Obama Election Cartoons
November 10th, 2008
Msnbc.com political cartoonists take a look at the past week:
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Let the Healing Commence!
November 5th, 2008
Rice Congratulates Obama Tearfully, Says She Is “Especially Proud” Of Obama’s Win (VIDEO)
“This was an exercise in American democracy of which Americans across the political spectrum are justifiably proud,” she said.
“As an African-American, I’m especially proud,” said Rice, her eyes glistening with emotion, “because this is a country that’s been through a long journey, in terms of overcoming wounds and making race” less of a factor in life. “That work is not done, but yesterday was obviously an extraordinary step forward.”
“One of the great things about representing this country is that it continues to surprise,” she told reporters at the State Department at a hastily arranged briefing just hours before leaving Washington for the Middle East on a peacemaking trip. “It continues to renew itself. It continues to beat all odds and expectations.”
Born and raised in Birmingham, Ala., at the height of the civil rights struggle, Rice herself overcame numerous obstacles and stereotypical low expectations. She speaks frequently about how improbable her rise to the corridors of power may seem. But she also notes that she succeeded the first black secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the first female to hold the job, Madeleine Albright.
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Thomas Haden Church’s Drunken Joe The Plumber Challenge
October 29th, 2008
In a video for Funny or Die, actor Thomas Haden Church plays fellow cultural icon Joe Six Pack in a drunken challenge to Joe the Plumber, with shirt losing, chugging and peeing at the bar.
See more Thomas Haden Church videos at Funny or Die
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So… youre stickin’ it to yourself, eh?
October 28th, 2008
Ted Stevens Can’t Even Vote for Himself
I was convicted of a felony, but have served my time and am on probation. Can I register to vote?
No. A convicted felon may not register to vote unless unconditionally discharged from custody. When you are no longer on probation, a copy of your discharge papers will allow you to register.
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THIS is what ‘Country First’ really means.
October 23rd, 2008
Barack Obama in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday, was making his closing argument, offering his vision of one America and affirming his view that we are all in this together:
With the challenges and crises we face right now, we cannot afford to divide this country by race or class or region; by who we are or what policies we support. There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this nation - we all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from.
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The Bailout, Housing Crisis & Failure of the ‘Free Markets’
September 30th, 2008
I– like many people– have been following the news about this $700 Billion Bailout plan that our government want us to buy into as of late.
I understand the brevity of the subject *to the best of my knowledge given I’m not an Economist*. I’m not thrilled with the idea that my generation could be facing a modern day Great Depression (or so they want us to believe), or see the meager amount I’ve been able to squirrel away for retirement go *poof*.
But here’s the deal; I’m getting sick and tired of getting the shaft in the name of this b.s. Republican ‘Trickle-down Theory’. I’m sick of this argument that the tax payer (a.k.a. those of us not making $1 million or more) should sacrifice for the greater good of Wall Street; which for the record, would be the largest transfer of wealth this country has ever seen.
Un-be-lievable.
They would have us believe that this bailout plan is the only way to stave off catastrophe; well, guess what? They’re wrong. Again. There are options, dear Americans, that don’t involve getting screwed. Check out: ‘Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson’s $700 Billion Bailout‘ by David Sirot.
A side-note: wanna understand how we got here? Really understand? ‘This American Life’, a radio program by Chicago Public Radio put together a show about that very subject:
“A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money. “
I am including a link to the show: ‘The Giant Pool of Money‘. Right-click on the link and choose ‘Save Target As’.
Download it, throw it on your iPod or whatever, and listen. Its the single best explanation of the evolving housing crisis that I have found.
You can download the transcript here.
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Mitt Romney admits; polygamy poses ‘First Lady’ title challenging
December 6th, 2007
Romney Seeks to Allay Concerns About His Faith
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty | NPR.org, December 6, 2007
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney sought to allay voters’ concerns about his Mormon faith Thursday, saying that, if elected, “I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest.”
In a speech delivered at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas, Romney hoped to reassure the American public — and, in particular, the white evangelicals who have great influence in the Republican Party — about his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religion that many Americans view as a cult.
As his wife and four of his five sons looked on from the audience, Romney addressed a fear that many evangelical Christians have voiced: He said his faith would shape his moral values, but he promised that his church would not dictate his policies.
“Let me assure you,” Romney said, “that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin.”
In this, Romney’s address closely echoed the sentiment and the language of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy’s historic address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960.
In that speech to skeptical evangelicals, Kennedy said, “I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me.”
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ATTACK MONKEYS, HO!
October 22nd, 2007
Monkey attack kills Delhi leader
The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi has died a day after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys.
SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys.
The city has long struggled to counter its plague of monkeys, which invade government complexes and temples, snatch food and scare passers-by.
The High Court ordered the city to find an answer to the problem last year.
via BBC News
And yes, I’m aware that chimps are not monkeys. Shut up.
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Braaiiins!
October 9th, 2007
Just thought I’d share a pic that my friend Chris took of my cat BuddyLee. I love this shot because he captured the raw look of “At times I hate you and hope to nibble at your throat whilst you are sleeping; unless fate steps in and the urge to snuggle overcomes me in which case you shall be saved… this time.”
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Newsflash: Things Still Suck for Katrina Evacuees
October 9th, 2007
Katrina evacuees feel money pinch
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
Almost 40% of the people displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina were below the poverty line last year, according to a government survey.
That survey, by the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that thousands of people who fled the hurricane two years ago landed in dismal economic straits, often facing meager paychecks or unemployment after the storm scattered them across the USA. It found nearly a third of those who fled the hurricane could not find jobs last year, and thousands more weren’t trying.
“People got here, but what hasn’t happened is that next step to economic stability,” says Don Baylor, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. “Many of them are not economically stable.”
The survey does not track people from year to year, making it impossible to determine if the people Katrina displaced were better off before the storm. Many left some of the poorest sections of New Orleans; about a quarter of the adults had not finished high school. But Katrina upended social networks “and left them to start over from scratch, which makes it much more difficult,” Brookings Institution demographer William Frey says.
The nationwide Census survey, conducted throughout 2006 and released last month, offers the most thorough accounting yet of what happened to the more than 250,000 people displaced from the New Orleans area in the biggest mass migration since the Dust Bowl. The survey, which included only people who had not already returned to New Orleans, shows:
- Little work: The unemployment rate among those who left New Orleans was about 30%. Those who had jobs worked most often as cashiers, salesmen and janitors.
- Low incomes: A typical displaced family had an income of about $35,000 last year, far below the median income of $58,500 for families nationwide. Even among people who had jobs, the poverty rate was nearly 20%, and for children it was about 50%.
- Limited housing: Many evacuees still were living with friends or family. One-third of evacuees were living with people who did not evacuate.
Gilda Burbank fled with three grandchildren to Houston, where she has struggled to find work and sleeps on an air mattress in a government-subsidized apartment. “I was poor before Katrina, but I had food on the table, we went to Mass, we had clothes,” she says. “Now we’re poor poor. We’re worse off.”
One explanation, Baylor says, is that Texas employers were reluctant to hire people displaced by Katrina for fear they would soon go back to New Orleans.
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wow, ive been bad…
September 13th, 2007
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been really busy.
Actually, that’s a lie. More accurately; I’ve been really LAZY. The first step is admittance, right? Ok, so I’ll post more.
Promise.
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I will go back to the movies…
August 23rd, 2007
…when this is played before every film:
God bless Mastodon.
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See? The Darwin Awards aren’t just limited to America!
August 1st, 2007
Sweaty Chinese Man Electrocuted by Computer
A 20-year-old student in Shanghai, China, was electrocuted Monday when he opened his computer’s external case while the machine was still on, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The man, identified only by the common family name of Wu, had apparently opened his PC’s case to prevent its central processing chip from overheating — because he didn’t want to turn his air conditioning on.
His sweaty legs came into contact with the computer’s internal wiring, likely causing a short circuit.
According to the newspaper, which drew from a report in the Chinese-language Eastday.com, police and medical respondents found blood in the dead man’s nostrils and bruises on his legs.
The computer’s internal voltage can reach as high as 380 volts in power-storage capacitors, which is enough to give a deadly shock.
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When the love of cheesey dogs goes wrong
June 4th, 2007
My husband is insane.
Most of us, when confronted with a sale, can hold back, right? Not my J… may I present to you evidence of gluttony:
(click for larger versions)
*an additional trivia nugget: these took up an entire plastic grocery bag BY THEMSELVES… which was carefully double bagged of course.
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Shark Jesus!
May 23rd, 2007
He turned the water into chum
Birds do it. Bees do it. Now it seems that sharks are the latest, and largest, creatures that are able to reproduce without having sex, a finding that could have important implications for conserving these endangered fish.
A female hammerhead shark has given birth without the help of a male, after genetic tests revealed that its baby shark had no paternal DNA.
More here.
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Whee! We’re a Year Old!
April 27th, 2007
According to my billing statement from Dreamhost, mcali.net has been (occasionally) on the air for a year now. Ali suggested celebrating with cake and beer. I suggested blow and donkey shows.
Which probably goes a long way toward explaining why neither of us has posted much lately.
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Israel’s chicken wing void to be filled by… ‘Hooters’!
March 21st, 2007
We have some balls of brass I tell ya:
Hooters heading for Holy Land
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. restaurant chain Hooters, known for waitresses in low-cut blouses and short skirts, will open its first branch in Israel this summer, in the Mediterranean seaside city of Tel Aviv.
“I strongly believe that the Hooters concept is something that Israelis are looking for,” Ofer Ahiraz, who bought the Hooters franchise for Israel, told Reuters Monday. “Hooters can suit the Israeli entertainment culture.”
At Hooters, waitresses the company calls Hooters Girls serve spicy chicken wings, sandwiches, seafood and drinks.
Ahiraz said a specific location in Tel Aviv, Israel’s most cosmopolitan city, had yet to be chosen, but he said it would not open restaurants near large religious populations, and they would not be kosher.
He said his plan was to open as many as five Hooters restaurants in the next few years, including one in the southern resort city of Eilat.
The Tel Aviv version of Hooters is expected to mimic most of the chain’s other 430 restaurants in the United States and in 23 countries including China, Switzerland, Australia and Brazil.
Ahiraz said, however, he expected some minor modifications to meet Israeli tastes since U.S. chains have had a mixed response in Israel.
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“Soon, Americans Will Lack The Need To Move”
March 9th, 2007
Click here to watch the robot in action!
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Hell’s just a binomial coefficient away!
February 6th, 2007
The 7 Deadly Sins and their Combinations
If you arrange the 7 Deadly Sins around a heptagon, label them A-G, and connect each Sin to the others, you get 21 secondary sins. For instance Sloth + Pride = Slackers.
Link (Via Neatorama)
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