On for 107 years

Here's a light bulb that's been burning -- with only a couple of short interruptions -- continuously for 107 years.

Cat massage

Treadmill kittehs!

The miracle of oil company profits

Many times on this blog I've complained about high gas prices... and it's not just that the prices are high, it's the high prices while at the same time the oil companies are making higher profits than any other corporation in history, and their profits keep breaking records, as we pay more and more at the pump, to the point that some of us are sacrificing things like... food... to fill the tank so that we can get to work.

I love capitalism as much as the next guy. I have no problem with companies making profits... it's why you do business. But in this case, we're talking about a commodity, not a luxury, this liquid gold we put in our cars and trucks. This is a commodity that if people can't afford it, the rest of our economy goes down the tubes. Food prices go up. Rents become unaffordable. And eventually the house of cards falls down.

So it seems to me that these oil companies, especially the American ones, can give just a little bit back, sacifice just a little bit of their profits, for the benefit of the country that's making them rich. After all, our young people in uniform are dying for them... these oil barons can give something back.

Well, the barons don't like talk like that. According to them, it's not their fault that you're paying more at the pump even as they make higher and higher profits. And now, they've bought full page ads in newspapers explaining just where the money we give them goes.

And guess what? According to them, they don't make any profit at all! It's a miracle!

If you ever had any doubt that these oily barons are laughing at you and me while we get the life squeezed out of us at the pump, you should be rid of it now.

Obama talks about gas prices

Fox News carried about one minute of this, and then cut away to talk about Reverend Wright.

Obama on The Daily Show

Pain at the pump. Yawn.

I was anchoring the news at KFI yesterday when the report came down that -- once again -- gas pump prices are hitting record highs. Interestingly, these stories always fail to note that the oil companies, year after year, are enjoying record profits. When I say record profits, I mean the highest profits in the history of corporations.

I usually comment on oil and gas prices here, but after awhile I run out of things to say. The story is the same, week after week, day after day. New highs. New records. More pain at the pump. Constantly. Neverending. Poe's Raven was an oil CEO. "When will I be able to afford gas as I had before?" I implored. Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore!"

So as we are burdened under heavier and heavier loads (as gas prices go up, so do food prices), the oil companies continue to rake in ever larger sums of our money, and laugh at us, knowing that they control not only our government but our lives as well. To them, we are nothing more than a nation of Winston Smiths from Orwell's "1984" with their corporate boot ever on our faces, showing us what power truly means.

Remember that every time you fill up.

Is Hillary insane?

Earlier today, Barack Obama made a comment that all three candidates -- including John McCain -- would be better presidents than Bush.

"You have a real choice in this election. Either Democrat would be better than John McCain," Obama said, and then added: "And all three of us would be better than George Bush."

Hillary pounced, and accused Obama of "cheering on" McCain.

REALLY? REALLY, HILLARY???

It wasn't very long ago that Hillary WAS TELLING US THAT MCCAIN WAS MORE QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT THAN OBAMA. SHE WAS TELLING US WHAT A GOOD MAN MCCAIN WAS WHEREAS WE HAD TO QUESTION OBAMA'S CHARACTER. Hillary is the one who ENDORSED McCAIN. Not once, but three times.

Hillary Clinton is insane with desperation. There's no other way to look at it anymore.

"Expelled" is a flop

The creationist propaganda film "Expelled," built around dishonest accounts of academics "oppressed" for not believing in evolution, and attempting to link people who believe in evolution with Nazi and Stalin-era atrocities, is a flop.

If numbers are any indication, Ben Stein has shown he's no Michael Moore.

Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a documentary which makes an argument for intelligent design over the theory of evolution, debuted at just number eight among the top ten grossing movies last week.

The film made $1.2 million on Friday in 1,052 theaters. By comparison, Michael Moore's 'Sicko' raked in $23.9 million its opening weekend from just 441 theaters, and Fahrenheit 9/11 did $23.9 million from only 868 slots.

What to do about Hillary

Al and Pat, sittin' in a tree

I about pissed my pants the other night when I saw a TV commercial as I was fast forwarding through a show on my DVR.

I could have sworn it looked like Pat Robertson sitting romantically close to Al Sharpton on a love seat.

I rewound just to make sure the loneliness hadn't driven me over the edge.

Sure enough, my eyes were not deceiving me. There they were, laughing about how they were on opposite sides of just about every fence there is... EXCEPT GLOBAL WARMING.

Yes, Pat Roberston and Al Sharpton did a global warming commercial together. And they're doing it for Al Gore!

I had a sad

Oil price sets another record high...

... while the oil companies laugh at you.

An engineer's guide to cats

4 lies in 23 words

Bill Clinton crams 4 lies into 23 words. Just when people were starting to forget, Bill brings it up again and makes it worse.

What happened to them? Bill and Hillary used to be heroes to me. Up until this campaign, I was a supporter.

John Edwards was my first choice in the primaries. When he dropped out of the race, I was quite happy with either Hillary or Obama being able to win the nomination.

But after watching the two remaining candidates and their campaign styles, I decided to support Obama. As a result, I've been called a misogynist and worse. Because I was perturbed watching Hillary tell me that her Republican opponent was more qualified to be president than Obama, her Democratic colleague, that means I hate women?

Does that mean the reverse is true, that anyone who doesn't support Obama is automatically a racist? Really? Is that where we want to go?

And what the hell happened to Bill? This guy used to be a consummate politician, and I use the word in the positive sense. But suddenly he's got as tin an ear as Bush and Cheney in the waning days of the neocon empire.

Hard times for oil CEO

Now I don't feel so alone.

Those of us who watch with horror as they keep raising the price of gas and we have to start making decisions like, "Should I get food this week, or gas for the car?" should keep in mind how those poor, poor oil company CEO's are doing.

The CEO of Exxon is having a rough time right now. He only made 16.7 million bucks this year. But wait -- here's why you should cry for him: The Exxon board did not increase the amount of restricted stock it awarded him. And it stopped reimbursing all top executives for their country-club memberships.

Say it with me now, "Awwwwwww."

Exxon, of course, had a very good year. As in history-making. Highest profits ever in history. 40.61 Billion dollars of profit.

How about you? Have you made the decision between groceries or gas yet?

It's a start

It's a good idea, and it's a start.

Obama says that company shareholders have a say in how much executives get paid.

I killed a man...

How bad can it get

Is it just me or are a lot of us waking up to discover that we're in the middle of a nightmare that's only getting worse? The economy is in tatters -- unless you're one of the mega-wealthy or own an oil company, in that case you're doing GREAT -- more and more people are losing their jobs, their homes, their savings...

But wait, there's hope! If you feel yourself caught in the downward spiral, barely a paycheck away from being homeless or not having food, do not worry! All you need to do to save yourself is to become the CEO of major multinational company, run it into the ground, drive the company into bankruptcy, put thousands of people out of work and destroy their retirements and life savings, and someone will hand you millions, maybe even billions of dollars for doing the dirty work!

All you gotta do is believe in yourself! Get out their and grab life by the horns! Lift yourself by your own bootstraps! God helps those who help themselves!