Special Relationship Edition DVD

VERCINGETORIX

Our new President has already set about repairing the damage caused by the Bush Administration's disastrous foreign policy. As such, he's already reaffirmed our "special relationship" with the UK....by, uh, well, by giving the Prime Minister a really nice box set of DVDs.

I mean Raging Bull and Casablanca are great movies, of course, but are you fucking kidding me?

Luckily, Gordon Brown's gift was equally lame. You know, just an "ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet", "a framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to mark Anglo-US peace when it was saved from ice packs by Americans and given to Queen Victoria", and "a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert."

Good thing he didn't put much thought into it either or we'd look stupid....

(HT: TigerHawk)

Can We Take Up A Collection To Send These Guys Away?

MITHRIDATES
I don't have too much to add to this story, but thought it deserved more than a bullet. Judges in PA were getting kickbacks from a private detention center based on the number of days they sentenced children to serve. I'm not making this up.
More...

Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan received a commission for every day they sent a child to private juvenile detention centres run by Pennsylvania Child Care and a sister company. The pay-offs came to $2.6m over seven years . . . First the judges received monetary rewards for sanctioning the building of a new private-sector prison in their area. Second, they were paid for closing a county-funded prison nearby. And, then, of course, they offered up the “juvenile delinquents” for the benefit of the owners of the new jail.

And how about those people who paid the judges to send them inmates?

The judges are going to jail, but the prison companies have so far avoided prosecution.

Sorry, but this is one outrage we don't have to feign. FO promises to follow up on this story, hopefully to happily report that the bribers are sharing a prison bunk with some all-grown-up felon they helped incarcerate as a juvenile.

"McCain's Daughter Digs Michelle's Dress"

PHUTATORIUS
An utterly irrelevant headline, I know, but if you're interested in wearing it on a T-shirt, CNN can help.

Not quite what I'm after — although I might have plunked down for some "Meghan McCain Digs Stereolab" merch back during the campaign.

As it is, I think I'll save my money for when Wolf Blitzer et al. announce the winner of American Idol.

Getting Absurd and Creepy

MITHRIDATES
So after the conventions I pretty much made up my mind about who I was supporting and signed up at the Obama web site. At first I was impressed with their organization and how they kept all their supporters informed and managed their volunteers. I even gave the guy $50.

After the election the pleas for money kept coming — this time to help bail out the DNC. Hmmm, not really what I signed up to support, but OK, you can have my kind "no thanks" and we'll both move on.

But today's Your Obama Holiday Fleece email asking me for a $50 or more contribution to get that thing to the right in time for the holidays is just a tad bit bizarre. First of all , the money goes to the DNC, so not a chance. But there's something eerily Uzbekistan/North Korea dictator worship-like about wearing around clothing with my President's logo on it. Obama-for-President gear is one thing. Everyone's got that and it's become part of our democratic tradition.

But now that he's elected, it's time to stop. We're a nation of laws, not of men. Now that we've cast our vote, we should support our country, not commit ourselves to one particular leader; we should criticize the guy when we think he's wrong, support him when we think he's right, give him the benefit of the doubt, at least at first; and in four years we should pick someone else if he he doesn't do his job.

Don't get me wrong. I like the guy and so far am happy with his centrist shift and his apparent value of competence over ideology. And yes, Alex P. Keaton had a poster of Reagan in his bedroom — this isn't entirely new territory. But can we just nip this cult of personality crap in the bud, please?