Buttermilk & Molasses

CAIRO, 1999

I've finally scanned and culled through 200 of the color photos from my trip to Egypt in 1999, and posted about 30 with running commentary of the trip. Next up, about 100 black-and-white shots of the same trip.

HELLBOY

The NYTimes' Elvis Mitchell explains why everyone wants to go see 'Hellboy' this weekend, and not wait for it to be released on DVD. [NYTimes login: buttermilk.com password: buttermilk]

MEET WONKETTE

Media Bistro kicks back with Wonkette's Ana Marie Cox and gets the dish on Washington's newest pundit.

ALL I WANT FOR EASTER

Someone should buy me this t-shirt for a belated birthday present. I'll wear it gardening, but not to yoga. [Update: Too late. It's in the mail.]

THE GOSPEL OF DEBS

The New Yorker is on a religious comedy swing these days, as evidenced by the excerpts they've published of the diaries of Debbie of Galilee. [Thanks again to Fussy for the link.]

Everyone is just getting so mean. They're all going, Debbie, he is so not divine, Debbie, you'll believe anything, Debbie, what about last year when you were worshipping ponchos? And I so don't trust that Judas Iscariot, who's always staring at me when I walk to the well and he's saying, hey, Deb, nice jugs, and I'm like, oh ha ha ha, get some oxen.

WWJD(rive)

On a rare week, The New Yorker nails the punchline. Like with this little send-up on What Would Jesus Drive were he test-driving SUVs. [Thanks to Fussy for the link.]

Jesus: O.K., let’s say I’m just curious: could I switch the wheels for twenty-two-inch chrome Momos and add a brushed billet grille, Corsa exhaust tips, Kicker Solo-Baric L7 subs, and a Magna Charger with a 4.5-p.s.i. boost?

Sales Associate: Piece of cake.

Jesus: What’s the gas mileage?

Sales Associate: [snickers] Sorry? Didn’t catch that.

Jesus: I’m just messing with you.

YOU GO, GIRLFRIEND

Old girlfriends in Santa Barbara. Old girlfriends in Richmond. Sounds like the same town to me.

DAVE FOR PREZ

After a week of poking fun at the sleepy boy at a Bush rally, David Letterman comes up with a stellar Top Ten -- Top Ten Questions You're Afraid To Ask Condoleezza Rice.

10. "Did Bush ever hurt himself trying to pronounce your name?"

9. "At cabinet meetings, who besides you and Cheney wear lipstick?"

8. "Do you know Leeza Gibbons?"

7. "Do you own a condo?"

6. "Did you ever try the 'Condoleezza Rice' at Chi-Chi's?"

5. "As a souvenir, did you keep any of Saddam's beard lice?"

4. "Hey, where'd you get that cool Halliburton sweatshirt?"

3. "Who told CNN that Letterman faked the footage of the bored kid next to Bush?"

2. "About those Iraqi weapons of mass destruction -- did you check Baghdad Mini-Storage?"

1. "What kind of job will you and Bush be looking for in January 2005?"

AND THESE PEOPLE RUN THE COUNTRY

Sometimes you just have to wonder why we think leaders are any smarter than followers. Because if you look over the last three years of the Bush administration, or a similar chunk of the Clinton administration, or three years of America's favorite smartybritches Thomas Jefferson's life, you end up thinking the same thing: What a bunch of morons.

The pervasive sense of secrecy and protectiveness that seems to have seeped into every crevice of the Bush White House is just hard to comprehend. Watching them funmble through stupid decision after stupid decision can only lead people to so many conclusions -- the White House is stupid, the White House is paranoid, the White House actually caused the September 11 attacks and is covering them up. These idiots deserve to lose the election. And if they win, America deserves four more years of Bush. [NYTimes login: buttermilk.com password: buttermilk]

The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on Thursday that it was pressing the White House to explain why the Bush administration had blocked thousands of pages of classified foreign policy and counterterrorism documents from former President Bill Clinton's White House files from being turned over to the panel's investigators.

The White House confirmed on Thursday that it had withheld a variety of classified documents from Mr. Clinton's files that had been gathered by the National Archives over the last two years in response to requests from the commission, which is investigating intelligence and law enforcement failures before the attacks.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said some Clinton administration documents had been withheld because they were "duplicative or unrelated," while others were withheld because they were "highly sensitive" and the information in them could be relayed to the commission in other ways. "We are providing the commission with access to all the information they need to do their job," Mr. McClellan said.

The commission and the White House were reacting to public complaints from former aides to Mr. Clinton, who said they had been surprised to learn in recent months that three-quarters of the nearly 11,000 pages of files the former president was ready to offer the commission had been withheld by the Bush administration. The former aides said the files contained highly classified documents about the Clinton administration's efforts against Al Qaeda.

The commission said it was awaiting a full answer from the White House on why any documents were withheld.

"We need to be satisfied that we have everything we have asked to see," Al Felzenberg, a spokesman for the bipartisan 10-member commission, said. "We have voiced the concern to the White House that not all of the material the Clinton library has made available to us has made its way to the commission."

YAWNING BOYS

Apparently, not only is the video of the chubby kid yawning at a Bush rally real, but his dad is a Bush Pioneer, one of the many shills have have raised $100,000 for Bush's reelection. Boy, I bet he's popular at dinner parties.