Duking It Out With A Boxer

You know, if had to testify at a Senate hearing, I’d be calling Barbara Boxer something other than “ma’am.”

At a sometimes contentious Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), had a request for Army Corps of Engineers division leader, Brigadier General Michael Walsh.

During a terse exchange, as Boxer pressed Walsh on why the levees in New Orleans are still not repaired nearly four years after Hurricane Katrina, she said to Walsh:

“Could you say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I’d appreciate it.”

The general’s response? “Yes, Senator.”

The blogosphere exploded with reaction following the senator’s comments, with some arguing the senator deserves to be addressed by the title she’s earned through three Senate elections, and others saying it’s the general who deserves a little more respect.

Of course afterward, I’d be audited every year for the rest of my life. But would it be worth it? Totally. And I’d use the word “Senator.” That’s not going to be the part that gets me into trouble.

Not Shielded From Full Prices For Half-Seasons

One of my all-time favorite shows has to be “The Shield.” For the first few seasons I watched this program whenever it came on FX. However, at around Season 5 I started to tune out. I figured I’ll just get the shows on DVD and watch them whenever I wanted. I did tune into the series finale, but other than that, Seasons 6 and 7 are virgin territory.

That is until last week.

I got the Season 6 DVD for $20 and have watched the first few episodes. I took note that this season only had TEN EPISODES. Now the season before only had 11, but for some reason the number 10 is bothering me a bit more. Maybe it’s like when a product is advertised for $19.99 rather than $20. Whatever. It’s not really the number of episodes that got my attention. It was the full retail price of more than $40. As Dutch Wagenbach said on several occasions, “You got to be shitting me.”

Love the Dutch, even if he is a cat-killer.

Does This Warrant An Entry?

Gee, I wonder if a WARRANT was issued?

Police say they have arrested the lead singer of Warrant on suspicion of drunken driving.

Whatever. You were thinking the same thing.

APR Rates Vary

I thought nobody was able to get credit in this HUSSEIN RECESSION. I’m getting letters about loan refinance offers every week. Normally I just toss this junk in my file folder, aka the trash can. However, just for the hell of it I decided to actually read one of these offers.

Check this out: I’m PRE-APPROVED for a Home Equity Line at a rate as low as 3.75% variable APR!

Wow, that’s great. Let me see the part with all the little text. Hmmm, what’s this?

“Variable APR cannot be less than 3.00% or exceed 25.00%

Well sign me up.

Whoever thinks these things are a good idea should be sterilized.

Taking A Swat At President Hussein

So President Hussein killed some bug during an interview. Please note I’m talking about an insect and not a reporter.

During an interview Tuesday with CNBC, President Hussein demonstrated that the bug stops here, swatting dead a pesky fly.

One of our colleagues at The Oval blog began her post about the on-camera killing with prescience: “Too early to know what People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will have to say about this …”

PETA has responded, and with a gift — the Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher.

“We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals,” PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said . “We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals.”

You know, for as batshit as the PETA people are, I may side with them on this one. Considering how full of shit President Hussein is, can anyone blame a fly buzzing around him? If anything, that poor bug was baited.

Then again, when Jimmy Carter was faced with hostile wildlife, the result was was much different.

Dubbed the “killer rabbit” attack by the media, the Jimmy Carter rabbit incident involved a swamp rabbit that caught press imagination after furiously trying to board then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s fishing boat on April 20, 1979.

Carter had gone on a solo fishing expedition in his hometown of Plains, Georgia when the rabbit approached his boat, “hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared and making straight for the president”, trying desperately to enter the boat, causing Carter to flail at the swimming creature with the oars from his boat…

…The incident with the rabbit became fodder for those illustrating Carter’s presidency as hapless and enfeebled.

At least Carter v. 2.0 showed the aggressor who’s boss. As a bonus, when it came to the fate of another organism, at least this time Hussein did something more than say “present.”