When we moved into our house in 2001, this piano was in the basement. We really need the storage space, so we’re giving it away to anyone who will move it themselves.
We’ll have to saw off the old rusty railing on our steps just to get it out the door, but we were replacing it anyway.
Tonight’s episode of “The Simpsons” was about four stories of women in literature. Usually, these “three stories” episodes are mediocre at best. I think they started doing these right around the time that I fell out of love with the show. I used to watch the show religiously. Now, I find it boring at best and offensive more often than not. Not coincidentally, the show got more pedantic around a year into the Bush administration. Not ravingly mean like “Family Guy”, but pedantic. I don’t even watch the show unless it’s because I’ve turned on Fox in advance of “King of the Hill” coming on.
(An aside: I consider the jump the shark moment to be the episode where Lisa converts to Buddhism. It’s unfunny and seems like little more than a commercial for Buddhism. Contrast it with the hilarious episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian: the message doesn’t sacrifice humor, and even with vegetarian guest stars it holds out the possibility that Lisa is in error.)
In tonight’s episode, Lisa tells a story about Snow White with herself as Snow White, and she is cured from her poisoning by a female doctor because she should not have to rely on a man. (Like I said: pedantic.) Marge tells the story of Macbeth…or rather, of her trying to get Homer cast as Macbeth in a play. I missed the third story. Finally, as they are wrapping things up, Maggie tugs on Marge and holds up her story: Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead”. Lisa moans, “Aww, isn’t that the book read by right-wing losers?” I suppose that’s funny. We’re then treated to a fourth story where Maggie is using building blocks to fashion amazing buildings in a day care center that punishes her for not being mediocre like the rest of the children. The baby is finally put on trial, and delivers an Ayn Rand speech. That’s right, Maggie speaks in the imaginary story, with the help of Jodie Foster.
Granted, this is an imaginary story that is out of continuity, but it would be funny if Maggie was actually as right-wing as her older sister is left-wing. I’m sick of the only conservatives in Springfield being the villainous Mr. Burns, the insane Rich Texan, the murderous Sideshow Bob Terwilliger, Dracula and Dr. Julius Hibbert.
The President apparently needs more Jewish friends if this is somehow news to him. Roger Simon:
…But wait. This is not the good part. The good part is what President Obama said next. The good part is one of the examples the president gave of the innovative, new-wave, cutting-edge, sharp-as-a-tack, out-of-the-box thinking that one member of his Cabinet has already come up with.
“Janet Napolitano at the Department of Homeland Security estimates that they can save up to $52 million over five years just by purchasing office supplies in bulk,” the president said proudly.
To which I say: You mean the U.S. government DOES NOT CURRENTLY BUY ITS OFFICE SUPPLIES IN BULK?
My co-worker Terry points out that there’s probably some stupid rule preventing the ordering of bulk supplies.
The Irish PM reads Obama’s speech, and Obama thanks himself because that’s what it said on the teleprompter.
John Romano’s right: if this was George W. Bush, the video would be everywhere already.
Jon David’s second Date With A Liberal is hilarious.
Here’s what’s going on:
I’m trying to install Monitor Duty to www.thehutch.com/monitorduty and then have that be the content for www.monitorduty.com. That would seem a very simple procedure, but it’s not. The domain being a subdomain is causing complications, and while I was trying to sort it out, some spammer ran the program installation before I could and changed the password so I can’t get in after changing the name of the blog to his spam site. Powweb is working on fixing all this. Meanwhile, TheHutch.com blog is now showing up as Monitorduty.com as well.
Oy.
Hang on, folks! It’ll be fixed soon Thank you for your patience.
Did you catch that Hurley was reading the Spanish version of “Y: The Last Man”. On the original flight, he was the one reading the Spanish version of “Flash/Green Lantern: Faster Friends” which featured the polar bear.
Y: The Last Man is a mature readers comic book (like “Watchmen”) about an event which kills off every man on Earth except for a guy called Yorrick, and it follows his adventures as he tries to stay alive on an Earth where women are struggling to maintain a society.
Specifically, Hurley was reading the trade paperback of “One Small Step”. In this installment, a space capsule is returning to Earth with two other men who have survived in space. It may mean nothing, but the general theme of returning to a drastically changed place does seem appropriate.
Something arrived in my inbox. The only thing I’ve changed in it is that it was written the day after the inauguration, so I removed the references to “Yesterday”.
Inauguration Day 2008:
Outgoing President George W. Bush quietly boards his helicopter and leaves for Texas, commenting only: ”Today is not about me. Today is a historical day for our nation and people.”
Eight years ago:
Outgoing President Bill Clinton schedules two separate radio addresses to the nation, and organizes a public farewell speech/ rally in downtown Washington D.C. scheduled to directly conflict with incoming President Bush’s inauguration ceremony.
Inauguration Day 2008:
President Bush leaves office without issuing a single Presidential pardon, only granting a commutation of sentence to two former border patrol agents convicted of shooting a convicted drug smuggler. He does not grant any type of clemency to Scooter Libby or any other former political aide, ally, or business partner.
Eight years ago:
President Clinton issues 140 pardons and several commutations of sentence on his final day in office. Included in these are: billionaire financier, convicted tax evader, and leading Democratic campaign contributor Marc Rich; Whitewater scandal figure Susan McDougal; Congressional Post Office Scandal figure and former Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski; convicted bank fraud, sexual assault and child porn perpetrator an d former Democratic Congressman Melvin Reynolds; and convicted drug felon Roger Clinton, the President’s half-brother.
Inauguration Day 2008:
The Bush daughters leave gift baskets in the White House bedrooms for the Obama daughters, containing flowers, candy, stuffed animals, DVD’s and CD’s, and heartfelt notes of encouragement and advice for the young girls on how to prepare for their new lives in the White House.
Eight years ago:
Clinton and Gore staffers rip computer wires and electrical outlets from the White House walls, stuff piles of notebook papers into the White House toilets, systematically remove the letter “W” from every computer key-pad in the entire White House, and damage several thousand dollars worth of furniture in the White House master bedroom.
Headlines On Inauguration Day 4 Years Ago:
“Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops die in unarmored Humvees”
“Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times”
“Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft”
Headlines 2008:
“Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $170 million”
“Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party”
“Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate”
“Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration”
Michelle Malkin puts it well: Does anyone know how to pay taxes in the Obama White House?
It is bad enough that they’re proposing a trillion dollars in Democrat pork projects, but it seems as if most rich Democrats aren’t even paying their taxes until they are unfortunate enough to get evaluated for a White House appointment. Daschle’s unpaid taxes on his limo service alone for three years are more than I paid in taxes for the entire Bush Administration…possibly even my whole working life, though I would want to double-check my figures for such a claim. Certainly it’s close.
This is so cool. “CAP Today” did a big piece on laboratory web sites and they sought our advice as one of the best Medical Laboratory sites on the web. Terry Lambert, my boss, was interviewed extensively for it. It’s quite an honor for us, having developed this site in just two years. We started with leftover elements from a very old Microsoft PageMaker design that was obviously built with PageMaker. You’d never know it to look at the Mayo Medical Laboratories site today!
