"Cruz Bustamante is just another shade of Gray"
The latest Yes on Recall TV ads now feature the Cruzer as well as Gray Davis.

I hate those contemporary worship services! - Uproar over Hindu god statue

Malaysian shops selling imported statues of the Hindu god Ganesh talking on a mobile phone have been warned to remove them immediately, reports said Thursday.
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The appearance in local shops of the elephant-headed Ganesh wearing shoes, a turban and using a handphone caused outrage among Hindus earlier this week.

Today's hoot
I haven't mentioned David Blaine's "man in a plastic box for 44 days" publicity stunt in London for much the reasons that Jeff Jarvis describes - it's just a publicity stunt, and not a particularly good one. But Jeff has words for the Guardian's Michael Billington who is looking for the "true meaning":

Man, this guy could find the true meaning in a pile of dog poop.

Maybe Michael can give us an update on his navel gazing next!

News you can use
From retroCRUSH:

This section of a first aid poster is hilarious. Apparently when someone catches fire, the best course of action to take is to roll them up into a giant cigar. And if a child is choking, just shake them by the feet until everything's all better!

Green gooey stuff alert!

Giant avocados, large enough to make three gallons of avocado soup or two pounds of guacamole, are about to go on sale in Britain.

Fourteen inches in circumference and as large as a water melon, the naturally grown pears are eight times the size of a normal avocado and will feed a family of six.
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Staff at Tesco, the first supermarket to import the freakish fruit, have nicknamed the giant avocados "J-Los" after Jennifer Lopez's best known anatomical feature.

Oh and it's a natural mutation so the Frankenfood whiners will have to pound sand.

Everyone needs a hobby
First World Championships Challenge Yoga Karma:

Muscles rippled, heads appeared in impossible places and the sweet smell of incense wafted in the air as the first World Yoga Championship ever staged in the United States got off to a mind-boggling start on Thursday.

Some 70 contestants limbered up for a four-day pose off in a contest aimed both at challenging the concept that competition is anathema to the ancient spiritual practice of yoga, and laying the groundwork for yoga to become an Olympic event.

"Yoga doesn't mean just sitting and meditating and eating health foods," said championship organizer and "hot yoga" guru Bikram Choudhury at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where the event is taking place.
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"It is a combination of body-building, Miss World, Mr. Universe and gymnastics," he added.

Who knew?

That sounds a tad exhausting to me and fraught with the danger that various portions of my anatomy might get stuck in ungainly positions. How about the World Beard and Moustache Championships instead?

Occupational Hazard Alert!

A good rule of thumb for an identity thief is not to steal the name of someone whose reputation is worse than yours, such as a sex offender.

Limousine Liberals Alert!
Shawn Macomber at the American Prowler on the The Other Other Half:

New Hampshire -- In 1890, journalist Jacob Riis published a detailed and devastating portrayal of poverty, How the Other Half Lives. On a blindingly bright summer day, along a meticulously manicured lawn, I found today's other half in a most unlikely place: Durham, New Hampshire. And more than a couple of them are running for president. There, and in dozens of "house parties" in the Granite State, they crowd in the huddled but fashionable masses and tell dire tales of woe while people munch on foie gras and quaff champagne.

The poverty of today is a well-hidden scourge. It's a lesson I learned traveling to several of these Democratic gatherings sprouting up all over the state this past year. I was leaning on a rocking horse in an Exeter home one evening not so long ago, waiting for Howard Dean to breathe some life into the party. Suddenly, the lady of the house glanced at me from across the room, her eyes widened, and she beat a path through the crowd toward me, index finger extended.

"Can you please not sit on that, it's an antique," she said, tugging at her sweater set.
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Before I could answer, another man, in a Brooks Brothers suit, marched up and demanded to be heard. "The core issue nobody wants to talk about, not even Dean, is we need to start the process of liquidating the assets of the fat cats in this country and get about redistributing the wealth," he sermonized. It gave me a flavor of the steroid addled populism of the campaign to come.
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Conspicuously absent from the proceedings, of course, were the traditional poor -- i.e., people who actually have no money, and who are, therefore, icky. The poorest people at these soirees were the reporters covering them. As someone whose income last year registered well below the poverty line, I always harbored hopes that some of this enthusiasm for wealth redistribution would prompt the partygoers to take pity on us poor ink-stained wretches. Alas, it never happened.

Poor Shawn should get into fictional documentaries like Michael Moore. These Kool Aid drinkers would lap it up and he could live on the Upper East Side too!

Environment or Heredity?
The heredity fans are pulling ahead after viewing this photo of the parents of Rachel "Roadkill" Corrie presenting a painting of their "activist" daughter to Ole Fishface. Fishface, in return, gave them the Bethlehem 2000 medal for their daughter's support of terrorism. What a pal they have in Yasser!

As expected, there's been some Photoshopping going on and some early results are in at Little Green Footballs and Aaron's Rantblog. Since that's well in hand, I'll merely point to some associated wingnuttery:

Jewish Peace Group Targets Caterpillar Corporation
Press Release, Jewish Voice for Peace, 25 September 2003

BULLDOZERS HURT CHANCES FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE

...the largest grassroots Jewish peace group in the U.S. announced today that it is targeting Illinois-based Caterpillar Corporation for its role in diminishing the chances for Middle East peace. Caterpillar has knowingly allowed its bulldozers to be used by the Israeli military for the demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes, settlement construction, and the building of Israel's Wall.

I'm sure Caterpillar is really shaking in its shoes.

Iraq vs. Kosovo
John Hawkins has a modest proposal:

As all of you know, we've heard incessant complaining about how the rebuilding effort is going in Iraq. Many people have suggested that we should turn things over to the UN who are even now showing their commitment to Iraq by having some of their staffers flee the country. But before we get our "allies" in France, Germany, Russia, & Syria (who showed such commitment to Democracy in Iraq before the war) involved in the decision making via the UN, perhaps we should look at another UN rebuilding effort in Kosovo.

All the dirty details by following the link, but here's a hint - betting on United Nations' competence is a sure way to lose your grubstake.