Cause and Effect

It was touch and go there for a little while, but with an 11.7 billion dollar quarterly profit (the largest in history) it looks like the execs at Exxon Mobil will be getting their Christmas bonuses after all.

Phew.

Comes as No Surprise

Ted “The Tubes Are Clogged” Stevens is indicted.

As for the current state of the Republican party, what’s lower than “rock bottom”?  “Deep in the Applesauce”?

I Am Not Ashamed of Being Easily Amused

SOME DUDE GETS THE ONION AV CLUB TO TRY OUT HABANERO DEATH CHIPS AND I LOL’D AMIRITE?

Snark-Tastic

Between work and getting ready to move overseas, and in addition to the fine summer weather and my desire to be outside, I’ve been happy to check out DailyKos blogger DemFromCT’s “Abbreviated Pundit Round-ups.”  When I do have the time, it’s nice to know that somebody out there is linking some quality punditry.  If I don’t, it’s nice to know that most human beings consider Bill Kristol to be a raving idiot, even if the The Times decides he’s worth publishing.

(Obama bumper stickers asking “Got Hope?” are laughably “cheesy,” but the whole miserable charade of “The Straight-Talk Express” is the most brilliant political device in generations?  Ugh.)

(Ed:  Hmm.  Looks like some other DKos bloggers are doing the rounds as well.  It’d be nice to see all the roundups in one place, eventually.  And I’d also like a shiny, white pony for my birthday.)

Minima

Bolt
In the frame
Of the building–
A ship
Grounds
Her immense keel
Chips
A stone
Under fifteen feet
Of harbor
Water–
The fiber of this tree
Is live wood
Running into the
Branches and leaves
In the air.

–George Oppen, from Discrete Series (1934)

The Brain vs. The Heart (Both of Which Are Tasty)

ZombieHarmony.

Not bad for a Friday afternoon.

We’ll Make a Lover of You

Pitchfork has a bunch of great vids from this year’s PF Music Festival. Here’s Les Savy Fav.

Tim Harrington can do no wrong. Evar.

Uber Alles

I was skeptical of Obama’s European tour, if only because it would provide more fuel for the myth that he and his wife somehow hate America and Jesus and Liberty, etc. But getting an estimated 100,000 people to come out for a resoundingly solid foreign policy speech in Berlin? It certainly doesn’t hurt. (Ed: Make that 200,000.)

Meanwhile, I’m sure John McCain is up to some straight-talkin’ somewhere, to anyone who can be bothered to listen.

Chikan!

I’m not much of a blogger, given the fact that I’ve never discussed 1) the iPhone or 2) a single Japanese sexual perversion.  To right this wrong, I hereby link this breaking news (slightly NSFW):

“The iPhone 3G sold in Japan will make a shutter sound every time you take a photo, even if you put the telephone in silent mode. The reason: all those pervs taking photos up the skirts of unsuspected women in public places.”

Could be a fake, but I really hope not.

Pass the Peas

Via Mefi, feel free to peruse the items within the James Brown estate sale.