Former Gov. Jim Thompson announced today that he will ask President Bush to commute former Gov. George Ryan's 6 1/2 year prison sentence.
"The man has gone from being the governor of the state of Illinois to being a prisoner in the federal penitentiary," Thompson said at a news conference at the Winston & Strawn offices this afternoon.
"I think it would be appropriate for the president of the United States to commute to time served."
Friday, May 30, 2008
paying the price for Wright and Pfleger
That's when warm southerly winds were expected to whip up thunderstorms that could bring drenching rains, hail and possibly tornadoes, Halbach said. "Pretty much everything can be expected," he said.
IF? (cont'd)
-- Michael Pfleger
Thursday, May 29, 2008
a shocking percentage of Lou Dobbs viewers agreed with Lou Dobbs last night (cont'd)
Yes 95% 3392
No 5% 191
Total Votes: 3583
This is not a scientific poll
a shocking development from the Do Nothing Administration
Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who was not involved in the effort called it "a litany of bad news in store for the U.S."
"Finally, climate change is very likely to accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care system," the report said. "Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured. Though who gives a shit about those losers? Certainly not us."
ASSHOLES ALERT:
The report was required by a 1990 law which says that every four years the government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming. It had not been done since 2000.
Environmental groups got a court order last summer to force the Bush administration to produce the document by the end of this month. Hays said the White House has preferred issuing studies on individual global warming issues, such as an agricultural effects report that was released on Tuesday.
"It's totally begrudging," said Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, a whistleblowers' organization. "It's important the government go on record honestly acknowledging this stuff."
new K-Mad malady: "hot spot"
Is the insanity going to end in 235 days???
Dunkin’ Donuts caves to the right’s fear of clothing accessories
”In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.”
on the other hand, listening to the Bush administration does cast a reasonable doubt on evolution
Speaking at a science summit that opens this week's first World Science Festival, the expert panel of scientists, and audience members, agreed that the United States is losing stature because of a perceived high-level disdain for science. They cited U.S. officials and others questioning scientific evidence of climate change, the reluctance to federally fund stem cell research, and some U.S. officials casting doubt on evolution as examples that have damaged America's international standing.
except that he doesn't know where he's aiming
-- Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan
Even Rhinos hate Papparazi
The world's rarest rhinoceros has been captured on film by a specially installed camera in the jungles of Java, Indonesia.
But the female rhino, which was accompanied by a calf, promptly charged the camera, sending it flying.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
what's in in scarves next winter
a shocking percentage of Lou Dobbs viewers agreed with Lou Dobbs last night (cont'd)
Yes 2% 56
No 98% 3058
Total Votes: 3114
This is not a scientific poll
Billie Jean King?
Shortest path from george w. bush to squirrels
George W. Bush
Alabama
Russell Cave National Monument
Squirrel
3 clicks needed
expect delays (cont'd)
"We felt the 'boom, boom, boom' and then I grabbed the pole because it felt like we were going to fall off onto the ground," said Jackson, who was riding with six others in the second of two cars that derailed on the elevated tracks at the 59th Street junction just after 10 a.m...
"Everyone was screaming and hollering for their lives," Jackson said. "I just thank God it didn't fall off the edge. It was chaos. Everyone was hysterical."
Question of the Day Is..
White House stunned that somebody noticed their fullas#i+ness
White House aides seemed stunned by the scathing tone of the book, and Bush press secretary Dana Perino issued a statement that was highly critical of their former colleague.
"Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House," she said. "For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad - this is not the Scott we knew."
Perino said the reports on the book had been described to Bush, and that she did not expect him to comment. "He has more pressing matters than to spend time commenting on books by former staffers," she said. (Also: he can't read -- Ed.)
Wah-Roh, i guess G-O-D is going to be sending us a big ass earfquake, what with all the sin-enablers...
California: Poll – 51 percent support same-sex marriage
According to the nonpartisan Field Poll, 51 percent of California registered voters favor allowing same-sex couples to marry, 42 percent are opposed and 7 percent have no opinion....
The poll also found voters are not inclined to support an amendment to the California Constitution banning same-sex marriage, such as the one targeted for the November ballot. Only 40 percent of those surveyed said they favored such a measure, 54 percent were opposed and 6 percent had no opinion.
*three Republicans, 1 Democrat
I get it now, by "Maverick" he means: Agrees with Bush on nearly everything...
Progressive Media USA:
CQ’s Presidential Support studies try to determine how often a legislator votes in line with the President’s position:
CQ tries to determine what the president personally, as distinct from other administration officials, does and does not want in the way of legislative action. This is done by analyzing his messages to Congress, news conference remarks and other public statements and documents.
So, these studies only track votes when the President has an explicit, stated opinion on a bill.
According to CQ, Senator John McCain has voted with President Bush 100% of the time in 2008 and 95% of the time in 2007: Read on…
And yet there are still those in the media that call McSame a Maverick. That horse was put out to pasture long ago. Oh, and since we know how much the aging Senator loves him some lobbyists, send him a tasty treat he’s sure to love — send him a Lobby-Pop!
next on k-mad's fun summer reading list after the book on genocide
Theme of the Trip
The last Daily Show before I went abroad had this wonderful part where they interview a few people from West Virginia to find out why they voted for Hillary and not for Obama. Now, of course they cherry picked the absolute worst ones, but the absolute worst ones were scary in the absolute worst way. One lady "doesn't like the Hussein thing. I've had enough of Hussein." That quote was our theme. Started making us think of silly ideas, like needing to be qualified to vote or something. There probably should be qualifications to be interviewed on camera as well, because those 3 women were, ugh, honest?
there is literally nothing to see here (cont'd)
IAEA: Iran may be withholding info in nuke probe
VIENNA (AP) — Iran may be withholding information needed to establish whether it tried to make nuclear arms, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday in an unusually strongly worded report.
From the IAEA website:
Iran Safeguards Report Sent to UN Security Council, IAEA Board
IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei today simultaneously circulated a report to the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors regarding blah blah blah...
The report´s circulation is restricted and cannot be released to the public unless the IAEA Board decides otherwise.
add "injured right lat muscle" to the list of things that aren't what they used to be
another way the economy relies on illegal immigration
News item: 270 illegal immigrants imprisoned in fed push
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Hey Cheeseheads: Go Phokk Yourselves!!
May 27, 2008 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
At the risk of touching off a border war with the cheeseheads to the north, Mayor Daley today branded Wisconsin a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to protecting Lake Michigan.
Daley ridiculed Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle for belatedly signing on to the Great Lakes Compact, a multi-state agreement designed to restrict access to a Great Lakes system that provides nearly 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water.
"Oh, finally. Thank God they realize where the Great Lakes is. Wisconsin has never supported the Great Lakes movement. They wanted to do a lot of things" detrimental to Lake Michigan, the mayor said.
"We've been in the forefront of really protecting the Great Lakes, and Wisconsin hasn't historically. I'm glad they finally realize how important the Great Lakes is. … The Great Lakes is too important to this region and the future of the region. Water will be equal to oil very shortly" as a precious commodity.
Four years ago, Daley and U.S. Reps. Mark Kirk (R-Il.) and Rahm Emanuel (D-Il.) used a congressional meeting on the Great Lakes to pummel the city of Milwaukee for dumping more raw sewage into Lake Michigan during a single month than at any time in the 11-year history of that city's "not deep enough" tunnel project.
"If there's anything that upsets my constituents - and yours as well - it's cheesehead sewer water," Kirk told Daley during a 2004 roundtable discussion at the Shedd Aquarium.
At the time, Daley demanded that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency throw that book at Milwaukee for the 4.6 billion gallon sewage dump. He accused the state of Wisconsin of coddling its smaller lakes while turning its back on Lake Michigan.
"That's a lot of garbage. Guess where it's coming? It's coming down here. What are we going to do here when we have to shut all our beaches down?" the mayor said then.
RELATED STORIES Daley blasts 'Hatfields and McCoys' in Springfield
here's a shocker
Thompson to ask Bush to free Ryan
if you repeat a lie often enough, you are a Clinton (cont'd)
(CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton said that Democrats were more likely to lose in November if Hillary Clinton is not the nominee, and suggested some were trying to "push and pressure and bully" superdelegates to make up their minds prematurely.
"I can't believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out," Clinton said at a South Dakota campaign stop Sunday, in remarks first reported by ABC News.
Clinton also suggested some were trying to "cover up" Sen. Clinton's chances of winning in key states that Democrats will have to win in the general election.
" 'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.' "
Clinton did not expound on who he was accusing.
Shhhhhhh... you might want to cover this up:
RCP Average 5/11-5/26
Obama vs. McCain: Obama + 2.4%
Clinton vs. McCain: Clinton + 1.4%
da gubmint: totally fullas#i+
Last year, the word "opacity," hitherto reserved for Scrabble games, became a mainstay of the financial press. A credit market panic had been triggered by something called collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which in some cases were too complicated to be fathomed even by experts. The packagers and marketers of CDOs were forced to acknowledge that their hypertechnical securities were fraught with "opacity" — a convenient and legally judgment-free word for lack of honest labeling...
The real numbers, to most economically minded Americans, would be a face full of cold water. Based on the criteria in place a quarter century ago, today's U.S. unemployment rate is somewhere between 9 percent and 12 percent; the inflation rate is as high as 7 or even 10 percent; economic growth since the recession of 2001 has been mediocre, despite a huge surge in the wealth and incomes of the superrich, and we are falling back into recession... Undermeasurement of inflation, in particular, hangs over our heads like a guillotine. To acknowledge it would send interest rates climbing, and thereby would endanger the viability of the massive buildup of public and private debt (from less than $11-trillion in 1987 to $49-trillion last year) that props up the American economy.
the tairrists are winning
Eleven Billion Fewer Vehicle Miles Traveled in March 2008 Over Previous March
WASHINGTON - Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates released today from the Federal Highway Administration.
"That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance on the federal gasoline excise tax," said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray.
The FHWA's "Traffic Volume Trends" report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history.
Hillary: winning hearts and minds (wham)
So Clinton's disturbing remark wasn't wishful thinking -- as far as I know (to quote Clinton herself, when asked earlier this year about false rumors that her opponent Barack Obama is a Muslim). Clearly, it wasn't logical thinking. It can only have been magical thinking, albeit not the happy-magic kind.
Clinton has always claimed to be the cold-eyed realist in the race, and at one point maybe she was. Increasingly, though, her words and actions reflect the kind of thinking that animates myths and fairy tales: Maybe a sudden and powerful storm will scatter my enemy's ships. Maybe a strapping woodsman will come along and save the day.
Clinton has poured more than $11 million of her own money into the campaign, with no guarantee of ever getting it back. She has changed slogans and themes the way Obama changes his ties. She has been the first major-party presidential candidate in memory to tout her appeal to white voters. She has abandoned any pretense of consistency, inventing new rationales for continuing her candidacy and new yardsticks for measuring its success whenever the old rationales and yardsticks begin to favor Obama...
What Clinton's evocation of RFK suggests isn't that she had some tactical reason for speaking the unspeakable but that she and her closest advisers can't stop running and rerunning through their minds the most far-fetched scenarios, no matter how absurd or even obscene. She gives the impression of having spent long nights convincing herself that the stars really might still align for her -- that something can still happen to make the Democratic Party realize how foolish it has been.
Fung will have three...
8-12: The average number of minutes it takes to consume this drink.
Top 25 LoC labels
# FULLA$#i+ (107)
# totally phokked (91)
# Bushian (80)
# that's so America (77)
# bad ideas (71)
# expect delays (69)
# we are living in a golden age (cont'd) (68)
# s#i+ blowing up (64)
# SHOCKING (62)
# whitey keeping darky down (cont) (58)
# he SUCKS (57)
# brain-dead managers (55)
# weather (whining about) (54)
# Cub (that is so) (47)
# brain-dead GMs (47)
# Idiocracy (46)
# moron (46)
# move along - nothing to see here (45)
# Dumbya (44)
# they SUCK (42)
# brain-dead Americans (41)
# rezzziDUNCE (40)
# s#i+ for brainz (40)
# fightin' phils (39)
paying immediate dividends
Ledezma,Wi 2 3 5 5 3 0
Ledezma,Wi 1.1 5 5 5 0 2
Week 1: 3 1/3 IP, 8 hits, 10 runs (all earned), 3 walks, 2 Ks, no fatalities.
Back in the USSA!
Travelling: SUUUUCKS!
Maybe it's just it was Memorial Day, or maybe I'm just a wuss, but when they misroute your bag TWICE, you start to think there's something rotten in the system. So now I'm waiting for them to deliver it to me. How big is the delivery window? 4 hours. Can we blame W?
Monday, May 26, 2008
How is K-Mad to blame?
On Monday, Cubs general manager Jim "Likes Pizza" Hendry spoke fondly of Gonzalez. "The Chicago Cubs are very saddened today to learn of Geremi Gonzalez's sudden passing. Geremi began his career as a Cub, leading our pitching staff with 11 wins as a rookie in 1997 and, despite an arm injury, helping the club early in the season a year later to an eventual postseason appearance. The organization sends its heartfelt condolences to his family."
Gonzalez pitched for five major league teams from 1997-2006. The right-hander appeared in 131 games with 83 starts, compiling a 30-35 record. Gonzalez also played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers. He made a combined 24 appearances for the Mets and Brewers in his final major league season in 2006. Gonzalez played for current Cubs manager Lou Piniella in Tampa Bay and was on the mound when Sammy Sosa's corked bat exploded in a game at Wrigley Field on June 3, 2003.
"That's a tragic thing," Piniella said. "He was a nice young man. He was a competitive kid, really good natured. It's a shame, it really is. I liked him a lot." Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a fellow Venezuelan, expressed his feeling before a game in Cleveland. "It's sad," Guillen said. "A lot of people are going to be shocked. He was a good man. He had a lot of ups and downs in his career. He was 33. It was so early in his life to die. I wish the best to his family. The news went around the country pretty fast."
Brewers manager Ned Yost expressed similar feelings. "He was so much fun to be around. He was always happy, always smiling," Yost said. "He was a guy that could scare real easy and then horse laugh. He was just one of those guys that when he saw you, he always had a smile on his face."
The Toronto Blue Jays released him during spring training last year. Gonzalez then moved to Japan and pitched in five games for the Yomiuri Giants.
"Well, both if we could..."
Watch yet another idiot on Fox News. As well, the interview is minutes of nothing - which is not much of a surprise. Why not talk about the fallacy of the historical analogy in the first place - about how it's not just a tone deaf comment, but a comment that shows no kind of subtlety about historical or political discourse. And haven't we had enough of politicians painting in broad, disingenuous strokes?
Oh right, it's Fox.
They love that shit. Speak that shit. Wallow in that shit.
Brain Dead
# brain-dead "artists" (1)
# brain-dead "comedians" (1)
# brain-dead airlines (2)
# brain-dead Americans (41)
# brain-dead anonymous posters (2)
# brain-dead archbishops (1)
# brain-dead architects of large-scale human carnage (1)
# brain-dead Australians (5)
# brain-dead baseball owners (2)
# brain-dead baseball players (2)
# brain-dead baseball writers (1)
# brain-dead basketball coaches (1)
# brain-dead bears fans (4)
# brain-dead Britons (14)
# brain-dead broadcasters (2)
# brain-dead Californians (3)
# brain-dead Chicago sportswriters (5)
# brain-dead Chicagoans (1)
# brain-dead college coaches (1)
# brain-dead commissioners (5)
# brain-dead crap which passes for music these days (2)
# brain-dead creationists (3)
# brain-dead Cubs' fanz (11)
# brain-dead Democratic primary voters (1)
# brain-dead Democrats (2)
# brain-dead Demopublicans (3)
# brain-dead Department of Homeland Security reps (1)
# brain-dead dictators (1)
# brain-dead dictionaries (1)
# brain-dead Europeans (5)
# brain-dead Finns (1)
# brain-dead Floridians whut cain't tell the difference between a squirrel and an orangutan (6)
# brain-dead football hooligans (1)
# brain-dead Georgia governors (1)
# brain-dead GMs (47)
# brain-dead Hollywood elites (1)
# brain-dead human beings (4)
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# brain-dead journalists (8)
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# brain-dead Kentuckians (2)
# brain-dead lawmakers (3)
# brain-dead library workers (1)
# brain-dead lunatic televangelists (1)
# brain-dead managers (55)
# brain-dead McCain supporters (2)
# brain-dead Milwaukee sportswriters (1)
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# brain-dead NIU alums (2)
# brain-dead Ohioans (2)
# brain-dead Pennsylvanians (1)
# brain-dead Philly fans (3)
# brain-dead pitching coaches (1)
# brain-dead politicians (2)
# brain-dead pollsters (2)
# brain-dead presidential candidates (11)
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# brain-dead Republican primary voters (2)
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# brain-dead Republicrats (2)
# brain-dead sabermetricians (1)
# brain-dead schedulers (1)
# brain-dead senators (4)
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# brain-dead statisticians (2)
# brain-dead Swedes (1)
# brain-dead Texans (5)
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# brain-dead White House press secretaries (2)
Notice that brain-dead and Dusty did not go together - we are anti-redundancy, at least occasionally, around here. We did note Brain-dead Finns and Brain-dead Swedes however. Apparently Norway is cool.
Can't Bunt? Grab some pine!
Dusty's at it again! Sucking:
From Rotoworld:
Adrian Gonzalez-1B-Padres May. 25 - 10:25 pm et
Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run homer off Edinson Volquez in the bottom of the 18th to give the Padres a 12-9 win over the Reds on Sunday.
A tremendous finish that no one watching DirecTV for six hours got to witness, as Extra Innings cut out two minutes before Gonzalez popped one over the center-field fence. Gonzalez finished the contest 4-for-9 with two doubles. The wild game featured seven homers at pitcher friendly Petco Park. One of them immediately followed a dropped flyball in the outfield, costing Greg Maddux a chance at a victory. That came off the bat of the red-hot Adam Dunn. Dunn, though, wasn't around for extra innings, as he was removed for defense in the ninth. That decision, plus the one to turn to Josh Fogg rather than Bill Bray in a failed attempt to close out a two-run lead in the 11th, cost Dusty Baker's team dearly.
As noted over at the Wellness Center - Corey Patterson led off and played the entire game. He was 0-8. Again from Rotoworld:
Corey Patterson went 0-for-8 in Sunday's 18-inning game against the Padres.
Maybe it's time for Jay Bruce? Patterson became the first Red to go hitless in at least eight at-bats since Eddie Milner in 1984. He's hitting .183 with no walks and one extra-base hit in 60 at-bats during May.
Could you imagine if a rookie (like say Patterson a few years ago...) was performing as such? Dusty might just shoot them.
He really is, in a crowded contest full of various idiocies and vacuities, the dumbest manager out there right now, maybe ever.
In searching "dusty a goddamned moron" on google - I noticed the Lattice came up second! #1 wasn't about Baker. There's something deeply wrong with that.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
my work here is ongoing
who's in?
You could be the next $100,000 winner and million-dollar grand prize contender.