A Portrait of the Lovely Daughter as Bulbasaur

Upping the Pokémon hits.

Art by Toni Zhang in a rush at Mini Comi which entertained the aforementioned daughterly unit.

Is Sarah Palin Running for Anything?

Michael Moriarty, writing some from unreachable dimension:

My own personal and enjoyable interests in the Arts were whetted by the dissident histories of some of Russia’s greatest talents: composer Igor Stravinsky and ballet greats, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Nobel prizewinning poet Ivan Bunin who emigrated in 1918 and eventually settled in Paris. Then, of course, the scientists such as Andrei Sakharov and the legendary symbol of Russian dissidence, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

In light of so many well-known Russian dissidents, this documentary film I pray for, exposing the Soviet invasion of the American arts and sciences, dwelling places into which numerous gifted Russians sought freedom? That film will be made; and by then it will receive an Academy Award nomination.

Why?

Sarah Palin will have already been a great American President for eight years!

Once he gets his Concerto for Orchestra performed by a top-notch orchestra - you'll follow the link NOW right? - I am certain Moriarty will take his many gifts into the world of book design.

Pity the Fool Eating the Treat WITHOUT Flavour Bits

Fix the News Please

As I toodle around Washington and Oregon - pilgrimage to Walla Walla for the lovely daughter - I notice that Fox News is wall-to-wall debt ceiling while CNN relieves that with Octomom/Anthony developments.

When the propaganda channel has a higher news-to-noise ratio than the competition I expect the propaganda channel to get more viewers.

Harry Was Not the Most Handsome Man

The Dirtiest City in Russia

Chelyabinsk is not Russia’s dirtiest city — the spot has been occupied by Norilsk since 1992 — but it ranked in the top 10 last year, the State Statistics Service said in June. The city, which has a population of 1.1 million, hosts many industrial facilities, including a metallurgical plant and a ferroalloys factory.

And so:

Chelyabinsk authorities launched last week a state tender worth 300,000 rubles ($10,700) to “optimize” Yandex and Google queries using 15 search phrases, including “radiation in Chelyabinsk,” “dirtiest city in Russia” and “ecology of the Urals.”

[...]

Whistleblower Alexei Navalny, who reported the story on his blog Thursday, called the tender “disgusting and immoral” and dubbed Chelyabinsk Governor Mikhail Yurevich a “proactive idiot.” The governor announced a campaign to change the region’s public image last September.

But a spokeswoman for the regional government, Svetlana Doronina, called reports about the region’s pollution “horror stories” spread by “radical environmental activists” in the pay of foreign competitors of the local industry, Chelyabinsk.ru reported. She did not name any names.

UPDATE FOR THE SAKE OF PROOF:

Lovable Losers

Order in the Court!

Plaintiff is either toying with the court or displaying her own stupidity. She made the correct redactions when she re-filed her Complaint and Amended Complaint. There is no logical explanation she can provide as to why she is now wasting the Court's time, as well as staff's time, with these improper redactions.

Oh Orly, when will you ever win?



M. Bouffant posted his take at 19:25 which means I am, like, eleven o'clocks ahead of him.

The Problem of Pensions

Times are tough:

CAIRO – Al-Qaida militants in Iraq made an online appeal Tuesday for new fundraising ideas, saying they are in dire need of money to help thousands of widows and children of slain fighters.

Insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq — an umbrella group for Sunni militants_ have funded their operations in the past by robbing jewelry stores, banks and offices where the government pays out monthly salaries. But the group has seen its main source of money, funding from abroad, dry up, leaving the group strapped for cash.

Beatniks

Some 70s footage here. The lovely daughter enjoys Gregory Corso.

Not Visiting This Link

Over at the National Review, a link:

Henry Briton: What Irish monks could teach Washington's politicians.

Okay, "getting away with it" might be out now. What else is there?

Shorter Big Hollywood

Archie Bunker was right.

Maintaining the Stupid

I did not know that the Egyptian army was so interested in preserving the state television building:

The opposition blames state TV for its impoverishment of Egyptian culture for decades, says exhibition organiser Moataz Nasreldin.

"All these programmes were designed to make people as idiotic as possible, as stupid as possible. So it was like cheating us, stealing our freedom of expression, stealing our humanity."

Don't knock being idiotic as possible. It saw the birth of an empire.

It's Still Surprising to Read Stuff Like This

From an as-yet unfinished work. Will he survive?

Protect Our Penises!

Bail?

Westminster, California (CNN) -- The arraignment of Catherine Kieu Becker, the Southern California woman accused of cutting off her husband's penis and throwing it into a garbage disposal, was continued Friday to September 23 at the request of her public defender.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Debra Carrillo also set bail at $1 million for Becker, 48, who had been held without bail since her arrest this month. She is charged with torture and aggravated mayhem.

Sweet Jesus if this woman gets bail the CHOPPING WILL NEVER STOP!

I wonder what the usual bail amounts are like?

Thanks Andy!

You're a real help:

Norway Terror Attacks
July 22, 2011 5:11 P.M.
By Andrew C. McCarthy

Obviously, it is important to be cautious in drawing conclusions when the attacks just happened and facts are still coming in. But at the Standard, FDD’s Tom Joscelyn, as usual, provides some essential context. A year ago, an al Qaeda cell embedded in Oslo, under the direction of superiors in Pakistan, was thwarted in an attempted bombing. (Thwarted by aggressive intelligence collection, it should be added, including the penetration of email communications — the sort of thing frowned on by European and American critics of Bush counterterrorism.)

[snip of more essential context]

Equally helpful here:

So, we should profile when it helps Muslims?
July 22, 2011 6:57 P.M.
By Andrew C. McCarthy

[...]

In point of fact, if one of what appears to be several conspirators is neither a Muslim nor from an Islamic country, that does cut against the likelihood that this is another episode of Islamic terrorism. On the other hand, there are facts and circumstances that cut in the other direction – including that a jihadist organization has already claimed responsibility; that most terrorism is carried out by Islamists; that al Qaeda and other jihadist groups have for years been seeking European and American recruits (precisely because such operatives would defy the profile, drawing less suspicion); that al Qaeda tried to attack Oslo last year; and that Mullah Krekar recently appeared to threaten attacks if legal action were taken against him, and now legal action has been taken against him.

You may find that, in revising these efforts, the way may be smoothed by a few good stiff shots of well-aged premium Drano.

_________

I am taken by surprise. Could the slaughterer be a crazy right-wing blogger? IMPRISON ANDY MCCARTHY NOW.
_________

Gates of Vienna sez no. But it DOES NOT PRECLUDE ADDITIONAL CRAZY RIGHT-WING BLOGGING! IMPRISON ANDY MCCARTHY NOW!

I Tried Hard to Betray You and the Republicans Wouldn't Let Me

Yeah, I tried to do something that'd let the no-tax guys off the hook. Their feelings would have been hurt, so I tried to spare their feelings! What did I get? NOTHING.



We're willing to step up even when the folks who helped get us elected may disagree. BUT THE BIG ORANGE BOEHNER WOULDN'T LET ME DO THAT EITHER!

We're Marching to Hell

Fuck You Groupon

Awwwwww.

Tragedy has struck:

Add pillage to the increasingly infuriating experience of flying in the U.S. On tour to promote her terrific new book, Of Thee I Zing, Laura Ingraham’s checked baggage was rifled through at Newark airport. The thief or thieves made off with about $11K in jewelry, including a baptismal cross, blessed by the pope, which she’d bought at the Vatican. The New York Post has more details. Hang in there, Laura.

Another horrible thing about Christians is their love of showy crap. From teh pedophile church.

The Forest

The Unblinking Eye

Here you go:

Ann Althouse Is Important To the Discourse Because...

Verbatim Ann Althouse:

The phone-hacking scandal is important to the United States, because...

Relationships is Magic

Over at Pajamas Media, David Solway ponders the mystery of love:

In our time the task of understanding ourselves is perpetually frustrated by the almost instinctive blending we make of two contradictory modes of being: the mechanical and the spiritual. Because we are short on spiritual reality we are long on mechanical models. We confuse the instantaneity of the computer with the timelessness of genuine insight. We think of memory as a form of storage, learning as efficient programming, education as the acquisition of skills and techniques, harmony as smooth functioning, self-development as the accumulation of isolable and multiple capacities like a Black & Decker kitchen-center or a Swiss Army knife, self-expression as a kind of accelerator-pushing to burn off excess fumes. And — the cardinal sin — we consider spirit itself as the free exercise of charity in exactly the same way as a mechanism must be used from time to time without a designated purpose in order not to jam with rust or dust. Our attitude to the super sensible is basically hygienic. We live the disenchantment of the world.

When the Duke in Browning’s “My Last Duchess” says that he refuses to stoop to indicate to his wife just what adjustments to make in her conduct in order to settle his doubts and so preserve the marriage, he is articulating a fundamental humanism. Today we merely visit a counselor, a.k.a. a gender reconciliation facilitator, who listens, ruminates, tinkers, and offers recommendations to repair a marriage gone on the blink — much as a garage mechanic puts his ear to the hood, plays with the engine, quotes various alternatives, and concludes by replacing a few parts to get the buggy on the road again. What we have done is assimilate the evangelical mystery of marriage to the intricate functioning of a twelve-tappet, fuel-injected turbo-Jag. Snafty and impressive as this may be, it is still just a metal case with a lot of repetitively moving parts.

Am I completely crazy or is David Solway endorsing the behaviour of the Duke here? Solway down in comments:

[...] And bak, Don and physicist, as for Browning’s poem: I regard Browning as one of my cherished poetic mentors and have taught this poem for years in my classes. A few years back I published a lit/crit book, Random Walks, which contains a chapter on “My Last Duchess” called “Dukes and Duchesses,” in which I present an alternative reading of the poem in question. I was encouraged by the response of several Browning experts who admitted that they had never entertained such a revisionist analysis of the piece, based on solid evidence from the historical register and from the “shadow zone” of the poem itself. (A reading of Daniel Karlin’s book on Browning’s courtship with Elizabeth is also helpful.) I obviously don’t have the space here to present a thorough and would hope convincing exegesis–it required 17 close-packed pages in my book–but if you can get hold of the book from McGill-Queen’s University Press and glom the chapter, you might be surprised. Only if you are really interested, of course. But I do appreciate your comments.

Buy my book, and you will understand why the wonder and mystery of friendship is best shown in the example of Dr. Heiter.

3-2-1 GO!

Conspiracy time:

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.

It's a pity the the one person on television who could really explain this has been canned.

Bug

Really just camera play. My apologies for the infliction.

The Beauty of Faith

Here are excerpts from Laura Ingraham's new book:

I understand why so many churchgoers are in need of grace, because an awful lot of them display so very little.

That's right, Christians suck.

Why, knowing that you are about to shake hands with fellow congregants, either at the start of a service or during the sign of peace, would you pick your nose?

Also Christians delight in spreading filth.

Do these rude people (who I think have season tickets to the pew in front of mine) imagine that we don’t see them sneaking a dig?

Christians think others are oblivious to their disgusting behaviour.

Confession: I have actually gotten up and taken my children to the back of the church before the sign of peace to avoid shaking hands with the parish pickers.

The church is no place for a Christian.

My friend Ina told me she has seen people at her church’s “summer services” surfing the Internet on their iPhones.

Christians pay no attention.

They put the phones on mute and scroll through their texts and e-mail in the middle of Sunday observances.

Christians are selfish.

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you can “vacation” from decorum in the church!

Christians don't get vacations.

The summer weather seems to bring out the worst in some churchgoers, and it’s not just what they are doing, but what they are wearing.

The Christian wardrobe is appalling.

As the temperature rises, beachwear becomes the norm in some congregations.

Christians beach beach beach.

Shorts, sarong-like wraps, swim trunks, and flip-flops (which some wear year-round) are routine.

Christians are responsible for the flip-flop epidemic.

Unless your church is on a sand dune, these fashions are not only unwelcome but scary to many fellow parishioners.

The flip-flop epidemic is SCARY.

It reminds me of the woman I once saw exit a confessional in full body-hugging spandex.

Christians and bodies and hugging don't mix.

I don’t know if there was a spin class in there or what — but this was one spiritually dissonant image I could have lived without.

Christians want to live without.

The only thing possibly more obnoxious than the outrageous church fashions is the couples who are forever caressing each other in the pews.

Christians are horny as goats.

I suppose they do it initially to acknowledge a point of mutual interest being made from the pulpit.

The Bible makes you want to stroke your partner.

But there are other cases of roving fingers that I can’t explain at all.

Christians keep trying to get away with stuff.

One man I saw rubbed his wife’s back for an entire sermon.

Christianity is a massage parlour.

I’ve also seen people stroke their partner’s arms, legs, necks, even buttocks during services.

Christians are ass-grabbers.

Excuse me, but this is supposed to be worship, not a conjugal visit!

Christian sex is prison sex.

The only conception I’m even remotely interested in thinking about during church is of the immaculate variety.

Christians are constantly checking people's asses to make sure they won't be distracted by asses.

And that, friends, is why Laura Ingraham is so happy to be a Christian.

Fear!

And no wonder as the nuclear blast radius begins to consume the background trees.

Where Fish Was

Now you know. Sorry pal. It was a dream job - for SICKOS LIKE YOU - but it couldn't last.

Fat Cats

I didn't say it, you can't say I said it:

Kathryn Jean Lopez chats with Ian Murray about government fat cats.

Below, someone who does not work in government:



Go on. I DARE you.

Math

Upside-Downy Relations

Okay, it's not Marmite but aren't you all the same? Available here.

Sweet AND Salty

Fair food:

CALGARY — Walking through the Calgary Stampede Midway, there are more than a few options for food of the artery-clogging variety.

But the one that seems to stand out for people, either in disgust or genius, is the new doughnut burger.

Located near the main Lammle’s Western Wear Store, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

A beef burger with all the fixings stuffed between two maple-glazed doughnuts acting as the bun, all for $8.

“It’s dinner and dessert at the same time,” said Heidi Duchow, operator of the doughnut burger stand. “You get the sweet and the salty.

“All the different flavours at the same time.”

Haters Gonna Hate Is a Money-Making Formula

Panickers and their money are soon parted:

Rapid City, South Dakota (CNN) -- Walid Shoebat had a blunt message for the roughly 300 South Dakota police officers and sheriff's deputies who gathered to hear him warn about the dangers of Islamic radicalism.

Terrorism and Islam are inseparable, he tells them. All U.S. mosques should be under scrutiny.

"All Islamic organizations in America should be the No. 1 enemy. All of them," he says.

[...]

"Being an ex-terrorist myself is to understand the mindset of a terrorist," Shoebat told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

[...]

But CNN reporters in the United States, Israel and the Palestinian territories found no evidence that would support that biography. Neither Shoebat nor his business partner provided any proof of Shoebat's involvement in terrorism, despite repeated requests.

The thing about terrorists is that they float, whereas innocents sink and drown.

And You Knew Who You Were Then

John Nolte has a point right on the top of his head:

Mickey Rooney’s Japanese character in “Breakfast [at Tiffany's]” is way too over-the-top to ever be considered funny (I also think the movie is overrated in general), but if we’re going to start banning and making lists of “offensive” characterizations, I’d like to start with every portrayal of a Caucasian Eddie Murphy has ever done. And what about Archie Bunker? Talk about ethnic stereotyping.

Ha ha, he is totally right. There were never any white people like knee-jerk racist Archie Bunker or, er, all those white folks that Eddie Murphy must have played that I do not remember except for one Saturday Night Live sketch in which the white person does not really do much and a fantasy world is posited in which white people do not rip off white people ever.

Totally the same.

Bird Recipes

If you shake the test tubes just so the feathers come out shinier.



Visiting here again.

Summer

Praise the lord it appears to have arrived. Light posting, family stuff, yadda yadda yadda.

Below is Central Park:

Gardening Challenge

The Riddled folks have really got to get gardening to top this.

Under Your Skin

A new threat Threat THREAT!!!

Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen recently discussed surgically implanting an explosive device under the skin of a suicide bomber to get past airport detectors and blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

There is no indication of an immediate plot, but the government has warned airlines, stepped up security at U.S. airports and encouraged other countries to adjust security measures.

The focus is mostly on international flights, but domestic passengers are likely to see more bomb-sniffing dogs and an increased use of swabs that test for traces of explosive material on hands and luggage.

Do the bomb-sniffing dogs have to gnaw through your flesh to get at the explosive device or something? Because there could be a downside to false positives.

Crime Watch

News:

VANCOUVER — A B.C. Supreme Court jury has found a Vancouver acupuncturist guilty of sexually assaulting four of his female patients.

This is sad because those four women could really have gotten something outta that acupuncture.

Haw Haw Haw

It's the forwarded PowerPoints that really bug me.

He's Really Yelling KAUS! KAUS!

Well Done

Via Crooks and Liars it seems someone has learned a lesson:

Senate President Stephen Sweeney went to bed furious Thursday night after reviewing the governor’s line-item veto of the state budget.

He woke up Friday morning even angrier.

“This is all about [New Jersy Governor Chris Christie] being a bully and a punk,” he said in an interview Friday.

“I wanted to punch him in his head.”

Sweeney had just risked his political neck to support the governor’s pension and health reform, and his reward was a slap across the face. The governor’s budget was a brusque rejection of every Democratic move, and Sweeney couldn’t even get an audience with the governor to discuss it.

“You know who he reminds me of?” Sweeney says. “Mr. Potter from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ the mean old bastard who screws everybody.”

Way to go, Stephen Sweeney. I wonder what difference there should be between the fate of Christie's political neck and Sweeney's.

The Problems of the Wealthy

Surrealist Joke

Quoth the lovely daughter:

That monkey goes ahOOOOOga.

A pretty good show.

Free Game-Making Software

Looks to be a Windows thing, but it seems to make iPhone games as well.

Caspian Software makes a product called Thinking Worlds, which the company describes as a “globally unique 3D sims & games engine and authoring environment.” The product lets both beginners and advanced game-makers create and publish games quickly and easily, and even publish to iPad and iPhone.
Similar Articles:

On Friday, the company released the latest version of Thinking Worlds with the astonishing announcement that the formerly $4,999 package is now completely free to use. Advanced users will have the option to pay for additional features if they require them, but basic functionality is completely free.

I look forward to an orb game from Thundra.

The Inefficiencies of Communism

Here is a post entitled "How I Wound Up On the Blacklist" which purports to tell a tale of woeful discrimination by Hollywood liberals against innocent conservatives:

Three weeks later, after I had finished compositing all the shots that had previously been given to me, he told me there was no more work and I was being laid off along with some others. After working at this company over a three year period, I was never called back again. As I was called into interviews at other companies, I would see many of the other other Compositors working at these places. Maybe it was my imagination, but there always seemed to be some sneering and comments under breath to others upon seeing me. Out of dozens of visual effects companies I was well qualified to work at, none would hire me except one. There I spent another period of three years [...]

Yes friends, after being let go he went unhired until someone hired him. BLACKLIST SUCCESS JUTSU! Said blacklisted individual apparently now operates a production company of some sort in the Hollywood environs. DOUBLE BLACKLIST SUCCESS JUTSU!

Also in the piece are long descriptions of past arguments. Those descriptions are of the kind that patient listeners tolerate every day - can you believe one of those evil Democrats had a master's degree? - when they're trying to make sure the jerk calms down.

Mixology

That is high-quality entertainment in itself, but play this at the same time: