born live love die

Fred Thompson once saw himself as being made of Presidential timber.  What a joke.

Tuesday Obama speech marks end of combat ops in Iraq.  If Obama had had his way, Saddam would be making that speech in Baghdad.  #ftrs #tcot

I almost wish I had watched the Emmys.

I watched “Mostly Martha” with the kids instead.  It was remade with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the title role, “No Reservations”.

Watching “Mostly Martha”, I kept thinking about how funny Tina Fey would be in that role.

Reading Jane Meyer’s profile of the Koch brothers reminded me of two things.

1) Conservatism and what is wrong with it.

Q: What is conservatism?

A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.

2) Conservatives want to rule, not govern.

JMan, over breakfast after watching the movie ’9′:

I think it interesting that he put his intellect into the machine, but not his soul.  He put his soul into the dolls.

I watched some of the Beckapalooza and I gotta say that it was moronic beyond belief.

Then there is this:

Ricky Thomas, 43, a SWAT team police officer from Chesapeake Beach, Md., brought his 10-year old son Chase to the Beck rally. “I wanted my son to see democracy in action,” Thomas said.
He said he wants government to stay out of people’s lives. He acknowledged that he works for government, but said it’s “a part of government that helps people when they are in trouble.”

I registered the domain name Beckistan and will see if I can put some stuff up there.

Saw this pic and thought it appropriate.

Sitting in my chair at the table, Bookzilla crawls into my lap.  Since she is now 14, 5’9″, 120 lbs, this isn’t the same as when she was little.  I worry that the chair, a resin arm chair, will break under the strain and try to keep her from wiggling around.

JMan has a rich and wonderful voice.  He is a bit of a ham, which I guess he gets from me.  He works on English dialects, and since the only one I attempt is Cockney, he has a poor teacher.  He shifts his voice down.  ”Suddenly, Bob found himself covered with screaming children.”  JMan starts to climb on top of Bookzilla.  I know the chair won’t take all three of us.  I keep him from climbing all the way on.  He ends up mobbing on Bookzilla.

He has a wonderful voice.

I don’t use marijuana, and this link is to NORML, but this page is very interesting.

Preclinical data recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrating that cannabinoids may spur brain cell growth has reignited the international debate regarding the impact of marijuana on the brain. However, unlike previous pseudo-scientific campaigns that attempted to link pot smoking with a litany of cognitive abnormalities, modern research suggests what many cannabis enthusiasts have speculated all along: ganja is good for you.

I don’t know if ganja is good for you, but I support the legalization of marijuana as a matter of good public policy.

Scientists capture new memories being made:

The ability to learn and to establish new memories is essential to our daily existence and identity; enabling us to navigate through the world. A new study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), McGill University and University of California, Los Angeles has captured an image for the first time of a mechanism, specifically protein translation, which underlies long-term memory formation. The finding provides the first visual evidence that when a new memory is formed new proteins are made locally at the synapse – the connection between nerve cells – increasing the strength of the synaptic connection and reinforcing the memory. The study published in Science, is important for understanding how memory traces are created and the ability to monitor it in real time will allow a detailed understanding of how memories are formed.

Great pictures there also.

Paul Krugman takes down Paul Ryan’s tax cut plan.  From his column: