Quote O' Teh Day

The UK election turned out to be perhaps the only election I can think of where all three parties managed to lose at the same time. Each in a different way.

Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo

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British Election Couverage - Andrew Sullivan
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Contrariennes, Sign Up Your Daughters

for this great new fitness program (only available in SoCal).
You're too old, probably would make your heart fail or something.

White Women's Workout - watch more funny videos

Christian products for women. You ain't saved without a rhinestone tee.

It's Agreed, There Are 954 Colors

and they include poop, poo brown, and shit.
That makes complete sense.
My favorite? Cyan (reaches for dictionary.)
I wish my poop was cyan and smelled like the sea. Or maybe peppermint.

What Exactly Is Decadence Anyway?

Two summers ago I had a delightful lunch at an Oregon winery. The foie gras on the hamburger was a touch so special I couldn't let it go to waste and removed it, shared and ate it separately.
The dessert was black pepper ice cream with a lavender meringue and raspberry sauce.
Neither the sort of thing I'll ever likely eat again, nor anything like them.
I didn't feel decadent though, just lucky.
But if I had to do that 200 times a year, I think I'd just rather stick to my hummus and naan and the occasional grapefruit, maybe some meatloaf for dinner.

The waiter arrived and placed before Maxime a large white plate. At the center was her foie gras, a short pillar of puréed duck liver on a piece of crisp toast with a lacy web of caramelized sugar on top; the sides were studded with cherries and sprinkled with pistachios, and a transparent sauce, made of white port gelée, surrounded the entire creation like a moat. She considered the dish for a few moments, as if trying to determine the best angle of attack. With the side of her fork, she broke off a piece of the complicated construction, and tasted it. The dish, which I later tried, activated every sense with which humans are equipped: the foie gras was smooth and as rich as butter, its silky texture contrasting with the caramelized sugar, which shattered like a pane of microscopically thin glass against the teeth and tongue, its sweetness offset by the sour cherries, the rounded aromatic flavor of the toasted nuts, and the texture and taste of the port gelée.

Who Pays For Cleanup

TPM has the skinny. Thank you, Talking Points Memo.

Looks Like A Brit

I remember showing a picture of the Frenchman my daughter married to an acquaintance and he said, "He looks French." Sure enough, he did, although I can't say specifically what facial characteristics mean one looks French, and there are plenty of French people who do not look French.
So, too, when I opened up TPM this morning and saw the CEO of BP. Tony Hayward looks like a Brit. He just does. Just like Harry Potter looks like a Brit. I would never mistake him for an American, even if he turned out to be an American. There's a look.
Some commenters say it's the hair, but it's more than that. It's bone structure, it's eyes, it's peaches-and-cream complexion. Or something. Guess I'm a racist in these matters. Nationist?
Oh, and the pinstriped suit. Americans try, but they don't really wear that suit.
See for yourself.
Oh, and it wasn't their fault. Righto, Tone. May you sleep with the sea birds.

Just Nice To Know, Or Have

The solar system as music box.

Is Evil black in every culture?

In Summary: It's Monday

and so far, the news from TPM alone makes me laugh and cry at the same time.
A bit late to the party, blustery here and the electricity just came back about an hour ago.
So far, here's what I know:
1. Pelosi says Bush White House muzzled Treasury and other economic officials, who weren't allowed to tell Congress how bad things were in 2008 until the week of the Lehman emergency. Paulson not commenting, which says a lot, actually. Remember, it was an election season.
Also, nice to be reminded that Republicans blocked TARP until we were about to fall off the cliff.
2. The Idiot wing of the Republican Party, many of whom live in Minnesota, have nominated a gubernatorial candidate who believes states should only obey the federal laws that their own legislures have approved. So much for the Civil War, eh?
3. BP is offering Alabama residents $5,000 to promise never to sue them over that little oil spill thingie.

Poem O' Teh Day

I'm still getting one a day, so they must have got a grant or something.
This one's very good.

A Book Said Dream and I Do

by Barbara Ras

There were feathers and the light that passed through feathers.
There were birds that made the feathers and the sun that made the light.
The feathers of the birds made the air soft, softer
than the quiet in a cocoon waiting for wings,
stiller than the stare of a hooded falcon.
But no falcons in this green made by the passage of parents.
No, not parents, parrots flying through slow sleep
casting green rays to light the long dream.
If skin, dew would have drenched it, but dust
hung in space like the stoppage of
time itself, which, after dancing with parrots,
had said, Thank you. I'll rest now.
It's not too late to say the parrot light was thick
enough to part with a hand, and the feathers softening
the path, fallen after so much touching of cheeks,
were red, hibiscus red split by veins of flight
now at the end of flying.
Despite the halt of time, the feathers trusted red
and believed indolence would fill the long dream,
until the book shut and time began again to hurt.