For those who would like to see the famed Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado, home of the late, great gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, painstakingly preserved and tended to by his beautiful wife Anita, here's a little movie I made of our visit there Saturday during NORML's Aspen Legal Seminar. Since it is 20 megabytes, I put it on youtube where it isn't as clear as the original, but you'll get the idea. It also looks better on a Mac than it does on a PC.

Update: Much clearer version is now here.

I took a few of the photos, but most were taken by Timothy Tipton. There are no titles, but the first photo is of Anita and Hunter's son, Juan Thompson. The second is Hunter's kitchen, from which he managed his world. The big, grinning guy in the middle of the movie is Aspen Sheriff Bob Braudis -- one of Hunter's closest friends and my favorite Sheriff ever. The last photo of the pig may be at the Woody Creek Tavern, Hunter's favorite watering hole. And as you can see from the baby photos, it was a family affair.

Tonight is the final episode of the Sopranos until next year.

Kaisha: Tony gets Carmela's career back on track; Chris picks up where Tony left off; AJ gets a work perk; Phil won't let well enough alone.

What did you think?

Via BradBlog from the Palm Beach Post on the She-Pundit with Long Blond Hair:

Conservative pundit and best-selling political writer Ann Coulter has hired a white-glove, White House-connected law firm to fight allegations she voted illegally in February's Town of Palm Beach election. And the attorney from the Miami-based Kenny Nachwalter firm is no stranger to Palm Beach voting. Marcos Jimenez -- who was, along with the more famous Olson, one of the lead attorneys who fought for George W. Bush's side in the 2000 presidential election snafu here -- was assigned to Coulter.

Jimenez is also a former Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

by TChris

Dan Froomkin makes an important point today about the inability of the traditional news media to call a lie "a lie" -- at least when it's spoken by President Bush.

Lying is probably the one word mainstream journalists are the most averse to using when recounting what the president said -- even when they know he's not telling the truth.

Why can't reporters brand a known falsehood as a lie?

It just won't get by the editors.

Is James Taranto serious? Yesterday he railed on Helen Thomas.

The Crazy Old Princess Bride in the Attic
From yesterday's White House briefing with Press Secretary Tony
Snow:

Helen Thomas: Why did the President pick a man [Karl Zinsmeister] who is so contemptible of the public servants in Washington to be his adviser--saying, "People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings"? Why would he pick such a man to be a domestic adviser?

Snow: You meant contemptuous, as opposed to contemptible, I think.

The Dixie Chicks were on Larry King Live last night. Crooks and Liars has the video.

I just found out from some e-mails that one of the Montel Williams shows in his What's America Talking About series which I went to New York to tape a few weeks ago aired today.

Topics include immigration, gasoline prices, the Duke lacrosse case and Iran's nuclear capability. Panelists include MSNBC's Rita Crosby, former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman, defense lawyer Jeralyn Merritt, criminal investigator Rob Wheeler and actor Esai Morales.

Montel repeats at night in some markets, but not Denver. If anyone gets the repeat and can tape it on VHS or DVD for me and send it to me, it would be much appreciated. I'd be glad to cover the cost and send a copy of Eric Boehlert's Lapdogs in return -- or give you a gift certificate for iTunes. The show is on vacation now, so I can't ask them.

It was a very spirited discussion -- I remember being very emphatic about how we need to legalize the undocumented.

The next one should air June 7 -- Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi and actor Joe Pantaleone are also on.

Bob Dylan: Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Fair Grounds, Acura Stage, April 28, 2006.. The audio of the entire set is online here. [Via commenter Squeaky.]

This is also an open thread. I'm probably going to avoid politics this weekend unless there is breaking news. I'm setting up my new digital video camera, i-sight webcam, and i-Movie software and trying to figure out how to capture streaming audio and video and whether it's easier to do it on a Mac or a PC. I recently got Apple's 23 inch cinema display monitor to hook up to my powerbook G4 but I'm still pretty clueless on Apple stuff except for iTunes.

The Sopranos is about to begin.

Tonight's episode is "Cold Stones":

A frenzy of borrowing money hits the crew; Carmela waxes philosophical on a trip with Rosalie; Meadow relocates.

It has to be winding down for the season, but so far there hasn't been that much action. Let us know what you think of tonight's episode.

Crooks and Liars has the video from last night's Saturday Night Live Funhouse With Bush. It's great, go give it a watch.

Every time Bush, Cheney or Rummy say something that has ultimately turned out wrong, someone, animal or thing spits water or soup on them. Karl Rove scurries into the frame each time and makes them do another take. All the audio is of course the real thing. Another excellent job by Robert Smigel and Matt O'Brien.

Lew Anderson, who played Clarabell on the Howdy Doody show from 1954 to 1960 has died of cancer at age 84.

Long mute as Clarabell, Anderson broke the clown's silence in the show's final episode in 1960. With trembling lips and a visible tear in his eye, he spoke the show's final words: "Goodbye, kids." Though Anderson was not the only man to play "Buffalo Bob" Smith's mute sidekick, he was the best, Smith said in his memoir.

Occasionally I was fortunate enough to be one of the kids in the Howdy Doody Show peanut gallery. Once, I got to cut the cupcake for Buffalo Bob during the Hostess commerical. But Clarabell is who I remember most. All of the kids would squeal and scream with delight at his antics. He would run up and down the aisle with a seltzer bottle that had a squirt top . One time he sprayed my brand new dress and I cried and cried. But I still went back whenever I could get my mother to take me.

Update: Froomkin weighs in.

**********
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow gave his first televised press briefing today.

Crooks and Liars has some video. Snow used the word "tar baby" in connection with the NSA warrantless surveillance program. "Tar baby?

Think Progress then explains to Tony the problem with using that term. Based on the context of the term, we believe you meant tar baby to mean: "a situation almost impossible to get out of; a problem virtually unsolvable."

But in "American lore," the expression tar baby is also a racial slur "used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people." Use of the term has resulted in people being fired.

Random House notes, "some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context." Now that you are no longer at Fox News, you may want to take them up on their advice.