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Allow me to step off my high horse and land sqaurely in the gutter. Go Here Tell me your first thought when you see the picture and then read the headline....

Our "War" President, in my opinion, doesn't understand how his words come across to those of us who are not blind supporters of him. If I were to have lost a son or daughter, would this be the guy and the thoughts I'd want to be with me?? Appearing with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the NATO summit in Turkey, President Bush said Monday that the insurgents were taking hostages because "They can't whip our militaries." "What they can do is get on your TV screens and stand in...

I've spent almost two weeks on the bike. It's been great. This afternoon, I rode for the longest I had ever gone. It also happened to be my best ride, where I felt the best, and did the best. I rode outside of town on 1585 between Slide and Indiana, and then looped South and came all the way back around. It was quite a ride with some nice descents and some nice hills. About 2 miles from done, I ran into that freak thunderstorm. I didn't actually hit the...

classic velcrometer This guy's got three number-one albums and he's out at the airport stealing cars? I don't think so. The whole point of being rich and famous is having people to go to the airport and steal cars for you. Otherwise why bother? You might as well stay poor and obscure. Furthermore, what's up with that M.O.? I'm the first to admit that I'm nobody's idea of an expert on street cred, but what kind of thug tries to steal a car by impersonating an authority figure? That's not...

While searching for photographs of Wal-Mart stores, I came across the Web site of one Chris Cheatwood, a 23-year-old native of Oxford, Alabama, and an assistant manager of the Wal-Mart in the neighboring town of Roanoke. “The Roanoke store is very small,” Cheatwood notes, “one of the smallest stores in the state.” But that’s about to change. A Wal-Mart Supercenter is due to open there soon. I was looking for photos to remind myself that Wal-Mart stores are so big, so dumb, and so ugly that they appear to be...

I've had my Lemond Tourmalet road cycle since Wednesday. I've ridden every day, even when I really didn't feel like it. It's been a great experience. I can already tell that it's changed other facets of my life. I'm happier, I feel healthier, and it's fun to have something to do everyday. This past year has been really tough on me. It's probably been the worst ever, so any little boost will definitely make things better. On my first ride, I seriously only made it around the block twice before...

The emphasis is totally mine, but come on, was he that great? On top of that, the letter writer totally disqualifies her opinion by stating that she, in fact, knows nothing about him. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Ronald Reagan Freeway? Re: The letter "Rename Street For Reagan?" (A-J, 6-16). I agree with the letter writer, but I think that instead of renaming Frankford Avenue to Ronald Reagan Avenue, it should be something bigger to symbolize what a great man he was. I am only 21 years old, so I don't know much about...

The Associated Press reports that American Paul Johnson has been killed. He was kidnapped in Saudi Arabia 6 or 7 days ago and held hostage. The Fallujah Squadron, an extremist group in Saudi Arabia, wanted the release of Al-Qaeda prisoners from Saudi jails, and also for all Westerners to leave the Middle East. As I think about this, I wonder what people are going to be most distraught about. President Bush and the Right are going to press for more action. I can already hear Bush now, "these people...

Every day, the press meets with the White House Spokesman, Scott McClellan. Every day, they make him look stupid. You gotta realize, the guy is doing the best he can. He's forced to lie and make half-truth's, and make weird connections between the Administration's lies and the facts. Wonkette does a really good job of covering these briefings and posting some of the best parts. It's something you ought to look into because it's quite hilarious. Some of the press could easily be a correspondent for the Daily Show,...

From the NY Times in it's entirety for your convenience: Travesty of Justice By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: June 15, 2004 No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history. For this column, let's just focus on Mr. Ashcroft's role in the fight against terror. Before 9/11 he was aggressively uninterested in the terrorist threat. He didn't even mention counterterrorism in a May 2001 memo outlining strategic priorities for the Justice Department. When the 9/11 commission asked him why, he responded by blaming the Clinton administration, with a personal...

holy crap. When you watch Lance Armstrong and the USPS team tackle the mountains, you don't completely understand the beast. I knew it was hard, but cycling isn't easy. I bought my bike today and had a wonderful experience with Derek and Keith over at Paul's Parts. They are some laid-back guys who know their stuff and really take care of their people. I came home with a wonderful Lemond bike and a boatload of gear and tools. Way more than I could have afforded, but like most bike shops,...

Lost your job? Don't look overseas A tiny fraction of workers hit by mass layoffs earlier this year lost their jobs because of "offshoring," according to research released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor. This is an interesting story. Until now, we've only had forecasts and projections of the number of jobs lost overseas. Turns out, it's a weak economy that's causing the job loss, not Indian teenagers....

The hardest thing about talking about George W. Bush is that his Administration has been so crooked, that when you point out anything they've done, it just seems bogus. Their antics and policies are so over-the-top that they are almost unbelieveable. Maybe it's their strategy, it would be a good one. No one can criticize you because what they say makes them look like fools. Too bad I have no problem looking the fool. Eric Blumrich's "Thanks for the Memories" flash movie highlights some interesting points. He's the same guy...

This Wired story is a testament to how jacked up our government is these days. When are people going to realize that this crap does not make us any safer? All it does is make us less free and less able to defend ourselves. How about we create a Peace Department (like what Kucinich wanted) instead of spending trillions on defending ourselves against a tiny portion of the world. How about we work for the good of the humanity, instead of ourselves? Proponents of HR 3179 say critics are overreacting...

Who's making the best TV these days? FX. You heard right. I'm calling it, FX is the best. I can't tell you how many things I've seen on there in the past several months that have just blown me away. I guess they're no longer trying to fit in the B-movie, cable tv genre that they occupied for so long. It's not just syndicated re-runs of Friends and Married with Children. It's shows like The Shield, and Rescue Me; I can't forget about Nip/Tuck and their latest original movie Meltdown....

Perhaps the president's lawyers have no interest in the global impact of their policies -- but they should be concerned about the treatment of American servicemen and civilians in foreign countries. Before the Bush administration took office, the Army's interrogation procedures -- which were unclassified -- established this simple and sensible test: No technique should be used that, if used by an enemy on an American, would be regarded as a violation of U.S. or international law. Now, imagine that a hostile government were to force an American to take drugs or endure severe mental stress that fell just short of producing irreversible damage; or pain a little milder than that of "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." What if the foreign interrogator of an American "knows that severe pain will result from his actions" but proceeds because causing such pain is not his main objective? What if a foreign leader were to decide that the torture of an American was needed to protect his country's security? Would Americans regard that as legal, or morally acceptable? According to the Bush administration, they should.

Over the years, I've run into quite a few weblogs. One thing I love is the diversity of topics, but most of all, it's great to see people who are passionate about something, and sharing that with all of us through a weblog. One of the ones that has always had a lasting impression are diet blogs. Anyone who's ever weighed a little more than they ought to has wanted to diet, but well, it's pretty hard. Now I know I'm in no way obese or grossly fat, but...

There's an interesting story in the NY Times today about the people who miss the last train out of Grand Central. I like journalism like this piece, it's so different than what we are immersed in these days. Cable News and the Internet have really stripped the story out of the news. Now it's just 24 hours of observations and facts. It's all about the story, but lacks the story-telling. As an aside, look at how large that advertisement is. Seriously, should the ad take up more of the...

Senator Patrick Leahy summed up what most people feel about John Ashcroft. You may think he's a great Attorney General, but he's not. You may think he's done a good job on the war on terror, but he hasn't. Leahy says it best: Mr. Attorney General, welcome. It's been, I believe, about 15 months to pass since your last very brief appearance in March last year. Your testimony here comes today about 1,000 days after the September 11th attacks, and the subsequent launch of your efforts against terrorism. As National...

There's a flash short called Osama Bin Lotto that brings up some points you might want to think about and remember. A few months back, Iranian Radio News (i know, i know) reported that Osama had been captured. Now I realize the conspiracy theory aspect of this whole deal and that it's pretty ridiculous. But honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. We have a President who can't admit that we've screwed up a whole lot, we have a Vice President who's in bed with Halliburton; would it really surprise anyone if...

After many days of fighting a new installation of Moveable Type, and many days of fighting pure apathy, things are back up and running. I know my bitter, unhopeful, political commentary has been missed. But I've got a whole gaggle of things to post from the past month, so get ready....