COLD, ALOOF BASTARD!

How anyone could not reflect on the devastation of Katrina - and the stunning visual evidence of the lack of progress toward rebuilding it marked by the first anniversary of this disaster and not feel great remorse and embarrassment escapes LOST. But to attempt to turn it into a triumph - almost an acheievement for purely political purposes on a whistle stop tour leading to the 5 year anniversary gala of the hallmark of the Bush Presidency - is a new low.

Courtesy of the Huffington Postyou can get the whole story here, but bring a strong stomach. You'll need them for comments like the following:

"Instead, in a series of upbeat events designed to underscore progress, Mr. Bush struck an optimistic — and at times almost defiant — tone. He portrayed the anniversary as a starting point, deflecting questions about slow results."

And then there was this one - from a President whose handlers have spent most of his presidency keeping him in a protective bubble - never directly exposed to the focus-sharpening light of criticism or adversity: "“I’ve come back to New Orleans to tell you the words that I spoke on Jackson Square are just as true today as they were then,” he told a largely friendly audience at Warren Easton Senior High School, referring to his major nighttime address on the storm last September. "

Finally, this note which effectively summed up the entire day: "Mr. Bush’s day — a whirlwind more of sights and sounds than of substance — began with a memorial Mass at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis on Jackson Square and concluded with Mr. Bush returning to his ranch outside Crawford, Tex "

Back to Crawford after all? After being told it was only a 10 day vacation this year. After a weekend spent in Kennebunkport with the extended family - which was not included in the 10 day count, a retreat to the ranch after this day of "hard work." Another lie exposed for easily the most dishonest Administration in the last 100 years.

NO LONGER A PLANET? THROW AWAY THOSE SCIENCE BOOKS!



Unbelievable as it may sound, Pluto has gone the way of Saint Christopher, Bigfoot, and Milli Vanilli. A Panel of international Astronomers meeting in Prague today voted on Percival Lowell's discovery, and its official. Pluto has been downgraded from a Category 1 Planet to a Jovian Asteroid

Reached for comment in the White House Rose Garden, a visibly distraught President Bushhad this to say, "Nobody could have anticipated the deplanetization of Pluto. I call upon all nations to put out an APB on known suspects Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, who've been plotting this evil traves - this crime for some time to come. Your either with us, or your against the Magic Kingdom. Now watch this chip shot."

Following a brief discusson with aides, President Bush added, "Oh, THAT Pluto?"

The removal of Pluto from the once sacrosanct list of 9 planets is expected to have some far reaching implications. Major League Baseball owners, for one, are expected to follow suit, and vote in post-World Series Winter Meetings to eliminate the Shortstop from the field, and require Second basemen to adopt a playing position more adjacent to the base which they are supposed to be covering. The First Monday in October is expected to herald the unprecedented resignation of one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, with no follow up effort to replace same. Early oddsmakers in London and Las Vegas have opened with Clarence Thomas as the odds on favorite to resign, by accident, after being duped by the others into signing a blank resignation letter. Hispanic Posadas are expected to begin on December 17th this year, one day later than normal.
Pressed for time golfers are eagerly anticipating the shortening of regulation courses to sixteen holes, and their joy is eclisped only by course owners who will now expand their tennis and spa operations by using the retired two holes on each course. No word yet from how pit bosses and other craps professionals will adapt to the anticipated gaming changes in casinos all over the world.

DAMN, THAT DOG REALLY CAN READ!!!

Some pictures really ARE worth a thousand words!! Is this a four-legged Swift Boating? As the saying goes: Children and dogs are great judges of character. For those on the right side of LOST's Circle who might suggest that the dog seems to be, ahem, targeting Cheney more so than Bush, it bears mentioning the Fish rots from the head on down, and that unlike the VP, at least the dog can demonstrably hit his target.

PANIC STILL SELLS

Yesterdays announcement that British law enforcement officials had broken up a plot to blow up several airliners using seemingly innocuous household liquid containers and a source of heat/light like a camera flash sent the American media into quasi hysterics - - blather blather blather about long lines,
and uber fear about the first ever RED alert on the fabulous Tom Ridge Spectrum of Scary. As has been the case soooooooo many times in the past since 2001, fear fright and the molding and shaping of same inundated the airwaves. Was it real? Well, this time it was the British reporting after all, not the U.S. holding up a group of 20-somethings doing calisthenics and talking about joining up with bin Laden, so it must be real. And this one was in THE FINAL STAGES (dun dun DUN!) so we just did DODGE a bullet.

But then it came out that the Decider in chief had been briefed on this in advance. Twice, over the course of a full week before the announcement. Then we got Satandick out on the trail - the day after the Lieberman loss, doing his best Jersey-protection-racket schtick. about how you know, "we got us a nice country here, wouldn't it be a shame if someone came in and blew part of it up? Heh heh heh, remember that when you vote." And then, Bam, this story breaks. Smell - I mean sound familiar? As it turns out, this is not a new threat, its been around for eleven years or so, and nobody's done anything about it.

Its the Piggy Rove playbook - dusted off and being recycled once more. Scare 'em scare 'em scare 'em into voting for us. Will it work again, or will enough people be courageous enough to call bullshit on it this time? How, you say, well here's two ways:

1. Remind people that timing is everything, and that every time this Adminstration's been hit with some bad news (Plame, bad economic numbers, Downing Street memos, Duke Delaybramoff) there's been some "foiled plot" announced and pimped in the media to change the subject;

2. Point out that this report clearly indicates that British Law enforcement officials, working with intelligence sources, foiled this plot. Why is that important you ask? Well, who was it that advocated an approach to terrorism that favored coordination between law enforcement and intelligence sources, and the military only as an adjunct to capture after the first two prongs had worked together to locate and identify the terrorists? Yep, ol' soft on terror John Kerry favored this approach, and these bozos mercilessly ridiculed him for it. So, to compare results, the Brits isolated and captured 24 of these plotters, didn't kill any civilians in so doing, and there've been no loss of lives. Cheney's war effort got Hussein, got Zarqawi, but not bin Laden, not Al Zwahiri, and killed about 2,800 American servicemen, wounded 18,000 others, and killed at least 50,000 Iraqis. Hmmmmm, whose approach to combating terror is more effective and efficient? Take your time.

JUST GO AWAY, JOE"

Well, despite the resigned pessimism expressed by some knowledgeable folks on the progressive side, Ned Lamont's upstart campaign has completed the unseating of mealy mouth Joe Lieberman from the Connecticut Senatorial delegation. As of last evening, it appeared that Lamont had indeed won the Halley's Comet of Democratic primaries in the State, 52% to 48% over Lieberman, who in recent years has become synonymous with walking in lockstep with President nitwit in support of the biggest collection of errors, mistakes and screw ups in U.S. foreign policy history. So much so that buttons depicting the now famous "State of the Union kiss" were in high demand down the stretch of the campaign.

So what now? Does Lieberman quietly concede and then fade away into retirement? Write a book of virtues? Help the homeless? Offer his services as a special envoy to the Middle East? Study the Talmud? Volunteer for "Habitat for Humanity?"
NO, no no, no, no and no. Joe Lieberman - as he did in 2000 when he accepted his party's nomination for Vice President AND simultaneously sought re-election to the Senate - is setting a course for consummate selfishness and is running for the Senate as an Independent. Ignoring the sea change inherent in his Primary rebuke, Lieberman is now going to risk handing over his seat to a bona fide Republican who will curl up into a ball into the satanic lap of Dick Cheney and company as if to say "whatever you like," when it comes to foreign policy. Lieberman does not see this as a problem, of course. But in doing this he is ignoring the will of the majority in his nominal party - the very same people who put him that seat for eighteen years before, and supplanting his will for that of his constituents. Joe, the people done spaketh. You backed the wrong dog in the fight, you've lost fair and square, and you need to go away, quietly. And the rest of you Democratic church mice, you need to recognize Lamont's victory for what it is - another indicator that the American public is indeed awakened to the reality of the mess that is Iraq and who created it. Its time to hammer those points home - along with loudly repeating how this fiasco was packaged and sold to the country by this conniving bunch of amoral slugs who themselves avoided war time service like the plague. Stand up and do it DCCC and DSCC!

BACK FROM HUMIDITY WORLD

Eight days of swelter - on a scale previously unfamiliar to LOST, a California native. Eight days of sensory overload - in the way that only the twisted Mouse worshippers can deliver. Woe to you Six Flags! Stand aside Anheuser Busch! Knotts, Schmotz! That hollow empty sound is the echoing black hole that is LOST's wallet, cleaned out by Disney's denizens of the Sweltering southeast, no different from the countless millions who flock to central Florida annually for the privilege of being fiscally pecked to death in 2 to 6 dollar increments over a days long period of time.

Things that can be positively said: The Disney engineering team does a tremendous job of creating PG rated thrills that seem far worse. Their marketing people do the rest, and so it is their parks - not the Universal facilities - that pack people in. And, thankfully, the bottled water in the park is a mere 2 bucks for 24 ounces - almost half the price of the same item in the Anaheim rendition, and a great break considering that Orlando tap water smells and tastes like it came out of one of the lesser caverns of the nether world - sulfury-swampy, not at all appetizing. The Animal Kingdom park is a fine fine experience, and has plenty of shaded nooks and crannies for fending off the mid-day roast. The Disney-MGM studios is a fun park as well, and their Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror rides are on the mark. The Disney Water parks are a literal oasis in the midst of Summer heat. Epcot's English Pub pours great imported drafts.

The not-as-good: If you venture to Disney MGM, run, don't walk, past the Drew Carey "Sounds Dangerous" show. It is the seven most un-funny minutes in Disney history - save for perhaps any of the "Herbie" movies - it is completely in the dark, and if the air conditioner isn't working (as it wasn't on the day LOST and family attended) the place smells like pee. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, howdja like the play? Also, be ready to see uber-marketing taken to an unholy extreme. Nearly every ride dumps one into a gift shop. Nearly unavoidable. Stay the hell away from the "Primeval Whirl" ride at Animal Kingdom, unless you like vomit flirtations. This ride is a bit like combining the tea cups with an industrial washing machine. Definitely do not ride this ride and then try the Everest expedition. The nausea-synergy will stop you dead in your tracks.

The truly awful: Universal's City walk. A multi story concrete monument to Carnies, accessible mainly by a drive through places that would make the noxious parts of Buena Park and La Palma blush with embarrassment. The weather. While flying in at 10:45 pm, just in time to pick up the rental car before the reps all turn into pumpkins, the outside temp was a chilly 91 with an estimated 85% relative humidity. A three yard walk produced a two gallon ooze. In that kind of persistent heat, crowds of people - especially large people (of which the buffets of the area have enabled mightily) - become rather ripened over the course of the day.

That's the nutshell. Pictures and further comments to follow as the debriefing and return to regular existence continue.