May the wrath of the Great Pumpkin descend upon hot-linkers and spammers and render them impotent, incontinent, and smelling like month-old Jack-o-lantern.

Ironically, I think I just broke something trying to fix this morning’s problem. Memo to self: don’t let Chuck tinker with code pre-coffee.

Can someone please come over and walk me? I’m getting fed, since thumb-boy is too distracted to defend his own munchies, but I could really use someone to work the door. Maybe someone to hold the leash too, but really, I won’t go play in traffic, I promise. Trust me – I’ve got cute brown eyes and deserve to be trusted.

Just be careful about thumb-boy when you get here. Something about Civ IV being worse than crack, even plastic crack. He’s pathetic, but there are no long-term problems all right as long as you don’t block the monitor.

Sometimes you just want to whap them on the nose with a newspaper until they get a clue. First off, humans don’t own us, we sometimes allow them to act as our missing thumbs. Second, twenty pounds does not make a big dog (At about 23 pounds I think of myself as small to average, especially when checking in at motels). Third, convicted felons can own cars, kitchen knives and human children of various sizes, all of which arguably cause worse problems for society than lovable canines do when used improperly. Besides, have any of these do-gooders considered the rehabilitative effects of puppy licks?

Health care is on my mind after a quick visit to BorgHealth this afternoon. No problems, just a proactive free no-copay flu shot so my sick leave can be used for something better this winter.

Then as I was stumbling through the news sites this Washington Post article on health-care cooperatives caught my attention.

For the first few paragraphs it sounded cool. A group of people who chose to be responsible for their health care costs as a group. Costs lower than corporate health insurance. I glossed over the reference to their example case being an evangelical christian in the second paragraph, figuring that his group was just one example of this communal arrangement.

Then a bit further down came the shocker paragraph:

Tobacco use, immoderate drinking, homosexuality and extramarital sex are strictly forbidden, and anyone caught violating these proscriptions can be expelled. The plans don’t pay for abortion,or treatment of sexually transmitted diseases or HIV that was not, as Samaritan puts it, “contracted innocently.”

My interest in the plans went downhill quickly from there. Hate and lack of compassion never hold my interest for long. Additionally, the complete lack of regulatory oversight scared me. I’ll admit to a bit of a smile when I read the suspicion that some of plans are using that lack of oversight to commit fraud and exploit their members. Imagine that: a bunch of holier-than-thous being exploited by their leaders. What is the world coming to?

BorgHealth might seem evil some days, but they let Chuck be Chuck and do their best to cure/fix/heal/nuke whatever happens to my mortal husk, and since they respect me I can respect them.

You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda – stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.

The White House, stepping into yet another battle that it cannot hope to win, confronts the menace of satirical websites. [via Naladahc]

As frustrating as it is that he’s no longer drawing that amazing strip, especially being reminded that it’s now been ten years now since Calvin and Hobbes sledded off into history, I have to respect a man who did something so exceedingly well that

“He’s in a financial position where he doesn’t need to meet the deadlines anymore.”

Life comes first, always.

Nice CNN update on artist Bill Watterson, as far as it goes.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino also emphasized that Miers’ experience was more important than her terminology.

I can handle a bit of cronyism, as long as other qualifications are present. I certainly don’t believe that judging should be a career track, and that Supreme Court justices have to start in Family Court and work their way up the ladder, so the fact that she hasn’t worn the robes before doesn’t bother me too much. But isn’t the core function of the job Miers wants to pick words and use them to describe legal reasoning behind important decisions?

My apologies for linking to the L.A. Times article – not because of the content, but because of their annoying registration requirements. As background then:

At one point, Miers described her service on the Dallas City Council in 1989. When the city was sued on allegations that it violated the Voting Rights Act, she said, “the council had to be sure to comply with the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause.”
. . .
Stanford [Ed: Boo, hiss! Go Bears!] law professor Pamela Karlan, also an expert on voting rights, said she was surprised the White House did not check Miers’ questionnaire before sending it to the Senate.

“Are they trying to set her up? Any halfway competent junior lawyer could have checked the questionnaire and said it cannot go out like that. I find it shocking,” she said.

Any guesses on who Bush will submit next? I see his nephew is out of law school now, has clerked for a judge and could still get Uncle George that distinction of nominating the first hispanic to the court.

A dress code I can respect.

One of the local swim teams has started doing early morning practices at the neighborhood city pool again. By early I mean they’re already in the water when Pongo’s dragging my sleepwalking ass through the park at 5:30.

Most of the time I feel good about the early morning walk and sniff outing, but seeing the swimmers in action so early just makes me feel old and sluggish.

Calendar says October, and the thermometer dips down to the 70s (brrrrr) and all of a sudden I had the lap pool to myself for an hour this afternoon. Gotta love these San Diegans.