Here we are, one day after Halloween, on “All Hallows Day” in some places, a/k/a “Day of the Dead” in others. Given that I’m down to no more than a few dozen of you (if that) who are still likely to be reading this, there’s no real reason to sugar-coat here. And so, it seems, many Americans have figured that out… Based on polls like this, we can apparently conclude that 75% of those surveyed believe things suck right now (although the bizarrely American pollyannish streak has 58% believing things will be just fine in a year)… we can expect...

I know I’m supposed to be scared s***less about today’s official thing-I’m-supposed-to-be-incredibly-afraid-of, be it incompetent would-be terrorists trying to blow up their underpants on airplanes, or blow up Times Square, or mailing explosive packages from Yemen… to synagogues in Chicago. Thing is… I’ve seen this movie… the last-minute-before-the-election “surprise” of some kind of “terror thing.” The Bush Administration used it beautifully, and Republicans magically got elected. The Obama Administration, it seems, appears to be using it for the identical purpose (that would be getting Republicans elected in this mid-term election). Naturally, without any “evidence” besides its own say-so (and we’re...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton… actress Jaclyn Smith… game show host Pat Sajak (all three born on this date in 1947, btw)… the late Jackie “Uncle Fester” Coogan, Leon “Party Animal” Trotsky (at least according to some calendars), gospel singer Mahalia Jackson… oh, and “Family Guy” progenitor and voice-guy Seth McFarlane… one of whose characters, Brian, is in fact, a talking dog… and of course… to your talking dog, who, despite his preposterous stamina, at two score and eight, can nonetheless no longer deny his chronological status as “late forties” (nor, of course, as “middle aged.”)

What else can you say about the Obama Administration’s sudden willingness to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with respect to the poster child for show trials Kangaroo Courts military commission trials, when it reached a plea deal with Canadian national and juvenile defendant Omar Khad. Pursuant to the deal, at least what is being reported (since, once again, it seems, details like “the sentence” are evidently not to be shared with the public… “state secrets” you know) is that Khadr would serve up to an additional year at GTMO before being transferred to the custody of Canada, where he will...

Another day, another massive document dump by Wikileaks, this one concerning the Iraq war, and numerous allegations of torture possibly mean treatment by American troops and mercenaries contractors. Supposedly, the latest document release shows numerous incidents, including assaults, rape and murders, as well as more garden variety torture mean treatment, of Iraqi prisoners in American custody from 2004 through 2009. Of course, the United States doesn’t torture, so we might as well just stop there, and call it a day. You know, you go to war with the men and materiel you have, not those you wish you might have…...

What Andy Borowitz said. [BTW… just one more example that our nation really is circling the drain: the environment, the economy, and, of course, the moral fibre of the country are ablaze… and the imperial class… fiddles.]

I suppose I’m not talking about the mighty New York Yankees, whose game 4 starter in a “must win” situation (the Yankees now trail the upstart Texas Rangers 2-1 in the American League championship series)… the incomparably awful A.J. Burnett, has decided to do early Halloween shopping this year. No… I’m going to talk about the verdict in the case of the would-be Riverdale synagogue bombing jihadists case, to wit, guilty on 30 out of 32 counts. And there you have it. Regardless of the asserted entrapment defense and the other flaws in the government’s case, it seems that courts–...

The concept of a “blog” (a term not yet in vogue at the commencement of this particular blog, btw) was a contraction of the words “web” as in “world wide web” and log, as in “captain’s log, star date 462.3 mark 7″… the premise was a personal narrative, preferably with one or more links to things, and some commentary. The political was never a requirement, and I suspect, comparatively few blogs (in the immense intellectual void otherwise known as what passes for our culture blogosphere, anyway) are “political” in nature… notwithstanding the insistence of some, like yours truly, on doing...

10 October 2010… a day that will live in… anniversary… as MSNBC tells us of an unusually high number of weddings on this numerically auspicious day. An interesting Sunday curiosity, to be sure. Hey, I like this sort of thing. I’m delighted to hear that there may soon be hope for the rescue of 33 miners in Chile. Happy news in what now passes for our civilized world… [for those wondering what irks me in particular, WaPo hits the nail with this discussion of the outrageous use of the “state secrets defense” to cover a multitude of governmental sins in…...