Sorry, I can't make a "no respect" joke about this one.

Though he made a lot of bad movies, he was in "Caddyshack" and "Back to School," and that's good enough for me.  Plus he was funny on stage, and helped tons of young stand up comics make it.

It doesn't look good, but maybe he'll be pull through.  After all, this is a guy who was a total washout until he was about 40 years old and decided to relaunch a failed career in comedy.  So you know he's tough.

Here's Rodney's home page.

Iran has learned all it needs to know about Bush:  if you have nukes (N. Korea), Bush is weak against you.  If you'd like nuclear weapons but don't have them (Iraq), Bush will claim you have them, then stomp on you.

They've chosen the North Korea route.

Of course, they're claiming that they are simply processing uranium for nuclear generator fuel.  But they're doing it in massive, unnecessary amounts.  What does it tell you?

Thanks, Bush, yet again.

Essentially, the government is saying, "we have enough evidence of collusion between the tobacco companies to put out false information about the health effects of tobacco for X years; therefore, profits they earned during those years were ill-gotten."  Under the terms of RICO, criminals are not allowed to profit by their crimes and must disgorge any such ill-gotten gains.

$280 billion is a lot.  It's bigger than the huge $246 billion multi-state settlement they reached over state program health costs a few years ago.

Because of this, the tobacco stocks sank some yesterday and today.

Could a verdict for the U.S. sink the tobacco companies?

I doubt it.  It's possible, I suppose, but they're very cash-flow rich, and could probably set up long-term bonds to cover the verdict, then pay the bonds back over years.

If they did go under, I'm sure there are enterprising people out there who would start up brand-new tobacco companies with no such RICO concerns hanging over their heads.  After all, there are addicts to service.

And he claims in the announcement that "there's absolutely no conflict whatsoever. The line has been successfully blurring now for years and years and years."

Of course, this means that the Bush/Cheney campaign is getting hours and hours of free pro-Bush propaganda each and every week.  But hey, no problem there, right?  The corporate media is sure to balance that out with...um...well, its own rightward bias.

So, if you were wondering if Rush Limbaugh had any pretext of being anything other than a mouthpiece of the Gawd Offal Party?  Wonder no more.
 

(And there's other good things on both those sites.)

Kerry is staying on the offensive.  Perhaps the time of getting-to-know-you softball politicking is done, and the countercharge against Bush has begun.

It's going to be an interesting few weeks.

The judge threw it out.  The charge the man tried to use is generally applied in wife-beating cases.

Arr, though she be easy on the eye, she seems to be a bit touched in the head.  As crazy as a sh*thouse rat, as they say.  A few markers missing from her compass, as it were.

A)  It's a variant of the word "crypt."

B)  It's a variant of the word "crib."