A Delta table saw, with cast-iron top, and an honest-to-Pete Biesemeyer fence for the same price I paid for a lesser aluminum-top model.

I don’t often have buyer’s regret, but right now, I sure wish I had another $375 in my pocket.

Spanish king tells Chavez to ’shut up’ - Yahoo! News

Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, but his microphone was off.

Spanish King Juan Carlos, seated next to Zapatero, angrily turned to Chavez and said, “Why don’t you shut up?”

That’s pretty hilarious — a king bowing up to a tin-pot dictator.

It’s kind of funny, too, that it happened at a “summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.” Aren’t all those peoples free of the chains of empire these days? Or do they just like summiting?

Has the Bolivarian Mini-Me declared himself El Jefe Forever yet? I lose track.

The union movement is about solidarity, which is a fundamental progressive value.

Yeah, sure. Progressive.

Go ahead and try to take guns away from Americans and see how Progressive they are. The number of people who give a flip about teevee show writerss is dwarfed by people who care about something that matters. The notion that solidarity is some kind of value held only by Progressives, or that it’s fundamental, is completely moronic. Maybe it is funadamental, but it’s the same for 300 million Americans.

A little while ago, Rachel requested suggestions for four books which defined Western culture.

Mine are:
1. Lonesome Dove
2. All of Zane Grey
3. Lonesome Dove, again
4. beer

I recommend working in some J. Frank Dobie during Nos. 3 & 4 — after all, you know what’s gonna happen, you won’t miss anything. If you need a background music list, drop me a line, but start off with Marty Robbins, the original Gangsta Rapper.

Dang, but this sounds good.

Thanks, Janis.

So, this is the day of every year that I get up with anticipation for a blog post I hope I don’t read. The Master of Sparks always takes it on himself to watch that tragi-comic Nashvillean hoo-ha, and record his sentiments and observations about the jackasses running the Country Music Machine. I always enjoy Jack’s rants about the celebration of talent-free branding experiments and tampon salespeople, but I also fear his unavoidable & completely justified wrath might cause a pinstroke or worse. And honestly, my enjoyment of the carnage isn’t worth the risk.

So far, nothing. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

Me, I only saw the adverts on NASCAR races, to which ABC purchased the rights, solely in order to pump their prime-time shows. It looked like an evening of cute girls with boobies & cleavage (never a bad thing), and slicked-up, hopped-up grinning possums wearing Rodeo Drive cowboy hats. Not to be confused with The Possum, of course. What all did Ryan Bingham win? OK, then…

Got this in the email today:

Did you know that, each year, deer collisions account for over 1.5 million accidents, resulting in thousands of injuries and over 150 fatalities?

We are alerting you because your area has a large deer population and an increased risk of deer collisions from early October through late December when the deer mating season is in full swing.

It’s now November…good timing.

Of course, everybody who lives in Texas knows this anyway. Most of them already have a freezer full of formerly-mating venison.* Still, welcome to the 21st Century.

* Not me…too busy… will take overflows.

Well, I thought it was funny.

FunctionalAmbivalent: Coming Soon To a Right-Wing Crackpot Rumor Mill Near You

This is going to take the Republican Party by storm, just you watch. I’ve never seen a rumor that is more perfectly crafted to appeal to the insanity of the far right.

Don’t bother clicking - I just wanted it sourced for my own purposes.

No, what happens is the ostensibly reasonable Progressive takes something out of a pr0n gossip columnist’s blog that’s chock to the top with unsourced BS, talks it up with his ostensibly reasonable buddies, and then blames The Right for being The Problem with Politics Today. This happens all the time.

In other words, “When you hear this, you can blame The Right. See, I told you right here.” Meanwhile, every other rational being in America has ignored pr0n gossip columns again, as they have for a very long time.

What’s the point of a pr0n gossip columnist anyway? Aren’t they already banging each other, daily, for cash, on DVDs that you can buy? What possible ‘gossip’ could there be to collate? I guess if A refused to bang B, maybe?

Who knew there was a pr0n gossip columnist position available? Well, I did, for one. Ford is one of those LA writer people that Welch and Layne know, so I used to get Ford tidbits from their blogs back when they blogged with typewriters connected to dot-matrix printer emulators attached to an SNA controller.

REBUTTAL UPDATE: From Tom, complete with psychoanalysis. Upblog, there’s bacon, too.

Hollywood writers warn they’ll strike - Yahoo! News

Hollywood writers said they would strike for the first time in nearly 20 years but left open the door for last-minute talks to avert a crippling walkout.

Who could tell the difference? All they do is re-makes and comic book rip-offs.

New Zealand man alleged to have taken hearse to go fishing - International Herald Tribune

A mourner who authorities say got drunk, took a hearse from outside a New Zealand funeral venue and outran pursuing funeral directors told police he was “going fishing” when they pulled him over.

Police said the 46-year-old sickness beneficiary, who brought a carton of beer for the trip, told them he was heading to the coast to “check out the sea conditions.”

The man had been attending a funeral near the tourist town of Rotorua on central North Island when he allegedly stole the blue Ford Forte hearse.

There was no dead body on board at the time.

Not bad at all, Kiwis.

Jay Caruso learns first-hand what every Mariners fan and every Rangers fan figured out - A-Rod is an enormous egomaniacal d*ck:

As was earlier noted, A-Rod has opted out of his contract with the Yankees. Obviously, all of his talk about New York “feeling like home” and his desire to remain with the Yankees was all nonsense. I gave him the benefit of the doubt despite warnings from regular readers. Turns out they were right. The guy is all about himself and nothing more. He even had his agent, SCOTT Boras, make the announcement in the middle of last night’s World Series game as the Red Sox went for going for the win and the day before the Yankees announce who the new manager will be (It looks like it will be Joe Girardi). As Matt said, good riddance.

Sound familiar, Ranger fans? Guy’s a hell of a ball player. With his enormous head and the Baseball Anti-Christ as his agent, though, who needs it? It’s still a team game, and the guy still doesn’t have a ring (I think…could be wrong there.) There’s no small amount of schadenfreude watching Yankees fans moan about the jackass, either.

Why I Think I Should Ultimately Live Near My Grandkids