Thursday, August 28, 2008

from the marketing olympics to endless political analysis





having managed to avoid the olympics altogether and thereby put myself in a position not to see michael phelps imitate a whooping baboon, or be sold to every 5 nanoseconds, attention now turns to the political conventions.

check out mark spitz's porn tache...

easily the best olympian, and no million dollars from speedo, either...

roll on the labor day party!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Brilliant!




Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times:

In the dead of night in a small hideaway office in the deserted Capitol, a clandestine meeting takes place between two senators with one goal.

They grin at each other as they lift their celebratory shots of brutally cold Stolichnaya.

“Our toast to The One,” they say in unison, “is that he’s toast.”

“Obama should have picked you, Hillary,” John McCain tells her. “It isn’t fair, my friend. But it just makes it easier for me to whup him.”

“Don’t worry, John, I’ve put it behind me,” Hillary replies. “I’m looking toward the future now, a future that looks very bright, once we send Twig Legs back to the back bench.”

They chortle with delight.

“He’s a bright young man, but he got ahead of himself,” McCain says. “He needs to be taught a lesson, and we’re the ones to do it. Have you seen the new Bloomberg poll? Obama’s dropped and we’re even again. The Bullet’s getting all the credit, but you and I know, Hillary, that it’s these top-secret counseling sessions we’re having. And thanks again for BlackBerrying me the Rick Warren questions while I was in the so-called cone of silence.”

“Oh, John, you know I love you and I’m happy to help,” Hillary says. “The themes you took from me are working great — painting Obama as an elitist and out-of-touch celebrity, when we’re rich celebrities, too. Turning his big rallies and pretty words into character flaws, charging him with playing the race card — that one always cracks me up. And accusing the media, especially NBC, of playing favorites. It’s easy to get the stupid press to navel-gaze; they’re so insecure.”

“They’re all pinko Commies,” McCain laughs. “Especially since they deserted me for The Messiah. Seriously, Hill, that Paris-Britney ad you came up with was brilliant. I owe you.”

Looking pleased, Hillary expertly downs another shot. “His secret fear is being seen as a dumb blonde,” she says. “He wants to take a short cut to the top and pose on glossy magazine covers, but he doesn’t want to be seen as a glib pretty boy.”

McCain lifts his glass to her admiringly. “If I do say so myself, while the rookie was surfing in Hawaii, I ate his pupus for lunch. Pictures of him pushing around a golf ball while I’m pushing around Putin. Priceless.”

“I have a little secret to tell you about that, John. Bill made it happen. He loves you so much. He called Putin and told him that if he invaded Georgia, he could count on being invited to the Clinton Global Initiative every year for the rest of his life.”

“Wow. Should I call him? I saw your husband’s kind words about me in Las Vegas on Monday, saying I’d be just as good as Obama on climate change.”

“I think he’d like that,” Hillary smiles. “He’s still boiling at Obama. And you don’t have to worry about my army of angry women. We’ve spread the word in the feminist underground — as opposed to that wacky Obama Weather Underground — that ‘catharsis’ is code for ‘No surrender.’ My gals know when I say ‘We may have started on two separate paths but we’re on one journey now’ that Skinny’s journey is to the nearest exit.”

“But Obama’s says he’s finally ready to hit back,” McCain says, frowning. “He’s starting a blistering TV campaign and attacking me for attacking his patriotism.”

“Now, John, you know that every time he tries to get tough, he quickly runs out of gas. Sometimes in debates, he’d be exhausted by the third question. He must use up all his energy in the gym. He doesn’t have any stamina, and he certainly doesn’t have our bloodlust. Besides, you can throw that Mark Penn stuff at him that I couldn’t use in a Democratic primary about how he’s not fundamentally American in his thinking and values. While he’s up on his high-minded pedestal, you’ll scoot past him in your Ferragamos.”

“How can I ever thank you, my friend?”

“You can announce that you won’t be running for re-election because you’d be 76, and you can pick somebody really lame to run with, like your pal Lieberman. That means one term for you, and two for me.”

“It’s a deal,” McCain says, sticking out his hand to shake on it. “That was inspired to snatch his convention away — makes him look so weak. Listen, why don’t you stop in Sedona on the way to Denver? Wear a black wig and I’ll spirit you up to the cabin for the night. I’ll catch a catfish in the mill pond and grill it for you. It will be an adventure.” There’s a knock on the door. Jesse Jackson sticks his head into the meeting.

“Is it over?” he asks his co-conspirators.

“Yes, he’s over,” they respond in unison.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Friday, August 08, 2008

it's not politics, it's all about the sport...





china would like everyone to believe that as the world watches the bejing games that it is a modern, united, and happy country.

in reality bejing is a police state where every single person entering the city of 16 million is individually checked, whether they arrive by land, rail, or air.

the IOC has taken china at its word, but in reality the olympic games have made china's human rights position worse, with activists arrested and detained, police monitoring outlying areas where reporters might venture, and the situation in tibet prevented from being broadcast to the outside world.

the world's press arrived in bejing to find internet sites blocked, apparently with the IOC's knowledge and approval.

as for the air pollution, nothing to worry about according to china and the IOC.
that's a different perspective than everyone else's, including the american mountain biker that took part in an international competition last year near bejing. he reported that out of 46 contestants, only 8 managed to finish the course. he along with the world champion failed to finish what he described as a "fairly easy course".

and for anyone wishing to protest at the olympics:

Liu Shaowu, director of security for the Games, said that Chinese law allowed protests "as long as applications were made and approved in advance", a condition almost never met in the country.

"How to get approval for protests and what requirements are needed for people to participate in the protests will be explained to every applicant in the process of application," he said. "Normally we will ask people to go to the approved places for their demonstrations."

a happy, modern, and united china?
only the bits that the chinese communist party wants the world to see.

chinese people are also controlled.

in protest, nutty chooses not to watch the 2008 olympic games.

Monday, August 04, 2008

K2 - where miracles are hard to come by...


















unlike the father who pronounced his daughter's survival from a 14 floor fall down a chimney in new york as an" absolute miracle", mountaineers know that their survival depends on their physical and mental condition, the weather, planning, and safety rules being observed.

click on:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7540250.stm