I Don't Like You Either

Needful Diversions: The Large Hadron Collider Rap

Lyrics & credits after the jump:

Craziest..Press Conference...EVAH (Blagojevich & Burris)

Via HuffPost, where you can read Jason Linkins' write-up. ""Please do not allow the allegations against me to taint this good man," Blagojevich said, futilely...""

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Department of Viral Videos: 'Some Say the World Will End in Fire'---An Animation of an Asteroid Crashing into Earth

Via.  At least it appears we'll go out to Pink Floyd.

2008's Most Risible Moments in Politics (with Video Evidence!)

The HuffPost has Daniel Kurtzman's list with a whole string of videos. We posted quite a few of these here, but it's so nice to have them all lined up in one place.

Bonus:  HuffPost's best You Tubes of 2008.

Department of Needful Diversions, Presenting: The Beijing Olympics (Alternate Universe Version)

This is a whole ship full of awesome, and we found it via The Red Tory 3.0.

The Red Tory said, and it was a true word:

I think this deadpan (東京オンリーピック　開会式＜フルバージョン＞) animated take-off of the Olympics may be one of the subversively funniest videos of the year....

As he says, "the giant motorized pigeons feasting on acrobats [and]...[t]he giant Buddha sweeping teams of competitors off his tongue into the Olympic pool" are alone worth the time.  But there so much more. 

It is a veritable televisusal feast.

Gay Penguins in China Zoo Given Their Own Eggs

The zoo separated them because they kept stealing other penguins' eggs---"they were caught  placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs." (MailOnline)  This is the sweet part:

But angry visitors to Polar Land in Harbin, northern China, complained it wasn't fair to stop the couple from becoming surrogate fathers and urged zoo bosses to give them a chance.

Needful Diversions: Rare White Lions Born in Belgrade

Because it's important to remember that there are still some nice things happening (via Huffington Post).

This Just In: The RNC Spent More on Palin than You Made in the Three Years Before the Lay Off

They didn't exactly put it that way, but that's what it comes down to. 

It's getting kind of hard to keep track of all the numbers, but Politico seems to have done the math:

Colbert: A Man Called Plaxico

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - A Man Named Plaxico

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Dept of Hollow Laughter: Bush Receives "International Medal of PEACE" for His Tireless Efforts & Unprecedented Contribution in the Fight Against AIDS

Yes, that's what I said:  "Bush Receives "International Medal of PEACE" for His Tireless Efforts & Unprecedented Contribution in the Fight Against AIDS."

What?  It's true, I tell you.

Snark O' the Day: GM Constructs a Memory Hole (Agitprop)

If you hadn't just lived through 8 years of Bush and Cheney, you wouldn't believe this could be possible.

Since you just have, your outrage and incredulity meters shorted out a long time ago and there's nothing left of them but a few busted springs going boingy-boingy-boingy 24/7.   You'll probably just say, "Huh."   So I'm noting this for later, when we've all had our sense of moral outrage restored at least to pre-Katrina levels.

The Philosophy of Gestures: Econobloggers Weigh in on AIG's PR Sleight of Hand

Hey, AIG found out a way to carry out a stunning public relations ploy by giving up their bonuses, while totally paying themselves big bucks as "retention bonuses"!   Ad-mir-able!   Deb Cupples discusses it here.

At Angry Bear, rdan quotes self-serving statements of AIG execs made to FT, in which they explain how retention bonuses are way better. 

Tweety to Run Against Arlen Specter in 2010

by Damozel | Like Nora Ephron, I am practically in love with Chris Matthews despite his many, many flaws and excesses.  Watching him when he isn't talking but listening causes a thrill to go up my leg.  So  I am trying to decide how I feel about this. 

Election Night Hilarity at BBC News: Gore Vidal vs. Anchor David Dimbleby

by Nicholas | "Mad as a box of frogs," said the bloke who posted it, and he didn't mean Dimbleby.  I cannot improve on this as a summary.

Hell's Bimbo

by Nicholas  |  OMFG!!  It looks as though John McCain’s dignified concession speech is about as good as it gets as far as the Republicans are concerned.  Of course, any losing side in an election will hold an inquest, examine where its weaknesses were and generally make plans to do better next time.  One or two sacrificial heads may roll -- that is to be expected -- but in general it’s always a good thing to keep recriminations as restrained as possible

Things in the Republican camp may be a bit more vigorous than that right now.  If we are to believe what we read and hear (And why shouldn’t we?  The meltdown is delicious!) there is a  vast build-up of latent hostility between the McCain camp and the Palin camp that is about erupt into a bout of name calling , finger pointing and backstabbing .  And Sarah herself it seems, is not the adorable bimbo everyone thought she was.  Okay, she was a bimbo, but not adorable (Well, some people thought she was adorable. I always found her repulsive).  We all know that she had no idea what the function of the Vice President is, and that she seemed to think that the First Amendment existed to protect her from the probing questions of reporters.  Now it appears that she didn’t know which countries were included in NAFTA.  And she thought that Africa was a country, not an entire continent.  Yes, she could always be advised about these facts but surely, someone who wanted to understudy the presidency, who has reached the age of 44 and who has been through university, should already know these things.  These aren’t arcane details of something outside the mainstream -- these are essential facts.

Have a look at this page from the Huffington Post and make sure you play the clip from The O’Reilly Factor on the Fox News network, which isn’t exactly known for its love of the Democrats.  Tantrums?  Paper throwing?  Making her staff weep?  So much for adorable.  America had a narrow escape last Tuesday. 

Jesus's General: A Wingnut's Halloween Carol

by Blue Stockings | I'm not sure how we managed to miss this, but it should become a classic. It begins:

Come with me to the pumpkin patch
And see what is most scary!
The GOP turns ghouls to glee
And bites off the heads of fairies!  (More at Jesus's General)

The picture alone is worth a click.

Jesus's General has also posted---approvingly of course---the video of the mean lady who sent tiny Obama supporters off weeping and candyless.  That'll teach the little socialists not to share!

In the New York Times: Mother Love

by Blue | Speaking of moms:  Man.  Why is The New York Times doing these columns anyway? 

A third grader's mom discusses her feelings of anger and jealousy and a mix of other things I don't want to think about too closely when she discovers that some little third grade girl has written "I [heart] Oedipus" (<not his real name) on a bathroom wall.  When the son finds out, he is--to the mom's relief--devastated.   

“Someone wrote my name on the girls’ bathroom wall,” he mumbled. His little shoulders sagged with the weight of being in the third grade.

“How does that make you feel?” I asked.

“Horrible.” He pushed his hair out of his eyes then came to me. His lunch pail banged into my backside while he leaned his head into my belly...

Backwards "B" Girl Lied About Mugging; Drudge Gets Pwned?

by Teh Nutroots | Ashley Todd, the McCain volunteer in Pennsylvania who alleged she was mugged by a black Barack supporter at an ATM---and that he carved a backwards "B" on her cheek (backwards like it would have been if someone was looking in a mirror while carving it)---was lying.  At least that's what the police say. 

Wonkette's been on it and all over it:

BREAKING: McCAIN CUT-NUT MADE IT UP!

NICE TRY, FRAUDBOT!   

A Children’s Treasury Of Ashley Todd Updates   

McCain Cut-Nut Gains YouTube Pals   

Racial Mugging Victim Helpfully Twittered Her Terrible Tale

GOP Gal Claims Savage Negro Mugged Her … For Obama!

Wonkette:  "Happy Willie Horton Day, everyone. We will predict this story will fully unravel in about 48 hours. Weird times."

Palin Anointed to Protect Her from Witchcraft?

by The Puppet Mistress | Okay.  Maybe the video below reflects beliefs that are   a little weirder than those held by, say, Mitt Romney, George W. Bush,  Andrew Sullivan---or for that matter, me.  I mean, don't all religious practices and beliefs look a little strange from outside?  It's so hard to judge.

Or, um, not. 

"First Dude, First Dude, First---" (About Todd Palin)

by blue stockings | First, Jon Stewart brings you this Moment of Zen:

Then please read this piece by Mike Madden in Salon.   Here's a taste, which should  be enough to scare anyone who worries about McCain's age and history of invasive melanoma (which worries me more than his age).

Soon, Todd Palin was getting copied on e-mails dealing with official state business. He had already helped write the state budget, gotten involved in personnel matters and called up lawmakers when he -- or Sarah Palin -- had a bone to pick with them. Apparently Palin's inner circle figured they better include him on messages about pending legislation or ongoing controversies, too. The First Dude's involvement in Palin's efforts to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police force have now earned him a subpoena from the Legislature, and he also allegedly intervened to have John Bitney (a former friend) fired from the state payroll for having an affair with the ex-wife of one of Todd Palin's buddies. The Washington Post reported last week that the Palins billed the state $1,371 for Todd's airfare to Washington, when he joined Sarah Palin at a National Governors Association conference, and for the whole family to fly around Alaska watching him compete in the Iron Dog snowmobile race....

Cindy McCain, Biker Chick?

by Teh Nutroots |  Ben Smith:

Meanwhile, at a biker rally in Sturgis, S.D., John McCain appears to have volunteered his wife for a topless beauty pageant:

McCain felt so comfortable at the event that he even volunteered his wife for the rally’s traditional beauty pageant, an infamously debauched event that’s been known to feature topless women.

“I encouraged Cindy to compete,” McCain said to cheers. “I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman ever to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.”

I hear defiant redstate-necked Republicans asking: "Why shouldn't John McCain offer her up his wife for the "Bikini Contest" at the Biker event he's attending in Dakota?" 

Why indeed?  Why indeed.  .

Well, there is this (from ESPN via TPM):