Random Thoughts

Meet the new defense chief, same as the old boss.

L.A. Times calls it a civil war in Iraq.

A couple who fled to Canada in the wake of Bush winning a second term decides to stay put even with conservative tool (in both senses of the word) Stephen Harper becoming prime minister there and the Democrats taking Congress.

Here we go: the two idiots who were heckling Michael Richards now want a payday for the former Seinfeld star's tirade that was directed at them. And who is representing these two loudmouths? None other than judicial heldentwat Gloria Allred.

These hecklers are a couple of pussies. Look, Richards' career is over. Just because somebody calls you names doesn't mean they actually hurt you to the point that you suffered some kind of loss. If you can now claim monetary awards just for name calling, lawyers would be crawling all over elementary and junior high schools looking for students who want to sue their classmates after playground spats. So shut the fuck up and disappear, okay you fucking whiners?

Lawyers have also found a new way to manipulate jurors, so expect to see more histrionics from them in a courtroom near you.

Meanwhile, states will tell the Supreme Court that they want Turbo Bush and Congress to take action on global warming.

Republicans in Indiana are resisting a Democratic call to eliminate that state's six percent sales tax on gasoline. Why? So they can cut property taxes instead, which mostly benefits, as you would expect, apartment owners (who won't slash rents) and the wealthy with big ass land holdings. Moreover, just what the impact of the GOP plan will be on police services and schools hasn't been disclosed, but it won't be positive. That's the Republicans for you, always willing to sacrifice public safety and education for the sake of greed.

I have two uncles who are truckers. They are both owner-operators, one a long haul and the other a shorter haul (pretty much the south only) and they are getting killed on these high gas prices, the ones that the Indiana state government benefits from thanks to the continuing gouging by Big Oil. Of course, ultimately when transportation costs go up so do consumer prices. But again, the GOP doesn't care.

The Carlyle Group, an investment firm that is headed up by Scanner Bush and some of his cronies, has plans to buy one of the world's biggest microchip packaging firms. Hmmm..... Read about it here.

Rwanda has broken off relations with France amid allegations that the froggies are attempting to destabilize the African nation's government. Nice job Rwanda! French leaders should be brought up on war crimes charges for helping to stoke the genocide there, but there is no plan to do that, unfortunately.

French soccer fans also have some self-reflection to do following a match with an Israeli squad, as they showed that anti-semitism is still alive and well there.

It appears that cranky Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez is going to cruise to an easy victory in the upcoming elections in that country, but it could have an interesting side effect since Chavez may forbid Venezuelan players to go to the major leagues. Several MLB clubs have academies there. MLB thus brings millions of dollars to what is still a poor nation. Venezuelan baseball fans are reportedly not amused.

Comedians, though, are having a good time shredding the Bush Administration for the appointment of religious wacko Dr. Eric Keroack to oversee family planning policy, but average women are not because the GOP cannot mind its own business.

Also not right in the head is L.A.'s birdbrained Democrat mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who says it's okay to inconvenience people attempting to go to and from work and to help generate more pollution in one of America's smoggiest cities for Hollywood's sake. Sorry, but I think it is the job of industry to stay out of the way of average people as much as possible. This country doesn't exist for the benefit of corporate America, but for the country's inhabitants. It's too bad that Villaraigosa hasn't learned that simple fact. Call him a Hollywood whore.

Is the campaign to recognize gay marriages setting gay rights back? Read this and make up your own mind.

In what might be the oddest headline of the day, though, a teachers pension fund in Ontario, Canada has bought interest in, get this, four shipping container terminals. You read that right.