An interview with Bill Watterson. Yay!
Author Archives: John Wallenfeldt
Obama to zero out Yucca Mountain funding, pull license – Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 | 11:50 a.m. – Las Vegas Sun
Well, Nevadans, here is that change you can believe.
Probably the main local reason I voted for Obama was that he said he’d kill the plan to irradiate our local water supply with everyone else’s nuclear waste. And here we are with him in the works to kill the project.
Excellent news.
Computing For Dummies: Five Ways That N00bs Annoy Geeks | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Well, somebody finally made a list of things that really, really, really piss of their geek friends, relatives, and co-workers.
Michael Gerson – In the State of the Union address, ‘Principal’ Obama had lessons for all – washingtonpost.com
I don’t believe much of what this jackass is selling, but I do wish to post it for one significant laughable reason.
Michael Gerson, you see, is one of Bush’s speechwriters. You know, the president that never, EVER apologized for anything. You know, like ignoring threat assessments and getting 3,000 people killed in NYC. Or for starting a war in Iraq that has killed hundreds of thousands for no damn good reason. And so on, and so on.
So I find it hilarious and incredibly telling of the type of Republican bullshit and lies we’re forced to endure for some reason as a logical response to actual thought and legislation.
Gerson’s main complaint about the State of the Union speech is that Obama didn’t apologize “enough” for the things he could have done better.
Which is sad really. The guy who put the words into the “man” who ran away when our nation was attacked during 9/11 and never apologized for ignoring the evidence that an attack was going to happen. The failed man who killed 4,500 American military men and women needlessly never apologized for it. The weak man who killed hundreds of thousands of foreigners and called for a new Crusades never apologized.
The guy who wrote the lies for that unapologetic shit thinks Obama hasn’t apologized enough for saying he – and all of us – can do better. Incredible.
FRONTLINE/WORLD . Haiti Quake: Improvisation Amid the Chaos | PBS
A prelude to the Haiti internet story I linked yesterday.
YouTube – Hitler Learns Leno Is Moving Back To Late Night
I’ve seen a lot of variations of this and, yes, they are pretty tired, but this one does a good job on the Leno-Conan thing:
Obama Goes To GOP Lions’ Den – And Mauls The Lions
Obama went to visit the House GOP members today, and they played silly politics while he did his job. He took them on and make them look foolish, so much so that FAUXNews stopped airing the discussion 20 minutes before it ended.
This is what an American President looks like confronting the racists, bigots, do-nothings, and traitors who live only to oppose him.
Damn good job Mr. President.
The 2010 State of the Union Address | The White House
Here is the transcript, followed by the video:
Additionally some followup notes from the White House.
HuffPo has a top 10 quotes list from the speech.
Plus a good piece by Gail Collins on the angry speech of the day.
And a decent analysis piece on the speech by E.J. Dionne.
In Memoriam: Literary Passings
Wow, it has been a bad couple days for book lovers and those who value freedom and integrity.
I read this morning that J.D. Salinger has passed. Here is his obit at The New York Times and over at the BBC, plus a post over at Powell’s Books.
A really odd cat, but definitely one of our more free-spirited Americans.

Of more personal import is the death of Howard Zinn (obits at The New York Times and The Washington Post, plus the Powell’s Books entry).
I’ve enjoyed Zinn’s work on pushing the stories of real Americans to the forefront of our history. More importantly, his work has been critical in making sure we don’t whitewash our history or gloss over the hard parts, or even the bad decisions. If you have only been taught Texas conservative Talibangelical/Luddite BS, you know nothing about the history of this nation, warts and all. It is a damned shame too many of our students and only getting the sanitized version.
He didn’t report it either: he lived it, fighting during World War II (and losing the taste for war) as well as being a force for chance for change during the Civil Rights era). In this age of Tea Baggery and people proud of their stupidity, we need people like Zinn more than ever.

West Coast Wasteland
A glimpse of how bad things are in California. Glitzy, wealthy, opulent buildings and a completely broke state government.
In short, there are a lot things that need fixed in the old Bear Republic, but I’m not sure that is an easy fix by anyone’s imagining.
