Senator Larry Craig on oil:

In other news, Larry “wide stance” Craig is still a Senator.

HT Wonkette

I thought this was funny, only because of my extreme disdain for the entire “Bratz” doll franchise, which is so whorish (I call them “Horz”) that Barbie is a nun by comparison.

A California court ruled that the creator of Bratz dolls, Carter Bryant, came up with the idea while he was working for Mattel.

It means that Mattel could be awarded millions of dollars when the jury comes to consider damages.

MGA Entertainment could even be stopped from selling the popular large-headed, multi-ethnic, urban fashion dolls.

Mattel had claimed that the name and design of Bratz dolls were based on drawings done by Carter Bryant while he was under a contract that entitled the world’s biggest toymaker to his designs.

Mattel shares rose 4.4% in after-hours trading.

Almost immediately after pledging on Buffalo Issue Alerts to stop posting CACGEC updates at that listserv, Joel Rose posted this:

In the fight to keep casino gambling out of Buffalo and Erie County, the tide has turned, and we can now see victory within our sights. We have battles yet to wage, but Judge William Skretny’s decision of July 8, 2008, marked the turning point in our efforts.

As promised, we’re having a victory celebration party! We don’t have the details worked out yet, but we do have a place and a date, as well as a probable time. So I wanted to let you all know as soon as possible so you could mark the event on your calendars.

Date: Friday, August 15, 2008
Time: 7-10 pm (tentative, subject to change)
Place: Niagara Frontier American Legion Post 1041
533 Amherst Street (at Grant)
Buffalo, N.Y. 14207

By the way:

Bingo Night at the Niagara Frontier American Legion Post 1041 is Mondays at 7:30. KTHXBAI.

HT Politico

(With thanks to Eliz. for the idea)

Here’s the new cover, courtesy of the Albany Project:

There is much back and forth over whether this image is funny, not funny, helpful, or harmful. The cartoonist basically threw every dimwitted right-wing smear against the Obamas into one image. My own opinion is that it’s pretty darn funny.

With that said, the debate over this cover is missing the real, important issue. That is, the New Yorker is still publishing magazines and has found a way to become talked-about among people who don’t drink at the Algonquin or summer in the Hamptons.

Found here. His website is here.

And he’s earned 4 million theoretical internet dollars.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

HT Albany Project

Lincoln : Douglas.

Kennedy : Nixon.

Now, it’s debate via Twitter. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and John Culbertson (R-TX) have been going at it on Twitter, engaging in a debate, of sorts.

Jason Linkins at HuffPo writes:

thrill to them yelling about ANWR, bragging about their exploits, issuing snarky commentary, all while a nation of Twits looks on and gawks, or adds their own noise. I especially love the portion of this exchange where Culberson types - over and over again - “I understand my Dem colleague Tim Ryan says here he opposes ANWR drilling because it will only reduce gas prices by 2 cents - it will be.” He’s run up against Twitter’s 140-character limitation, but he’s not going to let that stop him!

He concludes that it isn’t, in his opinion, a good example of democracy at work. Instead,

I guess this is just my way of saying that the world was a much better place before any of us were born, and these people would - like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr - simply go outside and shoot each other in the face, the end.

Apparently, the video is a 70s era promotional piece for AFSCME, but the voiceover guy recorded this “alternative” version of the script for fun. CAUTION: NSFW LANGUAGE.

First Lady Laura Bush is traveling around Afghanistan, and is traveling via troop transport aircraft.

The seats and atmosphere in said aircraft are, evidently, unfit for a First Lady, so special accommodations have been arranged:

As the always-entertaining and smug British press puts it,

With wood panelling, plush grey carpet, comfy leather seats and, most importantly, thick window shades, Mrs Bush could forget she was anywhere near the War on Terror being played out below the clouds.

While travelling she could have been entertained by her TV and DVD player, hosted cocktail parties or, alternatively, she could have a nap in a choice of two beds.

It is one of 11 ‘Senior Leader In Transit Conference Capsules’ the US government plans to position at various locations around the world, at a cost of £8,000 each.

That’s not the best part.

The best part is the name of the aircraft in which the Airstream trailer is found:

The Spirit of Strom Thurmond. No word on whether the aircraft is segregated by race.

What the pretty blond women are saying to the older gentleman:

HT Ben Smith

Something funny onto this sign.

A new sports blog is up and running - the Dukes of Awesome - and I was alerted to it via a linkback. There, I found its 31 reasons to hate every NFL team that isn’t the Buffalo Bills. The post starts thusly:

In Buffalo we have a lot of things we’re good at: chicken wings, tailgates, shoveling, obesity, the National Lacrosse League, and not knocking down abandoned buildings. Oh, and bitterness. We are really good at bitterness.

Buffalonians thrive on bitterness. We’re bitter that all our jobs are moving out of town. We’re bitter that spring always starts late, but fall is seemingly always on time. We’re bitter that any public project we propose gets shot down by reasons with increased ludicrousness (yes, I’m talking about you Mr. Common Tern). Give us a topic, and I’m sure we’d have a reason to hate it. I’m not saying this is a bad thing - I love being bitter. To me, the only thing I enjoy more then being happy is being miserable.

With the season now a mere 110ish days away its time we all came together and celebrated our bitterness, our hatred, our unbridled passion of abhorrence. So, with this in mind I’ll present to you a reason to hate every other team in the league. 31 teams - 31 reasons to hate. Today we’ll tackle the AFC East and the AFC North.

Read the whole thing. They had me at “bitterness”.

Ricky on obesity (caution: language):

Saw this at Andrew Sullivan’s site, and it made me laugh:

If you haven’t read Dana Milbank’s piece in today’s Washington Post likening Hillary Clinton’s campaign to the parrot in the Python sketch that’s not dead, but pining for the fjords, you should do so…. NOW!

I especially love this passage:

2:57 p.m., Yeager Airport, Charleston, W.Va.: A steep descent brings Clinton’s plane to Charleston’s hilltop airport. After an appropriate wait, she steps from the plane and pretends to wave to a crowd of supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the airplane’s wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points and gives another wave; in fact, she is waving at an aide she had been talking with on the plane minutes earlier.

Oh, and since I know you want to watch it now, here ya go:

Over 95% of Americans have mothers. The other 5% are sons of bitches.

But seriously…

I want to wish my mom a very Happy Mother’s Day, and I’m sorry we weren’t able to see you today. To my wife, Happy Mother’s Day to you, too. I love you with all my heart, and thank you for Maddy and Mia, who brighten our every day.

And a happy day to all the moms reading this, too.