January 20, 2009 5:00 PM
Get down with Joe Biden!
Which does he love more: a parade, or finally being second in line to the presidency?
January 20, 2009 4:29 PM
A smooth transition, too positive for Bush-bashing
Isn't it nice that we don't have power transfers like so many third-world nations that would just erupt into military revolts and rioting in the streets? In fact, this transfer of power was so smooth and congenial that I bet there's not a single "O" key missing from the computers in the White House. (Wink wink, nudge nudge, Bill staff...)
Now that Barack Obama is officially president of the United States, I hope Americans of all political stripes can acknowledge George W. Bush's hospitality toward the new first family. Some status updates that have come across my Facebook today have included one friend wanting to smack Bush across the face on the way out, another lauding the departure of the "Shrub" (please, that's so 2000), and, of course, the borderline conspiracy theory rumblings that Chief Justice John Roberts purposely flubbed Obama's oath as just another cog in the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
For those looking to get in their parting shots at the old president, why not just celebrate the new president instead? That would really be "change." You don't think that Bush has been beaten down enough, dodging shoes, aging exponentially in eight years, having Cindy Sheehan as a squatter next to his private home? Funny how anger still pervades what's supposed to be Hope (TM) and Change (TM) Day. Protesters are trying to figure out life post-Bush (note: they'll still be angry about something), but I sure hope they let the man retire in peace and don't initiate more Texas campouts. Enough already.
Here's some positives to go along with that positive vibe today: Bush's daughters penned this cute letter to Obama's daughters on life in the White House, published by WSJ. And speaking of WSJ, you'll enjoy James Taranto's comparison of Bush's second inaugural address and Obama's speech today. That is, if you didn't throw a fit at the picture I posted.
Now that Barack Obama is officially president of the United States, I hope Americans of all political stripes can acknowledge George W. Bush's hospitality toward the new first family. Some status updates that have come across my Facebook today have included one friend wanting to smack Bush across the face on the way out, another lauding the departure of the "Shrub" (please, that's so 2000), and, of course, the borderline conspiracy theory rumblings that Chief Justice John Roberts purposely flubbed Obama's oath as just another cog in the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
For those looking to get in their parting shots at the old president, why not just celebrate the new president instead? That would really be "change." You don't think that Bush has been beaten down enough, dodging shoes, aging exponentially in eight years, having Cindy Sheehan as a squatter next to his private home? Funny how anger still pervades what's supposed to be Hope (TM) and Change (TM) Day. Protesters are trying to figure out life post-Bush (note: they'll still be angry about something), but I sure hope they let the man retire in peace and don't initiate more Texas campouts. Enough already.
Here's some positives to go along with that positive vibe today: Bush's daughters penned this cute letter to Obama's daughters on life in the White House, published by WSJ. And speaking of WSJ, you'll enjoy James Taranto's comparison of Bush's second inaugural address and Obama's speech today. That is, if you didn't throw a fit at the picture I posted.
January 8, 2009 10:16 AM
Heads and tales: Non-progressive aliens and a progressively worse Ponzi scheme
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION BETWEEN KEVIN BACON AND HIS MONEY: The actor is one of Ponzi specialist Bernard Madoff's victims, but so were many average Joes, including 80-something journalist Tom Tugend. He writes about his loss on The Jewish Journal's brilliantly named Madoff blog, Swindler's List.
BEST POLL ON THE ROCKY'S FUTURE EVER: Particularly option No. 4. ROFL. (ColoradoPols)
LOCAL PRO-ISRAEL, PRO-HAMAS PROTETS: Josh Sharf has video from Monday night. Next up: a pro-Israel rally at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Capitol west side steps, sponsored by Americans Against Terrorism. Meanwhile, Boulderites will demonstrate for the Palestinian side Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. at Broadway and Canyon.
ER, I DON'T THINK IT'S THAT BAD: Rocky Mountain Right compares the Bennet for Senate pick with the doomed-from-the-start Harriet Miers SCOTUS nod.
ALIENS AGAINST ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: UFO with bad driver, or an ax to grind against clean power, hits a wind turbine and tears off a 65-foot blade. I'd add "allegedly," but I guess you already knew that. (The Sun) I remember one alien that was against nuclear power...
BEST POLL ON THE ROCKY'S FUTURE EVER: Particularly option No. 4. ROFL. (ColoradoPols)
LOCAL PRO-ISRAEL, PRO-HAMAS PROTETS: Josh Sharf has video from Monday night. Next up: a pro-Israel rally at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Capitol west side steps, sponsored by Americans Against Terrorism. Meanwhile, Boulderites will demonstrate for the Palestinian side Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. at Broadway and Canyon.
ER, I DON'T THINK IT'S THAT BAD: Rocky Mountain Right compares the Bennet for Senate pick with the doomed-from-the-start Harriet Miers SCOTUS nod.
ALIENS AGAINST ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: UFO with bad driver, or an ax to grind against clean power, hits a wind turbine and tears off a 65-foot blade. I'd add "allegedly," but I guess you already knew that. (The Sun) I remember one alien that was against nuclear power...
January 5, 2009 12:47 PM
Hurry, get your bayonets before it's too late!
This morning, the Rocky ran a story about gun sales shooting through the roof in anticipation of the Obama presidency -- no, not because someone necessarily wants to shoot him, but because many gun owners fear he'll restrict 2nd Amendment rights. But this photo that ran with the story, from Sunday's Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Aurora -- I hope there's not a run on fixed bayonets! Yikes!
January 5, 2009 11:32 AM
Heads and tales: Locals plan Israel-Gaza protests tonight, more
BENNET, THE MONDAY AFTER: I don't even need to link to a specific post over at ColoradoPols, because they're all over the surprising pick of "The Unknown Aristocrat." On the other side of the political fence, Mount Virtus notes that the GOP shouldn't take Bennet lightly when it comes to 2010. El Presidente provides more reaction linkage.
LIKE ISRAEL? LIKE HAMAS?: Both sides in the Gaza conflict have been hitting the streets locally. Tonight is a Community Solidarity Gathering for Israel at the Hebrew Educational Alliance, 3600 South Ivanhoe, at 5:30 p.m., with a counter-protest planned by Sabeel from 5 p.m. to 6:30. The notice said "residential area, parking available" -- so yay, local residents, have fun getting home!
NOT EVEN WORTH THE EFFORT: Josh Sharf on Denver's $6 million to buy up distressed properties.
15 MINUTES OF FAME JUST BECAME 20: Joe the Plumber is a scheduled speaker at the Conservative 2.0 sister conference to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
JUST MULTIPLY THE REAL NUMBER BY 18: The Taliban claim they killed 5,220 foreign fighters last year, plus took down 31 aircraft (with what, harsh language?) in the most amusing P.R. blitz in a long time.
LIKE ISRAEL? LIKE HAMAS?: Both sides in the Gaza conflict have been hitting the streets locally. Tonight is a Community Solidarity Gathering for Israel at the Hebrew Educational Alliance, 3600 South Ivanhoe, at 5:30 p.m., with a counter-protest planned by Sabeel from 5 p.m. to 6:30. The notice said "residential area, parking available" -- so yay, local residents, have fun getting home!
NOT EVEN WORTH THE EFFORT: Josh Sharf on Denver's $6 million to buy up distressed properties.
15 MINUTES OF FAME JUST BECAME 20: Joe the Plumber is a scheduled speaker at the Conservative 2.0 sister conference to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
JUST MULTIPLY THE REAL NUMBER BY 18: The Taliban claim they killed 5,220 foreign fighters last year, plus took down 31 aircraft (with what, harsh language?) in the most amusing P.R. blitz in a long time.
December 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Heads and tales: Ban guns, replace with knives; more
YOU CAN'T TELL A COW TO HOLD IT IN: The Libertarian Party of Colorado sounds off on a proposal to tax ranchers for the methane that their animals produce. I mean, what next? Chinchilla toots?
WHAT HE SAID: TChris on Chip Saltsman going down with the "Barack the Magic Negro" ship. (TalkLeft)
OK, IRAQI SECURITY FORCES WILL BE READY IN TIME: What with this brutal hazing at the Baghdad police academy. (Oddly Enough)
BUT EVERYBODY LAUDS THE UK FOR HAVING GUN CONTROL: Six people a week are now stabbed to death in Britain. Even 50 Cent may have trouble surviving those odds. (The Sun)
2008 GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED AUTO SHOW: With the government extending a hand into the domestic auto industry, the boys at The People's Cube get nostalgic for a bit of Soviet machinery. A must-read.
WHAT HE SAID: TChris on Chip Saltsman going down with the "Barack the Magic Negro" ship. (TalkLeft)
OK, IRAQI SECURITY FORCES WILL BE READY IN TIME: What with this brutal hazing at the Baghdad police academy. (Oddly Enough)
BUT EVERYBODY LAUDS THE UK FOR HAVING GUN CONTROL: Six people a week are now stabbed to death in Britain. Even 50 Cent may have trouble surviving those odds. (The Sun)
2008 GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED AUTO SHOW: With the government extending a hand into the domestic auto industry, the boys at The People's Cube get nostalgic for a bit of Soviet machinery. A must-read.
December 26, 2008 3:37 PM
Did you miss Mahmoud's Merry Christmas special?
A British TV station decided to carry this as the response (rebuttal? huh?) to the queen's annual Christmas message. Thankfully, some people are annoyed at the broadcast of a Christmas message by a Holocaust denier. The official Iranian line is that just crazy Zionists are irked by Mahmoud's merry message. Because peace on Earth goes so well with plutonium.
December 19, 2008 5:34 PM
Remind anyone of Monty Python's 'Life of Brian'?
This photo of Um Sa'aad, a sister of Iraqi shoe-tossing journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi, is just awesome on so many points. Remember how the flock in "Life of Brian" removed one shoe and followed him? That's basically most of the Mideast right now. And al-Zeidi's sis reminds me of the women at the stoning:
Well, come on, she's angry enough. She's about to chuck that shoe at the AP photographer. In other shoe-chucking news, some twerp in New York tried to pull off a sequel at an MTA board meeting, never mind that the shoe-sole insult doesn't exactly carry the weight here that it does in the Arab world.
In other shoe-thrower news, a Palestinian patriarch, Ahmad Salim Judeh (People's Front of Judeh?), has offered one of his daughters to bachelor al-Zeidi, dowry included. That's a great idea. It's not as if al-Zeidi has an anger-management problem or anything.
December 19, 2008 9:28 AM
Somalis: Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me
They're flashy! They're dashing! They're what every Somali kid now wants to be -- a greedy goon in a rickety speedboat taking hostages and using ransom to buy flashy toys and lure women. I couldn't help but laugh at this McClatchy story inside the pirates' den:
"...While their countrymen suffer through another political crisis and the looming threat of famine, pirates are splashing hundred-dollar bills like play money around the nowhere towns of northern Somalia .
Residents say that the pirates are building houses, buying flashy cell phones and air-conditioned SUVs, gifting friends and relatives with hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars and winning the attention of beautiful women, who seem to be flocking to pirate towns from miles around.
Shopkeepers charge the pirates a premium for food and khat -- a narcotic leaf that Somali men chew religiously -- but the buccaneers don't seem to mind.
'It is true,' said a 28-year-old pirate who identified himself as Jama. 'We are getting very rich.'
Jama, who described himself as a high-ranking member of a group based in Eyl, has earned $375,000 as a pirate, enough to buy a Toyota Land Cruiser and to begin building a six-bedroom house in Garowe, the regional capital, for his family. His biggest payday came last month, when he earned a $92,000 share of a $1.3 million ransom for a Greek ship, the MV Centauri, which was released after 10 weeks with its crew unharmed.
Almost overnight, Jama said, his standing with the fairer sex has improved dramatically.
'Once there was a girl who lived in Garowe,' 100 miles from Eyl, Jama said. 'I loved her. I tried to approach her many times, but she rejected me. But since I became a pirate, she has tried nine times to get with me.
'But I refused, because I'm already married.'"
A pirate with morals -- how touching!
December 17, 2008 1:58 PM
Heads and tales: Little Hitler gets cake and eats it, too; more
THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW, TOO: ColoradoPols, posting on the appointment of Ken Salazar as Interior secretary, asks, "But will he wear the hat to Cabinet meetings?" Perhaps I'll ask him that when he drops by the edit board here this week.
A BAD CHOICE FOR NATIVE AMERICANS?: Steven Nielson is concerned about what the Salazar appointment means for tribal rights. (The New Conservative)
AND THEN THERE'S BOB BASLER'S TAKE ON THE APPOINTMENT: I can't stop laughing. Or thinking about "Bonanza." (Oddly Enough)
THE GRINCH WHO STOLE MINNESOTA: Dan Blatt delves into the recount madness and Al Franken. (GayPatriot)
WOULD YOU MAKE A CAKE FOR ADOLF HITLER?: The 3-year-old version with Aryan-fetish parents, that is. Apparently he got his cake and ate it, too, at a party "including several children of mixed race." Who, little Idi Amin Lucas, little Pol Pot Smith and little Janjaweed Jones? (The Associated Press)
A BAD CHOICE FOR NATIVE AMERICANS?: Steven Nielson is concerned about what the Salazar appointment means for tribal rights. (The New Conservative)
AND THEN THERE'S BOB BASLER'S TAKE ON THE APPOINTMENT: I can't stop laughing. Or thinking about "Bonanza." (Oddly Enough)
THE GRINCH WHO STOLE MINNESOTA: Dan Blatt delves into the recount madness and Al Franken. (GayPatriot)
WOULD YOU MAKE A CAKE FOR ADOLF HITLER?: The 3-year-old version with Aryan-fetish parents, that is. Apparently he got his cake and ate it, too, at a party "including several children of mixed race." Who, little Idi Amin Lucas, little Pol Pot Smith and little Janjaweed Jones? (The Associated Press)
