Me & Al

Went to a fundraiser for Al Franken last week. He's running for US Senator in Minnesota. He has to win the primary, but once he does that, he'll be running against incumbent 'once a Democrat now a Karl Rove Republican' Norm Coleman. The seat was vacated by Paul Wellstone after his tragic helicopter crash in 2002. I was a giddy goof at the benefit because I've been a fan of Al's since his 70's SNL days. ("The next decade will be about me, Al Franken.")

I also greatly admire Al's command of detail regarding politics, his ability to trace back and dissect the history of political situations (in his books) and his ability to have dialogue with both sides on an issue (true, but unfortunately this is NOT evidenced by his book titles.)

Doggie Hoaxes

Stumbled on not just one but two bogus Asian dog stories today. Here's the first, thanks to YouTube:



And the second, courtesy of the Dogster Blog:



A dog has become a local celebrity in a Chinese village after she reportedly gave birth to a kitten.

Hua Chengpeng, of Huayang village, Jiangyan city, told People’s Daily that the unlikely animal was the third ‘puppy’ in his pet’s litter. “The first two puppies the dog produced were both normal, but when the third baby came, the whole family was very surprised to see a cat-like creature. It is a cat, not a dog at all,” he said. Local residents have been flocking to his house to see the ‘kitten’ which local vets say is really a puppy which looks like a cat because of a gene mutation. It apparently yaps like a puppy.

500 Years of Painted Women

by way of Brian Fies' Mom's Cancer blog

Cicada