OJ's 8th Birthday Party

Thanks, Ryno.

No Matter What Your Overall Opinion on Barack Is

...it's hard to argue that his much-ballyhooed speech against the war in 2002 is not a sensible one, both in terms of his read of the past and his guess on what would happen in the future.

I'd heard so much talk about it from both sides and then realized that I'd never actually read the damned thing, so I found a text of it.

It's actually quite short, so give it a read if you have a moment.

Bubba, That Lying SOB

Doing some housecleaning here and I can't tell if the Pine-Sol or the blabbering jackass on TV is making it harder to breathe.

On C-SPAN, he just spent 15 minutes, down in College Station, TX, railing against No Child Left Behind.

He was pointing out all the problems with it and making it sound like the most worthless piece of legislation ever.

The problem is, of course, that Hillary voted for it!

Part of her standard rap on this is that it was enforced in a way inconsistent with the way the bill was written.

We have two choices here...either she did not anticipate the downsides of the bill or she voted for a bill that did not have adequate enforcement mechanisms built in.

Irresponsible to vote for it and worse to lie about it later.

Hmmmmmmmmmph.

Obama's New Funny Line

I love watching how pols, like comedians, work new lines into their act.

Jerry Seinfeld's Comedian is a great process movie and what he describes there probably bears many similarities to the way a master like Barack works things in to his stump speech.

It also reminds me of the way you fold eggs into a cake batter. You don't dump them in all at once, but rather one at a time, incorporating into the good mixture that's already there.

Well, dumb observations aside, Barry had a town hall meeting last night in suburban Parma Heights.

During an answer to a question about how he'd get us all health care, he talked about how he'd get everyone in the same room, around a big table, all with leather chairs, but his being the biggest (in a soft, deadpan, baritone voice): "...because I am the President."

Maybe you'll have to see it yourself sometime, but the guy really has amazing comedic timing for delivering lines like these.

More Annoyance with the Plain Dealer

I may as well go spend my Sunday watching Paulie Shore movies given this streak of masochism I'm showing by continuing to go back to the Cleveland Plain Dealer site.

But it is just another stark example of what's wrong with this area...that they find it tolerable to put up crap in the place of something we'd all hope would be the premier source of local information.

Just looking at the their page, above the scroll, this morning, you can see how little information they really provide to you once you come in the door.

Without even docking points for how arguably-useless some of the information is, compare the PD's 6 directly-linked stories you can see right away to the Chicago Tribune, which has about 17, plus much easier gateways to the rest of the site using the same amount of space.

The Reaction is Funnier Than the Story

Every now and again, I like to cruise the "reader" comments below stories like these just to remind myself what kind of paranoia exists out there alongside really, really poor written communication skills.

I'm well aware that I ain't no prize, but some of these folks' writings reflect very disorganized thinking patterns if you ask me.

Where was I?

Oh yes, the Clinton strategery this Tuesday in the Lone Star State.

The Dallas Morning News got its lasso around the Clintonista Caucus Guide and, lo and behold, it suggests that her followers play rough and by the rules.

From the comments you can click into, though, you'd think she's suggesting some sort of Vince Foster action on Tuesday.

Yeehaw.

clipped from trailblazers.beloblog.com Tough Caucus Strategy 3:31 PM Sat, Mar 01, 2008 | Permalink Christy Hoppe E-mail News tips Hillary Clinton and her campaign is pushing for precinct captains for Texas' 8,000 Democratic polling places. They need to train folks to lead the caucus sessions that will determine more than 60 delegates after the primary voting is over. In training materials being handed out by the Clinton campaign, it is clear that they want to control those caucus sessions. The materials say in part, "DO NOT allow the supporter of another candidate to serve in leadership roles." It goes on to say, "If our supporters are outnumbered, ask the Temporary Chair if one of our supporters can serves as the Secretary, in the interest of fairness. "The control of the sign-in sheets and the announcement of the delegates allotted to each candidate are the critical functions of the Chair and Secretary. This is why it is so important that Hillary supporters hold these positions."

Looking Forward to Super Tuesday II

We might have to start pulling out some Dan (Rather)isms on Tuesday night when Ohio and Texas go to the polls. Courtesy of Pollster.com, the latest numeros show it to be pretty damned close!

Hillary is the purple line in both these time-series poll aggregations.

Texas
Ohio

Not Sure What to Make of This

Apparently, Jack Nicholson wants Hillary to become President, but this seems very tacky.

I don't know if it's just some creative editing of another commercial or what...

Amusing nonetheless.

More Wonderful Web Design from the Idiots at the Plain Dealer

I was looking for an article about the tragic shooting (and eventual death) of CPD Officer Derek Owens last night on the east side when I came across more quality work at the Plain Dealer.

Way to efficiently transfer information on a finite plot of real estate, there, guys.

Harold Ickes May Be Right

The man who's had a very schizo sort of on-again-off-again relationship with the spouses Clinton over the years is back in a very out-front role now.

Harold Ickes is doing some press relations for them as well as handling the Superdelegate counting.

"She is better than her campaign," he said of the former First Lady.

For all my whining about her (and, in fairness, the woman does drive me batty), I am starting to feel for her the way I did for Al Gore in 2000.

She's getting stuck under the rainclouds her dance produced.

It reminds me of when an otherwise-attractive person decides to wear something that really doesn't fit them well.

While it's still ultimately their own fault, it's a shame that the outfit does not accentuate what really is attractive about the person.

(Even if they are a real beeyatch anyway!)

The Breakfast of the Messiah

Editorial Cartoon of the Morning

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
E-mail Pat. Visit Pat's site.

Funny Fox Item

Someone running with the dastardly rumour that Brit would give up his election night thrown to BillO.

It ain't so...some things are still sacred.

clipped from bigheaddc.com Crain’s Reporter Has an Omelet Worth of Misinformation on His Face Today As one wag us, “Just the fact that the notion of O’Reilly anchoring election coverage even passed Flamm’s smell test is off the charts. This guy should run fleeing from the media beat immediately before he suffers any further embarrassment.” Friday February 29th, 2008 12:16 PM by BHDC Staff Filed under: Journalism, FOX News, Bill O'Reilly, Brit Hume, Matthew Flamm Looks like Crain’s New York Business reporter Matthew Flamm royally screwed up with a doozie of a “report” today, which indicated Bill O’Reilly might be “anchoring” FNC’s Ohio and Texas primary coverage Tuesday night. This guy doesn’t just have egg on his face – he has an entire omelet. As soon as we saw this story, alarm bells went off. Anyone who covers FOX knows that Brit Hume would never be dethroned from anchoring the network’s political coverage.

Eric Clapton Invited to Play in the DPRK

In glancing over Eric Clapton's Wiki entry, I found something that I missed in the newspapers...Slowhand has been invited by the Dear Leader to play in Pyongyang next year.

As you may be aware, the New York Philharmonic is over there now, but this would really be a great leap forward.

It's easy to read too much into things like this, but on the other hand it at least fails to be discouraging...which is more than we can say for the last 50 years over there on the peninsula.

Enjoy one of my favorite cuts from one of the best studio albums of all time...here's I Looked Away, from Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.

Before the Term Was Corrupted by Brokeback

The great Otis Rush sang I Can't Quit You, Baby...

Enjoy.

It's looking like a nasty weather day, so I might catch up some rants here later in the day. Just up for a moment to check on some work jobs then getting some more much-needed beauty sleep...

New Enemy of this Site

For whatever reason, I've started to pay a little more attention to Chicago lately.

Could it be nostalgia for the days having lived back there?

Could it be my regularly pulling down the podcast of the Steve Dahl Show?

Or could it be because the Governor of Illinois is a world class jerkoff and that invites commentary?

Now, the idiot who forces you to wonder if the most tasteless thing going on is on top of, or between the ears, is trying to cash in on a little bit of that Northern Illinois murder mojo.

He wants to spend $40M of state money to tear down the building in which the shooting took place to build a new one.

There were 435 murders in the city of Chicago alone last year.

Do we see him wanting to tear down buildings on the west side in order to ease the pain of the black folks out there?

Hell no.

Commenting on this story is pretty much an exercise in overstating the obvious, but Blago gets the award here for idiot of the week...a distinction I believe he'll win often.

The Other Famous Diablo in The News Now that Oscar Fever is Over

this photo is apparently not doctored...

Pie Chart Gone Bad

More Idiocy at CNN

This time, the dopes down in Atlanta have three people who appear to not know a damned thing about the Black Crowes, waxing on about their career.

Seriously, not remembering (or never having known them) is not a sin. But acting like you know something you don't just looks really bad.

My Brother's Keeper?

Been a busy few days here, so not much time or inclination for posting, but I couldn't resist writing something about Barack's moment or two in the hotseat last night.

I guess that Minister Louis Farrakhan offered and endorsement of fellow Chicagoan Barack Hussein Obama recently.

El Timbo asked what Barack thought of this and if he rejected the endorsement.

Barack himmed and hawed about it, offering a nuanced sort of answer before eventually capitulating when blondie piped in about how she rejected the support of a similarly-distasteful group in New York once.

Anyway, Byron York has a clever article this morning fit for the people who found Barack's careful sidestepping of a categorial denouncement of the Minister's support.

Imagine, he argues, that David Duke endorsed a Republican candidate and they offer a namby pamby, itemized list of grievances with Duke, rather than calling him a racist asshole.

Better yet, imagine if they had that kind of problem with a nut like James Dobson.

Oops.

Fun with GI Joe

Will Blago Take Away the Halo?

My gut feel is that this story won't have enough legs to significantly tarnish the Obama magic, but with another tip of the hat to STR in the Chicago office, we have this well-researched piece from the blue collar paper there, the Sun Times.

It can get a little confusing, which can at least slow down a story's mojo, but the gist of it is that the oft-mentioned Rezko (who also has a famous picture with the Clintons, showing the incestuous nature of it all!), among other things, was pushing and extorting people to donate money to the campaigns of Senator Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich (seen above, on the left).

From the information we have here, Obama seems to have done the right thing post-hoc in giving the money he knew came from dirty hands away to charities, but could this uncover some ugliness about how he climbed the ladder to the top of Mt. Olympus where he now resides comfortably?

Again, I don't know how much this story will differentiate him from other pols who did not enter politics as self-financed or otherwise financially pure, but it at least gives us a little more understanding about what happened as he came up in the ranks.

Well, I'm getting geared up for the big debate tonight...the snow is shoveled and I have a cannoli from Presti's waiting for desert...yum.

I Should Do This

I got on the email lists of the major campaigns (shoot, need to sign up to be a Nader Raider, now that I think of it) and I got this note from Chelsea.

Of course, it was the subject line, "One on One" that lured me in.

That treacherous siren!

I am tempted to do this and call my fellow Ohio voters and tell them what I think of Hillary.

An Unusual Two-Fer

Just felt wild and crazy, so thought I'd post up one more...

Here's some classic Sam & Dave...enjoy Soothe Me.

(And don't get too dizzy when the camera starts shooting back and forth on you!)

I Bet You'd Like a Little Willie Tonight

One of my favorites by the pride of Austin...

Enjoy Me and Paul...and be careful at that Milwaukee airport!

I Was Wrong

My god, the Clintons really must be the biggest group of scumbags I've seen in a long time...

From their campaign manager:

Enough.

If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.

This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry.

We will not be distracted.

A Prediction Not Requiring a Degree in Rocket Science To Make

The Hillary "Shame on You, Barack Obama" Clinton campaign will come out today saying that the picture being forwarded around of Barack Obama was not endorsed by the campaign and that they really, really regret it.

I'm Not Known as a Hillary Fan...

...But I loved this clip of her at a Rhode Island rally today.

The more I look at the Barack effect (and I could be wrong), the more I suspect that we might find a few chinks in the armor as time goes on and we may also start to find the self-absorbtion to be a bit much, even for a Presidential candidate.

Maybe these feelings/thoughts will fade, but in the meantime, enjoy a little bit of sarcastic Hillary.

For some reason, this is one of the few times I've watched her and muttered a silent, "right on!"




And shame on Breitbart for not making their videos easily embeddable. I had to pull this down and then upload it back up to Blogger!

The Beauty of Cover Songs Done Right

One thing I hate is when a band decides to cover song X and tries too hard to sound exactly like the band that originally recorded the song or made it well-known.

It seems like kind of a waste to me.

The Grateful Dead, over the course of their years, covered Bob Dylan's music extensively and, in my opinion, helped show what a genius Dylan was. They took his art and reinterpreted it so that you saw its beauty from angles you may have never known existed.

This She Belongs to Me is one of the prettiest versions I've heard. It's a soundboard recording from 1985-9-15 in Chula Vista, California...down by San Diego.

Today's Plain Dealer

The Plain Dealer really is an awful paper. It should be printed on more absorbent paper so that it could be put to more constructive uses.

But they're the biggest game in town for local news, so I have to throw up how they're charactarizing the big Ohio race we're in the middle of. Barack had events in Akron and Cleveland's Public Hall last night. Today he heads out to Toledo.

While I wouldn't bet the farm on it, if I had to make some sort of political prediction for the next few months, it's going to be some increased attention to how self-absorbed the spouses Obama are.

I don't have a hell of a lot of evidence to make the claim myself, but I'm just kind of getting that feeling in y stomach that this wave he's riding can't carry like this forever and the humility thing might just be his Achilles heel.

It Bein' Sunday and All, We're Going to Do a Tune of Spiritual Derivation

Here's a really nice-sounding cut of Down by the Riverside performed by Mahalia Jackson on the Dinah Shore Chevy Show.

Enjoy and have a great Sunday!

Just In Case You Were Thinking of Voting Hillary

Okay, so Barack put out a mailer that was essentially true. He might have played a little bit of literary jujitsu when it comes to who said "boon," but it was not exactly a lie.

It was basically a flip-flop allegation on NAFTA.

Well, after her little valedictory debate closer on Thursday in Austin, The Bitch is Back.

She's out in Cincinnatti today, scolding the naughty boy for not playing nice with her. In fact, she's even decided to use "shame on you" language.

That's just what we need to listen to for the next 4-8 years anytime someone slights her, right?

Just in case anyone was still wondering why she's having trouble with getting men to shake a certain impression they have of her, I thought I'd direct you to this so you can connect the dots yourself.

One More Monty Python Reference for the Week

Thanks, CF...

Gary Brookins, Richmond, Virginia -- The Richmond Times-Dispatch -- Visit the Times-Dispatch for archives of Gary's Editorial Cartoons.

This Looks Really Good

I've seen these horseradish mashed potato recipes before, but never tried. Grabbed some hr this morning at the market and I think I'll try some variation on this recipe today or tomorrow.

For all the preaching some people do about how Yukon Golds are the best for mashed, I dunno about that...I still don't mind a good mashed russet.

clipped from www.epicurious.com

Horseradish Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
Salt

Preparation

Prepare perfect mashed potatoes (but do not add milk). Whisk sour cream, chopped chives, and horseradish in medium bowl. Fold sour cream mixture into potatoes. Season with salt.

Servings: Makes 6 servings.

I Can Never Go Wrong With a Little Rolling Thunder-Era Dylan

Came across this clip of Shelter from the Storm. The posting doesn't specify date, but this must be around 1976.

I was checking out some of the Tavis Smiley affair mentioned here earlier and will try to find some video of Dick Gregory's moving and hilarious riff later on. You'll love it.