Scattershot

"I can see Russia from my house!" - Tina Fey, impersonating Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on SNL Sept. 13, 2008.

This is the #1 quote of the year according to the Yale Book of Quotations. I don't believe I've said much about Gov. Palin. That is more due to confusion than anything else. I do know that she bears a resemblance to Peggy Hill on "King of the Hill". I'm not sure I have reached a conclusion on Gov. Palin. There's a lot to riff on there. Mostly I wonder how and why her VP candidacy came to pass. The best thing I can come up with is what I usually say about a minority in an unusual position: when they can attempt something and fark it up, and it doesn't become the last chance a black, woman, etc. gets for a long time (and it doesn't become an indictment of the entire race, gender or sexual orientation), then we've made progress toward equality.

There is a nifty quote on that list about the Treasury Department kinda randomly coming up with the $700 billion dollar figure they've been throwing around. They just wanted a really big number for the initial bailout figure and $700 billion seemed big enough. I'm impressed with its bigness. Are you? The 15 year old anarchist in me says fuck all those CEO's and other greedy asses who ran their companies into the ground. Let em die. Better yet, make them give their bonuses, expenses, and expensive toys back to the company if they want it to stay open. No mercy. The adult in me sees all the people whose lives are dependent on jobs with these companies and how they weren't responsible for the mess. They can't be thrown out in the cold just like that. The "take the money and run" attitudes that have ruled the last 2 decades are meeting their inevitable ends. Every fat cat who knowingly fleeced the rest of us should be pilloried. Everyone should know who they are and what they've done. Makes me sick.

And now for something completely different - this year's "Scared of Santa" photo entries! A whole new level of child humiliation! Numbers 8, 17 & 22 confirm that anyone can be Santa if they apply for the job. Numbers 16, 29, 30 & 32 are the faces of abject terror. One of the children in #28 will be exacting a vicious revenge on their parents later in life. Just you wait...