Is It Bigger Than a Baby's Arm?

I'm quite comfortable with the size of my man meat (you know, my cock, trouser trout, schlong, wang, lizard, dragon, one-eyed monster, power broker, down-south poker), but bring up the size of my blogroll, and my face goes redder than a nun's engorged clit as she catches a glimpse of Peter Sarsgaard's ass in Kinsey.

The blushing began at a single glance over at Freida Bee's place, where she explains (of which I was already aware, being the internets SEO foo I am) that the blogroll isn't rated by the search engines much, if at all. If you want it to count, the link needs to be in the text. Technorati loves that too, like fat kids love cake.

Then I saw it at PoliTits and before I knew it, everyone's was bigger than mine.

As Jar Jar Binks would say, I'sa bina lazee fucka. So let's make some amends and fatten that bastard up.

Oh, shit. Freida Bee's not even on my blogroll. What kind of person am I? Not all the 35 Percenters are, I guess - hell, even the 35 Percenters blog isn't. That will now add Blue Man in a Red District, Dandelion Salad, The Greenbelt, The Hermit with Davis Fleetwood, Hip-Hop Is Read, The Largest Minority, Modern Musings, Monkey Muck, Peace Elf, Peace Garden, Phydeaux Speaks, The Quaker Agitator, and Today's Talk (yes, I'm alphabetizing like I would book titles, and "The" does not put it under T).

And hunting through another few bounces and blogrolls is Angry Ballerina because it's fucking raw and brilliant, Lily's Karmic Reverberations because she's my new blogging buddy at All Things Democrat, Morning Martini because, hey, morning martinis, flowers, and kitties, Feministing because I think chicks should be all equal and shit, and Rob Bast's 2012 Blog because, deep down, I'm a little batshit crazy. Ooh, and I can't forget Skepchick because - damn! - women and science and ...I think I just got all melty.

So before I dump my load and spit out the final feed (yes, new folks get double dips), a quick suggestion to other folks with other blogs:

When adding links to your blogs or blogrolls, after making your link look like this:
<a href="http://www.website.com">Website Name</a>

now make it look like this

<a href="http://www.website.com" target="_blank" title="Website Name">Website Name</a>

The "target" bit opens a new window or tab and keeps the reader on your blog too. The Website name, well that makes search engines tinkle just a little in their pants from glee. Not only that, you can see that "title text" by simply mousing over a link. *pop* and there it is. Yay! (Oh, I wasn't actually quoting anyone there, just sets it apart s'y'cun se'er bitter.)

Oh, yeah, I promised a load:

• 2012 Blog
• 35 Percenters blog
• All Things Democrat
• Angry Ballerina
• Bad Astronomy
• Bad Business
• Balls and Walnuts
• Blue Gal
• Blue Man in a Red District
• Club Lefty
• Crooked House
• Crooks and Liars
• Cut to the Chase
• Dandelion Salad
• Feministing
• Freida Bee
• The Greenbelt
• The Hermit with Davis Fleetwood
• Hip-Hop Is Read
• Karmic Reverberations
• The Largest Minority
• Modern Musings
• Monkey Muck
• Morning Martini
• North State Blogs
• Peace Elf
• Peace Garden
• Phydeaux Speaks
• PoliTits
• Princess Sparkle Pony's Picture Blog
• The Quaker Agitator
• Rox Populi
• Think Progress
• Today's Talk
• xkcd

See? It's not necessarily all that much bigger than anyone else's, but - damn! - it's got girth.

Sidenote: I'm going to be soon doing some redesign to get rid of the standard Blogger template and look all personalized and professional and shit, so coming soon the above folks will look even more impressive in Linktastica!

Sidenote 2: If you have a blog and want to join Cause for Concern's Linktastica! (or, of course, if I'm a douche and you should already be there), just send me an email - I think I even have my IM in there; what the hell am I thinking? - through my profile.

And that is all.

I am Eraserhead

Which David Lynch Movie am I?


you are: eraserhead
Take this quiz!


I knew it.

Thanks Blue Gal, and congrats on you 1400th post!

Ricky's Wisdom for Today - 2/19/08

The Dalai Lama consistently impresses me with the plain-spoken wisdom that can be found coming from his mind. Simple. Beautiful. And true.

Anger is the real destroyer of our good human qualities; an enemy with a weapon cannot destroy these qualities, but anger can. Anger is our real enemy.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Lindsay Lohan as Marilyn Monroe: Naked

That's right. I said "naked." And Lindsay Lohan. And Marilyn Monroe. Of course I'd be flattered if you touched yourself while reading this blog.


Photograph by Bert Stern

Back in 1963, Marilyn Monroe sat for a photo shoot in which she appeared naked. It has since been referred to as "The Last Sitting" because six weeks later, she was found dead.

Now Lindsay Lohan, a fan of Marilyn, has sat for a "remix" if you will of those photos for New York Magazine (link NSFW because of, well, boobies).

And now the faux concern floodgates open: I can't listen to entertainment news without hearing "Oh Em Gee! Marilyn got naked photos and died six weeks later and now Lindsay took the photos and she's on a downward starlet spiral. Achtung! Peligro! The fucking world's coming to an end!"

Let's make one thing clear: Lindsay Lohan is not Marilyn Monroe; Lindsay Lohan is a mid-grade celebrity and a low-grade social alcoholic. Besides, everyone knows Marilyn was whacked because her ties to JFK and I don't believe Lindsay has fucked the president.

I can't stand "entertainment news." But photography, well...


Note: Photobucket, while hosting this image for dozens of others, has deleted mine twice now. Bastards. At least I can upload through Blogger.

If You're Not a Vegetarian Yet...

Thank God for the Humane Society, but this video is disturbing.



What's more disturbing? Our society. Bo Reagan, vice president of research for the Colorado-based National Cattleman’s Beef Association, said "The welfare of our animals – that’s the heart and soul of our operations."

But...don't you kill them? En masse? To make the yummy, innocuous Big Macs we glut ourselves on?

I would hate to see him care for the welfare of his own children.

It's videos like this that push me into meat avoidance for a few weeks, but my complacency as an American consumer that allows me to float back into the meat-eating world.

I know.

NPR Ombudsman Blows Off Concern

On February 11th, NPR and Talk of the Nation's Neal Conan held a roundtable discussion about coverage of the presidential campaigns. About 20 minutes in, Alicia Shepard, NPR Ombudsman, had this notable interchange with a disgruntled caller:

WARNER: I'm calling because there's been no coverage, generally, but also on NPR about the current presidential race in the Green Party of the United States. We had four primaries last Tuesday in Massachusetts, Arkansas, Illinois, and California, and it seems to me that basic journalism includes covering the facts, and if you're not covering all the facts, you're not doing your job. And I've also not heard anything about large-scale voting interference with Green Party members voting in Illinois, which occured last Tuesday, and I want to know if NPR is going to cover the District of Columbia primary that's going to be happening tomorrow, including the Green Party Primary.

SHEPARD: I don't think I can answer that, but let's hope that the political editor, Ron Elving, is listening, and I'm sure that NPR will be covering the Democratic primary in the District.

CONAN: Republican primary too.

WARNER: Well, that's the point. There's also another party's primary - the Green Party primary - the Libertarian party, which is another smaller, national party, also is not getting any coverage, and they have a full slate of presidential candidates also. I know because I saw their ballot with mine for the California primary.

CONAN: Warner, thanks very much for the call. Let's see if we can go now....

What the fuck just happened?

The Ombudsman is supposed to stand for oversight and extended explanations over policy. A policy question about news being completely ignored was directly asked of Alicia Shepard. And she completely ignored his concern and said the Dems and Repubs would be covered for sure - which is exactly his point!

And when he elucidated and brought up more ignored small party news, Neal Conan cut him off and went to another caller.

Proper coverage of anyone not on Media Sweetheart list, anyone not suckling at the teat of Media Mania, is being completely ignored. And it is not simple "Shhhh," brush it under the carpet, but a blatant, public, debilitating mushroom stamp from the Judgment Cock of Big Media. And today, Alicia Shepard wields that club.

Listen at the above link. Contact Alicia Shepard at the Ombudsman's Page. Let her know what you feel after you hear Warner get knocked down by the person who's supposed to at least listen to the little guy.

Michael Savage: When Hate Crosses the Line

(I know, when is MS not crossing a line.)

I've hit up Michael Savage a couple times in the last month, specifically for the well-documented rage against Muslims and more recently a rant against Heath Ledger. I have also received appropriate feedback pertaining to my posts - to a certain extent.

When Michael Savage spit his acid at Muslims and, specifically, CAIR, that's all happy hating opinion, and fine in America, even if contemptuously hideous. The same goes for his frequent rants about how homosexuals are ruining America and San Francisco in particular: it's ugly speech, but protected speech; turn it off or blog about it or yell at your neighbors about it if you don't like it.

However, when he says that Heath Ledger intentionally killed himself "with needles" because he couldn't handle how his portrayal of homosexuality ruined the image of "great America itself," that is slander. Slander is "a false and defamatory oral statement about a person," and the statement about Heath Ledger fits right in there. And that is not protected speech.

So this past Tuesday, Savage was harfing our more verbal filth, this time against the educational establishment, and said "most sociologists are child molesters." So where does that fit on the protected speech-o-meter? He's not really talking about specific person, but he's clearly attributing a social deviancy to a specific group of people delineated by vocation. What are your thoughts?

And since it's Valentine's Day, I thought this appropriate:



So how's that fit in to our discussion?

St. Peter in Chains - One Hour Delay

I was monitoring the school delay listings today and spotted one rather curious entry: St. Peter in Chains School. Obviously, my mind immediately flitted to BDSM pornography, then to the Jesus and Mary Chain, then Tori Amos singing "Crucify" (cha-i-a-i-a-i-a-i-ains, who-oah) before I finally realized I had no actual reference for why this obviously Catholic School (Catholics are retarded for saints) had taken such a curious name.

Well, Simon Peter, a.k.a. St. Peter (denied Christ, first pope, yada yada) was imprisoned by Herod Agrippa who was going to kill him. But before he could be killed, an angel - yes, an otherworldly entity - woke him, allowed his binding chains to fall, and let him walk straight out of prison. And - surprise, surprise - it even has its own Feastday.

FYI: "San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) is a basilica in Rome, best known for housing Michelangelo's statue Moses." And he looks a lot like Zeus. Christians had to get their limited-use God-face from somewhere, silly.

So back to Yay! St. Peter was saved! Of course, not long after that, he was again captured. Legend has it he did not believe he was worthy of dying in the same manner as Jesus and was crucified upside down in Rome. Which, of course, leads to the line of questioning: if the founder of the Christian Church was crucified upside down, why is that a symbol of evil? Why not use an upside down cross as the prime religious symbol (you know, maybe without the corpse nailed to it)?

Why? When your religion has enough bureaucracy to fill its own country, you do not get to ask why; your beliefs have been modified and fortified and formulated and heated and put in a nice, neat bottle for you. All you need to do is suck.

Japanese Ronald McDonald Mashup

What the fuck?

Playing Catch-up With Firefox, Hillary, Obama, ACLU Real Live Porn, and Movies

As I mentioned earlier this week, I downloaded a Firefox extension called "Read it Later" and it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, I'm able to keep track of interesting bits I'd like to blog about, but on the other hand, I quickly garner 20+ links I want to blog about. And you can't delete the bookmarks from the Read it Later interface, but have to go into Bookmarks to do it. S'okay, it's in Beta, and is more good than bad.

This post is about catching up.

Anti-Hillary Film and SCOTUS

I flagged this one at the first mention from the AP about the film Hillary: The Movie (those Repubs are so clever in their titling):

The early reviews are in, and three federal judges appeared in agreement Thursday that a movie lambasting Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed an awful lot like a 90-minute campaign advertisement.

This is problematic from the perspective of, ironically, a campaign finance law partially named after the man they're now left to elect: McCain-Feingold. The federal judges shut David Bossie down and he's now going to SCOTUS to appeal. The sticking point is still that campaign finance law, like a drunken juggalo blocking the keg:

But one provision of McCain-Feingold makes it illegal to use corporate or union money for "any broadcast, cable or satellite communication" if it "refers to a clearly identified candidate for federal office" within 30 days of a primary election or a convention or within 60 days of a general election.

If they feel like listening, this will be a huge ruling, and define legal pre-election free-for-all as financing a DVD slamming your opponent. Damned juggalos.

FDA Says Cloned Meat OK

FDA says it's okay? Honestly, I understand the science, but I'll be fucked if I think there's still not something hinky about pulling some DNA from a hot London Broil and making another cow.

Problem? You betcha. FDA said it's okay. Expect unlabeled samples in your Kroger/Giant Eagle/Piggly Wiggly soon.

Advice? Shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. At least for your meat.

ACLU: Larry Craig is Right!

The ACLU stood up for failed human being Larry Craig, stating that a bathroom stall is a private place and there is an expectation of privacy in such a place, even if you're soaping the balls of a stranger through a glory hole.

ACLU: I love you, but no. This is just way the fuck off base. If Seabass accidentally meets me at 3am in the wrong stall and decides to violate me, is that, too, a private place?

"Find a happy place, find a happy place."

Killing an ... Obama?

After Senator Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama and insinuated that he was the next JFK, Harry Smith, on the CBS Early Show pushed the button five steps beyond what everyone was thinking: So, um, do you think Obama will be assassinated just like your brother? Okay, he put it more mildly:



Let Your Movies Define You

And if you didn't have enough social networking sites yet, check out Cinescopes. They'll take your Top Ten movies of all time and translate them into insights about yourself, match you to friends, and all those other good things they can do on this newfangled Internets 2.0.

Take your time, but you can always change it up later. I'm still sticking with my original 10, in alphabetical order, but will probably need some revisions in the future:

12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
Playing By Heart
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Pi
Mirrormask
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Lost in Translation
Shaun of the Dead
True Romance

cough! nerd! cough!



And that's about it for the update. Now I can delete all those bookmarks. Cheers!

Your Part of Iraq: $275/mo

No questions asked, the cost keeps going up. And up. And up. And how does that relate to the current frontrunners in line for the 2008 Presidental Election? Did you not hear the phrase shot round the world: "100 years"?

Brave New Films hits it hard:




Do something.

Navy Invents New Way of Killing People

Holy shit.

Electromagnetic railguns mounted on U.S. naval vessels will use electricity to launch projectiles farther and faster than any ship in today's fleet. When fully operational, the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) will:

• Deliver hypervelocity projectiles at Mach 5 on impact in support of Marines and ground forces.
• Strike within 5 meters of a pinpointed target from distances in excess of 200 nautical miles.
• Maximize damage through kinetic energy from longer range while minimizing risks to crews and ships.

Tested on 1/31/08: Fired at 2,520 meters per second, the shot generated 10.64mj of muzzle energy.

From Navy, DVICE.

Popehat Growls at Science: Grrr...

We've got a lot of catching up to do. I use FireFox because Internet Explorer is the devil, and about two weeks ago I got a new plugin that is a quick click to a "read it later" bookmark folder. I'll delve into it more tomorrow, but for now, feel free to chew on the Popehat's bile from the Vatican's 1/28 press release:

"Human beings have the specific ability of discerning what is good", the Pope concluded. "In our own time, when the progress of the sciences attracts and seduces for the possibilities it offers, it is more necessary than ever to educate the consciences of our contemporaries to ensure that science does not become the criterion of good, that man is still respected as the centre of creation, and that he does not become the object of ideological manipulation, arbitrary decisions, or abuses."

What the Popehat is trying to say, of course, is that as long as science doesn't get too science-y, and as long as people who have dedicated their lives to studying the measurable and empirical take into consideration the invisible and intangible - ooh, and make sure you prove life starts at conception - then science is a good thing.

You know you've heard this type of thing before: if the high courts of America overturn liberal laws, they are interpreting the Constitution; if they overturn conservative laws, they're out-of-control activist judges, legislating from the bench.

Al-Qaeda, Evangelicals Teaching Hate

The Sun proclaims

Al-Qaeda teach kids, 6, to kill



in a related story,

Evangelicals teach kids, 6, to hate

Bin Laden Apologizes for 9/11

What would happen if Osama bin Laden was not officially blamed by the FBI for 9/11 and yet his son was apologizing and desirous of brokering peace? Welcome to reality. Davis Fleetwood, wonderful as always:

Montel Williams Puts It to FOX On FOX

Montel Williams was brought on FOX as a consultant to jabber about Health Ledger, but that's not what was on his mind. Something was bothering him, like jabbering about Heath Ledger when a couple hundred people died in America yesterday naturally, and that 28 troops have died in Iraq since January 1 (it's actually 41) - with no mention from FOX:



Since March 2003, 3,945 American troops have died in Iraq (4,252 throughout Coalition). 5 troops died from wounds sustained while in Iraq but go unacknowledged by the DoD in the count.

I just hope that when we hit 4,000 someone who gets some television face time takes a deep breath and has the balls to remind us that George Bush has officially killed more Americans than 9/11 in a war that had nothing to do with 9/11, even if it's still being occasionally touted as such.

A Smurfy Update from Croatia

Last week, I got smurfy with the Croatian people. Leave it to them not only to bounce back, but comment on my blog:

we beat record today with 533 smurfs!

(Croatian News Link)

Based on the "we" and the link to the news station not in English, someone directly related to the effort wanted to set me straight. Nice.

How about another picture for posterity:



Congratulations to Croatia and, specifically, this group of persevering Smurfs. Good show.

Ricky's Wisdom for Today - 2/2/08

This is not for every day, but can be applied to many. Today is one of those days.

L'enfer, c'est les autres.
(Hell is other people.)

-- Jean-Paul Sartre, Huis-clos (No Exit)

Crippling the Middle East Through Technology

I know there are many people out there that have the absurd conviction that everyone in the Middle East lives in dusty ruins without electricity, but that is simply not the case; major centers of industry and technology exist in Egypt, Dubai, Iran, etc. A little further east and you probably have personal experience to back up India's call center megapoli.

Now what would happen if two undersea cables near Egypt were suddenly cut? Perhaps by a "wayward anchor?" Well, that's odd, you might say. Or should say since it happened Wednesday.

And then on Friday, a third cable was "damaged" between United Arab Emirates and Oman. Oops! What're the odds?

Now, what would you say if said "accidents" not only damaged access to the internet for all the countries listed above, but resulted in Iran having NO access?

I'd probably call that Holy Shit What's Going Down?

There are thinly-veiled "OMG 4th Cable!" stories floating on the bullshit foam of the internet ether, all of them unfounded. For now. I've also seen some reports, none verifiable, that Iran's access is being remedied, but is being done through American and British servers.

Something hinky is going on here.

Michael Savage: Old Man Hates teh Gay

During the tragic death of Heath Ledger, most of you have heard of John Gibson, lead reptilian humanoid of FOX News using Ledger's death as a way to make a stupid, sad joke about him as a "weirdo" "with a drug problem." Why? Because John Gibson is a bigot and hates gays and Heath Ledger once made a movie that made a lot of money about a man struggling with his sexuality in an oppressive society.

But John Gibson is an assbag; he got plenty of negative press for the comments, made that ever-traditional "I'm sorry if people were offended" non-apology, and I still think he's an assbag and assbags all over the country still think he's a credible journalist. Status quo.

But what we haven't heard of, what I can't seem to find any reference about, is Michael Savage's treatment of the same subject. We've already visited how Dr. Savage pounced on Muslims, but unless you regularly listen to his verbal and often-unfocused hate ooze through your speakers, you may not know that he's a dirty old codger, living in San Francisco, and daily railing against the filth and amorality of homosexuals destroying the city.

Last Tuesday, January 22nd, as speculation over Heath Ledger's death was haphazardly spilling over the airwaves, Michael Savage had some choice words:

This is the biggest story of the day: Shock in SoHo? Actor Heath Ledger, pills, suicide? You mean another Hollywood junkie is dead? I'm sorry, you mean that's news? News used to be "Man Bites Dog," but when another Hollywood idiot is found with a needle in his arm, is that news? I mean, you expect it, when they don't put a needle in their arm, that would be news.
...
So, what, he played in Brokenback Mountain, Bareback Mountain, whatever he was in, I forget what movie he was in. I never watched it - I'm not interested in softcore pornography, to be honest with you.
...
When I first heard Gene Autry, even though I was stuck inside the knish, I knew that there was a place outside the knish, where there was beautiful skies and bison and men who rode horses, as opposed to ersatz men who rode horses who played homosexuals who rolled in the hay together who then eventually stuck needles in their arm because they know that they had destroyed one of the true images of America in order to make a buck and they couldn't take the fact that they had sold down the river the image of the great America itself.

And that's just the Heath Ledger bit. The spew of homosexual hate and "agenda" conspiracy theories can be found elsewhere. But if John Gibson caught hell, where's the outrage about Savage?


"He's just a mean old man without a mommy!"

Did I mention his penchant for inappropriate characterizations?


Yes, this is a screenshot from his site.

Outrage would be good right about now.