110th Congress Swears In Tomorrow!!!!

In light of that, here's The Pledge of Allegiance as sung by America's Children.

Please, let's not let these kids down, they are our future, after all.

The Gerald Ford Is Dead. Long Live The Gerald Ford!!!!!!

A National Day of Mourning Under A Full Moon

This is a "placeholder" post because I have a lot to say on the subject but for now here's my letter to Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Jopurnal, that she didn't run, (just like the one I wrote her for the Reagan Porn Funeral column she wrote where I asked her, since her son was so taken with the Pomp And Circumstance, and LOVED the military Uniforms there, which Branch Of Service was she going to recommend to him to Enlist in, hmmm?), but for now here's the letter to, (cue: swine snorting noises), Miss Peggy:

The following letter has been submitted via the OpinionJournal article response feature.
Contents of response as follows:
#---

Name: Nyc Alberts
E-mail: DigitalComponents@gmail.com
City/State: NY, NY
Date: Sun, December 31st, 2006

Subject:
Re: Ford Without Tears

Comment:
As much as I disagree with pretty much every word that you write, and speak, this is right on the money.

President Gerald Ford represents what the Republican Party used to stand for before they went off the deep end as they have.

One thing I'm not seeing in all these eulogies is how he stood by his wife, Betty, in getting the help she needed. At that time there was still a huge stigma in American society for those afflicted with alcoholism and/or drug addiction seeking any sort of help because of the bogus shame that the Neo-Prohibitionitic Puritans of America had saddled it with.

He could have easily just tossed her to the wolves, but being a decent man, he didn't, and that has had a huge transformative effect on American
society, to the better, at least on the health issues side. The criminal issues stuff around this is another matter though that I'm not going to get into here.

RIP Mr. Ford.


Stay tuned to A Pen Warmed In Hell, there's more to come....

A Friend Writes....

This is a letter written by a friend to the Editors at The Washington Post yesterday.

Since I'm not sure if they're going to run it, I will:

"Dear Editor:

It was with great sadness to learn that yesterday, December 30, 2006, the U.S. death toll for soldiers in Iraq reached the 3,000 mark.

Just a few days prior, the U.S. toll on its soldiers mirrored that of the
deaths on 9/11/2001, 2,973.

For many, this is the time of year for great joy. For me and my
family, it is one of great sadness. I wish to convey to our soldiers
on the field that the solidarity of the United States is behind them.

Yet, I can't help but wonder if this great sacrifice was truly worth
it, especially in light of the now public views of one of our great
Presidents, now also deceased.

The nation continues to mourn for every life lost, U.S., Iraqi,
Coalition or otherwise, and hopes that the bloodshed will not continue to dominate the new year as it did the past.

No...it's not Viet Nam.

It's even more pointless.

These are my friends dying, day after day, and it literally hurts to keep looking down this neverending path."

~S

I don't see how any of us can feel any different.
3,000 pointless, futile deaths, when are we going to finally have had our fill.

Congress needs to get on the stick, that's what we elected them for, now.

The Land Of The Rising Boobies New Year's Rocking Eve

Decidely NOT work safe:

Forget Janet Jackson.

This is how they do it, "Wardrobe Malfunction" Stylee on *live* National
TV in Japan on New Year's Eve, 2007:


Make sure you're paying *very* close attention at the 2 minute mark, you
won't be sorry.

(h/t http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/ )

Added bonus:

Don't know if this one has made the rounds yet, it's a modern day update
of Woody Allen's line from Annie Hall about how he'd like to do to his
date "what Eisenhower had been doing to the country for the last 8 years":


(h/t http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/ )

Down The Memory Hole: On Donna Brazille on HBO's "K Street" in 2004

Ported over from a comment I left at C&L 1/1/07 on a thread about CNN mispelling US Senator Barack Obama's name with that of a notorious terrorist who *yet* to be brought to justice.

Speaking of Donna Brazille, TBH, http://www.haloscan.com/ comments...0113201#1465076

During the election season of 2004, Brazille did a cameo on George Clooney/Steve Soderburgh's little seen HBO mini-series, "K Street" shot on location in Franklin Park, at 14th and K Street, NW, talking with Matalin & Carville's fictional, multi-ethnic, Wunderkind, faux lobbyist character named Francisco, on a park bench, that I used to go by every working day when I lived there.

(Always a trip when something that's that so dailylil in my life familiar appears on a nationally broadcast TV show.)

This was when, on the show, the fit hit the shan at their fictional lobbying firm, with the Justice Department closing in on them for some shady deal that they were in the middle of, and instead of Brazille telling this Francisco character that they, Matalin & Carville, were going to "hang him out to dry", "or throw him to the wolves", or some such other euphemism, Brazille instead told him something along the lines that Francisco should watch out for himself because the 'white boys in DC always take care of their own' but also that he should always be aware that he was in 'Chocolate City' as well.

I couldn't help but think of the firestorm that would have erupted if the negative was flipped and someone of her position was white and made disparaging comments about corrupt black lobbyists to a white colleague.

Then about a year later New Orleans Mayor Nagin nearly got nailed to the tree for using the same "Chocolate City" language.

I'm not real big on double standards, and it really irks me when someone from our team, like Brazille, who knows better, effs up like that.

We simply just can't afford a Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond type gaffe like that, even on a fictional, Roman A Clef type TV show that nobody watches, except a bunch of C-SPAN weenies and assorted sundry wonks.

There's too much at stake now for us to be doing stupid stuff like that, because the Reich wing-nuts are waiting for us in the hall, loaded for bear, with sharpened knives and brass knuckles, just lying in wait for any and every opportunity that may present itself to pounce on, no matter how minor.

Don't believe it?

Look at the frenzy they went into over Kerry's botched joke.

That, and we've got to find a way to close ranks, circle the wagons and march in lock-step, a set of skills that the Republicans have mastered, yet seems to elude us still.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given every indication that she's gonna be cracking the whip, starting this Wednesday, yay.

Let's hope she follows through.

~nyc

Happy New Year Except For the 3,000 Dead Americans in Iraq

Hot Off The Press, 3,000 American Military Dead In Iraq

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
3,000 Americans Murdered In Iraq

Happy New Year.

BOOM!!

Gee, Matt, you prick, where's your flashing blood Red Siren now?

You're a pig.

Saddam Hussein Will Hang By The Neck Until Dead!!!!

From Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad And The Ugly by way of sample on Big Audio Dynamite's first song, Medicine Show on their 1985 debut album, This Is Big Audio Dynamite:

"Wanted in fourteen counties of this State
The condemned is found guilty of crimes and murder
Armed robbery of citizens, state banks, and post offices
The theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison
Perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children
Inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion
Receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods
Passing counterfeit money, and contrary to the laws of this State
The condemned is guilty of using marked cards...
Therefore, according to the powers vested in us
We sentence the accused before us
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez (known as the Rat)
And any other aliases he might have
To hang by the neck until dead
May God have mercy on his soul...
.... Proceed!!!!
Duck you suckers!!!!
(sound of rapid gunfire)"

Now that the above fate is also that of Saddam Hussein, partly for the one-time gassing of of 30,000 of his own people, (though I know that that isn't what he was on trial and sentenced for, but still....), using the poison gas that the Government of The United States of America sold him, wouldn't it be possible to apply the same standard to the Executives of Big Tobacco?

Hehehheh.

I ask this question as a life-long smoker.

After all the poison gas of cigarettes murders 400,000 of our fellow Americans, each and every year, so I gotta ask, what's the motherfucking difference?

I know, I know, nobody puts a gun to anybody's head to make them smoke, I've heard that one, but the fact remains that even after the ill effects of cigarette smoking became widely known, as well as the efforts of Big Tobacco to supress those findings, this industry, and those that lead it, spend hundreds of millions of dollars, each and every year, to not only produce and distribute these death sticks, but to advertise them to the general public as well, in many cases targeting this advertising at children, in the hopes of getting them addicted and buying their products at an early age.

Once addicted, a lot of choice is removed from people that they would otherwise have, in fact that's the whole point of getting people addicted to something in the first place.

So, ask yourself here, just who is more evil?

Saddam Hussein who gassed his own people, for political advantage, or Big Tobacco who gasses to death 10 times as many people in The United States of America each year, as a way of making a buck?

If Saddam Hussein is being held to account for his "Crimes Against Humanity"then why can't Big Tobacco be held to account in the same way too?

I'm just sayin'....

Introducing Yahuda Bangs.....

Let's all give a fiery A Pen Warmed In Hell welcome to today's guest author, none other than The World's Famous, Revolutionary, Firebrand, of The Far East, One Yahuda Bangs himself, most recently hailing from The Little Red Email, who has graciously deigned to grace our presence here today with his pick for A Pen Warmed In Hell's Regular Feature, which you have all come to know, and love, as our greatly anticipated:

A Pen Warmed In Hell's First Annual Political Cretin of the Year Award.

So may we bring to you, without any further adieu, the man you all know, and love, who needs no further introduction, the one and only Yahuda Bangs!

Take it away, Yahuda!

A Pen Warmed In Hell's First Annual Political Cretin of the Year
by Yahuda Bangs

One of the most time honored traditions in media is the year-end feature listing the superlative (or superlatives) in any particular category. The task this year has fallen upon me, and the category on which I’ve been asked to expound by my overlords in A Pen Warmed In Hell's Media Bunker (located deep inside Manhattan’s Underground Subway System) is that of

Political Cretin of the Year.
Occasional dalliances in the Far East aside, this column has primarily concerned itself with the field of American politics, and it is thus from this field that my candidates are drawn.

Looking back at the American body politic of 2006 provides a panoramic view of scumbaggery in all its myriad forms:

• From the naked hypocrisy of a morally and ethically bankrupt ruling party clinging tenaciously to a fictitious moral high ground, claiming to the very end to be the party of family values (all the while sheltering pedophiles within their ranks), to the dying spasms of the same party attempting to cling to power through fear, intimidation, and outright electoral fraud.

• From a Vice President so inured in treachery that deception was his natural strategy for dealing with a simple hunting accident, to the lapdog right wing media that attempted to spin the incident as having been the fault of the shot rather than the shooter, only to be slapped back into line by, of all people, gun nuts.

• From the outright lies told by an American president to continue the war in Iraq, to the fraud and mismanagement committed by those whose financial interests lie in the continuation of a pointless conflict physically destroying one country while simultaneously corroding the collective soul of another.
  

So you see, even the most cursory glance back at 2006 produces a bumper harvest of scumbags from which to chose, and picking one choice rose from this field of bastards is a difficult task.

In choosing a “Cretin of the Year” I had to ask myself to accept the heavy responsibility of assigning ultimate blame for the horrible mess the world is in on one individual alone. The individual in question, I realized, would need to be one revered by some and despised by others, someone whose fingerprints could be found on the levers of power (even if actual power were held by some ruthless shadow-cabal, and the prints put there only for appearance).

Though there are many worthy choices for Cretin of the Year, the criteria left me with only one true candidate to fill the position of ceremonial head scumbag. Thus, without further adieu, I’d like to announce the man to whom this dubious honor is bestowed.

Our Cretin of the Year is a man who has proven himself completely divorced from reality. He is an individual whose bumbling clownishness has forever besmirched the reputation of not merely the presidency, but of the nation itself. The damage done to America’s standing in the world by our Cretin of the Year cannot be mended by the mere passing of time. Indeed, this individual’s performance record is so shoddy that his very name will go down in the annals of history as a stain on the reputation of the high office (a position gained through dubious means) itself:

Gerald R. Ford.



Though decades have passed since this buffoon, this taint on the high office itself, was removed from power, I believe I speak for everyone at when I say that that the damage done to the nation by his decision to pardon Richard Nixon, not to mention his pithy ‘Whip Inflation Now’ button campaign, can never truly be…

Excuse me.

…What? No, no, the internet’s been down since the earthquake, I haven’t seen the news since…

He what? You don’t say. Wow. That changes everything. No, no. I totally agree, that would be a bad move.

This just in.

Former President Gerald Ford has passed away at the age of 93.

A Pen Warmed In Hell wishes him a glorious afterlife. May death come swiftly to his enemies!

In unrelated news, for his unparalleled role in the ongoing destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, for overseeing the collapse of the American military, for willfully ignoring impending environmental challenges, and for blindly leading his lemming-like constituency as well as much of the world over a cliff and into a dark abyss from which return will be nigh impossible, the A Pen Warmed In Hell award for Cretin of the Year goes to.....

George W. Bush.

Again, for the third year in a row.

Way to go, Asshole.

We Made It!!!!!!!

Iraq, the gift that keeps on giving.

With the 4 Christmas Day Deaths in Iraq we finally, finally, finally beat the record of 2,973 murdered on 9/!! by 2 dead Americans.

9\!! ~ 2,973 Dead
Iraq ~ 2,975 Dead

For a moment there I thought it just wasn't going to happen, got it in right under the wire, which just goes to show ya that you can never misunderstimate the "Can-Do" spirit of the American people, when they set their minds to a goal.

Isn't this the Best Christmas, ever?

Here's the story fresh off the wire:

"By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 26, 2006; 6:57 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- At least 36 Iraqis died Tuesday in bombings, officials said, including a coordinated strike that killed 25 in western Baghdad. Separately, the deaths of six U.S. soldiers pushed the American toll beyond the number of victims in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The three coordinated car bombs in western Baghdad injured at least 55 people, a doctor at Yarmouk hospital, where the victims were taken, said on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. The attacks occurred in a mixed Sunni and Shiite neighborhood.

In separate attacks, a bomb exploded in a central Baghdad market, killing four people and wounding 15 others, police said. Two roadside bombs targeted an Iraqi police patrol in an eastern neighborhood of the capital, killing four policemen and injuring 12 people.

In Kirkuk, 180 miles north of the Iraqi capital, another roadside bomb killed three civilians _ including an 8-year-old girl _ and wounded six other people, police said.

The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of six more American soldiers, pushing the U.S. military death toll since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,978 _ five more than the number killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The milestone came with the deaths of the three soldiers Monday and three more Tuesday in roadside bomb attacks near Baghdad, the military said.

President Bush has said that the Iraq war is part of the United States' post-Sept. 11 approach to threats abroad. Going on offense against enemies before they could harm Americans meant removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, pursuing members of al-Qaida and seeking regime change in Iraq, Bush has said.

Democratic leaders have said the Bush administration has gotten the U.S. bogged down in Iraq when there was no evidence of links to the Sept. 11 attacks, detracting from efforts against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

The AP count of those killed includes at least seven military civilians. Prior to the deaths announced Tuesday, the AP count was 15 higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday. At least 2,377 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers."

Fucking Awesome!!!

Bush said, "Bring It ON!" and I guess he got taken up on it, huh?

Merry Christmas.

Merry Monday

Jurrasic Pork expands on his ever burgeoning "It's A Blunderful Life" meme, complete with PhotoShopped illustrations done by a talented collaborator over at Hooterville.

Go check it out, tell him Nyc sent ya.

Today, of all days, when the death toll in Iraq, 2,972, pulls to within one death of tying the 9/!! record of 2,973 dead.

That enough of a Christmas "miracle" for ya?

Don't go too heavy on the eggnog.

Oh, and Pope Nazi?

Quit kidding yourself and your flock with your delusions.

All the "Prayer's For Peace" in the world are not going to bring back a one of those men and women, so knock that bullshit off.

Thanks.

James Brown, Genius Of Love

Rest in Peace dear man, and thank you so much for making the world a better, and a whole lot more fun, place, while you were here.

Your music will live FOREVER and we will all love you a day longer.

Oh, Festivus

Today's Iraq American War Dead Tally Is At: 2,966.

9/!!'s death toll was 2,973.

Only 8 more to go.

4 Years Ago Today, Joe

We need your voice today now than ever, so sad that you've been gone.

Here you are on stage, at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in NYC, looking all Johnny Cash like, 3 weeks after 9/!!.

You're a class act, always.

festivus

This picture was created by World Class Photographer Kristopher Johnson who is featured on the A Pen Warmed In Hell sidebar linked under the word "Beauty".

Please visit his site to see his work, you won't be disappointed in that he's currently one of the best photographers working in New York City today, and if you've got the means, think of him first if you've got a photography project you want to have done.

You can't possibly go wrong and his Rates are a complete bargain.

When you do hire him, tell 'em Nyc sent ya. :-)

The Rumsfeld Memo And Me

This is from a Crooks & Liars comment I posted earlier this evening on a thread about Matt Damon saying that the Bush twins oughtta be serving it Iraq that refused to go through on HaloScan, so I'm posting it here instead.....

I don't know how many times I need to repeat this until it sinks in...
We WON the war in Iraq.
A long time ago.
We deposed Saddam.
Done.
Success.
Mission Accomplished.
If there were any WMDs in Iraq, there aren't any there now.
Done.
Success.
Mission Accomplished.
Plus, since Iraq is in an utter state of chaos today, it's going to be impossible for the Iraqis to develop a WMD Program of any sort for the conceivable future, irregardless of how motivated they may be to create one.
Done.
Success.
Mission Accomplished.
Additionally, we set up a "democracy" in Iraq as well.
Done.
Success.
Mission Accomplished.
Again, and etch this one into your brain, so you don't forget, we *already* won the war in Iraq.
It's the OCCUPATION of Iraq that we're having a hard time dealing with.
How's that for a set of "talking points" to flip at the chickenhawk wing-nutters out there?
Try it out on them, if your experience is anything like mine, you'll get to hear them stutter.
BTW, if this sounds familar, it is, since it was one of the options that Rumsfeld listed on his Pre-election day memo of November 6th:

Below the Line (less attractive options):

¶Continue on the current path.
¶Move a large fraction of all U.S. Forces into Baghdad to attempt to control it.
¶Increase Brigade Combat Teams and U.S. forces in Iraq substantially.
¶Set a firm withdrawal date to leave. Declare that with Saddam gone and Iraq a sovereign nation, the Iraqi people can govern themselves. Tell Iran and Syria to stay out.

Ok, so he buried in there under the less attractive options, but it's there. How cool is that? Bet it's one option that they're seriously considering over at 1600 Penn & The Pentagon since you know that they're actively looking for a way out and that every single Refucklican candidate from Cheney, McCain, Rice, Ghouliani on down don't want to go into the 2008 election with the Iraq millstone around their necks.

9/!! v. Iraq

Another Craigslist posting by me:

9/!! v. Iraq

---

Reply to: pers-245915627@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-12-08, 10:49AM EST


The whole over/under odds betting thing is so popular with you jocks for brains people, here's one for ya bloodthirsty "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" folks:

The amount of Americans killed on 9/!!, 9/!!, not counting the 24 that are still reported missing, and the 19 hijackers, is at 2,973 dead people.

As of today the amount of American soldiers killed, not maimed or otherwise wounded, in Iraq stands at 2,922 dead.

That's a difference of 51 dead people, with 9/!!, 9/!!, still holding a slim lead.

What's the over/under for Iraq combat deaths catching up 9/!! deaths by:

Channakuh?

Kwaanza?

Festivus?

Xmas?

or

New Years Eve?

Added bonus points if instead of betting, any of you Chicken Hawks put your money where your moufs are and "support the troops" by enlisting in the military.

Contracting for Halliburton or KBR doesn't count.

See you in hell.

And, oh, by the way, Happy Holidays, you bitches.

• Location: It's Hamurabbi Time!!!
  
• It's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

I Fear Something Terrible Has Happened.....

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.....

And another one is gone.

Jerry Springer, citing the many commercail opportunities that have come his way, and aren't likeley to return, since his appearance on Dancing With The Stars, has folded up his tents and quit doing his Air America Radio show, Springer On The Radio.

I can't stand it.

This sucks, he was, hands-down, the best host that Air America had.

Well at least we took the House and Senate, but that's a small consolation for this loss.


Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!!!

7 Million In US Prisons And Moore's Law

It took the United States of America 218 years to reach the "1 million citizens in prisons" mark.

That happened in 1994.

Today, in 2006, a scant 12 years later, the number is now at 7 million citizens in prison, and climbing.

Abramoff Does The Hokey Pokey Today!!!

In honor of that, A Pen Warmed In Hell, brings you a visual blast from the past from our archives. Seems like it was only yesterday that they slapped the cuffs on him, my how time flies.

BTW, I've been to Jack's old restaurant, "Signatures" and I gotta tell ya, judging from the quality of the offerings, and the prices, it wasn't the food that anyone went there for.

Michelle Malkin Watch: "Troops love Fox News: "The greatest thing"

This just in from that America's Favorite, Chicken Hawk, our Michelle:

"The New York Times published excerpts this weekend from Iraq war veterans who have contributed on-the-ground diary accounts to the New York State Veteran Oral History Program. This one was eye-catching:

First Sgt. Kevin Lyons, Third Armored Cavalry Regiment

FOX NEWS

Finally some local Iraqis went across the Syrian border, and they were buying televisions and satellite dishes. So this squadron bought one — and Fox News! It was like the greatest thing. It was the biggest event we had in two months. They hooked up the satellite dish and there was Fox News. I’m sitting there in Iraq and we’d go up to the briefing room, and if we didn’t have anything to do we’d sit there for hours at a time. At night we stayed up late just to watch Fox News.

Now, that is an endorsement!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this professional, cowardly, (don't see her volunteering to go to Iraq, though she looks able-bodied, for a Chicken Hawk), racist just loathe The New York Times?

Except when it serves her purposes, I guess.

The troops love of Fox News might explain this bit from the same New York Times this past weekend:

"The marines had been on a continuous foot patrol for several days, hunting for insurgents. They were lost in the hard and isolating rhythms of infantry life.

They knew nothing of the week’s news.

Now they were being told by an Iraqi whose house they occupied that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, one of the principal architects of the policies that had them here, had resigned. “Rumsfeld is gone?” the sergeant asked. “Really?”

Mr. Menti nodded. “This is better for Iraq,” he said. “Iraqi people say thank you.”

The sergeant went upstairs to tell his marines, just as he had informed them the day before that the Republican Party had lost control of the House of Representatives and that Congress was in the midst of sweeping change. Mr. Menti had told them that, too.

“Rumsfeld’s out,” he said to five marines sprawled with rifles on the cold floor.

Lance Cpl. James L. Davis Jr. looked up from his cigarette. “Who’s Rumsfeld?” he asked."

Wow.

This grunt didn't even know who Rumsfeld was before he signed up.

Wonder what role Fox News, and America's great Public School system, had to do with that, Michelle?

God Bless The Dow Jones!!!

This was originally written on September 5th, 2006.

Since The Dow Jones hit a "new high" of 12,218.01 points today, I thought I'd bump it up to here.

On January 20th, 1993, as Bill Clinton was about to become President the Dow Jones Industrial average closed at:

3,241.95 points

Eight years later, on January 19th, 2001 the Dow Jones closed at

10,587.59 points.

This is a gain of

7,345.64 points.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11669218/

To express this the way you asked, the Dow is currently trading at 11,460 points, which means that if it was at 10,587 points when Bush took office then it has risen all of

873 points

In the 5.75 years Bush has been President.

Clinton: Dow up by 7,345 points in 8 years.
Bush: Dow up by 873 points in 5.75 years.

You figure it out.

Btw, this averages out to about 150 points a year, which means that the Dow has been gaining a little over 1% a year for the last 5.75 years versus the 10% it usually gains.

Want to tell me how great the economy is doing again?

This is a New Depression and no one wants to admit it.

Don't get me started on how much value the Dollar has lost to the Euro in the last 5 years.

It's down 30%, which means that maybe a lot of Americans won't be going to France anytime soon, but the French will be over here playing tourist and buying our cheap, Made In China goods, and wondering how Americans got so fat, not eating any French cuisine, except for our fries.