this week's sign that the appocolpse is upon us

I was flipping channels tonight (hey I earned it with my two-day mock bar exam) and saw this listing:

USA Rock Paper Scissors League Championship®
Rated: TVPG
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Genre: Other

On ESPN 2?!

Which means, apparently, that it is as much of a sport as bowling, billiards, competitive eating, spelling bees, world's strongest man competitions, and poker.

ESPN programming and acquisitions director Ilan Ben-Hanan said the channel felt the competish would be a "fun" alternative for its viewers. The sports cabler is no stranger to nontraditional sporting events, having televised the National Spelling Bee and several major eating competitions (including the annual Nathan's hot dog battle).

"Nearly everyone has played Rock Paper Scissors, so it will be interesting to see the strategic skills displayed by this elite field of competitors," Ben-Hanan said.

Oh Variety, I love how you read like LA executives talk.

And why do Americans love this idiotic game? Why it is because the French saved our butts in the Revolutionary War, especially Commander Rochambau, for whom it is named. And here I thought it was Ro Sham Bo some sort of abbreviation for Rock Paper Scissors. At least, that's what I learned on ESPN 2. I needed that space for Bar exam trivia, not cocktail hour trivia. Damn you, ESPN 2.

the epic collapse of the conversative movement

Sorry that I haven't been writing. I got back at 11 am and spent all of yesterday studying for today's simulated bar exam. I have to say, it is not fun and I still have another day of testing.

Back to my post at hand. Almost immediately following Bush's "re" election I predicted that in short order people would pretend they didn't vote for him, like how people seemed to magically have switched their votes over Nixon. I was confident that he would return to his previous unpopularity, and become more unpopular.

But the fact that 45% of the American people would support the impeachment of President Bush is amazing. No longer is it just the random people at your co-op or peace rallies, now it is almost within the margin of error in terms of popular support. Remember, only 26% of Americans supported Bill Clinton's impeachment. There was no polling on Andrew Johnson, but I wonder if there was any on Richard Nixon.

Even more incredible is the majority that support impeaching Cheney-- 54%.

Bush and Cheney have become so toxic, yet the Republican candidates running to replace them have to say nice things about them because the 26% of Americans that still support Bush are the ones that vote in GOP primaries. That means supporting clemency for Scotter Libby and an endless continuance of the war in Iraq, something a vast majority of Americans disapprove of in large numbers. Not to mention GitMo (which Romney thinks we should double as a symbol of a national resolve to torture people).

At this rate, no Republican will have a prayer at winning the White House in 2008 or regaining control of Congress. Of course, things will change as new events come up. But right now, I can't foresee anything that will change the direction of the circling of the drain for conservatives.

Last day in Canada

This is another posting about those flappy-headed-beedy-eyed folks...you know Canadians. I forgot to mention my joy at reading the names on the Canadian walk of fame. It lists such luminaries as Michael J. Fox...and Gordon Lightfoot.

Today, we went to Niagra falls, Canadian side. The actual falls themselves are amazing. The rest, well kitsch is probably the best word to describe the resturants (planet hollywood, hard rock cafe, tony romas, hooters, etc), the attractions (ripleys, guiness book of world records, marvel comics, etc), and so on. We took a boat into the horseshoe falls, and were soaked by the spray. There is one spot where it rains on a clear sunny day from the tremendous amount of water pouring down all around. I took lots of photos, but I am sure many did not come out due to said mist.

The whole reason I was here was due to a friend of mine and my wife's from college. She is Sikh and married a fellow Sikh in a temple in a Torono suburb. The pomp and circumstance was amazing. cerimonial horses, cars, swords, shoe stealing, a kit to carry the bride away to her new family, a fog machine, a shuttle bus (like a coach), three indian buffets a day, the clothing, head scraves, and a US Congressman (Jim McDermott is friends of the bride's family).

This was all set to a 1-2 hour delay because the groom was one of those people that is always really late and the vendors were also in no rush. So we just sat back and relaxed.

It was a nice time to be up here when it was in the high 90s/low 100s in SLC. (It was in the 70s here)

There are a lot of things that the US could mimic Canada on and be much better off: 1) create a universal health care system 2) sign onto the Kyoto Protocol and its progeny. You don't see ads for prescription drugs here. Why? Because there is no profit to be had (or the government forbids it). Either way, there is no need for ads that push people into getting a certain drug that they might not need.

I haven't been following the news that closely, other than the two big political stories of the quasi-pardon by Bush ("Republicans are above rule of the law") and the Obama money machine. Canada had its campaign reporting dateline the same time the US did, and the Conservative [Tory?] party trashed the Liberal party, but the numbers of contributors and amount raised was like Bill Richardson levels FOR THE WHOLE PARTY. I know Canada is a smaller country and they don't do attack ads, but still. It is just amazing how much Obama is able to raise and more importantly, how many people have given him money 253,000 is a lot of people.

Some of this is obviously due to how badly Bush and the previous GOP congress ruined the country and partly due to the fact that people want change badly. Like it or not, Obama represents this change. He is not part of Washington because he just got there. He is also black, which also says change more than anything else...even a woman (when it is Ms. Clinton only)

Anyway, I need to get to bed because DHS is making the lines long on the way back into the good old US of A...and I have a flight to catch tomorrow.

oh Canada Day (observed)

Dear Readers,

I have been late in posting today because I am visiting our neighbor up north. I love how Canada has to have everything like America, but HAS to be different, if only a little bit. For example, I have seen "Canada's next top model" and "Canadian Idol," both crappier versions of already bad shows.

Everyone here is very polite and orderly, almost annoyingly so. I will be back in the good old US of A for our nation's birthday. But it has been fun to enjoy another country's.