Cafferty: what are we becoming

Cafferty struck a somber tone tonight after the House passed legislation that includes a war crimes immunity clause. He rightfully asks, “what are we becoming?”Cafferty: President Bush is trying to pardon himself. Here’s the deal: Under the War Crimes Act, violations of the Geneva Conventions are felonies, in some cases punishable by death. When the Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva Convention applied to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, President Bush and his boys were suddenly in big trouble. They’ve been working these prisoners over pretty good. In an effort to avoid possible prosecution they’re trying to cram this bill through Congress before the end of the week before Congress adjourns. The reason there’s such a rush to do this? If the Democrats get control of the House in November this kind of legislation probably wouldn’t pass.

You wanna know the real disgrace about what these people are about to do or are in the process of doing? Senator Bill Frist and Congressman Dennis Hastert and their Republican stooges apparently don’t see anything wrong with this. I really do wonder sometimes what we’re becoming in this country.

the wild west lives on

“A couple came up to me after it was all over and shook my hand and Saloon brawlsaid, ‘We’re from South Carolina, and we just want to thank you, that was the best bar fight and greatest entertainment we’ve ever had,’ ” said Scott Richard of Cody.

Forget Texas; don’t mess with Wyominginans either, apparently. Fark has the report of the best little saloon brawl in the West.

The fight broke out shortly after midnight in the Irma’s Silver Saddle bar.

“Somebody in the bar, as a joke, yelled, ‘Last call for alcohol,’ ” said Richard. A drink then got sloshed onto the ceiling, where it dripped onto an individual who took umbrage with the turn of events, he said.

“This skinny guy stands up and starts lipping off,” Richard said.

Amid an attempted apology, someone else threw a punch, and Richard said he stepped in to try to break things up but was also hit.

And then all hell broke lose,” he said.

Casualties include a bartender, several participants, and one chair and table. No word on whether or not it was a wagon-wheel table, though.

on the road again

so blogging will be a little erratic. That’s okay, though: I know that if you’re a reader of this blog you’re very into the erratic arts.

FYI you know how the tarmac on runways and taxiways has those rubber tire marks, in big swooping circles and straight lines and some, heart-stopping times, a series of juddering dark grey dots, fading off into the distance? Well there is one spot at YVR where some fellow who has too much time on his hands and a job that pays by the hour has taken it upon himself to apply the creative impulse to tire marks.

He’s made a happy face.

America 1776-2006: R.I.P.

Patriotboy's America

Head over to Jesus’ General and pay your respects.
If you have no idea what this is about, check out this remix of a classic, by Karl, one of the General‘s loyal soldiers, or the Colbert Report below it.

As long as we’re rewriting the values our nation has so long held dear (from liberty and justice to tyranny and oppression), perhaps we must also rewrite our songs. My humble submission:

America the Beautiful

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty tyranny,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim’s torturer’s pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom screams of the tortured ring!

jet-set rednecks: incest, inheritance, and independence

I'll just bet he does!Now, are they not a lovely couple, in a May/December way? But not so lovely when you realize it’s also in a child/progenitor way.

Say hi to Bruce McMahan, McMahan’s Furniture heir, former PaineWebber and Bear Stearns honcho and current (clock ticking) chief of McMahan Securities. She’s Linda Marie Hodge McMahan Schutt, PhD (Psych, natch; draw your own inferences), and executive vice president of marketing for Argent Funds Group LLC and McMahan Securities.

You’d think the Westminster Abbey nuptuals of such a pair would rate a brief mention in the Times, wouldn’t you? Well, you’d be wrong.

See, she’s his daughter.

And that, my friends, is the difference between the Times and the Village Voice. (via Fark)

In court papers, McMahan denies that he ever had a sexual affair with his daughter. But he doesn’t explain how his and Linda‘s DNA turned up on a vibrator that Linda‘s husband uncovered in her luggage. McMahan also hints that Linda may not be his biological daughter, despite a DNA test he paid for showing with 99.7 percent probability that he is her father…

Then, on September 13, as this article was being lovely wedding rings you've got there. Pretty stupid of you to photograph them, though.prepared for print, all five lawsuits were settled on undisclosed terms. As part of the settlement, a federal judge in San Diego sealed the files of the California lawsuit and took the rare step of wiping out any record that the lawsuit had ever existed.

Through McMahan‘s L.A. public relations firm, the parties sent a statement to New Times, describing the matter as a mere “family dispute,” and alluded to taking legal action if this newspaper published this article, which is drawn from the information in the court cases that McMahan has gone to such lengths to hide from public view.

If you’ve ever thought about reading Kathryn Harrison‘s The Kiss, I’d advise you to skip it and just check out this bizarre and twisted tale. It trumps Harrison‘s subsequently-repudiated memoir on every measure that counts: more laws broken, dodgy Dubai dollars, a posh wedding (Westminster! Abbey!), private spas, everyone involved seems to have had more marriages than Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor combined (with the exception of the blushing bride. She really was Daddy’s girl), incriminating videotape, a vast fortune, lawsuits galore, Eastern European mail order brides, and, if I may remind you, DNA-encrusted sex toys!

What’s not to like?

Yeah, there but for the grace of Dr. Smith, go these two