Frank Gaffney

How did Frank Gaffney become so extremely evil? What demon do you have to sell your soul to to be so completely rotten as a human being?

Ironic! The Guy Needs A Dollar...

This was at Amazon.com this morning. It's a little ironic. Most of their songs are 99 cents. And this one guy, Aloe Blacc, needs a dollar, and they're giving his song away!

The Next Bus To Mars

I was watching a show about sending people to Mars, what it'd take to get a crew. The big issue is the length of time it'd take to get there and back, years. And of course on such a journey, all of them cooped up in a tiny spaceship, there'd be all kinds of chances to get sick of each other. Or, on the other hand, to be attracted to each other. So one of the issues addressed was sex between astronauts.

Then right after watching this show, I took the bus downtown. I started thinking, What if the crew was the people on the bus? Just a random bunch of people. We all seemed to be getting along OK, at least in the 20-30 minutes together, of course also with people getting off and on. There was no sex I saw, except a young man was speaking with a young woman ... and there's no telling where that could lead, say if they were alone in a motel instead of on a bus...

So among the first crew to Mars we have: A boy with a big backpack, so big he's wearing it and sitting sideways so the backpack has its own seat. Put him down for two tickets. A schoolgirl who's drawn a red peace symbol on her cheek. A big potbellied guy with a beard. A cleaning lady at one of the motels who's chomping her mouth up and down all the time but apparently not chewing anything. A little later there was a guy I've seen on the bus before, who knows a lot about Korean society from a couple of sales trips he's made there.

I minded my business, just sitting there thinking about (and making notes about) the others. I'm sure I'd qualify, at least, for the trip to Mars.

These Colors Don't Run!

The Enthusiasm Gap

How much enthusiasm do you really need to vote?

It's ridiculous, that our people hang back if they're not enthused, even in the face of the other side being obviously crazy. How much enthusiasm do you need to make sure your house doesn't burn down? If your living room's on fire, is it enthusiasm or the interests of self-preservation that arouses you from your slumber long enough at least to call the fire department?

People's lack of drive at this is inexcusable. It's like you have to actually have a bear trap around your leg to know you don't really like bear traps. How about using a little imagination!

Sept. 11 -- International Wacko Day

Won't it really be something if September becomes International Wacko Day, as we go on?

We've got this crazy preacher who's created an international incident with threatening to burn the Qu'ran on the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11. Imagine who all is going to come out of the woodwork next year on the 10th!

Then from there, it'll just have to get crazier to top the previous year.

So we're left with an act of madness, the original 9/11, being commemorated by our nation of perpetual victimhood by wilder and stupider acts of madness from that point on.

George W. Bush was the first wacko, of course. He needed to commemorate the event by going to war with a country that had nothing to do with it. But, to be fair, he already wanted to invade Iraq; he was just looking for an excuse.

For a while there, we thought Sept. 11 was going to become Patriot's Day (or something like that.) But that idea was just as wacko because, What does it have to do with patriotism? The idea of patriotism was co-opted and exploited by the Republicans to justify their years of criminal activity.

Happy Wacko Day ... I personally still have a "September 10 mindset" (a dirty word all those years ago), but, hey, in my defense, today is Sept. 10. What other "mindset" should I have?

Aren't we all a little wacko (myself excluded) for letting the terrorists win? We should've just gone back to normal.

The Earth Will Burn Up And That'll Be It

I was watching the great Science Channel tonight. Being the scientist I am (not), I personally discovered this channel about two weeks ago. I went on an expedition of discovery with the remote one day and found the channel, immediately jabbing a tiny flag where the remote button had been and claiming it for America.

Now I'm the monarch of the Science Channel in our house. The family knows we're getting down for business when I come out of my room with a white lab coat, Poindexter glasses, and a clipboard. In a few minutes, then, we're off to galaxies that are literally out of this world. Next stop: Planets we can only discern by the wobble in their star!

I love all the shows about Venus and Jupiter and the planets that are close enough that we can actually see them. None of these places is fit to go to, although one of the big moons -- I can't think of its name -- is a little more earth-like, except that everything there is methane. Too bad about that one detail.

Tonight I was watching it and there was some projections about the earth's ultimate demise, starting around a billion years from now, with things getting progressively worse for the next billion. It's a sobering thought, Picassos, the Mona Lisa, my Beatles CDs, and everything else, going up in smoke. But they had it vividly portrayed, with the planet as we know it, then the seas turning to brown dirt, and everything becoming like a cinder.

And even though it is a billion years away, it's still sad. Because you really take it for granted, even if you know you'll be dead, that at least everything else won't change that much. And the fact that it's a billion years away isn't that big a comfort, because we've already had nine or 10 billion years in the past. Did you notice how fast that went by? Time's on a real tear when you're not here to witness it.

Then, by coincidence, or on an unrelated subject, I happened to see a few minutes of "Hoarders." They showed the usual assortment of troubled folks who surround themselves and bury themselves in clutter, because they haven't got the psychological stomach to throw anything away. I'm a little like that, but not technically. I throw away garbage quite willingly. Anyway, I'm thinking about the earth burning up, then I see people hoarding dog food cans and the unused core of heads of lettuce (let's say), and I think, "Don't you see how crazy that is? The whole earth is going to burn up and you can't throw away your trash?"

The High Cost Of Diesel (Funny Gas Station Mistake)

I saw this sign today, Sept. 6. I didn't have a camera with me, so I hoped it'd still be there after I made it all the way home and went back. So there you have it, a gallon of diesel for the incredibly low price of $9.25!

Advice To Elvis

I watched a DVD of Elvis Presley's three "Ed Sullivan" appearances, late 1956 and early 1957.

My advice to Elvis, if he's reading this, and if it's still relevant to his career in any way, is to cool it with the joking around while singing.

It really bugs me to have him goofing off while singing these great songs, even if it is over 50 years ago. It's very annoying.

As for Ed Sullivan himself, the guy was a stick in the mud. He's sort of scolding his audience for screaming, just like he did a few years later, it seems like, when he had the Beatles on.

With Elvis' first appearance on Ed's show, Ed was off, because he'd had a car accident, and so he had a few guest hosts over those weeks. The host on Elvis' week was Charles Laughton. He's not any more impressive than Ed.

Stephen Hawking And God

Everyone's going to be mad at Stephen Hawking for saying the universe could've been created without God, just by spontaneous generation.

I caught a glimpse of a bit of it, but I basically just spontaneously generated the idea in my head. Anytime you get a guy like him in bad shape -- like, oh, what's that guy's name? He's a famous atheist and he just came down with a terminal illness. I can't think of his name -- there's comments like that.

The comment I glimpsed was something, "Yeah? Well, why can't he spontaneously make himself WHOLE again," with WHOLE in all caps.

What is that's guy's name? He used to be on Hardball. I'm trying to Google "atheist pundit". I got it with "famous atheist sick." It's Christopher Hitchens.