A call to up the obscenity level from Matthew Yglesias:

PS: I strongly support the Vice President's right to tell Sen. Leahy to "go fuck himself" (or perhaps "fuck off," I've heard different accounts) if this will make him feel better. And a hearty "fuck you," right back at him. Coarsen the discourse with me!

Ok, I'm doing my best. Trying to come up with a line about Dick Cheney as a solar anus of stupidification that involves petrochemical products...

(Or what was that random list of TV-level cussing that Bart came up with: "hell damn fart boobs....")

Brooks gets mad at Moore for badmouthing Americans while overseas (hey, didn't his mom ever tell him to be careful, since he'll be representing our country?)

All Hail Moore. A beacon in the form of Michael Moore has appeared on the mountaintop, and tens of thousands have joined in the adulation. By David Brooks. [New York Times: Opinion]

Brooke goes on to quote Moore:

They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet . . . in thrall to conniving, thieving smug [pieces of the human anatomy]," Moore intoned. "We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing."

But really: have you managed to have a conversation with anyone not from the U.S. without saying something like this? I find that no matter what the original topic of conversation, I end up saying, "I'm sorry. We're stupid. We've terminally embraced our inner Cletus. And we and the rest of the world are going to pay for it for the rest of our lives and longer."

I don't mean to say it, I don't like to say it, but I do. It's inescapable: the American public came close to electing George Bush. It's impossible to even begin considering his colossal, deafeningly obvious horribleness without feeling some kind of national shame. George Bush is nothing less than the solar anus of stupidity, so blindingly wrong that any criticism you can imagine of him ends up working more like a compliment.

How to Save the World has a great post explaining how bloggers work (reading rss feeds, looking at who's linked to you, etc.); he even includes a process diagram. I would "excerpt/reprint" it here except that obviously far beyond fair use.

I seem to require a post-reread-respot cycle that I don't fully understand. I just has to go "live" before I can read it more critically. (Though I try not to edit if it's been up for more than an hour).  

It's gay priding outside my living room window now! (I live in San Francisco, with a great view from Market Street of the festivities, right by my computer desk.)

Gay pride snuck up on me this year, scaring me a little. I realized something must be up when I looked out my window to see a bunch of naked men on bicycles.

All those moving parts, so many of them sharp and entangly. 

Viva a banda-da-da, Carmem Miranda-da-da-da-da!

Well, if I can't blog the democratic convention, at least I can do some live pride blogging.

Balloons of a few far too many colors out now for someone with a bit of a hangover.

Given that this is the official poster, I'm expecting a gay superboy fly-by sometime tonight: