Thursday, May 31, 2007
scattered to light blogging
addendum: skippy also promises to learn how to spell "intermittently" before he gets back.
Labels: blogtopia
skippy's thursday nite music club
loretta lynn - everybody's somebody's fool
the song was made famous by connie francis, but loretta makes it her own here in 1963.
Labels: skippy's music club
using slave labor to build the u.s. embassy
during a telephone interview last weekend, [a high-level project manager] said the laborers “had their backs to the wall,” and had been living 20 to a trailer. protests over first kuwaiti’s bad food, abusive treatment from managers and unsafe working conditions were routine among many of the 2,700 workers during much of 2005 and 2006.oh, and the state department freaked out that americans found out about $592 million, 104 acre (think 80 football fields) monstro-city they want to call the u.s. embassy in iraq and ordered the photos taken off the website of the architects. but think progress has some visuals captured.
...the most basic of medical needs missing and that clinics lacked hot water, disinfectant and hand washing stations. ...prescription pain killers were being handed out “like a candy store … and then people were sent back to work,” to operate heavy equipment or climb scaffolding...- iraq slogger via think progress
ap is watching us
the associated press will intensify its efforts to protect its copyrights on the web and possibly uncover new sources of revenue by working with a silicon valley startup that's trying to help the media gain more control over digital content. - ap via seattle p.i.
ken doctor, an affiliate analyst with outsell research, thinks that anything ap is testing could pave the way for other newspapers. "i think it's part of a pattern on the front-end. content needs to be freely distributed, but that doesn't mean free. if that is to happen we need to know where it is." - editor & publisherjust wait...the important news that everyone should able to access will be behind pay to read walls while the fluffstuff (bald bimbo's barfing and spoiled brats passing out in passenger seats after, what, their second or third stint at a rehab center)
Labels: multi-millionaire media
the next plague
the head of the largest program tracking the health of world trade center site workers said several have developed rare blood cell cancers, raising fears that cancer will become a "third wave" of illnesses among those exposed to toxic dust after sept. 11ask him how he would cover the medically uninsured afflicted by cancer caused by the 9/11 particulates.
..."the kind of thing that worries us is that we know we have a handful of cases of multiple myeloma in very young individuals, and multiple myeloma is a condition that ... almost always presents later in life," she added. "that's the kind of odd, unusual and troubling finding that we're seeing already."- ap
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
i'm truly at a lose for words
u.s. soldiers with missing limbs are being allowed to return to active duty- international herald tribuneso...what are the romney boys up to? perhaps the bush twins want to vacation in iraq, poolside?
f.d.a. chief sentenced to death
perhaps some folks in this country should be sweating bullets tonight....the former head of china's top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death tuesday after pleading guilty to corruption and accepting bribes, according to the state-controlled news media.
zheng xiaoyu, who served as director of china's food & drug ddministration from its founding in 1998 until mid-2005, was detained in february as part of a government investigation into the agency that is supposed to be the nation's food and drug watchdog. - ap via sfgate
Labels: china, death penalty, poisoning
a memorable memorial day
Labels: iraq war
order in the blog
bloggers across the spectrum did an incredible job covering and analyzing the libby trial. led by the groundbreaking work of firedoglake, with marcy wheeler and jane hamsher live blogging the trial in real time from the e. barrett prettyman courthouse, bloggers provided a level of coverage, opinion commentary and legal analysis that simply was not available anywhere else in the media, mainstream or otherwise.
bloggers clearly provided something the public craved as well, because the traffic at sites working the libby trial was off the charts during the trial. the efforts of bloggers were widely praised nearly everywhere, but are still clearly feared by the power brokers like libby and his enablers. it was important to fight back against the slurs of libby and his ilk, and we have.
bloggers are here to stay, and we here at watching those we chose are excited to be a part of this important effort.
always knew i would be a party to a federal case before i shuffled off this mortal coil – but i was thoroughly convinced i would be a defendant…
update: here is a link to the brief. sorry for the delay. (adobe difficulties...h/t to no quarter for posting that link as part of their post.)
skippy's wednesday nite music club
verschärfte vernehmung
what a coinkydink...that's il duce due awol's newspeak for torture, too.
Labels: aWol, war on terror
down the penrose lane

Labels: penrose
indict dick
a lawyer for vice president dick cheney told the secret service in september to eliminate data on who visited cheney at his official residence, a newly disclosed letter states.more at think progress.
..“the latest filings make clear that the administration has been destroying documents and entering into secret agreements in violation of the law,” said anne weismann, crew's chief counsel. - sandy eggo union tribune
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
hey virginia toensing
cov·ert (kv
rt, k
v
rt, k
-vûrt
) adj.
1. not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown: covert military operations; covert funding for the rebels. see synonyms at secret.
Labels: plame
if cindy sheehan were the freeway blogger
Labels: freeway blogger, protest
hit 'em where it hurts...the pocketbook
now, why do i call it "free" money? it certainly isn't free to you or me. but it is "free" to those who receive our contributions because they come with "no strings attached." we aren't corporate lobbyists who can take possession of a congress person's ear hole anytime they want. we aren't "fat cat" donors or hollywood celebrities like barbara streisand, who can call up their favorite senator (or two, or three) whenever they feel like it and demand that their voice be heard on whatever is their pet issue of the moment.
no, we are the free money people. our emails receive automated replies, not personal ones. our phone calls get stuck in easily deleted voice mail caches, or if we're lucky, half listened to by some young staffer who probably thinks what we have to say is a big fat waste of his or her time. and the reason is because we can't contribute enough money in our pay to play political system to earn us any real access…
okay, that's fine. nobody said politics wasn't a dirty game. but no one said we have to keep paying for being mistreated and abused by the party that putatively represents our interests, either. so here's my recommendation to you:
i mean it. stop all contributions. and after you do, send them emails or call them on the phone and tell them you will no longer contribute to any democrat or democratic organization or political action committee, ad nauseam, until they stop funding the iraq war. that's what i am going to do with respect to the democratic national committee, the only democratic organization i contribute to on a regular (i.e., monthly basis). i send them a monthy amount via my credit card every month. but no more.
but funding the iraq war doesn't require passing legislation. all it requires is not passing a bill to fund the war in iraq. or keep sending the same bill back to bush which mandates a withdrawal of us troops and make him blink first. but they couldn't do that, despite the fact that 70% of americans disapprove of both bush and his handling of the iraq war.
Labels: democrats, iraq war, supporting our troops
skippy's tuesday nite music club
maybe we should just pay closer attention to the high-profile bloggers in our midst...
markos reminds me of a few of the union stewards i knew years ago when i worked for a paper bag manufacturer. these folks took their steward responsibilities seriously. most of my co-workers couldn't be bothered to attend any of the meetings (i'll admit, i skipped more than a few myself), but whenever the company porked them out of a little money that was rightly theirs, the first person they went complaining to was their union steward -- and most of the time, the porked employees were compensated in a timely manner. these stewards knew that the bag plant knew what its own rules were, and they knew the rules as well. they played sort of an enforcer role in that sense. and they played it very well.
however, when a lower-level management job opened up, the first person the company would usually tap was also a union steward. and not only would they accept the position, their personality would change dramatically. they were still enforcers, but now their focus was on getting the employees to toe the rulebook line. they began acting as if their time as stewards never happened, now that they were on their way to becoming part of the establishment. i ended up developing a distrust of unions based on that alone, one i still haven't quite shaken off: these stewards were just supervisors waiting to get the call. the rest of us served mainly as tools for their supervisory training.
now i see this same dynamic applies among political activists, too. markos is as much of an activist as he ever was, but more and more he engages in his activism on behalf of the democratic leadership, not the democratic voters. he was an insider waiting to get inside all along.
i don't blame him for being that way. to each his own. i blame myself for not picking up on this a lot sooner. maybe i could have rung a bell or something...
Labels: blogtopia
sheehan resigns
democratic "leaders" were afraid to turn down $100 billion to the man who couldn't get bottled water to new orleans. what makes them think any of it ends up with "the troops"?
Labels: aWol, congress, corruption, natural disasters
we like what you've done with the place
now, if they'd just add skippy to the blogroll, it would be perfect.
Labels: blogtopia
Monday, May 28, 2007
where's the wanking on the right
lehman brothers has nabbed george h. walker, the ceo of goldman sachs hedge fund strategies, to be the global head of its $188 billion investment management division, lehman brothers announced today. - the street
a first cousin of president bush is emerging as a peripheral player in the increasingly bizarre bayou management hedge fund scandal.you remember john p. ellis, don't you....he's the one that "called the election."sources say john p. ellis, a former journalist turned investment banker, represented several companies in investment presentations to im partners, a side venture set up by samuel israel and daniel marino. israel and marino were the management team that ran bayou and who federal prosecutors allege defrauded investors out of $300 million. - the street
a fox news consultant involved in making judgments about presidential "calls" on election night admits he was in touch with george w. bush and florida gov. jeb bush by telephone several times during the evening, but denies having broken any rules.
fox is considering disciplinary action against the consultant, john ellis, who is a cousin to bush and a former boston globe columnist who stopped writing about the campaign for the paper, citing family "loyalty" to bush. - cbs
Labels: aWol, corruption
united databases of america
the screening system, called basic pilot, is run by the department of homeland security. so far, it's being used by only about 16,700 employers — 2,100 or so in california — out of 7 million nationwide.
but it's set to dramatically expand into a national electronic employment verification system under the senate proposal; within 18 months, it could be used to check every new hire in the country. as the legislation is written, all 150 million workers in the united states will have to submit to the checks within three years.
..."we're handing over the power to the federal government to tell us yes, we can work, or no, we can't work, and because the database isn't what it should be, there are people who are going to be told they can't work," said tyler moran, employment policy director for the national immigration law center, which advocates for immigrant rights. "this is going to affect every single worker in the country, and this is going to affect every business in the country." - latte times
Labels: databanks, immigration
no one to blaine
skippy's monday nite music club
george clinton - atomic dog
Labels: skippy's music club
skippy's monday nite music club - bonus trax
beatles vs. nine inch nails - come closer together mashup
one of the best mashups we've ever heard...it proves that a good mashup isn't only about rhythm, lyrics and timing, but about putting the very cores of two songs side by side and examining the similarities and differences.
and if you think about it, come together is probably a distant cousin to closer in spirit.
we suggest you sit back and close your eyes as you listen.
Labels: skippy's music club
a taste for rabbit
housekeeping
Labels: amnesty day
your honor, we rest our case
what made my jaw drop was the quote he referenced, apparently the very first words moulitsas ever posted on daily kos:
day 1
i am progressive. i am liberal. i make no apologies. i believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. i am not a socialist. i do not seek enforced equality. however, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal.
posted may 26, 2002 12:57 pm
well -- one true statement out of three ain't bad, i guess...
Labels: blogtopia, democrats, progressives
making this day memorable
evil dad is off buying a flag holder this morning. the one that came with our flag appears to have escaped into the garage’s black hole, never to be heard from again. my theory is that it’s keeping my granddad’s safety glasses (from the mines) company - i’ve been searching for those buggers for three months now. when he gets back, we might go up to our local-ish military cemetery and talk with big girl about what this day represents.
why am i writing about this today? well, i am not the only mother who has lost a child. this is not normal, you know. parents are to go before the children... why is this? i think because it hurts so damn bad. i want to give you a shoe of which i have walked in for a few moments.
americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury u.s. troops killed in iraq since memorial day a year ago. the figure is telling -- and expected to rise in coming months.
in the period from memorial day 2006 through saturday, 980 soldiers and marines died in iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. and with the baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even president bush has predicted a difficult summer for u.s. forces.
"it could be a bloody _ it could be a very difficult august," he said last week.
u.s. commander gen. david petraeus on saturday acknowledged the increase in casualties as a result of the american surge in forces to regain control of baghdad.
Labels: supporting our troops
death gets a holiday
(cross-posted from my place)
Labels: aWol, iraq war, memorial, military, war profiteering
opening up today....
who knew that some folks thought that the flintstones was a documentary.
Labels: religion
warner brothers tries to save taz

warner bros. will donate money from the sale of dvd's featuring bugs bunny and daffy duck to help efforts to save the tasmanian devil from extinction, an australian official said.
the looney tunes character taz -- a whirling, growling rival to bugs bunny -- is based on the australian marsupial, which is being threatened by a contagious cancer in its homeland, the island state of tasmania. - ap
“tasmanians are faced with an enormous challenge to save one of our most precious icons, the tasmanian devil, and the tasmanian government will ensure we can do everything in our power to make this happen,” ms wreidt said. - thewest.com.aulet's just hope the tasmanian devil's story doesn't end the usual looney tunes way..."that's all, folks!"
there was one benchmark in the funding bill
the legislation contains a particular provision that would lead to the privatization of iraq's oil, a provision that i'm quite concerned about, because i think that if we take that position, it will make it very difficult for us to ever be able to end the war.
so today i'm going to lay out the case as to why this provision that's in the bill would advance privatization and as to what the options are for this congress.
as many know, the administration has set forth several benchmarks for the iraqi government, including the passage of a hydrocarbon law by the iraqi parliament. the administration has emphasized only a small part of this law, what they call the "fair distribution," that's in quotes, of oil revenues.
i want this house to consider the fact that this iraqi hydrocarbon law contains a mere three sentences that generally discusses the so-called fair distribution of oil. except for three scant lines, the entire 33-page hydrocarbon law is about creating a complex legal structure to facilitate the privatization of iraqi oil. as such, it is imperative that members of congress read the iraqi parliament's bill, because passage of any legislation that includes insisting that the iraq government push the passage of a hydrocarbon act puts this congress on record to promote privatizing iraq's oil. - dennis kuchinich from the floor of the house, may 23, 2007
Labels: iraq war, kucinich, oil, war profiteering
Sunday, May 27, 2007
thanks for everything, kos; or, ralphie boy was right
tho we ourselves had high hopes that the dems had grown spines ( indeed, there had been some reports of such skeletal formations spotted in the last few months), we were not at all surprised when the very people that were elected to stop the war in iraq pulled down their pants, bent over and said "thank you sir, may i have another?"
the majority of americans think things are going badly in iraq; the majority of americans think we never should have gone into iraq; the majority of americans support a timetable for withdrawl from iraq.
and yet, the democrats that america voted into office last fall gave up their fight to acknowledge and appease such majority views.
thanks, democrats. oh, and thanks, markos, for convincing us to vote for those democrats.
the brooklyn rail, reviewing crashing the gates last year, pointed out markos' platform vis-a-vis progressives:
in his quest to become the "not leader" of liberal blogs, markos banned jews, palestinians, feminists, and everybody who posts at my left wing.
yes, mid-ameirca can now read the daily kos without see the "f" word in the titles of diaries. and the right-of-center can rest easy that nobody will raise the ugly spector of issues like abortion or what really happened on 9/11.
but as a wiser man than we once said, "those who stand for nothing, fall for anything." sure, there are numbers of great quantity in the middle, but the fire is along the edges of american politics.
bob fertik says today at democrats.com:
poputonian quoted david swanson's criticism of democratic house leaders for blocking a vote on the lee amendment, and swanson's criticism of moveon for aiding and abetting that vote denial through their dishonest member "poll"…
so apparently if you agree with any of these points, kos believes you are a "holier than thou" purity troll who is just as destructive to the progressive movement as [a] dlc troll.
it seems that those of us fought to the end for the lee amendment have touched a very sensitive nerve by objecting to the manner in which it was killed by house democratic leaders and their allies in the "progressive" movement, most conspicuously moveon.
if moveon, sirota, and kos were mere spectators in that effort, their lies and vicious attacks wouldn't make much sense.
could it be that some of our "progressive" allies were working with house democratic leaders in the runup to the supplemental to help them kill the lee amendment?
maybe poputonian unwittingly hit the nail on the head when (s)he wrote america: still an insider's game?
congratulations, markos. you've made it. the stephanie herseths, the jim webers, the john testers owe you a big, big debt of thanks for helping get them elected.
those are the guys who voted for the stripped down iraq funding bill, right?
now, we don't think markos is to blame for the dems' caving on the iraq funding bill (he is, however, obvioulsy responsible for the virginia tech massacre).
but we do think that his pointed efforts to "play to the middle" at the expense of actual convictions, plus his obvious work for getting anyone elected that claimed to be a democrat, is indicative of the core problems with the entire party.
the repubbblicans, for all their wrong-headedness, bigotry, selfishness and fantasy-world beliefs, at least have some beleifs. we often (and lately especially) have come to think that the only thing elected democrats believe in is getting elected.
and to those who say the democrats are acting just like repubbblicans, we ask: does the name ralph nader ring a bell?
skippy's sunday nite music club
happy anniversary!
for their celebration, the skippy's enjoyed brunch at the beautiful four seasons hotel in beverly hills, where among the dim sum, omlette bar, exotic cheeses and flan they spotted larry flynt and his party also enjoying the sumptuous spread.
then a romantic viewing of the intimate film shrek 3, and a quiet renewal of their vows in the mall parking lot, and the skippy's prepared to enjoy the next 23 years, which promise to be as exciting, fun-filled and sexy as the last.
Labels: anniversary
happy 70th birthday!
golden gate bridge!
it opened up for "business" at 6:00 a.m. 70 years ago today.
it is used by more than 100,000 commuters a day, visited by as many as a million tourists a month, and crossed by 40 million drivers a year. its bold beauty is staggering, its mystique legendary. - sfgate
Labels: birthday, golden gate bridge, san francisco
arnold's sneaky war on agriculture
...if owners of working farms and ranches are required to pay property taxes based on their land’s residential or commercial valuation, they usually have no choice but to sell the land to developers. a 1965 california law known as the williamson act helps preserve farms and ranches by allowing those who enroll in the program to have their land taxed at a rate based on actual use, not potential use.call your representatives. now.buried in gov. arnold schwarzenegger's budget plans for next year is a small but truly bad idea. he wants to save $40 million by canceling a farmland preservation program.
he thinks he can dump the costs on rural and suburban counties, a favorite gambit of sacramento budget balancers. in this case, however, he will unhinge a successful state plan that rewards agriculture and local government for staving off sprawl.
at issue is the williamson act, designed to give farmers and ranchers a break on property taxes. counties are reimbursed by sacramento when they lower property taxes for agricultural land. the idea is to remove a temptation to shut down operations and sell to the highest bidder, namely developers. for 40 years, the program has meant that marin county hills, sonoma county pastures and contra costa county vistas are dotted with crops or cows, not subdivisions. - sfgate
Labels: california
arlington west
why doesn't this surprise us?
scientists: epa chemical screening program flawed. scientists say the bush administration is developing a chemical testing program on endocrine disruption that favors the chemical industry when it comes to judging whether certain substances in the environment might cause cancer, infertility, or harm to babies in the womb.guess they don't want us to know about results like this...
..they say the environmental protection agency has:...failed to guarantee that tests will be conducted on prenatal exposure to chemicals. last week, a group of 200 scientists signed a declaration warning that exposure to chemicals in the womb may make babies more likely to develop diabetes, obesity, attention deficit disorder and infertility. the group urged action from governments around the world.- dallas morning news
scientists report that almost all babies measured in a large study in baltimore had been exposed to perfluorinated contaminants -- pfcs -- while in the womb. pfcs are widely used in consumer products like teflon and gore-tex. they are extremely persistent. the levels observed were well beneath those shown in most experiments to be necessary to cause developmental harm in animals. - acs publications
Saturday, May 26, 2007
hoppy blogiversary
Labels: blogiversary, blogtopia
mad about the iraq war
golden words for the golden state
Labels: free speech, protest
skippy's saturday night music club
Labels: skippy's music club
man, i almost forgot...
no one could have imagined...
our children are dying for this? reid and pelosi and all the cheney democrats should take cheney's advice and ...
Labels: aWol, bipartisanship, corruption, iraq war
speaker's email addy
Congressional courtesy prevents me from replying to emails if I cannot determine
that you are a constituent of mine.If you are not a resident of California's 8th
Congressional District and are contacting me in regard to my role as Speaker,
please email me at mailto:AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov.
Labels: aWol, bipartisanship, war profiteering
Friday, May 25, 2007
skippy's friday nite music club
the satintones - shake me wake me
Labels: skippy's music club
hanh?!

somebody please remind me why the greatest generation fought to take down the biggest anti-semitic regime in human history...
down the penrose lane

Labels: penrose
mo gitmo
Labels: guantanamo bay, talking dog, war on terror
Thursday, May 24, 2007
let the games begin...
rich white guys are the only ones fit to rule
latinos - hispanics represent over 14% of the u.s. population, while their congress representation is 3% in the senate and about 5% in the house.
african-americans - the senate is 1% african american and the house is roughly 9.2% african american compared to the 12.3 percent of american population that are of black or african-american descent.
that's not just hedging your bets, that's outright topiary
Labels: hillary, iraq war, obama, senate, supporting our troops
skippy's thursday nite music club
yehudi menuhin on violin (w/adolph baller on piano) - hungarian dance no. 5 in g minor by johannes brahams
Labels: skippy's music club
il duce due in the line of fire
as president bush took a question thursday in the white house rose garden about scandals involving his attorney general, he remarked, "i've got confidence in al gonzales doin' the job."blood on his hands. bird cr*p on his sleeve.
simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead and left a splash on the president's sleeve, which bush tried several times to wipe off. - abc news
ferocious looking fugitive finally captured

reggie the alligator's two years of freedom ended this afternoon when the coldblooded fugitive left the chilly waters of lake machado and was taken into custody on the shore.and, yes, it did have an l.a. ending....cut to helicopter tracking a white vehicle on the freeway.
the 7-foot alligator was taken to the los angeles zoo, where he will be quarantined for up to 60 days to make sure he isn't carrying any diseases.
and in a scene reminiscent of a certain chase of a white bronco, channel 7 news broke into its broadcast this afternoon to show the white animal control truck carrying reggie up the harbor freeway. - lattetimes.wonder if he'll have enough time to get back to blogging...but he better change the title, though. "life in the lake" isn't going to be cutting it anymore.
Labels: animals
drive by posting
il duce due's power grab
so let me get this straight... el presidente can now have a little tissy fit freak out and take over all power levels of government under his sole discretion? let's see what webster has to say:
1 a : a person granted absolute emergency power; especially : one appointed by the senate of ancient rome b : one holding complete autocratic control c : one ruling absolutely and often oppressively
see: hitler, mussolini, caesar, stalin, tse-tung, kai-shek, lenin, pol pot, hideki, khan, tito, ceausescu and lots of other a*****s. hey george, your proctologist called, they found yer head.
Labels: aWol
save the troops... save the world!
contact your senators demanding that they don't give in to childish bully george gush. demand they vote against funding troops staying in iraq.
ask that they filibuster against giving more money to awol's folly.
i suggested that sen. obama lead the filibuster.
impeach the cheerleader...save the world
Labels: action alert, aWol, iraq war, occupation
15 landscape gardeners found shot dead
fifteen young goats, part of a herd of several hundred goats grazing for weed-control purposes near king estates recreation area in the oakland hills, were found shot to death tuesday morning.goats have been increasingly used to pare back the "fire food" in various areas of the state,..."the concern we have is that it's probably a young person with a rifle that is out shooting squirrels, and then decides to move on to the goats. really senseless acts of violence against animals present a disturbing pattern — you don't want to see it escalate to harming more animals. so it's not a good sign, and we've notified park rangers to be on the lookout for someone like this."
the officer found the 15 juvenile goats in a corner of one of the 30-by-60-foot portable corrals set up by the herd's owner, about 200 feet from howard elementary school, police said. the goats were killed with a large weapon, possibly a .22-caliber rifle, cronin said. "there were entry and exit wounds. this was definitely not just a pellet gun," he said.
...."the goats are a very special and reassuring part of the community experience here in our peaceful and friendly little neighborhood," said resident tamara thompson. "they herald the coming of summer. this is my ninth summer of goats, and there is blood. i am heartbroken." - insidebayarea.
from the end of the rainy season until september, hundreds of goats are brought to the east bay hills from the carquinez strait to castro valley to munch on vegetation and overgrown weeds to increase fire safety. the goats are hired from private herders. - sfchronincluding around the getty museum
tom bristow of the county fire department said the goats are often more efficient than a hand crew or bulldozer. - knbc.and, because of california's extreme fire hazard conditions due to drought, and these goats were being used to aid in lessening the danger to firefighters and the community, who ever is found responsible for this heartbreakingly senseless act, should be charged with a crime against the state.
not just an excuse to take off from work
go to support the troops end the war to find out what actions are happening in your neighborhood this weekend.
Labels: action alert, edwards, iraq war, supporting our troops
escrow where ya wanna go

our good friend monkeyfister is quite aware of the skippy's adventures in trying to buy housing in the los angeles real estate market. monkeyfister himself has just closed on his own american dream down in tennessee, and for that, we congratulate him.
we are also, therefore, touched that he would give the skippys' search for affordable housing a shout out over at blah3, where monkeyfister gave us all the bad news: and that is, the nightly news isn't giving us the real news, which is, the bad news is much worse than we thought.
here are some highlights to get you started:
• mortgage bankers association [mba] data: mba seasonally adjusted purchase application index is down 18% from its peak in september 2005.
• builder data: d.r. horton (dhi) and lennar (len) have reported that orders have declined 27% to 37%, year-over-year -- even as they have dropped prices significantly. these are the nation's two largest homebuilders.
• realogy corporation data: in 2006, there was a year-over-year decline of 18% in brokerage related transactions at realogy owned firms (century 21, coldwell banker, and era)
• 2005-2006 national association of realtors state data: the nar is showing some very sharp year-over-year corrections: florida down 28%; california down 24%; arizona off 28%. however, the nar data may actually be understating the falloff. john's data shows the more likely actual sales decrease to be closer to 34%, 27% and 38%, respectively. prior to 2005, john's data tracked very closely with the nar, so this deviation is worth further investigation.
unfortunately, not low enough for the skippy's! but we still wish the monkeyfisters a sincere housewarming in their new digs!
Labels: blogtopia, economy, housing bubble
we like what you've done with the place
Labels: blogtopia, say hello, technology
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
legally blonde...

more than likely, reese's next flick is to play the "white house liaison" who never "liaisoned" with the white house.
monica might want to change her name to "bad"ling.
oh, poor baby....
the widow of enron corp. founder kenneth lay is asking a judge to let her keep nearly $13 million in assets -- particularly the family condominium -- that the federal government is trying seize.
...enron's collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans. - juan lozano/ap
whaaaaaa whaaaaaa freakin' whaaaaaa.....they showed a callous disregard for human life. why does she believe she deserves special treatment?
skippy's wednesday nite music club
kelly clarkson - cryin by aerosmith
reuben studdard - ain't to proud to beg by the temptations
fantasia barrino - summertime by george gershwin
carrie underwood - san antonio rose - traditional, but made popular by our fav, bob wills and the texas playboys (whose fiddle player, johnny gimble, joins carrie, along w/asleep at the wheel's ray benson...after a very long introduction by reba)
good luck to whoever wins tonite!
Labels: skippy's music club
and now, a few nuggets of blue-collar wisdom (a slowly vanishing branch of philosophy)...
2) while the printing press is in "run-mode," take account of the many exterior elements of the machine. all of its elements (including the non-visible ones deeper within the machine's workings) can be classified into one of two categories: those that exhibit motion, and those that do not. the majority of those elements that do not exhibit motion are safe to touch, but if you are unsure of any element's nature, then do not touch it at all. unsafe stationary elements include (but are not limited to) those which radiate excessive heat and those which channel electrical currents. those elements that do exhibit motion are never to be touched while they remain in motion, without exception. your duties as conservator of the printing press include ensuring your own physical safety. if we have to replace machine parts because being told that running a printing press has nothing to do with playing "tag" didn't make an impression on you, then we will consider you a stupid @$$#*!&. you will be fortunate if we mourn the loss of your right arm more than the loss of our next annual profit-sharing check, you are so stupid.
3) never, ever, ever... mess with another operator's printing press without his or her consent. if you must refrain from hitting an emergency stop button while your machine is jamming up, shredding its drive belts, and stripping its gears, the rest of us will still embrace you -- after we're convinced that you've been completely humiliated. if you must play grab-ass with a rotating cylinder and end up becoming an amputee, it will be impossible for the rest of us to find it in our hearts to excuse you -- but we will still consider you one of ours. if you mess with someone else's printing press without permission, and you mess it up in the process, then you shall refrain from repenting, and the rest of us shall refrain from forgiving. you do not beg, and the rest of us do not offer mercy. you will not be spared the wrath of a higher authority, and the rest of us will not turn ourselves into pillars of salt on your behalf. you break this rule, m*&^%f$#k@*... the rest of us break you.
welcome to printing -- in a metaphorical way of speaking...
Labels: freedom of the press
welcome back, carter
Labels: democrats
gore-ing aWol
Labels: gore
everybody loves hillary...except the voters
apparently, we're not looking in the right places. via vamonitcello at mydd, this poll from strategic vision political shows hillary third place among likely iowa caucus voters:
barack obama 24%
hillary clinton 16%
bill richardson 9%
joseph biden 3%
chris dodd 2%
dennis kucinich 1%
undecided 16%
Labels: democrats, edwards, hillary, obama, polls, prez campaign
separation of church and blog
b!b!im wants us to support the national day of securlarism on may 26th in australia. it sounds like a great idea, and there should be a comparable observation here in america.

the thinker's podium describes it well:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
my tax money will be used to pay for this?
state sen. carole migden bounced her state-issued suv off the concrete median on interstate 80 and nearly ran other motorists off the freeway before slamming into the back of another vehicle last week, the california highway patrol and witnesses said tuesday.carole. yeah, they can talk to you like that. they're your employer. why don't you keep that in mind. pay the insurance out of your own pocket. pay the hospital bills for the mother and child you sent to the hospital.
more than half a dozen motorists made emergency calls about migden's erratic driving before the friday accident, the chp said. the rear-end collision in fairfield, midway between san francisco and sacramento, injured a woman and her 3-year-old daughter, who were sent to the emergency room.
...in a telephone interview tuesday with the ap, jordan said two drivers who followed migden off the interstate began berating her immediately after the accident.
"one of them said she'd run him off the road. they were pretty upset that she'd been driving so badly," jordan said.
"she kept saying, 'you can't talk to me like that, i'm a state senator,"' he said. - ktvu
(hat tip to calitics)
Labels: california
mad about the dems caving on the timetable withdrawl of troops from iraq
i wonder who's schlessinger now?
the myspace page, publicly available until friday when it disappeared from the internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "my sweet little habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.
the site is credited to and includes many photographs of deryk schlessinger, the 21-year-old son of the talk radio personality known simply as dr. laura. broadcast locally on 570 knrs, "family values talk radio," the former family counselor spends three hours daily taking calls and offering advice on morals, ethics and values. she broadcast a show from fort douglas, in salt lake city, last week.
Labels: right hypocrisy
all the president's menus
if you believe the old adage that you are what you eat, it is not surprising america's current president seems artificial, bland, insipid and rather unsubstantial. the man who cooked president george w. bush's breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the first four years of his presidency reveals in a new book that the most powerful man in the world likes no more than a cheap processed cheese sandwich for lunch."kraft singles on white bread was one of this president's most requested lunch items," says walter scheib, who, from 1994 until he was sacked by laura bush in early 2005, was executive chef at the white house. - sunday herald
Labels: aWol, food, white house
#1 with a bullet
the new u.s. embassy in baghdad will be the world's largest and most expensive foreign mission, though it may not be large enough or secure enough to cope with the chaos in iraq.
...the $592 million embassy occupies a chunk of prime real estate two-thirds the size of washington's national mall, with desk space for about 1,000 people behind high, blast-resistant walls. the compound is a symbol both of how much the united states has invested in iraq and how the circumstances of its involvement are changing.
...the embassy also is a prime target- houston chron
Labels: iraq
defeatocrats refuse to call it defeat
this money is not going to the troops - troops are not paid out of the war money but out of the pentagon budget - halliburton is getting the money from this latest cave in by defeatocrats to the bush junta.
Labels: aWol, bipartisanship, iraq war
skippy's tuesday nite music club
solamente una palabra para describir gonzales
you can't torquemada anything*
but perhaps gingrich’s most controversial remarks came in an interview after his speech, in which gingrich cited the opportunity “to convert all of america.”
* history of the world, part i
Monday, May 21, 2007
don't you have to cover babies w/cellophane before you put them in the microwave?
may 20, 2007, 12:45pm
© 2007 the associated press
galveston, texas — a woman blames the devil and not her husband for severely burning their infant daughter after the 2-month-old was put in a microwave, a houston television station reported.
eva marie mauldin said satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, joshua royce mauldin, to microwave their daughter may 10 because the devil disapproved of joshua's efforts to become a preacher.
"satan saw my husband as a threat. satan attacked him because he saw (joshua) as a threat," eva mauldin told houston television station khou-tv.
a galveston county grand jury indicted joshua mauldin last week on child injury charges after hearing evidence that he placed his daughter in a motel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds. the infant, ana marie, remains hospitalized. she suffered burns on the left side of her face and to her left hand, police said.
eva marie mauldin, the girl's 20-year-old mother, told the television station that her husband is "not the monster people are making him out to be."
Labels: religion, right hypocrisy
file this under, "well...duh!"
(hat tip to silent patriot at c&l)
Labels: aWol, impeach, multi-millionaire media
they had better be dang good pancakes

now...going from "affluent" society...to "effluent"
vidiot speak's lawyerly friends (stalkers) have some "cra**y" cases.
another illegality for this administratio...stop the presses
increases in military salary are traditionally determined by increases in average civilian salary, according to a method of measurement called the employment cost index. regardless of the actual dollar increase in salary, the base pay for service-members must be at least 0.5% above the corresponding civilian pay because of a defense authorization act which congress passed in 1999.
but according to bureau of labor statistics numbers, the bush administration's proposed raise of only 3% for active-duty troops in iraq and afghanistan is actually less than the average increase in civilian wages from 2006 to 2007 (3.2%), instead of the required 0.5% more than the average civilian wage (which would be equal to 3.7%).
if congress passes the funding plan that the administration has proposed, they will, in effect, be illegally depriving the troops of the minimum pay raise guaranteed to them by the earlier law. the move would save the bush administration millions and could cost new us army recruits (who are the least effected by the proposed pay raise) a few hundred dollars annually.
Labels: aWol, blogtopia, supporting our troops
concert for nola
it will be a loose and fun show with each artist performing a few songs with many of them sitting in on each other¹s songs. the full billing will be released closer to the concert, which will take place at tipitina¹s uptown on sunday, may 27.
the concert is being presented by the future of music coalition and air traffic control.
proceeds will benefit sweet home new orleans, a coalition of non-profit organizations, including the renew our music fund, that helps find affordable housing in new orleans and provides rental assistance for katrina displaced musicians, mardi gras performers and other traditional new orleans artists. to find out more about what sweet home new orleans and renew our music fund do, please go to www.sweethomeneworleans.org and www.renewourmusic.com.
"the musicians of new orleans have given their rich musical heritage to this country and they deserve to be supported in this time of need. while our nation's response to the katrina tragedy was and continues to be sorely lacking, the work of grassroots activists has shown through. we are looking forward to spending a little time in new orleans to witness and support the work that has been done by these tireless and dedicated folks. we also are very excited to play a bit of music in such a beautiful community!" said amy ray of the indigo girls.
prior to the event, a group of musicians will tour new orleans on saturday to see the damage left by hurricane katrina and the rebuilding that still needs to be done. they include jim james from my morning jacket and sandy pearlman, the producer of the blue oyster cult. this part of the event is not open to the press.
"i'm very excited about the work that fmc is doing, bringing politically and socially active musicians together, and i'm especially glad that at this year's meeting we'll have the chance to help out in new orleans. it's a great place for musicians to focus on community, both because we owe so much to that city for a century of incredible music, and because the local musicians there need our help right now," said damian kulash of ok go.
ticket for the benefit concert are $20 before the show and $25 at the door. tickets can be purchased through ticket web (www.ticketweb.com). doors open at 8 p.m. and the music starts at 9 p.m.
about the future of music coalitionfuture of music coalition is a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that identifies, examines, interprets and translates the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy. fmc achieves this through continuous interaction with its primary constituency - musicians - and in collaboration with other creator/citizen groups.
what you need to know
what: musicians bringing home musicians ii
artists: indigo girls, ok go's damian kulash, my morning jacket's jim james, matt nathanson, bonearama, al "carnival time" johnson
location: tipitina's uptown, 501 napoleon avenue
show time: doors open at 8 p.m. music starts at 9 p.m.
tickets: $20 before the show and $25 at the door. tickets can be purchased at www.ticketweb.com.
Labels: action alert, music, nola
freeway blogging isn't free
Labels: freeway blogger, snark
herb caen't dot dot dot
“this is one of the biggest one-time hits we’ve heard about anywhere in the country,” said tom rosenstiel, director of the project for excellence in journalism, in washington.
eighty reporters, photographers, copy editors and others, as well as 20 employees in management positions are expected to be laid off by end of the summer. chronicle publisher frank vega said friday that voluntary buyouts are likely to be offered.
vega declined to say whether the paper is continuing to lose $1 million a week, as hearst attorney daniel wall stated in court in november during a hearing on an antitrust suit filed by san francisco businessman clint reilly.
“we’re not getting into any specifics at this point,” vega said. “it’s fairly common knowledge that we have had a tough financial row here for several years. as we continue to evaluate our situation, unfortunately continued belt-tightening is necessary.”
alas, so goes the way of the dead trees media in the 21st century.
Labels: corporations, multi-millionaire media
skippy's monday nite music club
tom t. hall - chatanooga dog
we confess an affection for tom t. hall, one of the seminal story tellers of 70's country music.
Labels: skippy's music club
skippy's monday nite music club bonus trax
margo guryan - 16 words
addendum: kudos to cannablog, who's been touting this same amazing piece since february.
Labels: skippy's music club
alien nation
Labels: immigration, multi-millionaire media
down the penrose lane

Labels: penrose
pick hillary's official theme song
we also asked our readers for their suggestions, offering a skippy tee shirt to the person who came up with the best answer.
we at skippy international were able to winnow the answers down to a mere 16...but now we need your help.
on our right hand side bar, directly under our cute 'roo logo, is a poll offering the 16 best suggestions for hillary's theme song. it's up to you, our readers, to vote for your favorite. and the winner will get a skippy tee shirt, size large, because that's what we've got left in the warehouse.
you can see videos of most of the songs on our sister site skippy junior.
Labels: hillary, music, prez campaign
Sunday, May 20, 2007
skippy's sunday nite music club
key scary word...
the chinese government has agreed to acquire a $3 billion stake in u.s. private equity firm blackstone group lp in a deal that marks china's long-anticipated move to diversify how it invests its massive foreign exchange reserve.
..china's stake will mark the first time that country's government has sunk cash into a foreign private equity firm, which makes its money by acquiring ailing companies, turning them around, and then selling them at a profit."we hope this is an important first step in broadening the capital flows between china and the u.s.," blackstone's chairman and co-founder, stephen schwarzman, said in a statement. - ap
"they will use their money to gain influence, and this is a good example of this," said peter morici, a professor at the university of maryland's robert h. smith school of business. "blackstone isn't just a fund, it's a very influential group in the united states. basically, it's the chinese government making a significant stake in a highly influencial wall street firm. and, in turn, that firm has an influence on u.s. policy." - apand a little bit about blackstone....
- the blackstone group is handling the restructuring of global crossing.
- blackstone alternative asset management unit handles $1 billion in hedge funds for pension giant calpers
- the blackstone group was appointed as enron's principal financial advisor with regard to its financial restructuring
- the company also advised enron on "the sale of its north american power and gas trading business to ubs
Labels: china, government, wall street
full frontal jessica

celina interviews jessica upon the publication of jessica's book full frontal feminism over at feministing.
Labels: blogtopia, feminism, literature
dueling lawyers
foothill cities blog got a lawyer themselves, one who specializes in defamation suits, and he fired back a nasty letter, reminding pomona that slapp suits are rarely successful. you can read both letters here.
Labels: attorneys, blogtopia, california, corruption, freedom of the press