ABC is Remaking "V"

OMG OMG OMG

Coming mid-season '09, so probably early 2010.



Will you watch?

Nostalgia: Atari 2600 - The Fun is Back

Under fifty bucks? Now isn't that nice?

Quickie on Health Care

I heard some Republican choad this morning say that they would never enact a system that would place a bureaucrat between a person and their health care.

I say that (or technically a law facilitating care) is much better than what we have now: a shady insurance company who's sole, driving interest is to DENY you access to that care in order to maintain a substantial profit margin.

But I guess Republican lawmakers can't get kickbacks from a law.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Enemy Combatants?

So now Congress won't give Obama his $80 million to close Gitmo.

(Wait; why again does it cost $80 million to close Gitmo? As Ron Paul puts it: "A padlock costs about 10 bucks and buses are cheap.")

Well, where them terr'rists gonna live? I doan want no Osama bin Laden walkin' roun on my streets.

First off, they're not terrorists; they're enemy combatants. If we were being faithful to the Geneva Convention, they'd be called Prisoners of War. Second, they aren't being released into the wilds of Small Town America. They would go to one of our jails.

But them terr'rists could break out and come get me and my family cause they hate America cause of our freedoms.

There are about 2 million people in America's prision system at any given time. There are less than 250 detainees at Gitmo. Have you ever had an escaped convict enter your home and threaten your family?

Well, no, but they hate America cause they're terr'rists.

But I told you; they're not terrorists. Some of the people in America's prisons are actual terrorists. Like the Unabomber? Many of the other convicts are murders. They hate life. I saw a guy on Discovery the other day who was in prison at 15 and said it was his personal mission to kill as many people as he could before he died.

Aww, he's just a kid. But them terr'rists are tricky.

What about Montana? There's a prison up there that wants the terr- dang, detainees. Says it'll create over 100 jobs.

Yeah, but they'll break out and then it'll be terr'rists on our streets.

It snows a lot in Montana.

Hmmm...that might work. Snow is like poison lava to them arabs.

So we bring them?

Hell no. Osama'll kill my family. Obama- hehe. See what I did there?

Clever.

He's a Muslim, you know.

Lovely.

I really don't know exactly how to reason with anyone with an irrational fear that someone will break out of one of our prisons and specifically target them. They are retarded. Unfortunately, many of "them" are currently running the country. And a certain number will never vote yea on anything having to do with Gitmo unless it is a bill to pay for 250 bullets.

Let's just say I'm a little disappointed with the Democratic Party as a whole as of late.

For My Cleveland Friends

Having spent most of my life in Cleveland, I can post this with good humor:

Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video (h/t @akbiocity)

Juxtaposition

Travel up I-75 around Troy, MI, and you'll pass this exit, as I was fortunate enough to do a couple times in my life.



Exit 69: Big Beaver Road

This Week's Rape Van

It's Wednesday and you know what that means. Oh, no, I guess you don't because I'm trying something new. I'm going to stick to it; and I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?

Yesterday on Twitter I started a new hashtag #rapevan in a tweet about limitations on the awful things credit card companies do to us. IM discussion with my friend Brent (he's got something to link to now!) brought up the spectre of an actual rape van and hijacking the hashtag. He provided me with an image.

All that just to say: Here's your weekly rape van.



Filthy? check
Rusting? check
Limited windows? check
Airbrushed mural? check
Airbrushed mural contains dragon? check
Bumper held on by wire coming from brake light well? check

Actually, as I have apparently found Plato's Form of a rape van, I don't know that there is any reason to continue posting mere facsimiles. Perhaps I have defeated myself in another regular feature.

Let me know. Would you like to see a weekly image of an mural van that makes you cringe? Any examples you would like to submit? How about best submission gets a custom Rape Van Hunter badge?

[UPDATE: "Rape Van" has been tastefully changed to "Van Mural"]

Welcome New Friends

I spent some time today and made a lot of new friends.

And yes, I now need to take some time and update (and winnow) my Blogroll. Maybe I'll even enter everyone in that fancy widget that shows your last blog post too. Oh so hoity-toity. But I'll get to it, so quitcha bitchin'.

I just wanted to welcome you. Have a look around. Make some new friends yourself in my follow list. Most people enjoy the original photoshops. Have fun!

Andrew Wilkow Continues

Over a year ago, after listening to Andrew Wilkow a few times on Sirius, I created a post entitled Andrew Wilkow: My New Pain in the Ass.

If you haven't read it, it's interesting enough. Calling out right-wing douchebags usually is. The reason I mention it is that is has consistently been the largest draw to my blog and even after a year still getting comments (many are mine, but I'm up to 89). Enjoy!

I believe tomorrow I shall inform you about what else seems to draw people here. It's quite interesting and involves elf porn.

Stop Starbucks ...?

I got an email today from Brave New Films, a great group known for bringing some of the evils of Walmart into the light for everyone to see. They sent me a link to the following video and a website to Stop Starbucks:



The shitstamp on the forehead of Starbucks, according to this video and its sources, is that Starbucks is engaging in union-busting activities. Okay, bad on them. That should stop.

But Brave New Films goes a few steps too far in demonizing Starbucks as something equivalent to Walmart. And they're not. And that's not fair if we're going to be claiming to stand upon principles based on all the facts.

How about the differences between Starbucks and Walmart?

• Starbucks has always paid well over minimum wage and offers benefits to part-time workers as well as quick advancement to dedicated employees.
• Walmart trims corners everywhere, refusing to pay anywhere close to a living wage, seldom offering benefits, has issues with equal pay and advancement for women.


• Starbucks gets involved in local, community projects to improve the neighborhood in which they're located.
• Walmart creates acres of parking lots, local traffic problems, and barely-scraping-by poor.


• Starbucks has engaged the Free Trade program, making sure the coffee growers are getting a fair cut for the product they supply.
• Walmart is known for strong-arming their suppliers into shifting their manufacturing to China, killing thousands of manufacturing jobs and exploiting millions of Chinese men, women, and children.

If we're going to complain about something - and something that by all counts needs to be exposed - then do it fairly and without the sensationalism. Otherwise we're filling our pleas with as much bullshit as the Right Wing anytime they raise an issue. And then who would believe our causes?