Scott Horton (from Harper's Magazine):

History News Network’s poll of 109 historians found that 61 percent of them rank Bush as “worst ever” among U.S. presidents. Bush’s key competition comes from Buchanan, apparently, and a further 2 percent of the sample puts Bush right behind Buchanan as runner-up for “worst ever.” 96 percent of the respondents place the Bush presidency in the bottom tier of American presidencies. And was his presidency (it’s a bit wishful to speak of his presidency in the past tense–after all there are several more months left to go) a success or failure? On that score the numbers are still more resounding: 98 percent label it a “failure.”

Tee hee

Petition: Induct Belew R&R Hall of Fame

The new TSX enjoys the benefit of the ceaseless advancements made in consumer electronics, including a navigation system that now depicts real time traffic and weather data on the screen. Unfortunately, Honda’s BMW envy has led the company to ape the damnable iDrive computer interface employed by its German rival. So rather than the previous easy-to-use touch screen system, the TSX is now saddled with a central control knob that operates its functions.

This contributes to an “even more intuitive interface,” according to chief engineer Hiroyuki Ikegami, demonstrating perhaps the worst sense of intuition since President Bush looked into Vladimir Putin’s soul and spotted a man who could be trusted.

Harsh!

Hope they fix it by the time I'm allowed to buy my next car. I gots my greedy little eyes on the TSX.

Glenn Beck, weary of killing dogs, turns his murderous gaze towards polar bears. To whit:

INHOFE: I mean, you can be on my patio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with your outdoor cooker and have Fish and Wildlife say, well, you can’t do that because you might kill the polar bears. And polar bears are so pretty to look at.

BECK: They eat people! For the love of Pete, they’re big, angry bears. They eat people. Not that I say we go out and kill all of them, but I mean, it doesn’t seem to be a problem here. Senator, I can’t take the — I can’t take the lies anymore.

Ahhhh! The lies!!!! I can't take them either!!! Ahh!!!!!! Too much sweet-tea today? Yes.

Awesomely Bad Military Patches (via)

Want to be a McCain Democrat?

Mark Steel:

"My fellow Americans, I drank a pint of walrus milk once for a bet. I speak fluent Eskimo. I once ate all the gherkins in Belgium. My brother's got a yak in his loft. I fell asleep on a night bus once and woke up in Munich, and had to get a lift back on a camel. I used to live on an iceberg. I've got a waffle-maker that works underwater."

This outrage cannot stand:

First, some background. Let’s say that, in the comments section here, Gary Farber accuses “Cleek” of having poor indie-rock sensibilities. Outraged, Cleek sues Typepad (the host of our blog) for defamation. Typepad, however, didn’t actually say anything about Cleek's music tastes, it just made blog space available for others to provide comments.

"Poor indie-rock sensibilities" ? Moi? I'll have you know I graduated with honors from the Pitchfork School of Indie Rock Snobbery and Tastemaking. My final project, in which I documented all the ways it was acceptable to like Yo La Tengo, was awarded three Shrugs and a "solid mainstream appeal" from the Board Of Cred. My Snobbery was estimated to be in the high 97^th percentile - which gives me the ability to detect influences in less than twenty seconds, and to know what's Good in ten. In Ironic Detachment and Namedropping, I was ranked in the Top 10 All Time Best. I can draw the Uncle Tupelo family tree with one hand, while typing the lyrics to every song on Pavement's first three albums (the only really good ones, of course) with the other. I own Mudhoney bootleg 45s. I once drank a beer with Mark Robinson from Unrest. My favorite color is candy apple gray.

Tired! Derivative! Overreaching! Saccharine! Overhyped! Twee! Lame! Boring! Addictive! Mainstream! Obvious! Primitive! Arch-!

I can go on, if anyone doubts my mastery of Hipster Modifiers.

Yes, obviously, his piece was meant to be an illustration of some arcane and totally played-out legal theory but even in the hypothetical, this is an affront to my character and to my family's honor. Vengeance will be mine.

Avoid Circuit City

Clinton Parables