Saturday, August 04, 2007

Bridge Repair on the Cheap

Photo by Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune

Divers continued recovery efforts Friday at the scene where the I-35W bridge collapsed.



Minneapolis Star Tribune: MnDOT chose 'most cost efficient' of 3 options

In lay terms, they picked the cheapest fix. Bridge fell down. You get what you pay for.

Speaking of Van Gogh

The Ravine is not available online, so here's another Van Gogh:
Café Terrace at Night
Oil on canvas, 1888


A conservator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts has discovered a "lost" Van Gogh painting; behind another painting, which he apparently painted over. Why did he do this?
In his early years, van Gogh often reused canvases or turned them over and painted on the other side to make the most of his limited funds. But by 1889, a year before his death, he was being supported by his brother. Van Gogh painted over "Wild Vegetation" not because he couldn't afford to buy another canvas but because Theo was slow to send along new canvases, according to MFA curator George Shackelford.

"He was so eager to paint that he wasn't willing to wait," said Shackelford. "We deduce he decided to sacrifice a picture, maybe of the ones that he had that he liked the least, and he painted straight over the very highly patterned design of the first canvas without introducing a layer of white. It's fantastically amazing."

Blogtopia* Roundup, Saturday, August 4, 2007

From the Mel Kelly Life List

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
The Starry Night

Senate Democrats cave to Smirky McEavesdropper, give him even more power to wiretap, and unbelievably, put Serial Liar Alberto Gonzales in charge of oversight. 16 Democratic fools voted for this: thank heavens my Senators are more sane than these:

Evan Bayh (Indiana); Tom Carper (Delaware); Bob Casey (Pennsylvania); Kent Conrad (North Dakota); Dianne Feinstein (California); Daniel Inouye (Hawai‘i); Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota); Nancy Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas); Claire McCaskill (Missouri); Barbara Mikulski (Maryland); Bill Nelson (Florida); Ben Nelson (Nebraska); Mark Pryor (Arkansas); Ken Salazar (Colorado); Jim Webb (Virginia).

Were they that desperate to go on vacation?

Wish you were at YearlyKos? (I do! Maybe next year.) TPM has videos of interviews with some of the attendees.

The Jose Padilla trial plods on; the government's evidence is so very weak that Padilla's attorneys put on no case. Not surprising since Bush's DOJ has a 29% conviction rate on terrorism prosecutions, compared to 93% elsewhere; they're all smoke and mirrors. Kind of like the entire Bush Administration. As Will S. said, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The Bush Administration killed a 4 cents a gallon gasoline tax in 2004 that would have gone to fixing the country's decaying roads and bridges. Heckuva job, George.

Speaking of Heckuva Job George, Monday is the 6th anniversary of the PDB that George ignored: "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In US". There'll be a blogswarm on the topic.

Main St. USA News, from BoingBoing: Bubblegum rocker Bobby Sherman has built a replica of Disney's Main St. USA in his backyard.

Since Congress, George W. Bush, and the Iraqi Parliament are all on vacation, I'm gong too. Posting will be rare for the next two weeks.

Sports Roundup, Saturday, August 4, 2007



Chad Finn loves loves loves Kevin Garnett:

I guess it's still just surreal that perhaps the most likable NBA superstar of the last decade is on the Celtics, and I'm still savoring the whole thing, four days after the trade. It's funny, I've been trying to explain how significant this is to the lapsed Celtics fans I know, and I just keep coming back to the same point: Kevin Garnett will restore Celtic Pride. I guarantee it. He is the perfect player in the perfect place at the perfect time. He's a superstar who plays with the hunger and desperation of a 12th man. He's maniacal about winning.

Soccer Hall of Fame gets smart, will have two women's teams in the Hall of Fame Game on August 26th when Hamm & Foudy are inducted. Hamm, Foudy and Carla Overbeck will all play in the game.

Washington Post with an article about and interview with Freddy Adu who is now in Portugal training with Benfica; Grant Wahl of SI also interviewed Freddy.

Former Boston College striker and New Hampshire native Charlie Davies happy in Sweden.

Welcome to Boston, Eric Gagne. We'll go Ga-Ga for you.

Friday, August 03, 2007

No Kidding

Reuters: Angry men get ahead while angry women penalized: study

Diane Feinstein Votes Racist Leslie Southwick Through Judiciary Committee


In this episode of 'What lie should we tell the dumbDemocrats?', Dianne Feinstein is Charlie Brown and Leslie Southwick is Lucy.


The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The Republicans have been lying to the Democrats for six years.

Their judicial nominees have been especially skilled at this. Both John Roberts and Samuel Alito said they would follow precedents; then they voted to throw out 35 years of civil rights jurisprudence and limit the time limit for damages for employment discrimination cases to six months. Congress just passed legislation to restore the law they passed so many years ago.

Dianne Feinstein has been claiming to be surprised and shocked that Roberts and Alito lied to her. But when she had a chance to keep another neo-Paleo-conservative off the Fifth Circuit, she blinked.

She voted to let racist Leslie Southwick's nomination proceed to the Senate. Because he said he would be good. Just like Roberts and Alito promised to follow precedent.

He said he wouldn't do it any more. And she believed him!

Feinstein said she decided to break with her party over Southwick because she had met him and determined he is a "qualified, circumspect person."

"I don't believe he's a racist. I don't believe I'm a racist. I believe he made a mistake," Feinstein said.

Dummy. Doesn't matter how often they lie to you. You still believe them! Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Call your Senator and ask him/her to vote against this joker. I'm going to ask Kerry & Kennedy to filibuster his ass:

Congressional Switchboard: Senate (202) 224-3121

hat tip to Dover Bitch at Hullabaloo: Here comes another one

See also: Americablog: Dianne Feinstein votes to confirm anti-gay anti-black bigot judge, saves nomination from certain death

Schadenfreude

New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens looks at the ball after giving up the eighth run against the Chicago White Sox in the second inning as catcher Jorge Posada (L) walks to the mound during their MLB American League baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York, August 2, 2007. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (UNITED STATES)


Boston Globe: Clemens booed off mound after giving up eight runs
Yankees rally for eight runs in second after Clemens gets rocked

Anti-Abortion Nuts At It Again


An Ohio legislator, John Addams, (R-Looney Tunes), has introduced legislation that would bar a woman from getting an abortion without the father's consent. If she doesn't know who the father is, she would be required to give a list of her sexual partners, would then all be DNA tested to decide which man gets to decide whether she gets an abortion. Hey moron, if a guy doesn't want a woman to get an abortion, don't have sex. Or wear a condom. That's where the man's decision-making power begins and ends. Looney Tunes is a nice description for these sexist pigs.

The Consumerist: Proposed Legislation In Ohio Would Require Women To Get A Man's Permission To Have An Abortion

Corrente: Forced pregnancy loons on the march in the Ohio legislature

As Flo Kennedy said, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

The Mittwit Talks Down

A waitress in New Hampshire asked Romney about what he is going to do to help Americans pay health care costs. He gave her some platitudes and pointedly didn't ask her anything about her own situation. This reminds me of the 1992 debate where George H.W. Bush responded to the woman asking how the national debt had affected each of them personally. He blathered about his policy proposals. Clinton then walked right up to the woman and said "Tell me how it's affected you again." No wonder the Republican field is running scared from the YouTube debate. They'd have to answer tough questions from people who don't have cushy health care like they do, for one thing.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

How Many Bridges in Your State Are 'Structurally Deficient'?

ABC News: Minn. Bridge Collapse: Survivors' Photos
A side view of the I35 W after it buckled into chunks.
(Kimberly Brown and Kelly Kahle)


MSNBC has posted a chart that shows bridges that are "structurally deficient" for all 50 states:

MSNBC: State by state: 'Deficient' and 'Obsolete' Bridges

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are the worst with over 50% of bridges "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete".

For Massachusetts, that's what 20 years of tax-cutting Republican governors gets you.

Manchester United Signs 9-Year-Old Phenom

Remember the name: Rhain Davis. He'll turn 10 in October, but he's already got a contract with Manchester United. Watch the video:

Security Camera Records Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Bush Politicizes Minneapolis Bridge Collapse [Updated, below; Update Two]

The Chimperor is using his free cable time commenting on the Minneapolis bridge collapse to criticize Congress for not passing spending bills. He barely spoke on the bridge collapse. Of course, he doesn't really care about anyone. Psychopath.

Politicizing the bridge collapse less than 24 hours after happened. He is shameless.

Impeach his cold, lying ass.

UPDATE
: RenaF at dailykos is far more eloquent than I: The Utter F---ing NERVE. She has a transcript of his absurd statements.

UPDATE 2: Somebody was counting: Bush used 139 words to address Minneapolis, then spent 509 words blaming the Democrats.

Dodgers Fans Greet Barroid*


Fans boo the Giants' Barry Bonds as he takes to left field during the first inning Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
(Lori Shepler / LAT)


latimes.com
Brothers Adam, 26, (left) and Marcus Boyd, 30, of Palos Verdes wear their sentiments, directed at Barry Bonds, during the game on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
(Myung J. Chun / LAT)


latimes.com
Dodgers fans let Giants slugger Barry Bonds know their feelings during his seventh inning at-bat, which ended up as a bloop single.
(Myung J. Chun / LAT)


Two baseball fans dress up as Barry Bonds and BALCO founder Victor Conte before the game Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
(Lori Shepler / LAT)


All photos are from this LATimes Photo Gallery.

Minnesota Bridge Collapse

The collapse left vehicles scattered along the rubble of the bridge.

Photo: Heather Munro/Star Tribune, via Associated Press


CNN interviewed the Minnesota governor this morning, and he said well, this bridge did show structural issues in an inspection last year, but there are 80,000 other bridges in the country with the same level of deterioration; and that's not the worst ranking. Apparently there's a list of tens of thousands of other bridges that are even more structurally deficient.

ABC News says
that more than a quarter -- 27% -- of the country's 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient:

According to the Center for International and Strategic Studies, more than a quarter of the country's bridges are structurally unstable. A federal report in 2005 said Minnesota's Interstate 35W bridge was structurally deficient and may need to be repaired.

Ron Beasley at Middle Earth Journal puts it this way:

[W]e should be looking at the revenue starved collapsing infrastructure of the United States. A much greater threat than al-Qaeda could ever be.

And why is our infrastructure revenue starved? It's the crazy Republican fetish for tax cuts. And the absolutely insane Iraq war, where we will spend more than a trillion dollars according to the Congressional Budget Office. Imagine if we had used that money to repair our crumbling infrastructure. Some people in Minneapolis might be alive today.

Newcastle to Sign Alan Smith


Looks like Newcastle has won the Alan Smith derby. Big Sam has added a lot of quality players since he took over: Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, Joey Barton, David Rozehnal and Geremi. Newcastle is one of those teams where you always wonder why they underperform so. This signing should make Alan Shearer happy.

Where will Obafemi Martins find a place in this strike team?

BBC Football: Magpies make successful Smith bid

The Magpies are in talks with the 26-year-old, who has been linked to a host of Premiership clubs, and it is believed the deal is worth £6m.

Smith could even make his Newcastle debut alongside former Leeds team-mate Mark Viduka in a pre-season friendly against Sampdoria on Sunday.

Goal.com: Alan Smith Set For Newcastle - Report

The future of Manchester United's England striker Alan Smith could soon be resolved with the Manchester Evening News reporting that United have accepted a £6 million offer from Premiership rivals Newcastle deal for the former Leeds man.

Somth, 26, is apparently due to hold talks today with Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce over personal terms.

A transfer could then be completed this week.

Guardian (uk): Newcastle agree £6m Smith fee

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Massive Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis


This video frame grab taken from KMSP television shows the scene of a freeway bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. The entire span of the 35W bridge collapsed about 6:05 p.m. where the freeway crosses the river near University Avenue. (AP Photo/KMSP-TV)


WaPo (AP): Bridge Falls Into Mississippi River

MINNEAPOLIS -- The entire span of an interstate bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.

The Interstate 35W bridge, a major link between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was in the midst of being repaired when it broke into several huge sections.

"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

I heard a Minnesota-based Foxbot talking to Shepard Smith about the bridge collapse. She said, in essence, that she didn't know if this was a factor, but Minneapolis has been in the grip of a heatwave all summer. They quickly took her off the air!

The collapse is much more likely due to the fact that it's a 40 year old bridge (opened in 1967) which, when inspected in 2006, was found to have "cracks in bridge superstructure that needed attention."

Best comment on the bridge collapse, from commenter xxdr zombiexx at dailykos:

Things crumbling was a hallmark of Soviet-era incompetence and dereliction of duty.

Blogtopia* RoundUp, Wednesday August 1, 2007

SI Neg. 95-9624. Date: 1995...Liddicoatitie (tourmaline family), Madagascar. ..Credit: Laurie Minor-Penland (Smithsonian Institution)
flckr


The 2004 election was stolen; conveniently for the vote-thieving Republicans, ballots in 56 of 88 counties have been destroyed, in violation of a federal order to preserve them.

Senator Stevens has been trying to weasel his way out of charges his house renovations were a sweetheart deal by saying "My wife and I paid every bill that was presented to us". Of course, there were probably many things that went unbilled, if you know what I mean.

CNN has given Laura Ingraham Paula Zahn's slot until Mrs. Dan Senor (the USRepublican spokesman in Iraq), Campbell Brown, takes over. At Hullabaloo, Dover Bitch remembers one of Ingraham's sycophantic interviews with Heckuva Job Rumsfield.

Speaking of Rummy, that psychopathic MF will testify in the Tilllman investigation by the House Oversight Committee today. I hope Henry Waxman rips him a new one. ACTION ALERT: Sign VoteVets petition to get Bush to release the Tillman documents he's covering up with a bogus executive privilege claim.

Home Depot (following Lowes) pulls its advertising from Bill O'Lielly's show. Or maybe they don't. Pressure is having an effect, for sure.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

If You Lived In Iowa or New Hampshire: Barack Obama



hat tip to TPM Muckraker

Baby Footballers

Must see collections of baby photos of famous footballers. Look for [Fat] Frank Lampard, Stevie G., Thierry Henry and Christiano Ronaldo.

Metric-March: PICSPAM: Footballers...when they were young (Part 1)

Metric-March: PICSPAM: Footballers...when they were young (Part 2)

hat tip to Who Ate All the Pies?

The Celtics are Back

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett pumps his fist to his chest before the start of the basketball game with the Los Angeles Clippers in Minneapolis in this Nov. 25, 2006 file photo. Garnett is leaving Minnesota after the Boston Celtics agreed to acquire the All-Star forward in a multiplayer trade with the Timberwolves, a Celtics official told The Associated Press on Monday, July 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Andy King, File)


In a big way. Today's news of the signing of Kevin Garnett may change my opinion of Danny Ainge (formerly, I thought of him as the dumbest of the former Celtics). The Celtics have been boring and horrible to watch since the departure of Antoine Walker, and they weren't even that great then. Last year, riddled with injuries, they were pathetic. Now we'll find out if Paul Pierce is really a superstar. Garnett certainly is. And Ainge got him for "the Al Jefferson pu pu platter deluxe" (credit to Bill Simmons of ESPN for that delicious bon mot). Game on.

Boston Globe: The big one
Celtics agree on deal to land Garnett


Boston Globe: Jackie MacMullan
Move is just the ticket for once-proud team


Boston Herald: C’s cash in ‘Big Ticket’

Chad Finn's TATB: I think I'll go to Boston/I think I'll start a new life

[] Garnett might be the most dedicated superstar in the game, a selfless, driven, all-around force who plays as hard in a mid-January grinder in Utah as he would against Tim Duncan in the second round of the playoffs. Garnett cares, dammit, and he plays his heart out every freakin' night no matter what . . . Maybe this is hyperbole brought on by the joy and magnitude of the moment, but no matter, because I believe it to be true: Through sheer force of will, Garnett is capable of restoring Celtic Pride, and the alleged and lapsed Celtics fans who don't know this about him are going to be leaping on the bandwagon once they realize what a treat it is to watch this guy play night after night . . .

Bill Simmons, ESPNPage 2: McHale adds another notch to his Celtics legacy

My NBA guide claims that McHale retired from the Celtics in 1993, but apparently that's a misprint. How else could you explain his decision to trade Kevin Garnett to Boston for the Al Jefferson pu pu platter deluxe?

FBI Searches Senator Ted Stephens Home [Updated, below]

Anchorage Daily News: AL GRILLO / The Associated Press
Armed with a search warrant, agents from the FBI and IRS spent much of the day July 30, 2007, in, around and on top of Sen. Ted Stevens' Girdwood home, which was extensively remodeled in 2000. Investigators want to know whether the project was handled lawfully, an unnamed law enforcement official said.

WaPo: Alaska Senator's Home Is Raided
Stevens Scrutinized In a Wide Inquiry Into Corruption in the State


How will we remember Ted Stephens? For the Bridge to Nowhere? For "the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes." Or as a powerful man who let his powerful position as Chair of the Appropriations Committee corrupt him? He let an oil services company DOUBLE the size of his home. Nice work if you can get it.

I think the Tubes comment will win out.

Anchorage Daily News: Warrant served at Ted Stevens' Girdwood home
FBI, IRS examine residence; remodeling job under scrutiny


Stevens' Girdwood house

• 10 rooms, 2,471 square feet

• Assessed value in 2007: $440,900 (includes 1/4-acre lot)

• Extensive remodel in 2000 that involved jacking existing dwelling up and constructing a new first floor beneath it to roughly double the square footage.

• Investigators are looking into the role of oil field services firm Veco in the remodeling project.

UPDATE: An astute blogger notes that Senator Stephen's attorneys were tipped off about the search. Alberto Gonzales' DOJ strikes again.

Judi, Judi, Judi


Apparently it annoys Judith Nathan, Rudy Giuliani's social-climbing wife, when people call her Judi. Judi, Judi, Judi. From the article, it sounds like she's just perfect for crazy Rudy.

Vanity Fair: The 2008 Election
Giuliani's Princess Bride


A dramatic transformation has occurred, one she does not care to discuss, despite repeated requests by Vanity Fair. She had always been known as "Judi." "Judi is what she was born. I don't think we called her Judith ever," says her father, Donald Stish, 78, seated on his porch one sultry June day in the shade of a gray metal awning. He is a calm, thick-set man who marvels at his daughter's makeover. After her second divorce, she upgraded herself to "Judith" with such vehemence that, one former Giuliani aide confides, "at City Hall we were prohibited from calling her Judi. She would bawl us out if we did."

For years she appeared, in the public record, to have had only one failed marriage, but as it turned out she'd had two. It seemed that she had gone to Pennsylvania State nursing school, as The New York Times once reported, but she had not. She completed two years of nursing school, but left hospital work before a year was up. Nonetheless, Giuliani has publicly referred to her "expertise" in "biological and chemical" disasters, and believes she would be a help in the event of an anthrax attack.

The fact that Rudy Giuliani is being seriously considered as a Presidential candidate is one of the great mysteries of life.

Chief Justice John Roberts Suffers Seizure

Chief Justice John Roberts, pictured 16 July 2007, was out of danger and unharmed after a fall Monday near his vacation home in the US state of Maine, the Supreme Court said in a statement.(AFP/File/Stephane De Sakutin)


Yesterday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts had a seizure while vacationing in Maine. He is only 52 years old. Roberts suffered a previous seizure in 1993 at age 38. There was no public testimony about his seizure during his confirmation hearings, although Senator Spector said yesterday that senators were informed about it.

What does this mean for the future of the court? Probably nothing. His doctors will probably place him on anti-seizure medication. The HuffPo outlines the medical situation thusly:

Medical opinions differed on just what Roberts' seizures mean.

Someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is determined to have epilepsy, said Dr. Marc Schlosberg, a neurologist at Washington Hospital Center, who is not involved in the Roberts' case.

Whether Roberts will need anti-seizure medications to prevent another is something he and his doctor will have to decide. But after two seizures, the likelihood of another at some point is greater than 60 percent. "When it's going to occur, obviously nobody knows," Schlosberg said.

The National Institutes of Health's Web site says that "only when a person has had two or more seizures is a person considered to have epilepsy."

Epilepsy is merely a term for a seizure disorder, but it is a loaded term because it makes people think of lots of seizures, cautioned Dr. Edward Mkrdichian, a neurosurgeon at the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch.

Still, Mkrdichian said anyone who has had two otherwise unexplained seizures is at high risk for a third, and that he puts such patients on anti-seizure medications.

"Having two seizures so many years apart without any known culprit is going to be very difficult to figure out," agreed Dr. Max Lee of the Milwaukee Neurological Institute.

I think the guy is a disaster for the Court, but I want him to go out old and bitter, outflanked by all the Democratic appointees to the Court, not to some medical condition.

Monday, July 30, 2007

If Hurricanes Doubled in the Last Century...

This satellite image released by NOAA taken Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 7:30 a.m. EDT shows Tropical Storm Dalila off Mexico's Pacific coast. (AP Photo/NOAA)


What will this century be like? I shudder to think of getting 30 hurricanes a year instead of 15.

Reuters (via Yahoo News): Study blames climate change for hurricane rise

MIAMI (Reuters) - The number of Atlantic hurricanes in an average season has doubled in the last century due in part to warmer seas and changing wind patterns caused by global warming, according to a study released on Sunday.

[]

The new study, published online in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, said the increased numbers of tropical storms and hurricanes in the last 100 years is closely related to a 1.3-degree Fahrenheit rise in sea surface temperatures.

[]

In the new study, conducted by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers found three periods since 1900 when the average number of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes increased sharply, and then leveled off and remained steady.

From 1900 to 1930, Atlantic hurricane seasons saw six storms on average, with four hurricanes and two tropical storms. From 1930 to 1940, the annual average rose to ten, including five hurricanes
.

From 1995 to 2005, the average rose to 15, with eight hurricanes and seven tropical storms, the researchers said.


Changes in sea surface temperatures occurred before the periods of increased cyclones, with a rise of 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit before the 1930 period and a similar increase before the 1995 period, they said.

"These numbers are a strong indication that climate change is a major factor in the increasing number of Atlantic hurricanes," Holland said in a statement.

Michael Bloomberg for President: Of Sexual Harrassers of America?

Read Laura Bush's body language.

New York City mayor, former Republican, newly minted independent Mike Bloomberg may be jumping into the Presidential race. If so, he can expect scrutiny of the sexual harassment suit he settled in 2000. According to an article in the Huffington Post, the following are things that Bloomberg has admitted saying:

Some elements of the case were made public at the time. An individual with direct knowledge of the case provided additional details to the AP.

The individual said Bloomberg admitted in a deposition, which never was made public, that he had said the words "I'd do her" about Garrison and other women.

[]

The public got a glimpse of this in 2003, when he told a pair of disc jockeys on a radio program that he would "really want to have" actress-singer Jennifer Lopez. A day later, Bloomberg backpedaled a bit and told reporters, as his face reddened, that he would want to "have dinner" with her.

"I like theater, dining and chasing women," he once told a reporter. "Let me put it this way: I am a single, straight billionaire in Manhattan. What do you think? It's a wet dream."

In his 1997 autobiography, he boasted of keeping "a girlfriend in every city" during his years as a young Wall Street up-and-comer in the 1960s and 1970s.


The things he admits to make it very easy to believe the other things he is alleged to have said:

Comments attributed in the suit to Bloomberg include: "I'd f--- that in a second," "I'd like to do that," and "That's a great piece of a--."

Once, according to the suit, Bloomberg pointed out a young female employee and told Garrison, "If you looked like that, I would do you in a second."

The suit also accused Bloomberg of referring to Mexican clients as "jumping beans" and saying of another female colleague who was having trouble finding a nanny that "all you need is some black who doesn't even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building."

[]

A less-restrained Bloomberg was also portrayed in a book of quips, quotes and anecdotes attributed to him and put together by employees for a birthday present in 1990. It contains such statements as: "If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they'd go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale's."

Or, as he is quoted as saying about his invention, the Bloomberg computer terminal that made him rich, "It will do everything, including give you (oral sex). I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business."

Doesn't seem like he has crossed that bridge to the 21st century.

Bush's Lawyer Liar

Photo by Matthew Bradley
flckr

Out west, when they say "lawyer", it comes out sounding like "liar", which always makes me laugh. I think Albert Gonzales is from west Texas, and he certainly is a liar. The Wapo documents some of his greatest hits whoppers.

WaPo: Gonzales's Truthfulness Long Disputed
Claims of Misstatements to Shield Bush Stretch Back a Decade

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Footie News


United States midfielder Leslie Osborne, right, turns toward the goal past Japan's Eriko Arakawa during the second half of an exhibition women's soccer match on Saturday, July 28, 2007, in San Jose, Calif. The USA won 4-1. (AP Photo/ Tony Avelar)


The US women defeated Japan 4-1 last night; game coverage from AP and ussoccer.com. Abby Wambach scored and is now tied with Cindy Partlow for #5 on the alltime US scoring list with 75 goals. Wambach scored her 75 in 94 games, an amazing strike rate; Partlow took 158. Captain America Kristine Lilly scored her 124th career Nats goal, still #2 on the all-time list, moving her one closer to Mia Hamm's record 158 goals.

From a few days ago, ussoccer.com with a Q&A with Abby Wambach.

The unfortunately named Pinkfootball.com has profiles of the teams going to the Women's World Cup in September.

Freddy Adu to Benfica (Portugal, the former club of Eusebio, among others). Good on ya, Freddy; European competition will raise your game. Your chances of making the 2010 World Cup team just leaped considerably.

Blackburn rumored to be after Eddie Johnson. Go east, young man.

American Eric Lichaj signed by Aston Villa. How exciting, to play for Martin O'Neill. Sal Zizzo of the U20 team signed a 3 year contract with Hannover 96.

Brian McBride interviewed by the Independent (uk).

And finally, we may be destroying their country, but we haven't destroyed their spirit: Miraculously, Iraq for the first time in its history wins the Asian Cup, a "fairytale ending".