Yeah. I guess I gotta find my own way.

Lots of videos of Paul Newman around this weekend so don't feel the need to comment on this. For me personally one of my favorite Newman roles was as Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Sometimes these tributes to actors when they die can be a bit silly. They were just actors after all.

Not Newman. He was something more.

Ever wonder why fund managers can't beat the S&P 500? 'Cause they're sheep, and sheep get slaughtered.

I can't wish you a happy Friday today. Sorry.

The $700 billion deal has hit a roadblock with the House Republican caucus with the support of John McCain.

In all honesty I have no idea whether the plan was necessary or not. I'm not an economist or a Wall Street financier, nor do I have a Palinesque mutant ability to learn things via proximity and osmosis.

My progressive side tells me the deal was crap. Congressional Democrats - who on paper would be the ones that should have been dictating this process rather than the White House - appeared to have been rolled again with only token nods to accountability.

But the one thing I'm certain is that I don't even have to like this plan to be furious that John McCain injected Presidential politics into this process. In doing so he has signaled more clearly than ever that his ambition is more important than the future of this country.

The President gave a "the sky is falling" speech this week. Washington Mutual collapsed last night. The market is going to tank today. I resent that McCain is playing games with my future. He is not more important than the millions of Americans he's screwing over here.

When I vote for Obama next month (vote by mail) I'm going to be doing it for all sorts of reasons including the oblique push towards "hope." I'm not ashamed to say there will be a part of me that will be considering that vote a giant middle finger towards McCain, his party and everything they represent.

Screw them.

Okay, I'll shut up. Some fellas have to keep their tongues flappin' but not me.

Fine. Send Palin in his place.

Prepare to die!

I'm too old to be a slacker but Michael Moore's free internet movie "Slacker Uprising" is amazing.

The young people are going to have to be the ones that save us.

Look at me, Damien! It's all for you.

At first I was a little torn by this story involving a Fifth Grader who was suspended for failing to remove his anti-Obama t-shirt at the school's instructions. I believe very strongly in the First Amendment, even if it's being abused.

But what becomes clear after reading more on this is that the boy's father Dann Dalton is a Grade-A prick.

Dalton was among a group of anti-abortion protesters who marched through an Arapahoe County neighborhood to protest a Planned Parenthood doctor in July 2000, according to a Colorado Springs Gazette story. The protest came in response to a law passed that week by the Arapahoe County Commission that banned “targeted picketing” outside the physician’s home. The picketers, led by Bob Enyart, had been gathering at least once a month in the doctor’s cul-de-sac.

Mr. Dalton argues that this is simply a First Amendment issue with his son Daxx's constitutional rights being violated by the district. The district argues that the rules are in place to keep the focus on *gasp* school by disallowing any sort of speech or behavior that would be disruptive.

Considering Mr. Dalton's own history of lunacy I don't see how the t-shirt can be anything else than an attempt by Dalton to use his son to disrupt the school. His efforts to try and hide behind his son as well as the constitution ring hollow in this instance. He's yelling fire in a crowded theater and then whining when the theater throws him out.

Jack, I have a two-part question... Why?

Yeah, Sarah Quaylin is ready to lead. She can't even take questions.

In the negotiations, Republicans wanted to limit the amount of time available for their neophyte candidate, Palin, to be questioned on a single topic.

Of course they did.

But... but I'm a legend.

Okay, so my buddy calls me Friday night and says he has another ticket to the Boise/ Oregon Ducks game if I want to go. Since my son has already pointed out I'd be stupid not to go I was in.

My buddy has great seats in the corner by the endzone between the band and just above the team and cheerleaders. The weather was flat out perfect for Oregon in September as it was an unseasonal 80s for most of the day. The whiskey I snuck in in a pair of flask binoculars mixed well with the 7up they were selling.

The game itself was one of the strangest Duck games I've been to. We lost the game but it was mainly attributable to coaching decisions in my estimation which is a fairly rare occurrence as Mike Belotti is one of the best coaches in the country.

Our first and second string quarterbacks were out with injuries. Our third string quarterback Jerimiah Masoli isn't very mobile but he has a good arm. He started the game and was taken out with a concussion on a cheap late hit on our first series of possesions.

Our fourth string quarterback Chris Harper had a shoulder injury in preseason so he could play but he can't throw the ball. As a result we ran the ball on every single play in the first half. Every single play. The friendly crowd started to get ugly.

When this continued after the half Belotti finally decided way to late to burn the redshirt of our fifth string quarterback Darron Thomas. Thomas burned up the field with three touchdown passes leaving the Ducks just a bit short of the victory. Did I mention that they didn't run the ball at all after Thomas came in after running in on every play in the first half? Not even a draw play to keep them honest.

It was a great game none the same and I had a ball. Here's some pix I took---

But Dead Tom's always been dead. That's why he's called Dead Tom.

Ahoy me hearties!

This weekend be the Portland Pirate Festival.

Plenty of music, grog and chow crawling out of the bung hole at St. Johns.

Dress smartly. Lubbers welcome.

Here be some pirate pick-up lines I've shamelessly looted.

Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?
Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?
Come on up and see me urchins.
Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.
I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.
Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?
How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?
Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.
Well blow me down?
They don’t call me Long John because my head is so big.
You’re drinking a Salty Dog? How’d you like to try the real thing?
Wanna shiver me timbers?
I’ve sailed the seven seas, and you’re the sleekest schooner I’ve ever sighted.
Brwaack! Polly want a cracker? … Oh, wait. That’s for Talk Like a PARROT Day.
That’s the finest pirate booty I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Let's get together and haul some keel.
That’s some treasure chest you’ve got there.

You bilge rats can find your pirate name here or here or here.

I be Left Eye Lewie. What be your name?

I'm sweating like a bridegroom.

As a fan of Star Trek and an admirer of George Takei in particular (he has a very interesting life story and always speaks his mind) I just wanted to say how happy I am for him on his wedding this week to his longtime partner Brad Altman.

I'm going to risk conflating real life with fiction here but I think that in this case it will be okay since Takei has never run away from his association with Trek, in fact he's always spoke of it proudly. Star Trek means cardboard sets and bad acting to a good portion of the population and I won't argue that. I readily admit it's cheesy to it's core.

But Star Trek - specifically the future imagined by Gene Rodenberry some forty years ago now - has also always presented a kind of society that I as a progressive wished we lived in. There is no racism, sexism or prejudice against homosexuals in that fictional future. Takei understood what Trek represented from the start which is why he didn't try and run away from the show like Shatner and Nimoy did.

So congratulations Mr. Takei on your wedding. In the larger sense it was a step towards a better, more equatable society. For that I thank you.

(Takei with spouse Altman, Maid of Honor Nichelle Nichols and Best Man Walter Koenig)

I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'ma get medieval on your ass.

There probably exists no legal instrument for this but I want the government to seize every penny of this man's $47 million dollar severance package.

Since taxpayers are now on the hook to the tune of $80 billion to AIG partly for the decisions Sullivan made as CEO it's the least we can expect that he'll be the first to chip in.

At the very least we need to take every cent that man has to send a message to other executives willing to gamble with so many other people's future. Consider it a deterrent. Sort of like capital punishment.

When you break this down this man and the other executives at his company just stole money from you, me and everybody else that's filled out a W-4. It's long past time that we went a little medieval on their asses.