Blood in the water

A WP/ABC poll puts Bush's job approval rating at 45 percent today, lowest ever recorded for him by that survey. The war in Iraq and high gas prices are highlighted by respondents. (WP)

Ah, the American people are pretty astute after all. My heart rejoices.

But--wait, what's this--

"A poll released yesterday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools." (NYT)

Dammit. I'm trying to have faith in the people, but it's not always easy.

You bet it did

"Did PowerPoint make the space shuttle crash?" (WP)

For more on why PowerPoint is evil and must be stopped, see

PowerPoint is Evil (Wired)
PowerPoint corrupts absolutely (this blog)
Two Men's Rants Against PowerPoint (Greg Brooks)

FOX News cursed in New Orleans

Possibly the only time you will ever hear the phrase "none of your fucking business" delivered in a Southern accent:

Shepard Smith Cursed Out in Hurricane Katrina (CrooksandLiars.com via Wonkette)

How not to come off as mainstream

To further legitimize the Cindy Sheehan war protest in Crawford, Al Sharpton and Martin Sheen have arrived on the scene (WP).

I mean, I love both of those guys, but--well, let's wait until Michael Moore gets out of re-education camp and joins the Crawford protest as well. Then America will have no choice but to listen to what the military moms have to say.

Thune's lucky day

Today BRAC voted against closing South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base (WP), thus saving Senator Thune's previously doomed ass.

Yikes

http://www.dieoff.org/synopsis.htm

Interesting. Though the website's a little too Unabomber-y if you ask me.

Touché

French expat blogger SuperFrenchie puts Subway in its place with a response to the French Chicken Ad today. Includes contact info for Subway so we can harass them, plus some important historical facts about the French. Thanks, SuperFrenchie!

See related post: File under: "still not funny"

Back to school special

A couple of examples of how the Far Right* is investing in developing young leaders. What are progressives doing to keep up?

• The Heritage Foundation's intern mill. (NYT$$, but reprinted here)
• Center for Christian Statesmanship's "Politics and Principle" lunches for Congressional staff. (LA Times)
  

*I will continue to lump together fiscal and social conservatives until they manage to disentangle themselves from one another.

Tragedy

"The Capitol Lounge, a watering hole popular with Hill denizens, was ravaged by fire early this morning....'There is significant, major, major damage to the bar,' [the fire department] said, adding that the fire department’s investigators 'have no reason to suspect foul play.'" (Roll Call)

CAFE standards topped off

In 2003 Congress passed on the chance to enact meaningful statutory increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. 40 mpg for cars and light trucks by 2015, the standard advocated by Senator Joe Lieberman and others, would have saved us 2 million barrels of oil per day.

Instead, they decided to pass the buck and directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin to start to think about studying tougher standards.

And this is what we get: Transportation secretary Norm Mineta arriving in--hilariously--a Lincoln Navigator to announce paltry increases in CAFE standards (NYT). So meaningless is the increase that it would be more than offset by the "dual fuel" loophole recently passed as part of this year's comprehensive energy bill. (UCS)

An outlandish proposal

"700 Club" televangelist Pat Robertson suggests that the U.S. should assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to prevent Venezuela from becoming "''a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.'' (NYT)

What makes this statement so shocking is that the U.S. government would never, ever consider assassinating or deposing the leader of a South American country ostensibly to stop the spread of communism. Especially not in a military coup, and especially not in order to install a brutal, fascist regime in his place. So dream on, Pat Robertson!

Bringing faith back to the classroom

Alternet's David Morris is absolutely right. Surely there is some middle ground on which the ultra-religious right and the rest of us can meet, some way in which the question of evolution vs. intelligent design can be examined in our nation's public schools. I propose that the Department of Education develop a high-school intelligent design curriculum in which students carefully study human homosexuality, the female orgasm, and male nipples as perfect examples of phenomena that could not possibly be the product of evolution.

Borf lives

I saw a freshly painted Borf tag this morning (at Columbia Heights and 13th, on a Giant grocery store sign). Either he's back in business, or we have a copycat on our hands...

File under: "still not funny"

Is there a deeper, political significance to the slogan with which Subway is marketing its chicken cordon bleu sandwich?

"France and chicken...somehow, they just go together."

That whole "the French are a bunch of pussies" bit is trèz overplayed.

Trent Lott goes postal

Well, in his own way...new memoir calls out Bill Frist, W, and Jim Jeffords. (CNN.com)

Hiatus

Until 8/17 I will be far, far away from beltway traffic, $5 cups of coffee, the United States Congress, the American media, and this blog. Have a nice week.

Evolution? Intelligent design? Spaghetti monster?

Our Dallas correspondent directs us to this bizarrely compelling website, which advocates a number of interesting theories regarding the origins of the universe, the cause of global warming, and other topics of general public concern.Source: www.venganza.org

Shooting blanks

Question: Do sterile oysters still have the aphrodisiac qualities attributed to regular oysters?

Steve Case does dharma

AOL founder Steve Case is investing $20 million in yoga/pilates/"healthy lifestyle" company Gaiam. (WP)

The company is notable for being the distributor of instructional videos hosted by Rodney Yee, who is something of a heartthrob in the yoga world.

PhRMA to the rescue!

The banner ad reads,"Think you're buying drugs from Canada? Think again. Visit our website today. Learn about the dangers of importing drugs from foreign countries.--AMERICA'S PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES"

As if the average person trusts America's Pharmaceutical Companies more than some random Indonesian guy with a web address registered in Canada these days. Any industry that has to spend $177 million a year lobbying Congress to get what it wants...not to mention a couple million bucks in campaign contributions...

Environmental damage seen from shuttle

Enviros: we need to do astronaut outreach. I'm not kidding, think about it--astronauts. Who doesn't like astronauts? Doesn't every kid look up to astronauts? Just a thought.

Environmental damage seen from shuttle
"HOUSTON, Texas -- Commander Eileen Collins said astronauts on shuttle Discovery had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned on Thursday that greater care was needed to protect natural resources." (Reuters via CNN)

"Zoos find pandas don't make cash to cover their keep"

Fuckin' deadbeat pandas... (WP)

Please remain calm

Creepy new announcement being played in Metro stations:

"To prevent what happened in London, " says the announcer cheerfully, "kindly tell a Metro employee if you see a bag, but can't tell who it belongs to."

Kneejerk conservatism

Only the National Center for Public Policy Research's David Ridenour would combine an attack on a landmark environmental law with a cheap shot at the French in the very same sentence:

"'The protections offered to private landowners [by the Endangered Species Act] are a lot like having the French on your side in war -- largely symbolic,' said David Ridenour of The National Center." (Greenwire)

Backpack use down, chiropractic use up

Given the Cleveland Park Men's Club's position on the issue (CPMC), and the new danger of getting taken down by public transit police (NYT), I don't think any of us can, in good conscience, carry a backpack any longer.

That means we are stuck with briefcases, messenger bags, and other single-shoulder cases. Stylish, but murder on your spine, especially if you're carrying a lot of consumer electronics.