A paper bag

Why would I post a picture of a paper bag on catblogging day? Look very closely.

Best. Truck. Ever.

Sign seen painted on the back of a large delivery truck today: "Culver City Meats. You Can't Beat Our Meat." Wow.

UPDATE: Looks like someone else found this funny and took a picture.

Where have all the Asians gone?

Here is a picture of a physics class in Spiderman 3.

In real life most of the class would be Asian or Southeast Asian men. Asian guys can't even cut a break in nerdy movie scenes (thanks to my friend CY for pointing this out and his helpful graphic).

Oomatube

You may remember from our last catblog post that ooma needs to slim her noble bulk down a bit. I have been very discipined about rationing them this week, with the result that every morning Abbot let me know that he is staaaaaarving. ooma is a rock, though. Very stoic. Last night I chased her down the hall (after she escaped from the apartment) to help her out with the whole "calories in vs. calories out" problem she has. I think she has retaliated by making sure her that her calories-out don't rise above a certain level. Today all she has done is this.

Actually, I think the fact that she can wedge herself in there like that is kinda cool.

Art gone awry

I found this listing on a crafts for sale site. Do you think that someone should tell this artist that the image in the upper-right hand corner is probably not going to be a huge seller?

Women please have some self-respect

No one is dumber than the Dave Matthews Band.

Impeachable

The writing in the New York Times today, Frank Bowman has an op-ed piece making the point I made a few weeks ago.

If Alberto Gonzales will not resign, Congress should impeach him. Article II of the Constitution grants Congress the power to impeach “the president, the vice president and all civil officers of the United States.” The phrase “civil officers” includes the members of the cabinet (one of whom, Secretary of War William Belknap, was impeached in 1876).

He further points out that impeachment does not require actual laws to have been violated, but is reserved for offenses so egregious and political that no one ever thought to specifically make those offenses illegal. And finally, for those who say "US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president,"

That the president has the constitutional power to [hire and fire appointees at will] does not mean he has the right to do them without explanation. Congress has the right to demand explanations for the president’s managerial choices, both to exercise its own oversight function and to inform the voters its members represent. The right of Congress to demand explanations imposes on the president, and on inferior executive officers who speak for him, the obligation to be truthful... he has no right to lie, either by affirmatively misrepresenting facts or by falsely claiming not to remember events. [My italics].

So let's hope Congress takes it's oversight role seriously, and sends the message to the DOJ that the time for playing games is over. Prevarication might be fine in politic, but when it comes to one's duties as a law officer for the US, there are serious consequences.

DC Madam, Yes!

I've been following the D.C. Madam story with something approaching outright joy, seeing as how it's the perfect nexus of sex, hypocrisy, power, schadenfreude, and suspense. So far it has claimed Randall Tobias, (former) Deputy Department of State, in charge of US Foreign Assistance. The hypocrisy of someone specifically criticized for promoting abstinence and monogamy over condom use in the developing world is, of course, fantastic. However, I'd like to consider the personal side of this story for a minute.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey has been operating an escort service in D.C. for years, sending high-priced call-girls out to people's apartments, hotels, and offices for "erotic fantasy services" (she claims of course, no sex was ever involved). Now, she's been running this operation from a cell phone. I assume the number was posted somewhere, maybe in the classified section of the local weekly, on the Internet, maybe even in the yellow pages. So someone calls up from their personal cell phone, anonymously, to this number, requests a girl at such and such a time to such and such an address. As a client, they never give their real names or other identification, and they assume that all of this is lost in the haze of anonymity and plausible deniability. They assume that they will not get embarrassing callbacks on their cell phones, no follow-ups, no ties, nothing to link them to their philandering habits.

Fast forward 10 years later, she is indicted for operating a service pretty much everyone in Washington uses. Think about it - her client list contains an enormous number (I think it's safe to assume) of the very policy makers who determine that what she's doing is (allegedly) illegal. And so she's pissed - she provided a service for everyone's enjoyment, and at the moment when her chips are down, no one will own up to supporting her. Fair enough, you think, that's the way politics goes.

But wait! But here's where it gets good. The cell phone company is quietly recording all incoming phone numbers, and, every month, sends Palfrey a statement.
So now she has hard evidence of every one of those sons of bitches who she served over the years. And she's got nothing to lose. Of course, all she has are phone numbers, no names, but an enterprising reporter or investigator could probably put names to most of those private cell phone numbers. So she first tries to auction off the list, is thwarted, and then in an act straight out of a Christopher Buckley novel, just gives to list away to ABC news. And ABC news is promising a tell-all episode of 20/20 during sweeps, where they will name "a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent CEO, several lobbyists and a handful of military officials."

So put yourself in the position of one of these people. Over the years, you've from time-to-time enjoyed the pleasure of such a woman, unbeknownst to your wife and kids. And you've called a few different services, always discreet, always anonymous. And now there's this cloud hanging over your head. And here's the best part: You have no idea if your name is on the list or not! Because it's been so long and you've used so many different call girl services, you can't remember if you've ever used hers. Hell, you might not even have known the name of half the services you've used, you just called a number you found in a classified ad. And you wake up every morning next to the wife you've been cheating on, not knowing whether you're name will show up on TV or not.