His Princeton year-book photo!

(Via TNR)

I'd like to take this time to note that Halloween should always been held on the last Saturday of the month. When you're a kid, there's nothing more depressing than a Monday Halloween. I mean, trick-or-treating was always awesome, but there was kind of a looming sadness about it all. So, yeah. Move that sucker to Saturday.

Does anyone else kind of wish they had confirmed Miers just so that we wouldn't have to hear any more crap about the Supreme Court? I mean, how much damage can one Justice do, anyway? You really only hear about 4 or 5 of them most of the time anyway.

Bored now.

does anyone notice? I find this to be a funny headline.

Even if Mr. H and his Merry Band of Evil had never existed, I'd still argue that there are few types of protest more terrifying than a massed rally against the Jews. The smiling photo of Iran's Anti-Semite-in-Chief is kinda goofy, though. Does the AP have a dark sense of humor or what?

Well, Bush finally pulled the plug on poor old Harriet Miers. The only losers here are medicore cronies the world over, who sadly, will not get to see one of their own on the highest court in the land (and no, Souter doesn't count.)

Anyhoo, I was thinking that what bothers me the most is that history will record Harriet Miers as Bush *first* choice for the O'Connor vacancy. Think about that for a second. Let it sink in.

Having Harriet Miers for your first choice would be like having a million dollars to spend on a new car -- any car -- and falling in love with a 2002 Saturn.

Or imagine if you walked into an electronic store, waved off the salesman and proudly proclaimed that a 27" Zenith would be your next home entertainment center. This whole Miers things really defies reason. And for that, I'm so glad it's over.

Don't forget to remember that the Mayday Contest is coming up again. This November 5 and 6 is the time to make a crapload of sweet sweet 24 hour films, this time with titles provided by Clarrissa herself, Melissa Joan Hart! We've got 12 teams now (I think) so there's still some room for new teams to sign up. Should be ever so fun and exciting.

And if you haven't stopped by the site and poked around and watched the movies you should, some of them are quite good.

Also, even though it isn't really all that good... Fisherman 4.0!

Don't tell Frank.

Today marks the Fiftieth Cash. Hilariously enough, Cash isn't even in it. He was supposed to be in a portrait on the wall, but true to form I was running late with the strip and had to get it out. But Fish is there, so that's something, right. Maybe it'll becoem a murder mystery!

1. Picard has a lot of muses/people he opens up to. Kirk really only had Spock, and even then, he never opened up nearly as much as Picard (I think this is what gave Kirk his sharp, angry edge). Anyway, I count, Dr. Crusher, Troi, Guinan, and Data among Picard's "muses." Hell, he's even revealed much of himself to Q.

2. Who do you think Data respects more when it comes to knowledge of engineering and space mechanics? Geordi or Picard?

3. How can the Enterprise be the Federation flagship when it is not commanded by a flag officer?

4. O'Brien has one of the better gigs.

5. The fewer times they leave the ship = the better the episode

6. SpikeTV never seems to replay those "There Are Four Lights!!!!" episodes.

I was a big fan of this site back in college. It suddenly popped back into my head, and I was happy to discover it's still around. Do check it out if you've never seen it.

Pretty cool movie of Earth taken from space. Who says science can't be alarmingly awe-inducing?

Crazy 23-year-old mother of three kills all three: If this isn't the best case for legalized abortion, I don't know what is. Abortion will cut the number of teens having kids.

Crazy goth kid kills rich guy's wife -- brutally: The goth sub-culture is such a lame farce. Get over yourselves, and start shopping at Old Navy.

No more suing gun manufacturers: A victory for personal responsibility more than anything. People who want to sue gun manufacturers are cousins (even if they won't admit it) of the same people who attack television and pop music and video games for juvenille delinquency.

CIA Leak Case: See ya, Rove and Libby. Now go back to your election metrics and stay the hell away from domestic policy.

Tom Delay: My gut tells me he's gonna win out in the end.

Abortion's becoming eugenics: I'm pro-science absolutely. I'm pro-cloning, pro-stem cells, pro-GM crops, pro-moon/mars exploration, pro-hydrogen economy, and pro-super-duper-advanced "You're kid might come out f'ed up; you should think about an abortion" pre-natal care.

So everyone should read Black Hole by Charles Burns. You may know him as official cover artist for the Believer, and his art is, to my mind, pretty stunning. Block Hole is one of those rare success stories where I picked up an issue on a whim and was completely blown away. And then I waited. Because it turns out I had picked up the second to last issue of a book that had been coming out (very) sporadically for a decade. But having discovered it was a popular indie comic I thought "oh, surely it will finish up and then come out in a collection," and two years later it did. In Spanish. And one year after that it's finally out in a lovely hardcover that I felt compelled to blow some of my Vegas money on.

And it was worth it.

Imagine Reefer Madness as a cautionary tale about STDs, but with a strange mutating disfgiuring plague, an incredible amount of explicit sex and sexual frankness, and a story that, for all the drama and mind-bending weirdness, is actually a high school character drama. Yeah, it's really good. I'm glad I waited for the collection, although I find myself simultaneously pleased and dissapointed that they treat it like a real book. No extras or cover reprints at the back, which feels classy, but those beautiful covers deserve to be seen. Regardless, it's just a mesmerizing little tale of insane-o STDs. You should read it.

Schwarz sides with the Dem-backed anti-gerrymandering prop in Ohio (as do I). Good for him. You can't support CA's efforts with supporting them all.

I suppose Liz will be excited to know that Simon from Firefly is now doing the intro/outros for "Nerds in Paradise," Quin and Mandy's Real Worlding of our trip to Comic Con that's on Current. All your dreams could come true Liz.

Wow, today is a day for adding people to the links list. Lauren Wong, wonderful artist, has (finally) finished her website. She downright makes me feel OK about slacking on Five Paragraph Essays. But she's done, and it's awesome, and there are meat tiaras and other good things and you should go look at it.

She also has some Carrot Art, in case you were wondering. It's the one marked "danger."

Well maybe not, he doesn't appear to have genitals.

Anyway, The Atrox, brought to you by our lovely friends Paul, Jeff, Emory and Leslie, is your new repository for webcomics, hilarious video things, and maybe some other stuff. So go check it out. The Psychic Bunny offices are featured in Boat City. Huzzah.

Well, they always said this was a pretty diverse Administration. Now we know they're not just talking about color. In the space of a few months Bush has nominated one of America's smartest judges to the Supreme Court, and followed it up with the nomination of one of the country's dumbest lawyers. That's some serious intellectual diversity.

Anyway, here's Miers' much-lampooned questionnaire.

Democrat: Global warming is changing the weather patterns and raising the temperature of the Gulf of Mexico which makes the storms increase rather than decrease in intensity as they approach the coast.

Republican: God hates fags.

I keep seeing this on the Fark.com boards. Sorry if anybody's seen it before. I thought it was funny.

I'm watching that episode now where Data makes his own android "child." Picard is all offended and acting humano-supreme-y that Data would want to *gasp* pro-create. This seems a rather unenlightened view for a Federation captain/philospher; I can't imagine the Fed coming down hard on female officers who suddnely get pregnant.

Then again...

It's well-established ST:TNG canon that Picard hates kids of all species. So Picard being angry and frustrated with Data is actually pretty cool continuity.

This is just fun to look at. Top 40 Magazine covers of the last 40 years

That Economist cover is hilarious.

Another big vote in Iraq. Good luck embryonic democrats! To celebrate what I hope will prove a relatively (emphasis on that word) smooth election, here's a link to my favorite cartoon regarding the January election.

Horny Bear Lawyer is my new favorite anything.

*cross posted from Begum*

This first issue is just awesome. My love of Geoff Johns was waning, mainly because "Rogue War" was too scattered and the more I think about it the more "Rebirth" was just serviceable, but ooh boy it's back with a vengeance. The general thrust of the thing is all pretty great, although it isn't clear just where we're headed yet, and all the characters are just spot on. I'm also really happy (sad?) with this whole fight between the big three. Because frankly I kinda think Diana did the right thing, and the fact that the other two won't own up to that is just childish. I mean, what do Clark and Bruce think the Amazons do with all those arrows and swords and crap anyway? Throw tea parties? Plus it will be great when later on Mongul kills someone and Diana gets to "I told you so" the hell out of Superman.

And I just love Johns' Batman now that he is freed from the constraint of having to write him as a big spoilsport during Hal Jordan's coming home party. He still makes it perfectly clear what he thinks of modern Batman in that not-so-subtle shot of the Spectre with the bat-signal on his chest and the caption "This is what the world does to Legends. It corrupts them..." Regardless, he manages to make Batman more than a crabby bastard, which is nice. And Batman, quite frankly, just nails Superman right to the fucking wall. Twice. "You're not human, you're superman" and "The last time you inspired anyone you were dead." Damn.

Oh, and Jeff will be happy that the Ray is not only alive, but will probably be showing up again later too!

OK, love letter over.

It makes me smile.

Did you know there's a huge Columbus statue in DC and the Italian and Spanish embassies lay a wreath at it every CDay?

Or that Justice Scalia was the grand marshall of this year's NYC parade? Funnier still is that no one knew who the hell he was.

Despite Justice Scalia's prominence, few paradegoers recognized him, a reflection perhaps of the Supreme Court justices' long tradition of limiting their public appearances.

"Who's that guy?" Frank Duarte, 38, a civil engineer from Wood-Ridge, N.J., asked his friend Mark Campesi, who suggested that Justice Scalia "must be some Italian politician."

Hilarious.

Or that the President issues a CDay proclamation (it's phrased more as a day of Italian-American celebration).

Oh, and note the very formal closing to the proclamation:

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirtieth.

I've never seen the U.S.'s birthdate refered to in such a way. Does that mean there's some official calender in the White House that puts the year zero at 1776? If so, I totally dig it.

I cant stop listening to the Harold and Maude soundtrack.

Also, if I had a skecth comedy show I would make a sketch called "Harold and Maude Go To White Castle" with the Harold from "Harold and Kumar," and the celebrity guest host (Tracey Ullman?) playing Maude, because I assume Ruth Gordon is dead. But if she's alive I'll get Ruth Gordon.

This was going to be a reply to Alex's post, but then I felt silly having a reply that's fully 5 times as long as the original post.

When I went backpacking with Rick and Frank we got into a long talk about Columbus and whether or not it was right to honor him the way we do. I remember Frank made what seemed at the time to be a fairly compelling argument for remembering his incredible achievement, even if he didn't REALLY discover America and also killed a bunch of Native Americans.

Then I read People's History of the United States, which opens up with a lovely little tale of Columbian Genocide circa 1492, and I feel pretty much like I was right the first time.

This is why I propose that to honor Columbus each year we as a country pool our resources and really use our heads to figure out the best way to commit genocide in Spain.

Seriously. Happy Columbus Day. (So shoot me; I still like the guy).

His platform can best be described as "Stalinism," but he has my vote. Oh, does he have my vote.

Man, this is just the saddest Get Your War On ever.

Also, if you haven't been reading Get Your War On it's still really good, if irregular.

Apparently the "V For Vendetta" movie makes it perfectly clear that the war in Iraq is what sets England down the path towards becoming a totalitarian state (as opposed to a nuclear conflict in the book). Additionally they use actual TV footage of the recent London subway bombings. If the movie is actually any good it will be incredibly intense just for the level of creepy bringing current events, current events we don't even really know how to deal with, into the picture. The studio wants them to make the movie less "pro-terrorist," although given that the protagonist is, you know, a terrorist, I'm not sure how possible that is. Either way, I'm excited to see it. Now if they'd only take the Matrix effect off those flying knives...

Fascinating history of state trooper uniforms (among many other things).

Many of the institutions that British observers have found "over the top" in American life are a result of these largely successful campaigns. From mandatory flag salutes and Pledges of Allegience in schools to the elaborate uniforms of state policemen, these have become part of the look and feel of American life and our national narrative.

(The state police uniforms came about after a commission of inquiry into a bloody bout of labor violence in Pennsylvania at the turn of the century. The commissioners found that many of the strikers were immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and expected police to have gaudy and impressive uniforms. American lawmen of that period outside of the big cities tended to wear ordinary civilian clothes with perhaps a badge, and this was especially true of the special deputies recruited for labor strike duties. Many of the immigrant strikers had not even been aware that the deputies were official police, and had assumed they were thugs hired by the employers. Of course in those days the difference was often slim. But in any event, a specially-trained constabulary was created in Pennsylvania, which became the State Police, and care was taken to give them an impressive uniform -- the "Smokey-the-Bear" look. This established the tradition for American state police forces ever after.)

James Lileks makes me laugh.

The wailing! The gnashing! The rending of garments! If the conservative reaction to Harriet Miers is any indication, Bush has no chance of winning a third term. The decision to appoint a relative unknown - or, given her proximity to the Bush inner circle, an unknown relative - has caused many on the right to open a vein and the let the despair flow out into the warm bath of misery, disappointment, and overextended metaphors. Why didn't Bush clone Scalia in a dish and appoint him? Here, use some stem cells if you have to. Anyone but another Souter!

That's the great fear on the right: Souterism. A mild-mannered cipher appointed by a Bush who dons the black robe and promptly starts to eat babies. Souter! How many times have you opened the door at Halloween and seen his face on a child's mask? How many times have you waited in the doctor's office, clammy with dread, waiting for him to slap the X-rays up on the wall and point to a grayish Souter-shaped mass? Miers could turn out to be the conservative's worst nightmare. She could regard the Constitution as a living document, still in its first trimester. She could, at this very moment, be in the attic assembling the shortwave she got while a member of the Resistance in Texas, dialing in Steinem One to report total success, repeat total success.

This is one of the odder offerings I've ever seen on Craigslist. Not bizarre, just odd. Do you think someone will go out of their way to buy this over Craigslist?

Bush's SCOTUS picks are so diametrically opposed. One is obviously conservative but well qualified enough that Dems (as distinct from Liberals, who can oppose him simply because he's conservative) don't have much ground to oppose him. Meanwhile Dr. Pulaski is cronyism X-treme, mostly unqualified and probably not all that conservative, but sycophantic about Bush. It's like Bush had one single competent appointment for his whole tenure as President, and he chose Roberts. Everything else has been hackery.

Boy do I miss Battlestar.

Great. Bush nominates the crappy doctor from TNG.

I'm cool with nominating a non-judge and all (in fact, I think the Supreme Court should have at least one non-judge, as strange as that may sound), but this Miers pick sucks balls. Way to follow up Roberts, Bush. Your telling me that she's going to be able to hold her intellectual own against the new Chief, let alone Scalia/Thomas or Ginsburg? This court is arguably the smartest it's *ever* been and now one of its slots appears to have been given over to blatant cronyism and tokenism.

(One final note: I really hate the idea that O'Connor's seat became a "woman's seat." How lame.)

It's good to know that even gay senators have that vivacious gay wit.

This LA Times essay says South Africa's in serious danger of going the way of Zimbabwe.