with the plan. Maybe. It’s kinda like believing in God: I see no evidence for it, but anything’s possible

Personally, I think this stopped being about health care reform a long time ago. Maybe Obama really did want every American consumer to have access to health care at one point, but his administration – in astounding Clintonian fashion – triangulated, gave away the store in exchange for nothing, and lost the war before the battle had even begun. Now, it’s all about passing “something,” just so Obama can save face, and maybe show how tough he is.

Unfortunately, he only seems to be tough when it comes to screwing “liberals,” and the only fighting he seems to do is against a progressive agenda. Of course, he doesn’t even appear to have the guts to do that all the way – sending his flacks out to twist and spin until nobody really knows where he stands on anything (his poll numbers sagging with each twist and turn). Not that that surprises me. We saw it with the Scalito confirmation vote, when, after getting pressure from liberals, he rather angrily (and somewhat petulantly) stated that he’d vote against cloture the first time around, but that it would never work.

Oh, hell, I forgot I wasn’t going to care about this any more. I need to get back to something more innocuous.

How ’bout those pig handlers at the State Fair, eh?

Looks like the Obama Administration has come up with a scheme to keep troop levels static in Afghanistan. They’re replacing support units with “contractors,” and adding 14,000 “trigger pullers.” Well, I’m sure LBJ BHO knows what he’s doing. I mean, Afghanistan is in Central – not Southeast – Asia; so what could go wrong?

Speaking of contractors, the Bush Obama Administration has renewed Blackwater’s (or Xe or whatever they are these days) contract in Iraq. Didn’t the Iraqi government revoke their license to operate over there? Not that we give a crap what the Iraqi government thinks (though it’s kinda cute when they pretend they have the right to rule themselves). We love our murderous Christian Crusaders for profit, and apparently so does our Islamic Kenyan President.

Steny Hoyer appears to have had a look at the national polls, and realized that, yes, the majority of Americans actually want the option of a government health insurance plan. Welcome the reality-based community, Steny. A shame that the members of the failed Obama Administration (I honestly thought that – no matter what else you may think about them – they were at least a smart bunch of people; boy, was I wrong) won’t be joining us.

On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.

“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”

That’s right, they’ll teach those goddamn dirty liberals a lesson they won’t soon forget! Wait, I thought they were the goddamn dirty liberals? I mean, that’s who I voted for, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, petulant Republicans in the Senate are threatening a “revolution” if Democrats use budget reconciliation to bypass a potential filibuster over health care reform.

Silly Republicans. Do you really think these spineless, corrupt Democrats can get 51 votes even if wimpy Harry Reid actually somehow finds the balls to try? NFW.

All this “debate” over health care is tiresome, and I’m getting sick of it (actually, it’s sickening, and I’m getting tired of it). We can’t make sure everyone has health care in this country. Just can’t be done. Every other wealthy country (and some of the poor ones, too) can do it, but not us. There just isn’t enough profit in it. So, screw it, let’s just admit it aint gonna happen, and get back to our regularly scheduled episode of American Idol.

I got mine, so the hell with everybody else. And if I lose my job or they say I’m not covered for something because I checked the wrong box 20 years ago, well, then the hell with me, too. Go ahead and take everything I have, for all the good it’ll do ya. I got a nice refrigerator box all picked out.

The only thing that saddens me is the thought of the backlash of the voters in 2010, ‘cuz the Democrats seem to be doing everything in their power to hand control of the Senate back to the Republicans (and look for a big turnover of seats in the House, too). Not that Democrats don’t deserve it, but I just hate the thought of hearing the Fux News talking heads and rightwing meatheads like Limbaugh crowing about it. Not to mention Romney-Palin in 2012.

Finally, doctors may be baffled by this, but all they need to do is watch “True Blood,” and it’ll explain everything.

Sad news today as Chanel, a wire-haired dachshund, passed away at the age of 21. Speaking of death, our Governor has killed his beard, apparently hoping nobody will recognize who he is come election time, and accidentally vote for him. Dave, buddy, again I beseech you: please don’t run for Governor; I can’t deal with a Governor Guiliani, and I’m too poor to move.

George :jerk: Will says we need to get out of Afghanistan. Will, quoting de Gaulle quoting Bismarck, writes that “genius…sometimes consists of knowing when to stop.” I must agree, though I wonder if George would have seen the light if, say, McCain-Palin were running the show right now. Then again, nobody would accuse either if those two of being geniuses. Of course, if we were to get the hell out, I’m sure Will would be leading the charge of outraged pundits and very serious people who, unlike the rest of us (who wanted out of both Iran and Afghanistan a long time ago – before we went in, in fact), understand how the world works as the Taliban surge back into control.

More bills coming due from the great NY State Senate coup over the summer. As part of the deal to end the Republican siege, there will be $13 million more budgeted for raises and hiring of Senate staff, allocated, for the most part, to the Republican minority. That’ll give Republicans $17.3 million for staffing (compared to $14.9 million for Democrats when when they were in the minority). Good thing they’re raising DMV fees today, so we can pay for it. Registration for passenger vehicles goes up to $55 from $44, and the cost of a driver’s license increses by 25 percent – from $50 to $62.50. And they came up with another scheme to force us to buy new license plates – for $25 – no matter how new your old plates are (it’s a “safety” issue, they say, ‘cuz the old ones are “wearing out”. Uh-huh). If you happen to lose your registration, the fee to get a replacement copy goes up to $15 (from $4), and if you’ve managed to memorize your plate number and don’t want to be bothered trying to remember a new one, no problem. You can keep your old number – for another $20.

Oh well, it’s only money. It’s not like they’re squandering it on health care or something.

A British camera clue was allowed to film convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Magrahi as he lie in a hospital bed, connected to machines and wearing an oxygen mask, reportedly no longer able to speak at this point (yet still wearing his glasses). Whether or not this is just a publicity stunt in order to quell the outrage over his release or not, I don’t know. But one thing’s for sure: under “Obamacare,” he’d already be dead.

Good Woot on this Two for Tuesday for you aging, far-sighted baby boomer types: a two-pack of big-ass universal remotes for $10 including shipping. The catch? I bet it comes with directions printed in a nearly microscopic font.

It was 107 years ago today that Le Voyage dans la Lune (aka, A Trip to the Moon premiered in France. Bad enough they shot the Man in the Moon in the eye; I hope they didn’t pick any flowers.