January 31, 2010

And Now Three Covers of Use Somebody

There's something about this song that makes people want to sing it:







Which ones best?

January 30, 2010

Our World

I think this sums up the state of thing very nicely:

The United States has suspended its medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care is settled, military officials said Friday.


Best care in the world, except no care is given, because we can't figure out how to pay for it. Which makes it no care, which makes it the worse care.

We can't brag about the best care in the world unless we figure out how to pay for it.

January 29, 2010

Home Field Something

I know it hurts to lose a Senate seat in Kennedy's Massachusetts, but keep in mind we just last election won a Senate seat in Sarah Palin's Alaska. For all our talk of red states and blue states, lots of stuff happens in elections, and the lines of where everyone stands isn't clear. Why, Palin herself might have trouble herself in Alaska.

January 28, 2010

Static

Internet trouble here at Craigorian Chant world headquarters last night, so I was left unable to both watch or comment on the State of the Union. Just assume both Obama gave a good speech and my commentary was both insightful and funny.

January 27, 2010

Banned

Federal Appeals Court upheld a ban on Dungeons & Dragons in prison. Officially, officials do this because D&D “foster an inmate’s obsession with escaping from the real-life correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior,” and lead to "fantasies about escape." This sounds pretty thin to me. Are there prisoners out there who don't have fantasies of escape? My guess, it that D&D is banned becuase it's fun. Can't go having fun in prison. As if it being prison wasn't enough, you have to take their fantasies too.

I'm thinking of starting a nerd rights organization. Our first task: appealing this case the Supreme Court.

Body by Who?

I highly recommend this Pandagon post on exercise, muscles and women's body image. Amanda Marcotte breaks down the current rage for a super-skinny beauty ideal and the fact that diet, i.e. starving yourself, is the first choice for women over exercise. Women are given a pretty good dose of fear over becoming "bulky" or "too muscular" if they work out. The celebrity press freaks out over any famous women with a bit of muscle tone, be she actress or First Lady. This is terrible. Hitting the weights will do you far more good than stopping eating. And you'll be sexier. I've been over this before, but the fashion world is a group of people who don't find women attractive.

Not to say this is the only way to define sexy, but being attractive to members of the opposite sex is a pretty good benchmark. Look at the difference in women's bodies in magazines that sell to women and the magazines that sell to men. Cosmo and Glamor are filled with women who are Paris Hilton skinny. And guess what? Men don't buy stuff with Paris Hilton skinny. We buy stuff like American Curves, filled with women with asses you could bonce a quarter off of.

So everybody, go to the gym, you'll be healthier, live longer, and more people will want to have sex with you.

Soros on Bubbles

When it come to markets, listen to the billionaire.

January 26, 2010

Ratfucker Goes Down

Ratfucking, for those of you new to this game, is political dirty tricks. The term comes out the Watergate era. Those guys trying to break into the DNC back in the day? Ratfuckers.

Well the modern equivalent just got himself in similar hot water. James O'Keefe the guy behind the bazaar "dress up like a pimp and see if the ACORN receptionist does anything about it" incident got picked up by the FBI yesterday in a plot to bug the office of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office. A classic ratfucking maneuver.

So where does this all lead? Not to White House, but O'Keefe is plugged into the whole conservative network - media, money, and activists. Who does he work for? Who funds him?

Via

The Science of Monkey Ku Fu

January 25, 2010

Big Bail Bond

There are special interest groups out there you have never even heard of, and they are screwing things up for all of us.

Honestly, do you know of a single local jail that isn't described as "overcrowded?" Do you know of single sherrif department that isn't looking at a jail exspantion costing millions? There's a reason for that, and it is not a crime wave.

Pitchfork Time

E.J. says it is time for populism.

Mixed

Beau Biden son of Joe has announced that he will not be seeking his father's Senate seat, left vacant by Joe's ascension to VP, this year. On the one hand, good that the Senate seat from Delaware doesn't become like the Biden family watch, passed down from generation to generation. We are already way too close to an unofficial aristocracy in this country, what with all the Clintons and Bushes running around.

On the other hand, this makes it much tougher to hold that Senate seat. And we need that seat.

January 24, 2010

In Honor

In honor of the Saints, who won tonight and spared us all weeks of "Bret Farve goes to the Super Bowl" media hype:

January 23, 2010

It's Money

This is Ke$ha, she's the next hot thing:



I can only conclude that her popularity is due to the spelling of her name with a $. Money is good, see. Therefor I will now be know as ¢raig.

January 21, 2010

45 Million?

My new goal in life is to get fired by NBC.

Ever Better

And now the Supreme Courts comes in with a ruling making it easier for corporations to buy elections. As if they didn't already have enough power in the system already.

Best week ever.

January 20, 2010

January 19, 2010

Sorry About the all the Coups

Let's pull your people out of the rubble to make up for it.

Having people like you isn't hard. Just save their lives instead of killing them, and things turn around in a hurry.

So know How Much Trouble are We in?

We found out today, with the special election to replace Teddy the K in Massachusetts today. The race has been very close, with the Republican even wining in some polls, which is scary because, you know, blue state. With things being so tight in the Senate, going from 60 votes to 59 votes could make a real difference on how health care turns out. If Teddy knew things would go like this, he never would have died the way he did.

But don't worry folks, I've got an eye on the situation.

January 18, 2010

Bedfellows

Looks like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez doesn't like the US humanitarian efforts to help in Haiti.

You know who also doesn't like it? Limbaugh and Beck.

Of course, Mr. Chavez really is a socialist, having his government sieze oil buisnesses and the like. Which means that Beck and Limbaugh are on the same side as a socialist. Which, if I understand the rules of evidence used in Beck's chalkboard of crazy, makes Beck and Limbaugh socialists.

Socialist! Evil!

Don't you see? They are everywhere!

Pride

For MLK day:

January 15, 2010

King of the Iron Fist

Oooo a Tekken movie. I killed many a quarter on the Tekken arcade game at the student union back in the day. Last stand-up arcade game I ever cared about. And like all good video games, eventually it gets its own bad movie:

January 14, 2010

Jerks

No matter what the disaster, we can always count on some jerks to say the worse thing possible. Conservative commenter's are very reliable like that.

Some people just don't know when to stop talking.

January 13, 2010

Who Killed NBC?

That would be Jeff Zucker, that's who. I could never say I love a TV network. But for a long time, I really liked NBC. You know, as a friend. But somewhere along the line, the whole relationship went south. And now Gawker makes the case for who to blame.

That County Ain't Got No Luck

Haitian earthquake has destroyed most of the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

January 12, 2010

The T Stands for Trouble

A port in North Carolina had themselves a bad spill:

The incident occurred when a forklift unloading a vessel punctured a large container and the drums inside it that contained the explosive compound PETN

PETN, that sounds familiar, isn't that...

The suspect in the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 used a highly explosive substance called PETN, a law enforcement official told CBS News Saturday.


The stuff used by the underwear bomber. Unsuccessfully.

Oh and also:

Back in 2001, Richard Reid also tried to use PETN on a plane, and hid the explosive in his shoe. But all he set off was more safety precautions.

Yep, PETN is responsible for 2 failed bombs and an accidental spill. Lots of trouble this chemical.

First Question

Does it have floating mountains or giant, sexy, blue cat-people?

This is now the first question we must ask whenever they find a new planet these days.

These new planets feature a surface temperature of of 2,00 degrees, so I'm going to guess no lush jungles here.

Shoot.

Keep looking!

Oh Crap

TV shortens your life. Which means my current Deadwood marathon is sucking the life right out of me.

Guess I should stick with blogging. Till the next study comes out...

Via

January 11, 2010

Stunning News

Sarah Palin to become a Fox News contributor.

This could very well be the least surprising new I have ever heard.

The Pope Backs Action on Climate Change

How about that.

Around election time, there always lots of static about Pro-Choice Catholic politicos. How about we see some pressure on Catholic politicos who are trying to block action on climate change.

Let's put that Catholic guild to good use, for a change

January 8, 2010

I Swore I Predicted This

I could have sworn I wrote a blog post before the show was on the air about how the Jay Leno Show at 10:00 was doomed to failure, that there was no way Leno's shtick would hold up in prime time and the whole affair was going doom NBC.

But damn it if I haven't been all over my archives and can't find that post. I sure at the time I was thinking of writing it. I demand partial credit.

January 7, 2010

Real Life Lacks a Sense of Timing

So we did figure out that the underwear bomber needed a good hard look, just a little too late:

Reporting from Washington - U.S. border security officials learned of the alleged extremist links of the suspect in the Christmas Day jetliner bombing attempt as he was airborne from Amsterdam to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials disclosed Wednesday.

In the movies, of course, the database search would have gone "ding" and the phone call would get made and the agents would rush to airport gate JUST IN TIME. This being the real world, timing was a little off. We were waiting for him in Detroit, after he lit his fuse.

Everybody Hates Joe

Turns out, being a jerk doesn't make you popular. Joe Lieberman now has a job approval rating of 25% in Connecticut. That's really, really bad, just in case your wondering. 67 percent disapprove of the job he's doing. 19% Approve of the job he's doing on health care.

You know what, I really comforted by this poll. Bad actions should result in bad poll numbers. Joe Lieberman worked very hard to make health care reform legislation worse, for no other reason than spite. That kind of thing needs to be punished at the polls or we will never get better government.

So yeah, voter of Connecticut!

January 6, 2010

Not the Right Kind

There are certain scandals one would associate with the White House Office of Management and Budget Director. Not getting the numbers to add up is a perennial problem, and generally beyond any individual to fix. Actually telling the truth to the Atlantic Monthly that Supply-side economics is a giant scam and that your Administration has no clue with regard to the budget is my personal favorite.

But OMB directors are nerdy types, anti-social and concerned with math and numbers and such. This kind of stuff just isn't what you expect.

Lost is Coming Back!

The last season. Last chance to answer all those questions. And I have a lot of questions.

Here's a little video to catch everyone up on what's been going on for the last five seasons. I wouldn't think that would be possible in 8:15 or even eight hours, but here it is:

Retirements

So word is out that two Democratic Senators will not be seeking re-election this year. That's Dodd of Connecticut and Dorgan of North Dakota. Given how hard it is to knock off incumbent politicos in this Country, retirements have huge impacts on election outcomes. Dorgan leaving is a major hit. North Dakota doesn't exactly lean to the left, it is going to be damn hard to replace Dorgan with a Democrat. Dodd leaving, ironically enough, helps the donkeys. Dodd has been caught up in a rather thin scandal over his mortgage, and was going to have trouble getting re-elected. But Connecticut, Holy Joe not withstanding, does lean to the left, and whatever Dem runs in Dodd's place will have a better chance than Dodd himself.

Given the state of the Congress, this is how the entire progressive legislative agenda will be determined: by the career choices of aging US Senators. The right guys retire, its better health care, financial regulation, and the world doesn't die in fire. The wrong guys call it quites, and not so much.

January 5, 2010

White Hat

Ahmadinejad's web page got hacked.

Spy World/Real World

So last week a suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed seven CIA guys and a Jordanian Intelligence officer, the bomber turned out to be a trusted informer for Jordanian Intelligence. The incident is shining a light on the US-Jordan intelligence relationship.

You know where I first learned of the US-Jordan intelligence relationship? The movie Body of Lies. This is how my education in tradecraft works. I see the movie version, then I find out about the real.

UPDATE: Wow. David Ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote the book Body of Lies was based on. He also writes about the real stuff, and seems is a bit of a hack. All this real and fiction spy stuff is getting mixed up.

I'm not sure who to trust.

January 4, 2010

A Symbol for Our Age

Dubai just opened the Burj Khalifa, the worlds new tallest building. Sure the whole country is on the verge of default, much of the building is going to go empty for lack of tenants, and three workers died in making the thing, but darn if it don't look impressive.

They Think He's Coming Back

Matt Y flags this from the New York Times:

A half-dozen former senior Bush officials involved in counterterrorism told me before the Christmas Day incident that for the most part, they were comfortable with Obama’s policies, although they were reluctant to say so on the record. Some worried they would draw the ire of Cheney’s circle if they did.

Why would they fear Cheney? I mean, yes, he's a evil, vindictive son-of-a-bitch, but he's never going to be in power again, right? I mean, he was the most unpopular part of a disastrously unpopular Administration. He's never going to get elected to anything ever again. He will never be a position to punish people for praising Obama Administration policies, would he? He is as dead politically as we have in American. Unless...

I've been using the wrong pop culture reference to understand Cheney. What if he isn't "Darth Cheney?" What if he really is destined to return, in defiance of all logic and common sense? I mean, the only way he could come back is dark magic, right? Really dark.

Do we need to start calling him the Vice-President-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?

Time to Get Tricky

Looks like Congress will be bypassing the normal way of doing things in order to get health care reform to the finish line.

Why? Because Congressional procedure has become a twisted parody of itself, used only by a nihilistic opposition to destroy any chance at real reform. Damn the procedure, full steam ahead.

January 3, 2010

Off Broaway

And now an off Broadway production of the Science Fiction, um, "classic" Independence Day:

ID4: Off Broadway from Samuel Eidson on Vimeo.



Via

January 2, 2010

Movie Review:Street Fight

Finally worked through my netflix's que to Street Fight an extremely compelling documentary about the 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, New Jersey. I know it seems like you couldn't care about this if lived outside of Newark, New Jersey, but trust me, you will care about who wins this race between the golden boy challenger Cory Booker and the willy old incumbent, Sharpe James. What unfolds in this race hits every issues at play in American politics: race, age, reform, class, scandal, urban renewal and more.

The film also shines a light on a much rougher and darker brand of local politics than I've come across in my time. I've worked a number of campaigns in jurisdictions across Northern California and worked in local government in a few more and I've never seen the kind of dirty that gets played in Newark. The incumbent administration had police and firefighters tearing down the challenger's signs in broad daylight and uses City Code Enforcement officials to shut down business's that support the opposition. Not to get too self-righteous, but that kind of crap just would not just not fly where I'm from. It would hit the press in a second and anybody trying it would be roasted alive. But New Jersey is just a different kind of place, those kind of moves just get shrugged off as "politics."

But enough about a much cleaner NorCal politics is that Jersey, your main take-away from this post is that Street Fight is well worth your time to check out.