Time To Take Another Pill, Rush

Drug addict Rush Limbaugh said this about Obama the other day:

He’s obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He is more frightened of me than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn’t say much about our party. I mean, to tell you the truth, folks, if the president is a little more worried about somebody on the radio than he is about somebody on Capitol Hill … I think Obama wants me to fail, there’s no question.

Limbaugh was responding to Obama, who recently told GOP leaders: "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." I would normally frown upon a prominent Democrat making such a reference to Limbaugh, but I think this is a good move on Obama's part.

I have no doubt that Limbaugh loves all the attention -- and he's clearly more comfortable when Democrats are in power (as Limbaugh admitted a couple years ago, he doesn't like carrying water for the GOP). But Obama is trying to put a face on all of the right-wing failures of the past eight years; and now that Bush is out of the picture, it looks like he's chosen Limbaugh's face.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I do think that if the President's stimulus package passes with little to no GOP support, then Obama should take the gloves off and start going after the Republicans who opposed it. And he should tell it like it is, namely, that these right wingers are more interested in protecting a failed ideology than they are in helping their fellow citizens during this time of crisis.

Al-Qaeda's Worst Nightmare?

Barack Hussein Obama:

Soon after the November election, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet. "A house Negro," Ayman al-Zawahiri said.

That was just a warm-up. In the weeks since, the terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last. Obama has been called a "hypocrite," a "killer" of innocents, an "enemy of Muslims." He was even blamed for the Israeli military assault on Gaza, which began and ended before he took office.

"He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection," an al-Qaeda spokesman declared in a grainy Internet video this month.

The torrent of hateful words is part of what terrorism experts now believe is a deliberate, even desperate, propaganda campaign against a president who appears to have gotten under al-Qaeda's skin. The departure of George W. Bush deprived al-Qaeda of a polarizing American leader who reliably drove recruits and donations to the terrorist group.

With Obama, al-Qaeda faces an entirely new challenge, experts say: a U.S. president who campaigned to end the Iraq war and to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and who polls show is well liked throughout the Muslim world. * * *

As I was reading the above-linked article, I was reminded of when Bush sent Karen Hughes to the Muslim world in an attempt to rehabilitate America's image there. Her mission, of course, was doomed from the start and epitomized just how out-of-touch Bush and his people were with regard to how this country is perceived in the Middle East and beyond. I think it is interesting that Obama's landslide victory did more to repair America's image than BushCo could have ever dreamed of doing.

Barbara Boxer was right: elections really do have consequences.

Making A Comeback Can Be A Real Bitch Sometimes

The world's most famous evangelical sodomite is back in the news again:

Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard's former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard — a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.

Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor of the 10,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, told The Associated Press that the man came forward to church officials in late 2006 shortly after a Denver male prostitute claimed to have had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with Haggard.

Boyd said an "overwhelming pool of evidence" pointed to an "inappropriate, consensual sexual relationship" that "went on for a long period of time ... it wasn't a one-time act." Boyd said the man was in his early 20s at the time. He said he was certain the man was of legal age when it began. * * *

And speaking of controversial religious figures, here is an interesting quote:

"I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers. There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"

Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson made that statement last November during an interview with German television. But this particular Jew hater is also an excommunicated Catholic bishop -- well, at least he was an excommunicated bishop:

The Vatican stirred a diplomatic maelstrom yesterday when it announced that it had lifted the excommunication of four rebel bishops, including the British Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson.

The decree repealing the 20-year-old Vatican punishment, imposed after the traditionalist French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated the four as bishops in defiance of the Pope's authority, was signed on Wednesday by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops. This coincided with the broadcast on Swedish state television of an interview with Mr Williamson in which the breakaway bishop denied the Holocaust. * * *

Nice move, Ratzenberger.

And finally, this is hilarious:

A senior Vatican official on Saturday attacked US President Barack Obama for "arrogance" for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas. It is "the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life," Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.

"What is important is to know how to listen... without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death," he added. ***

"I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team," he added.

Maybe it's just me, but I think The Vatican should stop cuddling up to Holocaust deniers before it begins questioning the morality of Barack Obama and the nearly 70 million Americans who voted for him.

Great Daily Show Clip

You gotta love this.

And while we're on the subject of extreme right-wing neo-fascist m*therf*ckers, I thought this was pretty funny as well.

It's Finally Sunk In

Obama's ascendancy to the presidency didn't seem real to me, even after I saw him (1) being sworn in (what was up with Chief Justice Roberts screwing up the oath?), (2) giving an excellent inauguration address, and (3) driving off in "USA 1."

But now I believe.

This Is Interesting

Patrick McGoohan died last Tuesday. He was the actor who played No. 6 in "The Prisoner" television series, and he also played Longshanks in Braveheart, the warden in Escape From Alcatraz, and the bad guy in Silver Streak. This article details some of the roles McGoohan turned down:

Having early in his career deprived himself of an annuity by passing on Bond (and "The Saint," whose Roger Moore became Bond), he more recently turned down both the roles of Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" and Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. This might have been for reasons of health, as has been reported, but I prefer to think of him once again exercising his right to be perverse: "I am not a wizard," he might well have said, "I am a free man."

Maybe he just didn't like playing good guys. I knew that a lot of actors besides Ian McKellen wanted to play Gandalf -- including Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lee -- but I had no idea McGoohan actually turned down that role. I think he would have made a great wizard.

Interestingly, Ian McKellen will be playing "Number 2" in the upcoming remake of The Prisoner on AMC.

These Freebooters Will Be Tellin' No Tales

Hilarious:

Five of the pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a $3 million ransom, a relative said Saturday, the day after the bundle of cash was apparently dropped by parachute onto the deck of the ship.

The Sirius Star and its 25 crew sailed safely away Friday at the end of a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden, where pirates attacked over 100 ships last year. Hundreds more kidnapped sailors remain in the hands of pirates.

The drowned pirates' boat overturned in rough seas, and family members were still looking for four missing bodies, said Daud Nure, another pirate who knew the men involved. * * *

The Top Five Conservative Characters In "Lost"

This is a pretty funny post.

Season 5 of "Lost" premieres on January 21, and I'm nearly as pumped about it as I am about the upcoming season premiere of "Battlestar Galactica" (January 16). It's a good time to be a sci-fi fan.

One show I used to be a fan of (but not so much anymore) is "24," which has its season premiere this Sunday. Last year's season (which I think was actually two years ago due to the writers' strike) really sucked, so they better hook me in the first few episodes or I'm done with it.

The Quadrantids

I caught a lucky break this morning. I woke up a little after 6 am and decided to take a short soak in the hot tub. It was cold out, but not too cold (perhaps in the upper teens). One of the first things I noticed upon going outside was how calm it was. We've had some pretty high winds in the last few days, but there was no wind this morning, and the sky was clear.

The first inkling of sunrise was starting to appear in the east as lowered myself into the water. The stars were out, but due to the proximity of our neighbor's house, we can only see a small portion of the sky from the hot tub.

I was soaking only a few seconds when I observed the first meteor. It appeared from an area behind the Big Dipper, was very bright, and moved across the sky in a northwesterly direction. We occasionally see stray meteors when we do early morning soaks, so I didn't think much of it.

But a couple minutes later, I saw another one, and then another. I ended up seeing ten meteors over the period of about 20 minutes or so, six of which were very bright. All of them seemed to emanate from behind the Big Dipper. I'm certain I would have seen more had I been able to see a bigger portion of the sky.

The sky was getting brighter, so I ended my soak and went inside to check the internets. It turns out that the name of the meteor shower is The Quadrantids:

The Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, but observers can be disappointed if conditions are not just right. The point from where the Quadrantid meteors appear to radiate is located within the extinct constellation Quadrans Muralis. On modern star charts, this radiant is located where the constellations Hercules, Boötes, and Draco meet in the sky. The shower can appear almost nonexistent until about 11 p.m. Unfortunately, the radiant does not attain a very high altitude for most Northern Hemisphere observers before morning twilight puts an end to the show. The best observations are actually possible from countries with high northern latitudes, such as Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The display is virtually nonexistent for observers in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Quadrantids generally begin on December 28 and end on January 7, with maximum generally occurring during the morning hours of January 3/4. The Quadrantids are barely detectable on the beginning and ending dates, but observers in the Northern Hemisphere can see from 10 to around 60 meteors per hour at maximum. The maximum only lasts for a few hours.

I've never had much interest in observing wintertime meteor showers, mostly due to the fact that it is freaking cold outside this time of year. But a hot tub really seems to help in that regard. Maybe I'll take another shot at The Quadrantids tomorrow morning.