Look. I think big women can be sexy. I know it’s Arizona, and the standards are high, and personally, I wouldn’t mind if some of them paid more attention to their . . . . huh? Oh, sorry. Nevermind. It’s still going to be legal in Arizona for trucks to have splash guards with racist terms and silhouettes of naked women. The state House on Thursday rejected a Democratic amendment
February 20, 2007
variations on a theme: The “an ordinary clock glimpsed in its moment of brief Democratic Party awakening†post (from the protein wisdom conceptual series)
tic tic tic tic “We, like, sooo totally love the troops! Honestly. But the truth is, if you love something, you have to set it free. If it comes back to you, it was meant to be. And if doesn’t, well, that’s because it was never really anything more than a collection of uneducated minority dead-enders pumped up on testosterone and then brainwashed by the military industrial complex to act
February 20, 2007
Go, You Fighting Sandcrabs! (CraigC)
A comment in the un-pc sports team names thread got me to thinking about wacky college sports mascots and nicknames. Here in Kahleefohneeya, we’ve cornered the market on them, and for some reason, they all seem to be in the the UC system. You’ve gotcher UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos, yer UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, and the UC-Irvine Anteaters.
February 20, 2007
Sen. Levin’s Latest Trial Balloon [Karl]
Now that Rep. Jack Murtha’s slow bleed scheme to defund our troops in Iraq has been exposed for the cynical ploy that it is, Sen. Carl Levin—who had a Murtha-esque critique of troop readiness this past week—seems to have abruptly dropped the idea. Sen. Levin’s latest trial balloon is amending the AUMF to exclude combat missions. No, really. So I’m wondering… under that scenario, what would be the new name
February 19, 2007
Statement from the American Union of Concerned Snake Oil Salespersons [Dan Collins]
Dear Sirs, It has come to our attention that in the comments to a post dated 2-19-07 on the web log Protein Wisdom, the poster and proprietor of the web log saw fit to compare a ponderous and pointless writer by the name of Glenn Greenwald at the web site Salon with snake oil salespersons. I take issue with the implied characterization. The benefits of snake oil, properly derived and
February 19, 2007
“Cheap Oil to Last, ‘Doomsday’ Fears Overblown, Author Says”
From National Geographic: Is the era of cheap oil really at an end? Or could a glut send prices into a freefall? Should Western countries fear energy blackmail from oil- rich powers? There’s no crystal ball to predict oil’s future, but Leonardo Maugeri believes that much can be learned by looking at the industry’s past. Maugeri is the author of The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of
February 19, 2007
“Autism Family Scan Identifies New Genetic Targets”
From Bloomberg: Doctors have long known autism runs in families. Now, scientists have scanned DNA from 1,168 families with multiple cases, the largest such group ever assembled, and identified gene variants that could one day spur treatments for a disorder that leaves about 1 in 150 U.S. children uncommunicative, cut off emotionally from the world around them. The findings, announced [yesterday], include a deleted gene, called neurexin 1, that enables
February 19, 2007
The “Jack Murtha enjoys a brief moment of clarity” post (from the protein wisdom wishful thinking series)
Murtha: “HOW DARE I QUESTION MY PATRIOTISM!”* **** update: “Did I really say Okinawa? Because if so, I blame the bad acid Fonda sold me.”
February 19, 2007
‘GG’ is for ‘Vendetta’
Dan already wrote eloquently about the absurdity of Glenn Greenwald’s(’s) recent attack on the Victory Caucus, but, after having finally gotten around to reading it myself, I think a few more words are in order. Luckily, I already wrote them and placed them in the comments to Dan’s original post, so I don’t have to do a whole lot of additional work here—which is fortunate, because Greenwald(s) himself isn’t worth
February 19, 2007
Important Action Alert! (CraigC)
I read with great satisfaction this story about the NCAA forcing the University of Illinois to drop its racist team mascot, Chief Illiniwek. This welcome development was mostly due to the tireless work of the same attorney who has been pursuing the Washington Redskins for the past few years. In the spirit of this important ruling, I offer my own abbreviated list of offensive team mascots that need to be