High of 70: The weather is fine!

Cabel Sasser, of Panic software, has written an article about designing his wedding invitation.

The short version of this story seems to be that the Treasury department is not really requiring banks to use the first portion of the bailout money to make loans.

In fact, the Treasury Department seems to be encouraging banks to buy one another up.

Is there any argument for this? Can it really be official policy?

If I were a zombie, and I ate my wife’s brains, would I also have to eat my cat’s brains?

I say, yes sir.

Great points all around from a man I thought had lost his way.

Palin makes me dizzy when she talks. There are no sentences.

Beware the NewsBull. He will confound and confuse you with simple, dumb, statements. Agree? Disagree? Who is to say? Thank you Wasilla.

This is reassuring.

Is there any part of our foreign policy that has worked out as Bush planned? Anything?

this man has answer to all your problem

Fact check of the speeches from the RNC last night.

Sarah Palin is a mean little cheerleader, but, fundamentally, she’s scared as hell (and possibly pregnant.)

Huh?

Why, three years after Katrina, is there no shelter of last resort in New Orleans? I understand that they want people to get out, but is it better to potentially let 50 people drown than to accommodate 200 in a public space? And isn’t that exactly the government’s role here, to provide “last resort” protection? I don’t get it.

Nobody’s uninsured, cuz you can always go to the ER.

What a fucking putz.

Lovely story about two elderly Chinese women sentenced to a year of labor for attempting to protest at the Olympics.

I know that their culture is different than ours, and this sort of mean-spirited official bullying is not new, but if the Olympics is supposed to reflect the best qualities of humanity, this sort of behavior has to be forbidden. The US should boycott the games until the IOC draws up an official code of conduct for host countries.

This Russian invasion of Georgia makes me very nervous. The situation is very complicated, with bad actors on all sides. My current understanding is that the Bush administration implied that the Georgians could count on our support if Russia responded to Georgia’s attempt to retake the South Ossetia region. Georgia’s incursion into Ossetia, combined with Russia’s paranoia about its neighbor’s move westward, triggered the Russian smackdown. If Georgia really thought the U.S. was going to send troops to defend her, well then that reveals a bit of naiveté on the part of Georgia. I mean, our army is pretty well occupied at the moment. And why would we want to be in a shooting war with Russia? Come on.

The worrying part is that the issue is more complex than can easily be explained on CNN, and our politicians speak less to reality, and more to perception. So when Obama and McCain both endorse Georgian membership in NATO they gloss over the fact that Georgia’s bid for entry into NATO helped precipitate the current crisis. They clearly understand that that’s the case, but by not explaining it they perpetuate the current “Big Bad Russia” meme.

We can’t afford to get into a fight with Russia, militarily or politically. But there’s nothing much to do otherwise, and Americans aren’t much for patience I’m afraid.