Saturday, July 11, 2009

With These Hands

Sorry Garlic Fans, the day got consumed by duties on the homefront, and, by this evening, no energy to be creative (or even muster half the juice to do something of note).

So, we will leave you with a classic, from Les McCann.

One that will also serve as a "Shout-Out" to David Brooks

Enjoy!


Les McCann - With These Hands


With These Hands - Les McCann


This Date ... On The Garlic


11 July 2008... On The Garlic


A Remark You Made


11 July 2007... On The Garlic


"Anyway, look, nobody has accused me of being Shakespeare, you know?"

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff Feels In His Gut


11 July 2006... On The Garlic


Have Head-Butt, Will Travel - Mr. Zizou Goes To Washington; World Cup Golden Ball Winner Wooed By Bush Team; Likely Will Be Assigned To Bolton at U.N.


11July 2005.. On The Garlic


London Bombings Force Blair To Name Own Axis of Evil; Bush Upset; May Sue In International Court To Force Name Change

IOC Dumps Baseball; Fewer HR's and Little Scandal Potential; New MLB Ban On Steroids Limits PR Effort of Games, IOC TV Time

Top Ten Cloves: What Will Happen To The Europe Union Without A Constitution


Friday, July 10, 2009

Retro Garlic: A Doozy ... David Brooks Gets Creepier

Oh man, this could only have happened on a Friday.

If the Sanford, Ensign, Palin, and Jackson circuses weren't enough for you, than enter, stage right, David Brooks, Rightwing Freak Show columnist for the NYT, seemingly (more on this below), with a bit of a buzz on, being interviewed on cable news.

David Brooks says a Republican senator groped his thigh at a dinner party




Whoa!


A Republican Senator with his hand on David Brooks' inner thigh?

Now, with that specific identification, one name that jumps out first is Larry Craig.

I mean, you can put together little, milquetoast, Wally Cox-like Brooks, either being intimidated, or, perhaps, excited, by big, burly, Larry "Wide-Stance" Craig feeling him up, maybe fantasizing hearing (later, of course) "You bad boy ... You naughty, boy ... You nasty, bad, naughty boy"

John Cole, at Balloon Juice, is hoping that it is "John Kyl or John Cornyn", while Libby Spencer, on her The Impolitic, is having a hard time containing herself - "It would be irresponsible not to speculate"



And, doesn't Brooks seem a bit too giddy?

Even host Nora O'Donnell sensed something amiss;

O’DONNELL: Can I ask one other question David? Do you think, what about female or women politicians? Are they dignified and are there examples of when they have not? Or does it tend to be the men who less dignified?

BROOKS: Yeah, I think that’s mostly a matter of genetics. I do think that…I do think there’s loneliness.

O’DONNELL: That was just a softball, David, and you really hit it very well.

BROOKS: Yeah, I wish I could think of sort of St. Bernards, sloppy women who are licking their aides, but but no, I can’t think of any.

HARWOOD: I’m not going there.

O’DONNELL: Did you have a couple drinks at lunch, David? I mean, this is clearly.

BROOKS: No, you’ve hit me…I’m trying not to be too dignified and stuffy.

Brooks not trying to be "dignified and stuffy", is like Bernie Madoff trying not to hustle clients - Doesn't happen!

And, as you will see, there may be much more to this, as The Garlic had the name "David Brooks" and "Creepy" tied together some time ago.

The Retro Part
PBS's Lehrer Admits Brooks "Body Language" Skills "Creeps Me Out" ... Reveals Uncomfortable With Columnist "Staring At Me" On-Set; Alludes "Toe-Tapping" Also Involved

Hmmm ...

Fascination with "body language" ... Another man's hand on his inner thigh ...


I don't know ...

Pretty creepy, there, David Brooks ...


Top Ten Cloves: Things About New Google Chrome Operating System

News Item: Google developing a PC operating system that would compete with Windows

10. Based on one specific inquiry, Google Chrome OS will work in Argentina

9. Google tried to develop Sarah Palin version, but the OS kept quitting on them

8. May be a delay, in getting your computer to "invite" you to use operating system

7. Other users of Google Chrome OS can use Google Earth to read your computer screen

6. Google Chrome OS will be Twitter-Friendly, so Gmail on it limited to 140 characters, per email

5. Some super application is bound to make its way into the vernacular - "Can suck the chrome off a Google Operating System"

4. Google Chrome OS is so promising, Senator John Ensign's mother is going to buy it, and give to his ex-mistress as a gift

3. With built-in Google Flu Tracker, Chrome OS let's you know when you are sick

2. New feature on boot-up: "I'm Feeling Lucky"

1. To gain market-share, Google issuing a special edition Michael Jackson Chrome OS, that will run endlessly, and come with automated Diprivan dispenser


Bonus Links

Elise Ackerman: Google's Chrome OS a direct shot across Microsoft's bow

Michael Arrington - Google Chrome: Redefining The Operating System

Joe Trippi: Google announces netbook OS. What next?

MG Siegler: Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome

Google: Introducing the Google Chrome OS


This Date ... On The Garlic


10 July 2008... On The Garlic


Top Ten Cloves: Other Ways President Bush Could Have Dissed The G8 Summit

Retro Garlic: Tupperware Lady and Map Maker Team Up


10 July 2007... On The Garlic


MLB All-Star Game ... Get Your Handy Baseball Primer, Right Here!

Introducing The Reaction!


10 July 2006... On The Garlic


Developing Story – Santorum Channeling Dead Pols; Santorum: “I See Dead Politicians!”
Aides Talk Of “Wild Ranting”; Fear Strain Of Up-Hill Campaign Taking Toll On Embattled Senator


Top Ten Cloves: Ways White House Will Go About Naming President Bush’s New Diplomacy


Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Instant Racist Ignorant Dolts - The Valley Swim Club

It's 2009, right, not 1959?

Somebody forget to change the calendar at The Valley Club, in Huntingdon Valley, PA.

And for that, we have to fiddle around, move a few things, to squeeze them into The Garlic's Ignorant Dolts roster.



Here's some of the headlines, so far, this evening;

60 Black Kids Booted from Philly Pool For Being Black — Speak Out

Racist Outrage of the Day (Year?)

Guess Chlorine Can’t Kill Those Germs

Philadelphia private swim club forces out black children

This is 2009, this is the north, this is America, and this is what it looks like

Some lily white Neanderthals, at this "Duh Valley Club", engaged in outright, Bull Connors, No Coloreds Allowed, Separate Lunch Counters racism, at their, apparently, in some other universe, establishment.

Pool Boots Kids Who Might "Change the Complexion" ... Campers sent packing after first visit to swim club

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.
But, wait, it gets worse ...
The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded.

"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.
Whoa, he didn't say that, did he?

I mean, who was his PR/Crisis Management guru on that - George Allen?

For a quote like that, whether he knew about a pending media storm, or not, we are going to have to bend the Ignorant Dolt rules, and award John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club, a separate, his very own, all-by-himself, Ignorant Racist Dolt Award that he can proudly hang in the Duh Valley Swim Club trophy case.

And, dig this, from Duh Valley Club's "Community Page";
The Valley Club has been a staple in the Huntingdon Valley community, since it's chartering in 1954!

We continue to carry on that tradition by staying engaged with many of the events happening around Lower Moreland and the surrounding communities.

I guess, practicing racism is one of those traditions John Duesler, and Duh Valley Club have continued to carry on.

Either that, or they are not staying engaged, fell asleep at the wheel, so-to-speak, and haven't got wind yet of things like the 1964 Civil Rights Act, or, for that matter, slavery had been abolished.

City of Brotherly Love ... Private Club of Closed, Ignorant Minds

We can only hope that Governor Ed Rendell marshals every possible agency in the state to descend upon the Duh Valley Club - Health Inspectors, Pool Inspectors, OSHA, lawyers - just empty out the state offices, dig through every obscure, 200-year-old laws, and drain their pool, both literally, and figuratively.

But do, do let them display, tall and proudly, their Instant Racist Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre...

John Duesler, chief Instant Racist Ignorant Dolt, might be able to use them as inspiration, for when he next has to issue a quote ...




(If you want to express your thoughts (or send this post) to John Duesler, and Duh Valley Club, here's their Contact Page, with address, telephone and email)


UPDATE - Bonus Links

Elon James White: I’m sorry, what? – Black Kids kicked out of pool for…being black?

Jeff Fecke: Party Like It’s 1959

Pam Spaulding: Black kids booted from Philly club's 'whites-only' pool

The Cajun Boy: It's Not Always Progressive in Philadelphia


This Date ... On The Garlic


8 July 2008... On The Garlic


It's Now The Denver Four!

If He Lived In Australia ...


8 July 2007... On The Garlic


Retro Garlic: Sorry Rita, We Tried ... 7 New Wonders of the World Chosen


8 July 2006... On The Garlic


More Letters On The Garlic’s Baseball Piece


8 July 2005... On The Garlic


A Call For Peace


Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Retro Garlic: Yeah, But Will He Be Getting Paid?

We missed out, chiefly due to events here on the homefront, the entire brouhaha, death snake dance of the Washington Post firing writer extraordinaire Dan Froomkin (often linked here on The Garlic).



It was a doozy, with the WAPO being egged and toilet-papered by a better part of the blogosphere.

Here's Paul Krugman;

Thus we still live in an era in which you have to have been wrong to be respectable. You’re not considered serious about national security unless you were for invading Iraq; you’re not considered a serious political analyst unless you spent the last 3 years of the Bush administration predicting a Republican comeback; you’re not considered a serious economic analyst unless you dismissed the idea that the Bush Boom, such as it was, rested on a housing bubble.

That’s why the firing of Dan Froomkin now makes a perverse sort of sense. As long as the right was in power, he was in effect the Post’s designated moonbat, someone who attracted readers but didn’t threaten the self-esteem of the self-perceived serious people at the paper. But now he looks like someone who was right when the serious people were wrong — and that means he has to go.
Glen Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, dday, Jane Hamsher, The Raw Story, and Down With Tyranny all wailed on the WAPO, in similar fashion.

So, the clock was started, the wait was on, to see who would pick up, or, where Dan Froomkin would land.



Today, the buzzer went off - Huffington Post gets the wreath of roses.

Both Emptywheel, and Glen Greenwald broke with the news this morning.

Emptywheel, gleefully, with charts, noted that "So the WaPo wanted to silence Dan Froomkin. And instead, their stupid decision has led to Dan Froomkin getting hired by an outlet with greater online circulation than them."

Greenwald;
In yet another sign of how online media outlets are strengthening as their older establishment predecessors are struggling to survive, The Huffington Post has hired Dan Froomkin to be its Washington Bureau Chief and regular columnist/blogger. Froomkin will oversee a staff of four five reporters and an Assistant Editor, guide The Huffington Post's Washington reporting, and write at least two posts per week to be featured on its main page and Politics page. I learned last night of the hiring and spoke to both Arianna Huffington and Froomkin this morning.

[snip]

While this pairing is, in some ways, a natural one (even the Post Ombudsman suggested that "Web sites like The Huffington Post or Politico would seem a perfect fit"), there are also potential sources of tension. As a practitioner of what he calls "accountability journalism" -- "explaining how Washington works; pulling no punches" -- Froomkin has been a vehement critic of the Obama administration for the last several months, while The Huffington Post frequently trumpeted (some might say "cheerleading") the Obama campaign and even his presidency (though it has become mildly more critical of Obama in recent months; its screaming, red headline today: "White House May Cave on Public Option"). Will Froomkin's harsh criticisms of Obama alienate an Obama-loving HuffPost readership?

And given the central importance of Arianna Huffington's personal relationships with key media figures and those in power, will Froomkin's unrestrained criticisms of many of those same people undermine a key aspect of The Huffington Post's business and promotional strategies? Both Huffington and Froomkin insist that he will have full editorial freedom, though that commitment is often more easily embraced in theory than in practice.

Jamison Foser, at MediaMatters, has a good post up, taking a look at the ashes left at WAPO

And, Glynnis MacNicol, over on Dan Abram's new digs, Mediaite, offers "HuffPo Aiming For DC Dominance? Makes Room For Froomkin".

Here at The Garlic, we wonder about Froomkin getting a paycheck ... You know, with the unique Huffington Post's business model.

The Retro Part;


Breaking News! GM Cancels UAW In Favor of Adopting Huffington Post Business Model ... Celebrities, Auto Enthusiasts and Bloggers To Build Cars For Free; Huge Spike In Profits Forecast

Good Luck there Dan ... Hope you get a check, once-in-awhile ...

Maybe you can hip Arianna on how to use Google ...


More McNamara, New Jack City Edition

Oh, we couldn't resist this one ...

Yesterday, we did a post on Robert McNamara's death ("He Should Have Stuck To Making Cars"), and, included in the Updated Bonus Links, Joseph Galloway's "Commentary: Galloway on McNamara: Reading an obit with great pleasure", which tells the tale of ... Well ... A particular ferry ride taken by McNamara.

Late last night, Spencer Ackerman (who was also in our Bonus Links) posted, pointing to Galloway's piece.

Typically, I might highlight a quote, but in this case, much better if you go read it yourselves ... It's short, and, most amusing ...

To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever

Like we said, most amusing ...


Yeah, They Got The Name Right Now

We have to give our buddy, author and consultant Rick Maurer (@rickmaurer2), a H/T for this one ...

Hyundai, Who's Laughing Now?

Morning Edition, July 7, 2009 · In the early 1990s, Hyundai's image was so bad, the brand served as an insult in a Hollywood movie.

The film was Glengarry Glen Ross — David Mamet's tale of a down and out real estate office. Alec Baldwin plays a highly-paid, corporate heavy.

In once scene, he humiliates one of the agents he's come to fire: "You drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove an $80,000 BMW."

You can read the rest of "Hyundai, Who's Laughing Now?" to get in on the joke.

Also, you might want to stop by Maurer's website, for another amusing tale, "The Naked Truth About Getting People’s Attention", as it will, almost assuredly, get your attention.

Here's the video's Maurer references;

Bare essentials of safety from Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand staff have nothing to hide


We Always Knew The Big Apple Was Expensive ...

That was one of the cleaner titles we came up for this post ...

Pretty amazing, that there are xenophobes protecting the urinals of America's ballparks

On Yankee Stadium Restroom Dispute, the City Settles

New York City will pay $10,001 to settle a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Queens man who was ejected from the old Yankee Stadium last August after trying to use the bathroom during the playing of “God Bless America.” In addition, the team has publicly declared that it has no policy prohibiting fans from moving about during the playing of the patriotic song, which the team began playing during games after 9/11.

[snip]

But in a stipulation [pdf] as part of the settlement of the lawsuit against the team and the city, the Yankees declared “that they have no policy or practice at the new Yankee Stadium that imposes any restrictions on fans wishing to move about the Stadium during the playing of ‘God Bless America’ to do not also apply during the rest of the game.” The team also said it had no intention of instituting such a policy.
Gee, thanks Yankee Management, and the City of New York ...

I am relieved to know people won't be thrown in jail, for not worshiping the flag, every single moment of the day, and, especially, when they gotta go ...


This Date ... On The Garlic


7 July 2008... On The Garlic


This Was Too Surreal ...


7 July 2006... On The Garlic


Breaking News! Lieberman Pledges To Support “Whichever Party Elects Me”; Post-Debate Bombshell - Lieberman Announces Plan C – Will Run In All 50 States; Hires Nader For ‘Underdog” Experience; Pledges To Support “Whichever Party Elects Me”

Top Ten Cloves: Issues For Tom Delay With Having To Stay On Ballot In November


7 July 2005... On The Garlic


Miller Sticks To Guns, Jailed For Not Naming Source; "His Way" Hogan Places Writer With Other Special Cases He's Sentenced

London Wins Olympic Bid, But With A Catch; IOC Names Switzerland As Games Official Food Host

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Senate Will Ignore Special Interest Groups Over Court Pick




Monday, July 06, 2009

He Should Have Stuck To Making Cars

I heard someone, on television, I believe, say that he was our generations' Donald Rumsfeld.

Not quite.

Rumsfeld was far more evil and sadistic, however, equally incompetent

Robert McNamara died today, age 93, the Big Cheese of the Vietnam War, both Kennedy's, and Johnson's Secretary of Defense, the architect of our pouring troops into the needless war.



I don't have a lot to offer.

He came close to making my life hell.

I registered for the draft, nearly a year after I was mandated to, and only because my parents were aghast I hadn't, my WWII Navy veteran father driving me to the draft office.

I sweated it out for a year, before the Selective Service Draft was ended (while I researched Canada at the local library).

We had four guys from the neighborhood come home in body bags (all under the age of 22), and more-than-a-handful returned as junkies, more fucked up than when they left (which, for a few, that was truly unfathomable - and frightening)

No tears flowing on this one.



Will Bunch, over on Attytood, has a great post up;

Robert McNamara died today at age 93. As Secretary of Defense for Presidents John F. Kennedy and more notably Lyndon Johnson in the mid-1960s, it was McNamara who oversaw America's tragic military buildup in Vietnam. That made McNamara -- right up until today's news -- a vivid anti-icon to those Baby Boomers who opposed the war -- and I think you can make the case that his death is that of the most historical significance of the slew of recent "celebrity" passings, no matter how many millions of people are gathering outside the Staples Center to remember the Gloved One.

[snip]

Regardless of your religious or spiritual beliefs, it's hard not to imagine there wasn't some higher purpose to McNamara's longevity. You could argue that it was a cosmic punishment, of sorts, to live so many years with the searing memories of so many who died so horrifically because of his misguided decisions from the comforts of his big desk at the Pentagon. Or you argue that he was still here in the early 2000s as a kind of a warped prophet, a flesh-and-blood monument to the folly of militarism. If that is true, then the fact that America refused to pay any attention is Robert McNamara's greatest tragedy of all.
He should have stuck to making cars ...


Bonus Links

Robert Stein: Death of the Best and Brightest

Tyler Cowen: Robert McNamara passes away

Melissa McEwan: RIP Robert McNamara

Spencer Ackerman: I Hate Myself When I Think Of You

Kevin Drum: R.I.P. Robert McNamara

Susie Madrak: R.I.P. Robert McNamara, Former Secretary of Defense and Prime Architect of the Vietnam War

Fog of War

Battlefield: Vietnam


Update Update

Check out Osha Gray Davidson's post, on Mother Jones - "Regretfully Ours, Robert S. McNamara"

Also, "Commentary: Galloway on McNamara: Reading an obit with great pleasure", by Joseph L. Galloway, McClatchy Newspapers (and a H/T to @GregMitch)


Now It's The Honeybees!

Bee Balls!

No, nothing like that, not an apiary version of "Hung", or anything like that.

More along the lines of violence, the self-defense kind.

Last week, we learned of ants taking over the world, so, this week, it's the attack option of honeybees, versus their predator, the hornet.



Honeybee mobs overpower hornets

Japanese honeybees form "bee balls" - mobbing and smothering the predators.

This has previously been referred to as "heat-balling", but a study has now shown that carbon dioxide also plays a role in its lethal effectiveness.

In the journal Naturwissenschaften, the scientists describe how hornets are killed within 10 minutes when they are trapped inside a ball of bees.

Japanese giant hornets, which can be up to 5cm long, are voracious predators that can devastate bees' nests and consume their larvae.

But, if the bees spot their attacker in time, they mount a powerful defence in the form of a bee ball. This study found that the heat inside the bee ball alone was not enough to reliably kill the hornets.

[snip]

His team recreated experimental bee balls and took direct measurements from inside them.

They anaesthetised giant hornets and fixed them to the tip either of a thermometer probe, or the inlet of a gas detector.

Once the hornets recovered from their anaesthesia, the probes were touched to the bees' nest.

"The bee ball formed (around the hornet) immediately," said Dr Sakamoto.

[snip]

As the temperature inside the ball increased to more than 45C, the carbon dioxide level also rose sharply.

In a parallel experiment, the scientists found that in an atmosphere relatively high in carbon dioxide, the temperature at which hornets could survive for 10 minutes was lowered.

"So we concluded that carbon dioxide produced inside the bee ball by the honeybees is a major factor, together with temperature, involved in the bees' defence."
Those Argentinian Ants better watch out ...

We better make the call, bring in a heavy-hitter;

TV theme song - Green Hornet

This Date ... On The Garlic


6 July 2008... On The Garlic


Oil That Is, Black Gold, Tehran Tea ...

Rice Auditioning For New Role of Aricept Spokesperson

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Google Can Provide Better Day Care


6 July 2007... On The Garlic


Let's Hear It For The Quid Pro Quo ... New Garlic Song - Hush Little Libby

Of Blackboards, Chalk and Legacies ... The Constitutional Crises Continues


6 July 2005... On The Garlic


Cheney Emerging As Next Justice Pick By Bush Feared; VP On Vetting Panel; Nearly Same Situation But Now Has Residency Established

Rove Said To Be "Under Pressure" Over Leak Accusation; Key Bush Strategist Shows "Erratic Behavior" As Critics, Press Call For Admission

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Jacques Chirac Thinks of England and Finland


Sunday, July 05, 2009

Crazy

Well, good thing we did our posting early morning, yesterday, as the afternoon got taken over by events on the homefront.

We had to get The Aunt up to the hospital early afternoon, which ended up to be an extended ER visit, and turned into their admitting her for the night, for treatment and monitoring.

Today, up until early evening, was a all-day-hospital visit, more than half of it, waiting for the discharge orders and paperwork.

She's home and resting comfortably.

That all adds up to virtually zero energy left to do anything creative, including putting into shape a handful of partially-prepared posts sitting in the files.



So, we will get off a small riff, on Mommy Moose, and growing-infamous, pedal-to-the-metal, whining press conference on Friday.

We searched for a bit, to come up with a tune The Wasilla Whiz Kid could use, as, more-or-less, a theme song, or soundtrack, for her virtual meltdown (as well as cover our own weekend).

And, we think we found it, an old war horse, the lyrics playing, rather nicely, in-sync, to the soon-to-be-ex-Governor.

It's the Willie Nelson chestnut, "Crazy", performed with Mr. & Mrs. Elvis Costello

Diana Krall, Elvis Costello & Willie Nelson - Crazy (Live)




Oh No!

I'm calling Sarah Palin crazy!

I might be sued!



This Date ... On The Garlic


5 July 2008... On The Garlic


So Nice ... The Very Last Moments of Jesse Helms


5 July 2006... On The Garlic


Garlic Exclusive! 1st Draft Of Coulter’s Plagiarism Response; Coulter Speaks (Sort Of)

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Reasons For North Korea To Run Missile Tests


5 July 2005... On The Garlic


Conservatives Threaten Taco Bell Boycott, Justice Weekends; Economic Message To Bush If Gonzales Placed On High Court

Founder of Earth Day, Gaylord A. Nelson, Dead at 89; Mother Earth To Offer "Volcanic Salute To A Great Friend"

Live 8 Concerts Generate Over 26 Million Text Messages; Over 24-Million Exchanged About "The Blond In Front of The London Stage"

Top Ten Cloves: Most Surprising Things NASA Discovers With Deep Impact and Comet Tempel 1