Funny, I don’t see this on the US News sites, but Ecuador has granted Julian Assange asylum, mostly because everybody assumed that Sweden would hand him over to the US, where he’d likely wind up in prison (if he was lucky) or Gitmo. The Brits, however, seem rathe unimpressed.

Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK.
[…]
Foreign minister Ricardo Patino accused the UK of making an “open threat” to enter its embassy to arrest Mr Assange.
[…]
…as the Foreign Office insisted the decision would not affect the UK’s legal obligation to extradite him to Sweden, Mr Assange warned: “Things will get more stressful now.”

Announcing Ecuador’s decision, Mr Patino launched a strong attack on the UK for what he said was an “explicit type of blackmail”.

The UK Foreign Office had warned, in a note, that it could lift the embassy’s diplomatic status to fulfil a “legal obligation” to extradite the 41-year-old by using the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987.

What, they spell fulfill with only one ‘l’ at then over there in England?

Yesterday sucked. Not only was it the first day back from a three-day weekend, but I then got stuck doing something tedious and time consuming that I couldn’t start until five o’clock, which meant I didn’t get out of my chair until six. And, in preparation for what I had to do, I was in the chair all day long with barely a piss break or two. By the time I got home (to raucous thunderstorms), my back was killing me, and it’s killing me now. I had to self-medicate with beer, stayed up too damn late, slept until six o’clock this morning (which is very late for me), and currently feel like crap. This blows.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of “Game of Thrones” (I have to watch it in secret, of course), and after the first season, I went out and bought (and read) all the books (OK, I didn’t really go out – I got them on the Kindle). Anyhow, I had no idea that the author – George RR Martin – was a lefty. It appears he’s not a fan of voter suppression.

…I would be remiss if I do not at least make passing mention of how depressed, disgusted, and, yes, angry I’ve become as I watch the ongoing attempts at voter suppression in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, and other states where Republicans and their Teabagger allies control key seats of power.
[…]
It would really be nice if there were still some Republicans of conscience out there who would stand up and loudly denounce these efforts, a few men of honor and integrity for whom “win the election” does not “win the election at any cost.” There were once many Republicans I admired, even I disagreed with them: men like Everett Dirksen, Clifford Case, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Scranton… yes, even Barry Goldwater, conservative as he is. I do not believe for a moment that Goldwater would have approved of this, any more than Robert A. Heinlein would have. They were conservatives, but they were not bigots, nor racists, nor corrupt. The Vote Suppressors have far more in common with Lester Maddox, George Wallace, John Stennis, and their ilk than they do with their distinguished GOP forebears.

The people behind these efforts at disenfranchising large groups of voters (the young, the old, the black, the brown) are not Republicans, since clearly they have scant regard for our republic or its values. They are oligarchs and racists clad in the skins of dead elephants.

I like the dead elephants thing. But, Henry Cabot Lodge? You admired him, George? I mean, you’re no spring chicken, but Henry Cabot Lodge has been dead for, like, 88 years.

Oh well, I suppose I ought to get back to work, here.

As a person who would like to have Medicare in 14 years, and as somebody who would like to start getting Social Security in 11 years, I feel quite threatened by Romney/Ryan. I also don’t quite buy into the notion that Obama will definitely win (easily or otherwise) in November. I don’t trust the Republicans not to have things fixed just enough to get by, and I don’t trust a large number of the voting public to not be a bunch of fucking morons. I guess it’s probably better that the Republicans aren’t coming across as “centrists,” because, times being what they are, a lot of disgruntled people would probably go for a change at the top – assuming they didn’t have to elect raving lunatics to do it. Still, the media wants this to be a “horse race” and so they’ll make it out to be one for as long as they can (step one, Ryan is a “bold” choice).

John McCain is on board with the “bold” meme. Just like his “bold” choice of Sarah Palin.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) heaped praise Sunday on Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate, saying it was a “bold” decision as his choice of Sarah Palin in 2008 was.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” McCain didn’t compare Ryan to Palin on substance, but instead described him as a similarly gusty choice because other candidates may have better helped Romney win their swing state.
[…]
“I think that in this case it is also a bold choice,” he continued. “Many people thought that other people who were being considered might bring home those states into the Romney column. I think this is a pretty bold choice as well

Got it? Bold. Oh, and I’m assuming he meant “gutsy” and not “gusty,” but then again, Ryan is kind of a blowhard, so maybe not.

McCain also says Obama is doing a good job of making Romney seem “unacceptable.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Sunday slammed President Obama’s reelection campaign as one of the most “disgraceful” and negative he’s ever seen, but conceded that the attacks have “succeeded to a certain degree” at disqualifying Mitt Romney with voters.

Personally, I think Romney is the one who’s doing a good job of making himself seem unacceptable.

Rain! Yes, we got some rain. And then we got some more rain. And it’s still raining. Thank goodness for that – things were getting pretty bad around here. And it was nice of the rain to happen overnight and during a work day. Plus, it’s Friday, which is always a good thing, but even better because I have Monday off, too. I predict that Tuesday will suck.

I have to admit that yesterday I forgot that I didn’t care about the Olympics, and I watch a live blog of the last 20 minutes or so of the women’s gold medal soccer match. It appeared to be pretty fierce there at the end, with the Japanese team getting all kinds of shot and penalty kicks and whatnot, and the people doing the blogging adding things like, “minute 86!” as I sat and wondered how many minutes there are in a soccer match. Turns out there are 90’ish minutes. They apparently add on extra minutes, ostensibly having something to do with injuries or something, but I suspect it’s just arbitrary. Anyhow, good for the women (the US men didn’t even qualify, probably because most US men don’t actually care about soccer).

And for the women of the water polo team, too. I have played water polo (once or twice). I’m not totally clear on the rules, but I believe the main idea is to attempt to drown the players on the other team. Sort of like underwater rugby. This is why I never played it very much – I find the sensation of drowning to be rather unpleasant.

And of course I can’t fail to mention 17yr old Claressa Shields, who won the first US Gold in boxing (again outclassing the US men, who failed to medal at all for the first time ever). I didn’t watch any of it, but I heard an interview with her on NPR (one story before she one, and another last night), and she seems like a really great kid. A really great kid who could kick my ass.

Oh well, back to work.

Most of you probably noticed it’s been a little warm lately, and, in fact, July was the hottest month ever in the US. Or at least since they started keeping records in 1895. I know it’s been hotter than usual around here. We’ve had 23 days where it was at least 90 (I know, I know, OK and AZ are much hotter than that – you guys “win”). That’s not a record yet (the record is 28 days, and we’ve got most of August left). We also haven’t had much in the way of rain (I haven’t cut the grass in close to a month, and the only reason I did it then was to knock the weeds down; Queen Anne’s Lace (aka, Wild Carrot, though I’ve never seen carrots hanging off these things) apparently doesn’t need much water. Ditto Milkweed (we have some pretty impressive ones). And the Catnip seems to be doing pretty good, too. The grass, not so much.

It’s sad to think that August is almost a third of the way over with already. I’ll be regaling you with tales of the NYS Fair butter sculpture before you know it. And SU football practice started a few days ago, bringing with it high hopes (and low expectations) for the coming season. Speaking of low expectations, preseason camp (and Tebowmania) in Cortland for the NY Jets has already come and gone (temporarily; they’ll be back after their first preseason game against Cincinnati).

The Olympics have just about wrapped up, from what I understand. I’m not sure how long they go, as I haven’t been paying much attention. Even the beach volleyball doesn’t have the same thrill it used to. I must be getting old.

But then again, the Olympics aren’t really geared toward me, at least if the story on NPR this morning is true. Apparently, the audience for the Olympics aren’t really “hardcore” sports people (not that I’m all that hardcore these days). They’re actually geared toward women and families and people who don’t even like sports. This is why – according to the guy they were interviewing – they have all that sappy back story, overcoming adversity stuff (instead of actually showing, like the event).

So I guess that’s why I’m not watching the Olympics. Either that, or I just don’t give a crap about dressage.

Perhaps I’ve lead a sheltered life, but I had no idea there was a white supremacist rock scene. Imagine, music made by only white people. How boring. But, hey, somebody’s got buy Ted Nugent records. As long as I don’t have to listen to it. They other thing that confused me was a report on NPR yesterday morning, where they referred to Sikhs as “sicks.” The even has a spokesman from the Sikh community, and her referred to himself as a “sick.” Here I always thought it was “seek.” So I thought I’d learned something new, but then, on the way home they were saying “seek.” So now I’m confused, but then Lakshmi Singh read the news, and she said “seek” so I’m going with what she says (after all, we SU alums have to stick together).

It was 67 years ago today that the US justified its $2 billion investment in the Manhattan Project (the equivalent of about $26 billion today) by more or less wiping Hiroshima, Japan off the map. Harry really gave ’em hell, that’s for sure.

And we celebrate this day with a somewhat more benevolent use of plutonium (okay, “Little Boy” used uranium 235, and it was actually three days later when the plutonium-based “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki) today, though, as “Curiosity” successfully landed on Mars. The Curiosity rover is powered by plutonium instead of from the sun, and it’s supposed to try and find signs of past oceans and maybe even life on the red planet. Either that, or it’s a hoax and they’re actually sending back pictures from the desert in Arizona (where it will be much more difficult to find signs of intelligent life – especially if they landed in Maricopa County).

Speaking of a dearth of intelligent life, Republicans were apparently out in force on the booblehead shows yesterday, and they are not one bit happy with Harry Reid.

On the Sunday talk shows, Republicans expressed outrage over Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) unsubstantiated claim that Mitt Romney has not paid taxes in 10 years, flatly accusing the Senate majority leader of lying.

On ABC’s “This Week,” an incensed Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Reid a “dirty liar,” saying he “complains about people with money but lives in the Ritz Carlton here down the street.”

“It’s ridiculous, it’s wrong, it’s untrue, and it’s just going to hurt the president….”

Oh my. It’s quite touching to see the concern that the RNC Chairman has for the President. But Reince Priebus? That don’t sound like a regular American name to me. I think we need to see his papers.

Yes, as Vernon uncovered, yesterday was the wife’s birthday. It was also my brother’s birthday. A biggie for him, as he is now officially eligible for Medicare (which, he claims, will be a net savings of $100 a month for he and his wife). Hardly seems worth getting old for.

Oh well, time to start getting this week over with.

Well, the July jobs report is out, and the numbers are…. Better. 163,000 jobs added, unemployment up a tick to 8.3%, and public sector jobs down 9,000. I’m sure the Mittster will whine that things just aren’t good enough (I don’t recall him saying much when the US was hemorrhaging jobs ever month under Bush, but then he might have been busy dressing up his wife’s horsey or whatever is those dressagers do). Hopefully things will steadily improve (not just because it would be good for everybody to have a job, but because if things continue to tank, we’re gonna get stuck with Romney, and then everybody will have to wear magic panties and get multiple wives and, damn it, I can’t afford another wife – especially after Mitt raises my taxes to pay for the cuts he wants to give himself and his pals at the yacht club).

Speaking of taxes, Mitt says Harry Reid needs to “put up or shut up” when it comes to Romney probably not paying any taxes for ten years (or more). I think Mitt ought to just release his tax returns – that should both embarrass Harry and make him shut up, right?

Except, now Dana Bash says she has a second source (albeit one close to Harry Reid) who says Reid’s source is credible and in a position to know these things.

I did speak to one source who is very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who the Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that it is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney’s tax returns.

C’mon, Mitt. Go ahead and show everybody how this is all a pack of lies!

Here’s a believable story: a 21-yr old kid (who, just happened to be black) was a passenger in a pickup truck that got pulled over. The cops found some pot, ran his info, and found he had a warrant in Mississippi, so they cuffed the kid’s hands behind his back, and put in the squad car. At which point, they heard a “thump” or two, and turned around to find the kid shot in the head.

Golly, how’d that happen?

Clearly, according to the cops, the kid had a hidden gun that they missed, and he got it free – with his hands cuffed behind his back, did I mention? – and shot himself. A regular suicidal Houdini, this guy.

The really important news, however, is that Robert Pattison is reportedly speaking to Kirsten Stewart again. Thank goodness for that. I hope those two kids make it.

The other Kirsten Stewart-related headline at the Crappington Post was:

Kirsten Stewart’s Inbox Leaked

I thought, what? Now they’re reporting on the poor kid’s hygiene issues? But, no, it turned out to be “…a bit of epic satire: detailed, hilarious, and, ultimately, kind of sad” picture of a fake Gmail page.

Other than not being hilarious or especially detailed, it’s just terrific. cept

Yes, it’s August already, which means the summer is just about over. How depressing. Even worse, we’re stuck with this presidential campaign until November. Good thing I never watch lice teevee, ‘cuz I think the ads would make my crazy(er). Especially the state and local races (I don’t imagine we’ll see much advertising for preznit here in NY, ‘cuz Obama has a huge lead, which means I should be free to vote for Gus Hall or something).

You have to admire Mitt Romney, though. First he says the Palestinians are poor because of their “culture” of living under a military occupation and whatnot. Then he said that was nonsense – he never said anything about culture. Now he’s written an op-ed, saying that of course it’s all about culture, and he stands by what he said he didn’t say.

That’s a pretty impressive triple-take. And it won’t matter, because he gets to take all sides of a position depending on what crowd he’s talking to, and nobody (no “serious” journalists, at least) will call him on his bullshit.

Between that, voter suppression laws, and the backing of the anonymously funded super PACs, I think the Republicans have a good shot at getting that rubber stamp they need in the White House.

Unless Sigourney Weaver actually winds up running.

Much as I’m not paying attention to the Olympics, it’s pretty hard to totally ignore them. Whether it’s the daily medal wrap-up, or stories about how people on Twitter are mad at NBC for tape delaying the “big” events so they can show them in prime time (note to Twitterers out there: they’ve always done this, partly because many of us have jobs and can’t sit around and watch the Olympics all say, but mostly because they paid, like $1.8 billion for the damn games, and they need to get their money back. Second note: I’m assuming that if you use Twitter, you have access to a thing called the Internet, where NBC is streaming all the events live, and on-demand replays. Though I think you need to have cable or satellite with MSNBC).

This morning on the way in to work, I heard a story about a 16-yr old Chinese swimmer who suddenly swam faster than Michael Phelps and set a world record.

China has become embroiled in the first doping controversy of the London Games after one of the world’s most respected coaches described the swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen’s gold medal performance as “unbelievable” and “disturbing”.

The American John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, said the 16-year-old’s performance was “suspicious”….
[…]
Ye was more than seven seconds faster in the Olympic 400m individual medley final than she had been in the World Championship equivalent last July.

Leonard said that although this vast improvement was possible, it would be very hard to achieve. “But the final 100m was impossible. Flat out. If all her split times had been faster I don’t think anybody would be calling it into question, because she is a good swimmer. But to swim three other splits at the rate that she did, which was quite ordinary for elite competition, and then unleash a historic anomaly, it is just not right.”

I found this story interesting, not because of the “doping” thing. Because of this kid’s name, Ye Shiwen, which is pronounced, “Yay! She win!”

I mean, with a name like that, how could she lose?

If you live in India, there’s a pretty good chance you’re not reading this right now, mostly because half the country – so far – is in the dark with no power, including the capital, New Delhi. That’s about 600 million people (which is twice as many people as we have here in the US).

They’re investigating the cause, but, if it’s anything like the power company around here, I have no doubt that the cause will be “squirrel in the transformer” (which is electric company code for “our shit’s old and falling apart, and we fired 2/3 of our maintenance crews so we could increase profits”).

Well, time to get busy, I guess.