Take a look. Think Dick Cheney would recognize any of the words?
The photo is of Lance Armstrong and Filippo Simeoni. Read the story here.
Leno
“In a speech the other day to the Amish, President Bush said that God speaks through him. That’s what he said. I don’t know, do you think God would mispronounce that many words?”
“President Bush said today he is looking into if Iran had anything to do with 9/11, but he’s not declaring war yet. He said first he wants to know all the facts — so apparently he’s trying a new strategy.”
“The Bush administration announced this week they want to lift the ban on logging. This is part of their No Tree Left Behind program.”
Jay Leno
Not really
“To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the moon landing, President Bush met with Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. … There was one awkward moment, when Bush said to Armstrong, ‘I hear you’re doing great in the Tour-de-France.'”
Conan O’Brien
Sense of entitlement
NewMexiKen doesn’t know Sandy Berger, the Clinton national security advisor accused of removing copies of classified documents from the National Archives. I certainly don’t know what he actually did or—least of all—why he did it. But let me suggest something.
Let’s put together a team and make spot inspections of private document collections of a few high-level national security political appointees from each of the last several administrations. You know, drop by their home or office and just browse through the files. Any one care to wager we won’t find that most or all of them have classified documents in their possession?
Why do they do this? Because they can. Because they are arrogant and think they are above the law. Because they feel they will protect the documents well enough. Because the bureaucrats charged with securing classified documents won’t always check or challenge what appointees remove when they leave.
It happens all the time.
Berger, if guilty, was just more obvious than most.
Ken Jennings update
What a way to end the week! Not only did Ken Jennings win his 38th consecutive game, but he set another record: highest one-day total. On the Friday, July 23rd show, Ken won an unprecedented $75,000, bringing his jackpot to a whopping $1,321,660.
Source: Jeopardy! web site
One more time
NewMexiKen has decided that a some basic level I am a failure as a blogger. Twice I have linked to This Land and after each time I have heard from a regular visitor suggesting I visit/mention/link to This Land.
This Land is a delightful animated version of the Woody Guthrie tune as sung (and danced) by George W. Bush and John Kerry. Well done, amusing, not distasteful. Fun for all ages.
It does take some time to load.
Dan Neil
NewMexiKen just loves Dan Neil’s style:
There is nothing false, shallow or toy-like in the way the [Porsche] Carrera GT drives. This car is no gimmick, no vainglorious attempt to keep up with the Enzos. It is serious. Adult-strength. For mature audiences only. Double-black-diamond with an avalanche advisory. If you are not entirely respectful of the car’s power, it will hurt you.
*****The Carrera GT is uncompromised and uncompromising. The first impression one gets behind the wheel is one of off-the-scale, black-hole density, a gravitas that feels rooted in the Earth’s iron core. This is the sort of vibration-free platform they build giant telescopes on.
Only a few of the cars have been made. You know, for Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen and the like.
0 to 100 in 6.8!
“This is the place,”
It was on this date in 1847 that Brigham Young gazed at Utah’s Valley of the Great Salt Lake and made his famous declaration.
Happy Birthday
Cosmo Kramer is 55 today (Michael Richards).
Wonder Woman is 53 (Lynda Carter).
Mrs. Marc Anthony is 34 (J Lo).
Anna Paquin (Oscar winner at age 11) is 22.
Good solution
From Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:
Many were surprised by the revelation last week that former Nevada Las Vegas associate basketball coach Glynn Cyprien had followed in the footsteps of George O’Leary.
Seems Cyprien, who left UNLV for Oklahoma State, had stated on his resume that he graduated from Texas San Antonio. Cyprien, who was dismissed from his first head-coaching position at Louisiana Lafayette when the discrepancy was brought to the attention of officials there, actually was sporting a degree from a non-accredited university on the Internet.
“Which leads one to wonder,” wrote Joe Hawk of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “How educated do you have to be to coach?”
More Hawk: “The smartest suggestion we’ve heard with regard to those found to have falsified their resumes: Rather than fire the guilty, make them complete their degrees at the schools where they’re employed. In other words, make them get up and go to class — just like their players — and force them to get their diplomas by walking in graduation. We would follow up by demanding the coaches have the cost of their ‘continuing’ education deducted from their salaries.”
Grandpa NewMexiKen
NewMexiKen continues visiting three of the four Sweeties, going with the little ones and their parents Friday evening to play the ponies at the Charles Town Races (in West Virginia). Though spiffed up in recent years with a casino (that seemed to have more customers than the track), it’s still a great little place to watch the sport of kings.
A very small time gambler, I was out $1.80 at the windows for the evening. Mack, official oldest grandchild of NewMexiKen, did better, calling (and I swear this is true) the trifecta in one race.
(Lest you get the wrong impression, you must be 18 to wager in West Virginia. The children were simply spectators.)
The Week Quiz
Take The Week Quiz and see how you do. There are two bonus questions this week.
NewMexiKen scored an all-time record equalling low of five correct out of ten and one of two for the bonus questions. My guesser must be broken. (Too much time spent playing Dragon Tales with a Sweetie. It’s worth it.)
National Archives dysfunctional?
The Daily Howler (Bob Somerby) has some suggestions for NewMexiKen’s former colleagues:
Meanwhile, add the National Archives to the list of deeply dysfunctional agencies. Apparently, they only keep close watch on their documents after they think that some are missing. Would it kill them to number and monitor documents before they think that some have been swiped? Let’s see—could they actually keep track of the documents a person takes, then make him return them before he leaves? That’s how it works at our public library. Any chance that Archives staff could check out this complex arrangement?
Best line of the day, so far
“Everybody’s guilty so nobody is.”
Correspondent Charles Pierce writing to Altercation (Eric Alterman) on the 9/11 Commission report.
Ouch!
From Dwight Perry at Sideline Chatter (though I wonder if he really wants credit for this):
In one of the more unusual minor-league baseball promotions, Florida Today reported, Will Campbell won a free cremation at the Brevard County (Fla.) Manatees’ game on July 15.
As for the income-tax implications, Campbell must list his $695 prize under future urnings.
100 years of ice cream cones
From the Library of Congress (which ought to know):
It is said that on July 23, 1904, Charles E. Menches of St. Louis, Missouri conceived the idea of filling a pastry cone with two scoops of ice cream and thereby invented the ice cream cone.
Don Imus…
is 64 today.
Remember, it’s 51 elections…
and Kerry is beginning to pull away. View a map of the latest polls.
Tom Robbins…
is 68 today. The Writer’s Almanac tells this about Robbins:
He taught himself to read when he was five years old, and around the same time he started dictating stories to his mother. One of the stories was about a pilot who crashes on a desert island and discovers a brown cow with yellow spots. Robbins recently said, “I wouldn’t find that story out of place in what I’m doing now, and so I guess I haven’t changed all that much.”
Robbins’s best known novel is probably Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1974).
Jeopardy!
Two favorites
Albert Brooks and Danny Glover are 57 today.
Rig My Election, Please
As usual, Mark Morford minces no words on Just how far will desperate Republicans go to trick America into another BushCo victory?
Semi-clever, ultra-wealthy Bush supporters suddenly donating piles of money to the Nader campaign in an obvious attempt to steal votes from John Kerry? Pshaw. Ptooey. Child’s play. Tip of the iceberg. A mere distraction.
We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
This is the time of desperation and anxiety. This is the time of hysterical Orange Alerts and imminent al Qaeda attacks coming from outta nowhere at any minute and violating our children and kicking our puppies and badly denting our Honda Accords. And, yes, this is the time of election-year political tactics coming from the increasingly anxious Right that will make Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” look like a cupcake cookbook.
Link via The Sideshow.
Pizza surprise
The ACLU shows what ordering a pizza could be like (video).
Don’t mess with my archival brethren
From The Washington Post:
Last Oct. 2, former Clinton national security adviser Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger stayed huddled over papers at the National Archives until 8 p.m.
What he did not know as he labored through that long Thursday was that the same Archives employees who were solicitously retrieving documents for him were also watching their important visitor with a suspicious eye.
After Berger’s previous visit, in September, Archives officials believed documents were missing. This time, they specially coded the papers to more easily tell whether some disappeared, said government officials and legal sources familiar with the case.
Yuck!
From CNN/Money:
Once the fried dough embodiment of hot and fresh, Krispy Kreme has transformed its original glazed doughnut into a new frozen beverage for summer.
The chain introduced a new line of frozen drinks Wednesday, including frozen original kreme — a drinkable version of the company’s signature doughnut — raspberry, latte and double chocolate.
Customers can also add coffee to the kreme and double chocolate.