The name that shall not be Googled to here

TV Barn Ticker: VH1 presents “Behind the Music,” snuff version

Of course they’re doing an updated TLC Behind the Music about L— L—-’ death. I’m stunned it took this long.

I like this idea

Asimov Stamp Urged

The editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction is pushing a campaign to get the USPS to put Isaac Asimov on a stamp as part of their Literary Arts series. I think it’s a great idea. (Oddly, though he’s got another magazine named after him, Asimov was intimately tied to F&SF, having written a regular column for them for about thirty years, even after Asimov’s started.)

Of course, then the Republicans will want Heinlein on a stamp, too, but Ayn Rand’s already in the series and that’s quite enough from that side.

Bush Push Smushed

Bush push to Mars may be slowed

To the surprise of… Well, nobody… returning to the Moon and visiting Mars would cost more money than we can conveniently afford at this time. The NASA Comptroller (ladies and gentlemen, the least glamorous but most important job at NASA!) told the NASA Advisory Council that domestic needs and that pesky war “might” force Congress to delay funding. Bush wanted a 5.6 percent increase in the NASA budget, but that’s probably not going to happen.

I guess I need to post about this

Homophobic Judge Roy Moore Pans Gay Marriage Ban

Yeah, St. Roy is against the No Gays Allowed Amendment. But listen to why he says he is:

“If marriage was constitutionally defined as a man and a woman, some judge would probably let a man marry his sister or daughter.”

And if the union of a man and woman, a “God-ordained institution”, is destroyed as a standard,

“[T]here’s nothing to keep three men and a horse from getting married, or an entire city.”

Roy, you have a filthy mouth. Moore says that the problem is “renegade courts”. Pot, kettle.

Repugnant Republicans

Georgia Senate backs display of the Ten Commandments

Why is the Georgia Senate wasting its time voting on non-binding resolutions on matters it can’t control rather than the business of the public?

Several senators complained that too much legislative energy has focused on topics — including a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriages — designed to energize the Republican voting base, instead of on bills that would protect children or ensure health care for the poor.

“This is an election year, and everybody is trying to out-God each other,” said Sen. Nadine Thomas (D-Decatur), who is running for the U.S. Senate. “We have spent this whole session seeing who is more religious than others.”

We’re gonna lose that one, all right. Unless you actually read the New Testament, other than the parts Mel Gibson likes so much.

Goo bad

Neighbors worry about goo

So you buy a new home, and a couple weeks later you notice “black stuff” coming up from the ground. This not being The Beverly Hillbillies, what is rising up is not, in fact, crude oil but waste products from a chemical company. Turns out that the vacant apartments across the street are a Superfund site! Luckily, the people who used to live in the apartments were all poor, and who cares about poor people?

Troll of the day

War Liberal: Another reason to hate Germany

Please, enjoy “somone intelligent” [sic].

I don’t like them anyway

Racial term on radio attacked

A couple that hosts a local talk show is under fire after the male half of the pair repeatedly used, on the air, a particularly nasty but well-known racial epithet commonly called “the n-word”. He says that he was just saying it to make a point about a Georgia legislator’s claim that the phrase “illegal alien” is as offensive to Latinos as the n-word is to African-Americans. Their opponents say, fine, (that’s their name, Fine) but you didn’t have to keep saying it over and over. It’s all tied up with politics and local broadcasting and personal attacks, etc., but that’s basically it — why did he have to keep saying the word?

Surgery Across America!

Washington, D.C.–With the recent news of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s successful gall bladder surgery, President Bush has come up with a new campaign idea for 2004 which includes rarely seen Vice President, Dick Cheney.

“The Medicare Tour Bus” is its name and it leaves Washington, D.C. for a tour around the country. On this bus, Vice President Cheney will be hooked up to a heart monitor, while John Ashcroft will be regularly checked for any complications after this surgery.

The large bus, formerly owned by Country superstar Garth Brooks, has been repainted with a giant American flag background and a variety of elephants hooked up to medical equipment. Plus, with Ashcroft & Cheney aboard receiving various treatments, the Republicans will also make sure that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, and even President Bush, will receive regular health updates so that conservative supporters around the country see the President’s support for Medicare and to show that his senior staff is unafraid to receive medicare treatment.

“We will let our constituents actually take turns getting on the bus and measuring Vice President Cheney’s arrhythmatic levels,” said Presidential spokeswoman, Karen Hughes. “This will be the biggest thing to hit this country since a little group named ‘The Beatles’ rolled into New York City for the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’.”

However, not all people thought this was a good idea.

“This is typical of the recklessness and carelessness of the Bush Administration,” said presumtive Demorcatic Presidential nominee, John Kerry. “What if an Al Qaeda terrorist gets on board this bus at one of its stops around the country and slips some poison to Cheney or Ashcroft? While that’s not a terrible thought from my standpoint, it’s dangerous and reckless nonetheless!”

When the question was posed to the President, his reply was short.

“Once again, Senator Kerry has shown two sides. He supported the idea of a bus for health last week, and this week he calls it dangerous and reckless. Which is Mr. Kerry?”

In response, Independent Candidate Ralph Nader had this to say.

“I will personally track down that bus and block all Al Qaeda terrorists from harming Mr. Cheney or Mr. Ashcroft. Now if that was John Kerry or John Edwards aboard, different story.”

Shortly after that interview, two of Mr. Bush;s Secret Service agents approached Nader and handed him a briefcase.