It started yesterday with this report on Drudge, proclaiming that Crashing The Gate, the newly-released book by lefty bloggers Markos Zuniga ("Kos" of Daily Kos) and Jerome Armstrong (of MyDD), was doing terribly in terms of book sales. According to Drudge’s source, Nielson’s Bookscan, CTG has sold only 3,630 copies. In response, Kos pointed out that Bookscan only tabulates books … Read More
Clever Bastards
With congressional approval poll numbers in freefall (it’s now 22%, down from 33% just one month ago), Senate Republicans have come up with a way to eke out a victory in upcoming elections: buying your vote.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
A new report says that FEMA is beyond repair: Crippled by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot be fixed, a bipartisan investigation says in recommendations to be released Thursday. ….Describing FEMA as a "shambles and beyond repair," [Republican Senator Susan] Collins said the overall report "will help ensure that we do not have … Read More
Net Neutrality Loses In House
It happened: Internet carriers would have a free hand to charge the likes of Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. extra for faster delivery of services to consumers under a bill approved by a House committee Wednesday. The vote, 42-12, brings a two-tier Internet one step closer to reality despite the wishes of a broad coalition of Web site … Read More
The Elusive O
Some rightwing Christian nuttery is simply too good not to pass on. Via Sadly, No, via TBogg, we’re treated to the musings of a blog called the "Edicts of Nancy", and her unique theories: The Left continues to tout the existence of the elusive female orgasm, despite all biological evidence to the contrary. As I have often said, if The … Read More
Exxon Records Huge Profits …Again
Read about it here. I watched The Daily Show last night, as host Jon Stewart talked with Kimberly Strassel, a Wall Street Journal senior editorial page writer. She was on to discuss the gas prices, and the reason for it. What Stewart wanted to know was, quite simply, why gas prices were so high. Strassel, clearly defending the oil and … Read More
Tin Soldiers And Nixon’s Coming
Nearly 25 years after the Kent State massacre, Neil Young still isn’t one to mince words, as he demonstrates in his unsubtly-titled new song: "Impeach The President": Let’s impeach the president for lyingAnd leading our country into warAbusing all the power that we gave himAnd shipping all our money out the door He’s the man who hired all the criminalsThe … Read More
Bush Is Pro-Life? Uh, Not So Much
Remember when Bush cut his vacation short (the only time he did it) to fly back to D.C. in the middle of the night so that he could sign a bill hastily drafted by Congress to save Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state? It was a national debate which pitted the pro-life religious right with the … Read More
More Kellie
Getting ready for work this morning, I had the local Fox affiliate on in the background. Joining the Fox crew in the studio was voted-off American Idol finalist and North Carolina native Bucky Covington. And shortly before 8:00, live from Hollywood via satellite, they conducted an interview with Kellie Pickler, who had only had one hour of sleep last night … Read More
American Idol Update: Albemarle Calling
Yup. I’m a fan — I think she’s — well — you know. Just sweet and humble and ditzy and real. But in the talent department, she just didn’t have the stuff anymore. For kicks and grins, I went to the Kellie Pickler fan site (the biggest one I believe — there are many) to see the initial reactions. First … Read More
Net Neutrality Again
Look, I know it’s a boring issue, but it is important. Fortunately, via Digby, there’s a good analogy which explains the issue quite well: What the telecoms are trying to get away with is like this: suppose you ran a business, and your product was delivered by FedEx, with your customers paying FedEx for it. Now suppose FedEx came to … Read More
One Billion Words In The English Language
The Associated Press headline proclaims "English Language Hits 1 Billion Words" and the first three paragraphs of the article read: A massive language research database responsible for bringing words such as "podcast" and "celebutante" to the pages of the Oxford dictionaries has officially hit a total of 1 billion words, researchers said Wednesday. Drawing on sources such as weblogs, chatrooms, … Read More
Dracula Sucks
Another Broadway musical about Dracula, the third vampire-based musical attempt in four years, is getting crucified by the critics. This time it is "Lestat" — an Elton John-Bernie Taupin creation — based on the Anne Rice novels. In a review headlined "Vampires, the musical kiss of death," The Washington Post’s Peter Marks said the fixation with singing vampires had to … Read More
Rove Indictment Imminent?
Could be. Larry O’Donnell wrote: Karl Rove’s return to the grand jury today could mean the end of the Rove investigation or the beginning of the Rove prosecution. It depends on who asked Rove to return. If Fitzgerald asked Rove to return to the grand jury, that means Fitzgerald thinks he doesn’t have enough for an indictment. If Rove asked … Read More