(Beyond the Nation)

We've moved!

2009-01-15T19:02:00.002-05:00

Beyond the Nation has become an issue for me as I have been blocked from updating it during the daytime (i.e. when I'm mostly keeping up with the news). After several months of ignoring the issue, I've finally found a solution - we're moving to Wordpress! The new site - View from the 502 - has the entire archive of Beyond the Nation entries and has already got some new stuff on it!

Update your readers, kids!

http://502view.wordpress.com/

Lieberman's still good to go

2008-11-18T11:57:00.003-05:00

Senate Democrats have voted to allow Joe Lieberman (I-Del) to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee despite his actions throughout the campaign season in support of John McCain.

Personally, I agree with this decision, and not because the Dems need Lieberman to keep their oh-so-slim hopes of having a filibuster-proof majority come January. To me, this comes as a message that there is still some hope of non-partisan behavior in the Senate in which a Senator can support a candidate whom they think is the best choice for the country, despite political parties. That's not the message they were likely thinking of, and had the Democrats had 62 chairs in the Senate, he may well as have been chucked from the Democratic caucus. But alas, I am far too hopeful.

Did I agree with Lieberman's opposition to the Obama campaign? Of course not, but it was his choice to make.

2008-11-05T08:49:00.003-05:00

Barack Obama is the president-elect of the United States. On January 20th, he will be sworn in as the 44th President and George W. Bush's horrific eight year span will finally come to a close.

This has been one crazy election. Looking back at my archives, I remember the good and the bad. I remember how bitter I got at Hillary Clinton, how little respect I showed Mike Gravel, how uninterested I was with John Edwards' affair (what ever happened to THAT guy?), and just how much I hate Tom Tancredo. And good lord, do I hate Tom Tancredo.

I have been an Obama supporter since before he announced his running back in February 2007, and I am thrilled THRILLED that he has defeated John McCain. While there is no way that he can possibly meet the lofty expectations he now faces, I do feel like the American people have chosen the right candidate. I just wish my family agreed.

So it looks like here at Beyond the Nation, we'll (we being myself and the Google) be looking both back and forward at what this election has meant and will possibly lead to before shifting gears to current events, rather than election issues.

I can't believe it's finally done. I'm so excited.

VICTORY!!!!!

2008-11-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

BARACK OBAMA HAS BEEN PROJECTED AS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Election day! Go vote!

2008-11-04T07:46:00.003-05:00

After this ridiculous amount of time, election day is finally here.

If you're registered, go vote! There's no reason not to.

Real quick

2008-10-29T11:01:00.002-04:00

According to this MSNBC post, Sarah Palin is heading home to Alaska on Monday night so she can vote Tuesday morning before heading to the election day festivities. Do you think she's going to be voting for Ted Stevens?

Convict runs for Senate

2008-10-28T10:58:00.003-04:00

Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has been found guilty of seven counts of corruption. No one really seems to be talking about what kind of punishment that will get, but that doesn't hide the fact that he's guilty. It's done.

Of course, Stevens still maintains his innocence and not only swears to fight on, but says he will continue his reelection campaign. You have to give him something for his bravado (and while you're at it, give me something for my nonsense blog Penguin Bravado) - while he is not the first Senator in office to go and get himself convicted of a crime, he has become the first that has sought reelection with said conviction. Good for him, I sarcastically say. What I'm not saying is that I think he'll take the victory.

While things like this often go away with time (Larry Craig is still in office, after all), time is not something Republicans have right now. The election is one week from today, and they do not need the words guilty and corruption floating around. There are a number of insanely close races for Senate spots and some are seeing a possibility of Democrats gaining the filibuster-proof majority of 60. That would get a tad ker-aaaaazy.

I'd give the moral of the story here, but I'll wait to see how Stevens' election turns out next week. To show how serious it is in this election season, though, both John McCain and Sarah Palin (who is the Governor of Stevens' state, if you'd forgotten) have called for his resignation. Damn.

Holy crap!

2008-10-27T16:21:00.003-04:00

This means something. This is important.

This won't end well

2008-10-23T08:12:00.002-04:00

Let's move out of the Presidential race for a moment, if you don't mind. Never mind the hilarious gaffes from John McCain about agreeing with attacks on Pennsylvanians and "tax cunts" (more on that later) and let's take a look at Iraq.

You remember Iraq, don't you? Country we invaded for no real reason and found that without a plan there's really no way to achieve an ill-defined "victory"? Coming back to you now?

Turns out that we actually have a United Nations Security Council mandate that allows us to station our troops in Iraq legally. It also turns out that the mandate expires on December 31 of this year. Unless a new deal is reached, it will no longer be legal to have our troops in Iraq. So the U.S. has been working with Iraq to create a new deal to extend the mandate and let us stay even longer.

Unfortunately (for someone, apparently) we're having a bit of trouble securing that deal. Shockingly enough, it seems that Iraq is getting a little tired of the U.S. running wild throughout the country, and whatever deal the United States is trying to secure isn't going well with the Iraqis. Last I heard (months ago) a large problem was the U.S. wanted its troops to be immune from criminal charges for anything they may do within the country. Other things have probably gone wrong since, as I spotted this headline on Fox News this morning:

U.S. Warns Iraq to Accept Security Deal

I don't like to assume (makes an ass out of you and me, after all), but it seems like that very headline undermines what we're apparently trying to do in Iraq. If Iraq wants us out of the country, then let's get the hell out! What would it do to our already abysmal international prestige if we are forced out due to legalities?

Joe the Celebrity?

2008-10-16T12:46:00.003-04:00

If one thing came out of the debate, it's the start of 15 minutes of fame for Ohio man Joe Wurzelbacher, now widely known as "Joe the Plumber". He's been getting quite a bit of press coverage in the 13 hours since the debate ended.

How long do you think it will be until he gets his own reality show?

The 20,000th and final debate

2008-10-16T09:46:00.004-04:00

Last night saw the final debate of this election. I looked back and saw that the first of my posts regarding debates was on January 16th in which I talked about Dennis Kucinich being denied entry into a debate between Obama, Clinton and John Edwards. That was AFTER most of the Democratic candidates were out. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the ridiculous amount of debates over the past year. But you're not here for the nostalgia trip, are you?

The main thing that sticks in my mind after last night's debate is just how much I've grown sick of hearing about Joe the Plumber. If you're not familiar with the tag line, John McCain brought up a plumber that Barack Obama had apparently come across who was worried that his health/tax plan would prevent him from running his own business. It was almost a touching story (not at all), until McCain kept bringing him up. Over and over and over again. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann ran a montage of the Joe mentions several times on his post-debate edition of Countdown, and it was pretty pathetic.

Both men got several zingers on each other (McCain's 'I am not President Bush' and Obama's 'You could have fooled me' response), but nothing really came out of this. McCain came off as a grumpy old man, and his repeated eye rolls didn't do him any favors. Obama was more on the defense than in previous debates, but kept himself calm and collected, while McCain was obviously getting somewhat ill-tempered as the thing went on. I have to give it to CBS's Bob Schieffer for asking direct questions rather than dancing around them (such as asking whether either candidate supports everything their campaigns put out). Both candidates had several instances when they didn't answer the question asked, and McCain in particular would go back and bring up older points, especially if it involved Joe the Plumber.

But still Obama seemed to come out of the event with the win, though I repeatedly hear the term 'McCain won on points', especially from Pat Buchanan (who has said that at all three debates now). McCain needed to come off more like - and grill me if you don't like the statement - Barack Obama in this debate. He didn't need to be short-fused and fidgety like he was. He constantly interrupted his opponent and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else than there. If he gets the line of the night for his Bush comment, then he also gets the 'Did he actually just say that with a straight face?' line for claiming that he has repudiated everything that his campaign/supporters have said about Obama that's over the line.

Yeah, he actually said that.

So with two and a half weeks left before the election, that's all we're going to be seeing as far as face-to-face confrontations between Obama and McCain. A huge spectacle of an event popping up notwithstanding, you should pretty much be settled in on a candidate by now. If you want more to feed your election hunger, McCain will be appearing tonight on Letterman for the first time since he last-minute bailed on him - lying that he was going back to Washington - to do an interview with Katie Couric. Letterman's been pretty bitter about that ever since.

This just in...sort of

2008-10-15T15:30:00.002-04:00

Here's a headline that I feel deserves its spot on the front page of MSN.com:

Aide: John Paul wounded in 1982 stabbing

Nothing says 'news' quite like a 26 year old injury report about a man who is now deceased.

They get paid for being stupid

2008-10-15T15:04:00.004-04:00

According to a Politico story, John McCain is at odds with several of his advisors as well as Sarah Palin over whether or not to attack Barack Obama over the issue of Reverend Wright. You remember Reverend Wright don't you? It looks like the advisors think it's the best question of Obama's judgement available, while McCain thinks it will make him come off looking racist and desperate.

On this matter, I have to agree with McCain. It definitely would make him look both racist and desperate.

Of course, so did the William Ayers attack, but you haven't been hearing much about that in the last couple days, have you? Well, outside of the media speculating as to whether it will come up in tonight's debate that is. That's the underlying message to take out of this whole 'bringing up old attacks that didn't work the first time' bit. THEY DIDN'T WORK WHEN THEY WERE FRESH NEWS!

The thought of advisors - who get PAID to give said advice - thinking that rolling out Reverend Wright while McCain's numbers have been sliding despite (some would say because of) a frightening intensity of negative attacks on Obama would work (or even MIGHT work) is just ridiculous. We've already been through the whole Wright matter. There's nothing new to tell on that story. Obama has already broken his ties and answered for the time he was there. If Hillary couldn't get past Obama using the matter, how is McCain going to do it? Chances are that the people who would be swayed by a rehash of that old story are already pretty solidly behind McCain anyway. The rest of us are sick of the attacks.

Here, I'll give you some advice, Senator. Either find something new and substantial to attack Obama on or focus on issues that the American people are scared shitless about - like the economy - and make yourself look less like a bitter old man.

That'll be $450.

It just keeps going further and further off course

2008-10-14T09:08:00.003-04:00

It's exactly three weeks until Election Day. Do you know where your vote is going?

It's getting painful to watch the McCain campaign anymore. The Palin love-fest is gone, as are the bump in poll numbers (if you follow them) that came with it. While the stock markets had an incredible day yesterday, the economy is still in bad shape and the national deficit has actually grown past the amount of digits on the Times Square Debt Clock. So what do we get from the McCain campaign as they slide a bit more? "We've got them right where we want them."

Riiiiiiight.

If you missed it, an Alaskan committee found that Sarah Palin had acted unethically in her attempt to get a former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper (the so-called Troopergate mess). In one of those 14 second moments that reporters caught a glimpse of Palin, one asked her about it and she told them that she had not been found exactly as she had been found. Plausible deniability is one thing, but she was just wrong here. And with an event that's so crucial in the public identity of Sarah Palin, and after all that's gone with her thus far, she doesn't have the room to be so blatantly wrong on this one. It just makes her look either oblivious or stupid. Or both.

As for John McCain himself, he tauted over the weekend that he would be revealing a new economic plan on Monday, only to kind of not reveal a new economic plan, with the promise that he might do it today. Kind of like I said I was going to blog the first debate, then proceeded to not do it. Except I'm a lowly blogger who does this for the hell of it and McCain is running for President of the United States. Bit of a difference there. He's still hung up on the whole William Ayers thing, which sounds as desperate a tactic now as it did when it didn't work for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.

Right now the McCain campaign needs substance, and it looks like they have none to give. People are getting tired of the attacks - they want something to alleviate their fears. McCain is simply not providing that, and it's starting to show in people's reaction to him. When finally he promises to deliver some substance, he simply doesn't, with no explanation as to why.

Only three weeks left, but don't count it yet. A lot can still happen before all is said in done.

Not exactly riveting television

2008-10-08T09:54:00.003-04:00

I watched the debate last night, occasionally flipping the channel to see what else was on. I, unlike many who gave previews to the show, was not expecting much to come out of the thing. As soon as Tom Brokaw explained the format, I knew I wasn't going to be glued to the screen. This debate was the long-desired 'town hall' format, but rather than taking questions from the audience, questions had been selected earlier and audience members read them to the candidates. The whole thing seemed painfully false. It seemed as though there would not be time for rebuttal to each other's comments, which led me to question why they had even bothered calling it a debate. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, sometimes to the chagrin of Brokaw.

So who won the debate? I'd say Obama. I keep hearing that McCain won on "points", but McCain needed something big here to turn around his public profile as well as his sliding poll numbers. What we got was a watered down version of the same - watered down in that we got none of the "domestic terrorism" bashing that has been spewing from the McCain campaign for the last few days.

So here we are, one day later. McCain's still not doing well and the economy's still up shit creek. How's your day going?

Palin/Ayers - Just what are you trying to accomplish?

2008-10-07T08:30:00.004-04:00

Now that Sarah Palin has danced her way through the VP debate and has sworn off any kind of interview in which she would actually have to think about what she's saying, she's gone back to the stump with the old attack that Barack Obama long ago had weak ties to Weather Underground co-founder William Ayers. If you can't remember that far back, this was something that came up during the brawl between Obama and Hillary Clinton earlier in the year, and it didn't really work then either.

Ayers' "terrorist" actions took place in the 70s. Barack Obama met him in 1995, after all charges against Ayers had been dropped and, surprise surprise, no huge terrorist activities had taken place. The Los Angeles Times has a good piece on it if you are so inclined.

The connection isn't the big thing here, though. Hell, it wasn't the big thing during the primaries. The big thing is that such a weak and pathetic argument is being made to try to smear Obama. Who is this appealing to? If Palin is trying to get Obama supporters to change their minds towards McCain, that isn't going to do it. In fact, it likely turns them even further from the GOP candidate (trust me on this one). As for undecideds? The Internet is a widely used resource these days. Those not familiar with the Ayers/Obama link would likely run a simple Google search to find out (much like I did to get that article) and realize how awful an argument is. As for the McCain base? Well, they were voting for him anyway, so the rank and file probably love it. Does that come across as snobbish on my part? Okay, fine. But while you're making arguments like that, don't forget that Obama's black. And a Muslim. And a terrorist (complete with fist bump!). Using those as arguing points hold just as much water as the Ayers one.

I have trouble understanding why the McCain campaign would let the heavily observed Palin go off on such weak talking points. "Liberal bias" or not, the media does analyze every word Palin says, and this thing makes her look bad. I suppose it's to her benefit that she's doing it from the podium so her weak argument is written down and rehearsed. Perhaps she learned that trick from one of the magazines or newspapers she frequents. She does read them all, after all.

My debate thoughts defined

2008-10-03T09:21:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I'm watching the VP debate

2008-10-02T21:32:00.001-04:00

Gee golly gumbucks - does anyone else know just how gosh darn well Sarah Palin is doing at avoiding questions asked and going straight to talking points?

I'll give a full review on this whole thing later.

I really cannot believe this crap

2008-10-01T08:30:00.004-04:00

In an attempt not to sound too bitter on the matter, I waited a day to let the matter settle in my head. Really, I tried. However, after hearing Jon Stewart's fuck-laced tirade on last night's Daily Show, the anger returned and now I sit here with the morning grumps.

I'm not an economic expert by any means. There are things about the failed bailout plan that I don't have any idea about, so I really can't say I disagree with the House for voting it down. If it needs more work, then it needs more work. And yes, stocks did tank on Monday, but they bounced back up to pick up over half that loss yesterday. Not exactly good, but it could be worse.

No, what pisses me off is the video of House Republicans explaining why they voted the thing down - pointing out specifically a speech made by Nancy Pelosi that apparently showed great partisanship. Because of that, the bill failed. Wait, wait, let me sum that up in bold.

Republicans claim they shot down an attempt to save our failing economy because they got their feelings hurt by a speech.

This is beyond stupid. I don't really give a damn if the Speaker pointed at each one of the Republicans and called them evil individually - the country is in peril, and that's the reason you give? That?! I can't even imagine the thought process that made them think that logic was a good idea. They could have looked responsible and said the honest reasons they didn't vote for it, but instead they tried to throw the blame on a speech and ended up looking like vindictive assholes. But Pelosi isn't the one getting punished by this - Americans are. Voting Americans - who just may not be as stupid as you think they are.

I can't watch the clip anymore without wanting to yell at my monitor. The Senate looks to be working on it today. Let's see if they fare better.

Suddenly, investigations begin

2008-09-29T12:16:00.002-04:00

As I was sliding through my news headlines this morning, I came across an article from MSNBC's First Read that caught my eye:

AG wants investigation into firings

This struck me as odd because since taking the office, Attorney General Michael Mukasey has done next to nothing in his job. He's refused to push charges on issues, and under him little things like torture, Plamegate, and the like have pretty much vanished. In fact, this case is one that had long since slipped my mind before being brought up today.

The general story, in case you've forgotten, is that the Justice Department, under Alberto Gonzales, fired nine U.S. attorneys in what was revealed to be purely political motivations, which just happens to be very, very illegal. It was a big factor in Gonzales eventually resigning from his position. However, since taking the office of AG, Mukasey didn't take much action into the matter. There were far more important things he began to ignore instead. So it seems odd that an investigation would start now, just a month before the presidential elections that will end George W. Bush's second term of office.

Hey, wait a second. Wouldn't it be weird if the investigation was finished very quickly, and Alberto Gonzales was indicted for his actions? And wouldn't it be even more weird if, as he's leaving office, Bush pardons his good friend and the two ride off into the Texas sunset together?

Pardon my cynicsm, but the Department of Justice under the Bush administration does not at all represent justice in this country, and I am completely expecting that scenario to play out exactly like that. Get the investigation done now so it can't be done after Bush's term ends when Bush no longer has the power to get his buddies off the hook. What other reason would they have waited so long on the matter?

Just one more reason that the past eight years have made me sick.

A little morning fluff

2008-09-26T08:31:00.002-04:00

Alright, I'm aware that the economy is still in peril, and the buying of Washington Mutual by JP Morgan is a pretty big deal. I'm still planning on live blogging tonight's debate (if John McCain shows up for it) and I know there's a ton of stuff going down with the bailout plan.

But man, I couldn't believe the story that made MSN's front page:

PETA to Ben & Jerry's: Make Ice Cream from Human Milk

PETA has hit a whole new level of comic bufoonery. It's like they honestly sit in a room and wonder what the stupidist thing they can possibly demand would be. While showing complete ineptitude about just how much Ben & Jerry's is produced and sold, do you really think there's a market for such a product?

But the kicker really was the picture MSNBC used for the article:

What a way to start the morning.

Taking a McBreak or Bailing Out for the Bailout

2008-09-25T12:13:00.002-04:00

In case you hadn't heard, the economy's in a bit of a pickle right now. When I say "a bit of a pickle", I of course mean "a whole fuck-load of trouble", but I'm not trying to scare anyone.

The same cannot be said for President Bush, who gave a primetime address last night in which he rather blandly read a synopsis of what led the economy to this point, and urged a hasty approval of his multi-billion dollar bailout plan. As I watched the address, I was waiting for something new to be said - something that would justify such an announcement (the last one I recall was over a year ago in which he announced the 'Surge'). In less than 15 minutes, he was done and I was not really scared. Of course, I'm sure other people were, but I'm in no rush to get all my money into the safety of my mattress.

The bigger story of the day came from the McCain camp. John McCain announced that as of this morning he was suspending his campaign and heading back to Washington (he's a Senator, remember?) to work on the bailout plan. More importantly, he's asked to push off Friday's debate unless the plan has been completed. The Obama campaign quickly responded that they did not feel such action was necessary, and Barack Obama said that he believed this is a time in which candidates should be debating. This is when it matters most.

If you look at the surface, it might look like John McCain is putting the good of the nation before politics and honestly focusing on what's important. If you actually believe that, I would be forced to call you naive and offer to sell you a bridge. I don't believe for a second that McCain is thinking about anything besides politics right now and this fits in with all the other stunts the campaign has pulled to get the attention back on him. Besides, you know, inventing the Blackberry.

After the Republican Convention, John McCain was riding high. The focus was on his experience over his opponent, and (much) more importantly, the spotlight was shining brightly on his oddball choice of a running mate, Sarah Palin. His numbers were up and he was doing good. Unfortunately, the major event that had to break was the one that put one of his self-admitted weakest points on display - the economy.

Since the proverbial shit hit the fan over a week ago, John McCain has been unleashing a series of ill-thought out, ill-worded, and contradicting messages, and poll numbers (if you are so inclined to follow them) have been leaning towards Obama, who has looked to keep a cool head. Palin's appeal is starting to fade, as her inexperience peeks through with every interview she gives (all two of them), and the Troopergate scandal simply won't go away, as she very quickly fell into the "Not Cooperating Means You're Hiding Something" trap that many Americans find so amusing. Americans look to be losing faith in McCain - much like they did after the Democratic Convention that ended with the Palin announcement.

This move by McCain is nothing but a show. If Obama had followed suit, McCain could tout himself as the figure who led the way to bipartisanship. Since Obama isn't, he's obviously putting politics, and therefore himself, before the people. It's simply a coincidence that tomorrow's debate would likely be dominated with economic topics. There's no ulterior motive in the McCain campaign wanting to postpone it to the time and place of the VP debate, in which Palin is expected to get soundly demolished by Joe Biden. No, no - this is not political.

Right. Please pardon me as I walk over to the 'bullshit' button and give it a press.

See? Told you so.

2008-09-24T12:13:00.002-04:00

What's that? Polling numbers aren't exactly reliable because a sample base can't accurately reflect the voting populace? Yeah, that's what I said.

The McCain campaign has gotten a little grouchy over a recent poll that showed Obama up by 9 points. They seemed to sound more petty than I did, though.

Right?

If only fixing the economy was as easy as breaking it

2008-09-24T08:57:00.005-04:00

Perhaps you've heard of this $700 billion dollar bailout that has been proposed to keep the economy afloat. It's really been all over the news lately. But, with all things, that wacky Bush Administration has managed to fuck it up again.

$700 billion is a lot of money. As brought to my attention by Jon Stewart, that's enough to buy 2,000 McDonald's apple pies for every American. That does me little good, because I can't say I like said pies, let alone 2,000 of them, but you get the picture. Unfortunately, a plan that the White House hoped would be passed quickly through so we can worry about it later, has gotten itself stalled in Congress. Now, now - before you start pointing fingers, it actually turns out that the opposition is bipartisan.

That's right - something has gone so horribly wrong that both parties are in agreement that the plan cannot be the same old tossed through crap legislation that they've become so good at.

What problems are there, you ask? The main ones I'm seeing (and I haven't really looked into the whole thing) are that the decisions made by the Treasury cannot be reviewed by any court of law or administrative agency. So let's say that they want to give $4 million to, I don't know, themselves - well, tough. It's in the deal. Of course, that wouldn't happen, but there are many other ways to invest money to get one rich while making it look like business is being accomplished. Hasn't Halliburton been doing a smashing job in Iraq?

The other thing is there is no limitation on pay or benefits to CEOs of these companies who will be given this money to get themselves out of the hole they've dug for themselves. In fact, said limitations are being discouraged by the White House, as they believe that it will limit how many companies take part in the program. Now, I'm going to hold off my all-caps pseudo-yelling common sense thing that I do until the next paragraph so I can say that I agree with lawmakers in thinking that these CEOs who led their companies to this point should not be allowed to make off like bandits (no 'proverbial' needed there) and live happily ever after. There should be consequences for their actions. Alright, that being said, back to the White House thinking on their discouragement.

DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY'LL TURN DOWN ON OFFER TO KEEP THEIR COMPANIES GOING JUST BECAUSE THE CEO HAS TO LIMIT HIS PAY? WHAT THE HELL ELSE ARE THEY GOING TO DO - CRASH THE WHOLE THING AND LOSE EVERYTHING?

This plan will not be pushed through today. Or tomorrow. Chances are we'll be hearing about this Friday during the first presidential debate (which I'll be live-blogging, if you've been paying attention). So hang on to your hats (and your money - you may not be getting it back). This is going to be a bumpy ride.

At least fire somebody!

2008-09-19T11:02:00.003-04:00

Turns out the economy is in something of a proverbial shithole right now and everyone is looking for answers. John McCain has called for the resignation of Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is quite proud of himself for doing so. In fact, he repeated his call in this video:

Unfortunately, McCain said "FEC" instead of "SEC". That would be the Federal Election Committee, which is headed by Donald McGahn II. Yes, I know it was an innocent slip and I'm not going to go into a lecture on the necessity of avoiding some slips. I just thought we could all use a giggle in these rough times.

Or something like that.