More on Barry

Oops!

Barry better be careful...Babymama gonna whoop his ass if he screws this one up again.

Versionista

I heard about Versionista last week on Buzz Out Loud ("CNET's podcast of indeterminate length") and have to say that they're right...it's nifty.

I'm guessing there are other tools out there like this, but I just haven't seen it yet. With a free 'guest' membership, I can pick 5 different sites or domains that I want to keep an eye on. Versionista will do this, caching the pages and marking up the differences for me to monitor as I please. You can purchase memberships to monitor more pages, but for now, this is just a neat little novelty.

Below is an example of how Barack's page has changed recently...click to enlarge.

Cool Look at Flight Patterns

I had a little trouble embedding this right so that you could see the controls, so just refresh the whole page if you want to see it over. Anyway, this is a full day of what American airspace looks like with flights starting up and winding down.

Pretty neato stuff.


>> Change as of Tuesday morning. The embedded Quicktime movie I had here last night made the page so heavy and I was having trouble scrolling smoothly. Please just follow the link above and check it out on the main site.

AC~DC...I Salute You!

I was kind of excited that ACDC had decided to tour again...and even wondered if they'd make it to our fair rust belt city.

But the announcement came out in the Plain Dealer today and those effing Aussies are charging $91.50 not for some kind of premium seat. That's the general price!

Kiss my grits, Angus!

Sunday Funnies

I came across this this morning and it made me chuckle.

clipped from askpang.typepad.com ...the world's greatest pie chart. [via Daniel Pink] design, visualization

Blues Break

I haven't put much up here in the way of the blues lately, so I went back to find some good John Lee Hooker for you.

Don't thank me...it wasn't hard to find.

Here he is at the 1980 Montreal Jazz Festival doing Serves Me Right to Suffer.

If Billy Mays Got a Long-Term Case of Laryngitis, I Would Not Be Disappointed

He annoys the daylights out of me.

No New Information On or In The Debate

Well, we didn't get too much brand new information at the debate last night, but that's no surprise. When news is made at these things, by my memory, the flavor is often in style, not some dramatic policy announcement that's not been tested in the polls or on the stump.

As evidence, some of the more memorable debate moments in my lifetime were 41 looking at his watch, "I won't exploit... my opponent's youth and inexperience," and "You're no John Kennedy."

This first linked video above also helps explain why Clinton whipped Bush's ass that year.

But going back to last night, I think that the person who attempts to be objective can find wins and losses in each of the candidates' performances and that person might conclude that it was a draw. I did, at least.

Since there's so much editorializing out there already, I don't feel inclined to carry on any more about it with some sort of point-by-point commentary.

And You Think You Have Problems?

When you're the first woman to appear on a the Presidential ticket for the GOP, it's 40-some days out from the election and National Review runs an editorial piece begging you to withdraw your name, it pretty much sucks to be you.

Better start earning an honest living, young Levi. If the Gov doesn't move to the Naval Observatory, she's going to be riding your ass like...oh nevermind.

Surely, He Can't Be Serious

He is serious, and it's OK to call him Shirley. That's his name, after all.

Jon Stewart and I Are in Agreeance

I won't dress my posting up as anything all that insightful...the comparison between Shrub's push for war and his push for bailout was obvious to anyone with two ears and a few halfway-functioning cells in between them. But Jon Stewart at The Daily Show did it in a much more entertaining way than I did.

The Dungeon at 1600 Pennsylvania

Oh My Goodness, This is a Train Wreck

Now, watch the whole video, because some wise ass shoved some funny audio into the middle, but even when Madame Governor is trying to be serious, it's just so clear now that she's in over her head on this one. I'm almost cringing, thinking what the October 2 veep debate could be like if this is any indication. I'm sure you've seen/heard other parts of the interview, like her bizarre 'Alaskan airspace' explanation, so I won't put it all up here.

John McCain is a Creepy Old Man

Yeah, so funneling money to 527s, rather than the candidates, really cleaned up the advertising.

Barring Something Exceptional, This is the Funniest Thing I'll Read All Day Long

Bubba has decided start campaigning actively for Barry...but not until the Jewish holidays are over.

Jake Tapper at ABC described this odd situation best.

And though the Southern Baptist former president isn't known for
being a particularly devout Jew who observes the High Holy Days...

I Hate to Side With Lawbreakers...

But BillO's site getting hacked is kind of like an opium den burning down.

Yeah, it's sad that human beings had to go through this suffering, but they were up to no good in getting to the place that ended up affecting them...

Darned if He Does. Darned if He Doesn't

I guess I'm kind of torn on this one...while it would be nice to see old Shrub taking a little bit of an active leadership in whatever's going on on Wall Street, I've long since reached the end of my rope when it comes to trusting that he knows what the hell he's talking about.

BB King and U2...Hard to Beat This Combo

I've been slacking off with the tunes lately, so had to dig this one out...When Loves Comes to Town with a nice little Midnight Hour interlude.

WLCTT appeared on Rattle and Hum, but this is from Australia in 1989, and is a different version than the commercially-released live cut.

God bless all these guys.

Countdown to Showtime

I, like many others, am anxiously awaiting the Ole' Miss debate coming up on Friday night.

I'm curious to see if McCain is able to do with Barry what he did to old Mormon Mitt and bait him into blowing his steam (or vice versa, frankly) and if Obama is able to overcome his natural glide towards preachiness and speak in the concise soundbites sure to make the news...

This morning's Times has a nice side-by-side debating style comparison of McCain and Obama.

If you've not followed the whole primary debate season so closely and would like a primer, I think this might be your thing, y'all.

Fox News at This Hour

Oh, how great...

Those Palin Kids Are So Cute

The Big Cheese

MoDo Delivers Again

Maureen Dowd comes through with a pretty funny column in the Sunday Times...a conversation between the fictional President Jed Bartlet and The Land of Lincolner.

It kinda makes me wish that The West Wing never went off the air with dead-ringer, art-imitating-art lines like this:

BARTLET: Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn’t extend to Americans being exceptional. If you excelled academically and are able to casually use 690 SAT words then you might as well have the press shoot video of you giving the finger to the Statue of Liberty while the Dixie Chicks sing the University of the Taliban fight song. The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.

Newt Gingrich: Coming to a Blog Near You

The former Speaker of the House and leader of the 1994 House revolution now is apparently blogging over at National Review.

He, like other voices starting to creep up after the Kumbaya-bomb dropped on us by Congressional and Administration officials in the last 24 hours, is very skeptical of what they're going to try to shove down your throat before the election recess.

I'll be very interested to see how the candidates for 1600 behave this week. While it's easy for McPalin (I just was listening to her rally in Lady Lake, FL) to make fun of Barry for being slow to come out with some sort of road map out of Armageddon, the war hero was no better.

He was quicker to open his mouth about what should be done. I'll grant that.

But zig-zagging from 'the fundamentals are fine' (and hold your replies...it's a point I don't feel like arguing because it was just a politically stupid thing to say, even if true in some nuanced sense) to 'fire Chris Cox' to 'no bailout for AIG' (and then proceeding to back it) didn't make him seem like someone in charge of his own brain.

I'm Kind of an Idiot...Or Maybe Not

I suppose it's not a bad thing that I never paid much attention to this Miley Cyrus phenom or her genealogy...because it was just in this Perez item today that I realized who her daddy is.

Can You Describe the Ruckus, Sir?

This is a nice little graphic containing the results of the poll that's become the talk of the heads this weekend.

If nothing else, I was kind of interested in how they chose to present these numbers. They were able to cram a lot into this, but I might have put the adjectives on left and right side, alternating by whether the word was positive or negative.

I think that would have made it easier to scan up and down for within-group trends.

Oh well...

Who Wants to Be a Rock Star?

Apparently, Barry wants to be one! Here he is at an event in Florida today, talking about the old lady...

Trying to Absorb the Bailout

So I spent the morning doing some housework and listening in on the Sunday talk shows.

My understanding of the financial situation, and why the government needed to act so quickly on vague details includes the following:

• Crisis was imminent.
• The cost of not acting far outweighed the costs of acting...even if it takes us into debt we couldn't quite imagine several days ago.
• Even if they don't know all the facts going in, we should trust that the Federales will handle it correctly.
• Bush understands this situation.

I think I've heard something like this from many of the same folks and their allies before...but I bet this time, it's a slam dunk.

I Guess It's Time to Start Paying Attention to America's Other Pastime, Now

Could this year be Next Year?

Everyday, My Shame Grows

Honest to God, I need to find some reason why I voted to keep this douche bag in office back in 2004...

I'm not going to blog like crazy on the details of the Wall Street/Main Street financial situation, but hearing old Shrub in the Rose Garden this morning just made my toes curl.

He spoke about basic macroeconomic issues with the kind of awe that a 7th grader might have when he first learns how capital markets work...but this guy holds a degree from Harvard and is the President.

I couldn't make this stuff up, dear reader...read for yourself his explanation of why he opted against his non-interventionist instinct.

"It turns out there are a lot of inner links throughout the financial system. The system had grown to a point where a lot of people were dependent upon each other. And the collapse of one part of the system wouldn't just affect a part of the financial markets, it would affect the average citizen."

George W. Bush, 20-September-2008

It turns out that Wall Street does not operate independently of the rest of the economy, Dickhead? Really? Did the boys from the Fed explain that to you in your briefing?

"That's Not Country First. That's Obama First"

Unveiled in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, this might be McPalin's new punchline...

Nod to Jake Tapper.

You're a Slacker, McFly!

This little science article in the Times caught my eye...about societal and generational differences on the Big Five personality traits...especially among men in America...where we might have a breed of slackers.

Now pardon me while I get back to my Wii.

(Truth in advertising, I have never purchased a video game system.)

Best Headline...Maybe Ever, But At Least Today

here's the real article this pointed to.

A Woodstock Moment

Here's another fave of mine by Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)...Suite: Judy Blue Eyes from Woodstock.

Three days, man...three days!

Funny Face

Here's a nice slideshow of Mayor Daley (Junior) and his stressed out faces...

A Conservative for Obama

Actually, this editorial, written by a former publisher of National Review, doesn't spend quite as much time explaining why Barack is cool as he does accusing McCain and other modern pols running under the 'conservative' banner of ideological cross dressing, but it's still not a bad read.

Simple Pleasures for Simple Minds

Wow, just by chance, I threw a good-looking show I'd never heard on the iPod this morning...a matrix recording of 4-19-78 at Veterans' Memorial Coliseum in Columbus.

Overall, it was just a pretty good show from a year I've always had an affinity for and the recording is nice and crispy.

Then came the encore....I hadn't studied the setlist before, preferring to enjoy things as a surprise. I thought I heard Garcia noodling with Zevon's Werewolves of London, so had to look it up in Deadbase and it was the breakout show for this cover.

What a treat! They go on for a good 10 minutes!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Just a little quick post before hitting the hay and hopefully ridding my body of a very annoying summertime cold...

The whole sex education in schools thing never fired me up that much. Maybe it's because I don't have kids, so I don't think about it all that often. Maybe it's because I'm pretty apathetic about over-legislating school curricula. Or it might just be because it's a red herring issue.

But the brouhaha last week over McCain's claims, and Barry's counterattack, about the so-called kindergarten sex ed bill in IL is the topic of a new article by National Review's Byron York.

The gist of it is that, the tenor of McCain's ad notwithstanding, the truth is much more on McCain's side than it was Barack's. York's research suggests that the Illinois Senate bill actually was a comprehensive sex ed bill and that there was more to it than the stranger danger motif suggested by the Obama campaign in their shrill retort.

You make the call.

Slow Posting

I've been under the weather the last few days...more later...

Storm Chaser Streaming Video

Here's what appears to be an amateur video site of Hurricane Ike bearing down on Texas.

(Heh, wonder if I'll get a lot of search results hitting this site by folks looking for other forms of video entertainment...)

Stupid, Random Post Before Heading Back to Bed

It's a rainy day here, perfect for crawling back into bed for a much-needed nap...I'm beat.

But I just got back from a haircut and, as I was pulling the umbrella closed once in the door, I looked back to see a big splat of beige liquid splattering out on the street.

"Wow, that bird must have gotten a big meal somewhere."

Then, my superior peripheral vision caught my neighbor, who'd just tossed the contents of his coffee cup into the street.

I'm sure that the high opinion my loyal readers had of me just went down a few notches.

Buenos noches.

A Stupid Video for a Cool 80s Song

Recently, I got a nice bootleg of The Tubes at The Palladium in New York City from 1981. I was perusing it on the way into the salt mines this morning and found it to be a pretty enjoyable listen.

These guys were big in the San Francisco area in the 1980s, but their only quasi-hits were this song, Talk to Ya Later and the strip club staple, She's a Beauty.

Their keyboardist, of course, went on to bigger and better things afterwards.

Not finding a good live version of it from the 80s (there was a 2003 reunion version, but...blech), I grabbed the MTV video.

Enjoy the cheesieness!

They Do It Because it Works

No one really thinks that presidential hopefuls really like trumping through the snow in New Hampshire in January or chomping down cheap beef at Tom Harkin's annual steak fry the prior summer in Iowa.

(The steak fry is actually this weekend...hoping that CSPAN will be there taping as they were last year.)

They do it because their desire to win exceeds their distaste for these sorts of monkeyshines.

No newsflash here.

Likewise, I really don't think anyone with a shred of sense on the GOP side really thinks that democrats are categorically a bunch of pussies when it comes to national defense or are driven by a desire to take your guns and revert us to a socialist state. The Algonquin round table at the DNC, similarly does not really think that the Republicans want to keep black people down just for kicks or stick it to the workingman.

But they do these things because it's been proven to work, electorally. It's explains exactly why Obama had tepid-at-best response to folks branding Bubba as a racist during South Carolina. The cries worked to his advantage.

Believing this, I got a kick out of McCain's latest crybaby video aimed at Barry's lipstick gaffe.

(I'm also reminded of Michael Kinsley's definition of a gaffe in politics...accidentally telling the truth.)

And Now, Barack Obama, Starring as Michael Douglas, Starring as President Andrew Shepard

Is Barry ready for a meltdown or is it, as 'chode' wonders, all calculated?

Today, he chided the press for making hay of his pig remark as follows.

"These are serious times and they call for a serious debate...spare me all the phony outrage. Spare me all the phony talk about change."

Barack Obama 9-10-2008

"We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it."

Michael Douglas in The American President

I know he's not the first politician to ever use "serious" more than once in a sentence, but it still jumped out at me.

For the record, if it's a rainy afternoon, I'm just about guaranteed to stop and watch The American President if I see it on. While I can do without all the liberal sermonizing, it's an entertaining flick, in my opinion.

Will Peter Ciresi, the Christ Figure, Rise in Three Days?

Looks like that's what's needed as Al Franken won the Dem Senate nod in the Land of 10K Lakes last night.

A Dog's Got Personality. And Personality Goes a Long Way.

Barack comes through with the line of the day, off-handedly calling Governor Palin a pig with lipstick...and don't even tell me this was unintentional. Actually, now that I read this again, I don't know which metaphor was more vulgar...

clipped from www.politico.com September 09, 2008 Categories: Barack Obama Obama: 'Lipstick on a pig' Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra. "You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig." "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink." "We've had enough of the same old thing." The crowd apparently took the "lipstick" line as a reference to Palin, who described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull in a single word: "lipstick." Amie Parnes reports from Lebanon, VA:

Whack Fol the Daddy O

It's been a little while since I've posted some good tunes, so now is as good a time as any.

This is from the Grateful Dead's commercially-released box set, So Many Roads.

It's a compilation of live and other cool cuts from their full history, 1965-1995. It's got one of the prettiest Scarlet Begonias I've ever heard. The guitar solo in the middle, one of my favorite solos of their catalog, makes the hair on my neck stand up.

This cut is of the boys in the studio where Jerry starts picking at Whiskey in the Jar. Jerry's probably fibbing about just remembering it at that moment for the first time in 30 years, but who knows. Either way, we get to witness the wonderful powers of induction possessed by Robert Weir when he pounces all over its Irish origins.

Way to go, brainiac.

Either way, this is some really cool stuff and I love hearing them horse around in the studio. Would be great to get more of this goodness from the vault!

Science in the Classroom

So as I understand it, Governor Palin believes in some form of creationism and is open to creationism being taught in schools, in a science class, next to evolution as an alternative intperpretation.

If we're gong to do this, in a reproduction class, should we teach about the virgin birth of Christ as an alternate way a woman can become with child? If it's in the Bible, and we see the Bible as containing a legitimate interpretation of fact, it probably should.

Likewise, when one dies, we teach in some biology classes about rigor mortis and all the stages the body goes thru. Should we list as an exception to this, what happened to JC when he died? The justification would be the same as above.

To be clear, i have no problem at all and am not questioning or commenting on things taken as articles of faith. My issue is with people who take that article of faith and think that it should fit into a science class as alternate, on-par, plausible interpretation for all of us.

I don't care that much what Governor Palin or others believe in their hearts as articles of faith. I won't mock it or agree with it. I'm also not too concerned about what little kids are going to learn in science class (at least as far as my Presidential candidates are concerned) but I am interested in someone being elected who cannot compartmentalize what is science and what is faith, and allows them to spill into each other.

If You Are Really Uptight...

...Don't hit this link.

Bless Us, Oh Lord, And These, Thy Gifts...

clipped from thepage.time.com TABLE FOR TWO SOURCE: BARACK OBAMA AND BILL CLINTON TO FINALLY HAVE A MEAL TOGETHER. PAIR EXPECTED TO BREAK BREAD IN GOTHAM CITY ON THURSDAY. FORMER PRESIDENT KNEW OBAMA WAS PLANNING TO BE IN NEW YORK FOR 9/11-RELATED EVENTS AND MADE THE INVITE….FOLLOWING UP ON PREVIOUS PLANS TO GET TOGETHER. Developing… all night [week!] long clipped from thepage.time.com

Obama Jujitsu

Barry was on This Week this morning and I think we might have to give him the play of the week award.

George the Greek was pressing him on some of the jabs he absorbed at the GOP convention this week, including the continuing rhetorical questions about what exactly a community organizer is and does.

Paraphrasing, Obama said that for all McCain's talk about country first, serving a cause greater than oneself and encouraging people and companies to serve their communities in creative ways, his turning Obama's work into a punchline really stinks.

Nice move.

Just in Case You Forgot

Coming up on 7 years ago, some bad people did some very bad things in America.

The Republicans think, I guess, that you might have forgotten. So they made up a video of what happened to show to their delegates and the nation during the convention.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know Olbermann went nuts over it, and, as usual, he was a little bit too melodramatic, but we agree that it was really kind of creepy how they threw this in there.

I know what the cynical me thinks that I'm supposed to take away from their decision to show this video...

Daily Kos Logic

Come on in, folks, and get your dose of crazy. Now the lefties want to associate themselves with Christ!

clipped from www.dailykos.com Response by kos Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 02:15:35 PM PDT So apparently Republicans hate community organizers. A reader sends me a pithy response: Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.

You Just Got Rick-Rolled by The Junior Senator from Illinois!

More Funny Political Pictures

I can't get enough of these.

Do What Works

Halperin's take on how the GOP can beat Barry...the same way they beat John and Mike...

Temporary Suspension of the Rules on the Palin Kids

This was adorable.

A Convention Moment

One Thing We Can Agree on About Candidate Palin

While I run the risk of being corrected by certain Minnesotans whose ears are better-attuned to such things, Sarah Palin does have the cutest sort of upper-Midwest accent, doesn't she?

Children as Props

I posted something about this the other day, but here's an AP opinion piece on candidates using their children as campaign props...and how families are cool as long as the pol is the one driving the message.

Remember that you can't put toothpaste back in the tube.

What Are You Doing Here?

I was scrolling through the Reuters photo feed from the Twin Cities today and saw this one of the Princess on stage, preparing for something probably having to do with her Angelina Jolie alter ego. What caught my eye was the guy standing behind her...none other than Mark McKinnon.

It was odd because he's (allegedly) a Democrat, but worked for Shrub and then had been on Team McCain, up until this spring when he had to leave. At some point, he'd said that he refused to work against the election of Barack Obama, so once The One won, he left the campaign.

Well, according to this article I dug up, he's making a friendly break with his decision to just come back and give Cindy a little nudge this week in St. Paul.

Great Moments in Convention History

One of these days, I am going to challenge a certain co-worker to a duel, just like Zell Miller did to Motormouth Matthews in 2004...

Election Hokey Pokey

I'm still leaving myself a little bit of wiggle room when it comes to the choice of Governor Palin.

I'm holding out a little bit of hope that HuffingtonPost (and Cody) are wrong...that the pick was not one of an imbecile or a completely patronizing pol.

And, while I realize that my little corner of the internets does not even register as being important, I've tried to hold to my personal editorial decision not to go into the family issues that have come to light on the GOP side, but rules are made to be broken.

Part of the justification for the Governor's being on the ticket is her personal story, including the family she's raised. While I find it appalling that the family situation made it into the press, and, from the bottom of my heart, feel that this is none of my damned business, it's hard for me to take seriously the "leave family out of it!" retort we're hearing from Camp McCain now.

If you are ready to trot out your family as one of the big virtues you bring to the campaign then, unfortunately, you've made them eligible for at least some degree of scrutiny. I don't in any way justify or apologize for the story coming out, but the Palin folks have shown a great degree of comfortableness with using their children as props in the last few days.

Again, I go back to the Clintons and the admirable way they kept Chelsea out of his presidential activities.

Selah.

Separate But Equal?

Winnetka, Illinios, the swanky north shore suburb of Chicago, and home to the top-tier New Trier school system had some visitors from down yonder.

Rev. James Meeks, from the city of Chicago, bussed a whole bunch of kids up there to symbolically try and register for classes in the vastly-better-funded school district.

Everyone knows that schools' funding can very dramatically by local property taxes, but I find myself sympathetic to both sides. If I'm someone who's busted my ass to make sure I can afford to live in an area like Winnetka, so my kids can get the quality education that comes with it, I don't want my taxes dilluted more and going to be spent elsewhere.

On the other hand, if I'm someone living in Chicago, perhaps working a few gigs just to make ends meet, does it seem like my kids are getting a fair shake from the Chicago Public School system? Wouldn't I be a bit resentful that the 'public' education my kids are getting is not even in the same universe as the ones being doled out 30 miles north?

As noted, the protest was largely symbollic. Enrolling in a school outside one's distric requires de facto tuition payments and there's also a plausible argument that the parents' beef should be not with the north shore, but with their own communities and the Chicago Public Schools.

It's not easy for me to make a clear "this group is right and the other is wrong" stance on this one, but I have to hand it to the Rev. for making it a big story in Chicago today and to get people who are smarter than me talking about it more openly...sometimes an in-your-face approach works.

We're On a Mission from God

I'm in a class today and tomorrow, so little time for this, but HuffPo continues with the goodies on Palin...

HuffPo Really Has it Out for Governor Palin

I'm still trying to figure out what really was going thru McCain's mind when he picked the hottest governor from the coldest state.

In the meantime, I do know that Huffington Post is having the time of its young life poking fun at her any way it can.

Now, they're dragging out funny t-shirts she wore in college as evidence of.....?

Swifter Commercials

In addition to being a fan of these things for a quick sweep over linoleum kitchen floors, this commercial just tickles me.