Rudy, Rudy, Rudy...

Every time I think I might begin to like Rudy Giuliani, he pulls stuff like this.

Chain letter lunacy

This morning I was checking my wife's e-mail for her, and her inbox contained one of those viral internet chain letters. This one was about illegal immigration, and compared the harsh treatment of illegal immigrants in North Korea and Iran to the way we coddle them in the USA. When she asked if she had any new mail, I told her some lunatic sent her a political chain letter. She started to protest my characterization of the forwarder as a lunatic, but I was right the first time ---

When people forward right-wing chain letters to you, they (A) assume you're also a rightwinger who will enjoy the message as much as they do, or (B) know you're NOT a rightwinger and are trying to annoy you, or (C) don't know your political beliefs but think you can be persuaded by a viral internet chain letter.

Regardless of which alternative above applies, the person who forwards the crap is either (A) a conservative lunatic, or (B) a malevolent lunatic, or (C) a socially maladroit lunatic who needs to be schooled in the art of civilized living.

This particular chain letter says that instead of punishing illegal immigrants (like Iran does), we reward them with a driver's license, a Social Security number, welfare, food stamps, and free health care. It happens that I worked in the public welfare bureaucracy until the end of 1998, so I know that illegal immigrants did NOT qualify for welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid at that time. If they do now, it's because a Republican president and Republican majorities in Congress changed the laws after I retired. More likely, the allegations in the chain letter are total fucking bullshit, and the person who sent it to my wife is a fucking lunatic.

Ricardo weighs in. Again.

There's been speculation that if Ricardo Perry is ever forced to leave the office of governor, he'll go after the presidency of Texas A&M. This article from the AAS website seems to indicate there may something to the rumors. Seems like he's definitely testing the waters and trying to get the attention of the Ole Army types.

As for the bonfire tradition, I moved on years ago. Maybe Ricardo needs to let it go, too.

The diabolical plot against America

This is a summary of what real Americans are up against these days. Two minutes and 49 seconds of educational video, designed to help us understand the enemy.

Kool-Aid Granny

I saw this picture at Wonkette, and decided I needed to save it. I don't know the backstory, but I have a feeling this old broad is NOT an Obama supporter. Another thing about this picture is the eerie resemblance of the granny lady to Michael Moore --- I may have to track down patheticgeekstories.com to get the full lowdown.

Added 3:32 pm, same day: I've spent as much time as I'm willing to waste trying to pin down the origins of Kool-Aid Granny, and all I can say with reasonable certainty is that the photo predates the November 2008 election --- meaning that although she fits the description of the typical GOP voter, Granny is not editorializing on Obama's health care proposals. More than likely, she's just pissing all over Kool-Aid as a beverage.

For what it's worth, I've examined Pathetic Geek Stories and found it to be most excellent. Highly recommended website. I wish I'd thought of it first.

Out there ?

I finished my walk a little before 7:00, and was cooling down and logging the data while my wife was listening to the local NPR station on FM radio. The topic being discussed was SETI, the acronym for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and the interviewer was asking about evidence there was intelligent life on other planets in the universe.

I've been checking reader comments on newspaper websites today and can make a definitive statement that somewhere there's a planet that has at least as much intelligent life as there is in Texas. Let's face it, the bar is set pretty low. If the Texas right-wingers who type out their lunacy day after day are really the smartest people in the country, as they claim to be, then I have to believe that somewhere in outer space there are beings who can match us IQ point for IQ point.