Back in the saddle

I've been a little neglectful of the blog over the holidays, but only because I was busy.

We visited my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas:


Adopted kittens!


And had a mellow New Year's Eve with friends.


But regularly scheduled blogging returns now.

Rumble in the Capitol?

Doubt it will come to this, but Senate leadership is planning to post armed guards to keep Roland Burris out of the Senate, if necessary. (TPM) Rod Blagojevich is a mad, narcissistic genius for this pick.

2009 is going to rock. I can already feel it.

Energy developers "hosed" by Utah activist

This story just brings a smile to your face.

Utah Activist Disrupts Sale of Leases for Drilling

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- An environmental activist disrupted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars with no intention of paying for them, a federal official said....

The activist, Tim DeChristopher, 27, a University of Utah economics student, said he had accomplished his goal of disrupting the auction. Mr. DeChristopher won the bidding on 13 parcels, auction records show, and drove up the price of several others.

"We were hosed," said Jason Blake of Park City, a consulting geologist who was outbid on a 320-acre parcel. (AP via NYT)

Sex, Drugs, Alaska

Every time I think Sarah Palin's 15 minutes may finally be over and we can forget all about her, something like this happens.

Levi Johnston's mother hit with drug charges

Sherry L. Johnston of Wasilla was arrested Thursday at her home by troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. Her son is the father of Bristol Palin's baby, due this weekend. (Anchorage Daily News)

Howdy-ho, it's the Clean Coal Carolers!

This holiday season, the coal industry has created the most incredibly easy-to-skewer mascots ever: the "Clean Coal Carolers."

See Rachel Maddow's take and read more about the myth of "clean coal" here and here.



They do bear a striking resemblance to another piece of--umm--animation that I can think of:

Daring penguin escape

A crafty penguin outmaneuvers a whole pod of orcas.

Maybe this is fun to watch only if you feel more like a penguin than an orca, as I do most Wednesday mornings. Swim faster! (FAIL Blog)

Greenwashing racism

I'm annoyed that the Federation for American Immigration Reform is running its sketchy web ads on Grist. This whackjob organization, which has close ties to the white supremacist movement, has frequently used "pro-environment" arguments to advance its fundamentally racist agenda. It is on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups, and SPLC has a good backgrounder on the organization here.