Look, up in the sky!

Off-camera voice

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

No, it's six nuclear warheads flying across America!

George Bush

You silly goose---warheads don't fly, missiles actually fly!

Goodbye Leader, Hello Leader

I wonder how many people were more than ready for US President Bush's recent conoloscopy to have disastrous complications, leaving Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney holding the keys to the kingdom? (Bush was under general anaesthetic for 2 hours, making Your Friend Dick Acting President. Shudder.)

4th of July

We all know what the Americans are like. And 4th of July is the big summer holiday. So why not have a parade?



No parade is complete without a fire truck!



Yes, the woman above has balls of yarn for her Princess Leia hair.



The inevitable backup.



Some fancy cars...



The kiddies get in on the fun as well.



Ooooo, livestock! (Note the man carrying the bucket and shovel walking behind...)



And let's end it all with a biiiiig truck.

The parade is for a small town, and most of the people in the parade either squirt water guns at the spectators, or throw out candy. When we got back in our car, we had bits of chocolate thrown through the window (it's incredibly safe here. We don't lock the doors to the car or the house, we leave keys in the ignition, and there isn't even a full time police officer out here).

I'd like to point out, the rest of the day was enjoyed with a barbeque at home and lots of beer and lemonade.

Furthering a thought

Frank's post reminded me of a comment made on the flight to the US. Well, it was after we had landed, and everyone was standing, awkwardly, waiting for the doors to open (which took inordinately long). Now, remember that we flew Aer Lingus, direct from Dublin to Boston.

Discussion in the row behind us (and we're all standing up now...)

Woman 1: "I wanted to exercise more, but there was just no time."

Woman 2: "Oh I know what you mean. And the food! Irish women just don't care about how they look, do they? They eat all this fatty food!"

W1: "I can't wait to get back and have some salads, you know?"

W2: "And the drinking! I mean, Irish women just drink like crazy, don't they. They drink so much! They eat tons of food and drink a huge amount."

I was, literally gobsmacked. I wanted to turn to her, put on my thickest (Southside) accent and say something like "You really should watch what you say on an IRISH airline, especially when you're returning to the fattest country in the world."

And the second woman? Who the heck forced the fish and chips down her gob?! If I remember right, every freaking menu has a salad on it! And the salads in Ireland are much better than the ones here, let me tell you...

No, I was a chicken, I didn't want to start anything, but jjjjjjjjjjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Road Trip: Why America's Collective Mind Is Melting

It's because they put people like this in charge of deciding their laws:

"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN G. ROBERTS JR., in the majority opinion on school integration.