Senator, You're No John Stewart

You're a fucking idiot!

Not happy having blown the presidential election, now you've gone and thrown Karl Rove a big sloppy wet kiss, just when there was finally a real chance of a Democratic victory.

First you insult all members of the armed forces with your boneheaded comments that they are there because they are uneducated. Now there is probably a lot of truth in the argument that there are many people in the service right now, and therefore in Iraq, precisely because they didn't have many other opportunities in life including the opportunity for higher education. But you don't come out and put it the way you did, a week before the fucking election!

And now, you are digging yourself deeper with this Clintonian denial that "I was trying to tell a joke about the President" Bullshit!! Sure Bush may be the dumbest president in our history, but it certainly isn't because of a lack of opportunity or education. He went to fucking Yale like you, asshole. You're now fabricating a whole bullshit joke explanation, keeping the story alive longer, and making people remember why they decided that it was better to keep the idiot in the White House than to have to listen to you for four years.

And did you really call Rush Limbaugh doughy in an official press release? That's pretty funny. Maybe you are John Stewart.

New Leader in Boston's Worst Newscast Race

There is certainly some heady competition in the contest for Boston's worst newscast. On any particular night all three 11:00 newscasts, as well as both 10:00 newscasts could just as easily take the prize. It's a vast wasteland. But the new kid on the block, Channel 38's 9:30 newscast has lately risen to number one with a bullet.

It's just horrible. First off, who the hell designed the news set. Color scheme is so 1999. Tiny little desk the anchors stand at is just weird. Looks like they just went to Home Depot & loaded up on stuff out of the clearance bin. I think those are metal wall studs sticking out of the anchors heads. Even the widescreen TV that the weather is presented on looks like the weekly loss-leader special at Best Buy.

The news script is just painful to listen to. Sara Underwood, while still somewhat of a babe, is so dumb she makes Maria Stephanos look like a Rhodes Scholar. It's especially awkward when she attempts to do serious world news (something that of course, isn't attempted too often.) The only possible positive is Jon Keller's political analysis. He's a certified geek, but head and shoulders above the likes of Andy Hiller on Channel 7. But then they force him to race through his commentary while a 38-second clock ticks away.

It's just dreadful.

Globe magazine becomes Gay Lifestyles Weekly

When did the Globe magazine turn into The Advocate?
(Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

Lately it seems almost every feature in the Globe magazine focuses on a gay couple. This week's issue is the home design issue, and the lead story focuses on Marty Layne and her partner, Patty Bird's new kitchen/living area. Last week, the story was about couples overloaded with mortgage debt, and sure enough the opening of the story featured Gregory Truman and his 56-year-old husband. A few weeks ago, I remember some story on schools, and one of the features was on a gay couple choosing a school for their kid. The "Coupling" column is just as often about a gay couple as a straight couple.

Now let me preface this by saying that I could care less about gay marriage at this point. When it first came up, it did seem overreaching to me. Why not settle for "domestic partnership" or something, rather than pushing for something you know is going to rile up all the right-wing lunatics, and play right into the Karl Rove playbook. But at this point, who the fuck cares! There is a lot more to worry about in this country, and I'm certainly against any right-wing efforts to amend the constitution to outlaw gay marriage.

But it is clearly obvious that the editors of the Globe magazine are going out of their way to infuse gay culture into the pages in a major way. And even though I am generally liberal, especially on social issues, I still find it strange, and a little manipulative to be reading a mainstream magazine, and find so many what seem forced instances of gay domestic bliss portrayed. It's almost like a mandate that the editors now have to include an example of a gay couple in every feature package.

Bank of America scam

Here's a nice little scam my bank plays on me to penalize me for paying off my full credit card balance. Normally my payment is due on the 15th or 16th of the month. It's usually timed pretty well that I can make a payment at the same time at the mid month pay period. On the rare occasions when I am able to pay off the full balance, just to make it more difficult for me to be able to do that again the following month, they move my payment due date up 5 days the next month. Then if you don't notice the change in due date, they whack you with a $40 late payment charge. That's their policy. Of course they don't call it a full payment penalty, but that's what it is.

Big banks suck.

Five All News Channels and No News

Been busy and havn't seen the news in a couple days. So I try to flip to one of the cable news channels. No fucking news! MSNBC has some documentary about a prison in Illinois, CNN has the miserable Larry King with the miserable Suzanne Somers, FOX has yet another anniversary show celebrating 10 years of unfair and unbalanced news. Headline News has the completely horrifying Nancy Grace. All I got is NECN, which is usually fine, but Tom Ellis is on, and he just creeps me out. Looking for straight news on the news channels is getting to be like waiting for a music video on MTV.

Dirty Tricks from Fox News?

In case you have any doubt about Fox News' right wing bias check out this little "mistake" from Bill O'Reilly's show last night. This went on for quite a while apparently, with Mark Foley indentified as a Democrat in the crawl. Now, of course, anybody paying attention knows Foley is a Republican, but that's not the point. Fox News is all about the subtle manipulation of the ignorant masses. The people who hear the 10 second sound bite that reinforces their already formed opinion. Or hear O'Reilly simplistic black and white solutions delivered with absolute certainty. Then spout the soundbites back as their own opinions, without any understanding of the complexities of the underlying issues.

Now, I'm not generally a conspiracy theorist, but after what I've seen from the Republicans and Republican-sympathetic media the last few years, I would put nothing past them. It's like the fraction of a second ad saying Eat More Popcorn that was slipped into drive-in movies in the 50s. I could see this as just one more Karl Rove inspired trick to subconsciously make the Fox News watchers think Democrat when they hear Republican.

It just keeps getting better

New Foley Instant Messages; Had Internet Sex While Awaiting House Vote

Let's see, yesterday the excuse was that he was an alcoholic & headed to rehab (just like Patches Kennedy and Mel Gibson). Today it's because he was molested a a child. Tomorrow he'll have been framed by Mark Fuhrman. All I can say is, thank God he's not a Democrat.

The biggest bummer of the whole day for me is that Keith Olbermann was off (taping the Letterman show) on perhaps the best day of the decade to be a Republican-hater. Keith, how could you desert us at a time like this.

Maybe taking the country to war under false pretences and a pack of lies, trashing the Constitution, and just general incompetence isn't quite enough for the Republicans to lose power, but a good sex scandal (or as Tony Show calls it simply naughty emails) might just do the trick.

And here's some more art on the subject.

Dennis Hastert & Bernard Law: Separated at Birth