Tom McMahon

What does it take to kill a cockroach like Rush?

Limba is as pure evil as there is and I wish him every ill and the earliest possible demise.

on the bright side. HE DID EXPERIENCE PAIN and he spent a lot of money on the black market.

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well I used to know a girl and I would have sworn
that her name was Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her own
and a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure
if her name is Veronica

Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those who shout
her name and steal her clothes

The problem is, how can we be certain that someone who can't communicate also can't comprehend? Or that they aren't aware? We can't. In the few, limited studies that have addressed the issue, the rate of misdiagnosis of the persistent vegetative state hovers around forty percent. The presence or absence of consciousness in another person simply isn't measurable. It is something that we can only infer, and as such it's subject to observer bias. The diagnosis itself is a Rorschach test, as dependent on the observer's beliefs in the meaning of life and death as end-of-life decisions are on a patient's beliefs.

Veronica sits in her favorite chair
and she sits very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get right
and if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her own,
with devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like,
but my name is Veronica"

Our home state of Massachusetts has been in the news recently for a positive decision on gay marriages. It would seem that the next natural step would be state recognition of other types of alternative unions. Apparently we don't think heterosexuality is worthy of special legal treatment anymore. Why should duality be favored then over plurality? Why can't a voluntarily polygamous family or polyandrous family apply for a marriage license? The cultural and cross-cultural precedent for polygamy is certainly much stronger than for gay marriage.

My friend Richard and I were flying to Bradley Field in Connecticut today (excellent airplane museum) and it occurred to us that this could solve America's health insurance problem. Consider 50 uninsured people. They could all get married in one big union. One of the 50 could take a job with really good health benefits, e.g., for the government. The other 49 would then get spousal health benefits.

Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work

The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

"I’m not so sure after watching him handle—if that is the word—the issue that has taken possession of his campaign this week: the 10-year seal he placed on the records of his 12-year tenure as governor of Vermont. Politicians never seem to get the concept of irony: Here is a guy who is running on the notion that he is a fearless, truth-telling outsider, and he’s covering up the reason for covering up."

Snopes: Certainly the most notorious racial remark attributed to Limbaugh is his telling a black caller on his radio talk show to "Take that bone out of your nose and call me again"

Snopes: (This incident occurred not on Rush Limbaugh's now-familiar talk and political commentary radio program, but at the beginning of his broadcast career back in the early 1970s when he was hosting a Top 40 music show under the name "Jeff Christie" on either WIXZ or KQV in Pittsburgh.)

Newsday: Recalling a stint as an "insult-radio" DJ in Pittsburgh, he admits feeling guilty about, for example, telling a black listener he could not understand to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back."

Snopes: Since Rush Limbaugh presumably wouldn't have expressed feelings of guilt over an apocryphal story, and as far as we know he hasn't ever denied or disclaimed what Newsday reported he told them, we have to put this one in the "true" column.

1. Put 1 quart of regular tap water in a pot on the stove.
2. Boil the Hell out of it.

One of the reasons it fails is that it's pretty much designed to. There is no vision, no set of shared values that truly unites the United Nations. You can't have a civil rights organization where Klansmen are welcomed as members; you can't have a softball team where half the players want to play basketball, and you can't have a global organization dedicated to the spread of human rights and democracy with nearly half the members representing barbaric, corrupt regimes.

Biographies? Serious travel books? Moneylosers for most of their authors. How so? Well, say you're lucky and your agent nails a $100,000 contract for you for a biography you're dying to write. Sounds good, huh? But run the math: First, subtract the agent's fee (10-15%), and then subtract taxes. You've got to write the book on the, say, $55,000ish that remains. Keep in mind that almost all books take longer to write and publish than expected. But, heck, you're a fast worker -- it'll only take you 3 years. That means you'll be living on $17,000 a year. And wait: you've gotta do some research -- what's a biography without research? Visiting some archives, interviewing whoever's still alive ... Guess where the money for these travels and adventures comes from? Your own pocket.

Not long ago, I ran into a woman acquaintance I hadn't seen in years, during which time she'd written a first-class biography of a famous man. We bumped into each other shortly after her book had been released, and I assumed she was basking in the good reviews, and exultant about the way her publisher was promoting the book. "This must give you a great feeling, as well as a great platform into your next book, no?" I said.

She rolled her eyes and told me emphatically that she was never going to write another book. "What I'm looking for now is a nice little not-too-demanding job with an office, regular hours, a health plan, and a regular paycheck," she said.

Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes. -- Dave Barry

Warbloggers' world includes only themselves. Cartography is often a science of diagramming how we see ourselves. (note: there are twice as many knitting blogs as war blogs)

MONTY PYTHON BECOMES REAL LIFE at the University of Virginia. You know, this kind of thing is doing an amazing amount of damage to the reputation of higher education out in the greater world, and most academics don't appreciate the extent of the damage.

There's one way Senator Clinton could make herself more popular among moderates, and (I think) among those who are working now within the Sandbox: She could blast idiots like Howard Dean with both barrels for their vile behavior. She could strongly emphasize her wholehearted support for the Iraq effort, and disassociate herself the irresponsible elements in her own party who call people liars and so transparently try to use every setback in Iraq proof of incompetence and failure. Not that she's obligated to do that. I'm just saying it would be a great act of statesmanship that would gain her the respect of a lot of people, including, I suspect, a lot of people in uniform who are serving over in Iraq. It would be a breathtakingly brave and, frankly, beautiful move. I can't think of anything that would make her look more Presidential, either.