Rule One: When taking photographs, be mindful of the background!

(Courtesy of an email from Buffy's brother)

CAN ANYONE WHO KNOWS SPANISH TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK A DINOSAUR'S DOING WITH MARY, JOSEPH AND BABY JESUS IN THIS PIC?????

...OR WHY JESUS IS RIDING ON THE BACK OF A DINOSAUR IN THIS PIC????
...OR CUDDLING A BABY DINOSAUR IN THIS PIC???? CREATIONISTS ARE INSANE!!!!

Situations Where "OH SHIT!!!!!" is Appropriate

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE

A FEW RANDOM BRAINLASHES: strap down your brain, it's gonna be a bumpy ride...

--- Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't
mean they're not a nasty small-minded little asshole.

--- I'll be more enthusiastic about thinking outside the box when
there's   evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

--- I think perhaps the most important problem is that we are
trying to understand the fundamental workings of the universe
via a language devised for telling one another where the best fruit is.

--- Every procedure for getting a cat to take a pill works fine -- once.
Like the Borg, they learn...

--- I think that sick people should go to a vet.  It's generally a
better bet. There's more pressure on a vet to get it right.  People
say "It was God's will" when granny dies, but they get angry
when they lose a cow.

--- I believe The New Testament is basically about what happened
when God got religion.

--- When I heard Mel Gibson in Braveheart yell, "They can take
our lives but they can never take our freedom" I thought, "Now
there's a battle cry not designed by a clear thinker...."

--- I believe in vampire watermelons, although I can't say exactly
what I believe about vampire watermelons. Possibly they suck back.

--- The trouble with having an open mind is that people will insist
on coming along and trying to put things in it.

--- I used to think quantum mechanics were people who repaired
quantums.

--- Death, unlike taxes, turns up only once.

--- For every mad scientist who's had a convenient thunderstorm
just on the night his Great Work was complete and lying on the
slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under
the peaceful stars while Igor clocked up the overtime.

--- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and
he's warm for the rest of his life.

Where Trombones Come From

Today's science topic is: THE UNIVERSE

The universe has fascinated mankind for many, many years, dating back to the very earliest episodes of "Star Trek" when the brave crew of the starship Enterprise set out, wearing pajamas, to explore the boundless voids of space, which turned out to be as densely populated as Syracuse, New York. Virtually every planet they found was inhabited, usually by evil beings with cheap costumes and Russian accents, so finally the brave crew of the Enterprise returned to Earth to gain weight and make movies.

The big mystery, of course, is: Where did the universe some from? Although this question baffled mankind for thousands of years, we know now, thanks to Googling this question, that the universe was actually formed 4.5 billion years ago this coming Saturday when an infinitesimally small object, smaller than an atom, smaller even than the "individual" jelly servings they give you at the B'ville Diner, suddenly exploded, perhaps because of faulty wiring, in a cataclysmic event that caused the parts of the universe to go shooting out in all directions and expand at an incredibly rapid rate, and expansion that continues to this day, especially in the case of John Goodman. According to this hypothesis, after a couple of million years, various weensy particles began clumping together to form stars, planets, trombones, etc., which is why we refer to this as the "Big Band" theory.

The Big Band theory is now widely accepted in the scientific community, although it still has a few technical bugs in it, such as that anybody who took it seriously would have to have the IQ of a rice krispie. There is no way you could fit everything in the universe into a little dot. I base this statement on our basement, which contains approximately one-half of the things in the universe, because my wife Buffy refuses to throw them out, scrunched together at the absolute maximum possible density, so that if you try to yank any one thing out, all the other things, attracted by gravity, fall on your head. From this we can calculate that the universe was roughly twice the size of our basement when it (the universe) exploded.

There is also a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

I certainly hope this has cleared up any lingering questions you may have had regarding the universe.

"If it was so, it might be, and if it were so, it would be, but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
- Tweedledee

TO BE EATEN ONLY IN THE CARDIAC UNIT, WITH SURGEONS HOVERING NEARBY, SCALPELS POISED

The Doughnut Burger: a hamburger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon -- all between a "bun" made of a sliced Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2362369

Extreme Dodgeball !!! Bring your bowling balls and your rage!!!

--- OK, so, here's a scary thing: if you were to contract bird flu, the first thing people will want to give you is chicken soup.



--- And don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Throw out the baby; save the bathwater. Sounds harsh but not a lot of your friends complain about putting bathwater through college.



--- I used to complain that I had no shoes, then I met a man with no feet. Then I met a man with no legs. Then I met a man with no hands. Then I met a man with no arms. Then I left the emergency room and went to a shoe store.




--- I'd like to propose a constitutional amendment: "Adultery in the United States shall consist only of sexual relations between a man and a woman outside of marriage". Only in this way can we preserve the sanctity of adultery.

Gift Idea For Baby Psychopath

DOGS DEFEAT ATTACKING ALLIGATOR!!! NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!!!! NSFW!!!!

The New $3.1 Trillion Federal Budget Explained

+ $5 billion: Snacks

+ $1,442.12: Purell dispensers on Air Force One

+ $340 billion: Junior Year Abroad programs

+ $12,000: Roads

+ $128 billion: Tribute paid to China

+ $6 billion: Aircraft carrier impulse-buy

+ $87 million: Rumored Jack Black-Kate Hudson vehicle

+ $600 billion: Failed secret war in Syria

+ 334,700: Fee to book Jeff Foxworthy for Correspondents Dinner

+ $5,800: Bob Novak slush fund

+ $78 million: Cirque du Soleil USO tour

+ $126 billion: Random kooky NASA shit

+ $807 billion: D.A.R.E.

+ $45.73: Venezuelan coup plot

+ $825,000: Hookers and blow

- $45,000: Eating out less

- $140 billion: Mixing in recycling with regular trash

- $55 million: State Department merchandise

- $250 million: Drinking from the tap

x 2 (for inflation)

------------------
SUBTOTAL= $3 Trillion
SALES TAX= $0.1 Trillion

TOTAL= $3.1 Trillion

(PS : I suck at math, so you might want to double-check my figures)

Happy Easter (...wait for it if it's slow to load)

Calling it "Good" Friday seems a little mean to me........

Anyway, here's something good about it. My daughter Julie just gave birth to her 2nd son, Joshua at 12:11 on March 21, 2008. Stats: 7 lbs, almost 20"

Tomorrow (a brief homage to the original Buffy, dedicated to my own Buffy)

Every time she was ready to give up, give in to the sudden stabs of despair, it saved her. On those nights when things spiraled out of control, she ended up awake just long enough to recognize the first amber shadows on the horizon. She'd stop and watch the sun inch into the sky, draped in clouds of rippling hues. Watch it burn away the nightmares and the doubts that shadowed her steps. Sometimes it seemed impossible, but in the end, even on those nights when the darkness seemed overwhelming, all she had to do was wait.

Morning always came.

Barack Obama Spoke To Americans As Though We Were Adults

In his speech (see Tuesday's post) on America's racial divide, Barack Obama was honest, direct, personal and strong without being strident. He told unvarnished and complex truths about his own life in black and white communities he has known -- and he trusted all of us to be able to handle the lack of varnish and the complexity. He never condescends or resorts to sound bites when the issue requires more. He was at his best.

This was more than political damage control. This was a challenge to American voters. Barack Obama is asking us to choose whether we are going to give in -- once again -- to the forces that divide us, or work to unite our fractured national community. And he reminds us that the choice is ours -- not the pundits' or pollsters' or political insiders'. Few other national political figures have the courage to make that challenge under any circumstances, let alone in the midst of a presidential campaign. None of the remaining candidates in this election do.

We have had a handful of transformational leaders in our history, leaders who have reshaped and refocused what the American Dream means and revived our commitment to it. Barack Obama showed again that he is that kind of leader.

And now, to switch the tone and give you a little brainlash, just because I can....

--- Growing up Catholic, Buffy suffered a lot of taunting, name-calling and ridicule. Mostly from the nuns and priests.

--- Years ago, Buffy's mother decided to make beef tongue for dinner. When it came time to cook dinner, she couldn't find the cow tongue she'd left on the counter. Buffy's brother had stuck it in their mail slot so the front door had a huge tongue lolling out of it. They had pizza that night and didn't get mail for a week.

--- Buffy and I are very much looking forward to the second season of "So You Think You Can Look Like an Idiot".

--- I once told Buffy that the vegetarian motto was: 'Never eat anything with a face.' She said, "I don't. It's always gone by the time I get to it."

How's your brainlash doin' now, folks?

ADVISORY FOR PEOPLE PLANNING TO GO TO THE OLYMPICS

Use the bathroom before you leave home
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20080319/D8VGF7N00.html


(A vastly different tone from yesterday's post, but remember - you're in the world according to ME, where you're likely to get brainlash occasionally)

If you call yourself American, you owe it to yourself to sit down and see (video) and/or read the transcript of Barack Obama's speech

Today we saw and heard a preview of our brightest possible American future in Senator Barack Obama's glorious speech, which was not written by committee but by Barack Obama himself. Imagine, an articulate president, as compared to our current inarticulate imbecilic decider.

This, then, is what it means to be presidential. To be moral. To have a real center. To speak honestly, from the heart, for the benefit of all. If there was any doubt about what we have missed in the anti-intellectual, ruthlessly incurious Bush years, and even the slippery Clinton ones (the years of what is "is"), those doubts were laid to rest by Barack Obama's magisterial speech today. A speech in which he distanced himself from a flawed father figure, Obama's pastor of 20 years Reverend Jeremiah Wright, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4443788 and did so with almost Shakespearian dignity and honor.

"This is it, it's here," I thought while watching (YouTube, link below) Senator Obama lay it on the line. We are finally talking about race. Slavery, Jim Crow, economic enslavement, no FHA loans, the failure of affirmative action, busing, offended whites who match offended blacks in rage and fear. Obama shined a light on the conservative talk show hosts who fan white resentments, and at the same time, did not dismiss the reasons for the resentments. He reminded us that the dreams of black America do not come at the expense of white America.

Someone running for the highest office in the land finally talked about it -- the dark and secret swamp that we Americans dodge at every possible opportunity. As he finished the searing truth telling, I realized that this was not so much a speech but rather a unifying call to arms, an insistence that American people act on change. This was an order and a prayer from someone worthy of being called Commander in Chief -- an order that as a bruised and bloodied nation we finally discuss that what unites us, as well as that which divides us. So we can grow, together as a people.

Barack Obama's speech, perhaps one of the most important in modern political history, pushed us as a people to move beyond race and gender, beyond Democrat and Republican, beyond politics and into reviving the spirit of the nation itself. To talk, to talk at home, at work, at the dinner table. To really finally talk. What a great day, and where else in the world but in the United States? Today I am very proud to be an American.

Here's a link to Barack Obama's speech on YouTube , which includes a full written transcript:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBbKG

Smoking Kills

(A very very short story inspired by a brief conversation with Buffy before she went to bed)



Frank Thomas believed in luck. Frank smoked too much but he knew he would never die of a heart attack or lung-cancer. Frank smoked all the time. One day there was a gas leak in Frank's kitchen. Frank said he knew a few things about gas leaks and went to fix it. Frank was right. He didn't die of a heart attack or lung-cancer.

Illusion For St. Patrick's Day

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one color, pink.

If you stare at the black + in the center, the moving dot turns to green (for St. Patrick's Day, of course).


OK? Now, intensely concentrate on the black + in the center of the picture.
After a short period of time, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a green dot rotating. Just stay focused on the + sign.

It's amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear, which proves that we don't always see what we think we see.

ATTENTION AMERICANS: NEW 5$ BILLS

What's in your wallet? Coming soon to a cash register near you, the new colorful $5 bills, hopefully without all the weird 'specimen' printing on them (to foil digital counterfeiters). Ahhh... if only they were giving out free samples...

Adulterous Politicians & Their Wives

I've had it with guys like Eliot Spitzer forcing their wives to stand up there with them.

Seriously. There's no reason for it. It doesn't help the family, it doesn't help the state, it doesn't help the country or the culture, and it certainly doesn't help the wife.

Actually, maybe there is one moronic reason for it: The self-absorbed sonofabitch is still in such deep denial of what he's done, he actually thinks showing his shaken but loyal wife might salvage his career.

You know what I'd like to see? Just once? I'd like to see the wife interrupt his limp, stupid attempt at grandeur and step forward and say, "Excuse me, folks, but there's something I'd like to say here." Then I'd like her to whip around and punch him right in the nose. Bang. It doesn't have to knock him down, and probably wouldn't, but the look on his face would be worth it. Then she could shout, "You want to lick your wounds? Why don't you get your whore girlfriend to do it? What's she get for that, ten thousand?"

Then she could straighten her pearls, raise her chin and walk off stage.

I don't think there's a man or woman, young or old, left or right, gay or straight who wouldn't want to see that.

If Hillary had done that, she'd definitely be our next president. If it turns out that she is, she should have a payback affair in her first term - it would guarantee her another four years.

Shit Or Get Off The Pot. No, SERIOUSLY!

In an actual case of shit or get off the pot, a woman sat on the toilet for two years and got physically stuck to it. They're considering bringing charges against the boyfriend for not flushing more frequently.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080313/D8VCPDSO0.html





As long as you're here....

This, to me, is fascinating. It's the Interstate Highway system simplified, with all the kinks and curves smoothed out.

To enlarge the graphic, click on it.

Then click on that enlargement for the huge enormous whopper gigundo size.

Then take or re-take all your trips around the USA (you'll have to scroll up/down and back/forth to see everywhere).

Simple.

Buffy says: There's Rules About That In The Bible

I don't care. I love lions. By that I mean....(ahem)...
well....anyway, these are cool pics, right?

Odds and Ends

--- If you had a hard time viewing the cartoons I posted earlier, you might want to take advantage of this free monitor screen cleaner:
http://cache.valleywag.com/assets/resources/screenclean.swf

--- Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle.

--- Why Gilligan was always so mellow:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20080311/D8VBG1SG1.html

--- According to Bush: "America is addicted to oil" I guess the best way to get America "off the oil" is to arrest the pushers and the dealers.

--- If life is a gift then reincarnation is regifting.

--- I thought "Last Comic Standing" was a great idea for a show until I heard there were no guns involved.

--- This just in: The Mayor of New Orleans is "vagina-friendly"
http://www.thenew995fm.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=135361&article=3378880

--- I'm perfectly willing to take criticism but not in suppository form.

Governor Spitzer's Been A Baaaaaad Boy

"We must get the Prostitution ring back from the Republican Hobbitses, my preciousssssssss..."
One Prostitution Ring to rule them all ...



(Click on the pic to enlarge)
Democratic Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer (AKA Client 9) busted in a prostitution ring. On the other hand, if he were a Republican, it would no doubt have been a gay prostitution ring.
Spitzer paid $4300/hr for a hooker. I hope to hell this doesn't drive up prices (sorry).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/spitzer-as-client-9-read_n_90787.html

UPDATE: Spitzer has resigned. NY Lt. Governor David A. Paterson will take over Monday, as soon as he can find his way to the Capitol (sorry). I bet he never saw this coming (again, sorry). I can clearly see that Patterson will be a more visionary governor than Spitzer (very sorry). His views on the future are insightful, and he never turns a blind eye to excessive government spending (truly sorry). His policies are never shortsighted (awfully sorry). And so now, let us all raise our glasses to him as he takes over the driver's seat (really, really sorry).
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/03/12/spitzers-successor-david-patterson-nys-first-blind-governor/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Calvin & Hobbes/10,000 BC Movie Review

Buffy got me the complete Calvin and Hobbes for birthday/Christmas, three volumes, and together they weigh a ton. Here's a sampling of the snowmen series (you don't have to squint and put your nose on the monitor. Click on the pic. You'll be taken to a small pic; click on the small pic and it enlarges nicely. When done, click on your back button to return to the blog)




MOVIE REVIEW
My son Chris & I saw 10,000 BC today, and I believe I can give you the movie's central message in a few words: white people and black people can come together to kill arabs.

Time Change

So, I set all the clocks ahead one hour. In our house, that's a lot of clocks:
1) clock radio, my side of the bed
2) clock radio, Buffy's side of the bed
3) CD player/clock, floor, Buffy's side of the bed
4) wall clock, kitchen
5) oven clock, kitchen
6) microwave clock, breakfast nook
7) wall clock, breakfast nook
8) big ben style clock, living room
9) internal clock, living room TV
10) internal clock, guest room TV
11) internal clock, bedroom TV
12) wrist watches (I have a few)
13) internal clock, computer
14) still to do: dashboard clock, car

I've just taken my AmbienCR because my personal body system thinks it's 2:00 AM, even though all the clocks/watches in the house now say it's 3:00 AM. So I get to stay up until 4:00 AM. With me so far? Well, don't be. Go to bed already! Don't you know what time it is????

MR. NASTY'S MOMENTS OF ZEN

--- Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

--- There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

--- People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

--- When God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, He WILL NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.

--- No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

--- When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.

--- Never lick a steak knife.

--- Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie.

--- You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment

--- You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time. But it's time to observe it, so set your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed on Saturday, March 8, 2008 (or at 2:00 AM Sunday, whichever comes first).

Thirty-Two Reasons Why I Hope Obama Wins

No More Writers' Strike...Saturday Night Live Still Sucks

Basking in the success of its endorsement of Sen. Hillary Clinton's candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president, NBC's late night warhorse Saturday Night Live announced today that it would abandon comedy to embrace its new role as a political kingmaker.

Lorne Michaels, executive producer of the venerable late night show, said that the election returns from Tuesday night were enough to convince him that the show should stay away from comedy altogether and focus its energies on making political endorsements.

"We want to be able to do one thing well," Mr. Michaels said. "And if it's a choice between doing comedy and choosing the next President of the United States, we're going to drop the comedy part."

Mr. Michaels said that the decision to get out of the comedy business and move towards full-time political endorsing should come as no surprise to its viewers: "We've been gradually moving away from comedy for years."

The Emmy-winning producer added that NBC viewers who are disappointed by his show's format change and want to look elsewhere for laughs "can always watch Tim Russert."

Arguing that fans of the show will ultimately be "delighted" by its new mission, the late night pioneer touted what he called "a really exciting" lineup of future guest hosts leading up to the Pennsylvania primary: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and musical guest George S. Clinton.

Elsewhere, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain accepted a congratulatory call from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and then immediately changed his phone number.

To Be A Winner You Have To Win

To be a winner you have to win. And Tuesday night Hillary Clinton unreservedly won three out of four states. Barack Obama, however, has won twice as many primary and caucus states overall, leads substantially in the popular vote, and continues to hold a mathematically insurmountable lead in elected delegates.

For two or three days, the Clinton campaign will spin itself - and the media - silly, breathlessly celebrating her overwhelming victories in Rhode Island and Ohio and her squeaker in Texas.

After the confetti is swept and the champagne bottles are tossed a more sober reality will take hold. Not just that her net gain of delegates this week will be, at most, in the single digits. But worse. There is no plausible scenario in which Clinton can win the nomination. At least not democratically.

Seven more weeks of campaign slog through Wyoming, Mississippi and into Pennsylvania. And then maybe tack on six more weeks, if you can believe it, into Indiana , West Virginia, and a handful of other states and into Puerto Rico on the 7th of June, quite literally into D-Day. Whatever the outcome, even if Clinton wins all 16 remaining contests - and some of them by veritable landslides, she will still be dozens of elected delegates behind Barack Obama.

She will not be the winner because she will have not won the majority of elected Democratic delegates. Clinton will be exactly where she was the night before Ohio and Texas: in second place and with no way to become the nominee unless enough unelected Superdelegates defy the popular will of the electorate and throw her the nomination (or unless you somehow believe that she can win every coming primary with a 20 point margin).

2008 Democratic Popular Vote as of March 4, 2008

Popular Vote Count

OBAMA____________ CLINTON
12,638,258________ 12,051,663

2008 Democratic Delegates as of March 4, 2008

Delegate Count__	(2,025 Needed to Win)

OBAMA________ CLINTON
1495_________ 1406

News of the Weird

The force is strong in this headline-writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300374.html

Best talent competition ever!
"Love for muskrat-skinning evident at beauty pageant"
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/5584958.html

...but they were really funny episodes..
http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2008/03/019271.htm

Freedom of frickin' speech is under frickin' attack
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15438959/detail.html

"Just say 'no' - to yourself" Department
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wear/5138444.stm

AMAZING FACTS:

If a duck quacks in the forest, and there's no one around, it echoes.

Strange coincidence: both John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln were assassinated on the same day, in the same place, with the exact same bullet. Garfield was not.

In Europe (or "Spain"), cat urine is never used as an ingredient in toothpaste.

One of the Teletubbies is an ordained minister. But no on knows which one.

A hippo cannot sneeze with its eyes open. Nor wants to.

No one actually died on the Titanic.

Pinocchio is actually Italian for "Rumplestiltskin".

Biologically, Paris Hilton is 79% guano.

"Chiffarobe" is the longest English word with no vowels. Other than I A O and E. The "Y" is both silent and invisible.

The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons -- especially right after the holidays.

Today I Cut And Run

Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Buffy and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.

Though I have withdrawn my candidacy, I'm standing tall, proudly, patriotically, with my right hand over my heart and my left hand in crisp military salute. It's taken me an hour to type this paragraph.

I'd consider it as a personal favor if you didn't ask me, "How?"

Lord, I apologize and please be with the starving pygmies down in New Guinea. Amen.

HILLARY CLINTON AND BARACK OBAMA ENGAGE IN FARTING CONTEST AS PRESIDENTAL CANDIDATES UNVEIL PLANS FOR UNIVERSAL DENTAL COVERAGE

In an unprecedented bid to garner support before the crucial Texas and Ohio primaries, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama today both unveiled universal dental plans.

With both candidates in agreement on a broad range of issues, the two rivals appear to be hoping that late-deciding voters will support the candidate who offers the best dental.

Speaking to 400 supporters in a high school cafeteria in Cleveland, Ohio today, Sen. Clinton made an emotional appeal to voters, saying that she has been "working to keep Americans' teeth healthy and shiny" for the past 35 years.

"When I was campaigning in Cincinnati yesterday, I met a mother of two who had a horrible overbite," she said. "I told her, I will be ready to get braces on those choppers on Day One."

Sen. Clinton was harshly critical of Sen. Obama's dental plan, which she said "would leave 15 million people without bridgework or root canals."

For his part, Sen. Obama blasted Sen. Clinton's proposal at a stadium in Beaumont, Texas, where he spoke to a capacity crowd of over 90,000 people.

"Sen. Clinton's plan only offers five dollars for every tooth extracted," he said. "The tooth fairy gives you more than that."

But in a possible preview of the fall general election campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) blasted both Democratic rivals in a speech at an El Paso retirement home: "My friends, neither of their plans says anything about dentures."

Elsewhere, President Bush expressed support for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, telling reporters, "Just because somebody didn't get the most votes doesn't mean he shouldn't be president."