Welcome to Montana

This morning, the 2nd of May 2008, I woke up to the following scene:

Last night, the weather guessers thought that we'd get just a 'trace' of snow here in Billings; off toward the east (Hardin, MT, for example) the prediction was for as much as two feet from the storm. Here is what really happened.

I think Mother Nature needs to lay off the recreational pharmacology...

Getting a Klew

The teaser from Fark says it all:

Hillary may be able to answer a 3am phone call, but she can't figure out a convenience store cappuccino machine

Here's the video.

Clueless

I'm sitting here, listening to Dubya blather on about rising gas and food prices -- and finding myself more and more horrified at just how freaking clueless he is about what the hell is going on, and what the solutions might be to the problems that he has mentioned (and the ones he DIDN'T talk about):

• Gas/energy -- the real solution isn't hunting down and exploiting more oil fields, building more refineries, and 'sending messages' to the rest of the world. What I think we should be doing is putting a hell of a lot more money and effort into developing alternative energy sources (solar, wind, methane, and the like) AND insisting on increased energy efficiency AND calling for reduced energy consumption. Why, for example, does a Hummer (with abysmal mpg ratings) get a tax break when a hybrid vehicle doesn't?
• Food prices -- this one is related to the gas/energy issue: diverting food crops to ethanol production without demanding increased fuel efficiency of the products that will be USING that ethanol is pretty much pissing into the wind. Also, the increasing cost of food is tied to the higher expense associated with moving that food from'A' to 'B', the number of products that go into food production that are oil-derived (some pesticides, for example), and the costs of fuel to the producers (you don't think those tractors and reaping machines run on magic, do you?).
• An economy swirling around the drain -- lets see... as a nation, we're pissing away how much money on a war we shouldn't have started in Iraq (not to minimize the cost of lives)? Government regulations that didn't anticipate (or adequately address) such foolishness as 'sub-prime' mortgages, and general incompetence and inefficiency (FEMA immediately comes to mind as an example), and deficit spending at unconcionable levels.

Fucking idiot.