Health "Care"

"Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients."

Dubya's Eight Years in Eight Minutes

Keith Olbermann's review of the horror that was the Bush presidency.

Gene Robinson to speak at Inauguration

Obama has also asked Gene Robinson to speak at his inauguration next week. Rick Warren is still speaking, but the addition of Robinson, in this robot's humble opinion, balances the event as well as shows Obama to be who he says he wants to be: a uniter.

'Bout time.

Copernicus for Pres!

Actual remains of Copernicus, the guy who dared to say the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way around, have been found.

In other news, Dubya plans to ROLL BACK protections on endangered species before he leaves office next month. One more "fuck you" to the world, I guess. Seems Dubya subscribes to a "The Sun revolves around ME" kind of worldview.

Bits and Bobs

Sad News First:

A woman with Alzheimer's mysteriously disappeared at DFW 7 years ago. It turns out her remains were found recently, and she died of a blow to the head. Yikes.

Tis the Season:

I have joined Martha Stewart's 6-week Christmas workshop. It's free. Each week, you get a new list of crafty ideas and how to make them. This week's theme is handmade gifts.

Wanda Sykes:

She's just awesome.

We've got a new Prez

and it's so awesome! I feel like the sun is shining for the first time in 8 years.

Vote Yes on R

San Franciscans will vote on Prop R this Tuesday to name their local sewage treatment plant after sitting POTUS Dubya. Will it pass? You betcha.

Stupid Idiot

This idiot lied to police about being mugged and having a "B" carved into her face by a mugger who supposedly supports Obama for president.

If you ask me, it looks more like an ass. Very fitting.

Don't know what politicians are saying?

Or where they get those crazy numbers from? Or if they've said the opposite just a few days ago? Check out factchecker.org. It's a helpful site that, get this, actually checks up on what pols say to see if it's truthful!

What? Truth? Yes. Truth.

I didn't caption this one, but I had to share it!

see Sarah Palin pictures

Librarians against Palin

I was reading this recent expose about VP candidate Tracy Flick and saw in the comments that there is a new (days old) blog called Librarians against Palin. It is so-so, but they are trying to get as much info relating to her book-banning attempt. Perhaps something will come of it. Pass it on.

Is anyone else...

...as annoyed by the Sara Palin soap opera as much as I am? Sheesh! I love how everyone on her team keeps saying she has foreign policy experience because she lives in the one state closest to Russia. Huh?

We'll inherit the Earth, but we won't want it*

The Democratic Nat'l Conv starts today. Obama picked Joe Biden, a safe and experienced candidate. Lots of folks wonder why he didn't pick Hillary. Simple -- she and Bill would have struggled with Obama for power every day. It would have been a messy joke of an Administration. Granted, we are pretty used to that. But if such things can be avoided, then they should.

Check out this dumb kid and his attempt at weightlifting!

*So says Paul Westerberg.

Rhyming "Back" with "Back"

Check out [Douchebag*] Cornyn's re-election ad. Gee...if we make it sepia-toned and get a Johnny Cash sound-alike, them Texans will eat it up!

After I finished laughing, I threw up a little in my mouth because he'll probably get re-elected to the Senate easily because most Texans are dumb**.

*I can call him that. He's a big Dubya supporter.

**I can say that too. I'm a Texan who has seen how this state votes.

Foreign Media does it again: Tells us what's really happening in our own country.

The Independent reports that Dubya wants to set things up in Iraq so that the U.S. has long-term control of the country and he can claim "victory" before he leaves office. This deal would secure our military presence in Iraq no matter who wins the election in November.

The Guardian reports that Katrina victims are being booted out of their FEMA trailers. One last twist of the knife, eh? First the government doesn't respond, then they do but they fuck it up, then they stick everyone in tiny trailers that have formaldehyde in them, then they kick survivors out. Nice.

Holy Fuck, Walnuts!

Exactly where does John McCain stand on various issues? No one knows -- he gives opposing answers to different people on the same questions. Watch and learn:

A Series of Odd Events

• The animals running the Burmese government aren't giving cyclone victims the food that has been donated by various other countries. Instead, the victims are getting moldy biscuits and old rice to eat. It is believed that the good stuff is being horded in military warehouses. What a bunch of jerks! (That's me, being diplomatic.)
• "Chubby" gays need love too. Now they have their own dating site. Interesting choice of words, I say. (Oh, and if you're at work, or if you value your own eyesight, you probably don't want to click on that link!!)
• You think Senator Obama's ex-pastor is nuts? Just listen to John McCain's pastor -- he's a certifiable whack-job. He actually says, "We get off on warfare" in the video. True, yes, but still frightening to see this crazy guys' message endorsed by a former POW. That's not odd at all, McCain! Geez!
• Einstein's views on god are explained in a recently discovered letter he wrote. Interesting how the American news media hasn't covered this at all...

Hear! Hear!

"As Barack Obama has perhaps belatedly learned, the Democrats had it right the first time: Awesome,blue-state, red-state, whatever -- keep God out of it, and the men who claim to speak for him, too."

Oh, Uncle Sam...

You gave me $600 today so I can "stimulate the economy" or something. Thanks.

I know you want me to spend it on baked goods or electronics or some such, but I plan to use it to replace the $600 you taxed me in 2006 for daring to give my then-unemployed partner health insurance through the domestic partner program at my office. To twist the knife a little, I plan to spend that $600 toward legal fees for power of attorney, medical power of attorney, and living will documents that give my same-sex partner and I a lot of the legal and tax benefits you deny us as gay citizens by not allowing us to legally marry.

So suck on that, Sam. You and your puritanical heterosexual hegemony can just suck it. (Yeah, that was pretty pretentious of me, but I don't really care.)

Saturday, In the Park, I think it was the County Convention

10,000 people showed up to the county Democratic convention Saturday. It was a very long day. How long, you ask? I got there around 9am and did not leave until 6pm.

I sat in the stands of the Expo Center most of that time and finished half a novel. I now know how local democracy really works; I've seen it unfold before my eyes in its messy, wonderful, frustrating ways. I can't say I'd do it again (I probably won't get the chance, given the typical banality of presidential elections) but I'm glad I did it. My curiosity is more than slaked.

I went over to Booklahver's later that evening to knock back a few vodkas and watch Meteor, (starring Sean Connery) quite possibly the most boring disaster movie ever made. We mocked the hell out of it.