The theme of this humorous 30-second MoveOn TV spot, scheduled for broadcast this week in Phoenix and nationally on CNN, is that George W. Bush and John McCain “are cousins, identical cousins.”[1]  --  It’s based on the theme song of the 1963-1966 American sitcom “The Patty Duke Show.”  --  Thanks to Roy Sutherland for sending this, who writes: “In times like these, humor is the best weapon.”  --  For more on this spot, see pieces in the Boston Globe and USA Today....

"Experts agree that Clinton stands a good and improving chance of pulling out a victory in the end, given her momentum, determination, and appeal to dumb people," David Swanson of After Downing Street wrote Wednesday.[1]  --  "Like soccer moms and Jews for Buchanan before them, dumb people are shaking up this election and coming into their own as an identity group with ever rising 'self-pride.'  The group intentionally avoids the term 'self-esteem' as being too difficult to spell." ...

This 30-second short won the "funniest ad" category in MoveOn's "Obama in 30 Seconds" contest....

Historian Robert McElvaine reported on April Fools' Day that the percentage of historians who rate George W. Bush as the worst U.S. president ever in an informal poll has soared in the past four years from 12% to 61%, with 98% of them agreeing that his presidency has been "a failure."[1]  --  “No individual president can compare to the second Bush,” said one historian.  --  “Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill.  In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.”  --  McElvaine concurred in the consensus, notint that "Mr. Bush inherited a sizable budget surplus and a thriving economy.  By pushing through huge tax cuts for the rich while increasing federal spending at a rapid rate, Bush transformed the surplus into a massive deficit.  The tax cuts and other policies accelerated the concentration of wealth and income among the very richest Americans.  These policies combined with unwavering opposition to necessary government regulations have produced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Then there is the incredible shrinking dollar, the appointment of incompetent cronies, the totally inexcusable failure to react properly to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, the blatant disregard for the Constitution — and on and on." ...

On Saturday, UFPPC's Xeno Campanoli offered a modest proposal:  "We here in Tacoma, and by extension throughout the country, could sponsor Brother Military Bases of troops from other countries we are now occupying here in our own midst, in our own neighborhoods, perhaps quartered in our own homes, just like those we bring to those places around the world which provide resources for our troops of the 'more than 737 military bases spread around the world' [historian Chalmers Johnson's figure] that we sponsor for them."[1] ...

Reuters reported Sunday that Jérôme Kerviel, the Société Générale trader to whom a $7b loss was attributed last week, has become an "unlikely cyberspace hero."[1]  --  "[T]hree fake profiles of the previously anonymous derivatives trader and 21 support groups" have appeared on the Internet, Crispian Balmer reported.  --  "'Jérôme le champion!!!' wrote Nazih Saade from Canada.  'Congratulations Jérôme we're with you!' said Miles McKernan from Spain.  'God damn it, Jérôme is the man,' said Hussein Tiba from Lebanon.  'Jérôme Kerviel is the Che Guevara of finance!' Sebastien Philippe said in a post from Luxembourg."  --  NOTE:  The Wikipedia article on Jérôme Kerviel is only a few days old, but already dozens of people have contributed to it....

A sneak peek at the new U.S. coinage to be issued after martial law is declared and ownership of precious metals are outlawed!  --  "Yes, it's out with the old, in with the new — Operation Change for the Better!  From the United States Government and Halliburton — working together to round up every cent you have!" ...

This ad attacking Immanuel Kant as "wrong on metaphysics, wrong on ethics, wrong on aesthetics," and "WRONG for America," was posted on YouTube in December by "the committee to elect Friedrich Nietzsche."[1] ...

Immediately following a five-day spectacle that many thought humiliating for France — the visit of Libyan dictator and "Brother Guide" Muammar al-Gaddafi to France to sign contracts amounting to 10 billion euros and lecture the French about the meaning of human rights — recently divorced French President Nicolas Sarkozy changed the subject in short order by visiting Disneyworld on Sat., Dec. 15, in the company of Carla Bruni, the heiress, former model, and pop star whose "Quelqu'un m'a dit" (2002) received air play even on American radio stations usually closed to French-language popular music.  --  The moment, ripe for satire and parody, was seized by the Voyoucrates, whose well crafted music video parodying Carla Bruni's hit song has been posted on YouTube.[1]  --  A slightly bowdlerized translation is posted below.[2]  --  The original French is also posted.[3]  --  This satire expresses the exasperation felt by many in France because of the hyper-mediatization of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency....

The imminent arrival of the equinox at 9:51 a.m. GMT on Sun., Sept. 23, which by our calculations is 2:51 a.m. PDT Sunday morning here in Pierce County, Washington, was the occasion for some reflections on the politics of time in the Financial Times of London on Saturday.[1]  --  Matthew Engel, a veteran British journalist who about a decade ago left the Guardian after nearly twenty-five years there and who now writes a cosmopolitan and often light-hearted column for the Financial Times (see, for example, his recent reflections on swimming pool regulations around the world), observed that while "[d]espite all the world's other injustices, everywhere gets the same amount of light over the course of a year" and "this is something mankind has not yet screwed up," it is nevertheless true that "time is highly politicized.  In theory, the planet has 24 time zones.  Actually, there are about 39, and they are still hotly debated."  --  "India is currently the most significant part of the world with a half-hourly time zone — five hours behind Greenwich," Engel wrote.  "This has a curious advantage for British journalists there worrying about deadlines, because you can get GMT by the simple trick of turning your watch upside down (trust me, it works).  Nepal and the Chatham Islands actually have quarter-hour zones, which is really confusing." ...

"Psychologists and economists turned the field of political science on its ear today when the development of the new Stupid/Evil two-axis political chart was announced in an Internet press release," Belarius reported on Newsvine Thursday.  --  "The chart can be used to describe both individuals and governments in terms of how stupid and how evil they are, as well as capturing the specific ways in which stupidity and evil manifest." ...

"Everyone was taking pictures of it," writes Daniel Johnston of Camano Island, WA.  --  "I noted the unfairness of this.  Here I was trapped in handcuffs in the back of a cruiser watching everyone but me take pictures of my car at the oil refinery which is what I set out to do and was currently in trouble for.  I payed special attention to the reaction of the man that I figured to be the Fed as he took photos.  His reaction was the dreaded head shake with pursed lips.  I knew I was in definite trouble now."  --  It all goes to show that like water, art cars don't mix well with oil.  --  Humor and common sense, either, in this Age of Terrorism.  --  Daniel Johnston tells a how creative and entrepreneurial spirit led him to find himself handcuffed in the back of a sheriff's car in Anacortes last week.  --  We've posted a photo of the art car that got him into trouble here.  --  For more details on how the search for "a cool spacey looking backdrop for the pictures of [your] car" can land you in the hands of the Feds, read his detailed account, written with a wry eye for detail and posted here with permission.[1]  --  But Johnston, who faces a day in court on Jul. 17, is in luck.  --  Fortunately for him, the Tesoro Corporation lists among its "values and visions" a commitment to... "creative and entrepreneurial spirit."[2]  --  Right.  --  BACKGROUND:  The Tesoro Corporation is a major oil refiner, having given up its upstream activities.  --  It is now the second-largest refiner on the West Coast.  --  Its products are marketed mostly in the western U.S., sometimes under the brand name Shell; the refinery in Anacortes formerly belonged to Shell.[3]  --  You can see a picture of the Anacortes refinery, where Daniel Johnston was arrested on Jul. 5, 2007, here, or examine an aerial view of the facility here (but don't look too closely, you might get arrested).  --  Or you can read Tesoro's description of the Anacortes refinery, which has a capacity to refine 115,000 barrels of crude oil a day, about 20% of Tesoro's total capacity.[4]  --  Tesoro was founded (with only a $1,000 investment, it is said) in 1964 by Robert V. West Jr., a petrochemical engineer widely regarded as an entrepreneur of heroic proportions; West died in 2006 at the age of 85.  --  Tesoro's revenues are now on the order of $12 billion a year.  --  Tesoro is a major client of Halliburton, and in March Tesoro CEO Bruce A. Smith and Jeb Bush were the speakers in San Antonio, Texas, where Tesoro is headquartered, at a luncheon given by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.  --  Tesoro has done well in the Bush years:  if you'd invested $1,000 in Tesoro five years ago, you'd have $18,357 today.  --  For more on art cars, see Wikipedia or the DMOZ open directory page....

Military Families Speak Out invites you to join its 'Moving' Out' campaign; this short "instructional video" explains how.[1]  --  MFSO was founded in Boston in 2002 by Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson.  --  Thanks to Debbie Metke for sending this; she also recommends this....