February 29, 2008

Uh-Oh

Angelina Jolie has taken to the pages of the Washington Post arguing for staying in Iraq in order to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Which means I have to argue against Angelina Jolie for withdrawal from Iraq.

Darn.

The problem with the humanitarian argument is that the killings and massive displacement of refugees within Iraq came even with the presence of US troops. Our troops did not preventing the refugee crisis. They are watched it. In fact, US policy is actually strengthening the Sunni insurgents and Shia militias behind the killings. The reason why US troop casualties are down is that the US now leaves alone, and even bribes the killers. We are trying to bring the Sunni insurgents into the government. The Shia death squads are already in the Iraqi government. The overall situation is not going to get better. The best we can do is what we have now - just sit and pray that things don't get worse.

Hey, if we want to start sending more aid to help Iraq refugees, I'm fine with that. But keeping US troops in Iraq forever to try and ward off humanitarian disaster in vain will just destroy any future support for humanitarian intervention in this Country.

February 28, 2008

My Mind, Getting Lost

One of the many things I hate about the current regime is that day to day, it resembles nothing more than a Hollywood dark conspiracy. A completely incompetent Hollywood dark conspiracy. On Sunday 60 Minutes ran a story revealing Karl Rove's involvement with the underhanded, politically motivated conviction of a now former Democratic governor of Alabama.

The CBS station covering northern Alabama went dark during that part of the broadcast. Not dark for night or dark for the whole show. They just didn't broadcast the individual 12 Minute segment. Due to "technical difficulties." And yes, the owners of the station are major GOP supporters.

What kind of half-ass grand conspiracy are these people running?

February 27, 2008

Father of our Troubles Now Gone

William F. Buckley Jr, the fantastically well-spoken founder of the modern Conservative movement is dead at 82. So basically all our currently problems are his fault.

But in the spirit of not speaking ill of the dead, here's Ezra Klein mourning the death of the public intellectual and LG&M pointing out that the old man was no longer down with the program.

I do have to mention my favorite Buckley story. From Wikipedia:

Buckley appeared in a series of televised debates with Gore Vidal during the 1968 Democratic Party convention. In their penultimate debate on August 28 of that year, the two disagreed over the actions of the Chicago police and the protesters at the ongoing Democratic Convention in Chicago. At one point Vidal called Buckley a “pro-crypto Nazi”, to which Buckley replied, “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I will sock you in your goddamn face, and you will stay plastered.

Alas, public debate has fallen far from the day of yore.

Lets Go to the Video Tape

This year's real life as West Wing, now in video form.

Sadly No Winner

Last night was the first Tuesday in a month that didn't have a primary election night. In fact, this week is the longest period of time without an election since the year started. I kind of miss it. Instead of a primary or Caucus we had a debate. Debates are harder to call than elections, what with the vote totals and all. A debate, especially between two well-matched and skilled candidates like what we have now, doesn't produce a clear winner, no matter what the instant-poll-focus group says.

While I am completely in the bag for Obama, I really have no desire to watch Clinton lose, especially when so many people will call it a humiliation, both for her and uppity women in particular.

So here's to Texas, Vermont, Rhode Island and Ohio. Next week may they vote Obama a noble victory and Clinton a hard-fought and non-humiliating defeat.

February 26, 2008

The Lost

Go read Seth Meyers lament on all the great candidate impressions that were lost to history because the writer's strike made SNL go dark the heart of primary season:

And poor Darrell Hammond. He had mastered his Fred Thompson impression. Making matters worse, ever since Thompson dropped out, Darrell keeps seeing him at commercial auditions. It's awkward.

Will Forte spent the strike refining his John Edwards impression only to see him drop out. Forte now claims the show should reimburse him for the $200 haircut he received to ''prepare for the role,'' although, knowing Forte, it was probably a $20 haircut, with the other $180 funding his comprehensive manscaping project.


They really do need to get to work on McCain. It's going to be a long campaign season without a good John McCain impression up.

Poll Dance

Obama now leads Clinton 54 percent to 38 percent nationally. Which actually doesn't matter that much because most of the Country has voted already. More important are states that have yet to vote. Obama now has a small lead in Texas.

February 25, 2008

Bitches Get Stuff Done



All hail Tina Fey.

Mmmmm Red Dress aka Oscarblogging



No Country for Old Men was the best movie I saw all of last year, so there is justice in the world. Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh from No Country haunts my dreams, so I'd say that's a deserved win. Most of the other nominees are languishing in my netflix's queue behind seasons of The Wire so its hard for me to pronounce most of the other winners as just or not. I do hereby pronounce Jon Stewart funny and Anne Hathaway hot, but you knew that already. Stewart get bonus karma points for getting the girl from Once back on stage after she got cut off after winning best song. Taxi to the Dark side needs the attention. The clips were a rather sorry affair this year. It was just a bunch of old Oscar ceremonies. We watch this show cause we love movies, so show us movies already.

February 24, 2008

GoddamittohellsonofabitchwhatinGodsname

Ralph Nader is running for President.

Again.

This is the most worthless action in the history of politics. Either he gets enough votes hurt the Democrat and cause a national calamity (2000) or he gets a humiliating small number of votes and that result is used to dismiss his agenda (2004)

Well played Ralph, well played.

February 23, 2008

Uncle Tyler's Blog Reccommendation: Stuff White People Like

As someone who can find a lot of humor in people of different races, I tend to forget how much there is to laugh about in my own partially inbred extended family: European Americans. More commonly known as "white people" or singularly, "white person"/"European American."

This blog, Stuff White People Like, is f***ing hilarious. It's mainly intended, in my opinion, as a thumb in the eye of middle class and upper middle class liberal white people. But the observations are just brilliant. The detail this guy goes into describing what white people like, why they like it and the motivations behind their behavior will leave you laughing your ass off!
And it's drawing close to 3,000,000 hits! Did I mention this blog started in January---of this year!!?!?

There are too many to choose from, but one of my favorites is "The Sunday New York Times." I couldn't make half way through before I had to stop because I couldn't read the text anymore---my eyes were squinting too hard from all the laughing.

Two other good ones are "Expensive Sandwiches" and "Irony."

What would be a fun exercise is to peruse all the postings and see what person you know is the "whitest." You could give "whiteness" points out to whomever was described best by any particular post, then add them up and the one with the most points wins! From reading the posts, I have compiled the top three "whitest" people I know, (I know some others that may challenge these three, but these are the top three that I know AND everyone else who reads this blog knows):

1. Vanessa
tie for 2nd:
2. Chris
2. Claire


Assuming this blog keeps going, the game will never end! And you can have even more fun by rating how "white" all your non white friends are!

You can also email the writer of this blog with suggestions on what to post! It's not clear who this guy is or what his race is, but its possible he's an Asian male.

So have a good time by reading about how much of snobby, liberal, self deluded, self righteous, hypocritical---white person you are!

Seriously though....go through and check out all the posts of this blog, there's only 2 months worth. Believe me, it'll make you laugh....and think!

February 21, 2008

Near Abroad

Obama has won the Democrats Abroad primary. Yes, in the Democratic Party, ex-pats form their own voting block. And yes Democrats living in Ireland voted in a pub. It’s in the organizational bylaws.

11 wins.

Scooooreboard!

The McCain Files

The story of the day is this from the NY Times, which details how John McCain was metaphorically in bed with a lobbyist and does its best to imply that he was literally in bed with this lobbyist. Sleeping with a lobbyist may be the most irresistible metaphor since the Titanic hit that iceberg, but the article seems a little thin. Basically, McCain aids were very concerned that this relationship might be a relationship.

Now, according to rules established during the Clinton impeachment, as a good liberal, I must now point out that who McCain does or does not bonk has no bearing on his ability to serve as President of these United States.

Of course, that very same Clinton impeachment established the conservative position on the matter. Boinking outside the bounds of holy matrimony is grounds for impeachment. Clearly even the possibility disqualifies McCain from office. I eagerly await conservatives to once again put this principle into action.

February 20, 2008

Oooooooo

I want pictures. I want video.

If we just spent a billion dollars on this just to prove we could, I want my money's worth.

Show me the show.

1st Time as Fiction...

I don't mean to alarm anyone, but there are rather striking parallels between the current, real, election cycle and the fictional race for the Presidency that ended the run of the West Wing. Jamal Simmons lays out a rather alarming case.

I am alarmed. While the Democrat did win the West Wing race, the Vice Presidential nominee died on election day.

(Via)

Scooooreboard! Scoooorreboard!

Do you know this chant? I use to hear it a lot in high school sports. What happened was, if your team was ahead but the opposing team did something great, something that got the opposing fans excited, your fans would chant "Scooooreboard! Scoooorreboard!" as in, we are still winning, so ha!

This is the spot that Obama is in right now. Two more wins last night in Wisconsin and Hawaii make it 10 States in a row. Clinton hasn't won anything sense Feb 5 and the next contest are not until March 4. Obama is ahead in delegates, the popular vote, and total number of states won. Hillary is in last stand mode, she needs very big wins in Ohio and Texas to make up these margins. This means lots of silliness over the next two weeks. And Obama is going to lose some of these exchanges. But Obama's people need to keep this chant in mind -

Scooooreboard! Scoooorreboard!

February 19, 2008

Island Wars

Hawaii is kind of in a different world compared to the rest of the Country, but they get a vote just like the rest of us.

This campaign is fought by proxy with Chelsea Clinton and Obama's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng doing their thing. Obama was born in Hawaii and his sister still lives there.

The vote is today.

Follow the link for poor Chelsea under way too many leis.

End of an Era

Fidel Castro just stepped down as President of Cuba. Health issues. But don't hold your breath for Democratic Revolution just yet, he's handing over power to his brother Raul. How does transferring power from an 81 year old to a 76 year old move anything forward, I wonder.

In other fading dictatorship news, Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf political party just took a bath in parliamentary elections. He should have stuck with the dictatoring. If he could win elections, he wouldn't have needed to gain power in a coup in the first place.

February 18, 2008

The Best Endorcement

Is Ben & Jerry cause when they sign on, they bring ice cream.

And yes, this does mean that Obama has his own flavor of ice cream. This is getting to be a bit much even for me.

Entertainment Report

I found Jumper to be sadly disappointing. Up until this point I've loved everything Doug Liman has done as a director. But the man is losing his indy edge. Hayden Christensen is just dead weight in the center of this movie. He's not a hero, he's not a likable rogue, and he’s not a desperate everyman. He's just an amoral blank. And amoral blanks don't fill up very compelling movies.

Also in the bad category was the new version of Knight Rider. The trend these days is to bring back old shows and make them darker and edgier and better (Case in point.) The new Knight Rider is not darker, not edgier, and no good at all.

I know I’m coming late to this party but if you must have a positive review of something, I have fallen in love with The Wire. Very damn good.

What do you all find out there that’s good? Bad?

February 16, 2008

February 15, 2008

Oooooo, Fireworks

The Navy is going to try and shoot down an out-of-control spy satellite.

The reason is ether to keep its payload of hazardous rocket fuel from killing us all

or

Maybe there is a secret reason. A dark secret reason.

Ether way, very cool.

February 14, 2008

Committed

David Ignatius today outlines how Bush remains committed to Iraq and how thats going to kill the Republicans:

The last thing the Bush White House would want, you might think, would be to make the 2008 presidential election a referendum on the unpopular war in Iraq. The 2006 congressional elections were such a referendum, and the Republicans got hammered.

But President Bush, newly confident that his troop-surge strategy is working, is taking steps that are likely to guarantee another Iraq-driven election. He favors keeping a big U.S. force in Iraq through the November elections, probably close to the pre-surge level of 130,000. That large troop presence will draw Democratic fire -- and it will make the presidential contest all the more a test between a pro-war Republican nominee and an anti-war Democrat.


The fact that the war in Iraq hurts the GOP at the polls is not some theoretical idea. Its been tested rather extensively in the 2006 elections. Bush's response to that election has been to increase the number of troops in Iraq. What do you think is going to happen?

February 13, 2008

Secret Service Code Names

President Bush - Trailblazer
Laura Bush - Tempo
Hillary Clinton - Evergreen
Bill Clinton - Eagle
Dick Cheney - Angler
Barack Obama - Renegade

I'm wondering why Hillary isn't Trailblazer? Why should that code name go to the 42nd white dude in a row to hold the office?

And yes, even in code names, Barack is about two feet cooler than everyone else in the field.

Via Marc Ambinder

February 12, 2008

Hot Streak

You know, if Obama keeps winning primaries, he just might win the nomination.

Just saying.

My Perfect System

Today Virgina, Maryland and Washington DC all vote, in what is being called the "Beltway" or "Potomac" Primary, depending on your geographic feature of choice. This small regional primary is a pretty good example of what my preferred primary system would look like. Split up the country by region and media market. We then rotate the order the regions vote each cycle. The southwest gets to go first one year, the Pacific Coast the next, then New England and so on. Spread out the regional primary days by 2-3 weeks so each area get some time and attention.

I’m sure once we put this system into place, all our troubles will be over.

February 11, 2008

Like Hope, Only Different

John McCain inspires



You need to have watched this to get the gag.

Grammy Report Notes

I didn't actually watch the Grammy’s last night, but I will note that Amy Winehouse left rehab just long enough to perform "Rehab" and Obama won a Grammy.

Stop, Um, Thief?

Something very, very strange happened in the Washington State GOP Caucus on Saturday. With John McCain slightly ahead and about 13% of precincts left to count, the State Party stopped counting votes and declared McCain the winner. This has struck many people, particularly the Huckabee campaign as rather peculiar.

Whatever the ill effects of the 2000 election (And they are many) It forever put voting procedures and voting rights on the national radar. I don’t care if they are trying to steal an election in a GOP race that is “already decided” And I don’t have a real brief for Huckabee. But still, this banana republic crap should not stand.

Release the Hounds!

February 10, 2008

Remember

Roy Scheider has died. Let's remember his all-time great line.

You're Going To Need A Bigger Boat

Every Day is Election Day

Even on weekends. Obama won everything there was to win on Saturday - Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington. Oh, and the US Virgin Islands. Have to let the Virgins have their say. The Nebraska and Washington results were thumpings, with Obama picking up better than 2-1. Not enough to, you know, win this thing, but all told its better to be winning than not.

This brings us to John McCain not winning. He lost Louisiana and Kansas and barely eked out a win in Washington. Which is a lot a losing for a front-runner to do. I'll outsource to Kevin Drum on why this means McCain is in trouble.

Update: Maine catchesObamania goes for him 59-40. Obama is 5-0 for the weekend. Rolling.

February 8, 2008

Find My Dealers

All kinds of noise out there that the writer's strike may be coming to an end. Which is good because Lost has started back up again and as usual, I'm hooked. There are only 8 episodes in the can, however, and I'll soon be needed more. So pay my dealer already and hook me up.

February 7, 2008

Mitt-Be-Gone

The Mitt-Bot just couldn't calculate a path to the nomination.

I still hold out hope for Ron Paul.

Booo

Bob Knight has retired.

I hate Bobby Knight.

An insufferable jerk who bullies his players and get break after break because he wins games. Bobby is pretty much the walking persona of everything I hate in coaching both in my own life and on the TV.

King Kaufman over at Salon has more:

It wouldn't have been cheating for Knight to coach in the NBA, put his coaching methods and basketball acumen to the test in the best league in the world, but he wouldn't do that for the same reason he didn't bother with NBA-bound players in Bloomington and Lubbock: He couldn't bully NBA players.

February 6, 2008

Mental Health Break

Morgan Spurlock is on the hunt for Osama bin Laden



I feel safer already.

Close

That my friends, is what a Super Tuesday tie looks like. Hillary and Obama just split the Country. Obama won more states and smaller states, Hillary won bigger states. The popular vote was essentially tied. Delegate counts remain incomplete, but everybody’s math is pointing in the same direction – Obama with a slight lead in pledged delegates, but Hillary holds the lead once Superdelegates are added in. But the numbers are so close the contest must go on. New Mexico is still tied at this hour. California went to Hillary despite the very important Craig vote going to Obama. I’m having real trouble finding out how American Samoa voted last night. How can I hype their results if they don’t release them? The Democratic race is no longer establishment giant Clinton vrs scrappy insurgent Obama. This is an epic battle between two titans and the whole nation is going to feel this fight.

The GOP race looks in the bag for McCain. Good old boy Huckabee turned out to be very strong in the south, despite the lack of money and the general sense that he’s taking a test he just didn’t study for. But those Huckabee wins mean that Romney can’t unite the Anti-McCain forces in the Party. McCain doesn’t have the race locked mathematically yet, but he does have himself a very commanding lead.

February 5, 2008

Waiting...

Results rolling in. Huck is doing rather well. Obama and Clinton are fighting it out State by State by State. California just closed and it will be a while before we know anything. Apparently, calculating the delegate involves some sort of calculus, and will be some time coming.

They give the anchors such cool things to play with. I want a super-sized touch screen map zoom in thing.

John McCain calls all his enemies his "friends"

Day of Days

If you live in a Super Tuesdays State, turn off the computer and get your ass to the polls.

February 4, 2008

Margin of Spin

How do we know who wins tomorrow? The big day is almost here and the scorekeeping is much harder than at the Superbowl. My guess is the Super Tuesday results will not have a margin of victory, but rather a margin of spin.

Let me explain.

Sometimes the result is so clear that there is no arguing who has won and who has lost. In 1996 Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole by almost ten points. In South Carolina this year, Obama beat Clinton by 2 to 1. These are margins of victory.

Then you have the margin of spin. Where the results are so close or so ambiguous the results an argument breaks out and spin comes into play. The classic example is the 2000 general election. In the Nevada Caucus this year, Hillary won the popular vote, but due to the oddness of Caucus rules Obama actually ended up with more delegates. The campaigns spent a week arguing who won.

So prepare yourself for a big argument on who wins on Tuesday. My personal scorecard:

1. California – This is our chance to shine. The biggest State, the most delegates, the home of Craigorian Chant. Whoever win here, wins big.

2. American Samoa – This is their one chance to affect the process. Poor little American Samoa is an tiny little American territory in the South Pacific. Residents are American nationals, not citizens and don’t get a vote in the general election. I think we should hype their result, to make up for the fact they are our disfranchised colony.

3. Delegates – This is the real winner. This whole process comes down to delegates. Whoever wins the most delegates, wins.

Voter Guild

As always, the good people of California have to vote on a number of ballot measures along with the picking of the leader of the free world. And as always I give you recommendations. Anything to help with then whole deciding thing.

Prop 91 A strange measure having to do with the use of gas tax and the State's transportation fund. Apparently the problem, if there even was one, has already been solved. Even the original proponents of this measure are recommending a no vote. In fact, if you happen to see the original proponents of this measure walking down the street, punch them in the arm for wasting our time. The Chant Recommends No.

Prop 92 Guarantees funding for the State's Community Colleges. I'm in favor of education same as the next guy, but propositions locking away sections of the budget and tying the hands of the legislature is why California has such a screwed up budget process. We can't make the process any more screwed up. The Chant Recommends No.

Prop 93 Term limit reform. Changes up the system so you can spend 12 years in one House instead of 6 years in the Assembly and 8 in the Senate. Lets our State Reps build up some experience. And I don't care what they tell you, experience is good. Imagine your own job if no one was allowed to work there for more than 6 years. The Chant Recommends Yes.

Props 94, 95, 96, 97 Indian gaming compacts. Doing a deal. Four casinos get to expand in exchange for an increased cut for the State. Is this a good deal? The Craigorian Chant research staff is divided. We really need the money and I figure if we are getting screwed on the deal, well, we own the Indians one or two. The Chant Recommends Yes.

Feel free to disagree in comments.

February 3, 2008

Big Game

That was great game eh? Underdogs Rule! Any memorable commercials? Badgers rip your face off? Sure I want to buy your car!

I do like the Terminator robot beating down the Fox football robot.

Tom Petty still sound just the same as always.

No False Hope

Fine, you want something more inspirational than Obama Girl? Here you go:

February 1, 2008

Just in Time

Just in time for Valentines Day, I want to Barack your world Valentines. Show your love and your desire to change the political system at the same time.

Thanks Jenny.