That painting Elephant was amazing. I wish someone else was filming the handler at the same time. It would be interesting to see if the elephant was doing this ALL on it's own.

Concerning the video of Bush at the baseball game, the remarks about the video state that, "...as he was largely booed by the 41,000-person sellout crowd..." Maybe my sound card needs adjustment, but it sounded to me like mostly cheering, with pockets of boos. A silent crowd would have been much more effective.

Fun little Link about the Candidate's Wikipedia Pages at New Republic

Sad thing is many in the media failed to even mentioning the booing which is clearly evident in the video (no wonder Bush wanted out of there so quickly). Despite the lowest approval rating in the history of this country the media still protects him.

I had the same feeling as Cirano, but it's the old skeptical reflex kicking in. "How could this be a hoax?" I kept asking. I stopped action, zoomed all over (CTRL-scroll wheel on a Mac), and couldn't find any visual evidence of a hoax.

So the question is: why isn't this being studied? And why is the SA government planning to kill lots of these creatures?

Yeah, that elephant video is amazing. THe elephant seems to be trained and not understanding the symbols according to the BBC article I found on it, but simply the idea that the elephant has the ability to learn such complicated task speaks to how highly intelligent they are.

If it was composing original works it would change our views on animal kind.

My take on Bush's walk to the mount is that it carries a healthy mix of boos and cheers. Still, regardless of who you are, a solid pitch (which W offered up) is good for cheers, and he was rewarded accordingly. Not really a big deal, to be honest.

I read the thing about the healthcare lottery in Oregon, and that really bugged the heck out of me. The government has an obligation to offer services in as systematic of a way as possible so that citizens can anticipate what they need to do to survive in society. The draft lottery infuriated the heck out of people, but at least that was done out of necessity, but a healthcare lottery can be avoided altogether by providing the services to a particular band of qualified people, the full array of candidates through additional tax revenue, or no one (which allows the money to be used towards a more reliable end).

An Ode to Lefty Bloggers who hate Barack Obama

Hillary supporters proclaim

That Obama supporters are part of a cult

Shrieking "He may have the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk"

Dems love Blacks, they say,

But not if that Black is Barack

Maelstrom is dead-on. Love him or hate him, "Junior" got it to the plate all the way from the mound, which is actually a pretty impressive feat for any middle-aged man.

However, he was high and inside. Compare it to the Subway Series after 9/11. Looks like W is losing his aim (and the remaining pigment in his hair).

I'm totally in favor of free speech. That said, baseball is an American icon. That ANYONE booed him is pretty amazing IMO. If I were there, I would have stayed quiet. Booing the president at a baseball game feels a tad too anti-American, even for me.

Or how's this?

Left-wingers:

You want her to win, even if it results in destroying the Democratic party.

You want him to win even if it results in electing some idiot with no experience.

But she is not destroying the party. She's helping the party!

But she has no more experience than he has, and besides many of our best presidents had no more "experience" than she has.

It's gender bias! It's white guilt! It's racism!

You're a member of a cult!

You're willing to support that monster who voted to attack Iraq!

Oh yeah, well all that he did was give a speech!

Oh yeah? Well, fuck you.

Well, fuck you too!

etc etc etc ad nauseam

Meanwhile, John McCain is smiling and enjoying this little battle...

You cant boo the worst president ever at a baseball game when you are drunk off your ass before the opening pitch? I dont want to live in your america.

That ANYONE booed him is pretty amazing IMO. If I were there, I would have stayed quiet. Booing the president at a baseball game feels a tad too anti-American, even for me.

Zaphod,

You're the last person that I would have imagined saying this. The patriot card is what got us involved in the Iraq war in the first place. Instead of facts, people spoke about "patriotism".

You are so right JoAnn. That is one of the biggest beefs I have with the administration. That anyone would suggest I keep my mouth shut simply to show my loyalty is insulting. It implies some sort of marriage of fidelity with stupidity.

R7, the elephant expert in that article said the elephant (Paya) may not understand what it's doing, but the artist says otherwise.

I dunno. I'm skeptical that it's a SELF portrait, but why shouldn't a mammal be able to reproduce what it sees most of the time. (OK, the flower is another deal.) I prefer the more painterly abstract one shown on the site. The act of painting was something to watch. Makes me think of the old TDS show with the painting monkey...

As for the Bush booing, well, he did the right thing in this instance. Too bad governing ain't like a ball game appearance. I wonder if W can just shrug off a moment like that with a Cheney-esque "So?" or does it actually eat at him behind the scenes?

The Charlatan article was a good read. Nice anecdotes about Brinkley! I noted the reversal of the Poling case in today's NYT, and wondered how all this will play out in the future. The fundies seem to have a hand in this movement against vaccines, even as homeopaths and natural medicine folk tend to avoid them (not to mention Scientologists). I avoid the flu shot and manage to hold my own, but I'm not a child with an undeveloped immune system (and I'm sure Ma and Pa got me all shot up as a babe).

The patriot card is what got us involved in the Iraq war in the first place. Instead of facts, people spoke about "patriotism".

I would tend to agree that booing at baseball games for anything other then a bad call is uncool.

THat said, if you are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees and violating the Geneva conventions...

You shouldn't be able to appear in public without an angry mob forming.

If only Henry Kissinger got the same treatment.

You're the last person that I would have imagined saying this. The patriot card is what got us involved in the Iraq war in the first place. Instead of facts, people spoke about "patriotism".

Um, no. What got us into Iraq was faulty intelligence. As an aside, it was remarkably similar faulty intelligence to that which caused Clinton to bomb an innocent pharmaceutical company.

I will never understand why the left feels this constant need to vilify patriotism. Oh, no, wait, yes I will. It's because liberalism is all about the individual, often and even enthusiastically at the cost of the group. Somewhere along the line leftists forgot that the only reason you have any of those rights you're screaming about is because there's a whole organization (the evil government and the brutal military) providing them for you.

violating the Geneva conventions...

The Geneva Convention does not apply to the Iraq war.

And did anybody consider that maybe these baseball fans weren't saying "boo", they were saying "Buuuuush?" :-P

What got us into Iraq was faulty intelligence.

Actually the intelligence the administration had repeatedly cast doubt that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or ties to al Qaeda. The administration simply decided to withhold this from the American people and make claims that ran contrary to their intelligence.

I will never understand why the left feels this constant need to vilify patriotism.

Read Howard Zinn's Put Away the Flags to get an idea.

It's because liberalism is all about the individual

That's actually an idea paraded by the right. Ever heard Ron Paul speak? It also stems from Protestant ideology. This is why you'll usually get conservatives arguing against universal...erm...socialized medicine. That 'I don't have a responsibility to take care of care of Sheniqua' as one Republican I taked to put it.

The Geneva Convention does not apply to the Iraq war.

In the same way the Third Amendment to the Constitution applies only to the quartering of soldiers (i.e. members of the army without officer's commission) and does not include sailors, marines, and airmen as well as soldiers? I smell Scalia feces.

Typo: "I talked to" not "I taked to."

Yeah, what's the big deal?

Now if I saw a donkey doing a (self?) portrait, that WOULD be something. Still, I checked the date, the day before April One...

a maze ing.