Fat Cat

No, not the typical John McCain supporter - but this guy.

He's from Jersey, of course.

This 44 pound tabby will no doubt get a good home after all the publicity. The sad thing is how many cats and dogs are still out there needing loving homes.

Um, have I said this before? Don't patronize puppy mills. Rescue a pet from the pound or ASPCA.

Thank you.

No wonder Angelina doesn't talk to him

"We, as parents, are well aware of the importance of our teachers who teach and program our children. We also know how important it is for our children to play with good-thinking children growing up.

Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset.

The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.

This is a perilous time, and more than ever, the world needs a united and strong America. If, God forbid, we live to see Mr. Obama president, we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way."
- Jon Voight, Washington Times

Leaving aside his bizarre, fever dream ramblings about socialism and the Democratic party's "quest for power," it is somewhat amusing to hear Jon fucking Voight - a man whose daughter has been estranged from him for years - talk about parenting skills.

To wash away the foul taste from his wacko editorial, let's look at the only good thing he ever created.

Who is he, Mariah Carey?

Vice President Cheney's invitation to address wounded combat veterans next month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were Draconian and unreasonable.

His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney's arrival and couldn't leave until he'd finished talking, officials confirmed.
- NY Daily News

He also demanded all the red M&Ms be removed from the bowl in his dressing room, five kinds of sparkling water and 12 bottles of champagne.

Oh my

This will be my Batman. I can't wait for this one.

Huh?

I can usually figure them out when they put up those occasional special logos, but what the heck is the Google depicting today?

No phone calls tonight!

Even though "The Sopranos" is now gone, Sunday has suddenly become a big TV night for me again.

"Big Brother" is on CBS at 8.

"Dexter" will soon be returning for a new season on Showtime at 9.

And best of all, the new season of "Mad Men" premieres tonight at 10 on AMC.

I will be viewing that one with some Laphroaig, with a splash of water, for the full ambiance.

No phone calls during those hours please.

Anyway, the cell will be switched off and only six people on earth have the 212 number.

Thank you.

Yokels

"Obama Defends His Globe Trotting"
-Reuters headline

What a sad commentary on John McCain, the Republican party, and, frankly, many Americans, that Obama has to "defend" traveling to vital countries in Europe and the Middle East and meeting with their leaders - as if there's something suspicious about that.

How did it become "cool" to disparage having friendly relations with foreign nations, and, in fact, to mock them, especially (for some bizarre reason) the French? The French who enjoy one of the best qualities of life in the world, with their six-week paid vacations, whose health care system delivers a healthier, longer-living population at a fraction of our cost, and whose food and wine...well, do we even have to discuss that? Or is W. too busy eating BBQ slop on his fake Texas ranch?

Bush Senior was actually quite the internationalist and did a great job putting together a truly international coalition to expel Sadaam from Kuwait. Bush Junior, of course, stumbles from one foreign policy debacle to another and seems to think real 'Murcans don't need allies.

There is probably a whole bunch of Americans, especially those under the age of 8, who have never seen a large crowd gathered in another land and WAVING American flags, as 200,000 did in Germany, and not burning them.

But to listen to McCain and the right-wing freaks on hate radio, apparently this is a bad thing.

What a bunch of buffoons.

All of a sudden those canary yellow polka dot dresses don't seem so bad

Poor bridesmaids. Now, in addition to often having to buy and wear bizarre pastel frilly dresses they will never wear again, the latest trend is for the bride to ask them to get chemical peels or botox, and, according to this Times article, even go under the knife.

Becky Lee, 39, a Manhattan photographer, declined when a friend asked her — and five other attendants — to have their breasts enhanced. “We’re all Asian and didn’t have a whole lot of cleavage, and she found a doctor in L.A. who was willing to do four for the price of two,” said Ms. Lee, who wore a push-up bra instead.

Oy.

Mama mia!!

Every second girl I have seen on the streets of New York lately seems to be wearing a peasant blouse or gypsy blouse or whatever the heck those things are called - no doubt spurred by the look of "Mama Mia."

I swear, the designers and the fashion magazines and Hollywood must sit around chuckling at how easy it is to push buttons and pull strings.

Bonus points - she works at Hooters

Yet again, I have sadly been suckered into watching Big Brother, and, after a few episodes, I already have my favorite for the new season - Keesha.

Ok, she’s a blonde and has a balcony you could do Shakespeare from.

But she also loves animals!

Come on, how could you not root for her?

I won't hold it against her that her bio on the CBS web site spells "soul" as "sole" - "Her proudest accomplishment is leaving home, moving to California by herself not knowing a sole, and establishing a life for herself."

Apparently they do not have copy editors at cbs.com.

Call the waahmbulance

As usual, the Republicans have got their whining down to an art.

The latest outrage de jour from the right-wingers is that the New York Times rejected an op-ed from John McCain just a week after it - gasp - printed an op-ed from the dastardly Barack Obama.

Oh, boo freekin’ hoo.

A few points: There is no fairness doctrine in print. Hell, there isn’t even one in broadcasting any more. So now we have 24-hour-a-day hate radio from Rush “to the buffet” Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and scumbag Michael Savage, who recently mocked autistic kids. (Class acts these right-wingers.) And we have Fox News and its work as the TV propaganda arm of the Republican party.

The Times has no obligation to print an op-ed from McCain. If it wanted to, it could print op-eds from Obama every day of the week and none from the elderly Republican candidate - and have every right to do so.

But, as the Times is a reputable news organization, it won’t do that. In fact, it has printed seven op-eds from McCain over the years.

In this case, as it does with every op-ed contributor, it simply asked him to rework his column.

And, as we see, there was a reason: Obama’s op-ed was about his vision for Iraq and mentioned McCain three times.

McCain’s op-ed was 12 paragraphs long, 11 of which were attacks on Obama, mentioning him 27 times.

Gee, what a thought-provoking treatise. Can’t imagine why it was rejected.

Helpful tip #27C

Do not, repeat, do not go to Haru with Corky and have $80 worth of sushi, including a large bottle of sake, and expect to get much work done in the afternoon.

By the way, I have to apologize to her for laughing recently that she stayed at the rather midscale Bally's when she was in Las Vegas. She says that was actually someone else.

I will have to confirm that, but until then, her Vegas choice of the Bellagio meets my standards. Thank you.

This is why newspapers are dying

I had to deal with a newspaper I usually don't work with, and as I was looking at it online, I saw the column I wanted to hit hadn't been published in a few weeks, the last date it ran was in early July.

Given the state of the newspaper business today - with the layoffs and cutbacks, it's about as secure a profession as mortgage banking - I wondered if the column had been ended and the columnist laid off, so I called the paper to find out.

When the operator answered at the main number, I took a shot and asked her if she knew if this column was still running. Of course, she mumbled something about not knowing. I teased her and said, "Don't read the paper, huh?" and she said she "doesn't get to it every day." Uh huh. (By the way, it is a fairly popular, celebrity-oriented column, not an obscure political or business column), but, ok, it's not really her job to know, so she connected me to the newsroom.

A guy on the newsdesk answered and I asked him the question. "Uhhh, I think so. I don't know. Let me connect you to that section editor." Oy.

Then, of course, I got the editor's voicemail.

Five minutes now on the phone trying to get a simple yes or no answer to an innocuous question.

I hung up, said the hell with it and sent an email to this columnist, at which point I got a bounceback saying he was on vacation for a few weeks.

That's it, the column hadn't run because he was on holiday. But trying to find out was a chore.

But if the people who work at the damn papers don't seem to read them, why are they surprised circulation is plummeting?

Lazy old coot

This weekend, while the magnificent Democratic candidate Barack Obama was visiting with U.S. troops and facing mortal danger from potential assassins and terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, and soon to make his way to Iraq, the elderly GOP candidate John McCain was having a fun time in the city, doing Conan O'Brien's show on Friday, choppering out to a glitzy party in the fabulous Hamptons on Saturday, and attending a Yankee game on Sunday.

Nice life he has. I'm sure he can relate well to the struggles of the average American.

Oy gevalt

Random thought #27B: why do I know more Yiddish words than some of my friends who happen to be Jewish. They don't know bubkis!

Apparently Bush is his copy editor

More dysfunctional fun from the right-wing freaks at Fox News, when an internal email memo from Fox & Friends co-anchor Brian Kilmeade was leaked:

-----Original Message-----
From: Kilmeade, Brian
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 7:33 PM
To: [Redacted]
Subject: Re: FOX & FRIENDS GUESTS FOR MONDAY JULY 14, 2008:

Can someone revisit anchir assignments and put in me in
More segments
At least my share
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Maybe it's because you can't fucking spell the word anchor, you right-wing moron.

"Don't cum in my ear"

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that.

The great Harry Shearer found some more delicious behind-the-scenea TV moments, this time featuring right-wing blowhard Laura Ingraham and her short-lived Fox News show. And the train wreck just keeps getting better as this clip moves along.

(By the way, why are the make-up girls usually the cutest things on the set?)

'

Here I am, and in this city, with a fistful of dollars/And baby, you better believe….

Oh yeah, I’m back.

And, of course, my losing streak continued.

Not in Vegas.

It's just that I have NEVER seen a good movie on a plane.

On my way to the Golden West, the movie was “Drillbit Taylor“ - this, I believe, was probably what prompted Owen Wilson to try to commit suicide.

East bound, it was something called “Penelope” - and I have honestly never even heard of this one.

Do the airlines go out of their way to get the worst films possible to show to a captive audience? And sadly, there were people actually laughing at Drillbit. Laughing out loud, no less. Ugh.

Well, I go first class, natch, and, even with the free headphones, I couldn’t watch either of these atrocities, so I busied myself with a Nelson DeMille and copious amounts of mimosas, Jack’s and Bailey’s. Ahh, relaxing. Except for the annoying laughter around me.

A few thoughts about LV. There really is a class system there.

There are those weird C-level casinos where the employees and the customers seriously look sickly and just not quite right. There’s one called Bill's, another called O’Shea’s. What is the deal with them? How in hell do they survive?

I don’t know if it’s the harsh fluorescent lighting, the sickly décor or the general down-on-their-luck ambiance, but everyone in them just looks bad. It’s fascinating to see.

Then there are are the B-levels, like Bally’s (where my friend Corky goes, for some reason) or the Flamingo, and these are very slightly a cut above the C-levels.




But then there are the A-list properties, like the Venetian, my haunt.

Although it does make you feel like you are in India and trying not to be touched by a cow when you leave the property.

Good times, though.

But now, I’m back……

Vay-cay

On holiday for a few in the golden west, with some decadent, debaucherous days at the Venetian which gave me such a deal. Oy.

Sad news

The sad news, of course, is that the old fucking bigot, now roasting in hell, won't get to see a black guy being sworn in as President.

Our long national nightmare is finally winding down

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Imagine how many Jack & Cokes that would buy

Here's who I talked to yesterday on my land line phone: people at the toll-free numbers at Best Buy, The Gap, Continental Airlines, The Venetian Hotel, and a large cable company.

And that is the most I have used that phone in about 3 months. (The Continental and Venetian calls were only because their web sites were too slow for my liking. The Best Buy and Gap calls were to bitch about something and I needed a live person not a web site).

So why am I paying Time Warner $33 a month for a land line? I don't think more than four people in the world even know the number or would think to call it. If it was a reliable stand-by in an emergency, it would be one thing, but with the VOIP aspect, if there is a power failure, it won't work anyway, unlike the old phone company lines which just kept on working no matter what. But that was $65 a month the last time I had one.

I've got my fax machine hooked up to it, but really, who uses faxes anymore?

So, let's see, hmm, 33 times 12...carry the 1...hello...$396 a year!

That's the center speaker of a nice home theater system.

Unless FIOS pitches me a decent price for their triple-play package, and also uses the reliable Verizon phone network, it may just be time to say so long to the ol' 212 number.

A goofy dancer, but...

...what a great idea (and travel agent) he had. And how cool to see how much people all over the world are alike. (The clip in India about halfway through is great.) And check out his site.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

His FAQ is very interesting - here's an answer about the song in the video, an ancient tribal chant recorded by UNESCO almost 40 years ago that his friend put music behind:

What’s the deal with the girl singing?

The girl you hear singing is named Afunakwa. She comes from a place named Fataleka in the Solomon Islands. The song she is singing is a traditional lullaby named “Rorogwela.” The recording was made in 1970 by a UNESCO ethnomusicologist named Hugo Zemp.

Boy...that was a lot of names.

”Rorogwela” is part of the oral tradition among the Baegu tribe, passed down through generations for who-knows-how-long, and was thankfully preserved while there were members of the tribe who could still sing it.

The song is now a part of the internet video tradition among computer geeks, and is passed through high-bandwidth fiber optic cable to who-knows-where a bajillion times a day.

I find this to be nifty.

No one seems to know if Afunakwa is still alive. If she is, I would very much like to meet her someday.

Must credit TooSaucy.org

Oh, Too Saucy is a dot.org now. I got tired of the whole blogspot.com address and decided to register as toosaucy.org.

As far as I know, the old bookmark and address will still work and just redirects to toosaucy.org. And if it doesn't, well, this post is pointless as you won't even see it.

I wanted dot.com but some bastard already snapped it up and is apparently just sitting on it - hoping, no doubt, I will pay for it. Not bloody likely.

Of course, not getting .com is a testament to my laziness. When I started Too Saucy a few years ago, sitting at my desk one bored day in January 2006 (oy!) I did a search and it was available. But then I thought, ehh, why do I want to pay ten bucks a year for a web address. I'm probably going to get tired of doing this damn thing in a few weeks. So I went with the free Blogspot program - a great way to break into blogging, but, of course, you're stuck with the somewhat bulky and awkward address.

But now I have friends with their own little web sites, with fancy videos and stuff. So I figured I might as well bite the bullet and get a stand alone address too.

And hey, I've being using videos for years, you know.

Why are there still circuses?

Giraffe helps camels, zebras escape from circus

Amsterdam police say 15 camels, two zebras and an undetermined number of llamas and potbellied swine briefly escaped from a traveling Dutch circus after a giraffe kicked a hole in their cage.

Police spokesman Arnout Aben says the animals wandered in a group through a nearby neighborhood for several hours after their 5:30 a.m. breakout.

The animals were back at the circus later Monday after being rounded up by police and circus workers with the assistance of dogs. Aben says neighbors fed some of the animals — which he said was a bad idea — but they were tame and nobody was hurt.

Says Aben: "You have to imagine somebody rubbing his eyes first thing in the morning and saying, 'Am I seeing things or is that 15 camels walking past?'"
- AP

Too bad they didn't stomp and crush the assholes who keep them chained up and caged up and dancing on their hind legs at the end of a cattle prod before they wandered around for a few hours.