Not you too Mr. Snow

Yet another member of Bush's brain trust is resigning. Tony Snow, Bush's press secretary is resigning. Is he resigning due to too much travel, too many hours, or too much stress? Nope, he cited not making enough money as his primary reason. Apparently $170,00 a year isn't enough. What a neocon. Good riddance.

The party of values

My, my, my.

I was reading the Star Tribune this morning when lo and behold, another Republican senator was arrested for lewd behavior. Sen. Larry Craig, a Republican senator from Idaho, was arrested for lewd behavior towards an undercover police officer. This of course is the second Republican arrested this month with the Louisiana Republican senator arrested for picking up a prostitute. Times have changed.

Another one bites the dust

What another glorious way to star the day. I wake up, turn on MSNBC, and Keith Olberman's beautiful face is explaining to us that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned effective immediately. In Bush's cabinet, he has had a bevy of crooks from Cheney, to Rumsfeld, to Tony Snow, et cetera. I don't know if any of the cabinet members were more crooked then Gonzalez. In his short tenure as AG, Gonzalez fired 93 United States Attorneys. The reason, they contend, they were told they were not loyal enough to the administration and their country. Basically, they were fired for not doing enough sucking up to Bush, and not bashing liberals enough to the likings of Karl Rove and his ilk. What a year this has been! Rumsfeld... Resigned! Karl Rove... Resigned! Jerry Fallwell... Dead! Alberto Gonzalez... Resigned! What a year it has been. To be honest, I doubt there will be any more shake-ups. It doesn't matter if Condi Rice resigns and there is no chance that Cheney or Bush will resign. The only thing better would be to find out that Rush, O'Reilly, and Hannity were caught up in a Fox News homosexual love caccoon and they are all stepping down their posts. I can dream can't I?

Sip Bacardi like it's your birthday

It was a warm August dusk, the 24th of August, 1985 years after the birth of our Lord. Susan Fidler and Tom Fidler were busy moving into their new house. (In actuality my Dad was moving while my Mom was watching the Twins game). The 24th of August is a legendary day in the history of the world. In 79 A.D., Mt. Vesuvius erupted and buried the historical Italian city of Pompei; thousands died. The Iron Bird Cal Ripken Jr. was born in 1960. In 1992, the state of Florida was forever changed after Hurricane Andrew struck killing dozens of people. It was a victory day for feminists and women world wide as Amelia Earhardt became the first woman to fly solo coast to coast. And how could we forget exactly one year ago from today, Pluto lost its title as the ninth planet of our sun, and reclassified as a dwarf planet. Elyse and my parents were in cahoots to buy a new plasma TV for my living room. There was much rejoicing. May I leave you with a poem that a co-worker wrote for me:

There was a man named Fidler
A fiddle he had not
Bot on his 22nd birthday
A fiddle is what he got.

He learned to play the fiddle
He played all day & night
The fidlin' filled his home
Fiddlin' just felt so right.

Indeed. Thank you all for your very nice birthday wishes. I really am very touched.

America the dumberest

I was glancing through today's USA Today when I noticed that ACT company released their state-by-state ACT scores for 2007. I was pretty amazed at how low the scores are as a country. Let me first say that I do not think that ACT scores or grades for that matter are an accurate reflection of intelligence; rather they are simply an indicator of future collegiate success. An example would be the most intelligent man I know scored a low-20's ACT score despite displaying absolute brilliance everywhere else. His simple reason is he has a learning disability which make standarized tests difficult for him. However, the majority of 16 and 17 year olds cannot hide under a learning disability blanket. The national ACT score for America in 2007 was 21.2. That is utterly amazing. Here are some notable scores:

1. Washington 23.1
2. Massachusetts 23.5
3. Connecticut 23.2
4. New Hampshire 22.
5. New York 22.8

8. Minnesota 22.5

30. Illinois 20.5

47. Alabama 20.3
48. Florida 19.9
49. South Carolina 19.6
50. Mississippi 18.9
51. Wash. D.C. 18.7

I find it very interesting that the top scores come from New England the bottom come from predominately southern states. In addition, the only students that would bother to take the ACT are students who are at least moderatly interested in college. Imagine what the scores would be if all 16 and 17 year olds had to take it. Bottom line, American secondary education programs need a lot of work. Thank good for the No Child Left Behind Act.

Happy Days!

Yesterday morning, at exactly 6:27 in the morning, I knew that August 13th was going to be a good day. I stumbled out of bed, turned on MSNBC and lo and behold, Karl Rove has just announced that he has handed in his resignation papers to a melancholy President Bush. In the past year, Jerry Fallwell has left this earth, Donald Rumsfeld has "retired", and now Karl Rove has resigned. President Bush's little shop of horrors is waning by the day. Now, I am not so foolish to think that Karl Rove will not pop up somewhere else. He claims he is resigning to spend more time with his family. He only has one child and he is in college. How much time could he possibly spend with him. My guess is he will take a little vacation for a while and then one of the current Republican candidates will make Rove an offer he cannot refuse. Clearly, Rove will win at any cost and win he does. He made an unknown Vice-President's son, governor of Texas and defeat the very popular Ann Richards. He then orchestrated an incredibly mean campaign against VP Al Gore and defeated him (well, he had more electoral votes), and we all know how he swift boated John Kerry. But for now, I will enjoy at least the next few months with no mention of Karl Rove... This is the good life.

The future of media looks dim

As of last week, Rupert Murdoch, the Australian born American citizen purchased the Wall Street Journal for six billion dollars. This is only the start of what he calls, his war on mainstream media. His plans for the Wall Street Journal include making it more of a regular newspaper (with a conservative slant of course), and include sports, and more of a variety then the typical Wall Street Journal. Rupert Murdoch is obsessed with making conservatives dominate all aspects of the media, he has conquered cable news with Fox News destroying everybody else in the ratings. (With Bush's cousin, Roger Ailes, being the President of Fox News.) His Fox News Radio personalities including the Jason Lewis', the Bill O'Reilly's, the Sean Hannity's, et cetera are utterly crushing all other talk radio forums. But he has two things left before his domination is complete. Besides maybe the Washington Times, there is not a major conservative newspaper. Last week he said, "I am declaring war on the New York Times and the Financial Times." He has long thought that newspaper were too progressive and he will do whatever is necessary to make the new Wall Street Journal have the highest circulation of any newspaper in the country. If I were the NY Times and Financial Times, I would be afraid of Murdoch. He plays to keep. In addition, Rupert Murdoch is in the process of creating a new TV channel, The Business Network. You may ask why there is a need for a Business Network when we already have CNBC. Well, Murdoch's simple response was that "CNBC is too liberal." Of course it is Murdoch. Democrats might be ruling congress right now but the days when progressives ruled the airwaves are dead. There is a conservative media revolution that is coming my friends.

I don't know why this makes me laugh

"Chuck Norris' tears could cure cancer. It's too bad he never cries."