I don't understand how "be 22 and hot" isn't at the top of the list

How to find and marry your meal ticket. Once you do, all you have to do is pretend to love him for the rest of your life. No biggie.

Welcome to the Club

Wish you didn't have to join: Scots, Unscathed by IRA, Learn to Live With Terror

Cross-posted at Rightwing News.

Why wasn't I informed?

I didn't know that Flight of the Conchords was the must-see new show on HBO. I laughed for the something like 18 of the 25 minutes of yesterday's episode. I'm happy to have something to look forward to on TV, on Sunday, other than Entourage (sidenote: yes, I pretty much only watch HBO when I watch TV). Because, really, I'm not sure John From Cincinnati is going to take.

Music Appreciation

Robin Thicke's song "Lost Without You" (you can here it on his MySpace page here) is good only for as long as "wow, that's a white guy singing" remains a novelty.

Discuss.

Sean John makes some phat ones

Bush and Putin meet to discuss ties

No, really, I'm asking

What's the point of taking a beautiful ferry ride with some friends to the Jersey Shore and spending a glorious day on the beach (a beach full of freaks though it may be, as we inadvertently ended up on the largest nude beach on the east coast--yes, we stayed firmly in our bathing suits) if I don't have a camera to document the whole experience?

UPDATE: Ok, I guess one option is coercing one's semi-professional photographer friend to take some pictures with his fancy camera:

Today

I am doing some guest-blogging over at Rightwing News today. Read me here and check me out over there.

This is the world we live in

Hot Air is all over today's attack on Glasgow Airport.

"Go now, and never come back to hungry Ireland again."

Peggy Noonan on immigration:

My grandfather had his struggles here but never again went home. He'd cast his lot. That's an important point in the immigrant experience, when you cast your lot, when you make your decision. It makes you let go of something. And it makes you hold on to something. The thing you hold on to is the new country. In succeeding generations of your family the holding on becomes a habit and then a patriotism, a love. You realize America is more than the place where the streets were paved with gold. It has history, meaning, tradition. Suddenly that's what you treasure.

Read the entire beautiful, optimistic, real piece.

I called my father immediately after reading it and told him about it. The concept she notes in her piece, the idea of letting go of where you came from, and becoming an American through and through, is one that my father pushed for us since the day we came to America. He was so adamant that we be Americans, and Americans only, that to this day I have not been back to Russia (despite having been to so many other places in the world, from the Amazon river to the Asian part of Turkey and beyond). He wanted a clean cut with the past. He wanted to be American. This July, I'll celebrate my 29th year in America and my father will celebrate his 30th. He tells me that he can't wait for his 32nd anniversary, as that will mean he has spent more time in America, his adopted home that he loves so much, than he had in Russia. From the man who got himself a "Sweet 16" cake on his 16th American year, I am looking forward to that celebration.

Gag

Michael Moore cried for a whole year while making Sicko.

Read the pathetic interview where the interviewer admits to crying during the movie too (and Moore tells him "it's ok to cry.") Does he know how to wrap dopey reporters around his little finger or what?

Give me a "K"!

There may or may not be a picture of me dressed in what Dawn refers to as a "cheerleading outfit" here.

Watching a country go down the tubes

Exxon, Conoco Exit Venezuela Under Pressure

Audience Participation

So, what do y'all think of the name Kashei Consulting?

:-)

Hey, hey, hey, goodbye

Amnesty bill fails. Hurrah!

What happens when you can't fight back

Britain underreports crime statistics:

Professor Graham Farrell of Loughborough University and the former acting head of the Home Office's Police Research Group, Professor Ken Pease, calculated that if the cap is ignored, the overall number of BCS crimes is more than 14 million rather than the current 11 million a year estimate.

...

Ministers claim the survey - which now polls 40,000 people a year about their experiences of crime, is the most reliable indicator of crime levels,

The authors said: "The unwillingness to believe the facts of chronic victimisation means that crime control, police training and criminal justice action are now substantially misdirected."

In particular, the system means that the most vulnerable people in society may not be getting the police protection they require from repeat offenders, the report said.

I would've went with the most vulnerable people in society may not be getting the protection they need because only the bad guys have guns, but, of course, I'm just one of those crazy American rightwinger types who believe in the right to self defense. Nutty, I know.

Rejoice

Attention New Yorkers, DiFara's Pizza has reopened.

Holy memories of 2003

The upper east side of Manhattan experienced a blackout today for about half an hour. Sanks G-d it was only half an hour, I was already planning my escape from the city because, really, I just didn't need "the experience" again.

Cutting the apron strings

Can I spot talent or what? My semi-regular guest-blogger Dorian Davis is now writing for AFF's fabulous Brainwash site. His first article is on how conservatives should respond to the latest Die Hard movie.

A neck tattoo is called a "life-ruiner"

And with good reason:

His tattoos cover his right and left arms and hands. There is a spider in a web crawling up his neck.

"It goes back to Sir Walter Scott, 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.' It reminds me not to lie," he explained.

On his left arm, the faces of old-school horror movies: Boris Karloff, Lon Cheny, Bela Legosi. Those were his father's favorites. When the fingers of his right and left hands intertwine, it spells 'Hound Dawg.'

"That's my nickname," the 29-year-old said proudly.

On the inside of his elbow the scripture, 'If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out.'

Long story short, this inked up guy can't find a job so he's fighting the system and taking on the man. So far, though, no one cares about his discrimination claim:

But Russell's trying to change that. He's organized a small grassroots advocacy effort called 'Tattoo' with friends Shaun and Tiffany Blayer, local tattoo shop owners, and others to get change.

"I want it to be where people like me, good people who deserve the job and are qualified - more qualified in some cases - can get the job," he said.

He's tried the EEOC and the Department of Labor with no luck. Now he's turning to local lawmakers

Of course, when asked if he would resist tattoing so many visible body parts if given a do-over, Russell said "I don't regret any of 'em. I wouldn't go back and not get any. A person's gotta be themselves."

That's true. Job-less and freakish, but themselves.

News from the 'nabe

My favorite coffee and dessert place on the Upper East Side, DTUT, has closed. DTUT stood for "Downtown Uptown", and while I know they were affiliated with Drip on the West Side, I don't believe they have ever had a downtown location.

It used to be a dating cafe where people would fill out a profile to be put into binders. Potential daters would then sift through the binders and leave a note with the cafe. The cafe would then call and let the prospect know someone was interested and a date would be set up, likely at DTUT.

By the time I started going there with any regularity, they had scrapped the dating side-project. I hadn't been there in years but had recently wandered in with my friend Ren. We sat on the comfy couches and enjoyed our chocolate fondue and super sweet frappes.

I guess the Pinkberrys and Cold Stones of the world drove it out of business. Oh well, life goes on. See ya when I see ya, DTUT.

Is Bloomberg really not running or is he just trying to lure me into complacency?

From the Politicker:

In his remarks moments ago at a Gracie Mansion ceremony celebrating Jewish heritage month, departing Israeli consul general Arye Mekel pointedly reminded Michael Bloomberg that the last mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, went on to become head of state.

When Bloomberg got up to the microphone, he responded by saying that �only one of the Jerusalem mayors went on to lead the country � and Rudy would be happy to do it.�

And for everything else that ails you

Fallen Sparrow has found a cure for shyness.

There's no crying in baseball

Maybe that's why Democrats can't play the game.

Hat-tip to Peter via Griddle

Dawn Summers doesn't fall in love, but will she fall in line?

Dawn Summers gave Obamamania a shot:

I didn�t want to be the black chick for the half black guy, but then Oprah went and all endorsed him, so what was a sychophant to do?

But it didn't take.

Blogroll Update

NY:

Ditmas Park Blog- Ben Smith, and his very cool wife Liena, have started a blog about their neighborhood, once called Flatbush, now called "Ditmas Park." The first person to find anything resembling a park anywhere near Ditmas, um, wins.

I want my tax dollars back

PBS Tells Producer Not To Hire Conservatives

Via Insta.

My little site is all grown up

I'm terrible with dates, especially when celebrating the birthdays of non-living entities, so I failed to note that this site turned 5 years old on June 12th. The best part about blogging remains the comments and I wouldn't still be doing this if it wasn't for all of you. Thanks for reading and participating, here's to another half a decade.

Whatever helps you sleep at night in the country that lost the Cold War

'Soviet era less bleak than US history'-Vladimir Putin

Well, sure. As Soviet rules dictated that any unflattering history simply be written out of textbooks and promptly forgotten, it's probably true that stories of the happy heyday of Communism read much better once cleaned up a bit. Unfortunately for Pootie Poot, and even more unfortunately for the world, the Soviet era only ended quite recently and enough people remember it for the backward, ridiculous, oppressive, paranoid and, ultimately, weak state that it was.

I cry, my friends cheer

One day into a three-day wedding, my camera has completely stopped working.

When you absolutely, positively have to trick someone into liking you

British Sun (Via Hot Air Headlines):

A DRESS that will scientifically have men falling at your feet is being trialed by Italian sportswear brand Ellesse.

The outfit is laced with human pheromones - a substance that triggers sexual attraction.

Gone are the days of wearing lucky pants in a bid to pull, instead the dress is designed never to fail to turn heads.

Admittedly, I do have a lucky skirt (and since I'm photo-happy, here's a picture). I bought it the first time I was in Scotland, when I was 17, and it only recently started fitting me again. Back then, "lucky" meant I'd meet lots of cute Scottish boys. These days, I wore it to go play poker and left with a tidy little profit.

Still, my lucky skirt is my lucky skirt because of how it makes me feel, not because it tricks men into feeling something they may not actually feel. I don't get the tricking concept in relationships. Once you've successfully trapped someone who would otherwise have been uninterested, how do you ever feel good about yourself again?

"Envy is an emotion well-known for producing model behavior."

Say what you will about Ann Coulter, she's got the definitive piece on the Duke rape case.

Photo of the Day

My good friend Frank White with my cutie-pie Puba:

More on last night

Gawker writes about yesterday's Dumped/Dumpee debate and claims Moby was in attendance. I must've missed Eminem's best friend.

A friendly reminder

James Taranto linked this old post of mine as a reminder that Bloomberg was always "out of step" with the GOP.

It's finally here

Happy summer!

This is a picture of the clear sky today over Brooklyn:

How to lose a war

I'm not a military strategist but isn't the whole point of setting a trap to have an element of surprise? And, doesn't Reuters reporting on that trap limit that element?

The US military said on Thursday it was setting a trap to "eliminate" militants near Baghdad where 12 US soldiers have died in the past two days.

UPDATE: BBC solicits information on troop movements in Iraq.

But no, Avery, I won't ever be wearing a Ron Paul for President sticker

Remember that libertarian guy Avery Knapp, with the buttons on his sleeves, that I wrote about a few weeks ago?

I ran into him again at the Dumper/Dumpee debate last night and he was all-Ron-Paul-all-the-time again. Here's a video of him agitating for Paul on the libertarian show Hardfire. He does pretty well in the video but it doesn't really do justice to his non-stop enthusiasm.

He even got my girl Jess (aka The Halliburton girl) wearing the sticker:

I was at the debate with my friend SMVP who remains my all-time favorite libertarian to Republican conversion story (scroll down to the "Update"). So maybe there's hope for Avery yet. ;-)

Photo of the Day

I took this around 8:30 this morning. It's The Dakota building, on the upper west side of Manhattan. John Lennon lived there and was shot right outside this entrance. Yoko Ono still resides here:

I see your Bloomberg and raise you one Nader

Nader ponders run, calls Clinton 'coward'.

Via Hot Air headlines.

The one where I am unable to control my sarcasm.

Jill at Feministe notes that illegal abortions are on the rise in Iraq. She then makes some cracks about conservatives not caring about women and America destroying the world (corrected to "the worlds of many Iraqis") as a reason for Iraqi women avoiding childbirth.

I'm sure that before the war, when Iraq was idyllic and peaceful, except for the human shredders, prisons for children, and war with Iran and then Kuwait, Iraqi women were all in a big hurry to have babies. But now that evil America has destroyed their worlds, and the hopeful days of the Saddam Hussein regime are behind them, of course women would choose to abort their babies. Wouldn't you?

France is kookoo

France bans BlackBerry use by officials
Government fears U.S. snooping, threat to state secrets

News of the day in one post

**Mike Bloomberg is no longer a Republican. Wait, he was once a Republican? Get out of town. Obviously he's running for president on a third party line. Any Republican that votes for him will have to answer to me personally.

**Hillary spoofs The Sopranos in a campaign ad. Allahpundit thinks it's "creative and entertaining" and I think it's sort of lame. Putting Johnny Sac in it was a nice touch but otherwise it was cheesy.

**And in poker-related news (or, more accurately, poker-related-to-me news), I took such a thrashing in heads-up play with my friend SMVP (we play for dinners, not cash) that I'm now looking for people to practice with so I can return to the previous state of me kicking his butt. Please apply over on the poker blog.

"She's freaky as, as freaky gets. When it comes to chicks she's freakiest"

Azi interviews DMC of Run DMC about his Hillary-love.

Slow days

Two weddings and a funeral pretty much describes my week. I hope to be back to regular blogging later today.