Hot Enough For You?

Well, I've already failed to pursue one of these:

Consumers can pursue several strategies to conserve power:

-- Set the thermostats on air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher.

-- Use appliances such as washers, dryers, dishwashers and vacuum cleaners only after 6:00 p.m.

-- Refrain from using electronic devices such as computers and televisions until evening.

And it's a Spare the Air day too.

Oh well, there's always reading books and sex.

Mikey Medved Pumps His Way Into His Hat

The "new" Clownhall's slogan should be "Now With 50 Percent More Plugs For D-List Salem Radio Network Hosts." But there are some new, substantive features.

For example, they've got Michael Medved blogging about shampoo. He hasn't launched his own brand, "Gee, the Oil Companies Smell Anti-Semitic." No, he's talking about the free market revolution and the impending death of individual-sized hotel shampoo and soaps.

I've been a frequent traveler all my adult life, crossing the country for lectures or book tours, and over the course of more than 30 years I've developed the stupid habit of bringing home those little soaps and shampoos. In order to get fresh little bottles or bars of soap to my collection, I'll remove the half-used soaps and hair supplies from view so that the hotel cleaning staff will provide new, unopened amenities. Then I'll bring out the partially-used supplies so I can stuff the fresh little bottles into my luggage.

...

Those supplies now amount to an insanely over-developed collection -- with two huge drawers crammed with hotel soaps from around the world (London, Berlin, Jerusalem, Mexico City, even Warsaw) plus all the states of the union. Unless I live way beyond the normal life expectancy, I've already acquired more than enough exotic soaps to keep me clean the rest of my days. There's also another overflowing drawer in my bathroom crammed with shampoos and conditioners (I stopped bringing home hand and body lotion some years ago).

I suspect that there are others out there (you don't have to admit it but you know who you are) who have built up similarly impressive accumulations of these bathroom "souvenirs." Picking up these supplies is nearly irresistible (to many of us) because they are handed out "free" -- but of course they are not free to the hotels. To paraphrase the famous statement about "free lunch" -- there is no such thing as a free hotel soap sample.

In fact, looking at the literally hundreds of soaps in my drawers, the total cost to the hotels that purchased them might well be substantial. In other words, the hotel is paying real money -- but no one is receiving real benefit (I can't even use up all the soaps) -- so it's a classic case of inefficiency. Moreover, even as an unusually soap-and-shampoo-conscious consumer, the lack of such "free" supplies would in no way discourage me from patronizing a given hostelry. I'm more eager now to use accommodations that follow the pump-bottle-on-the-wall approach, because efficiency appeals to me far more than meaningless free goodies I really don't need.

I'll bet Medved takes full-sized empty bottles to these new places and fills them from the pumps. (I know he reserves a single and then sneaks Daniel Lapin and Huge Hewitt into his room to save money.)

You should list all the hotels where you've used the pump-bottle-on-the-wall hand lotion, Mikey. So we can avoid them at all costs.

Honor and Dignity

Kudos to the Connecticut G.O.P.

Last time they ran a corrupt mayor and child rapist against Lieberman.

This time, they're running a gambling addict and deadbeat against Lamont.

It's nice to see they've raised their standards.

Survey Says

Bloggers say the darnedest things:

About 34 percent see their blogging as a form of journalism; 65 percent disagreed. Just over a third of bloggers said they engage often in journalistic activities such as verifying facts and linking to source material.

More than 40 percent of bloggers said they never quote sources or other media directly. Eleven percent said they post corrections. Sixty-one percent said they rarely or never get permission to use copyrighted material.

Fifty-five percent of bloggers write under a pseudonym. Nearly nine out of ten bloggers invite comments from other readers. Four out of five blogs use text, while 72 percent display photos and audio links play on 30 percent of blogs.

Eighty-two percent of bloggers think they will still be blogging in a year. Three percent say they have quit.

The Pew report was based on a telephone survey of 233 self-identified bloggers conducted between July 2005 and February 2006. The error margin was 6.7 percent.

The Senator From Bechtel

Holy Joe won't run as a Republican, he'll just take Republican money and vote like one.

Anyone looking for evidence of Mr. Lieberman's bipartisan appeal can find it in his roster of recent contributors, which includes organizations that traditionally give more to Republicans. They include engineering and construction firms, some with contracts in Iraq. Those firms include Bechtel, Fluor International and Siemens, which support Republicans 64 to 70 percent of the time, according to data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign and lobbying activities.

Florida Power and Light, which supports Republicans 84 percent of the time, gave $5,000 to Mr. Lieberman. Areva Cogema, a builder of nuclear power plants that gives 70 percent of its contributions to Republicans, contributed $1,000.

An Ohio law firm that directs 80 percent of its donations to Republicans gave $1,000. SRA International, a technology consultant that favors Republicans 66 percent of the time, gave $1,000. America's Health Insurance Plans, representing health insurers, gives to Republicans 71 percent of the time and donated $2,000 to Mr. Lieberman.

A regular graftroots movement.

Marshall Wittmann, the DLC blogger better known as the Bullshit Moose, is joining those celebrating the electoral defeat of sleazebag lobbyist Ralph Reed.

What the Bullshit Moose doesn't tell you is that he was blowing Ralph for a job just a few years ago:

But Bush lost in 1992 and Wittmann was out of a job. By then, he had a young son and his wife was pregnant with their daughter. He was desperate to find work and when he heard that Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition was hiring, he thought, " Hmmm, a Jew goes to the Christian Coalition, that might be interesting."

He was savvy enough to figure that the Christian Coalition might want to hire a Jew just to show it wasn't bigoted. He wrote to Ralph Reed, the group's executive director, and asked for a job. Reed took him to lunch at Bullfeathers and hired him.

"I said, 'Great!' " Wittmann recalls. "

Now that Reed can't do anything for him, the Senior Asshole dumped him for other crushes, including John McCain and Joe Leiberman:

Wittmann is absolutely gaga over McCain. "My great belief is that John McCain is the living embodiment of Teddy Roosevelt," he says.

He also says this: "I would crawl over a field of broken glass for him."

Don't let us stop you, you slimy Moosefucker.

That endorsement alone prevents me from even considering a vote for McCain.

In a little over a week's time, I'll be spending at least four hours in a cyndrilical* tube, breathing recycled air and trying to avoid eye and thigh contact with total strangers seated uncomfortably close to me. And at least a hour in the airport beforehand.

I'm looking for something entertaining to read on a semi-cross-country flight, preferably something that wouldn't be sold in an airport gift shop/bookstore. If you've read something (such as a book) recently that you've enjoyed, feel free to leave the details in comments.

* I should have said "tubular."

Update (7/20): Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, and for making my choice so difficult.

This Is The End, My Friend

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Monday, July 17 -- The Lebanese militia Hezbollah unleashed its biggest and deadliest missile yet into Israel on Sunday, killing eight people in the major port city of Haifa and prompting Israeli leaders to step up their military campaign to drive the group from southern Lebanon.

Within an hour, Israeli warplanes engaged in a fierce bombardment of targets in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon, killing 45 people and wounding more than 100, according to local reports. Among the dead were eight Canadians, with another six critically injured, largely from an air attack on the border town of Aitaroun, where they were vacationing, the Canadian government reported.

Well, not really. But a lot of Premillenial Christians are crossing their fingers and fingering their crosses.