November 07, 2007
Second verse, same as the first
I realize what with the writers strike that primetime tee-vee is going into reruns, but I didn't realize that applied to the News as well: Hillary Clinton Records not to be released until after the election, when I'm sure they'll find up conveniently shredded, in the same closet in the Residence as her Rose Law Firm billing files.
Bonus points for the best "Clinton oral history" jokes.Posted by: Steve-O at 12:32 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 06, 2007
UPDATE
An update to our post earlier in the day on traffic goosing, "juicing," and the bizarre things people visit our site looking for: someone who shall go nameless plopped something into the Tasty Bits Mail Sack doubting the whole thing, that I'm making up the grossly significant percentage of our daily traffic that comes from the Middle East from folks dialing up Google looking for illicit pickies of hot French Nooz Babe Melissa Theuriau, Yasir Arafat, and a goat, let alone naughty NFL cheerleaders and the aforementioned French Nooz hottie.
Obviously, our little doubter needs how to read sitemeter stats, because it would give little nuggets like this:
It's even funnier if you change the background template to the garish Valentine's Day format. Yikes, indeed!
Posted by: Steve-O at 11:57 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Silver Lining in the Subprime Cloud
George Schultz & John Taylor, from the Financial Times:
Turmoil in the US’s financial markets got the top billing in news reports about the recent meetings of the world’s leading international policymakers in Washington. Virtually everyone expressed concern that the housing slump and the financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage market would significantly slow down the US economy, and perhaps the world economy. But there is a surprising silver lining. Signs of it were revealed by the absence of reporting on the big bugaboo of the past few years: the US current account deficit. The good news is the recent reversal of the steady upward climb in the current account deficit. During the past three quarters for which we have data the deficit has been cut by $119bn, falling from about 6 per cent of gross domestic product to 5 per cent, and the adjustment appears to be continuing. Why the reversal? One explanation is the implementation of policies that these same international policymakers agreed to at recent past meetings. The basic economic principle that led to these policies is that the US current account deficit is caused by the gap between saving and investment. Accordingly, a three-pronged strategy was called for – reducing the US budget deficit to decrease government dissaving, raising economic growth abroad relative to the US in order to stimulate US exports and increasing the flexibility of exchange rates, especially in China, to facilitate the adjustment. You can see the strategy being implemented now. The budget deficit has come down sharply to 1.2 per cent of GDP, well below historical averages and less than in most other countries. World economic growth – especially in emerging markets – has been strong, even as US growth has slowed. And China’s exchange rate has become more flexible – appreciating by 10 per cent since the peg was abandoned. Forward markets project further appreciation. All these policies are expected to reduce the current account deficit, but they take time – too much time to explain the sharp reduction in the current account in the past year. So there must be other forces at work too. Because the current account deficit equals saving minus investment, these are logical places to look. Herein lies the silver lining. The housing turmoil has indeed cut a chunk out of investment – residential investment has fallen by $81bn in the three quarters during which the current account deficit declined, and even more compared with the peak of the housing boom earlier last year. Hence a good part of the current account reduction can be directly attributed to the decline in residential investment. Moreover, the decline in housing prices is starting to increase the personal saving rate, as home equity loans are drying up and people are recognising that their housing wealth is not as large as they had expected. When asset prices were rising, households could spend what they earned and still see an increase in their net worth. Sometimes spending even exceeded income. Now, consumption is falling relative to income, so there is more household saving. Including both the direct investment effect and the personal saving effect, about three-quarters of the reduction in the current account deficit can be attributed to the housing market turmoil. So while the agreed economic policies have begun to improve the current account, and will continue to do so, they have had important assistance. The housing market correction has been an important factor in the current account correction; as a result we are seeing a dramatic beginning of a welcome rebalancing of the world’s investment and saving flows. The nature of this adjustment has implications for future policy. First, since we cannot rely on the housing slump to reduce the current account without limit, it is important to continue with the three-pronged strategy, which would be good economics even if there were no current account deficits. Second, the decrease in the current account deficit in the US means that other countries will be exporting less and importing more from the US. Unless other components of demand in these countries increase, there will be negative spillovers on the world economy. Given the continued importance of productivity-raising investment, it is important for the US’s trading partners to encourage more investment in their own countries. Improving the investment climate – especially in emerging market countries where investment is low – is more important than ever. Countries with extraordinary rates of saving would do well to look more favourably on consumption. Throughout the recent world econ omic expansion, many have warned that the current account deficit would cause a sharp collapse of the dollar and a global currency crisis. That has not happened. The dollar depreciation has been gradual, with low volatility serving as a stabilising force during the six-year expansion. A US exchange rate policy that has stressed market forces, avoided exchange market intervention and not tried to talk the dollar down has worked well. It should be continued. To the degree that the improvement in the current account is caused by the housing turmoil, further depreciation of the dollar is less likely. But it is best to let the market decide that. The writers are senior fellows at the Hoover Institution. Mr Shultz is a former Treasury secretary in the Nixon administration and was secretary of state under Ronald Reagan. Mr Taylor was a member of the president’s council of economic advisers under George H.W. Bush and Treasury under-secretary for international affairs under George W. BushThis was the angle in yesterday's post about the decline of the dollar, and its effect of the trade (current accounts) deficit. In some respects, the situation is like the induced recession of the early eighties, designed to kill off inflation. The wager here is that driving the hazardously out of whack trade deficit down will raise GNP, and in the long run make the economy and therefore the currency sounder. The dollar will rise again as interest rates rise again, and the yield curve gets more favorable for the dollar relative to the euro.
Posted by: Steve-O at 11:08 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
362 Days to the Election (in about an hour)
The latest sign of Democratic Fear: EJ Dionne on immigration.
Give it about two weeks, and you'll start seeing Republicans putting those 1/20/09 Bush's last day bumper stickers on the inside of their trunks.... Add to that the sudden realization that Green doesn't translate to votes (I mean, why didn't the Clinton administration submit Kyoto to the Senate after all?), and it's going to be an interesting year. Memo to the Donks: don't be pre-ordering the Fiesta Grande bags of Tostitos for the Hillary Coronation quite yet....Posted by: Steve-O at 11:00 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Late evening screen snort warning
Jordana's got a new look, and boy is it a doozy. Got me just as I was in intake mode on a steaming hot freshly brewed mug of green tea.
What the hey, I needed a new screen on my macbook pro anyhoo...Posted by: Steve-O at 10:46 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Will Robbo the LLama Laugh or Cry?
This is the first post in our new feature: Will Robbo the LLama Laugh or Cry, where I find some link which goes right to the razor edge of Robbo's emotional buttons.
And we all know the biggest one, now that he's left the Pisky Church, is the Miami Dolphins. So the link I present to you is this: on Google right now, there are one million, four hundred and sixty thousand or so webpages that contain the wordsRicky Williams latestCurrently, we are number five (behind the Marijuana Policy Project, no less). So, will Robbo Laugh or Cry? Your predictions please, with the answer coming tomorrow afternoon.
Posted by: Steve-O at 10:38 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Rueage. Imminent rueage.
Flying cows in Oregon. Somebody alert Dr. Jo Harding:
MANSON, Wash. -- A Chelan County fire chief says a couple were lucky they weren't killed by a cow that fell off a 200-foot cliff and smashed their minivan. District 5 Chief Arnold Baker says they missed being killed by a matter of inches Sunday as they drove on Highway 150 near Manson. The 600-pound cow fell about 200 feet and landed on the hood of the minivan carrying Charles Everson Jr. and his wife Linda of Westland, Mich., who were in the area celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary. They were checked at Lake Chelan Community Hospital as a precaution. The van was heavily damaged, including a broken windshield. Charles Everson says he kept repeating, "I don't believe this. I don't believe this." The year-old cow had been reported missing by a breeder. It was euthanized at the scene.SOOPER SEKRIT MESSAGE to Robbo and Gary: Dudes, the LLamas are only #4 on google for Jo Harding. You know what to do... Yips! from Robbo: Jo Harding be thy name....
"Okay, there's a whole Llama thing going on here!" - Dr. Jo Harding
"Where's my Llama?" - Dr. Jo Harding
"Llama!" - Dr. Jo Harding
"'Nuther Llama!" - Dr. Jo Harding
"We are absolutely not invading my Aunt Llama!" - Dr. Jo Harding
"You guys have to get some new Llamas." - Dr. Jo Harding
""You've never seen it miss this Llama and that Llama and come after you!" - Dr. Jo Harding
"Who are these Llamas!!?" - Dr. Jo Harding
"Oh, no, you're going to analyze the data, I'm going to run the Llamas!" - Dr. Jo Harding
"Wet t-shirts and sports bras go better with Llamas." - Dr. Jo Harding (n.b. not part of theatrical release)
"Vote for the Llamas in the 2007 Weblog Awards before a house falls on you!" - Dr. Jo Harding
Posted by: Steve-O at 10:26 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Excellent
I'm on the waiting list at the Crozet Library for Richard Russo's latest novel, Bridge of Sighs. Dustin Rowles at Pajiba has an outstanding review, capturing what I like about both Richard Russo's novels as well as the Pajiba reviews.
November has been Richard Russo month the past couple of years: I always try to re-read one of his novels in the buildup to Thanksgiving. This year it's The Risk Pool, that is if my number doesn't come up first for Bridge of Sighs.Posted by: Steve-O at 10:18 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Let's NOT Go To The Video-Tape!
Already commiting unspeakable heresy via the use of artificial turf, lights at Wrigley Field and the designated hitter rule, MLB is considering instant replay:
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- For the first time Tuesday, baseball general managers recommended instant replay be used to help umpires make difficult decisions. The recommendation, by a 25-5 vote, was limited to boundary calls -- whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the top and bounce back, and whether fans interfere with possible homers.Feh!
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig opposes the use of replays but said last month he was willing to let GMs examine the issue. "I don't like instant replay because I don't like all the delays. I think it sometimes creates as many problems or more than it solves," Selig said then. But Jimmie Lee Solomon, an executive vice president in the commissioner's office, thinks Selig's stance has changed a bit recently. "He seemed to be softer, at least on the consideration of the subject," Solomon said Tuesday. He added it was unclear how the proposal will proceed and acknowledged there is "glacier-like movement in baseball" when it comes to innovation. Solomon said if Selig is willing, the commissioner probably would run the idea by owners. The plan needs approval from the players' association and umpires. Solomon said GMs favored having a Major League Baseball official in a central place with access to all camera angles. If there is a disputed call, that official would be contacted and would view the television replay to make a decision.
Posted by: Robert at 02:54 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
My how the old AllahPundit website has changed.....
I was going through the blogroll in anticipation of our long-awaited blogroll shakeup and design change in anticipation of Season Five of the LLamas kicking off at the end of the month, and clicked on the link for Allahpundit's old site. The screen shot speaks for itself:
Allahpundit's favorites: Christian singles, Older Women, Russian girls, Russian Women, Indian Women, Chat.
One word: Heartache.Posted by: Steve-O at 02:23 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Correction
Robbo mentioned something in passing earlier about 90% of our daily 1500 visits coming in looking for nekkid pictures of Melissa Theuriau, Fox Nooz hotties, and random postings on Diane Lane. This is emphatically not true: at least 15% of our daily bread comes from two posts, the one invovling the bar-fighting lesbian NFL cheerleaders from two Decembers ago, and the other where we implied (and by "we" I mean "I") a relationship between Yassir Arafat, the aforesaid Melissa, and a donkey, within the image tag of jpg file. Ratings gold that one was.
Anyhoo, it's important to cheer Robbo's heart that all is not lost: ratings respectability is finally come our way, as we are now NUMBER ONE ON GOOGLE for
awful 70's songsSuck it, INDC Journal and Politburo Diktat! Yips! from Robbo: Well, okay then. Nice to know all of you aren't hunting for Paris Hilton cheeseburger pics. Perhaps there is hope. And for those of you dialing in instead for the lyrics to "Billy Don't Be A Hero", "Run, Joey, Run" and "Convoy", welcome! And for Heaven's sake, go vote for us in the Weblog Awards!
Posted by: Steve-O at 01:57 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
363 Days...
Following up on yesterday's post, further signs of the emerging brown streak in the Democratic Victory Party Planning for next November 4th. This from the New Republic, which oddly has no mention of their discredited Baghdad Diarist in this assessment:
It hasn't become much of a campaign issue--yet--but for the first time in a long while the news from Iraq isn't unrelentingly ghastly. Some previously hard-to-imagine glimmers of hope are now emerging. Of course there are a thousand caveats here, and Slate's Phil Carter has a good summation of them. But this weekend an experienced Iraq correspondent--someone who has been extremely bleak about the war in the past--told me he thinks it's really possible that the country is turning a corner. Which raises all sorts of secondary but fascinating political questions: What do the Democrats do if--yes: if, if, if--the surge appears to have succeeded? (Or at least seems, to voters, to have succeeded: I realize the tribal shift in Anbar, for instance, wasn't imposed by US troops--although my correspondent friend said surge forces did enable us to exploit Sunni tribal cooperation and root out al Qaeda.) Indeed, if Iraq somehow stabilizes and even incrementally improves, doesn't that affect the presidential campaign in important and unpredictable ways? Obviously it's almost impossible to concieve of an outcome in Iraq that any reasonable person could call "victory." Democrats will resonably argue that the adventure wasn't worth the cost in lives and dollars. But the notion that Bush's patience really did save Iraq from unmitigated humanitarian and strategic catastrophe might be a powerful one. Expectations have been lowered to such an extent over the past several months that any glimmer of hope is a godsend for Republicans. I suspect Americans are pining for anything they can declare good news, and want to believe we haven't been humiliated after all. With a touch of evidentiary wind at his back, then, it may be far easier for, say, a Rudy Giuliani to argue "See? Things are getting better! I told you so"! than for a Hillary Clinton to dourly say, "Maybe, but it still wasn't worth it." I'm not arguing that the surge has "worked," or that Iraq is hunky-dory and the whole nightmare is about to be redeemed. Lord knows there have been plenty of illusory moments of hope in the past. I'm just suggesting that beneath all the current clamor about Hillary's honesty and gender, a tectonic shift might be quietly developing. And I wonder whether the Democrats have been preparing for that possibility--and what their contingency plans are if the Iraq debate tacks substantially back the GOP's way.What do the Democrats do if--yes: if, if, if--the surge appears to have succeeded? OOOooo! OOOOOooo! Mistah Kotter! MISTAH KOTTAH! Yes, Horseshack? Umm, celebrate America's difficult victory at enormous sacrifice by our military and country, and build on it for a better world? Right....... One can only imagine the op-ed in the Chicago Tribune in November 1943, worrying that recent successes in the Pacific might---might---translate into FDR doing well at the ballot box in 1944. Actually, you can't, because the Republicans and the media weren't dead set on destroying America's will to fight and sparing no effort in revealing secrets and framing articles in a way to give comfort and aid to the enemy at every turn. But that's a different rant altogether. I look for two narratives to begin emerging in earnest if this keeps up: the first, which is already out there, is the "it wasn't worth the cost." But the one to savor is going to be the claiming of credit for forcing Bush to shift commanders, dump Rumsfeld, and change strategy. Call this maneuver "Pivot Deux" for previous supporters turned critics of the war to claim their rightful place at the table.
Posted by: Steve-O at 11:54 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
That's Not My Church!
Since deciding to swim the Tiber, I deliberately have avoided sniping at TEC as she settles beneath the waves. Goodbye to all that, as it were.
Nonetheless, every now and again I see something that grabs my attention again, either exciting anger over what TEC has turned into, or else exciting my admiration for those who continue to fight to either save it from itself (futily, IMHO) or, at least, establish a rearguard to protect as many fleeing refugees as possible. The following exchange of letters does both.
The Rt. Rev. Robert DuncanI saw this a few days ago. I just luuuuuv it when do-yer-own-thing radicals get all hierarchical n' stuff once they capture the citadel. Cor' lumme, stone the crows. But I genuinely love Bishop Duncan's "Nuts"-like response to Her High Priestessness:
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA Dear Bob, There have been numerous public references in recent weeks regarding resolutions to be introduced at your forthcoming diocesan convention. Those resolutions, if adopted, would amend several of your diocesan canons and begin the process of amending one or more provisions of your diocesan Constitution. I have reviewed a number of these proposed resolutions, and it is evident to me that they would violate the Constitutional requirement that the Diocese conform to the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church. It is apparent from your pre-convention report that you endorse these proposed changes. I am also aware of other of your statements and actions in recent months that demonstrate an intention to lead your diocese into a position that would purportedly permit it to depart from The Episcopal Church. All these efforts, in my view, display a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between The Episcopal Church and its dioceses. Our Constitution explicitly provides that a diocese must accede to the Constitution and Canons of the Church. I call upon you to recede from this direction and to lead your diocese on a new course that recognizes the interdependent and hierarchical relationship between the national Church and its dioceses and parishes. That relationship is at the heart of our mission, as expressed in our polity. Specifically, I sincerely hope that you will change your position and urge your diocese at its forthcoming convention not to adopt the resolutions that you have until now supported. If your course does not change, I shall regrettably be compelled to see that appropriate canonical steps are promptly taken to consider whether you have abandoned the Communion of this Church -- by actions and substantive statements, however they may be phrased -- and whether you have committed canonical offences that warrant disciplinary action. It grieves me that any bishop of this Church would seek to lead any of its members out of it. I would remind you of my open offer of an Episcopal Visitor if you wish to receive pastoral care from another bishop. I continue to pray for reconciliation of this situation, and I remain Your servant in Christ, Katharine Jefferts Schori
The Most Revd Katharine Jefferts SchoriAs the Colossus (who sent me both links) put it, "I almost can envision Pope Benedict, riding a tank, a la Patton on the way to Bastogne, upon hearing General McAuliffe’s reply to the Germans: 'A man that eloquent has to be saved.'" Indeed. Speaking of which, I haven't done much crossing the Tiber posting of late because I haven't really had that much to say. RCIA goes on apace and all is well - the real heavy hitting won't start until Lent. In the meantime, I read and I study and I pray as best I can. The Missus is of the opinion that I won't actually go through with it. She's too nice to say so directly, but she thinks that I'm too shallow and not, what, fervent enough to actually make the jump. Well, in one sense she is, of course, absolutely right. I am shallow. I'd also add that I'm frivolous, inconsistent, sinful, worldly and profoundly ignorant of
Episcopal Church Center
New York, New York Dear Katharine, Here I stand. I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them. Pax et bonum in Christ Jesus our Lord, +Bob Pittsburgh
Posted by: Robert at 11:45 AM | Comments (27) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Hot Stove League Update
Now would be a good time to buy donut and bacon futures in Boston: Curt Schilling's coming back!
Curt Schilling and the Red Sox appear ready to announce a one-year deal with incentives to return him to Boston for one final season.UPDATE: WHITE SMOKE EMERGES FROM THE CHIMNEY AT FENWAY The official word at Schilling's blog. Key take away:
ESPN.com reported on Tuesday that Schilling and the team have reached agreement on an $8 million base salary with an additional $2 million in incentives. The deal is pending a physical on the right-hander, who will turn 41 on Nov. 14. Red Sox spokesman John Blake said the team had nothing to report. Schilling, on his "38pitches" blog, said talks have been progressing. "Talks with the Red Sox are moving," Schilling wrote. "[General manager] Theo [Epstein] and I have spoken multiple times daily over the past week and given the current situation I am feeling very confident that we will be able to finalize a 1 year contract to allow us a chance to finish our career as members of the Red Sox organization. "There are some things to iron out and details that must be finalized for both sides but barring something unforseen [sic] or outrageously odd happening I feel very comfortable that I will finish my career here," he added.
$2 million in bonuses for 6 seperate weigh ins. I inserted the weigh in clause in the 2nd round of offers, counter offers. Given the mistakes I made last winter and into Spring Training I needed to show them I recognized that, and understood the importance of it. Being overweight and out of shape are two different things. I also was completely broad sided by the fact that your body doesn’t act/react the same way as you get older. Even after being told that for the first 39 years of my life. Now I can’t get on Dougie anymore, which sucks, and I am sure the clause will add 15-100 more jokes to Tito’s Schilling joke book.Two million bucks to stay away from Dunkin' Donuts. Boston area bloggers with cell-phone cameras, the stake out begins now! Yips! from Robbo: Allow me a ROTFLMAO moment here as I contemplate the fact that this post was written by a guy I watched starving himself on a crash course of carrots so that he just barely made weight to row in our lightweight four at the New Englands one year. Mwaaaaahahahaha.........
Posted by: Steve-O at 11:43 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Gratuitous Literary Posting - Historickal Crossroads Division
Regular Llama fans will know that I always try to have at least one history in my reading rotation at any given time. (Indeed, I sometimes wonder whether I wouldn't have been happier as a history major in college instead of an English major. Perhaps a double? Or, with classics, a triple? Too late now.)
Anyhoo, lately I seem to have fallen into a definite Virginia Campaign vibe. Having first knocked off John J. Hennessy's Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas, I immediately followed up with Stephen Sears' Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam and am now about two thirds of the way through Sears' Chancellorsville. I've read Chancellorsville two or three times before, but the two prior books were first timers for me. Reading all of them in rapid succession has proved to be immensely rewarding, as the overall dynamic of the struggle between the Union and the Confederacy in Virginia and Maryland in 1862 and 1863 has really come out. ("But Tom," some of you are no doubt saying, "What about Fredericksburg?" Well sure, it was a bloody, horrific battle, well worth study. But I've always looked at it as something of an idiotic aside, a futile jab that had no real impact on the overall strategic picture and one that ought never to have been launched.) Aaaaanyhoo, having come this far, I had begun to think that it was time again to read this:
High Tide at Gettysburg: The Campaign in Pennsylvania by Glenn Tucker.
Again, I've read this book probably four or five times, but it's been a few years and I'm sure picking it up again after reading the above trio in short order will be a rewarding experience. Also, it occurs to me that this would be an excellent time to, as it were, see out the Virginia campaign to its conclusion. For example, while I've got Grant's own memoirs and Bruce Catton's outstanding accounts of his service in both West and East, I don't have any books specifically about the 1864 campaign, including the battles in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Court House. I figure these might make nice Christmas prezzies from Robbo's familly, all of whom continually moan and bitch that they haven't the slightest idea what to give me. (And, btw, any recommendations for books on these topics would be greatly appreciated.) I could then finish up with a more detailed account of the siege of Richmond, up to and including the surrender at Appomatox.
All well and good, right? Ha! Not so fast! Y'see, last evening my eye fell again on another book I recently acquired:
The Line Upon A Wind: An Intimate History Of The Last And Greatest War Fought At Sea Under Sail: 1793-1815, by Noel Mostert.
The title is pretty self-explanatory of the content. I have not yet read this book, and of course there is the argument that this is justification enough in itself to warrant putting it next on my list. However, if I do that, bang goes my Civil War thread. Furthermore, I'm afraid that plunging into this now will result in a renewed enthusiasm for the Royal Navy which will infect both my historickal thread (I have many books covering the period) as well as my other reading. So, for example, on the fiction front it would be goodbye Evelyn Waugh (and Anthony Powell, who is next) and hello (again) Patrick O'Brian. On the other hand, it is a subject near and dear to my heart.....
Decisions, decisions. But of a kind I truly love.
Posted by: Robert at 09:44 AM | Comments (20) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Gratuitous Vote-Mongering Update - Time To Bring Out The Heavy Artillery
A look at the latest Weblog Awards results reveals that we Llamas are fading fast, if not on the verge of outright crashing. This is disappointing (or it would be if I didn't know that 95% of our traffic comes from people trying to google up pictures of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jessica Alba jello-wrestling in edible spandex).
Anyhoo, for those three or four real people who do visit our little page o' madness, remember that you can vote once every twenty four hours from any given computer. So vote early. Vote often. Vote from all the workstations in your school or office. We've still got a couple days to go, so there's time yet for a spectacular finish. And remember what Melissa says:
"Ah, with zee Llamas, once ees neeever enough, n'est-ce pas?"
Posted by: Robert at 08:40 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Random Commuter Observation - Guilty Pleasure Division
I don't smoke. Never have, probably never will. But I have to say that there are time when the smell of a puff of cigarette smoke is just damned good.
Posted by: Robert at 08:29 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Random Commuter Observation - Falling Awake Division
Ah, cold, gray sky, everything soggy after a night of rain, the trees in various states of fall colour - this is when you catch Robbo at his brightest.
Posted by: Robert at 08:26 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Feeling guilty about not paying enough in taxes?
Surf on over to James Taranto's daily feature over at OpinionJournal.com for relief. Yesterday he took on the recent pronouncement of the Oracle of Omaha that he wants to pay more in taxes. Simply put, one can always make a donation to the Treasury and Taranto provides the info on how to do it. On a related note, I recall Buffett's opposition to death tax relief is not disinterested--his insurance interests make alot of money selling products intended to lower the tax bite on large estates.
Posted by: LMC at 12:18 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 05, 2007
Gratuitous 'Fins Posting - Norwegian Blue Division
The Dolphins' quarterback of the future will have to wait until, well, the future. Coach Cam Cameron announced Monday that Cleo Lemon will remain the starting quarterback indefinitely, putting the highly anticipated start of rookie John Beck's career on hold for at least another week. Everything appeared to be in place for Beck to take over, given the extra time to prepare because of the bye week, as well as this week's home-field advantage and a suitable opponent in the Bills. Beck and Lemon will continue to split repetitions with the first-team offense during practice, Cameron said. That decision suggests Lemon's leash could still be short, but Cameron insisted Lemon earned the right to start this week's game. In his three starts since Trent Green suffered a concussion, Lemon has completed 58.4 percent of his passes and has a passer rating of 70. He has passed for three touchdowns, fumbled twice and thrown four interceptions.Dan Le Batard thinks Cammie knows that the right thing to do is to put in Beck and let him have a half season of practice games, but is still trying to salvage some Miami victories and (ultimately) his own hide. I've been disdraught, as you might imagine, but this news makes me livid. [Switch on rant function.] Jaysus, Cammie, put the kid in! If you're going down, you're going already. At least think of the future for the team. Look, this season's not pinin'! It's passed on! This season is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it'd be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolic processes are now 'istory! It's off the twig! It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-SEASON!! [Switch off rant function.]
Posted by: Robert at 05:28 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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