Tim Johnson

I'm really disappointed in Tim Johnson. He's not even up for re-election until 2009. Does he really think a vote against Alito will damage him so much that he will be denied a chance to practice "running scared" politics for another term? Does he really think that the people of South Dakota will even remember this?

Manufacturing Runs

Another good move by Reid to stagger the announcements from the Dem Senators regarding their no votes on Alito. It creates sort of a faux momentum of opposition to the nomination. For the record, I would oppose Alito because he doesn't seem to understand that the president has no power to draft or interpret laws. That said, there wasn't much of an opposition buzz, so again, kudos to Reid for trying to create one. Sort of the political equivalent, if it works, of the "Rickey Run" in basball.

Right Click

I am staunchly pro-Mac, but I think it's time that they entered the world of the "right click." It's just too well established to be ignored by anybody. My prediction: if Mac adopts the "right click," their market share would go up 10 points in the first year. Seriously, if they didn't mind letting Intel chips power their computers, you'd think they could see to having the two button mouse that everyone on the computing earth is used to by now.

Pot Pill

Every time another piece of research like this is published, I incrementally raise the odds of the pharmaceutical industry developing a "pot pill." I don't think that would necessarily be a bad thing. Perhaps a synthesized version would be even better than the genuine article since smoke in one's lungs is generally not a health-promoting activity. Still, I think that it'd be unfortunate that a casualty of this nearly inevitable development will be the loss of the medical marijuana "beachhead" that the anti-prohibitionist forces had established. Hopefully progress on that front will be so substantial at that point that it won't matter. One can hope. Cause it'll be pretty hard to argue for granny's right to smoke grass when the doctor can just prescribe her a pill. Oh well. Big Pharma 149, The Rest Of Us 0.

Seriously, I wonder what will the commercials for the pot pill be. People running through fields and on the beach of course, but will it be interspersed with clips from Cheech and Chong movies? Snoop Dogg should definitely be asked to appear. I, for one, am looking forward to it. Still, I don't think any drug commercial can top the Levitra ad when the dude throws the football through the tire swing, grabs his wife, then backhands the ball into the shed. Ahh, metaphorical imagery.

Pet Peeve

Pet peeve of the day: department store cosmetics counter employees who wear white lab coats.

What I've Been Saying All Along

This is a direct quote from Mike Scanlon, top aide to Tom Delay.

"Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information form [sic] the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet, and telephone trees."

First Class Stamp

So the Postal Service is raising their prices again. You'd think they would know about these things a few days before the change went into effect, though. 12 sided wife bought a hundred roll of 37 cent stamps not 3 days ago, only to find out that in less than a week they'd be out of date. One would hope that someone at the Post Office would say to her, "hey, you might want to buy a hundred roll of 2 cent stamps while you're here, because the price is going to 39 cents on Jan. 9th."

I don't understand why they don't just create a single stamp, put a giant "F" on it for first class, and charge whatever they charge. Anytime the post office saw a stamp with an "F," it'd be all good. But how would the Post Office know what was paid for these "F" stamps? Wouldn't people would just stock up on cheaper stamps, you say? And this would be a bad thing? Au contraire, the time value of money being what it is, it far more desirable to have large amounts of cash right now. Who knows, it might be the biggest boon in the history of the USPS.

Face Transprant

Where can you get a healthy dose of both Engrish and face transplant news, without ever leaving the compfort of your computer chair? Right here!!

The only hope for her now is a facial transplant. She said she would rather die from the surgery than committed suicide one day in autism.

Huh?

Feisty

I'm watching the Orange Bowl this evening and one of the announcers referred to Coach Joe Paterno as "feisty." For my money, feisty is the single most stealthily demeaning adjective in the English language.