Absquatulando

On & Offline

Musings and Maunderings

G*O*D
Turb [free book]
DrugTest
Advice To Young Poets

lighght

Mailto:: rur42 at yahoo.com


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
 
Faulty Intelligence, Indeed::




Sunday, February 15, 2004
 
Mean-spirited Fuckers

from Baghdad Burning
Do you know what yesterday marked? It marked the 13th anniversary of the Amiriyah Shelter massacre- February 13, 1991. Can you really call it an 'anniversary'? Anniversary brings to mind such happy things and yet is there any other word? Please send it along if you know it.
....[snip]......
Important Side Note:For those of you with the audacity to write to me claiming it was a legitimate target because "American officials assumed it was for military purposes" just remember Protocol 1 of the 1977 Geneva Conventions, Part IV, Section 1, Chapter III, Article 52: ... 3. In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used. (Like that would matter to you anyway)

Chilling, that meanspirited fuckers would claim that these are legitimate targets. Of course the precedents are many, including the firebombing of Dresden and firebombing & A-bombing Japan (not to mention the German Buzz bombs, shit, war is hell, don't get me started......)

 
How big are your guns?

John Perry Barlow's getting in shape, he says. Gonna do it on teevy.

He wants to Slow the Surly Advance of Decrepitude

 
Okaaaaay

"Smegma is probably the most misunderstood, most unjustifiably maligned substance in nature."
Thomas J. Ritter, MD

(Can one say "smegma" in a family blog? Is "smegma" worksafe?)

Sunday, February 08, 2004
 
Folly Marches On

"A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests ... Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably
large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts."
-- Barbara Tuchman, The March of Folly

Bush's Follies



 
Quack Quack :: Free Rides, ex parte

Hunting buds, Cheney & Scalia go for the gusto

The small Gulfstream jet that took the place of Air Force 2 for that landing on a small airstrip in southern Louisiana near that private hunting camp owned by a private oil-services company seems to have been the company's as well. This gives new meaning to "free ride." On the other hand, let's not be too harsh. If you're an oil-related company and an oil-related vice president, what's more sensible than to grease the wheels a little? The only question is whether, sooner or later, the Veep and his duck-hunting buddy -- and don't mistake me here, I think duck tastes delicious -- get caught in the slick. Could this, in other words, turn into a political Exxon Valdez

TomDispatch

Edward Lazarus notes:

Given The Facts, It's Reasonable to Question Scalia's Impartiality

Is it "reasonable" to question Scalia's impartiality under these circumstances? Certainly many editorialists, and some Democratic Senators (with their own political motivations, of course) say yes.

Scalia, however, says no. According to the Justice, "social contacts with high-level executive officials (including cabinet officials) have never been thought improper for judges who may have before them cases in which those people are involved in their official capacities, as opposed to their personal capacities."

In Scalia's view, his duck hunting trip was no different than the common practice of justices attending White House dinners - and, thus, he has declined to step off Cheney's case.

.....
The Appearance of Corruption Is, and Should Be, Legally Sufficient For Recusal
.....
Particularly in light of the Justices' tradition of liberally recusing themselves from cases in which their impartiality might be questioned, Scalia is suffering from a profound case of denial in remaining on Cheney's case. Fortunately, there is still time for him to change his mind. If he did so, not only would he very publicly reaffirm the Court's integrity, but he would also show that individual Justices, even headstrong ones like Scalia, are open-minded enough to change their minds when it is warranted.

Edward Lazarus writes about, practices, and teaches law in
Los Angeles. A former federal prosecutor, he is the author of two books - most
recently, Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme
Court.



 

Going to Whaddyacallit


Dave Barry :: "I, for one, am unable to go to Mars because of a dental appointment."
Me too, Dave.
". . . . there has always been a particular fascination with Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, unless we count Marlon Brando."
Uncharitable, Dave.
[Report Dave Barry to  the Society Against Cruelty to Heroically Obese Actors]

 




 
History of the Boob [from the OED, OED 2 on CDrom, v. 1.14]

Booby (______), n.1 Also 8 boobee, 9 boobie.
[probably ad. Sp. bobo, used both in the sense of ‘fool’ and ‘booby’ (the bird), of doubtful origin. (The Ger. bube, MHG. buobe, is used frequently in the sense of ‘fool, lubber’; but connexion with it is hardly possible: its LG. form is boeve, boef.)]
1. a. ‘A dull, heavy, stupid fellow: a lubber’ (J.); a clown, a nincompoop. Also, spec. a cry-baby (dial. or children’s colloq.).
1599­-1603 Patient Grissil 48 [Welshman loq.] Then, mage a pooby fool of Sir Owen. God’s plude, shall!
1616 Fletcher Cust. Country i. ii, Cry, you great booby.
1687 T. Brown Saints in Upr. Wks. 1730 I. 74 Such a booby as thou art, pretend to dispute the precedence?
1711 Steele Spect. No. 113 _3, I bowed like a great surprised Booby.
1776 Johnson in Boswell (1831) III. 352 We work with our heads, and make the boobies of Birmingham work for us with their hands.
1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 260, I was so awkward a booby that I dared scarcely speak to her.
1891 R. P. Chope Dial. Hartland, Dev. 29 Booby, a big child given to crying.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. viii. 189 ‘Poor simple monk,’ I thought, ‘poor booby.’
1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren x. 186 Gloucestershire children comment: you babby, big baby,..booby, [etc.].
b. spec. The last boy in a school class, the dunce.
1825 Ld. Cockburn Mem. i. 4, I never got a single prize, and once sat boobie at the annual public examination.
1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. iv. 75 He was the booby of..grammar school.
c. attrib.
1728 Young Love Fame ii. (1757) 95 The booby father craves a booby son.
1748 Richardson Clarissa xxxi. I. 205 Never was there booby squire that more wanted it [improvement].
1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iv, There is not a boy on the booby form but should have been scourged for such a solecism in grammar.
d. to beat the booby: see beat v.1 41.
e. Shortened f. booby-hutch: a lock-up or cell. slang.
1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 329 Booby or Booby Hutch, the cell.
2. A name for different species of gannet, esp. Sula fusca.
1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 10 One of the Saylers espying a Bird fitly called a Booby, hee mounted to the top-mast and tooke her. The quality of which Bird is to sit still, not valuing danger.
1707 Sloane Jamaica I. 31 Boobies..so called of Seamen because they do not stir from you, but suffer themselves to be catch’d by the hand.
1819 Byron Juan ii. lxxxii, At length they caught two boobies, and a noddy.
1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 83 The booby and the noddy sit on the bare rock in startling tameness.
3. Comb., as
booby-hack U.S. = booby-hut;
booby hatch,
(a) (Naut.), a smaller kind of companion which lifts off in one piece, in use for merchantmen’s half-decks;
(b) a lock-up or gaol (U.S. slang);
(c) a home for the insane (U.S. slang);
booby-hut, a hooded sleigh used in New England;
booby-hutch, a small clumsy cart or carriage used in some parts of England; see also quot. 1881; also, a lock-up or cell; a police station;
booby-prize, a prize awarded in ridicule or fun to the player with the lowest score;
booby-trap, a kind of practical joke in vogue among schoolboys and others (see quots.); also Mil. colloq., a harmless-looking object concealing an explosive charge, designed to go off if the object is disturbed; hence as v. trans., to set with a booby-trap; so booby-trapped ppl. adj.
1888 Boston Daily Globe (Farmer), They collided with Crowley’s *booby hack, knocking the horse down and demolishing the front of the vehicle.
1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiv. 130 The sky-light and *booby-hatch [are] put on.
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 13/2 Booby-hatch, station-house.
1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 141 The after or booby-hatch was covered with a network of lashings.
1897 Ade Pink Marsh 3 They’d have him in the booby-hatch in about two hours.
1923 Time 10 Mar. 15/3 Liane,..whose specialty is driving lover after lover to ruin, death, or the booby-hatch.
1931 G. Irwin Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 33 Booby Hatch, a police station or village gaol.
1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas xi. 111 What, tell people you’re me and I’m you. Sure we could, if you don’t mind being put in the booby-hatch.
1720 Weekly Jrnl. 4 June 1623/2 Not a Raw bon’d Jade, or a *Booby-Hutch in City and Suburbs but will be hacked out to City Apprentices.
1818 H. More Hist. Mr. Fanton Stories (1830) I. 10 All that multitude of coaches, chariots, chaises, vis-a-vis, booby-hutches, sulkies, etc.
1881 Evans Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Booby-hutch, a hand-barrow; a small deep cart; a sentry-box; any movable ‘coop’ or ‘hutch’ of any kind intended for the use of a single human occupant. The carts drawn by dogs before the passing of Martin’s Act were often so called.
1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 161/1 Booby-hutch (thieves), the police-station.
1938 Booby hutch [see sense 1 e].
1889 Puck (U.S.) 17 July 378/1 Into infinitesimal shreds he tears A beautiful *Booby Prize.
1900 E. T. Fowler Farringdons iii. 55 Your prize would have been no better than a booby-prize.
1929 G. Stowell Hist. Button Hill i. 64 The incorrigible Mr. Denworthy presented as a booby-prize a small sample bottle of Worcester sauce.
1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh iii. 28 The construction of what he called a ‘*booby-trap’.
1868 Chamb. Jrnl., A ‘booby-trap’..it consisted..of books, boots, etc., balanced on the top of a door, which was left ajar, so that the first incomer got a solid shower-bath.
1882 Sat. Rev. 4 Nov. 600 Perpetually on the alert for booby-traps.
1917 E. F. Wood Note-Bk. Intelligence Officer xix. 271 ‘Booby’ traps were sprinkled about the country in the form of bombs.
1918 P. Gibbs From Bapaume to Passchendaele 4 The enemy left..‘booby-traps’ to blow a man to bits or blind him for life if he touched a harmless-looking stick or opened the lid of a box.
1943 Illustr. London News 1 May 483 Doors and windows are easily booby-trapped.
1959 ‘M. Derby’ Tigress iii. 130 The ugly foreground, mined and booby-trapped and ambushed.
boob (____), n. slang (orig. U.S.).
[Shortened f. booby n.1]
1. = booby n.1 1 e.
1908 J. M. Sullivan Crim. Slang 4 Boob, the lockup, station house, or city prison.
1911 G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society v. 159 Stooling for the coppers and swearing many a right guy into the boob.
1923 E. Wallace Missing Million xiii. 108, I thought you were in ‘boob’.
1941 Coast to Coast 1941 232 Seeing Don get chucked out of the Ballarat and carted off to the boob.
1958 M. Pugh Wilderness of Monkeys xiv. 177 ‘Got six months in jail,’ May added. ‘Half a stretch in the boob,’ Maguire said.
2. = booby n.1 1 a.
1909 Sat. Even. Post 27 Mar. 7/3, I had to tell her the boob had gone for the day.
1915 [see bone-headed a.].
1920 Chambers’s Jrnl. May 282/1 Of course war is wrong–any boob knows that.
1923 W. Deeping Secret Sanctuary xvi. 160 And not a soul to speak to but that boob of a boy once in the day.
1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 26 You gave it away, like the boobs you are, to the Pentland Forth Syndicate.
1961 [see boo-boo].
3. A foolish mistake or blunder. Also attrib., foolish, inane.
1934 R. Stout Fer-de-Lance (1935) i. 8 A boob thing to say.
1959 ‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder xvi. 167 Boob Number Two... The prison service isn’t quite like the Army, Colonel Clive.
1966 P. Moloney Plea for Mersey 55 Newspapers have I read in every town And many a boob and misprint have I seen.
1969 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 10 Jan. 7 (U.S.A.) A factory hand released by technology into ever greater leisure may be content to watch the ‘boob toob’ (TV) or go fishing.
4. [prob. shortening of booby n.2] pl. The breasts. slang (orig. U.S.).
1949 H. Miller Sexus (1969) xiii. 305, I felt her sloshy boobs joggling me but I was too intent on pursuing the ramifications of Coleridge’s amazing mind to let her vegetable appendages disturb me.
1955 T. Williams Cat on Hot Tin Roof (1956) i. 7 He always drops his eyes down my body when I’m talkin’ to him, drops his eyes to my boobs an’ licks his old chops!
1968 Daily Mirror 27 Aug. 7/5 If people insist on talking about her boobs, she would rather they called them boobs, which is a way-out word,..rather than breasts.

Booboisie
booboisie (__________). U.S. slang.
[Jocular formation f. boob n. 2 + -oisie, after bourgeoisie.]
‘Boobs’ as a class.
1922 in Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4, 1946) xi. 560.
1927 St. John Ervine in Observer 24 Apr. 15/1, I would not for the world rob the booboisie of their entertainments. Let them have their footling stories..on the screen.
1959 J. Thurber Years with Ross iv. 61 Those well-known..objects of..scorn and ridicule, the booboisie.
1961 20th Cent. Jan. 72 They wanted to be as eccentric as they pleased..and..could not do that among the booboisie of America.

For the more visually inclined, the less literal, this history: boooooby

Sunday, February 01, 2004
 
The Politics of Janet Jackson's Tit

WMD WMD WMD . . .

Janet Jackson's tit! Janet Jackson's tit! Janet Jackson's tit!

Janet Jackson's tit!


WMD WMD WMD