Riding pantless on the subway should be a right, not a privelege.

Improv Everywhere, the group that organised the stunt, said more than 160 riders participated in the fifth annual No Pants Subway Ride before police stepped in.

Charlie Todd, who founded Improv Everywhere in 2001, said it's not his group's intent to offend.

He said he wants to create scenes of chaos and joy in public places around New York.

People.
I feel a chill wind suppressing free speech across this land.
A chill wind.
Blowing up the backside of law-abiding Americans.

A cold, icy breeze of repression in the nether regions of every upstanding citizen.

Can you feel it?

Posted by: LauraW. at 05:40 PM | Comments (13)
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Diana West of the Washington Times hits us HARD with some non-primary source pessimistic action from da pope. Apparently, according to his friend Father Joseph D. Fessio, the pope has been saying things like---gasp!---"handicapped" instead of "handicapable"...and that he believes that "in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Mohammed, but it's an eternal word. It's not Mohammed's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it."

Now, Benedict, that's just a wee bit hyperbolic, is it not? NO possibility?

According to his friend, the pope believes there's no way to change Islam because there's no way to reinterpret the Koran — i.e., change Koranic teachings on infidels, women, polygamy, penal codes and other markers of Islamic law — in such a way as to propel Islam into happy coexistence with modernity.

Posted by: Feisty at 04:39 PM | Comments (44)
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...with an outright majority. No jacking around with run-offs.

Thanks to Alarming News.

Posted by: Ace at 02:18 PM | Comments (17)
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You know Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live? She's the blonde that does the news with little Ms. Liberal there. The one who thinks she's working for Saturday National Public Radio, and basically just reports liberal-friendly news with only the thinnest pretext of building a joke out of it.

The one who was overpraised for her nothing little fart of a Heathers remake, Mean Girls, basically because all the critics liked how she was out and proud as a strident liberal. No going where the funny is for Tina Fey!

Anyway, back to Amy Poehler.

Boston Irish has used his extensive sources to find her Boston College Facebook picture. Pretty goofy.

What frickin' year was that from? 1983? She looks like a Flock of Seagulls groupie. Either that or she just came back from hair and makeup as a background "actor" in Papa Don't Preach.

Yeah, it's trivial, but it's original reportage. I guess.

In case you didn't know, by the way, she's married to Will Arnett, who plays G.O.B. on Arrested Development.

Speaking Of Amy Poehler Update From Dave At Garfield Ridge: She appears in this recent SNL music video honoring one of the greatest heroes in American History: "Young Chuck Norris."

Posted by: Ace at 01:55 PM | Comments (25)
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I apologize for my continuing absence. Basically, I'm scrambling to find a new apartment, maybe in a new town, and it's time consuming. Lot of travel, lot of paperwork, lot of crap. Fingers crossed, I may have a place.

On the plus side, a guest I've been trying to get for a while may finally be appearing on the show: Army reservist Timothy Haag, who (almost) single handedly killed 15-20 terrorists after an ambush in Samarra in 2004. He actually commented here as "Viking Ghost," and I've been trying to get him on the show since then. He's since appeared on NBC News (I believe; it may have been another broadcast network) with other guys from his regiment, and now he's ready for the bigger venues, like Hoist the Black Flag.

Not to push this -- people seem sick of it -- but hey, if you've got a Cool Fact About Timothy Haag, let me know. Might be fun to mention them to him during the interview. There's a Top Ten List about him at the end of the link above to get the ball rolling.

PS: Nice "headline" over in the sidebar, Dave.

PPS: I want to thank my co-bloggers for really stepping things up in my absence, and of course the guest bloggers who were kind enough to come in here and post, and, you know, totally screw up the headlines sidebar.

PPPS: You don't have to stop now if you don't want to. Tuesdays before a show are always hectic, particularly this Tuesday.

Posted by: Ace at 01:46 PM | Comments (55)
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Right Wing News polled 230 right-of-center bloggers asking them who they prefer for the Republican presidential nomination.

Of course, they didn't ask me, because I prefer to be politically unpredictable, and besides, I'm still debating between this guy and this, uhhh, guy.

Anyway, if you want to see the list for yourself, go read it via Wuzzadem, which is where I found the link (hey, send traffic where it's deserved, ya know).

My thoughts? It's still a little early. My gut says 2008 will be a surprise nominee year for both parties. Much like Bill Clinton came out of nowhere in 1992, methinks that the eventual nominee for at least one party will be someone nobody really expects right now, making all the McCain/Rudy/Hillary talk so much bunkum.

Besides, when it comes to the GOP, we still don't know who President Bush wants as his anointed successor. Given Cheney's unwillingness to run, we're in a bit of a strange place. There's no guarantee, of course, that President Bush's preference will matter in the primaries, but it's definitely an important data point that's still missing at this stage in the game.

My favorite dark horses? George Allen for the GOP and Mark Warner for the Dems. Yeah, I may be biased because they're both Virginia boys, but they're both quiet achievers from a very diverse state. Allen might be *too* quiet-- he hasn't been helped by recent Republican struggles here in the Old Dominion. Warner, while as tax happy as any Democrat, isn't an irrational lunatic (which, let's be honest, probably keeps him from getting the Democratic nomination).

Oh, and one other prediction: there is no circumstance, on any planet, in any galaxy, that John McCain is the Republican nominee. If I'm wrong about this, I'll shut up about politics for the next four years, but I'll swear on the mercy of the Great Cthulhu that there's just no way that is happening.

Posted by: Dave From Garfield Ridge at 12:32 PM | Comments (99)
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Raise your hand if you think the government can/should do anything OTHER than National Defense.

Having started my engineering career in the private sector, only to end up a public servant, I can tell you with all authority that ANYTHING the government does, the private sector can do cheaper and better. Excepting National Security of course. Trust me.

The guys over at File It Under have a great post today about good old government spending. It kind of goes along with my previous post about the 2006 mid-terms.

Very interesting reading.

It's not a Rep/Dem issue - government is at fault. While the policies that will grow out of control are mostly babies of Democrats, the Republicans have been fairly willing enablers by porking the shit out of federal budgets, going along with disasters like Medicare and surrendering to Democrats with regards to Social Security reform.

Posted by: WunderKraut at 10:56 AM | Comments (29)
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Just when you thought George Galloway couldn't fall any further:

Somewhere, Christopher Hitchens is laughing...

Posted by: Slublog at 10:56 AM | Comments (37)
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In 1958, when Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia was elected to the Senate for the first time, 358 people were killed in coal mining accidents in the United States. Since that time, the man has become a master at finding federal dollars for projects in his state, but even the New York Times acknowledges he has done little for miners.

For better or worse, coal is ever a prime economic resource for West Virginia - a lodestone for corporations, and still a millstone for too many miners. This has been true through the political ages, right up through the powerful reign of the state's Democratic favorite son, Senator Robert Byrd, who has packed West Virginia with highway projects and other pork-barrel goodies that have somehow failed to securely touch the lives of the long-suffering coal miners.

I wonder...will Robert Byrd speak out against the mining industry itself, or will the $21,000 a year they give him ensure that he keeps his ire pointed at Bush? (Corrected number)

Posted by: Slublog at 09:07 AM | Comments (5)
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I was reading The Washington Times at lunch.

Big mistake.

Now I am not hungry.

They have a good editorial today about Iran. I know that Iran has been covered a lot on this site and I hate to add one more log to the fire, but unfortunately, this stuff is too important.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about Thursday's bombing in Tel Aviv and the events in Damascus is the realization that the state sponsors of the terrorists who target Israel may be on the verge of obtaining a nuclear shield. If the Islamofascists in Tehran succeed in this endeavor, it will be a geopolitical catastrophe for the United States and the free world.

I am not sure I would call it a catastrophe. It could very well turn out like that, but here's hoping the Iranian people wake up from their 25 year nightmare and toss these whack-jobs out of power.

If not....

Sea of glass I tell you....sea of glass...

But on the plus side, Mark Steyn has yet another stellar op-ed:

But in a sign he's losing patience with the mullahs, Mr. Straw's officials have indicated they're prepared to consider the possibility of possibly considering the consideration of a possible motion on considering sanctions for the U.N. Security Council to consider the possibility of considering.

Posted by: WunderKraut at 08:54 AM | Comments (131)
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