Moe Lane

It’s not precisely the full version of Nina Simone’s Sinnerman…

…but it’s one of my favorite non-SF scenes from a non-SF movie. Don’t remember if I’ve done this one this year.

Moe Lane

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Three quotes of the day, in fact.

Via The Washington Post, via Hot Air, we have first former CFA head Christina Romer, on what it was like to work for the White House…

I felt like a piece of meat.

…and former WH communications director Anita Dunn, on what it was like to work for the White House*…

This place would be in court for a hostile workplace… because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.

…and an unnamed WH ‘high-ranking female official,’ on what it is like to work for the White House:

The president has a real woman problem… The idea of the boys’ club being just Larry and Rahm isn’t really fair. He [Obama] was just as responsible himself.

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These days, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just looks… healthier.  More energetic.  Less worn.  Examples below:

• Here.
• Here.
• Here.

I mean, seriously.  Compared to this picture from last year, our current Secretary of State is looking remarkably improved.  Must be a new diet/exercise regimen: maybe she plans to do a 10K or two?  I understand that many politicians feel that running is its own reward…

Moe lane

Miles Kristan being the schmuck who deliberately dumped a beer on several Republican Wisconsin legislators a couple of nights ago as part of… well, I suppose that it has something to do with the right of Wisconsin labor union leadership to feed at the public trough (and attack minority scholarship kids, too!), but it’s hard to tell from the smug.  Or fug: judging from the various blog posts, Miles Kristan doesn’t have a regular bathing schedule these days.  Anyway, hasn’t Miles Kristan worked out yet the minor little detail that he’s not going to be 25 and stinky forever?

…Probably not.  Well, not my problem.

I thought that the name would get your attention. New Dragon Age 2 DLC: Mark of the Assassin.

It appears we’ll see Felicia Day as a video game character in BioWare’s Dragon Age universe before we see her in the previously announced live-action web series, Dragon Age: Redemption. BioWare revealed that the next DLC pack for Dragon Age II will feature Day’s Elven assassin character and be ready for download on October 11.

Looks kind of Mass Effect 2: Kasumi – Stolen Memory:

…which ain’t a criticism: I liked that adventure pretty well.  Ten bucks for what’s supposedly supposed to be pretty stealthy; that should appease some of the people who spent the entire first game hiding and sneaking. (more…)

These things usually come in threes.

• First and foremost is the highly embarrassing – and possibly expensive – Kinde Durkee affair.  For those not following along with that story: Durkee was a Californian accountant used by numerous Democratic campaigns on the federal, state, and local level.  Said campaigns are all now freaking out, because Durkee was just recently arrested on multiple accounts of mail fraud involving various politicians’ campaign funds*.  Sen. Feinstein was one of the politicians who used Durkee; and aside from an at-the-time comment made to Politico about her being ‘wiped out,’ Feinstein is keeping mum about how much of her 5.2 million dollar war chest is still accessible to the campaign.
• Next up: this Field Poll about Senator Feinstein (via Andrew Malcolm**) give some pretty bad numbers, here.  41/39 approval/disapproval (a severe drop from her normal approval ratings) and she’s underwater (41/44) on her re-election numbers (also a severe drop).  If you’re wondering whether this is a big deal, well, Reuters primly notes “A spokesman for Feinstein, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992 after a long career as San Francisco’s mayor, could not be reached for comment.” Also: Feinstein’s polling has been steadily getting worse since 2006.
• Finally, here’s an interesting rumor: former talk radio host and hard-line conservative Michael Reagan (adopted son of Ronald Reagan is apparently contemplating a 2012 Senate run.  While the Feinstein campaign might argue that this is good news – Michael Reagan has never held public office, and the California of 2012 is not the California of 1966 – it remains true that Sen. Feinstein has not yet committed to running for re-election in 2012.  The woman is 78 years old, has been in the Senate for almost two decades***, and it is considered unlikely that she will be the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee after next year’s elections.

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The man’s (?) got a point.  At least, if you’re gaming: the GM likes surprises, does s/he*?  Fine.  Here’s my surprise: 3 3d6 Energy attacks, hey diddle, right up the middle.  Multifire and Rapid Shot; and remember, I have Alertness, Heroic Surge, Improved Initiative, Multishot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, and Shot on the Run.  Oh, and Weapon Focus**.

Yeah, I’ll wait while you dig out the combat charts.

Moe Lane

Via AoSHQ. (more…)

It’s that I can’t even beat the URL text.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/gordon-ramsays-dwarf-porn-double-percy-foster-dies-in-badger-den/story-e6frfhk6-1226137701868

Go ahead.  Click it.  You know that you want to. (more…)

Band On The Run, Paul McCartney & Wings

It was on the radio when I had the Cheeseburger from Paradise yesterday.

So.  We got Maryland Governor and DGA head Martin O’Malley out there SNEERING about us awful, awful racist Republicans (for the full effect, assume that I’m fluttering my hands like I’ve got the St. Vitus’ dance):

Using Governor Rick Perry (formerly) of the RGA for that, too. You see, good old Martin here really, really respects the heck out of Rick, you understand; despite the fact that he’s voluntarily a member of a racist and prejudiced group like the GOP.  Isn’t that just… well, Caucasian… of Ol’ Whitebread O’Malley?

No, my sneer’s deliberate, too.  And much more justified.  Consider this:

• The progressive, inclusive DGA currently being run by Whitebread O’Malley has precisely one racial minority among its members: MA governor Deval Patrick.  Apparently Democrats don’t like voting for ethnic minorities – at least, not statewide.
• The racist, regressive RGA ran by Rick Perry?  Four: Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, and Brian Sandoval of Nevada.  Odd how that happened, no?  – And so enthusiastically, too. (more…)

Happy Birthday to you (IA! IA! IA!)
Happy Birthday, dear Ken Hite (PURCHASE HIS TOMES, LEST YE BE DRAGGED INTO YE OUTER VOIDE!),
Happy Birthday to youuuu…

Reading Ken’s  GURPS Horror 4e [PDF] now, in fact; just finished GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Horror.  Good stuff, good stuff.

It was an argument made last week as part of the Democrats’ ongoing Well, It Could Be Worse initiative.  The goal?  To get out there the idea that, hey, sure, the Obama administration was maybe incompetent – but at least it was clean!  That counts for something, am I right?

Well, let’s review:

• Solyndra: More Solyndra: DoE Let Taxpayers Take Backseat to Obama’s Buddy Investors in Bankruptcy
• Operation Fast & Furious: Veteran Cops Recognize ‘Fast and Furious’ as a Foolhardy Idea
• LightSquared: Air Force general: The WH pressured me to change my testimony to help a Democratic donor (Via Hot Air Headlines)
• CLASS Act: More Lies: WH Emails Reveal Major Obamacare Accounting Fraud

(pause)

Yeah, karma has no sense of humor, huh?

Moe Lane