The Buddha of Savings -- Just a note to the good design people at Target, who decided to offer this ceramic Buddha head in their "Global Home" collection, in the "Sculptures + Figurines" department, originally priced at $24.99 and marked down to a mere $6.24, and available with 4 identical Buddha heads on an endcap in the Reading store: when can we look forward to the bargain ceramic moai, pietas, and Flying Spaghetti Monsters? You know, for parity.

Gonzales Resigns! -- The good/bad news just keeps on coming, folks! Yes, we can savor the departure of TortureBoy for a while, and look forward to the White House flailing around for a replacement of equal repellence and spinelessness. But the downside is, these jokers still have 15+ months in office, and I doubt Congress can get it together to open the right size can of Indictment WhoopAss in time.

And just to harsh your Monday a little more, check out this long piece from Rolling Stone,"The Great Iraq Swindle," on the complete fraud of government contracting in Iraq: "According to the most reliable ­estimates, we have doled out more than $500 billion for the war, as well as $44 billion for the Iraqi reconstruction effort. And what did America's contractors give us for that money? They built big steaming shit piles, set brand-new trucks on fire, drove back and forth across the desert for no reason at all and dumped bags of nails in ditches. For the most part, nobody at home cared, because war on some level is always a waste." Yikes.

"We are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse—namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force." -- It's the silly season, so you may not have noticed this incendiary NYT op-ed piece, "The War As We Saw It." Written by 7 active-duty junior officers, it points out the complexity and probable futility of the Iraq war, calling out the Administration for its "surreal" cheerfulness in the face of grim reality. Could this force a tipping point, 2 weeks ahead of the Petraeus Report? Doubtful, with the White House and the media in nap mode for a few weeks...or longer, depending on your perspective.

"There’s a 20 percent chance we’re living in a computer simulation." -- Meaning, you and me, like in The Matrix, except for realsies. Prepare for your "whoa" moment reading this NYT article on Oxford "transhumanist" Nick Bostrom.

"One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president." -- Instead of serving in the military, which is such a drag. Please don't do us any more favors, Romney boys! This takes the cake for boneheaded candidate quote du jour...check out Salon's comments thereon, the first one might be the best.