Bush Shocked to Discover He's Not King of America

Thank God someone finally clued the Decider in.

Star No Star No More

Every fiber of my being is screaming that I should not waste time typing about this, but it's just so juicy and cat-fighty. I can't resist. I would be ashamed of perpetuating sterotypes about women fighting other women, but I disown Star Jones as a member of the female tribe and thus, can claim innocence. She's some sort of wierd alien or something.

Star Jones is also a train wreck I just can't look away from. After having her tummy stapled and losing an Olsen twin's worth of weight, she has been stubbornly unwilling to own up to the surgery. Why Star why? Then she married a fruity guy at a gazillion-dollar wedding and wrote a self-agrandizing book. All the while mouthing off on her show with the four other gabby gals. Good times abound for Star!

But somewhere along the way, things stopped coming up Star and started coming up Rosie. O'Donnell that is. When Meredith was tapped to replace Katie on "Today," ABC picked Roise to replace her. Yikes. Throwdown waiting to happen.

So in her final stand against the other hens on "The View," she announced on the show this week she was leaving, taking everyone by suprise. Babs and ABC claim Jones was going to be fired all along. All for the best it seems. Honestly, I think if she and Rosie had been in the same room together for even a moment, all the oxygen would have been sucked up by their dueling egos and everyone around them would die horrible suffocating deaths.

Actually, that doesn't sound half bad.

Oh yeah, and the Supreme Court finally told Bush he can't try Guantanamo detainees in military tribunals. About time someone put a check on Bush's attempt at abusing his executive powers. Can they put a check on Star Jones' mouth too I wonder?

Burnin' Flags Still OK!

OK, I'm not a big flag burner, but you know, that's not what this is about. Just like the gay marriage amendment, this is about Republicans trying to passify their conservative base before an election. And to choose to try to codify what basically amounts to an attack on free speech is a deplorable way to pander to your base. Maybe I'm overstating, but it seems to me the consequences of that could mean more restrictions down the road. Slippery slope and all. Not a good scenario.

What pisses me off is it was probably 5 unelected a-holes in a bar on Pennsylvania Ave who decided to push this amendment as a pander move. And they almost got away with it. They were only one vote shy of allowing to go to state legislatures for approval. (I think Rockefeller's out sick.)

Coming soon, constitutional amendment to ban dog defecation on city streets. Sure we have laws that require owners to clean up, but why stop there?? While that steaming pile of poo is on the ground, it is an affront to every Americans' nostrils.

Down with Dog Doo!

Aaaaaaand....Scene

We've got an Oscar contender on our hands. Rep. Robert Ney told the Senate he didn't know anything about the Texas Indian tribe he apparently had many conversations with along with Jack Abramoff. A Ney spokesman said he (Ney) didn't recall the name of the tribe when asked about them in the hearings. Ah...yeah. Sure.

Abramaoff has rolled on everybody, why should he spare Ney? He says Ney agreed to work to reopen casinos that the "forgotten" tribe were forced to close. In exchange, turns out Abramoff and this influential tribe were Ney's biggest contributors in 2002.

Hmmm....

In the classic WDC way, Ney sic'ed his handlers on the press who said he couldn't recall the supposed many meetings he had with Abramoff and the reps from the tribes.

Ah, selective memory. The absolute best kind.

Will this make a difference in the grand scheme of things (i.e. mid-term elections)? Probably not so much. But it's still one more black mark on the Repub's record that SHOULD indicate a larger problem. How long before the public catches on to the fact that corruption in DC has less to do with who's blowing who (literally) than who's blowing who (you know how)?

Getting Sick, Bad for Your Health

This should scare you. A lot.

A two-year study by the Institute of Medicine finds that emergency rooms across the nation are ill-equipped of both (wo)man and machine to handle the glut of trauma cases that come through their sliding glass doors every day. Someone is turned away from emergency care every second of every day of the year. All you can do is hope that someone isn't you!

This NPR story elaborates.

Some of the most startling findings:

• You could be waiting 2 days to be admitted from the ER to a hospital bed.
  
  
• Some ambulatory services get you there faster than others. Chances of survival therefore vary greatly depending on severity of injury and...luck I guess?
  
  
• Due to the exorbitant costs of malpractice insurance and the rise of ER patients who do not have insurance and can't pay their bills, specialists are in short supply. So if, say, you bump your noggin and need a neurosurgeon consult, all you can do is pray one is hanging out in your ER.
  

So drink your OJ, keep exercising, no high-risk behaviors (no bungee jumping!), and cross your fingers that you stay out of the ER until conditions improve. Like when we're 80.

Woohoo for Webb!

Well, only 3% of registered voters actually voted in VA yesterday, but enough of them voted to get Webb into the Senate race. (Congrats to Kim and Amy!) It's not going to be easy to get stuffy George Allen to stop kissing Bush's ass long enough to get out of his seat, but Webb is certainly a good candidate to try. Even though his hair creeps me out a little bit.

Racism Abounds at World Cup

There have been a lot of reports about FIFA and the EU taking steps to curb violent racist outbreaks at the World Cup this year. What a shame that this is even an issue. Not that the US is a glowing example of stellar race relations. But, as one report I heard last night rightly stated, Europe has never had a civil rights movement, and many Western (re: white) Europeans still see themselves as superior to people of other races. And football fandom seems to be a venue of choice for people to "safely" act out their racists sentiments, albeit sometimes on their own teams' players.

Take the example of Marc Zoro, an internationally renowned footballer from the Ivory Coast who still gets bananas thrown at him on the field and monkey calls made at him. He left a game in April when the crowd's racist chants became too much for him to endure.

French footballer (and major hottie) Thierry Henry has joined with Nike to do a PSA about combatting racism complete with accompanying wristband. (When will the wristband thing end??) But it's going to take a lot more than PSA's to tackle this problem. Europe, you've been red carded.

"Who could hate me? I'm so hot!"

Gotsta Get Down

Having a rough day? Need a pick me up? There is no way you could watch this video and not feel better. Who doesn't love wacthing an aging Gen X-er kick it Old Skool? Enjoy.

Adventures in Job Hunting

You know, the past month has been a blast. I've been surfin' the Web, workin' the phones, networkin' the bejessuz(?) out of all of you (sorry), and I can feel that dream job comin' around the corner. But in the meantime, I think this will have to do:

Living Signs are people who stand at a certain intersection or street corner holding a directional sign/arrow to help generate traffic into communities. Saturdays and Sundays, 12PM-6PM. 2 fifteen minute breaks and 1 thirty minute lunch, not to be taken all at once. Staring pay $10.00/hr with possibilities up to $12.00/hr, based upon performance and reliability. Will provide shirt and hat. Must be willing to work outside.

Anybody have any better ideas?? I mean they provide a shirt AND a hat. Can't beat it with a stick.

Pander Bearing All

This is a good op-ed about how insulting the latest Bush pander must be to social conservatives, since everyone knows that the constitutional amendment on gay marriage is just a red herring to get conservative voters to the polls in November. Not that I have a terribly high opinion of folks who think this is an issue worth valid debate. I hope when this whole thing dies a quick death in the next few weeks, they take out their anger out on Bush and his buddies in Congress. Sssssssssuper!

Sad But True

Did you hear about this? I think I'm oddly fascinated by this story because one of the girls has my name.

Two girls are in an accident. One dies, the other is severely injured (apparently in the facial area). The family of the deceased girl mourns her death and buries her, the other girl recovers in hospital surrounded by her family. Until they finally figure out that the coroner confused the two girls, and the one everyone thought was alive is dead and vice versa. This sounds like an urban legend. Too bad it's not. The body wrongly buried in a grave with the living girl's name on it is being exhumed today.

Also sad but true...

Republicans make a desparate attempt to mobilize their base before November(and waste a lot of time) by playing the Ban Gay Marriage and Ban Flag Burning cards. Real mature guys.

And...

Patrick Kennedy's out of rehab. Look out if you're wandering the Hill late at night!

What's Your Sleep Pose?

Oh you Dave Eggers. Ever informing the world about important life-changing truths.

Like how to figure out your sleep pose! (Here's mine)

McSweeney's via DCist. (Yes, I'm bored on a Friday).

Find your own pose!

Fluff Day News: Naked Edition

Naked Fluff!

Happy muggy Friday everyone. In honor of the impending weekend, here are some goofball stories about stupid people courtesy of Fark.com:

Turns out driving your police cruiser naked is NOT a good idea.

Neither is trying to shoplift naked.

Or illegally cross the border into Texas(presumably not naked but you never know).

Suprise! Most people drink booze hoping to get naked.

And feminists celebrate nakedness in Toronto. (Brr!!)