Someone is just ASKING to be bitten.

Cats tortured to raised money to help cats.

"New Jersey pet fashion company Meow Wear." *fear*

Bizarre...

Got this at Instapundit...no surprises here.

Gender-predicting browser history algorithm.

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 29%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 71%

Interesting that nationalreview.com is rated very male at 1.74, more than nfl.com at 1.5. Netflix skews female at 0.79, which seems weird. Don't men watch movies?

God bless Tim Blair

Tim Blair watches the Olympics Opening Ceremonies so I don't have to. (“Leni Riefenstahl, call your office!”)

Commenters note there is no interpretive dance about the Tiananmen Square massacre, but there is a castrated Muslim.

I have no further comment.

Other than to point out that she's not Constitutionally eligible until 2016.

(Gary Varvel)

And now, some serious stuff

Kathy Shaidle reports on Chinese human rights violations, none of which apparently rise to the level of shame and outrage as giving terrorists shrinkwrapped Korans and halal chicken:

Were journalists allowed to report the truth, their stories would put a heavy damper on international enthusiasm for the Games. China’s persecution of Tibet’s people is well known, thanks to the Dalai Lama and efforts of Western activists. Less familiar – perhaps because they are too gruesome to be believed – are reports that tens of thousands of Chinese prisoners, along with Falun Gong practitioners, have been murdered and their organs harvested for the lucrative international “transplant tourism” market.

Edward McMillan-Scott, a British Member of the European Parliament, says the organs of Falun Gong prisoners “sell at a premium as practitioners neither drink nor smoke.” He adds:

“Although there are millions of [Falun Gong] they do not have a cuddly, statesmanlike figure such as the Dalai Lama and, because they will not openly demonstrate like the Tibetans and their supporters, they perish and go to their deaths silently.”

McMillan-Scott describes China as a “terror state” and recently submitted a dossier to the United Nations about torture and religious freedom. He claims the Communist Chinese government has recently adopted lethal injection as the preferred method of capital punishment. (There are 70 crimes deemed capital offenses in China). Why? Because, says McMillan-Scott, a bullet through the head caused too much organ damage. “In one province alone,” says McMillan-Scott, “16 buses have been specially adapted to perform on-the-spot eviscerations.”

I joke occasionally in meatspace about "getting a Falun Gong kidney" but I always have to explain the reference. The average American really has no idea about China.

Sports bar bleg

So, now that the local CBS affiliate has announced they will only be showing lousy AFC games opposite the lousy NFC games on FOX, I need to find somewhere not a 45-minute drive from the northeast side of MKE with the Sunday Ticket--AND a willingness to show non NFC North games--where I won't be the only patron over the age of 25 and which serves non-macro beer. I'm fairly certain this sort of establishment does not exist, because I've spent two years looking for it.

Sigh.

"FAVRE JOINING UP WITH GANG GREEN"

Our long national nightmare is finally over, and Jeff Garcia can rest easy.

The Jets didn't even speak to Favre until Tuesday and Tannenbaum even conceded his "gut" feeling was that the deal would never "come to fruition."

"I never thought it was alive," Tannenbaum said. "We had a cursory monitoring situation going on for a number of days. We put an oar in the water and things heated up really quickly."

That is the dumbest mixed metaphor I have seen in quite some time.

Interestingly, Tannenbaum said the Jets are taking things with the wishy-washy Favre "one year at a time," indicating that the team has not gotten any commitment from Favre beyond 2008.

I have no comment.

My big fear at this point is that the local CBS affiliate (heh, I don't watch TV enough to even know the call letters) is going to show the Jets every Sunday. The past two years I got used to watching that geographically proximate AFC team that doesn't suck every other weekend or so.

UPDATE: I hope he rots in the end zone with Jimmy Hoffa.

Football...politics...football...politics...

Michael O'Shea at American Thinker with the metaphors to end all metaphors:

Sort of like electing Barack Obama and hoping he doesn't turn out to be a Ryan Leif. Or Tim Couch. Or David Carr.

Overlooking that it was actually Ryan LEAF who was the dud at the Chargers, and that David Carr's main problem was being surrounded by terrible players--wait, that makes the metaphor better, doesn't it?--it's an interesting comparison. Unfair to Russell, perhaps; he had some actual acheivements at LSU.

Interesting, anyway, and includes this excellent quote from General Honoré:

What does a coach do when his team is losing 25-0 after the first quarter? Does he call the quarterback over and tell him how stupid he is because he didn't play right, or does he get out the white board and start making adjustments?

This is not the change you're looking for

Jedi mind trick...earlier today I was reminded of this despair.com image (ironically, it was hanging in my cubicle in West Des Moines the day half the engineers got laid off):

Why on Earth people clamor for unknown change--any change, even a bad change!--instead of positive changes, I just don't understand.

Sign me up...

Peter Kirsanow at NRO was highly funny today, channeling Jeff Foxworthy in a list that should be copy-pasted and e-mailed to everyone even vaguely aware there's an election this year (which would be most people--emphasis on "vaguely aware").

1.If you think Obama's the most liberal member of the senate you...may be a racist.

2.If you object to Obama raising your payroll, capital gains and estate taxes you...may be a racist.

3.If you'd prefer a president have at least some foreign policy experience you...may be a racist.

4. If you're in favor of drilling for oil and building nuclear power plants you...may be a racist.

5. If you think "Vero Possemus" is Latin for "Massive Ego" you... may be a racist.

6. If you wonder why Obama was hanging around William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn you...may be a racist.

7. If your pastor is nothing like Rev. Wright or Father Pfleger you... may be a racist.

8.If you don't want the majority of justices on the Supreme Court to be like Stephen Breyer you...may be a racist.

9. If you're not impressed with Obama's 100% NARAL rating you...may be a racist.

10. If you're not sure whether Obama opposed or supported FISA reauthorization you...may be a racist.

11. If you don't think America is a "downright mean" country you...may be a racist.

12. If you think Obama should've visited wounded troops at Ramstein and Landstuhl you...may be a racist.

13. If you think the surge is working and that's a good thing you...may be a racist.

14. If you oppose racial preferences in employment, school admissions and contracting you...may be a racist.

15. If you think "we are the change we've been waiting for" is a line from a Monty Python skit you...may be a racist.

16. If you prefer that a president have a smidgen of executive experience you...may be a racist.

17. If you're appalled that Obama voted against treating infants born after an abortion attempt the same medically as other infants born alive you...may be a racist.

18. If you were proud of your country even before Obama's candidacy you...may be a racist.

20. If you don't think American troops are just "air raiding villages" you...may be a racist.

21. If your grandmother isn't a "typical white person" you...may be a racist.

22. If you don't think rural, working class people are bitter and "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" you...may be a racist.

23. If you're not sure invading Pakistan is a particularly good idea—what with their nuclear weapons and all— you...may be a racist.

24. If you don't want the president to meet without precondition with the leaders of state sponsors of terror you...may be a racist.

25. If you don't care how Hollywood or the European elite think you should vote you...may be a racist.

I've got that mid-80s Dr. Pepper commercial stuck in my head--wouldn't you like to be a racist, too?

Are the people who seriously believe "not voting for Obama is racist" unfamiliar with the concept of "hanged for a sheep as a lamb"? If I'm going to be condemned as a racist for this one non-racist action, what societal forces stop me from actual racist thought/actions (my own decency is a good deterrent, but you can't count on everyone having one...)? Is this REALLY the path they want to take society down??

I just still can't figure out how "observing people's words and actions instead of their skin" became the *wrong* behavior.

Also I'm cranky because my State Fair sunburn still itches.

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for eight hours

Johnny Cash - "Folsom Prison Blues"


Dire Straits - "Walk of Life"


Ozzy Osbourne - "See You on the Other Side"

Huh?

Some people have said Obama has a "thin résumé." But "thin" is another word for "skinny," which is a slur for "black." Or so it is according to Slate's Timothy Noah, who has found invidious racism in the pages of the venerable Wall Street Journal.

Timothy Noah needs to spend an afternoon sipping his latte at Mayfair Mall...or even spend some time in a room full of white women on diets.

But this, this is the stupidest thing I've read yet:

When white people are invited to think about Obama's physical appearance, the principal attribute they're likely to dwell on is his dark skin.

The first and last and most common thing I think about O's appearance is his stupid Dumbo ears. Man's head looks like the "before" section of Howdy Doody or Alfred P. Neuman's cosmetic surgeon's portfolio (please send me to a re-education camp with lots of snow). Mr. Noah, you're projecting your racism on the rest of us, and you need to stop.

And if O doesn't want us to think about his skin, why the bloody hell does he keep talking about it??

Ms. Mellon: Bart, what other paradoxes affect our lives?
Bart: Well... you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

(...when you say "look at McCain" the first thing I think of are his stupid grin and his stupid white tufts of Statler and Waldorf hair. If the AARP would like to denounce me, I'll be here all week.)

I stole this from Rachel Lucas.

This can't be good.

Whatever they're shootin' Fielder up with to counteract the soy estrogens, maybe they should cut back some.

*srednop*

UPDATE: Fielder apologizes.

Heh.

Did anyone else get a creepy OJ Simpson vibe from the live coverage of Favre's SUV driving through Green Bay, or is it just me?

Some friends from out of town stopped by this morning and physically dragged me out of my apartment to the WI State Fair, heedless of my deeply-held life-long conviction that a fair without a butter cow just isn't worth the price of free admission. No offense to those born and raised here, but how can you call yourselves "The Dairy State" when you don't even have a butter cow?!?! (This how you do it.)

The bison burger was tasty and the pig/goat/duck races were cute and hugely enjoyable (in the final race, "Rutter Busch" stopped and "sprung a leak" halfway through), but overall...I wasn't impressed. The textile arts were very badly displayed. The carnies were cleaner and better dressed than the crowds (so many pregnant teenagers wearing hot pants...I know they're back in style, but damn, girls!). The cream puff was enjoyable but not worth the effort of getting there. And they seem to have removed the 100-ft refrigerated cheese display I remember from the last time I was forced to attend...

I don't think the Rams made a lot of new fans today

I have loathed the St. Louis Rams for years (they took Marshall Faulk...). But this morning it wasn't too hot and I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd check out the purported "10:45 scrimmage" up in Mequon. I even double-checked the time on their website.

Ha. I got there at 10:15 (parking less than half full). The guys about to get cut and the second string were on the field without pads--and they were off the field by 10:45. Apparently they had started around 9. Only two guys stayed afterwards to talk to fans--Derek Stanley, who is from from WI and played at UW-Whitewater; and one guy not wearing a number who seemed to have family in the stands.

I'm not terribly cranky--I met my "get out of the house and do something I don't normally do" objective--but a lot of people, especially the ones who came in after me, were pissed. Especially the people who drove up from Missourah to see aforementioned scrimmage, and the people with children.

I feel smug about how awesome the Colts organization is as far as keeping fans informed and making sure they have a good experience, and Packers fans should feel smug, too.

(And now, to the couch, for some Brewers on FOX. I'm attempting to make a Radler out of Robinade and Sprecher's HefeWeiss. Is that a cry for help? *srednop*)

Why I'm voting Burge 2008

He has a much better tire-inflation plan than certain other candidates I'm tired of hearing people swoon over already.

A careful analysis of the statistics reveals significant national gas savings can be achieved through adjusting tire pressure on America's growing fleet of Toyota Priuses. And that's where this little baby comes in: the valve stem core remover.

The choice is obvious.

My limosine liberal sense was tingling...

When I read this bit about John Travolta flying his huge-ass private jet into Oshkosh and pimping the aviation industry.

I'll take off 0.5 hypocrisy points for promoting fuel-efficient planes at the EAA, but I still refuse to believe there's a crisis until the people telling me there's a crisis start acting like there's a crisis, instead of tooling around in a freaking 707 while demanding my freedom of movement be curtailed.

About that global warming...

This is why I moved to Milwaukee: August 1, still hasn't been 90 degrees. I love it.

Sucks to be a stockholder of WE Energy, since they're getting less of my money this summer, but if I can make it through the next three weeks I can put off fixing the A/C in my car for another 9-10 months (it died last August).

Women and minorities hardest hit, or something.