Final moments of a bar

How much pleasure there is in eking out the last little bit of use of a bar of soap!

                                    

At least 5 or 6 more hand washings, don’t you think?

Ahhhhh.

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So, What is “is”?

Technorati Tags: National Law Journal,Federal courts,President Clinton,President Bush,truth

Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), who will ever forget the immortal words of the President when he said, “It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is…”

Now we have a new phrase to contemplate.  Because of what a judge felt was some prosecutorial misconduct, she ordered a new trial for a defendant.  The prosecution is arguing that the judge should not grant a new trial because the testimony of the witness whose testimony was involved in the brouhaha was “truthful, but inaccurate.”

It’s a federal case.  The title of the article cited reads “Prosecutors defend false testimony as 'truthful, but inaccurate'.”  It’s fun to read.

Truthful but inaccurate.

Well, that lets the Bush administration off the hook for a great many supposed ills.  “What I said in court was truthful, your Honor, but a tad inaccurate.”  “When I spoke of weapons of mass destruction, I was being truthful, but inaccurate.”

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Here a Czar, there a Czar…

Technorati Tags: Czars,Republican Party,Right wingnuts.

Of all the inanities of the right wing blather, nothing makes less sense than the “czar”-ing of the Obama administration.

Google search indicates that possibly Nixon was the first person to use the word—unofficially. 

It’s just a shortcut way of talking about a person’s responsibilities.  Yet the right wing blathosphere would have us believe that there’s a Russian cabal running the country out of the West Wing.

Nutty people.

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This cannot be good

Technorati Tags: Free Speech,Corporations,US Supreme Court

First Amendment’s protection of “free” speech is poised to allow the false metaphorical “Fire!!!!” in a crowded theatre to become, for the first time, protected.

How a corporation came to be regarded as an entity entitled to the same protections as human beings is a mystery to all who aren’t minions of mega-profits, but there it is.

And here, from the website of The National Law Journal, is the first whiff of the possible demise of politics as we know it:

After an extraordinary 90 minutes of oral argument in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, it seemed likely that the [Supreme] Court, swayed by arguments in favor of First Amendment rights for corporations, was ready to embark on a new course that critics say could unleash a flood of corporate wealth into elections that are already awash in more regulated kinds of campaign spending.

If “We, the people” have been guaranteed that our voices will be heard in the halls of government, we are about to lose much of whatever influence our voices may have to the virtually unlimited treasuries of corporations, whose money equals speech in the eyes of the Supreme Court.

Shhhhh, Dear Gentle Reader(s).  Practice being quiet.

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O Afghanistan

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan,Tom Friedman,Nicholas Kristof,President Obama,George Will,Charlie Wilson,The New York Times,The Washington Post

All of a sudden, there is a spate of political pundits focusing on the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and what they are saying isn’t pretty.

On September 1, George F Will offered “Time to get out of Afghanistan” in The Washington Post.

Today, September 6, Thomas L. Friedman offers “From baby-sitting to adoption” and Nicholas D. Kristof “The Afghanistan abyss” in The New York Times.

Friedman and Kristof are both progressives, Will isn’t.

Friedman and Kristof suggest debate and caution regarding increasing American troop levels.  Will suggests off-shore military involvement.

Iraq is/was a war of “choice.”  Is Afghanistan a war of futility?

How does President Obama deal with the unintended consequences of Charlie Wilson’s War?

Trust, but verify.

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Ohh, Wasp! Wherefore thy sting?

Technorati Tags: NPR,Wasps,Orchids,Sex

Um, here’s one for you, Dear Gentle Reader(s).  Back on August 22, NPR broadcast an item, “Orchids: 'Inflatable Love Dolls Of The Floral Kingdom.'”  Basically it discussed the way certain orchids trick unsuspecting bees into a pollination tryst.

Down in the story occurs this referring to a certain type of wasp which also is fooled by an orchid: 

"having sex with anything that moves, on balance, is a good reproductive strategy for males." A male wasp that's overly picky about its mates will end up leaving less offspring than a male that goes off and has sex with anything that looks like a wasp.

“…anything that moves…”

Hmmm.

Sounds like some people I’ve known.

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