Johnny Yuma was a rebel...not.

The Straight Talk Express derails again, and John McCain find there isn't a GWBushCo lie too big to swallow:

"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other critics of the Bush administration policies that the framework agreement of the Clinton administration was a failure," McCain said in a statement, referring to a 1994 deal under which North Korea agreed to halt work on a plutonium-based nuclear facility, partly in exchange for free fuel oil deliveries.

"The Koreans received millions of dollars in energy assistance ... and what did the Koreans do? They secretly enriched uranium," McCain said.

"We had a carrots-and-no-sticks policy that only encouraged bad behavior. When one carrot didn't work, we offered another."

Um, yeah, except that:

Unfortunately, common sense was in short supply. After a few shrill diplomatic exchanges over the uranium, Pyongyang upped the ante. The North Koreans expelled the international inspectors, broke the locks on the fuel rods, loaded them onto a truck, and drove them to a nearby reprocessing facility, to be converted into bomb-grade plutonium. The White House stood by and did nothing.

Why did George W. Bush--his foreign policy avowedly devoted to stopping "rogue regimes" from acquiring weapons of mass destruction--allow one of the world's most dangerous regimes to acquire the makings of the deadliest WMDs? Given the current mayhem and bloodshed in Iraq, it's hard to imagine a decision more ill-conceived than invading that country unilaterally without a plan for the "post-war" era.

But the Bush administration's inept diplomacy toward North Korea might well have graver consequences. President Bush made the case for war in Iraq on the premise that Saddam Hussein might soon have nuclear weapons--which turned out not to be true. Kim Jong-il may have nuclear weapons now; he certainly has enough plutonium to build some, and the reactors to breed more.

Um, OK. But should we negotiate with the North Koreans? Clinton said yes:

Four months later, on Oct. 21, 1994, the United States and North Korea signed a formal accord based on those outlines, called the Agreed Framework. Under its terms, North Korea would renew its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, lock up the fuel rods, and let the IAEA inspectors back in to monitor the facility.

But GWBushCo said no:

He insisted again that the United States would not engage in one-on-one talks with North Korea, except within the framework of the six-party talks involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.

So we won't negotiate with a country with whom we have differences. Unless some other guys are there. That's a sign of strength? Sounds like the Sharks and Jets, you know, your "homies", except that China, Russia, and South Korea are relly not our friends. And note the clever use of the word "framework", to give the current situation 'gravitas'.



As usual, petulant children are charting the course of the country.

Bastards.

And here's some more about Saint McCain:

WATCH OUT for this fellow, John McCain. He manages to be both the anti-Bush within the Republican Party, and also Bush's enabler. This schizophrenic role, which his bipartisan fans somehow miss, happens to position McCain perfectly for 2008 as the guy untarnished by all the bad stuff Bush brought us, but who continues the same regime.

Read the rest. It's sickening.

You're no good, baby, you're no good

Subtitled: "When will they ever learn""

Seriously, what does it take for some people, a mixed-race superhero, Tolerance Man, to fly down and smack them silly? Well, since we don't have him, or Harassment Woman either, we have to go with the EEOC.

From the AP, we learn that:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Monday that it has filed employment discrimination suits against the Atlanta Bread Co. restaurant chain, BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. and auto parts retailer AutoZone Inc.

In separate lawsuits filed Thursday in federal court here, the EEOC claimed that Natick, Mass.-based BJ's and Smyrna, Ga.-based Atlanta Bread International Inc. allowed racial discrimination of black and Hispanic employees. The complaint against Memphis, Tenn.-based AutoZone, filed Monday, accuses the company of permitting sexual harassment of several female workers.

The alleged offenders are not the sharpest knives in the drawer:

In the Autozone case, the manager of the Starke AutoZone store in north Florida allegedly made repeated unwelcome sexual advances and offensive comments to female employees between October and December of 2005. The women complained to the manager but said no action was taken until one of the victims was fired in January 2006.

In other words, "You won't put out for me, I'll put you out of here. Nothing's gonna happen to me, 'cause, well, I'm a dumb sonuvabitch!"

Bastard!

You're the devil in disguise

James Baker (yeah, that James Baker) was on The Daily Show hawking his new book, charmingly and self-deprecatingly titled: 'Work Hard, Study...and Keep Out of Politics!'

(Note: no link to the book. Following my friend Lambert's policy, I now support DCOW. Read about it at the bottom*. We now continue with our regularly scheduled show.)

In the book, Baker says charmingly that the Defense Department made:

"a number of costly mistakes, including disbanding the Iraqi army, outlawing the Baath Party, failing to secure weapons depots, and perhaps never committing enough troops to successfully pacify the country. One thing for sure: the difficulty of winning the peace was severely underestimated."

. . . "I am no longer asked why we did not remove Saddam in 1991!"

Almost seems sane, although like all reformed war floggers, he's morally and ethically several years late and billions of dollars short. Still, may he yet be forgiven? After all, he seems so nice.

Not so fast.

This reviewer states:

Nothing illustrates Baker's reputation and the Bush family's faith in his loyalty more than the fact that he was asked to represent George W. Bush's interests in the 2000 Florida election controversy. In 30 pages Baker explains how he organized a legal and political campaign to preserve Bush's victory in that state and thereby give the Texas governor the 25 electoral college votes he needed to win the presidency. Baker does reveal in this chapter that, while his wife is a friend of Tipper Gore, he took the case in part because he held a personal grudge against Al Gore: In the 1992 campaign Gore had questioned the personal integrity of both Baker and the first President Bush.

So for a perceived slight, he saddles us with the defective son of an old tennis buddy. Bastard.

Here'w who he really is.

The Nation: Until now, there has been no concrete evidence that Baker's loyalties are split, or that his power as Special Presidential Envoy--an unpaid position--has been used to benefit any of his corporate clients or employers. But according to documents obtained by The Nation, that is precisely what has happened. Carlyle has sought to secure an extraordinary $1 billion investment from the Kuwaiti government, with Baker's influence as debt envoy being used as a crucial lever.

Political Friendster: Baker Institute for Public Policy, a think-tank set up by James Baker, delivered the secret recommendations to Cheney's White House Energy task force. Advisors were Ken Lay, the disgraced former chief executive of Enron, Luis Giusti, a Shell non-executive director; John Manzoni, regional president of BP and David O'Reilly, chief executive of ChevronTexaco.

Political Friendster: Baker sent Bolton to stop Floridans from counting Al Gore's votes in 2000. Bolton said it himself when he busted into a room where election workers were, you know, doing the democracy thing. "I'm here to stop the count," Bolton said.

Common Dreams: Baker Botts has an extensive presence in the Middle East, with an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and a business alliance with a firm in the United Arab Emirates. On its Web site, the firm touts the "perspective and experience of James A. Baker III, 61st U.S. secretary of state" as someone "who offers the firm's clients an additional resource on which to rely regarding their activities in the region."

Baker Botts also represents Halliburton Co., the Texas oil-services giant once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. Pentagon officials recently alleged that Halliburton overcharged the U.S. government by $61 million for gasoline in Iraq. Halliburton has said that a Kuwaiti company, the only approved supplier, charged a high price for the gas.

The Carlyle Group, with $17.5 billion in assets, has included other high-profile former leaders besides Baker and the former President Bush - who retired in October - such as former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci. Carlyle largely does defense-related work in 12 countries. It has offices around the world, including Seoul and Tokyo, the capitals Baker will visit next.

Kindly, charming James? Right.

You know, they said Ted Bundy was such a charming fellow, too. I'm just saying...

* Don't Click On Wingnuts. Every time you click through to a Right-Wing website or a Winger pundit's web page, you increase the value of advertising on that site. The link is there for reference, but don't click on it, if you can help it. Definitely don't click on their ads. It only helps their bottom line. Discussed here.

Save the last dance for me

This is just sad:

For fans of CBGB, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" is no longer just the title of a tune by the Ramones.



A performance by punk pioneer and CBGB alumna Patti Smith next Sunday will be the final show at the legendary lower East Side music club before the doors close for good on Oct. 31.

The club is exiting stage left after 32 years, a victim of a rent dispute with the space's landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, a not-for-profit homeless services agency.

And in the club's waning days, generations of fans are making their final pilgrimages to what some called "the music institution" at 315 Bowery.

Here's the wikipedia:

CBGB (Country, BlueGrass, and Blues) is a legendary music club located at 315 Bowery in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1972, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became legendary as a forum for American punk and punk-influenced bands like The Ramones, Television, Blondie, and the Talking Heads. The club will close following its final concert by Patti Smith on October 31, 2006.

My Back Pages: Ex-page had sex with Foley

In a breaking story, the L.A. times is reporting that:

A former House page says he had sex with then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) after receiving explicit e-mails in which the congressman described assessing the sexual orientation and physical attributes of underage pages but waiting until later to make direct advances.

The former page, who agreed to discuss his relationship with Foley with the Los Angeles Times on the condition that he not be identified, said his electronic correspondence with Foley began after he finished the respected Capitol Hill page program for high school juniors. His sexual encounter was in the fall of 2000, he said. At the time, he was 21 and a graduate of a rural Northeastern college.

Clearly the young fellow was legal in all 50 states, so Foley's off that legal hook. But I think this puts to rest, once and for all, the crazed notion that the pages were aggressors, as spread by Drudge and Dobson:

Commenting on the congressional page scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) on the October 6 broadcast of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, declared that the Foley affair has "turned out to be what some people are now saying was a -- sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages" who had reportedly come forward with sexually explicit instant messages that Foley allegedly sent. Similarly, in his October 6 column, Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page editor Daniel Henninger wrote that "a rumor emerged that in fact Mark Foley had been pranked by the House pages" and then added: "It is the first plausible thing I've heard in seven days." Media Matters for America recently noted that in defense of Foley's alleged actions, Internet gossip Matt Drudge and nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage also attempted to shift the blame to the former pages who communicated with the former congressman. On his website, Drudge has elaborated on his suggestion that at least one of the former pages was complicit.

For the Republicans, it's always spin. Process trumps fact. Look over there, shiny objects!

Here are the facts:

Mark Foley is a Republican (not necessarily a bad thing).

Mark foley is gay (not a bad thing).

Mark Foley has a 'thing' for young sexual partners (a bad thing).

Republican Congressional leaders knew, and hid this 'thing' (for purely political reasons).

Drudge, Dobson, and other Homophobes (wait: Isn't Matt Drudge gay?) blame the pages (a stupid thing).

Here are more allegations:

According to one blogger, Wayne Madsen:

Ashcroft and Gonzales blocked Justice Department investigations into Foley's activities.

Jeb Bush knew about all this.

Denny Hastert is a closeted gay, and will likely be implicated in this scandal.

So we'll see what shoe drops next. But at the CorrenteWire party here in L.A. tonight, there was a lot of speculation that Jeff Gannon might somehow figure into all of this, in ways almost too icky to consider.

Just give me that old time religion...

From a post by Nicole Bell at my friend John Amato's Crooks and Liars, we find this vile crap masquerading as decency:

The big news recently is that the FDA has just approved a new vaccine supposedly to inoculate women against cervical cancer. Predictably, the media and health professionals are touting this as the greatest thing since the Salk vaccine, but they are also engaging in a propaganda campaign aimed at distorting the public’s perception of it. I for one will stand against what I consider this newest marriage of the culture of death with junk science, and I believe we all should. In the next few weeks I intend to examine a number of aspects of this Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine for the benefit of parents who may some day be coerced into getting their kids vaccinated with it.

Let me start by pointing out a few basic elements of this vaccine and its service as a tool of the culture of death.

. . .The most wretched hypocrisy of the promoters of this vaccine, however, is that, rather than calling it a vaccine against a couple strains of one of the dozens of sexually transmitted diseases, they are calling it a vaccine against cervical cancer. Well, it will certainly protect some women from cervical cancer in the future but that’s not the point.

No, Father Euteneuer, that's clearly not the point. In your bizzaro world, the point is:

This HPV vaccine, my friends, is a classic case of the culture of death playing fast and loose with people’s lives. They use junk science to hook our terribly un-reflective culture on a promise that will benefit only a miniscule portion of the population, and then the false perception of security surrounding their newest ruse hooks everyone else into behaviors and lifestyles that perpetuate the damage and decay our decency.

Ah, I see. Never mind that in fact some women will be saved from cancer, all that matters to you is that they might decide to have sex in a manner you find inappropriate. Words fail me, as I try to describe my loathing of your pompous misguided attempt to AAARRRGGGGHHH!

You bastard! You misguided lunatic! Helped any starving children in the Sudan, or Uganda lately? Helped any homeless folks, put on the streets by Reagan's evil policies? Or are you too busy worrying about every zygote that might be lost to God's Army, and every poor woman who might own her sexuality and not really care about your archaic outlook?

My sister died from uterine cancer, you jerk. Had she been given this vaccine, or some future variant, who knows, she might be alive today? Was she a bad person? I don't know, why don't you ask the choir director at the Catholic church she attended. Why don't you ask her nephews, who lost their beloved 'Aundie'? Why don't you ask the husband she never had? Why don't you ask the vast array of sexual partners she never had?

Or better yet, why don't you ask God why he took her, if she might have been saved by a simple vaccine?

I have written about Kristin many times, especially regarding this right wing lunacy. In this piece about the same topic, I pass on the old story, still relevant in this context:

The radio said there was going to be a flood, and people should evacuate. The man said, "God loves me, He will save me."

The flood came. A man came by in a boat to rescue the man. He said, "God loves me, He will save me."

A helicopter came to pick the man up. He said, "God loves me, He will save me."

The man drowned. When he got to Heaven, he asked God, "God, I am faithful, why did you let me drown."

God replied, "I gave you the radio, I sent the boat and the helicopter, what the f... more do you want from me?"

Take another little piece of my heart

As my good friend Sailor reminded me, yesterday was a sad day in American rock history:

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American blues-influenced rock singer and occasional songwriter with a highly distinctive voice. Joplin released four albums as the frontwoman for several bands from 1967 to a posthumous release in 1971.

As a member of the, (ahem) Woodstock Generation, I was lucky to see Janis & Big Brother and the Holding Company one time. I wrote about it when I took part in a blogger "Musical Meme" deal last year, under the section titled:

Top 5 Live Musical Experiences

1. The Beatles, August 28, 1965, Balboa Stadium, San Diego, CA

During these few years, everything was new. Kids today won't understand that. This was when rock was being defined, fine tuned, & refined. Every day brought sounds never heard before. Most of them started with these guys. Screaming girls, and an energy in a moment of history never to be seen again. Thrilling, yet somehow sad. Those were the days.

2. Buffalo Springfield, Spring, 1968, The Purple Haze, Riverside, CA

My band, The Shades Of Time, opened for them. What a thrill, hanging out backstage with guys we had seen on TV. Only drag was, my band didn't have a lot of original material yet, and we knew almost all of their first album. Needless to say, we played other stuff.

3. Vanilla Fudge, Spanky & Our Gang, opening for The Bee Gees, Spring 1968, Anaheim COnvention Center, Anaheim, CA

The BeeGees with an orchestra touring on their first album were pretty amazing, years before Saturday Night Fever. But the reason for going to this show was Vanilla Fudge. Histrionic, overwrought, too complex, yet knock you back in your seats stunning in their intensity. Most noted for their outrageous takes on Motown chestnuts (You Keep Me Hangin' On), they were truly original, and blew the roof off the joint.

4. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Spring 1969, Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA

Every rock guitarist ever since owes his/her entire existance to this man.

5. Big Brother & The Holding Company, feat. Janis Joplin, Spring, 1968, Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA

I'll never forget when she sang her first note. I looked at my friend (and bass player in my band), he looked at me, our jaws dropped, and stayed there. Transcendental music experience.

Honorable mention:

Chicago Transit Authority, Fall 1968, The White Room, Anaheim, CA

On their first pass through LA, they played The Shrine Friday night. My girlfriend saw them, heard them say that they were playing in OC Saturday night, and made me go. In a tiny room, on a stage 12 inches high, horns blasting, they created a sound totally new at the time. This was the Chicago of "25 or 6 to 4", not "Color My World." This was the Chicago of Terry Kath, and Peter Cetera before anyone told him he was a star. This was a bunch of guys living in a ratty house in Hollywood, playing their asses off, making new music.

The Doors, Spring 1968, Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA

Hearing "Light My Fire" live was so much better than the record.

I also wrote about Janis in a slightly less reverent manner here:

Joplin, while surely at the peak of her powers, was also at the peak of drug addiction and self-destruction. It's hard to predict what she would have done, but I can picture her as an elder stateswoman of rock, an slightly older Aunt to Bonnie Raitt, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, and a contemporary of Mick Jagger: not doing anything new or different, but still doing what she did so well.

It's all conjecture, so take it for what it's worth. But for a short slice of time, she gave us much: an original voice, an original stage persona, and a hell of a lot of sweat and music. She opened some serious doors for female artists.

The wikipedia article talks about that, but as someone who was there during that time, I can add to that. At a time when female rockers were sweeter, or at the opposite end of the spectrum coldly intense, (Grace Slick), Janis was a throwback to an era that most of her audience was too young to understand.

During '67 - '68, I went to many concerts at the Shrine Exposition Hall here in L.A. Many fantastic shows. All English Nite: Jeff Beck, 10 Years After, Moody Blues, all for $2.50. One night, one of the opening acts was Big Mama Thornton, who many folks had never heard of.

Wikipedia:

She joined Sammy Green's "Hot Harlem Revue" and toured throughout the South in the 1940's. While touring Texas in 1948, Thornton left the Revue in favor of the state's growing club scene, which she immersed herself in. It was during this time that she was discovered by Don Robey, a black entrepreneur who owned several clubs and record stores in the Houston area. Impressed by her massive size (6 ft, 350+ lb),formidable multi-instrument abilities, and fiery stage presence, Robey signed her to his Peacock Records label, where he began the task of translating the forceful belter's energy onto record.

Her big hit came, not from Robey's capable pen, but from the young songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was "Hound Dog," which she recorded in 1953 with the Johnny Otis band. Big Mama Thornton always claimed to have written the song herself (a claim which may actually hold some validity), and her ferocious rendition of it ( complete with Big Mama's growl and a nasty guitar line by Pete Lewis) held the #1 spot in the Billboard rhythm and blues charts for nine weeks. Unfortunately for Thornton, Elvis Presley's smoother and bowdlerized version was a major pop hit in 1956 and successfully eclipsed her biggest claim to fame.

Thornton continued to tour the "chitlin' circuit" as fans began to favor newer R&B sounds over blues. For some years, Big Mama suffered in obscurity like most of her fellow bluesmen. Her name gained wider prominence and her career enjoyed a significant resurgence as her song "Ball and Chain" was covered by Janis Joplin, making it a regular number in her repertoire. From that point onward, Thornton would remain a headliner at blues festivals, colleges, and clubs throughout the country and even in Europe. She began recording again, and released albums for the Arhoolie, Mercury, and Vanguard labels. Years of hard drinking and living began to take their toll, however, and by the late 1970s her health (and her trademark girth) had declined greatly. She nevertheless performed until her death in 1984 in Los Angeles, where she was found dead from natural causes in the boarding house room she had been living in. Johnny Otis conducted her funeral services, and she was laid to rest in Inglewood Park Cemetery.

So Janis schooled white kids about Big Mama, and Billie Holliday, and, well, the list is too long. I'm not sure she innovated, but she surely repected and tried to share the Blues, especially from a woman's perspective.

For that, she deserves reverence.

Sad preacher nailed upon the coloured door of time

Wayne Madsen has some stuff on Mark Foley's problem, aka Pervertgate:

Informed sources in Tallahassee, Florida have told WMR that Governor Jeb Bush was fully aware of ex-Rep. Mark Foley's conduct with underage male pages but sat on the information to protect Foley and another top GOP Florida official, Attorney General Charlie Crist, who is currently running for governor to replace Bush. Today, Jeb Bush said he had not previously known about Foley's behavior with the pages before being informed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert in a letter dated October 1, 2006. Bush said he was "dismayed and shocked to learn about Congressman Foley's unacceptable behavior."

. . .WMR has learned from informed sources in the Justice Department that the salacious e-mails from Rep. Mark Foley were leaked to ABC News by career Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents who are incensed that Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales covered up the House page scandal for political reasons. The back story of Pagegate is that there was a criminal conspiracy by the top political leadership of the Justice Department to cover up the predatory activities of Foley and other GOP members of Congress since at least 2003 and, likely, as early as 2001.

Cool. So no one forgets, that's this John Ashcroft:

Ashcroft, a fervent lifelong member of the Assemblies of God church, has brought the denomination more mainstream recognition than any of its earlier conspicuous congregants, including, Elvis Presley, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and former Reagan administration Interior Secretary James Watt. In his book Lessons From a Father to His Son (1998), Ashcroft writes of his anointing himself, before both terms as Missouri Governor, using cooking oil when no holy oil was available [3]).

Ashcroft is considered a leading member of the Christian right wing of the Republican Party and was one of the highest-ranked representatives of that group in the Bush Administration. Ashcroft's religious beliefs led opponents, including Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), to question his ability to effectively enforce certain laws, especially those pertaining to abortion. Ashcroft said that he would enforce laws whether or not he agreed with them.

Awfully Christian of you, John. And that's this Alberto Gonzales:

A secret 2002 Justice Department memorandum cleared by Gonzales argued that laws prohibiting torture do "not apply to the president's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants", and that the pain caused by interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions — in order to constitute torture".

That's the party of values. Family values.

Bastards.

Everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big John

John Kerry is pretty good today:

So Bill Frist wants the Taliban to be a part of the government in Afghanistan? If we can’t beat them, join them?

Reading the coverage of Bill Frist’s trip to Afghanistan, there’s a lot to say.

I could say it’s Dr. Frist’s worst diagnosis since the public spectacle of his Terri Schiavo diagnosis on the Senate floor.

I could say that Bill Frist who once pathetically labeled Democrats who are right about Iraq the “Defeatocrat Party,” is now the Senate’s leading spokesperson for those who are dead wrong on Afghanistan – the “Retreaticans.”

But all of that would do a disservice to just how profoundly wrong Sen. Frist is about Afghanistan, and how little leadership he’s providing when he just throws his hands up in the air and suggests the only hope is to bring the Taliban into the government as if it’s the inevitable outcome of what American troops began so bravely after September 11th.

Reaching an accommodation with terrorists isn’t the answer. We know what happened when the Taliban was in power Afghanistan: one of the most repressive regimes of modern times ruthlessly brutalized its citizens and allowed the world’s worst terrorists to attack us from its territory. We know they are still receiving support and guidance from al Qaeda as they try desperately to return to the bad old days. And we know they are not part of the democratically elected government we have sacrificed so much for.

Go read the rest, it's pretty danged good.

Say the word, and you'll be free

My friend Kevin Drum is sick. He's not well. He has come down with a rare disease, called Cruciverbalistia. And he bravely has done the unthinkable: he's admitted that he's ill.

But before you organize a charity, or a star-studded recording session for his benefit, read what he has bravely written. Sez Kevin:

I've never done crossword puzzles before, but the movie gave me the bug, and soon I was slightly obsessed. (The same thing happened after I read the book Word Freak a few years ago. Marian and I played Scrabble nightly for months after that.) I started off doing the LA Times puzzle, but within days I knew I had to have more. Before long I was working half a dozen puzzles a day.

. . . Whew. Does this mean I should declare victory and give up on crosswords? Probably. We'll see. But I decided that as a swan song I should try to create a crossword puzzle instead of merely solving one. Guess what? It's hard! But for anyone with a crossword jones, here it is in PDF format for easy printing:

Kevin's first (and probably last) crossword puzzle

Such bravery, such fearlessness in the quest to fight off this terrible disease. We all owe a debt to Kevin, to try and solve the puzzle that afflicts him, so we may ease his suffering.

Go, put an end to his suffering, by offering up your own words of support and whatever the hell I'm talking about.

Seriously, Kevin is a great guy, and his puzzle is pretty cool. Think you could create one?

Go ahead, make my day.