Sad state of affairs

Nymphomaniac Convention

A man boarded an airplane and took his seat. As he settled in, he glanced up and saw the most beautiful woman boarding the plane. He soon realized she was heading straight towards his seat. As fate would have it, she took the seat right beside his. Eager to strike up a conversation he blurted out, "Business trip or pleasure?" She turned, smiled and said, "Business. I'm going to the Annual Nymphomaniacs of America Convention in Chicago."

He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting of nymphomaniacs. Struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, "What's your business role at this convention?" "Lecturer," she responded. "I use information that I have learned from my personal experiences to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality." "Really?" he said. "And what kind of myths are there?"

"Well", she explained, "one popular myth is that African American men are the most well-endowed of all men, when in fact it is the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that Frenchmen are the best lovers, when actually it's the men of Jewish descent who are the best. I have also discovered that the lover with absolutely the best stamina is the Southern Redneck."

Suddenly the woman became a little uncomfortable and blushed. "I'm sorry," she said, "I shouldn't really be discussing all of this with you, I don't even know your name."

"Tonto," the man said, "Tonto Goldstein, but my friends all call me Bubba."

300 Billion Bailout

But to suggest that we shouldn’t even consider that our actions overseas might have unintended consequences is, frankly, just ignorant. And to attempt to silence anyone who says otherwise as outside the bounds of civilized debate is doubly ignorant.
If you get stung by a hornet, it makes sense to see if there’s a hornets’ nest near your home and, if there is, to exterminate it. It doesn’t make sense to forge out looking for hornets’ nests anywhere you can find them, smacking them with sticks. You’re bound to get stung again. -Ron Paul

Ron Paul's flight hindered, emergency landing in Louisiana necessary

Ron Paul, a Texas congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate, was among seven Texas congressmen on Continental Airlines Flight 458 which made an emergency landing tonight in New Orleans. The others: Ted Poe, John Carter, Solomon P. Ortiz, Ciro Rodriguez and Henry Cuellar.

After the pilots detected a loss in cabin pressure, they made a rapid descent, and the plane landed safely at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Paul, a former Air Force flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, and his congressional cohorts are reportedly unhurt.

But the reason for their flight? Attempting to return to the nation's capital in time to vote on the Aviation Safety Enhancement Act, reports the Associated Press's Chevel Johnson.

Good Lord. You can't make stuff like that up if you tried.

The Project for a New American Century 1 & 2

Suicide in the Trenches

I KNEW a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
. . . .

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.


-Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967).
Counter-Attack and Other Poems. 1918.