Sure, why not? - Via Fark: "Top 10 influential albums that bombed"

Oddly enough, I have #1 if only because I thought "Picture Book" from the HP commercial was pretty catchy.

Mugabe calls out the troops. Democracy surrenders.

From All Africa - "Zimbabwe: Mugabe mobilizes war vets"

Mugabe has routinely used war veterans in recent elections to spearhead a campaign of violence and terror against the opposition. The war veterans played a pivotal role in the tightly contested 2002 presidential election, won by Mugabe by 400 000 votes against the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai.

The ex-combatants were also used to spearhead the government's controversial and often violent 2000 land invasions which critics blame for causing food shortages and exacerbating the country's economic crisis.

War veterans this week said they were not prepared to accept anyone else as a presidential candidate in next year's joint elections.

From "V for Vendetta"

Dominic: So do you know what's gonna happen?
Finch: No, it was a feeling. But I can guess. With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty. And then Sutler will be forced to do the only thing he knows how to do. At which point, all V needs to do is keep his word. And then...
[Dominoes collapse with TV footages showing conflicts between rioting
citizens and the anti-riot police]

Watch the future unravel.

Mr. Craig - he done.

He's toast - This transcript of Senator Larry Craig talking to the arresting officer is uncomfortable enough but the audio is ten-times worse. He can't possibly survive this and I'm not even sure what crime he committed.

Runaway entitlements leading to Fortress America

From the Boston Globe: "America's golden years?"

Although the aging crisis is less severe in the United States than in the other great powers, the challenges arising from this crisis are far from trivial. The Congressional Budget Office projects that by 2015, spending on the elderly in the United States will total almost $1.8 trillion -- nearly half of the anticipated federal budget. For the United States, healthcare costs are the biggest problem presented by an aging population. This country spends more than twice as much per capita in this area than any other industrialized state. By conservative estimates, absent reforms, the costs of Medicare alone will be at least $2.6 trillion in 2050 in today's dollars -- roughly the size of the current US federal budget.

To pay for the massive fiscal costs associated with its aging population, the United States is likely to have to scale back its international policies. America will be less able in the future to dedicate significant resources to preventing WMD proliferation, funding nation building, and engaging in humanitarian interventions. So at the same time that global aging will help prevent the rise of great power competitors, this phenomenon may jeopardize other vital US international interests.

To protect its international security, the United States needs to maintain its enviable demographic position. Specifically, it should reduce Social Security and Medicare payments to wealthier citizens, raise the retirement age to reflect increases in life expectancies, maintain largely open immigration policies, and, above all, restrain the rising costs of its healthcare system. A defining political question of the 21st century is whether US leaders have sufficient political will and wisdom to implement these and related policies. Failure to do so will significantly jeopardize future levels of America's global influence and safety.

Tell me about it. Without reform, there won't be room for regular domestic spending, much less security or humanitarian efforts; time for the turtle shell.

Crazy rhymes with rich - The late Leona Helmsley leaves bupkis to two of her grandchildren "for reasons known to them" but bestows $12 million to her dog. Her dog.

One candidate speaks on Social Security

Every blog needs a niche and I suppose my place will be to track how the Presidential candidates address the simmering Social Security crisis. Here's a Q&A for Rudy Giuliani (hat tip to RCP) who answered - or failed to answer - the question:

What's your plan to deal with Social Security?
I'm going to say, and I mean this, Social Security is something we can straighten out if I get elected. I believe Social Security will be straightened out if almost anybody else gets elected. I don't think this is one of the critical things that only I can do, because I think Republicans and Democrats are willing to agree on Social Security once they get themselves out of a presidential race where Democrats are hoping to hear one of us say that we're going to reduce Social Security so they can do commercials saying we are going to hurt elderly people. And Republicans may be hoping the Democrats are going to say something where they can say they're going to bankrupt the country. And the reality is that neither one of us is going to do that. There are several solutions to Social Security that could get bipartisan support, but if either side comes out supporting it, it's going to get wiped out in all the political finger-pointing that's going on. There is too much history here. It should be done. Someone should get elected and put together five Democratic and five Republican senators and tell them, "Give me two options, three options, and then we'll negotiate it out."

Another commission, oh boy. Of course, everything Giuliani says is exactly correct which is why there is never any progress in unearthing a solution to the entitlement puzzle. But if I could ask one question of all the 2008 candidates, it would be this:

Without saying what you wouldn't do, what actionable steps would you take to reform Social Security?

As a minimum, will the candidates acknowledge that a program crafted in the shadow of the great Depression may be an anachronism in a country where over half of Americans own stock either directly or through 401(k)s?

Hey, I'll go first: the Social Security benefit age should be raised to 70.

Social Security's original retirement age of 65 was set in 1935 when life expectancy was 63. Today, life expectancy is 77 - and, for those who live to 65, life expectancy is 83.

With an aging population, the number of workers supporting each retiree has dropped from 16 workers/retiree to 3 workers/retiree today. Somebody's gotta pay and by 2030, it's just going to be me and you.

Meanwhile, in Turkey - Via Gateway: "First Islamist elected to Turkey"

Sad to say, but the concern is that a free election which installs an Islamist is usually the last. But I don't think there's much to fear, and possibly much to be gained, in an Islamist government in Turkey which still maintains a militant secularism and a fanatical devotion to democracy. The election of Abdullah Gul may set an example to the world of a freely-elected politician who just happens to be a Muslim and does not wish to install Sharia. I'm cautiously optimistic.

They're not going to wear flowers in their hair - Unaccustomed to the progressive utopia, African-Americans are abandoning San Francisco in droves.

The great American map shortage - I take no pleasure in piling on Miss Teen South Carolina's meltdown, but Paul on Wizbang has a great dissection of her, um, "answer" and how it tried to hit every liberal talking point in the book.

And loving it! - Next summer, Steve Carell stars in the movie version of "Get Smart"; here's the trailer. Quite possibly my favorite comedy of all time.

Soccer ball = atomic bomb

Let no good deed go unpunished: the U.S. military is apologizing for handing out soccer balls with the Saudi Arabian flag on it. It seems that flag contains the Arabic names for Allah and Muhammad and shouldn't be kicked. Or held. Or looked at. All right, fair enough.

But wait! There's no sacrilege too small when it comes to the Great Satan:

"This ball...carries a message with it which, like an atom bomb, can cause carnage and insecurity in all parts of Afghanistan," a leading Afghan private daily, Cheragh, said on Monday.

Our bad, dudes. Maybe you could just kick the Israeli side.

For all you Pink Floyd fans - Total eclipse of the moon (tonight)

As summer turns to fall - It must be time for a brand-new Republican scandal. Almost a year ago, it was Mark Foley text-messaging Congressional pages and now we have Larry Craig of Idaho lookin' for love in all the wrong places. It's become oh-so-tiresome defending the Republicans who seem to have come unmoored from whatever core principles they once had. As Casey Stengel once lamented: "Can't anybody here play this game?"

Extra - From Gay Patriot: "Idaho's Craig should resign"

This just in - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigns. It looks like yesterday's rumors were true. Chertoff next?

Tricked 'em again - The DNC strips Florida Democrats of its convention delegates; the Democrats blame the Republicans. What do they put in the water down in Florida?

Chris Wallace smacks Bill Moyers - Pwn'ed over Karl Rove. John at Powerline asks: "There comes a time, it seems to me, when a man has been so utterly discredited as a hateful ignoramus that, not only should he be shunned by all people of good will, he should even be cut off from taxpayer subsidies. Is there anything - anything at all - that is too low for PBS to countenance?" I'm sure that Moyers will curtly respond that anything Karl Rove says is a lie and, if it isn't...well, slander doesn't apply to Karl Rove. His audience won't disagree.

More - Matt Hoy has the transcripts and more commentary.

And this - I'm going to assume that the "Bill Israel" who claimed his buddy Karl Rove told him he was agnostic is the same unbiased UMass journalism professor who waited exactly one day after 9/11 to pen this contemptible letter to the Daily Collegian.

You stupid, GOP-voting rubes

David Brooks eviscerates some professor's book on Americans' voting choices:

Finally, if voter decisions are driven by the sort of crude emotional outbursts Westen recommends, and if, as he writes, "a substantial minority of Americans hold authoritarian, intolerant ideologies driven by fear, hate and prejudice that are fundamentally incompatible with Democratic (and democratic) principles," then shouldn't we abandon this whole democracy thing? Shouldn't we have a coup, led perhaps by the Emory psychology department, which could prevent the brutish and hate-filled from ever gaining control?

Peter Pace, arrest this professor before his message of "truth to power" reaches the people!

Irony overload - The DNC disenfranchises Florida voters. Well, they warned us this would happen.

Who cares? - It must be a slow day in the blogosphere since everybody's getting their shorts in a bunch over Robert Fisk, Huffington Post, and Bill Maher. It all has the same attention-grabbing, "look at me, I'm outrageous!" taint (see: Bob Saget, below).

Update (8/26) - Martin Lewis now claims it was all just a big joke and the right-wing blogosphere doesn't understand satire. There's a word for this.