Tsutomu Yamaguchi ... Most Fucked Person In History Dies

Yeah, we know the title is jarring, but, even going that graphic, that in-your-face, doesn't do justice, doesn't begin to come close to what Tsutomu Yamaguchi went through in his life.

His plight, his "lot-in-life', became a wry joke, to illustrate just how much a sorry-assed-loser a person might be.

Yet, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, was anything, but a loser;



Tsutomu Yamaguchi, victim of Japan’s two atomic bombs, dies aged 93

He was an impassioned and articulate man, a respected teacher, beloved father and grandfather — but none of these explain the unique distinction of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who has died in Nagasaki aged 93.

He was the victim of a fate so callous that it almost raises a smile: he was one of a small number of people to fall victim to both of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

On August 6, 1945, he was about to leave the city of Hiroshima, where he had been working, when the first bomb exploded, killing 140,000 people. Injured and reeling from the horrors around him, he fled to his home — Nagasaki, 180 miles to the west. There, on August 9, the second atomic bomb exploded over his head.

A few dozen others were in a similar position, but none expressed the experience with as much emotion and fervour. Towards the end of his life, Mr Yamaguchi received another distinction — the only man to be officially registered as a hibakusha, atomic bomb victim, in both cities.

In an interview he did, early last year, his only with a British newspaper, Yamaguchi described what happened;

Among them was the young engineer – who was in town on a business trip for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – who stepped off a tram as the bomb exploded.

Despite being 3km (just under two miles) from Ground Zero, the blast temporarily blinded him, destroyed his left eardrum and inflicted horrific burns over much of the top half of his body. The following morning, he braved another dose of radiation as he ventured into Hiroshima city centre, determined to catch a train home, away from the nightmare.

But home for Mr Yamaguchi was Nagasaki, where two days later the "Fat Man" bomb was dropped, killing 70,000 people and creating a city where, in the words of its mayor, "not even the sound of insects could be heard". In a bitter twist of fate, Yamaguchi was again 3km from the centre of the second explosion. In fact, he was in the office explaining to his boss how he had almost been killed days before, when suddenly the same white light filled the room. "I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima," Mr Yamaguchi said.

It is nearly incomprehensible, the thought of surviving, not one, but two nuclear blasts.

Was he bitter, did he hate the Americans?

No, he remained a human being.

From Wikipedia;

As he aged his opinions about the use of atomic weapons began to change. In his eighties, he wrote a book about his experiences and was invited to take part in a 2006 documentary about 165 double A-bomb victims called Nijuuhibaku ("Twice Bombed")[4], which was screened at the United Nations. At the screening he pleaded for the abolition of atomic weapons.[2]

Yamaguchi became a vocal proponent of nuclear disarmament.[5] In an interview he said "The reason that I hate the atomic bomb is because of what it does to the dignity of human beings."[5] Speaking through his daughter during a telephone interview he said; "I can't understand why the world cannot understand the agony of the nuclear bombs, how can they keep developing these weapons?

And this;

"My double radiation exposure is now an official government record," Mr Yamaguchi told reporters.

"It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die."

Yeah, it can tell the younger generation, as well as the current one.

But, will they see, will they listen?

Here's hoping Tsutomu Yamaguchi has the absolute best, most tremendous, most peacefully satisfying afterlife ... Ever!

Restart Those "Geithner Goes" Office Pools

Whoever, in the first round, got a date in 2010, for when Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner takes a hike, forced or otherwise, may be looking a bit more optimistic today;



Geithner’s New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure Share Business Exchange

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer’s payments to banks during the depths of the financial crisis, e-mails between the company and its regulator show.

AIG said in a draft of a regulatory filing that the insurer paid banks, which included Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA, 100 cents on the dollar for credit-default swaps they bought from the firm. The New York Fed crossed out the reference, according to the e-mails, and AIG excluded the language when the filing was made public on Dec. 24, 2008. The e-mails were obtained by Representative Darrell Issa, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The New York Fed took over negotiations between AIG and the banks in November 2008 as losses on the swaps, which were contracts tied to subprime home loans, threatened to swamp the insurer weeks after its taxpayer-funded rescue. The regulator decided that Goldman Sachs and more than a dozen banks would be fully repaid for $62.1 billion of the swaps, prompting lawmakers to call the AIG rescue a “backdoor bailout” of financial firms.

“It appears that the New York Fed deliberately pressured AIG to restrict and delay the disclosure of important information,” said Issa, a California Republican. Taxpayers “deserve full and complete disclosure under our nation’s securities laws, not the withholding of politically inconvenient information.”

Oh, Timmy, you didn't do that ...

Oh, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy ...

There's little refuge out there, Timmy.

Henry Blodget;

Bloomberg unearths more details on the nauseating bailout of AIG and the 100-cents-on-the-dollar payouts to Goldman, et al.

Once again, Tim Geithner was in charge.

Barry Ritholtz;

Between Summers and Geithner, it appears that President Obama has made the exact same mistake that one George W. Bush did: Instead of filling his administration’s most important posts with his own people, he reached back to prior admins (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc) and loaded up on incompetent retreads.

Barack W. Obama indeed . . .

Felix Salmon points out another fact that Timmy, probably, would like to bury;

Michael Corkery also points out that all of this secrecy coincided with Geithner’s nomination to be Treasury secretary, which makes the whole thing stink much more: was Geithner deliberately trying to keep anything potentially damaging secret for the sake of his own personal career progression?

And, Edward Harrison, writing on Naked Capitalism, just lets it all out;

Let me add a few words to Yves’ last post because I don’t think she was explicit enough about what’s going on here. This was looting and a cover-up plain and simple.

[snip]

He was on the job when these firms levered up and took reckless risks that endangered our financial system. For him to absolve himself of responsibility is a disgrace. And to add insult to injury, we now learn that he urged a systemically important company to withhold evidence of his looting of taxpayers.

Tim Geithner must go

Now, we wait, to see what Congress does, and if they will go after Geithner, and, for that matter, Heistin' Hank Paulson, for their total scam rip-off of the Treasury, the citizens, the country.

And, for those holding squares, say, in Spring (the Obama White House will want to get this off the radar well before the Fall Midterms), you're sitting pretty ...


Bonus Riffs

Susie Madrak: Geithner to AIG: Let's Keep This Under Our Hat, Okay?

Cynthia Kouril: Geithner’s New York Fed Ordered AIG to Violate Securities Law in 2008

Breaking! ... Obama Takes Action, Siezes AIG's March Madness Office Pools and Brackets

Blame?

This Didn't Make The 11PM News ...

Greed Has A Name ...

This Date ... On The Garlic

7 January 2009... On The Garlic

Oh God ... He's Back!!!

"It's like hearing my obituaries while I'm still here." ... Nat Hentoff's Last VV Column


7 January 2008... On The Garlic

Clinton Camp, Burnishing Her Experience Resume, Claims David Bowie Song "Changes" All About Hillary

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Bill O'Reilly Will Do To Get Interview With Barack Obama


7 January 2006... On The Garlic

The Garlic Year In Review: 10 Most Popular Posts

Caravan

So sorry Garlic fans, we're out-of-gas this evening, and, possibly, coming to be under-the-weather (the relentless cold weather has been playing havoc with the sinuses).

So, rather then force anything, we're kicking back until (hopefully) tomorrow.

We don't leave you empty though ...

Monster track here, from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (circa 1962 - Curtis Fuller/Trombone, Freddie Hubbard/Trumpet, Wayne Shorter/Tenor Saxophone, Cedar Walton/Piano and Reggie Workman/Bass).

And, of course, Master Drummer Blakey, who is absolutely smokin' on this cut ...

Enjoy!

Art blakey: Caravan

This Date ... On The Garlic

6 January 2009... On The Garlic

Top Posts of 2008

Pez Creator Death Kicks Off Ferocious Battle Among Collectors, To Claim Body

The new year brought in the sad news, that Curtis Allina, creator of the now-infamous Pez Dispenser, passed away on December 15th, at the age of 87;

Curtis Allina Dies at 87; He Put the Heads on Pez

For nearly three decades after World War II, Mr. Allina was the vice president in charge of United States operations at what is now Pez Candy. In 1955, at his urging, what had been an austerely packaged Austrian confection for adults took on vibrant new life as a children’s product.

That year, the first character dispensers, as they are known in the parlance of Peziana, were issued, giving birth to what is today a highly collectible pop-cultural artifact. Instantly recognizable, the dispensers are slim plastic containers, usually anthropomorphic in design, whose heads — modeled after those of TV characters, cartoon figures or historical personages — flip back to disgorge brick-shaped pieces of candy.

[snip]

A Pez dispenser is a simple little machine: back snaps the head, out pops the candy, and the head flicks shut again with a satisfying click. But oh, the variations, from a spate of licensed characters to those designed by Pez. For serious collectors, the most highly prized dispensers, long discontinued, are elusive objects of desire that can run to thousands of dollars apiece.

It is now, those "serious collectors" that are causing tremendous trouble for authorties in Olympia, Washington, where Allina resided.

Hundreds have descended on the town, and have been badgering family members, seeking to purchase Allina's body for their Pez collections.

In some cases, collectors have attempted to break into Allina's home, and, in another incident, there was a carjacking of a young lady, thought to be a granddaughter.

"It's been awful," said one resident.

"They are stalking people all over town, going through garbage cans, looking for anything they can lay claim to."

One collector, who asked to remain anonymous, was near hyperventilation, with the thought of claiming Allina's body for his collection.

"I have thousand, and thousands of Pez dispensers, going back decades .. Rare and impossible to find ones ... Having Mr. Allina in the collection would just make it priceless."

Another collector that was also seeking the body, planned to cash out his collection, on eBay.

When contacted, eBay, on the possibility of someone selling the Pez creators' body, the spokesperson indicated they had no specific rules against it, if it were part of a collection, and cautioned anyone purchasing it, to verify who the seller was, and check their rating for selling on eBay.

"We really don't want to get in the middle of a sale, of someone buying a collection and it not being the specified item."

In a related matter, the Pez Corporation announced that they are discontinuing plans for the release of a new, 2010 Pez Dispenser, Allina's final creation, the head of the former President, The Commander Guy, dispensing shoe-shaped pez pellets.

This Date ... On The Garlic

5 January 2009... On The Garlic

Editor's Note: Eureka!! ... Fixed, Finally! ... But No Joy In Mudville


5 January 2008... On The Garlic

What A Difference Four Years Make ... Howard Dean

5 January 2007... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Twelfth Day


5 January 2006... On The Garlic

Fox News Agrees With Letterman; O'Reilly Factor Now Only 40% Fair and Balanced

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard In White House Meeting of Former Secretaries of Defense and State

I Won't Gladly Pay You Tuesday, For A Tainted Hamburger Today

It's 11PM, do you know where your hamburger has been?

I tell ya, it's stories like this one, today, that can easily have you thinking the movie, 'Idiocracy' was a documentary, not a feature film.

Yves Smith, over on his Naked Capitalism, has a whopper (pun intended);

Tainted Burgers Show That Corporate Profits Trump Public Safety (Cargill and McDonalds Edition)

The object lesson is America’s addiction to hamburgers versus E coli. E coli gets into the food chain when feces get into the meat. Period. It’s a very straightforward contamination mechanism. And in this case, the party fighting for the right to eat contaminated food is Cargill, and one of its major suppliers in its burger business, a company called Beef Products.

It is a detailed, and tremendously fascinating, tale, on just how contaminated meat sold to the public is, how the enormocorps, in this case Cargill, are totally cool with that, as they, sanctimoniously, cite bullshit boilerplate tributes to "following regulations", and such.

And, in using information from NYT articles, Smith gets to the diss, who else, the NYT, for not connecting the dots in their own reporting.

I am hesitant to quote more from the post, as you need to read it, jaw-dropping paragraph, after jaw-dropping paragraph.

How does this happen?

Check out the post we did last year, on Food Inc., and the corruption deeply rooted in our food industry, and ties to Congress.

But go read "Tainted Burgers Show That Corporate Profits Trump Public Safety (Cargill and McDonalds Edition)", and, if you do eat hamburgers, start checking out the source they traveled before slapping them on the grill.


Bonus Riffs

Forget About Tuesday, Cash On The Barrelhead Today, Wimpy!

M'm! M'm! Good!

Spam-A-Lot ...The Eating Kind!

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Spinach Industry Plans To Overcome E. Coli Setback

Too Big For Its Dishdasha ... World's Tallest Target Opens Today

You gotta give these guys a tip-of-the-hat, for their cojones, in going through with this project.

I mean, after September 11th, the optimism of finding tenets to live, or work on, say, the 150th floor ...

In an area of the world were terrorist bombs are as ubiquitous as Mocha Grandes?

Breathtaking ...

World’s tallest tower opens today in Dubai

The height of the Burj Dubai remained a closely guarded secret on the eve of its opening. At a reported height of 2,684 feet, it long ago vanquished its nearest rival, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building and ranks as the world’s tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota.

“We weren’t sure how high we could go,’’ said Bill Baker, the building’s structural engineer. “It was kind of an exploration. . . . A learning experience.’’ Baker, of the Chicago architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said early designs had the Burj edging out the previous record-holder, the Taipei 101, by about 33 feet. The Taiwan tower rises 1,667 feet.The Burj’s developer, Emaar Properties, kept pushing the design higher even after construction began, eventually putting it about 984 feet taller than its nearest competitor, Baker said. He was keeping quiet about the exact height.

And, you gotta love this guy;

However, after the economic downturn ripped through Dubai — sending property prices plunging 50% and forcing Sheikh Mohammed to go cap in hand to his wealthy neighbour, Abu Dhabi, for a $25 billion (£15 billion) bailout — critics are already dismissing the tower as a gaudy memorial to a lost decade of uncontrolled speculation. “It’s the last blast of the Noughties in a city that got too big for its dishdasha [robes],” said one local banker.

Ahh, but there's hope;

The prospect of a partly-empty skyscraper invariably opens the Burj Dubai to charges of overbuilding. Surprise: It's happened before. As the history of the Empire State Building reveals - when it opened in 1931, it had so few tenants that it was known as the "Empty State Building" - today's white elephant is often tomorrow's beloved landmark...

Hmmm ...

Didn't the Empire State Building have a plane fly into it, once?


Bonus Links

Burj Dubai Skyscraper Site

Wikipedia: Burj Dubai

This Date ... On The Garlic

4 January 2009... On The Garlic

Editor's Note: Just When I Thought It Was Fixed ...


4 January 2008... On The Garlic

Rachel Maddow: Hillary Apologist and Obama Basher

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard Last Evening At The Iowa Caucuses

Karl Rove: “Be prepared! Find the bastards. And pile on!”


4 January 2007... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Eleventh Day

Garlic Special - New Congress Theme Song: Across The 110th Congress


4 January 2006... On The Garlic

Bushapalooza Planned As Abramoff Plea Has Bush, GOP Citing Bad Intel, Reclassifying Donors

Top Ten Cloves: New Tag Lines Rejected By Intel For New Logo

That Didn't Take Long - Charles Krauthammer, Ignorant Dolt!

We didn't have to wait long, for some lughead of an idiot to jump up, New Year's party hat affixed, streamers dangling off his shoulders, jumping up and down, waving, dying to be the first Ignorant Dolt of the new year.

Just think of of a stork, carrying a little newborn baby, with the face of Charles Krauthammer, and a sash, reading "2010's First Ignorant Dolt".



Charles Krauthammer ... C'mon down!

I mean, jeez Charlie, before you wrote that column, did ya think to check, maybe Google? Did you call Mary Katherine Ham for pointers on how not-to-fact-check, and snag that Ignorant Dolt crown?

And just to make sure even the dimmest understand, Obama banishes the term "war on terror." It's over -- that is, if it ever existed.

Obama may have declared the war over. Unfortunately, al-Qaeda has not. Which gives new meaning to the term "asymmetric warfare."

As it turns out, Charlie, you have to be the "dimmest of the dimmest".

Here Charlie, click on this link to the Wonk Room, at Think Progress;

It is true that the Obama administration has dropped “war on terror,” a phrase that is so broad and ill-defined that even Donald Rumsfeld sought to abandon it. Instead of declaring war against a tactic, the President has actually sought to define the enemy – repeatedly saying that the US was specifically “at war” with Al Qaeda. In fact, just today Obama said in his weekly address:

our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.

Moreover, Obama has consistently said this. In May, Obama stated in a major speech at the National Archives:

Now let me be clear: we are indeed at war with al Qaeda and its affiliates.

In his speech at West Point, Obama justified the Afghan troop increase to help bolster the war against Al Qaeda:

We must keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region…This is not just America’s war.

What is it with the PartyofNoicans, and the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show?

Right out of the gate, Rep. Pete "Mr. WMD Finder" Hoekstra was jumping all over it, and it's been a steady stream of "Hair On Fire" dolts, leading up to Krauthammer's unbelievable lunacy.

It's almost that they wouldn't be satisfied of anything short of Obama, winging his way to Detroit on Christmas day, standing on top of the plane that carried the Panty Terrorist Bomber, bullhorn in hand, bellowing out across the tarmac "Bring'em On!"

And, then, of course, follow that up with sending our military into a country that had nothing to do with the Panty Terrorist Bomber.

In case any of the other Flying Monkeys are reading this, and didn't get the memo, The Bush Grindhouse is out-of-business, and you can't keep making up your own bullshit and passing it off as fact.

So, Charlie Krauthammer, c'mon down, and pick up your Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre.

And, carry on, with being the "dimmest of the dimmest" ...

We wouldn't recognize you otherwise.


Bonus Krauthammer Dolt Riffs

Steve Benen: OUR STUNTED DISCOURSE...

Bob Cesca: Krauthammer is an Idiot

This Date ... On The Garlic

3 January 2009... On The Garlic

It Only Took One To Spoil This Soup

Editor's Note ... Technical Difficulties


3 January 2008... On The Garlic

'They Shoot Iowa Caucuses, Don't They?

Hey, You Iowans, Read This Before Pulling The Levers!


3 January 2007... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Tenth Day

Chopped Garlic ... Oh, The Irony

Minced Garlic - Olbermann: Special Comment About ‘Sacrifice’


3 January 2006... On The Garlic

Schwarzenegger Said To Be In Furious Hunt For Another Stadium Naming

Walmart To Appeal $172M California Fine; Workers Will Have To Continue To Go Without Meals While Case Stays In Courts

Top Ten Cloves: New Year's Resolutions President Bush Is Likely To Break

Jasmine Breeze

Well, Happy New Year, for starters.

At the last minute, we decided to to take the day off, being, well, it was a holiday, and, we had other festivities, namely a family member's birthday to celebrate, and, being here in Boston, we would have broken the law if we didn't sit and watch the NHL's over-produced, over-hyped Winter Classic, at legendary Fenway Park.

As for today, there was nine-inches of snow to shovel, and, after hitting it twice, we were left in a very un-creative mood.

So, we ring in the New Year with a gem-of-a-gem for you.

The YouTube title credits it as "The Crusaders", when, actually, it is Crusader drummer Stix Hooper (who we got to sit behind, and talk with, at a Sonny Rollins concert in Los Angeles, back in the early 1980's), from his album, 'The World Within'.

Enjoy!

Jasmine Breeze / THE CRUSADERS

This Date ... On The Garlic

2 January 2008... On The Garlic

No Wait, It's Not Thompson Who's Going To Save The Country, It's Now Michael Bloomberg ...Or, Bipartisanship: Conservatism In Bloomberg Clothing

D.B. Cooper Is Barbarosa ... Or Is It Barbarosa Is D.B. Cooper?


2 January 2007... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Ninth Day

Top Ten Cloves: Things President Bush Is Thinking Of Doing To Have A Better 2007


2 January 2006... On The Garlic

Feliz Año Nuevo! … Bonne Année! … Nuovo Anno Felice! … Ano Novo Feliz!

This Date ... On The Garlic

1 January 2009... On The Garlic

Happy New Year!


1 January 2008... On The Garlic

"We Still Had Manners" ... Barry Crimmin's Year In Review

Something Off The Beaten Track ... How I Introduced the French to Onion Rings

Top Ten Cloves: Other New Years Resolutions President Bush Is Planning On Making


1 January, 2007... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Eighth Day

Happy New Year!

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Oh boy, leave it to Tweety.

H/T to John Cole, over on Balloon Juice, for the catch;

This Chris Matthews quote is a Palinesque work of art:

MATTHEWS: And I think we have got to get serious about catching terrorists, not just catching weapons. I‘m waiting for the terrorist who knows kung fu or something that gets on an airplane without a weapon. God knows what that is going to be like.

Hey, Gerald, happy new year, even under this circumstance.

WTF!

We go from a kid, putting a bomb in his underwear, to sketching out a new Jackie Chan movie?

Steve Benen was also scratching his head;

Also note the context: Matthews is urging us to "get serious" about counterterrorism, and in the next sentence, warning us of the potentially deadly consequences of terrorists who know "kung fu or something."

Oh man ...

Was Tweety hitting the punch a little early this evening?

But, on another note, Tweety's wing-in-mouth solved our New Year's Eve music choice.

Everybody, get up and shake it!

Carl Douglas - Kung fu fighting(original)




Bonus Tweety Riffs

MSNBC's Matthews Uninjured Pulling Head Out Of Judy Miller's Ass ...Hardball Host Fawns Over Former White House Stenographer; Stays Away From Tough Questions

Clooney: Wouldn’t Cast Matthews In A Daydream ...When Pressed, Matthews Admits Miffed Not Cast in Clooney Film ...“Forget This Zelig Mishmash, I Could Have Played McCarthy … And Played Him Damn Good”

Was Tweety Covering Morning Jokes' Back?

I, For One, Hope He Lives A Long, Long Life

There was much hub-bub on the World Wide Web last evening, with the news that the "Cheeseburger That Sweats" (h/t Barry Crimmins), aka Rush Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital, ironically, in Hawaii, after suffering chest pains.



No doubt, there are people out there, mumbling like Solazzo, from 'The Godfather' this morning with the news that Limbaugh is resting comfortably.

Some of the Flying Monkeys, of the Right Wing Freak Show, were, already, last night, sending out shots-across-the-bow, dare anyone start making death jokes about one of our grandfathered Ignorant Dolts.

I, for one, hope he lives a long, long, life;

• Long enough to see the despicable garbage schtick he promulgates, promotes (proudly, no less), and, otherwise revels in, becomes totally repudiated, and becomes a neon pariah for the rest of his life.
  
  
• That he lives long, so that he can see the country bounce back, become great again, under Democrat Leadership.
  
  
• That he lives long enough to see a woman, perhaps a black, gay woman, elected President.
  
  
• So that he can see the people he cheerleaded - The Commander Guy, The Shawdow President, and all the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds of The Bush Grindhouse - take their Perp Walk, if not in this country, than in the World Court, to pay for their War Crimes.
  
  
• So that he can see millions of Americans become healthy, with a broad, robust Healtcare Plan, brought about by the Democrats
  
  
• So that, hopefully, a cured Michael J. Fox, can spit in his face

Will Bunch, on Attytood, shares this;

So, get well, Rush Limbaugh. And get well quickly, because I want to make fun of you for vacationing in that "exotic" Barack Obama-producing state of Hawaii.

So does James Akers Jr., posting on Twitter, perhaps the best of well-wishes;

I hope Rush Limbaugh is saved by a black homosexual doctor with a questionable immigration status

Adrian Chen, over on Gawker, points out the Prayer Vigils taking place;

Our buddies over at the Free Republic know how to save Rush Limbaugh: Internet prayer vigil! There are like 150 prayers already! Do you realize what this means? Tonight could be the night we find out if God exists

Yeah, what if God was one of him...

This Date ... On The Garlic

31 December 2008... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Harry Reid and Democrats Can Keep Roland Burris From Taking Senate Seat

Year End Brings Another Sad Note ... Loss of Jazz Giant Freddie Hubbard


31 December 2006... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Seventh Day

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves 31 December 2006

Buck Up Rick, There'll Likely Be Better Days Ahead ... The Results - The Garlic Week Poll


31 December 2005... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

I Know Why The Sea Lions Have Disappeared

There is a story sweeping across the media today on this incredible mystery, out in San Francisco, this headline greeting me upon firing up the computer this morning;

San Francisco’s sea lion horde evacuates its Pier 39 home

OMG!

Is it Climate Change, reaching down it's mighty fist, snatching up the slithery, yelping Sea Lions?

A new "Zodiac Killer" targeting the sea mammals?



Hardly.

From Daniel Stone, at Newsweek;

At San Francisco’s famed Pier 39, tourists are treated to a perfectly fascinating scene of California Sea Lions sunning themselves on floating wooden platforms, yelping ferociously and diving over one another. But not anymore, according to an AP story published yesterday that highlights a strange exodus of virtually all sea lions from the area. The Washington Post gave the story top billing on its website, as did the LA Times and over 400 other news sources. The Huffington Post was the most sensational, accentuating the alarming (and misleading) headline: San Francisco’s Famous Sea Lions Have VANISHED.

[snip]

Sea lion visitation to Pier 39 fluctuates with the season. Numbers during the summer – at one point as high as 1,700 – usually drop to about 60 to 100 in the winter months of December and January due to weather and food accessibility in the Bay. This year has been a little more extreme, but it hasn’t hit zero. About a dozen sea lions have stuck around to entertain Embarcadero tourists. And the numbers that did stick around when the weather got cold in November were slightly higher than normal this time of year.

And, more, from Alexis Madrigal, over on Wired;

The sea lions’ disappearance is as strange as their initial colonization of the pier about 20 years ago, in late 1989. They just started showing up one day and as their numbers increased, their traditional hang out, Seal Rocks, became less populated. There are all sorts of theories about why the pier became a favorite haul-out spot for the sea lions, but no one knows for sure why the animals’ behavior changed.

Stoudt averred that the officials at the Marine Mammal Center weren’t worried about the animals’ disappearance from their standard location. The sea lions are migratory animals, after all, and it’s natural for them to move around.

So, even though no one has found them, “there really isn’t a reason to be looking for them,” Stoudt said.

Just an enormously slow news day, in which an otherwise non-news-story would be totally overlooked, and dismissed, gets top billing with racing, forest-fire speed.

The Sea Lions' migratory habits, and follow-the-food-instincts not withstanding, there is a rather simple reason they all up, and left.

They had to be getting the message late, but someone, or something, hipped them that they were hanging out at one of the culturally foulest, crudest, greediest tourist traps in all the lands, Pier 39.

It is a rank armpit of a place.

And, that they built an "observation deck" to exploit the Sea Lions, to suck in more hapless tourists, well, it's poetic justice that the Sea Lions gave them a proverbial "Up Yours!" and got out of there.

Way to go Sea Lions, way to go ...

This Date ... On The Garlic

30 December 2008... On The Garlic

Apology Owed


30 December 2007... On The Garlic

Three For The Road To Democracy (And How To Make SUV Sunroofs Safer) ... Perrin and Crimmins ... And Perrin Again ...

What If Spartacus Ran The Justice Department? ...The Bush administration's dumbest legal arguments of the year

A spoonful of sugar helps the history go down ... Edward Copeland Review of 'Charlie Wilson's War'

16-0


30 December 2006... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Sixth Day

Garlic Special: A George Bush Dream - The Victory

Where Flamingos Fly

Ah, no posts today, as we ran out of gas.

Better said, we got "froze" out of gas, as it was a bitter, bitter cold a day around these parts, with single digit/low teens for temps, and below-zero windchills, thanks to 26+ MPH winds, gusting into the 40's.

Rest Of Tonight - Mostly clear and windy. Colder. Near steady temperature around 8 above. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 45 mph...decreasing to 35 mph.

As Barry Crimmins would say, it was "colder than Dick Cheney's heart" out there today.



So, rather than grunt, and struggle, to come up with something, we set our minds to a better place, a much warmer place, with the help of the legendary Gil Evans ...

The kind of place ...

Gil Evans - Where Flamingos Fly

This Date ... On The Garlic

29 December 2008... On The Garlic

I Won't Dance


29 December 2007... On The Garlic

Yes, Virginia, Even Sadder, Little Billy Kristol Is Going To The NYT


29 December 2006... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Fifth Day

Developing Story - Self-Admitted Killer Offers Details of Friendship With ‘Godfather of Soul’; Former Ramsey Suspect Claims Was With James Brown In Final Hours; Says Longtime Friend, Confidant of Legendary Singer; Plans Were To Make Young Ramsey Girl “Princess of Soul”

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard During The NSC Meeting At President’s Crawford Ranch

Under This Mistletoe, An Ignorant Dolt - Mary Matalin

We had hoped to get through the holidays with only the need for a little light dusting.

Much as we would at home, turning the thermostat down if we were to be away a few days, we dialed down, a crank, or two, the Ignorant Dolt detector.

It was, after all, Christmas, and we would have like to think that people could hold it back, contain themselves through the holiday.

Ahh, the lessons that we learn ...

I suppose, though, that now is as good a time as any.

Afterall Mary "Free Scooter Libby" Matalin, long, long ago, established her Ignorant Dolt credentials.

It was sheer laziness on our part, for not fitting her with the Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre, for her bevy of outlandish displays of amazing doltness.

If we were ever to create a statue, a la The Oscar, to bestow upon our Ignorant Dolts, Matalin would, definitely, be up, high on the list, top two, or three, for its' likeness.



And how did Mary "The World Will Come To An End Under Democrats" Matalin put her Ignorant Dolt foot into her Ignorant Dolt mouth?

Mary Matalin claims President Bush ‘inherited’ the September 11th terror attacks

On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration. Defending her former boss, Matalin charged that President Bush had in fact “inherited a recession” and the September 11th attacks from President Clinton:

MATALIN: I was there, we inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history. And President Bush dealt with it and within a year of his presidency within a comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent.

Oh no, you didn't really say that, did you Mary?

After all the documentation on how The Bush Grindhouse blew off the Clinton Administrations terrorism work, naturally, because they were too busy planning on how they were going to attack Iraq.

The Commander Guy's vacation, and the ignored PDB?

It may be Mary, that you are such an Ignorant Dolt, they cut you out of the loop.

Rove, or Dan Bartlett, maybe even Andy Card, didn't send you the memo?

The memo that said, since The Bush Grindhouse was out of business, since WHIG was shuttered-up, you couldn't go around making up your own facts any longer.

This is really egregious.

Even he must cringe at having to look at such an Ignorant Dolt as yourself every day ...

It wouldn't surprise me if Gollum divorces you over this.

This Date ... On The Garlic

28 December 2008... On The Garlic

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week ... RNC Hack Chip Saltsman!


28 December 2007... On The Garlic

As Goes Pakistan, So Goes Iowa ... But I'm Still Putting My Money On Colonel Mustard and Ms. Scarlet ...

Good Post Alert: Juan Cole's "Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007"


28 December 2006... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Fourth Day


28 December, 2005... On The Garlic

Bush, White House Aiding Chalabi; Will Appeal Election Results To Supreme Court

Top Ten Cloves: Complaints Heard Most By Returns Departments This Christmas Season

Royal Jam ... Fly With Wings Of Love

Well, we let the day get away from us today.

We hope you had a great Christmas Holiday, as we did on this end, busy few days, that it was.

In the event your Christmas didn't go very well, perhaps, a family member, or two, over-indulged, maybe things got a little rowdy, and you found yourself longing for a good, old-fashion Christmas celebration ...

Your drunken, loutish family members would be on-the-money, as the way to go.



Last week, Stephen Nissenbaum, at The Boston Globe, looked into it, and wrote;

Christmas was a riot ..Ever long for a traditional New England Christmas? Be careful what you wish for

So where does this leave the old-fashioned Christmas of yesteryear, untainted by commercialism or ideological dispute? The evidence from Boston suggests it was never there. When the Boston public embraced a more family-centered, domestic version of the holiday, it was already commercial at its very core

No snips, go read the entire piece ... It's hysterical.

And, since "flying" has been in the news all weekend all weekend, we have the soundtrack for you to read by.

It's a gem, from the early 1980's - The Crusaders, with B.B. King, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded live, at Royal Festival Hall.

And, there's monster piano work by Joe Sample ...

Enjoy!

Fly With Wings Of Love (Live 1981/Royal Festival Hall, London)

This Date ... On The Garlic

27 December 2008... On The Garlic

Our 1,000 Post This Year!


27 December 2006... On The Garlic

Twelve Days of Dubya ...The Third Day

Developing Story - Polar Bears Added To Iraq Options; Bush Administration Wavering On Polar Bears; Considering Employing In Iraq, War Against Terror; Rove Claims He Also Has “The Science”, Says Bears “Will Do Fine In Desert Heat”

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