With These Words, Paul Krugman Won My Admiration

As some know, one of my biggest pet peeves is the refusal of most people to acknowledge that "data" is the plural of "datum." (Hey, we all have our little quirks.)

So it's technically incorrect to refer to "this data."

Since the sin has been committed often enough, it's loosely-acceptable to practice incorrect English, but thank God the New York Times is kickin' it old school.

From his editorial on the economy today...

So these data are basically telling us what happened before
confidence collapsed after the fall of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, not to mention before the Dow plunged below 10,000.

"What Are You, A Bunch of Jesus Freaks?"

I just wanted a good, cheap way to pull out one of Ted Turner's golden oldies as a subject line.

But seriously, here's the ad of the week, brought to you by your friends at the NRSC...remember cute little Liddy Dole? Our little gal is all growed up and plays hardball in North Carolina. She's behind in the polls, so had to go all Jesus-in-the-temple-with-the-moneychangers on her opponent.

Personally, I find it a little bit annoying when anyone, pro-, anti- or ambivalent when it comes to the Lord decides to talk about their own religious beliefs in support of their candidacy. Keep it between you and your God; I'm happy for you.

But making implications about someone else's religious beliefs really puts you on the Musings Shit List.

It's Bizarro Election Season!

Remember the Seinfeld episode where everything turned backwards, ala Bizarro Superman on them? Elaine got the really responsible friends who read ("Books, Jerry...Books!") and the whole bit?

That's what's happening now.

This year, all of a sudden, Obammies are the ones effectively equating political donations with protected speech and playing fast and loose with scrutinizing their donors while the GOP had a Come to Jesus Moment and all of a sudden find this and voter registration shenanigans to be highly offensible.

Who woulda thought...

Comrade Palin

I continue to be amazed at how otherwise-smart friends of mine will insist that, unlike McCain and Palin, Barry is a "socialist," implying that their ticket is not.

I won't carry on about how they're all for some form of a progre$$ive tax, but why no one pushes back hard on Sarah about her demonstrated record of socialism in Alaska is completely beyond me.

Sure, there's the rap about how the press is very pro-Obama, and I have to admit that the coverage does appear to lean his way, too, but if the press completely had it out for the McCain ticket as is claimed, why aren't they pouncing on how she redistributed the wealth from the oil companies in her state like this?

Why I'm Voting for Barack Hussein Obama

I've never voted Democratic in a real, major election in my life. The first time I was eligible to vote was the 1992 Republican Primary and I cast it for Patrick J. Buchanan. My high school class elected me Most Conservative...whatever the hell that means. I briefly volunteered for the McCain campaign in 2000 in Minnesota...at a time when his campaign was already over after the dirty Bush tricks in South Carolina that year. John Kerry annoys the hell out of me and I voted to re-elect Shrub in 2004. I'm no activist, but my voting has been roughly predictable during my adult life.

Despite some misgivings, which I'll try to put on the tubes below, my plan at the moment is to vote for Barack Obama. Routine events between now and next Tuesday probably won't change this, but I reserve the right to change my mind if some bombshell, literally or figuratively, happens to pop up.

Both sides of this campaign committed sins. McCain's people, both direct and surrogate, have fanned ugly flames. They've come just short of calling Obama a terrorist and implied that he's un-American. These claims are demonstrably false and over the line when it comes to claims I've seen in my lifetime. Obama, suggestions of fringe websites notwithstanding, is not wearing sandals and carrying a glow over his head. He's benefitted from John Lewis' accustions of Wallace-like campaigning and ran Spanish-language ads chocked full of lies.

These are par for the course and pretty predictable given the novel demographics of this election. While I think McCain's sins were worse, I'll call this a draw.

One of the big criticisms I hear from friends and Sean Hannity is that Obama is a Socialist who will have to raise taxes in sphincter-stretching ways to pay for all his ambitious social programs. With the liklihood of November producing a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate, I see where they're coming from with the fear of taxes, but the claims of "Socialist" are utterly ridiculous, coming from supporters of a guy who also favors a progressive tax structure.

However, we should have learned by now that the legislative promises of candidates rarely go the way they plan. No one knows what's going to happen in the coming weeks, let alone years, that could change this. Framing Clinton as being far too interventionist, Shrub ran on a "humble foreign policy" plank in 2000, but produced nothing of the sort. Situations on the ground dictated a reassessment of this position. So while Obama is a little bit too meddlesome in his orientation towards domestic social engineering for my ideal tastes, I also don't consider his current plans as a done deal, pal.

So what am I left with to judge these clowns on? It's my impression that Obama is more of a thinker than McCain. Some of the weight I'm putting in this assessment is a natural emotional reaction...when you move on in relationships, jobs or other things, you often want to overcompensate for previous deficiencies. I have no evidence that Bush posesses any more intellectual curiosity than a jellyfish, so Obama's insistence on speaking in full sentences and appreciation for the fact that the world is a complex place is...mighty refreshing to me.

I'm not arguing that McCain is a dolt, but he sometimes has a knee-jerky response to issues that's good for soundbites on the news (kudos to him) but also make me wonder what's going on upstairs and if he really thinks that everyone falls into either the good or evil camps. Surely both have members, but is there a middle ground where others reside? I'm pretty sure Obama thinks so, but I'm not so sure about the other guy. His worldview and approach to understanding that world is what attracts me to his candidacy.

Obama's been criticized as naive when it comes to how he'll deal with foreign and domestic policy. "He's too wet behind the ears," they say. While I'll guarantee mistakes during his first months in office, I don't believe he's anything but a shrewd politician. He somehow managed to bring down the mighty Clinton machine and deftly navigated the last few years without being pinned to many serious policy position flaws. This is a guy willing to make the correct sacrifices to achieve his ends. If our interests are his, which I believe they are, these are good habits for someone in charge. I don't need someone who's always got his heart on his sleeve when he's dealing with some of the bozos in the world.

I'm intentionally not addressing some of the more scurilous charges and implications from his dealing with Ayers and Wright. They merit no more than these two sentences.

It looks as if the Democrats could win the Presidency and enough of the Congress to leave no doubt who's to credit and blame for what goes on in Washington. I'm fed up enough with the Republican party to switch the course I've traveled for my entire voting life and it's not a choice I've made lightly...I'll be watching closely to see how my investment pays off.

Republican Party, you chased me and my reliable vote away. Your insistence on pandering to the lowest common denominator lately just worries and disgusts me. Appeal to my brain, not only the base animal instincts you've been going after lately. I hope that some time in the wilderness helps you learn the error of your ways, reinvent yourself and come back and deserve my vote again.

One Thing I Will Miss When the Dems Get Their Majority...

...is seeing Ted Stevens wearing his Incredible Hulk tie when he has a big battle in front of him.

Don't make him angry. You won't like him when he's angry.

OK, So Let Me Get This Right

The new chant now is, "Use your brain, vote McCain."

That's catchy.

The thought is that if you were smart, you'd look at the kind of spending McCain advocates and that which Barry is behind.

This seems to make sense.

The real rallying point is how Barry wants to stick it to a few people on the top of the food chain and "redistribute" their wealth.

Ignoring the hard fact that taxes are basically redistribution devices in and of themselves, I can see why you would be against this if you were either very rich, had a heightened sense of economic morality or both.

Barack the sissy was against the Iraq war from the beginning. Now, he was not holding elected office at the time, but there's at least a clear public record of his stance.

Rambo, on the other hand, was all for it.

To date, this war has cost us about $600B and is not exactly slowing down anytime soon.

Please don't tell me about fiscal responsibility unless you were against this war to begin with or can demostrate to me how remaining there is in some way cost-effective.

It's really trashy to pretend that you give a shit about spending, John. You remind me of someone who has an overflowing toilet that's left feet of sewage flooding the house, but instead of taking care of that problem, you insist on dusting the earmarks off the window sills to prove your cleanliness.

The Term We'll All Be Sick of One Week From Today...If Not Already

Closing Argument

Best Lead Sentence in a News Article Today

Illinois political insiders say Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who defended Barack Obama after his father famously threatened to castrate him, is the favorite to replace the Democratic nominee in the Senate.

Really Cool Media Blog

Nielsen Wire is something I kind of stumbled across this morning when I saw some within-state comparisons of ad spending by the presidential candidates. But I browsed around and found a lot of other cool stuff.

Wonder if some of this was pulled from db4500...

LOL

The First Sarah Palin Movie

The Daily Beast, quickly becoming a go-to, all around information site for me, has clips up of the new Larry Flynt masterpiece...Who’s Nailin’ Paylin?

I'm Starting to Understand...

Why people of a certain age just start to get turned off to politics.

While I still get a kick out of it, this cycle, more than any other, has just made me so much more cynical than I've ever been before.

El Rushbo chimed in on the Powell endorsement.

Rush, why don't you just stop dancing around your true desires, come on down and call the guy a ni**er? It would be a much more honest way of expressing yourself.

Oh God, I Wish I Had the Video to Post for You

I slept uncharacteristically late this morning and just got up. As I flipped on the news nets, Colin Powell was out there explaining why he's endorsing Barry.

Well, the pluckers on Fox are just beside themselves right now. This is downright funny watching their Fox and Friends Weekend show. They're now just winding up on Powell, pulling out everything negative they can about him...including speculation that he's merely bitter about not having been picked as McCain's veep.

I'm usually one to just giggle at these assholes and find their sensationalism more annoying than any apparent ideological bias, but this one was just over the top. I'm sure Arianna and some of the other left wing kooks will have video up as the day progresses.

Cool Campaign 2008 Slideshow

This is from GQ...I thought it was pretty neat.

A Sentence You Don't Want Yourself to Be Referred In

It's been a rough year for poor, soon-to-be-former Staten Island Congressman, Vito Fossella (R).

He was pulled over for DUI in VA last spring, but that's when his troubles really started. Asked by the cops where he was going, he said he was on his way to visit his sick daughter, nearby.

Problem...as far as everyone else knew, his family was up in New York.

Oops.

Vito was keeping a little snack in the cupboard.

His trial was yesterday.

Neither Mr. Fossella’s wife, Mary Pat Fossella, nor his mistress, Laura Fay, were in the courtroom.

The Likely Voter

Big news was made today over the Gallup poll showing a statistical dead heat.

I started to bicker with friend and co-worker MC about this...and now I'm hearing that I'm not alone. These "likely voter" algorithms are not universally-accepted.

Kiss My Royal Irish Ass

I had almost forgotten about this speech by the fireman at the Concert for New York, but someone made vague reference to it on the Stern show the other day, so I had to find it for you.

Should pick up on the posting shortly.

Be good...

Sorry for the Slow Posting Lately

I've just been busy and preoccupied with other things...but plan on blocking out enough time to watch or listen to the debate tonight on Lawn Guyland before falling asleep.

I will say that I'm pretty close to committing to a candidate. I won't let the deal be sealed tonight, based on debate performance, I think, but...I'm getting there.

A couple of guys named Chris have articulated it better than I can.

Rep. John "Double Down" Lewis

I'm not going to condone, apologize for or justify the innuendo games McPalin have been playing lately when it comes to 'raising questions' about Barack Obama's past and his fitness for office.

It's a typical tactic played because it works. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But shame is being cast, at this very moment, from Cleveland down to the Peach State...home of Representative John Lewis (D).

Yesterday, the Rep., who was a big student organizer during the 60s Civil Rights movement, is now playing some pretty ugly cards, not only comparing McPalin to George Wallace, but drawing allusions to firebombings in the South, such as the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing that killed the little girls.

Everyone plays dirty and, in the aggregate, I find McPalin's campaign lest tasteful than Obama's, but Lewis didn't need to go there. As McCain cheapens the service he gave this country by using it as a campaign trick, Lewis does the same to the Civil Rights movement. He should know better.

iPhinally Got a Cellphone...iPh That's What This Is

I had a cellphone about 10 years ago and found it provided me with more annoyance ("Why did you have your ringer off?") than convenience, so ditched it and spent a good part of this decade without one.

This came at a certain cost...not so much embarrassment, but just having to explain to people (who were shocked that someone who does what I do for a living had no phone) why I was self-selecting myself into this ever-shrinking minority community.

For readers out there who I don't know in person...I'm not Amish...just so you know.

Well, the technology has produced functionality that now allows me to justify the expenditure. I won't waste your precious time telling you what you already know...that the iPhone 3G can basically do everything except rub my feet, but if you are in the store and have the opportunity to play with one, I highly recommend you do so.

I am very impressed with its ease of use and just how damned cool it is! Apple continues to sink their hooks deep into my baby fat...

Celebutard News Item of the Week

Must See TV

So Barry seems like he just wants to rub it in Rambo's face...he's purchasing some big 30 minute blocks on the nets (and maybe cable) during the week before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November..

Told Ya So!

I don't have time today for a longer post, but one thing that has been annoying me lately (Jeez, do I sound like an Andy Rooney or what?) is how both candidates are carrying on about their prescient warnings of mortgage gloom....based on letters and speeches delivered a year or more ago.

I don't doubt the facts of what they're claiming, but it does strike me as a little bit disingenuous.

If I knew your house was starting to burn down, I wouldn't just leave you a voicemail and then come by the next day and say, "Sorry you slept through this...I tried to call you, but you must have been sleeping. I left you a voicemail."

No, if I knew your house was in that kind of danger, I'd be beating the hell out of your door to make sure you woke up and avoided disaster. To do anything otherwise, when one has kjnowledge of impending doom, would be the height of immorality

Funny Picture

Drudge Gets it Right

I'll have to post more later, but Drudge more or less nailed it...

I do have to say that I was thoroughly unimpressed with McCain, in a theatrical sense. The first debate, planned to be on international relations (although the economy did halfway hijack it), was supposed to be his pet issue. However, for all his harping, including his opening taunt about how it's "nice to see you in a town hall," the format is allegedly McCain's home turf, but he didn't come through.

He reminds one of a little kid who does the special trick all the time to the delight of his immediate family, but once guests are over and he's prodded to do it, we find the kid choking up because the act doesn't play as well with a crowd lacking preordained affection for the performer.

I really didn't see any relative mastery of the format out of McCain...he seemed pretty stiff to me. I suspect Governor MILFy would have done better performing on this stage.

How You Can Tell John McCain Didn't Go to Catholic School

One thing I noticed last night, as the candidates rushed to their chairs to start scribbling their notes, was that John McCain appears to be left-handed.

I didn't care enough to research this much, but when I listened to the replay of Hardball as I woke up this morning, they were talking about it, too...apparently several of our last few Oval occupants have been cursed this way.

As Chris Matthews observed, we are now certain that McCain didn't go to Catholic school...where, back in the day, the habit would have been beaten out of him!

I wonder what ever happened to Sr. Theresa Claire? She sure didn't look like our friend on the left...

They Can't Do That to Our Brokers. Only We Can Do That to Our Brokers!

The Science section of the Times, this morning, has an interesting article on the evolutionary underpinnings of the desire to punish misbehavers.

The context, of course, is all the monkeyshines that have been going on on Wall Street and people's desire (need?) to find someone to punish for causing problems well-beyond those directly and knowingly involved.

Smart as we may be, though not as smart as we might think we are, the evolutionary psychology folks have some valuable observations about the need to punish. In the animal kingdom, as well as in tribes without formal systems of 'government,' there's a demonstrated and predictable trend for groups to punish people whose actions hurt the group as a whole.

Luckily, of course, there's also a demonstrated desire for cooperation and room for forgiveness.

The authors also cite a fair amount of game theory / experimental economics to support the rest of the article. It's a nice overview of the topic and well worth your 15 minutes if I do say so myself.

Tactics and Strategies

In the Oxford debate, Rambo accused Whitey of not understanding the difference between a strategy and a tactic...specifically when it came to The Surge in Iraq.

This morning, Peggy Noonan was on MTP and she better-articulated a point I tried to make the other day to some friends after the debate. I was annoyed with the Gov's folksy charm because I saw it more as a lack of depth rather than a way to accomplish some particular goal.

The former Reagan staffer said it better, arguing that McPalin seems to be using populism as its strategy rather than a tactic. This seems to be the point I was grasping for, but missed.

While I still have plenty of problems with the fluff provided by the other guys, 'I'm for the Joe Six-Packs of the country' can only be tolerated in limited doses and as part of a larger argument behind the merits of your candidacy.

Again, this might all be hidden, but for now, I ain't seein' it...

Wait 'til Next Year

Luckily, I have been caught up in other pursuits and diversions, so didn't have all that much emotional investment in this year's Cubs lineup...and now I'm glad it turned out that way.

I woke up in the middle of the night for a glass of orange juice and flipped on the audio of our loss to the Dodgers...it was heading into the top of the 9th and all but over, so I also did not regret staying up for a game that did not even start until after 10PM ET...that's ridiculous.

I think I posted Steve Goodman's A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request after our playoff loss last season, too, but so what...Goodman was a national treasure and this song, a classic.

Only a few months 'til Hohokam Stadium opens up again for spring business...

Pinhead or Patriot?

Sorry For All the Mini-Posts Today

I know you come here for long-winded dissertations on the news of the day, and my inability to come through for you really bums me out, but I'm feeling a bit scatterbrained...yet still have a few goodies.

So, apology aside, things are looking up for DemocraticComedianNewYorker Al Franken, who's running for US Senate seat of FormerDemocraticComedianNewYorker Norm Coleman's in the Land of 10,000 Lakes...the latest Star Trib poll has his lead in the teens now!

They Stole My Idea!

CanICallYouJoe.Com

All funny Sarah Palin videos

Nice!

I Have to Post My Favorite Cubs T-Shirt Item Now...Before I Lose Any Chicago Bragging Rights Later Tonight

Game 3 vs the Dodgers tonight around 10PM ET.

Memories of Happier Days

We all have them...some more than others...

A Little College Humor Funny on The Gov'nor

I'm anxious to see if we will observe the same over-nerved Governor Palin tonight from the last few weeks or if there's that pit-bull of a maverick.

In the meantime...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

How About Some Good Old Jerry Garcia To Ease Your Soul?

This morning, I had in a fantastic (and somewhat rare) soundboard recording of the Jerry Garcia Band at Keystone in Palo Alto, California on 11-12-1983.

Jerry's sound dudes, unlike those for the Dead, must have been a little bit less generous with the plugs into the board. While soundboard recordings of his band are still plentiful, there's nowhere near the proportion that exist for his shows with the boys...most are audience tapes.

Anyway, this one, Rhapsody in Red, had me bopping along on the way into the salt mines this morning. Hopefully it will have a similar effect on you!

Matt Damon Just Called Me

Oooooh, my heart is a-flutter!

That dreamy dude just called me to ask me to vote for Barack Obama.

Well, I was going to post on this anyway...his pudwhacker supporters defaced a good portion of beautiful Cleveland Heights today. On the way home, I saw stickers, illegally posted all over the place, including the bus stand at Mayfield and Coventry.

Go Cubs!

Well, I think it's time for me to start tuning in. I'm the most casual of fans, but it was nice to walk in the door this evening, tune into TBS as a change from the newsnets and get ready for the big game against the Dodgers from Wrigley!

Frequent reader R, chair of the Milwaukee bureau, is at the game, so we're expecting updates...