The Day ObamaCare Died

That Paul Shanklin is a genius...

A Word from the Dimocrat National Committee

As one of those privileged to receive regular email updates from the Democratic National Committee, I was thrilled to see news in my in-box this morning:

I just got up to Martha Coakley's campaign HQ to help her win Tuesday's crucial special election. I have to tell you -- this isn't like anything Massachusetts has ever seen.

It's happening right after the holidays, so a lot of people haven't even heard about it. Meanwhile, the same guys behind the Swift Boat ads are taking over the airwaves to distort Martha's record, and the same far-right tea-party crowd that's attacking President Obama is funding her opponent.

The stakes in this race are incredibly high. If we don't hold this seat, a right-wing Republican will hold Sen. Ted Kennedy's old seat until at least 2012 -- and we'll lose a crucial vote in the Senate for health reform and the agenda we fought so hard for last year.

That's why we're going all out in Massachusetts with a massive effort to lock up a Democratic victory. But we can only afford to keep this battle up against the far right through Election Day if folks like you chip in.

Please donate $5 or more to help us make Martha Coakley the next senator from Massachusetts.

Our organizers are engaging volunteers by the thousands to make sure Obama voters make it back to the polls.

But we need your help to keep it going. Please donate $5 or more to the Democratic Party to support our work, including our efforts to elect Martha Coakley.

As luck would have it, I'm a bit short on $5 bills to send to dimocrats, but I do feel an obligation to do my part, so won't you join me in saying a prayer for the democrats of Massachusetts: "God of all mercy, we beseech Thee, make an exception to Thy tender mercy and grant those big-government power-grabbing statists the merciless whoopin' they so richly deserve."

Reptile Dysfunction

As a service to all my readers in South Florida who've been struggling with the question, "How can I be of assistance to all those comatose iguana's that are falling out of my trees?" Sherry L. Schlueter, Executive Director of the Wildlife Care Center in Fort Lauderdale FL, addresses that very problem.

Hat tip to Neat-O-Rama and Dave Barry.

Avatar

Hat tip to Natural Fake for this clip from the final battle scene in James Cameron's epic fantasy film Avatar.



I haven't seen the flick yet, so I really don't know if this made it into the theater release of the film or will be on the DVD's director's cut. Just don't blame me if you're disappointed to find that this scene was cut to keep the movie under five hours.

Family Gathering

Last night a super-majority of my siblings coagulated at Roy's house to gorge on tamales and sundries. With that many folks assembled, its seemed like no fewer than two active conversations were in progress at any given time -- and generally one could move freely from one stream of effluvium to another without disturbance. I tapped into the flow of one conversation just as Roy was holding forth about one of his students during his days as a B52 instructor navigator at Castle AFB: "... Hildebrandt was just a dumb Swede from Maine. One day we were sitting around shootin' the breeze, when he shared the fact that his ambition was to go back to goat farming after he retired from the Air Force, 'There's nuthin' like the feel of warm goat teat on a cold morning.' To which one of the other instructors (who happened to be from New York) replied, 'And the best part is, you don't even have to get out of bed.'"

We, of course, roared with laughter, but what really carried that punchline was the look of complete mortification on the face of Joel's oldest daughter, a genuinely charming and gentle lady whom God has obviously misplaced in such a crude family.