Thanks to President Barack Hussein Oteleprompter's promise to not raise taxes on any family making under $250,000 a year (or $200,000 as an individual), some friends and I have decided that it's a good time to quit using tobacco products. Because, after all, the new tobacco taxes only affect the rich. Or at least they will, because now only the rich can afford them.

On Tax Day Tea Party Day, we are giving up smoking. Wish us luck!

Personally, I'll start by going cold turkey. If it gets to be too much to bear, I'll try the patch or the gum. I'm not all that comfortable looking at Chantix or other things of that sort.

But we will not, after the 15th of April, contribute to the S-CHIP program by purchasing another tobacco product. I know, we're cold hearted bastards for not wanting to provide government run health insurance to children up to age 30.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:33 PM | Comments (1)
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I don't know if this is fake or not but it is freaky! Enjoy...

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:10 PM | Comments (14)
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It's really a shame that late night comedians can't find a damn thing funny about Obama.

From the Bloomberg story I linked to below in the NATO/Apology post:

At a news conference afterward, Obama said his debut on the international stage had convinced him that “political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate,” where he served before entering the White House.

“There’s a lot of -- I don’t know what the term is in Austrian -- wheeling and dealing, and people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics,” he said in response to an Austrian reporter’s question.

The Austrian government immediately renamed their country's language to conform to Obama's pronouncement.

Related: Sarah Palin is still teh stuppids. Or something.

Unrelated: Austrian women are hot.

Posted by: DrewM at 03:26 PM | Comments (51)
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Eeesh, I just looked through the news, the wires, other blogs. I got nuthin', and I'm about to head out the door. So, here's an open thread and some topics to get you started:

(1) Fast & Furious, the fourth installment of the franchise, made $72 million in its first weekend, more than Tokyo Drift made in its entire theatrical run. I credit Rodriguez and Brewster. I think I might even see it.

(2) The U.N. Security Council concluded its emergency meeting about the Nork missle. The verdict: "No official reaction." Surprise me, please.

(3) The Boston NBC affiliate, WHDH, said it wouldn't be airing Leno's new 10pm show in the fall. NBC replied: "Leno will be airing on an NBC affiliate in Boston; that's a nice station you got there, it'd be a shame if something were to happen to it."

Okay now, I did a little better than Atrios, there, right?

(4) Oh, one more. How come I didn't hear about this earlier?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:13 PM | Comments (1)
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I'm not sure that I believe this poll, but:

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters nationwide favor a military response to eliminate North KoreaÂ’s missile launching capability. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of voters oppose a military response while 28% are not sure.

The telephone survey was conducted Friday and Saturday, April 3-4, the two days immediately prior to North KoreaÂ’s launch. The question asked about a military response if North Korea actually did launch a long-range missile.

Overall, 75% of voters say theyÂ’ve been closely following news stories about the possible launch. That figure includes 40% whoÂ’ve followed the news Very Closely.

Would 57% favor a one-off strike on North Korea's known rocket facilities? Sure, I believe that and I'm surprised that number isn't larger.

What I don't believe is that 57% favor a more involved confrontation than a one-off strike. And I don't believe that Li'l Kim would fail to turn an attack on his rocket or nuclear facilities into a protracted engagement across the Korea DMZ. Just because we'd like him to do nothing in retaliation doesn't mean he will.

I'm also a little skeptical about the self-reported 75% of voters who think they have been "closely following" this story. That seems rather like a lot more than my own experience. Yes, anecdote is not data, but around my office--all professionals, all regular voters--I wouldn't bet two in ten knew anything about the launch. I think it's much more likely that when Rassmussen calls you up and asks, "Hey, have you heard", most people will say, "Yes, of course" just so they don't feel like ninnies.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 01:41 PM | Add Comment
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Much was made of Obama's awesome powers of diplomacy yesterday when he worked a deal to allow Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen become Secratery General of NATO over the opposition of Turkey's President Abdullah Gul.

Why did Gul oppose Rasmussen? Because Rasmussen defended the right of newspapers to publish the cartoons of blasphemy.

Well, today the other shoe dropped and we see the price of Obama's "smart", "tough" diplomacy.

Rasmussen will apologize to the Islamic world tomorrow in Istanbul.

Here's a newsflash, NATO doesn't exist so bureaucrats have a reason to hang out in Brussels. It exists to defend western values, you know, like freedom of speech.

I'm starting to miss Jimmy Carter.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:34 PM | Add Comment
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Not just some jackass poster but the head jackass poster, Markos "Screw Them" Moulitsas, chimes in with some of his patented trenchant analysis of the nut job that killed 3 cops in Pittsburgh yesterday.

Via Kos' Twiter account (safe link to NewsBusters)

When we were out of power, we organized to win the next election. Conservatives, apparently, prefer to talk "revolution" and kill cops.

NewsBusters also points out dipshit Kos had nothing to say about the cop killings in Oakland or the leftists that supported the killer.

Allow me to demonstrate my grasp of the painfully obvious....Kos is a despicable piece of shit.

More: Politics shouldn't enter into a tragedy like this but since it has let's remember that Bill "Friend of Obama" Ayers was "credibly accused, in classified testimony before a Senate subcommittee in 1974, of involvement in the murder of a police officer in San Francisco". Now he's an honored member of society.

Hey Markos, I assure you the killer of these officers will never be celebrated in conservative circles.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:25 AM | Add Comment
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Microsoft's new ad strategy is provoking lots of discussion, with most suggesting that it hits Apple right where it hurts: function over form.

Microsoft's latest ad, launched Saturday, gives a dude named Giampaolo $1,500 and tells him to buy himself a new computer. Giampaolo, who describes himself as "technically savvy," says he's looking for portability, battery life and power. "I like a computer that allows me to customize," he adds.

What he doesn't like: Macs. "This is so sexy, but Macs to me are about aesthetics more than they are about the computing power," he says. "I don't want to pay for the brand, I want to pay for the computer."

You can bet that little dig will have people in Redmond high-fiving each other, as did the one delivered in Microsoft's last commercial, by Lauren, a red-haired actress. "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person," Lauren said.

Microsoft isn't there yet, but it's looking in the right place. It's looking for trouble.

This has provoked indignant protestations from Mac users. Microsoft's David Webster explains the strategy:

Webster says, according to Lyons, that “the ugly attacks from Mac fanboys are exactly what Microsoft was hoping to provoke.”

“He says the idea was to turn Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ campaign to Microsoft’s advantage. ‘We associate real people with being PCs, [but then Apple] ends up looking pretty mean-spirited, the way they go after customers,’ he says. ‘It’s clear that’s who they are insulting.’ At the same time he can’t resist taking a crack at the preciousness of some Mac users. ‘Not everyone wants a machine that’s been washed with unicorn tears,’ he says.”

Unfortunately, the PC vs. Mac wars have intruded into my own life. My dear sweet mother has been turned to the dark side--by our priest, no less--and is now counted among the MacHeads. It still brings tears to my eyes to see her flock to the Apple store genius bar with the other lemmings. I had to reassure her, "I would still love you even if you were a murderer."

Another example of overzealous MacHeads: A couple years ago I was looking for a new apartment and, as is usually the case, the landlady was trying to decide if I would be a good tenant. Her question: "So, are you Mac or PC?...Because we use Macs around here."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:53 AM | Comments (1)
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Update: The White House has issued a statement. This is my favorite part:

North KoreaÂ’s development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the northeast Asian region and to international peace and security. The launch today of a Taepo-dong 2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind. With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.

We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council. I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.

After Obama acknowledges that the N. Koreans ignored UN Resolutions, he calls on the N. Koreans to abide by them. This is smart and tough diplomacy?

And our response is to "consult" with people who have done nothing of consequence on this issue and have shown they pretty much don't care about it.

Compared to this idiot, I'm starting to miss the days of clear eyed realism and muscular military posture of Jimmy Carter.

Watching the coverage on CNNI is simply nauseating. The anchors, reporters and guests are falling over themselves to remind us how important it is to only follow the diplomatic track but we can't push to hard because that could lead the North Koreans to walk away from whatever talks we can set up.

Of course they are going to walk away, it's the only way to get us to follow them and offer them ever greater inducements to come back.

Quality comment snark from "exceller" that's sadly all too true:

Obama used harsher language condemning the US for it's arrogant attitude towards Europe.

Original post:

I'm sure we're working on setting up a meeting to create a summit that will produce a strongly worded letter.

North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean government said. In Washington, the State Department also confirmed the launch.

The rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

Too bad we don't have some sort of system that could intercept a missile like this. Oh wait we do, at least for now. Too bad we aren't willing to use it.

The left will no doubt ooh and ahh over the inevitable Obama talk about international cooperation and the need to get the UN involved. All of this will of course be compared to Cowboy Bush.

Just remember there are plenty of UN Resolutions on this matter, including one that says N. Korea can't do this (passed during the Bush Reign of Terror). Obviously the North Koreans were less than impressed with them.

It's ironic how the people who claim how important the UN s are the ones who do the most damage to it by demanding that no real actions be taken thus showing how impotent and irrelevant it is as an institution.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:57 PM | Comments (2)
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Space.com calls the following photo "The Cosmic Hand Reaches For the Light".

And to be fair I guess I can see that.

Although to me, it reminds me of my birth. But then, I have a long memory.

You know what they say about us guys: we spend 9 months trying to get out and the rest of our lives trying to get back in.

Anyway, enjoy the photo. Think of it as your own Saturday night Rorschach test from a lonely, lonely blogger.

Posted by: Jack M. at 07:15 PM | Comments (37)
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