Astrogirl

Per the Washington Post, Dick Gephardt is having trouble raising money.

The disappointing performance, which Gephardt campaign officials did not try to dispute and which came after a mediocre first quarter, prompted a major shift in fundraising strategy that will now focus more on small donations rather than on big checks.

I would have *sworn* Gephardt kicked [...]

There has recently been a spate of media blathering about how AOL “stole” Time Warner. They want the public to believe that Steve Case is a geek from Virginia who managed to sell them magic beans? This should embarrass them, yet they are so anxious to be victims and to be right about [...]

We here at Astrogirl are a big fan of Splenda, which is probably it’s death knell right there, but I’m glad to see it showing up in new products[1]. I limit myself to one serving a day because this stuff is, IMHO, not especially well tested. It is the best artificial sweetner that [...]

For the last 24 hours or so, I’ve been arguing on Plastic regarding alleged lies of the administration re: WMD in Iraq. I’m shocked at how small people are thinking on this. First of all, a negative can’t be proven, so really, unless we seriously examine motivations for these supposed lies, this is [...]

Perhaps it’s gallows humor, ultimately, but there is a very funny write-up on a site I read every week, Prudent Bear. It’s called “Aboard The Unsinkable U.S.S Economic: A Drama in Four Acts”

An excerpt:

Bush: “Gentleman, I know sailing and I sure know how champagne and ice flows. (Aside to Mr. Rove) Don’t [...]

Marketplace did a piece on the conference in Boston called “Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic”[warning: pdf]. Silliness abounded.

John Banzhaf III, a lawyer who was at least partially responsible for the giant tobacco lawsuit settled in 1998, has his eyes set on this new big fish. He estimates that the public [...]

I found a terrific smart-ass piece on what the dismal science refers to as “The Employment Situation” at PrudentBear.com. It’s a contrarian site, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, as I am.

If you dig deeply into the government’s own data put together by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”), it strongly suggests [...]

The Post ran an article today about how Fairfax County cancelled a survey of teens in regards to sex and drugs. The company conducting the survey feared liability suits.

The primary purpose of this survey is to find a problem that needs solving, and the net result is more funding. Think about [...]

The whole tenor of the junk mail is different, now that we live in “the country.” This gem was way too good not to share.

Looks like Saddam and Osama are about to get burninated! Apparently, Mugabe doesn’t have the true mark, as they had to double up on these guys. This [...]

On Saturday, it was warm and very humid, so it was effectively HOT. I decided that I should do some lawn maintenance before the bugs made it a truly dreadful experience (ie next weekend). I raked thatch and leaves (10 tarps full), mowed (and mulched up the leaves I missed) and added some [...]