Today we reach the numerical One Month mark until the Extravaganza announced at the top of the column to your right. I’ve thought about this event a lot, and tonight my thoughts turned towards menu. Below are listed the options, in no particular order. Your input is welcome. No, desired.
1. Bail-out burgers, with a side of free-market fries.
2. Russian Borscht and Klondike bars.
3. Polar Bear Pizza (they deliver), and a couple pitchers of Pipeline Porter.
Anybody heard / read anything about the movie Choke? It is supposed to be a “satirical comedy,” which means we are probably supposed to get past the fact that the main character is a “sex addict,” and find something poignant amidst his exploits.
For those of you faithful HPN readers who were concerned by Frank’s post last night, breaking the Kim Jong Il death conspiracy, let not your heart be troubled; we are not going to become one of “those” blogs. HPN is responsible journalism; if the blogosphere were television, Edward R. Murrow would have posted right here.
With that in mind, I offer not a retraction, but a correction: the Real Story of why Kim Jong Il has been absent from the public eye, provided courtesy of Rush Limbaugh:
By the way, I don’t know if you people have heard this, some of you may not care, Kim Jong ll, the pot-bellied dictator of North Korea, is said today to be ill, said to have had a stroke. I, ladies and gentlemen, think that there’s something to it. I think he’s terribly ill because Kim Jong ll never misses the gay pride parade, which is traditionally held in North Korea in Judy Garland memorial park in Pyongyang. He wasn’t there. It’s got to be bad.
Please use the word serendipitous, or a derivation thereof, in a sentence.
This is one of my all-time favorite AD moments. For Austin.
Call this a capitulation; this is a not-about-politics post, for Frank. I would post about hockey, but I’m from Spokane. Except, wait, Spokane has a hockey team. And we totally kicked butt last season. Maybe I will post about hockey, but some other time.
This time, I wanted to call your attention to a band that goes by the name of the Punch Brothers. Frank has probably heard of them already, because he’s all over stuff like that, but the Punch Brothers are (is?) Chris Thile’s (of Nickel Creek mandolin fame) newest project. You can listen to some of their stuff on their website. And, if you’ve been itchin’ for some bluegrass since NC’s last release a few years ago, this just might be your cure.
1. At the prompting of democratic popular demand, I gave myself an avatar.
2. I had my first fish taco tonight, ever. Actually I had four of them. I have put it off for years. I had long entrenched myself in the belief that beef and chicken were the only meats that could be tortillaed. I stand corrected. Very corrected.
Rush Limbaugh was excited by McCain’s VP choice. In one choice comment, “[Palin] is just an inspired, inspired pick.”
The Sarah Palin selection is not new news to you guys now, but I still derive some sort of satisfaction by being the first to mention this “story” on the blog, especially before Davey. Lucky he’s on vacation this weekend. If nothing else, the Palin choice guaranteed that the rest of this election season is going to be even more entertaining than it has been already.
Pundits have said that, with her on the ticket, the Republicans will be able to haul in the Hillary vote, but I don’t think so. A lot of those voters voted for Hillary because they are Feminists, and Hillary is the American ideal of Feminism. She was married to the President of the USA, the leader of the Free World, and she was still the one wearing the pants (suit). Although, that’s just because Bill couldn’t keep his pants on…
Anyway. Feminists have got to hate Sarah Palin. She is a successful politician, but she is also a successful wife and mother. She has everything they want, but were told they couldn’t have: political / career success and a family life. She’s pretty (skirts, no pants suits). And, she’s pro-life, in both principle and practice (5 kids). So, I don’t think she’ll pull in that many Hillary voters for McCain: she’s feminine, not a feminist, but she’s done what feminists wish they could do. And that’s got to bug the heck out of them.
A while ago, Davey posted this on his blog, wherein is made the dubious claim that Rush Limbaugh, paragon of American Conservatism, spoke out in praise of the fuel subsidies instituted by the Chinese government. The post referenced a monologue by Rush, which contrasted the Chinese and how they are still Hummers, and loving it, and their economy is growing, against Us, and how we are driving scooters, and hating it, and our economy is shrinking.
I disagreed vehemently with Davey’s conclusion that Rush was, in this bit, advocating fuel subsidies as a means of economic stimulus; Rush was, rather, arguing that because the Chinese aren’t plagued by the same kind of enviro-worry that motivates Americans to buy and drive one-seater cars, their economy is headed a different direction than ours. Rather than encourage their citizens to drive less or inflate their tires, the Chinese government subsidizes fuel so that people can drive their big trucks even more. Rush wasn’t arguing for these subsidies; they were merely an aside in the discussion that environmental concern stifles the economy.
Well, the other day Rush monologued again (scroll down to #5) in the same line of thinking, but this time, it was about Russia, and their good economy and the big trucks that they are driving. I think it proves my point. Rush isn’t arguing that our government should subsidize anything; he’s just worried that we are “downsizing ourselves out of superpower status,” especially while Russia and China are upsizing themselves into that spot.