His name is Mud

For my first 2 years of college, I had the so-called joy of attending Texas A&M; I refer to it now as my Dark Ages. They make a huge deal about following all the traditions that have been around since the start of the university or whatever. If you don't follow them, you're a bad Ag. One of these traditions was Howdy Week. This took place the first week of each semester, during which, if you made eye contact with anybody you were supposed to say "howdy" or "hello" or whatever. This was to further the notion that it was the friendliest of campuses and we all liked each other ever so much! It was also suggested that you don't have to quit saying "howdy" at the end of the week, but everyone did, returning to their cliques and not deigning to speak to those who didn't meet up to their standards. Personally, I found the majority of people there to be very shallow and fake. By no means was this everyone, but it was sure the major vibe I picked up on. And the hallowed traditions are, to me, just another way to hold on to the past with a vise-like grip, eschewing change and modernity (I think it was the 70s before women and integration happened, but don't quote me). So no surprise it was a conservative campus that's now home to the Bush I presidential library and gave us one-time Senator Phil Gramm.

And now George Carlton Deutsch III, yet another unqualified hack given a position to make sure science is cozied up to Dear Leader's politics. Heckuva job, Deutschie!

In all fairness though, I've got to point out that he got outed by an Aggie, who passed on the info to a scientific Aggie with a blog. I don't know their politics, but it doesn't sound like they're drinking the Kool-Aid.

Only Spying on International Communications?

Not in the Pentagaon, says Newsweek.

If you've got nothing to hide...

AG Gonzales not testifying under oath, even though he said he had no problem being sworn in. When he was getting confirmed, under oath, Senator Russ Feingold asked him about any secret surveillance programs. Gonzo said none existed.

Feingold is starting to get some netroots support for a presidential run in '08. If you want more info, go here.

Mangareality

I thought these were pretty cool-looking, in a freakshow sort of way. Especially this one, which immediately brought back yesterday's laborious 40s: Island of Dr. Moreau, and Marlon Brando's lil' friend.

via boingboing.net

p.s. usesless trivia: the last actor named in the opening credits was a guy named William Hootkins who played Kiril, one of the manimals, and we all laughed at his name. Star Wars geeks might like to know he played Porkins in the original, Episode 4, and is recently deceased.

"Cover me, Porkins."

Curiosity

If you see this post, please leave a comment. I'm wondering who comes by here on a regular/semi-regular/irregular basis. Thanks.

How I Spent the State of the Union Address

(Edited for chronologicality in an attempt to make it readable for non-drunks. I put all the posts into one but left the timestamps so you could maybe get an idea of the real deal when it actually happened. And I scrubbed the other posts.)

state of the union + drinking game + blog =?

it's 8:20, at least 3 standing o's already

isolationism bad

i've already drunk about 1/2 a beer, on my 2nd of the evening
posted by slight @ 8:17 PM

i'm drinking for 'terrorsits' and 'iraqis' even though it just says 'terror' and 'iraqi'
posted by slight @ 8:19 PM

oh my god, i've missed about 15 drinks for 'freedom'
iraqi posted by slight @ 8:20 PM

troops 1 derimk

(not going to edit typos, speed is key)

standing o no drink

iraq 1 drink

fucker's slamming criticism while welcoming it. hypocrite...............

i got your duty to speak with candor

show kerry 1 drink
posted by slight @ 8:21 PM

giving it up for the troops

introducing family of a killed soldier, drink ofr each of htem

drink for the soldier just cuz
posted by slight @ 8:23 PM

pam called, drink form issing something

2 drinks for terror and terrorist

democracy 2 drinks

new beer
posted by slight @ 8:26 PM

2 for democracy

dick doesn't look that good. cheeks are rosy but he's slumping

iran 1 drink

nukular!!!!!!! 2x only 1 drink each. fuck!

talking to the iranians: we respect you and want to be friends of a free and democratic iran. (ok, i;'ve heard of worse things)

now he's talking about us spreading compasssion abroad? dude, he's in a bubble
posted by slight @ 8:27 PM

seguing from we need to show compassion abroad to fighting terrorism at home. awkward. then shout out to cops and firemen. whatup Brad!

1/2 standing o that's a drink cuz he wants the Patriot Act renewed

might be going into wiretapping

yeah

he's lying, yada yada yada

1/2 standing o, drink

terror drionk
posted by slight @ 8:31 PM

freedom x1

bipartisan =2 drinks

freedmo

hillary's standing. what is with the clintosn and bushes hanging so tight?

talking about the economy

there aint' no drinks for any ecdonomy bullshit? fuck this

i'm freestyling it:

taxes = drink

standing o b/c we need immigrants

talking about tax relief passed under him. drink for not being righ rich
posted by slight @ 8:35 PM

new beer

might have been 1/2 standing o dirnk!

he's gonna cut stuff and save us money

earmark reform, drink for ears 2x
standing o by the dems b/c his social security didn't pass awesome!!!!!!!!

(pam totally distracted me for a minute with the lovin')

biparitsan 1 drink 2x

i think he's sorta talking about healthcare cuz baby boomers are about to be old, like retiring posted by slight @ 8:39 PM

4 supreme coutr justices in this hizzouse including scalito

we need secure borders, close enought tequila? i'm dinrking tecate close enough1!!!

showing chertoff, you suck chretorr!

"we have a resposnbility to meet needs for our seniours in healthcare and we're doing it" gets boos, b/c grandma ain't getting her meds on the new medicare

lawsuits mean 1500 counties don't have ob/gyns? can i see the backup please?

we're addicted to oil. no shit sherlock.

and you suck some serious dick there.

taking a drink just cuz. and then he says nukular

change in power of autos?

ethanol!

everybody likes ethanol

except exxon mobil with $34 billiong in profits

enviro dirnk! 2 drinks

we gots to be comepetitvie in education like math and science. go nerds! geeks untie!
posted by slight @ 8:43 PM

we're gonna lead the world in opportunity and innovation

he's thumping no child left behind.

math and science...

i'm not drinking

drink for showing laoura

a new initiative is a drink: the american competitiveness initiative!! it's go time! suck it, rest of the world!

he's talking about abstinence, drink cuz we did it ealrier!
posted by slight @ 8:50 PM

time for new beer

shout out to justice roberts and alito, drink x2, so long roe v. wade for a while

props to sandra o'connor! she's cool!

he couldn't say 'egregious' that's a drink.

2 drinks for talking about the Creator and cloning is bad, m'kay!

talking about ethics in Congressm drink someone else's drink

new initiative is 1 drink
and showing laura, pickles!!!!

does he have hair in his ears?
posted by slight @ 8:53 PM

he's talking about Katrina, drink!
nola, drink!
heckuva job, brownie!

meds for aids, everybody likes it. he smiles 'i'm good'

drink for kerry!

pam's drinking my beer. give it back!

obamaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
posted by slight @ 8:58 PM

yes, i have nothing better to do

oh, it's over. just like that.

51 minutes less than an hour. i've got to finish my drink and have another!

oh boy.

9:05

coold. i slammed about 4 1/2 beers in 40 min. that doesn't sound like theat much but i am drunk.

wtf? barack slapping w. on the back and hugging frist. fuck all that.

now he's signing atuographs, w is.
posted by slight @ 9:01 PM

And if anything confused you, it's W's fault.

It's like Orwell, but for reals

Tuesday night GW talks about us needing to go to rehab to cure our oil addiction. Among the alternatives he offered up were wind and ethanol. Yesterday, the Sec. of Energy said GW was just joshin' about detaching from the Mid-East oil tit.

Today, the NYT shows that they apparently didn't mean it about the ethanol and wind energy either.

A taste:

"The Energy Department will begin laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the next week or two because of cuts to its budget.

A veteran researcher said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol. Those are two of the technologies that Mr. Bush cited on Tuesday night as holding the promise to replace part of the nation's oil imports."

It's not about speaking truthfully. It's about truthiness.

The End of Suburbia

A documentary from Canadia about our dependence on oil to get us home, which since WWII, has primarily been the 'burbs. But where's the action gonna be when the oil runs out? Back in the city proper, yo.

Say It With Me...

"Flip-flop."

Or really, a lie. It didn't take long for Georgie boy and his admissistration to do an about-face. Cut Mid-East oil imports by 75% by 2025? Not gonna do it.

These people do their religion, let alone the entire country, a great disservice with all their lying. But since the FISA law from 1978 isn't good enough to work anymore (or be rewritten to be more applicable today), then by extrapolation, one must then presume that the Constitution is too old also. And so on, back thru the Magna Carta, and on and on, all the way back to the 10 Commandments, which clearly forbade lying. Then again, what the hell does God know anyway?