We're Screwed

An article at American Thinker tell us that the MSM wants us to believe that Obama is going to win, but it is not true. From the article and the comments the signs/reasons McCain is going to win this thing. And no, I am not making these up.

• PUMAs -- Pollsters have not taken them into account
• Lack of Obama buttons in evidence on West Side of NYC
• Lack of Obama lawn signs in upstate NY
• 30% of the electorate is undecided, but the MSM will never tell you that
• McCain's strategy is to wait until Friday and place campaign workers across the country in venues where young voters are like to be--pep rallies, frat houses, campuses, football games, and pubs, etc.
• 18% of Hillary voters won't vote for Obama
• Blacks won't admit to pollsters that they are planning to vote for McCain
• Comments about the article on American Thinker running 5 to 1 against Obama
• Obama has 90% of the black vote sown up. He has the pointy-headed, Marxist, Michael Moore, academic vote (hey that's us!) sown up, but this accounts for only 4% of the population. The rest of the Democrats are up for grabs and are feeling very uneasy about Obama
• Divine intervention
• People are scared to tell pollsters how they are really going to vote because they fear "Obamanistas" getting their face.
• Pollsters hang up is you start to say you are going to vote for McCain
• Obama has never been ahead in the AOL online poll
• Elderly voters in Florida know that McCain loves America and will fight for the American people
• Republicans are telling Republican GOTV walkers that they support McCain
• In South Jersey there is less enthusiasm for Obama than there was for Kerry
• Lack of Obama yard signs in the suburbs of Chicago
• A remember poll from long-ago suggests that 20% of Democrats won't vote for Obama...Rush is citing it!
• "Grassroots" bloggers tell a different story from the MSM!
• Lack of Obama signs in LA
• Obama will lose OH, thanks to Joe the Plumber. The MSM wants you to think he has a chance in VA, but he does not. He will lose, PA. May not hang on to MD.
• Lack of Obama signs in South Florida
• People won't admit to supporting McCain because they are afraid of being labeled a racist
• People will have a last minute change of mind and vote McCain
• There is something deep down inside of everyone that wants to do right and good and at the last minute Obama supporters and even donors (!) will realize they just can't vote for him and vote McCain
• Lack of Obama signs in Seattle
• Lack of Obama signs in Silicon Valley
• The kids can't possibly be "inspired" by the nothing that is Obama
• Lack of Obama signs in DC
• Obama fad set to end on November 3
• Rain
• Obama too leftist
• Lack of Obama signs in Texas

PRM - Glove Smelling Edition

I don't think of Spinal Tap as a "1984" movie because I didn't see it until much later. It wasn't foundational to my youth in the same ways as Red Dawn, Karate Kid, Police Academy, Romancing the Stone, Revenge the Nerds, well you get the idea, were. Each one of these movies shaped and formed who I am today. The Tap is a great movie. Invented a whole genre. But, for me, it is just for giggles.

That said, the OG family is a younger crowd and I recognize that. For many of you Tap was a foundational experience and the movie is an all-time classic. All hail Spinal Tap!

This poll also reveled that while we love Prince's music, we'd rather not have to watch him act. Or "act," if you will. Purple Rain the movie did give us one important thing, however, Morris Day and the Time. Some say that Day's unceasing support of Walter Mondale was the only thing that kept Reagan from capturing all 50 states. For that we owe Purple Rain a heartfelt thanks.

Alright, what you all came for:

Hillary makes more appearances than EZ

Just saw this noted at Talkleft:
Hillary made her 65th campaign appearance for Sen. Barack Obama in Aurora, Colorado today. Also on hand: Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar and Reps. Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter.


She has been more active these past weeks than I have.

I apologize for the light posting recently. I have had midterms and election panels on top of in law visits and remodeling......

This Is Not Good

Reprehensible? A legit issue? I find myself saddened when this commercial comes on.

An Important Message from Barack Obama about Jeff Merkley

Boom! Boom! Boom!

(h/t Ben Smith sur le Politico)

McCain as Ward Littel

Great stuff from Patton Oswalt.

Not the Kind of Thing Defend Oregon Would Send Out

This is too awesome not to post. From our friend Steve Novick:

One of the most important things you can do this election year is tell everyone you know to Vote No on Bill Sizemore’s Measure 64. A bizarrely technical measure – it’s a sort of attack on the use of a form of direct deposit by public employees – it would have the effect of making it much more difficult for union members to advocate for education and health care, more difficult for organizations like the Food Bank to advocate for social justice, and more difficult for the unions to fight Bill Sizemore’s other measures.

It’s important for you to know that the public employee unions are our first line of defense against devastating Sizemore initiatives like Measure 59, which would gut public services to give tax cuts to the wealthy. A lot of us understand that Sizemore’s measures are bad, and do our part – but the truth is that most progressives tend to focus our resources on candidate campaigns (thanks again for your help on mine!), and it doesn’t occur to us that we need money and manpower for the initiatives, too. It is no exaggeration to say that if it were not for the public employee unions, Bill Sizemore would have burned the state to the ground long ago. He knows that. That’s why he wants to cripple their ability to fight him.

If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, think of Oregon as the Shire and the unions as the Dunedain. They don’t get a lot of credit. But as Aragorn said to Boromir at the Council of Elrond:

"Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dunedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?

And yet less thanks have we than you. Travelers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. 'Strider' I am to one fat man who lives within a day’s march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly."

The fact is that every Oregonian lives under the shadow of foes like Sizemore and his backers, like Loren Parks the Nevada sexual hypnotist and Dick Wendt of Jeld-Wen. They would lay our little state in ruin, if it were not guarded ceaselessly – by our friends in organized labor. Don’t let Sizemore drive the Dunedain into the grave.

Vote No on 64, and make sure all your friends do, too.

**** Shocking Election News **** **** Campaign Changing Day ****

**** Pollsters reveal Democratic bias *****

**** Obama loses in Hawaii courtroom trying to hide birth records ****

**** Obama in Hawaii to keep grandmother quiet ****

**** API to release tapes soon: MO: "I hate Whitey and so does Barack!" ****

**** Hotel receipt a plant by the Democrats to make right-wing look bad ****

**** Media focuses on clothes while naked Democratic fraud goes unnoticed! ****

**** Obama BFF calls for genocide! ****

**** Young people flock to McCain/Palin ticket ****

Much more to come in the next 11 days!

Obama to Godwin land-speed record

Behold, and you really do want to take some time with the comments on this one.

And you didn't mention this why?

Smaller media markets, like, say, Eugene, OR, tend to have... let's call it quirkier on-air personalities for their local shows. Like the newscasts. Eugene has some memorable weathermen; John Fischer, Tim Chuey, and the bald guy on the NBC affiliate - you tend to remember the face of the guy telling you the forecast for the next 200 days is some variation of "rain." I still encounter Joe Giansante if I happen to catch a Ducks game on some bar's satellite feed. And who can forget the woman who looked like Ally McBeal when the FOX station tried to put together a local newscast (didn't she end up reporting at some other local channel?)(is it wrong to admit that I had a crush on her?)?

The anchors, on the other hand, are a little less memorable for me. I can see faces, but couldn't give you names. Except for one, who was exceptional in that he offensively and unapologetically embraced his role as "the anchor," whose faux gravitas dripped with cheese, whose bright human interest stories were gaggingly cloying... for some completely irrational reason, I could not stand the sight nor sound of this person. It was the one network whose local newscast I would actively avoid.

And now Rick Dancer is running for statewide office? As a Republican? And no one bothered to mention this? Had I known this I would've been donating to Kate Brown a long time ago, just to spite him.

(George) Strait Talk re: Bolivia

Alright, listen. I know I'm the guy around here who writes the things that "don't make any sense." I am one opaque mother, I know, absolutely. (And thanks for having me, I don't say it enough.)

Because I know this, I don't know who would possibly be on board with my erratic references to the situation in Latin America - let alone Bolivia. So often buried beneath shout-outs to Tom Scharpling, Ric Flair, Vin Novarra, et. al... well I just don't feel confident that anybody's wading through all of that, at least not more than mebbe, like, twice.

But, should such people (as those outlined above) happen to exist, I now happily present to them this very interesting clip (text or video) Forrest Hylton discussing how "the fight is not over by any means but [Bolivia] has entered a new phase."

So this really represents in some ways a closure of that process that was initiated when people began to demand a new constitution and a new constitutional assembly through mass direct action in the streets, which was capable of overthrowing two presidents.

Castro, Chavez, and Goldberg?

Floating around the internet is this bit of intellectual fluff from Jonah Goldberg defending Palin against the charge that her "tax the wealthy oil companies" program in Alaska is more socialist than Obama's "repeal the tax cut on the top income bracket" plan (ed: We are all socialists now!):

In Alaska, the people own the oil as opposed to in Ohio where the people don't own Joe the Plumber. That's the system that Sarah Palin inherited. It's also the system that produced a lot of political corruption, which is the logical result of the sort of corporatist policies favored by Barack Obama. Sarah Palin did much to clean up that corruption. Obama never dreamed of doing anything comparable in even more corrupt Chicago. The tax increase on oil companies in Alaska may or may not have been well-advised (my in-laws have very strong feelings on the matter). But as a philosophical matter comparing Barck Obama's argument that we should soak succssful [sic]small businessmen to spread the wealth is really not comparable to the steward of a resource owned by the citizens of Alaska in effect renegotiating the deal to more favorable terms for the owners.

Apparently, Goldberg believes that the people own the national resources in America. While this is news to you, me, and everyone but the ISO, it would seem to suggest that allowing oil companies to make billions in profits exploiting our natural resources while providing crappy jobs and polluting the environment is the ultimate form of wealth redistribution. I mean, wouldn't a smart government be renegotiating these "deals" until oil company profits were so low, that Exxon decided it just wasn't worth it? (Understanding that, for now, neoliberalist ideology runs so deep that the notion that the government could exploit those resources in the name of the people just as efficiently and cheaper is a non-starter. Now that's Socialism with a capital 'S'!). Every dollar they keep is a dollar the people lose, no? It's our oil, they're our dollars.

Goosebumps.

Holy shit.

I believe.

No. Fucking. Shame.

John McCain is a fucking liar:

"I think she's most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president, tell you the truth," McCain said, citing her experience as a small-town mayor and Alaska governor. He added: "Bill Clinton was pretty well derided when he came out of a small state to run for president of the United States," and he pronounced himself "amazed" at the criticism.

The "most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president." More qualified than George H.W. Bush. More qualified than Al Gore or Jack Kemp. More qualified than the man who is currently running our government - Dick Cheney.

And Bill Clinton. Who had a law degree from Yale. And was a Rhodes Scholar. And was governor for over a decade. She's at least as qualified as Bill was, probably moreso.

OMFG.

It was enough to foist her upon us in the first place and pretend that she was qualified to run the country. But to offer this stunningly over-the-top endorsement is a transparent lie. And he knows it.

cardinology streaming

sur le facebook, of all places. have at it, fiends!

(three tracks deep, and "fix it" still stands out.)

on the other hand

On the "substance" front - let me say that I'm interested by (but unsure how to approach) the issues tied up in Ezra Klein's recent work on the mainstream media's consensus that the U.S.A.'s an intrinsically "Center-Right" country.

On the other hand, on the "sonics/phonics" front - it is kinda nice to hear the word "socialism" tripping off so many Americans' lips, these days.

Saturday Night in 1993 Will Never Be the Same

MillerCoors ends production of Zima

1 day ago

MILWAUKEE (AP) — MillerCoors LLC says goodbye to Zima.

The joint venture between SABMiller's U.S. unit and Molson Coors Brewing Co. told distributors in a letter Monday that production of the malt liquor beverage was discontinued as of Oct. 10.

Chief Marketing Officer Andy England says the decision was due to weakness in the "malternative" segment and declining consumer interest.

He says distributors can get remaining Zima inventories most likely through December.

Distributors are being asked to put products from caffeinated alcoholic beverage Sparks on retail store shelves to make up for Zima's absence.

The brand came to the joint venture from Molson Coors, maker of Coors Light and Keystone.

h/t: AP

Don Imus re: Rev. Wright and Don Imus

h/t to Ben Smith, 'glad to see that the Maverick is doing right by the I-Man and responding to his "tough questions" (about himself, the I-Man). Yeah, I-Man!

"When I got in the mess that I got in, Senator Obama was the first one to jump up and suggested that I be fired, which I didn’t have any problem with. And when the wheels came off with Reverend Wright, the first thing Senator Obama said was that we should put his remarks in context and also we should consider all the wonderful things that Rev. Wright had done throughout his life," Imus said. "That was a luxury that he was affording Reverend Wright and himself to get out of that mess, and something that he was unwilling to afford me – not that that would have been appropriate, by the way. But I thought that revealed a disturbing level of hypocrisy and a willingness to employ a double standard and something worth talking about."

I mean, leave it to a self-absorbed wanker like BHO to not distinguish between a) his pastor, and b) a washed-up, unfunny moron who essentially mocked black women athletes for being black!

Worst Ever

In another giant "Fuck you" to the American people, the Bush administration's Fish and Wildlife Service is planning to "read" 200,000 citizen comments on their plan to radically alter the endangered species rules in just 32 hours. Fish and Wildlife assembled a team of 15 people to read the legally mandated citizen comments. They started yesterday at 9 am and plan to work 8 hour days and finish up Friday afternoon. For those playing at home, that's 13,333 comments per person. That works out to 416 comments per hour. 7 comments per minute. These comments are written by citizens, including scientists and lawyers and often run to dozens of pages.

Law requires the administration to read and comment on public response to proposed rule changes, and this is an attempt to get this process done and the changes in place before a new administration takes office. If the rule change is still "proposed," then it is easily undone. If the the change is complete, then a new administration would have to go through the entire process again.

I guess it should come as absolutely no surprise, but jeebus. Democracy means absolutely nothing to these people, does it?

i don't never go see no movies no more

but maybe i should start reading slashfilm.com anyway. see what i mean? no? look below.

Former US Football star Ken Harvey (Arizona Cardinals, Washington Redskins) will visit the Globa Space Technology Forum in Abu Dhabi next month in an effort to find financial backing for a film about playing sports in space, according to The National. The film tells a story of a young boy who joins “a space-sport team in his quest to avenge the death of his father and to win the rights to mine for Helium-3″, which is thought by some scientists to be a possible fuel. Yeah, the stoyline doesn’t sound too promising. Harvey is also promoting his company Space Sportilization, with the purpose of promoting interest in playing sports in space.

Real quick. Can I have a show of hands from those who're against playing sports in space?

Volcker and Obama

story of the day, though I cannot link you to the actual WSJ content without all of us subscribing. Former Fed Chair Volcker (1979-1987), more than Reagan, inaugurated domestic neoliberalism in the USA as an inflation-fighting deficit hawk. Now he's presiding over what many are calling the "end" of neoliberalism.

Minimizing Expectations

Seems like maybe Orrin has given up on the House and the Presidency.

Defeating Senator Landrieu will not only give us a solid fiscal conservative in State Treasurer John Kennedy, it will stop the liberals from seizing complete control of the Senate and forcing their far-left agenda on the American people.

Please note that Orrin has been reduced to pinning his hopes on races where a poll have his guy 5 points behind with two weeks to go. This is Kennedy's internal poll. Rasmussen has Landrieu by 13.

This is what winning feels like. I like it.

Mo' Money

Last I had heard, Prop 8 in California, which would overturn their gay marriage law and take away gay rights, was going down to easy defeat. Apparently, this not the case.

On a not entirely unrelated note, the attempt in California to pass a referendum banning same-sex marriage, and thus strip marital rights from hundreds of thousands of citizens who were granted those rights by the California Supreme Court earlier this year, is looking stronger and stronger, largely as a result of huge amounts of out-of-state money from the Mormon Church and other religious fanatical groups which realize that denying same-sex marriage rights to California citizens will set back the cause of marriage equality by years, if not decades. The campaign in opposition to that pernicious referendum is sorely in need of more funding, and those inclined to donate can do so here.

Join me in giving No on 8 some coin, won't you. If we can win California, eventually the rest of the nation will have to fall in line.

If Joe Biden-qua-Veep is Wrong...

h/t to Chris Cilizza for hipping me to Ryan Lizza's in-depth profile of Joe Biden, veep-aspirant, and his forebears/foibles. i like the idea of him as an LBJ-ish "Master of the Senate," counting votes and pushing BHO's agenda.

They Have Them, Too

I was reading a Dennis Prager article wherein I learned there are two Americas. (No credit to Edwards was given). It seems these two Americas occupy a "Left" and a "Right." They have competing visions for America and even different ideas of what America is, but only one of them is correct. You guess which one.

The article itself is decently neutral and I found a lot to agree with. The fun of any Prager column comes in the comments.

Apparently, the US is on the verge of becoming a socialist paradise, as we are presented the choice of electing the far-left socialist/communist America-hating Barack Obama, or the leftist socialist America-loving, but sadly deluded, John McCain. Unless the US is already a socialist country or even a full-blown Marixist state.

A good many people are ready for the coming Civil War that will surely take place when Americans wake up and realize that they have elected an America-hating socialist Muslim as the president and he comes to take their guns away and "re-educate" them. Unless we agree to divide the country and give people the choice of living in the United States of America or the Socialist States of America, except that the SSA can not survive without all the hard-working God-fearing Americans, so war is practically inevitable. Unless, of course, people refuse to believe the media's attempts to tell you the election is over. How come it always seems like the media tells us the Democrats are ahead by 25% or so, but they only win very close elections? Of course, it really doesn't matter how people vote, as ACORN has the election pre-rigged. When Obama and his people are burning down your city in celebration, just like they do after the NBA championship, I bet you won't be able to find one white person who says they voted for Obama. One that's not a committed socialist anyway.

But the Obama presidency will be good, better than a McCain presidency, because it will snap people out of it and they will wake up and realize what has happened to their great country. A McCain presidency would just allow the media to keep on portraying the GOP as "conservative," when we all know there are very few true conservatives in office any more. Yep, an Obama presidency would surely move the country to the right, so it would be a good, good thing. (Unless, of course, Sarah is really the behind-the-scenes brains behind a McCain presidency. That would be a very good thing.)

Below are my two favorite comments from the 150 or so I read (there were 550+).

Mike Location: RI
Reply # 19
Date: Oct 14, 2008 - 1:21 AM EST
Subject: "Great Article"
This is so absolutely frighteningly true!! I believe the division in our great country will increase and I for one, a decendent of Henry Adams, great great grandfather to our second president John Adams, stand as my great ancestors did before me, by the hand and teachings of God, against the tyrrany of the LEFT!! We came to America to be Free!!

A clear message to you Lefties-we don't get on the Mayflower this time, YOU DO, and I got more news, don't expect "our government" to pay for your tickets-this will be your one way trip!!


Stunned Location: NV
Reply # 77
Date: Oct 14, 2008 - 2:55 AM EST
Subject: US Census 2006 shows 80% white in USA
Now for all you lefties out there, do you really think Barak Hussian Obama is going to get the necessary 270 electoral votes this election? You really think people in OH, Penn, Mich, NY are going to vote for this muslim, African, socialist "snake oil" saleman??? Unless Acorn rigged the election.

We will still be stuck with big gov't, John McShamnisty; just as we had some real wimps in congress and even Jorge Bush. You can't both say the sky is different colors without one being right, and the other being wrong, no matter what the reason. (Even saving the planet and the children)

hate deluge

horrifying voicemails and emails are crowding ACORNS's inboxes these days. such as:

"You liberal idiots. Dumb shits. Welfare bums. You guys just fucking come to our country, consume every natural resource there is, and make a lot of babies. That's all you guys do. And then suck up the welfare and expect everyone else to pay for your hospital bills for your kids. I just say let your kids die. That's the best move. Just let your children die. Forget about paying for hospital bills for them. I'm not gonna do it. You guys are lowlifes. And I hope you all die."

check it out at rightwingwatch.

PRM (Poll Results Monday)

The people have spoken and they much prefer this:



to this:

Grandma

M61 commercial

first Right-Wing Ballot Initiative ad, this one for the Mannix-sponsored crime measure.

(h/t to NW Republican.. but what else is new?)

Fuck

Adblock

Life on Mars:S01E02

*Groan*

It's not going well. There's no way I cannot sound like a fanboy of the BBC version, so I'll just plunge in. You'll have to forgive me and I'll have to hope that I can conjure up some analysis that goes beyond "it's not as good as the British version," which can pretty much be said about life in general, no?

First, what's going well. I liked that Sam's flashbacks when in the vicinity of the robot echoed conversations and experiences he had had in 1973. They add a hallucinatory layer to the flashes that is nice. Maybe Sam is on a really bad acid trip after all.

I like how Imperioli is playing Ray. BBC Ray was all quiet, gruff, and clearly resentful of the new man in a bullish, dullard's way. The value he brought to the team, and to DCI Hunt, was purely loyalty combined with brute force. ABC Ray is smarter. He's not about brute force. He's about playing the angles. He's a smart-ass. Hopefully, this will develop and we will see qualities in ABC Ray that challenge Sam's place on the team. I think they took a stab with that last night, with Ray tricking Sam into betraying the 125th, but the set up had problems. I'm willing to give it time.

Unlike the AV Club, I didn't mind the hippie chick. As much. Sure she was silly and hopefully the show will give her a bit of a darker side, but she's necessary for the plot. Sam has to have some reason that to want to stay in 1973. Or at least not driving himself crazy trying to escape form 1973. In the BBC version, that's Annie. In the ABC version, they've decided to go the Jim and Pam route and have Annie already hooked up with another copper, so we'll have goo-goo eyes and "if only" looks for two seasons.

What didn't work. The fashion is not working. All of Sam's 1973 wear wouldn't look out-of-place today. Stripey shirt underneath medium length black leather jacket? Crazy! It certainly doesn't help that someone has decided that in dramatic scenes, the collar goes inside the jacket, rather than out. Small difference: BBC Sam wore a similar jacket, but also had a button or two undone and added a gold chain. Would a 2008 man who suddenly found himself in 1973 seek to fit in or feel comfortable? Let the debate rage.

For some godawful reason, ABC has decided to play the violence cartoonishly. The tension of the show is supposed to be found in the differences in policing between 1973 and 2008. Can our slightly dweebish 2008 copper hang with the lads in 1973? The police "brutality" in this episode centered on Lt. Hunt tweeking a bad guy's nose. Twice! The fight between Hunt and Sam was played for slapstick. I am at a loss here.

The whole point of the show, as far as the police aspects go, is that Sam is appalled by the methods used by the 1973 cops. They just want to crack some skulls and see what happens (or so it seems). Rights don't matter, warrants don't matter, justice means getting baddies off the streets. Sam is appalled, but he also comes off as a bit of a dweeb. It's always rights and warrants and patient interrogation and "we'll get 'em next time, boys." The 1973 squad is just as appalled by Sam as he is by them. The ABC version has none of this. So far, all we get are "WTF?" reaction shots from Sam when the 1973s do something (mildly) "bad." No back and forth.

Which leads to the other thing that makes the BBC version great: class tension. The boys of the BBC squad are all clearly working-class men. They were born in Manchester and became coppers. They are lads. They enjoy cracking skulls and pints in the pub. If the state wants to pay them for it, all the better. Sam may be working class by birth, but he's got a bit of education. He's a 21st century cop, up on scientific methods, psychology, and technology. He's a fancy pants. The boys resent him for it. But Hunt is smart enough to see that Sam's ideas have merit. He's smart enough to be able to take a peek over that horizon and catch a glimpse of the future. He's suspicious, but he sees enough that he's willing to follow Sam at times. And when Sam messes up, as ABC Sam did this week, Hunt lashes out for being made to look foolish, for being made to doubt himself, for letting the middle-class prick tell him what to do. When BBC Hunt slams Sam in the gut with a punch, he means it.

None of this tension exists, so far, on the ABC version. I know America is a classless society, but come on. Sam hasn't even gotten an schtick for being a pretty boy. So when ABC Sam's idea goes wrong, and Lt. Hunt sort of hits him and then they wrestle around in a comic manner, it's meaningless. And I want to hurl things at my tv.

Which brings us to the biggest flaw of the show. As Gabba predicted, Harvey Keitel is a major weak link on the show. He's way too old to be playing Gene Hunt. Or any cop in 1973. I can't get past it. He's at least 65 years-old. Coppers weren't that old back then. Not Lieutenants. Being a cop was a working-class job. A job you took after high school or the Army. Early twenties at the latest. You retire from being a cop with full pension after 30 years, unless you're climbing a ladder or exercising power. You are certainly not chasing down bad guys, going on stake outs, or tweeking noses in interrogations. Keitel's Hunt was born in the 1910s at the latest. He came on the force during the Depression. He was too old for WWII. He was a cop in New York in the '40s and '50s. He comes from a completely different generation than anyone else on the show, but you wouldn't know it. They are trying to throw him into a role suited for a 42 year-old. Imperioli would have been an interesting choice for Hunt. I love Harvey Keitel, but every time he's on the screen, I can't help but thinking how wrong, wrong, wrong he is for the role.

I'm still hoping this gets better. Still remembering that the first few episodes of The Office bit balls. Started downloading Series 2 of the BBC Life of Mars.

It's Just Food, Nothing More

[UPDATE TO POST BELOW]: Has McCain denounced this, or is this an example of something that doesn't need to be repudiated?

The latest newsletter by an Inland Republican women's group depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken, prompting outrage in political circles. [pic at the link]

Diane Fedele, president of the group, said she had no racist intent. "I never connected," she told the newspaper. "It was just food to me. It didn't mean anything else."

Fedele said she had received the illustration in e-mails and decided to reprint it to poke fun at a remark by Obama that he doesn't look like other presidents.

"It was strictly an attempt to point out the outrageousness of his statement. I really don't want to go into it any further," Fedele told the newspaper. "I absolutely apologize to anyone who was offended. That clearly wasn't my attempt."

Clearly.

LOLGrads

I made this for CGE to celebrate them getting fair share. Thought I'd throw it up on the ol' blog.

New Poll - Best Movie of 1984

Jesus, we love Prince.

That poll was done, as Bruce couldn't get much love and we seem to disagree with the Grammy voters who declared Lionel Richie the champ that year.

Let's see if we can get some action on the best movie of 1984. I have a feeling we're not going to be marching lock-step with the Academy on this one, as they went for Amadeus.

I usually know the right answer before I put the poll up. This time, I have no idea who I am going to vote for.

Please pass the poll on to your friends. I'd hate to see a nine way split with two votes each.

I've Repudiated Them In My Mind

Last night John McCain said:

Every time there's been an out-of-bounds remark made by a Republican, no matter where they are, I have repudiated them.

One assumes then that he endorses everything that Rush, Hannity, Sacramento Republicans, Townhall, Red State, "anonymous e-mailers," Jerome Corsi, and, well, Sarah Palin have said. Because I follow the campaign pretty closely and I only rememebr hearing about McCain smacking down one supporter at a town hall.

for km

Delusional conservative responses

From Red State:

Obama's use of "you'll lose employer-funded health care" scare tactics shows that he either doesn't understand himself, or knows that the rest of America doesn't understand, that health coverage, even when provided by employers, isn't funded by those employers. Rather, it is wages paid in the form of a benefit, rather than cash. Ending employer-backed health care could mean higher monetary wages in employees' pockets, and would absolutely mean more choice in what insurance coverage is purchased.

Raise your hand if you think any employer in the United States would pass on a raise to cover health care costs after ditching the employee health plan. For all of their supposed free market savvy, conservatives sure don't understand how businesses really run.

Meet a Candidate

Exactly as it appears in the Oregon Voters Guide:

State Treasurer

Michael
Marsh

Constitution

Occupation: Maintenance

Occupational Background: a variety of jobs

Educational Background: some college

Prior Governmental Experience: none

America is in danger and Oregon on the verge of collapse. Leaders of the Democrat and Republican parties with their Ivy League educations are either incredibly stupid or are deliberately destroying us. It is time to return to Constitutional Government and become once again a land of opportunity for Americans. We have entered, voluntarily, into a slave relationship, with our government masters.

Government licenses our activity from travel to marriage, they tax us to drain us of our sustenance, and then use our money to hire police and bureaucrats to come into our homes with warrants to kidnap our children, steal our property and deprive us of our liberty with no remedy-at-law.

In 2007 the legislature, including Ben Westlund, voted to put a toll on every road, bridge and bike path in Oregon with photo tracking devices. Once the Federal Real I.D. Act, which puts everyone into Biometric data base, is completed the Democrat/Republican leadership plan to merge the banks with the States and Federal treasury into one entity with all financial transactions being done by computer. Anyone who objects to any government policy will have their identification suspended and be unable to buy groceries and pay rent.

As State Treasurer, I will uphold and defend the Oregon Constitution.

(This information furnished by Michael Marsh.)

Someone didn't get their nap today debate open thread

Eye of the tiger debate open thread

I Swear I Am Not Making This Up

I just got my Oregon Voters Guide Part II: Candidates today and I was perusing the candidate bios when I came across this from Cynthia McKinney's entry:

Cynthia McKinney served 12 years in the Unites States Congress as a courageous voice of peace and seeks make America more safe and better for all Americans.

The only logical explanation is that the powers that be don't want us to think Cynthia makes any sense, so they sabotaged her entry.

Bastards.

Gamechangers?

As we count down the hours to tonight's live-blogging debate extravaganza, we might as well speculate as to what dramatic game-changing moment will occur that will shift the momentum back in McPalin's favor. My guess? McCain challenges Obama to a mano-à-mano brawl that ultimately backfires for a literal hit below the belt.

Orrin Hatch

"Countries that have gone to [majority sign-up for union recognition] have gone 85% union, and we can't have that. These guys are gonna hand over the country to the unions, and that will mean the end of the free market"

- Senator Orrin Hatch on MSNBC

i can't help it

as a Gen X-er, maybe, i can't help but look forward to the (finally!) forthcoming war movie from Tarentino. Kill Bill was really not my kinda thing... but Jackie Brown and everything before it surely was.

am i being elitist by not acknowledging the fake b-horror movies he's made along the way?

this is a MUST-effing-read

"Well, I don't know much about this terrorist group Barack used to be in with that Weather guy but I'm sick of paying for health insurance at work and that's why I'm supporting Barack."

h/t: Ezra "The Republican failure is so complete that it has warped the very fabric of political time-space" Klein

Mmmmm, Savings

Obama has put up a tax cut calculator. Assuming no one who reads this blog earns more than $250K or owns a small business that results in income of more than $250K, then I can assure you that you can use the calculator to see what your tax savings would be under an Obama administration.

A Reminder of What's at Stake

From Orrin Hatch:

With only 21 days until Election Day, liberals have their eyes on a prize almost as valuable as capturing the White House -- a filibuster-proof Democrat Senate majority.

That's why MoveOn.org and their allies are pouring it on to seize total control of our government.

These liberals will rubber-stamp Obama's far-left agenda and we'll be reading headlines like these next year if Obama captures the White House:

"Hillary Clinton Confirmed To Supreme Court"

"Obama Signs Record Tax Increase"

Right now, a handful of conservative Senators are all that stand in the way of Democrats and their tax-and-spend agenda. But, if liberals get their way, it will be impossible to stop them!

My hopes

After John Edwards bowed out (and in retrospect, wasn't that a bullet dodged), I was leaning towards Obama over Hillary Clinton. It was his organization that sealed the deal for me. Like the post says, it's "an organization like nothing I've seen before." The Obama campaign has trained thousands upon thousands of people on how to run a political campaign. It has networked self-contained groups of skilled volunteers. It has created the sense of community and urgency that is required to move a campaign forward.

Those of us working to elect Obama share a lot of the same values, and on Nov. 5, a potent political machine is going to wake up, probably hungover, with nothing to do. People have been given the tools - I'm excited to see what we can build with them.

[updated]: Great minds, yadda yadda yadda.

My fears

I've never seen a campaign like this before. I've seen presidential candidates viciously smeared and savagely attacked by partisans. But I haven't seen people yelling out "kill him," or "terrorist." I've never experienced the bestial morality of the modern presidential campaign taking aim at a person of color. I've never witnessed frightfully racialized gutter politics whipped up in the midst of a radical economic upheaval.

That only a small minority of John McCain's supporters vocally or visually express these sentiments is of little comfort to me. Others think it, and they think that those of us who are voting for Barack Obama are voting for a Muslim socialist communist terrorist Satan-worshipping traitor. In probable defeat, the McCain campaign is salting the earth, poisoning attempts to reach these people to solve common problems after the election. Whether intentional or not, I don't know. All I know is that there are going to be a not insignificant number of people who, already the victims of kleptocratic economic policies, are going to see their cultural and social values either be slowly marginalized (as with their views on same-sex marriage) or actively kicked to the curb (their racism) by a new majority. I don't know what this bodes, but I have an active and sometimes unpleasant imagination, and it does frighten me.

Classic

One of my favorite new sites is The Right Wing Professor. He's a Math professor in NY. I caught on to him because he is in an AFT union and blogs about how to get out of paying full dues and generally gripes about the union every now and again. When he's not doing that, he's regurgitating right-wing talking points and giving advice to the McCain campaign.

Today he popped up a post about how McCain should go after Obama as a tax and spender. As part of the post he wrote "History shows that raising taxes into the teeth of a recession brings about disastrous consequences." I asked him if he could provide two or three examples of this historical truth. Unfortunately, RWP is busy right now, but he'll totally get back to me with some examples when he gets the time. He did, however, have the time to dig up a link to an AP article wherein Obama says that if the economy continues to falter, then he might support renewing the tax cut for the wealthy.

RWP takes this as evidence that his general point is obvious even to the most liberal among us, rather than as evidence that Obama is a centrist with neoliberal tendencies.

1984 All Over Again

While I was nostalgizing 1984 earlier, I dialed up this listing of all the movies that came out that year. What a year. Sure cinephiles would blanch at the list, but for people around my age, it's a veritable what's-what of movies.

Take these weekends for example:

Feb 17: Blame It on Rio, Footloose
March 2: Against All Odds, This Is Spinal Tap, Repo Man
June 8: Beat Street, Ghostbusters, Gremlins
June 22: The Pope of Greenwich Village, Top Secret!, The Karate Kid
June 29: Bachelor Party, Cannonball Run II, Conan the Destroyer

Check it out. Lots more great movies.

New Poll - Best Album of 1984

Public Enemy once famously asked "Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy?" Well, I'd venture to reckon that the nominees for 1984 Album of the Year did.

At the side you'll find a poll asking you to choose the best album of 1984 as nominated by Grammy voters and the purchasers of record albums that fine year.

I don't want to influence your votes, but it will be interesting to see if any Culture Clubbers are reading the OG these days.

Also, because we have so many choices, definitely feel free to vote early and often.

A Tough Nut to Crack

Looking to kill a few minutes this morning, I headed over to NW Republican, a blog that Lex keeps mentioning. I now know why he is obsessed with ACORN. That whole blog is pretty much dedicated to "exposing" ACORN and their links to Obama. We are the products of what we read, so it makes sense that Lex thought this would be an issue, but I didn't and don't see it getting any traction. Americans have no idea what ACORN is and nothing they find out about it now is going to change their minds about Obama. Same goes for Ayers and the Weather Underground. In order for these attacks to work, the McCainiacs would have to do a massive job of educating people. This job of "education" would have to not look like racism/classism. I don't think people care. Especially with the Ayers stuff. No one wants to take the time to learn about what this guy was doing in the '60s. No one cares what ACORN is doing. Even if they could make people care about Ayers/ACORN, they would then have to try to tie Obama into it. This is what they have been doing and failing a massive scale.

As Kerry learned four years ago, Americans don't seem terribly interested in who was doing what in the '60s and '70s. Served in Vietnam or not, it doesn't matter. Spent the '70s drinking and doing coke? Doesn't matter. Repeatedly opposed a holiday for MLK? Meh. Good friends with G. Gordon Liddy? Who cares? Worked as a community organizer for a group that has ties to other groups that have ties to '60s-era radicals? No one cares.

Despite Krauthammer's hilarious attempt to say otherwise, no politician is perfectly clean and voters right now don't seem terribly interested in the dirt. Our economy is in the tank. Our health care system is broken. We are currently still bogged down in a war in the Middle East (but could win within the next 100 years!). We need solutions for tomorrow. A great American statesperson recently reminded us that we cannot move forward if we are pointing backwards. Fortunately, that's the only play McCain-Palin have left and it is not going to work.

done

done.

William the Bloody Stupid

Others are rightly mocking Bill Kristol for advising the McCain camp to "fire the campaign" in his column today. Many people in the comments of the article are pointing out to Bill that just last week he was encouraging the campaign to go on the attack, whereas he now decries the bitterness of the campaign.

Two other things caught my attention. One, he advises the campaign to stop running ads and use the money to buy half-hour "televised town halls and half-hour addresses in prime time." The second thing that bugged me was his suggestion that McCain invite Obama and Biden to join him and Palin for a few of these town halls "on the ground that more joint appearances might restore civility and substance to the contest."

This kind of drivel must drive serious (and I use this word purposefully) campaign managers crazy. For some unknown reason, Kristol has big influence among an important set of Republicans, so there's a danger that influential people will take him seriously. For reasons even more unknown, Kristol writes for the NYT, which is still considered an important paper. In other words, people might read the ideas that Kristol is spitting up and think that they have merit. They do not.

McCain is using public financing because he believes in the power of the government. He gets $84 million for the campaign. How much does Kristol think it might cost to buy a half-hour of prime time on a major television network? I estimate that your average network show earns around $2 million per half-hour. Does he think they'd show it for free? Does he think a network would jump at the chance to run a serious of free television commercials for John McCain? Does he think people want to watch a half-hour "town hall" with John and Sarah? Not after the first one, where people realized that all were going to get is softball questions from partisans.

Then, there's the idea that Obama and Biden would entertain the notion of elevating the campaign by appearing with John and Sarah. Apparently, Bill lives in a universe where candidates who are going to walk home to victories by large margins suddenly decide that their opponents need some help and it is their duty, for civility purposes, to help them out. Especially when it is their opponents who have lowered the civility quotient by comparing them to terrorists and smiling when people scream "kill him."

In the end, another fine column by the Right's leading thinker.

Crap/Not Crap

Mutton chops. Your input decides the direction of my facial hair.

Polling Results

Obama wins!

Okay first off, who were the two people that were predicting an Obama defeat? (One person changed their vote). I like the idea that we have secret doubters partolling the blog. You are welcome here.

Second off, I kind of feel like this is an episode of the McLaughlin Group and you've all given me your predictions. Here's where I say, "The correct answer is..."

Greater than 330 is the right answer. Current projections have Obama at 351. Everything is breaking Obama. In the 20th century, the winner of the election has averaged 402.6.

As much as I hate to say it, I think we're going to do this thing!

Awesomely Emerald

Writing with the big group means that I feel a little awkward about bashing on the local college paper, feeling like I should be playing at a higher level. Still, I can't let this editorial go, as it echoes one of my main beefs.

According to Meredith LaFrance, buying organic fruit and vegetables is not worth it because it costs more. Sure, it's better for the environment, but it costs more, so it's a hassle and not worth it.

I'm not entirely sure why this observation is worthy of being published, but Meredith had words and the Emerald had space, so here we are.

As always, I call on my GTF friends to flunk this person without mercy.

Carolina on my mind

While we're at it, let me toss in a "Me three!" in response to Dave and Wobs.

As most of you know, I recently returned to my home state of North Carolina after more than a decade away. I have a funny relationship with this place. I grew up ashamed to live here and to have been born a Southerner. I remained here as an undergraduate, partly due to a (deeply flawed) assumption/self-delusion that Chapel Hill, being "more liberal" than the surrounding areas, was progressive enough to be tolerable. But I found that experience frustrating and couldn't get out and escape to the left coast for graduate school fast enough. Being in the west was transformative on many levels, including a shift in the way I viewed my "home": Eugene quickly made me realize that Chapel Hill was wishy-washy liberal at best. My Southern shame intensified exponentially in response to assumptions made about me based on my origins and the slight hint of an accent that I still carried--that I was ignorant or a racist, that my education was sub-standard. At times it was a shame mixed with defensiveness, given that Oregon (and later, California and New York) didn't seem to be doing that much better with race relations. Why should those of us born in the South carry the stigma of a problem that seemed to permeate the entire country? But eventually I was able to gain some perspective and distance and see my birthplace for what it was--neither solely responsible for historic or ongoing racism nor innocent enough to merit a defensive from its natives. I was glad to be out and put NC on my mental list of "couldn't force me to live there" states.

But fate is a funny thing...and despite that vow, here I am again. Only, this is not the place I grew up or the place I left. The demographics of the state have shifted profoundly in the last decade. NC has experienced incredible growth, and the new population is considerably less white and more liberal. Changing demographics and the tanking economy (hitting this state is some particularly harsh ways) are just two factors that are changing the political landscape here.

So imagine my surprise to see that my home state is now a pleasing shade of Carolina blue. Obama's chances are looking better by the day and Elizabeth Dole will almost certainly be ousted by her Democratic challenger. It is, in a word, unbelievable.


As if I needed more proof that something profound is happening around me, I found this is my mailbox this morning. Dean Smith might as well be God around these parts (minus the plantation in Durham).

These are amazing times, my friends. I am glad we are all here in this space to witness it and sort it all out together.

Oh Jonah, How Can You Be So Wrong Being So Right?

I agree whole-heartedly with Jonah Goldberg.

The real hints for how to choose a candidate, at least in a general election (as opposed to a primary), reside in the realm of judgment, philosophy, track record and temperament. And, using those criteria, the choice shouldn’t be hard at all.

Only one candidate had the judgment to know that invading Iraq would be a terrible mistake. The other candidate predicted it would be over quickly and we'd be greeted as liberators with candy and flowers.

Only one candidate believes that government can be a force for good, protecting people from the worst excess of our capitalist system. The other candidate believes that government is always bad and the free market can solve all problems (the "how" is left unstated).

Only one candidate has a track record he is willing to stand by when he runs for office. The other candidate has come back into the fold when power is on the line.

Only one candidate is cool, calm, and collected. The other candidate is a cranky old man who looks in need of a good nap much of the time.

See, the choice shouldn't be too hard at all.

Terra incognito

To second dave's sense of wonder, "wow" describes a lot of things I'm seeing right now. Honestly, I'm lacking any sort of historical reference to which I can grab and gain some sort of insight into what might happen. A black man is the odds-on favorite to be president of the United States. An economic catastrophe makes it likely that we will see a fundamental reordering of the premises of the financial world (although like dave, I'm not ready to call it the "end of capitalism"). And most worrying to me, a segment of the population - as a consequence of the two previous points, a decades long diet of eliminationist rhetoric, and candidates for high office willing to light a match - seems on the verge of a very ugly explosion. What does this all mean? Hell if I know, but I have a sense of unease unlike anything before.

Wow

Krugman won the Nobel in economics. I thought these things only went to Joes that spouted off about the wonderousness of the market.

Reminds me that with this economic crisis, I've been beginning to feel like a whole of of shit is possible now. There was a big editorial in the RG yesterday about how leaders around the world are declaring the end of laissez-faire capitalism and the free market. I'm not quite there yet. The Dow rallies for a week and makes it back to 10K and a whole lot of people will be assuring us that this was temporary and we should all trust in the power of those markets.

And I also understand that it in no way serves Barack's interests to start talking about the end of capitalism, but couldn't we get one of those dog whistles I hear so much about?

Prisonship Relief Crew: the closers, the night shift

i have returned to the home basin for a closing 1.5-2 hour spell of editorializing. tommorow AM will be a time of horrific feats of copy editing and god knows a tossed-off segue paragraph thrown in here and there.

but i think i'm rounding the top of the dune, at this point. i think the lunar shuttle has found its Wal Mart parking lot, to coin a very popular(, practically ubiquitous) phrase.

thanks to everybody who read along as i loaded brain matter into the slingshot and slung it forth. or - horror! - am i celebrating too soon?

nobody here but me

actually, my new supervisors have come in and out today (Sun.) it's weird to: go somewhere seeking utter silence; get cocky about having it; and then be interrupted and placed into a series of hat-in-hand, earnest-young-lad-style send-ups. one is reminded of Catholic school.

i went out for a plate of eggs a moment ago - something i feel like doing less and less since about 2000. that said, i went to a place that's about the closest thing Eugene has to the Wafflehouse. there's something about academic stress and spray-on butter substitutes that go together in my head like tax cuts and union-busting go together for all the Good-Time-Charlies sur le Right.

otherwise everything's fine here in the prospectus box. we're just sighing, and blogging, as a way of recognizing the passage of time.

and special thanks to minx (a.k.a. 'evil r + b guy," a.k.a. "the Rugged Child") for all of his verbal moral support.

also, looking fwd to an afternoon "express" summit conference w/robes (pic. above, circa 1998) before i unfurl my Research Program, flap it around, then hold it down with tent spikes.

Every day at work, activists and organizers in Oregon’s public-service unions confront two definitive symptoms of neoliberal political life: the privatization of once-public services and the dramatic reduction in overall union membership that have occurred since the 1970s. Theorists of neoliberalism cite privatization and union decline as two key developments within the U.S. political economy that have accompanied the era’s characteristic upward redistribution of wealth and the overall political and ideological “delegitimization of of Keynesian assumptions and policies underlying redistribution” (Baker 2007; Morgen 2008)...

Prisonship Away Game

If my dissertation prospectus marathon were not a marathon, but in fact a four-quarter American Football Derby... Well, I would say we're in the second quarter of an away game: working out of the new workplace, replete with minimal windows, panel lighting and flimsy upholstered conference room chairs. I'm in love, that's right.

I will alternate between a run and shoot offense and a wishbone formation during odd/even quarters. If you read this, please feel free to call in plays from the sidelines.

Not Even ACORN Can Help Notre Dame Steal Enough Top 25 Votes

even jocks are taking time outta their schedules to hate ACORN.

Prisonship Politico GameDay

The importance of race and gender in the current US presidential campaign has, of course, been a function of the salience of racism and sexism—which is to say, discrimination—in American society; a fact that was emphasized by post-primary stories like the New York Times’s ‘Age Becomes the New Race and Gender’.1 It is no doubt difficult to see ageism as a precise equivalent—after all, part of what is wrong with racism and sexism is that they supposedly perpetuate false stereotypes whereas, as someone who has just turned 60, I can attest that a certain number of the stereotypes that constitute ageism are true. But the very implausibility of the idea that the main problem with being old is the prejudice against your infirmities, rather than the infirmities themselves, suggests just how powerful discrimination has become as the model of injustice in America; and so how central overcoming it is to our model of justice.From this standpoint, the contest between Obama and Clinton was a triumph, displaying, as it did, both the great strides made toward the goal of overcoming racism and sexism, and the great distance still to go towards that goal. It made it possible, in other words, to conceive of America as a society headed in the right direction but with a long road to travel. The attraction of this vision—not only to Americans but around the world—is obvious. The problem is that it is false.
-Walter Benn Micheals, Against Diversity

• Dean Baker on how we musn't be confusing the credit crunch with the recession. We have so many problems on so many fronts that even the Washington Post is wondering if "capitalism" is "dead."

• DLC Chair (la-di-da!) Harold Ford on McCain's full descent into Lee Atwater mode, and Ben Smith on the right-wing base's unwillingness to come back from the "mysterious" frame Palin et. al. have sought to set around BHO.

• Ezra Klein explaining why, despite all, I will miss being part of the vertically-integrated Kaiser Permanente "system."

• Good to see some actual sane people speaking up for ACORN, btw. If you're wondering what the Right's problem is, let me explain: ACORN have registered 1.3million poor people to vote. That's just not what the GOP is in to.

I'll Nationalize Your Banks, Mister

On my way home from work, I was listening to the NPR. I know, I know, it's Friday and I should have been rocking out to Loverboy, but I had been working all day and hadn't caught up on the news. Thought maybe I might hear some news on that Palin and the Troopergate.

Instead, I got a story on Paulson from the G8 Conference. Apparently, the US government will be handing large sums of money to banks so they can give it to other people. In exchange, we get an undefined "equity stake" in those banks. Fortunately, all signs are that the government will remain pretty hands off when it comes to control of that money. Whew! Almost had some European-style socialism there.

Fortunately, host Robert Siegel wasn't going to let this situation go with out some harding hitting questions to the reporter bring us the right-wing talking points story. Like, "why give money directly to the banks, instead of to people to pay off their mortgages to these banks?" Question is legit, the complete lack of follow up is not. The reporter let us know that giving to the banks was a much more efficient way to get liquidity in the market. You see, banks can lend out $10 for every dollar they get from the government.

Now, if you're me, it might strike you that banks giving out ten times the loans than they had capital to cover is what got us in this mess in the first place. I know it's way more complicated than that, but boiled way down (until it tastes like mud), the problem we are having is that banks and other financial institutions lent money to people who couldn't pay it back. Enough of those people don't pay back, say 11%, and you can't cover your obligations.

Siegel does not follow up along these lines. Instead, he asks "How close is this to nationalization?" And I'm like "How close is this to nationalization?" It's the fucking opposite of nationalization. This is not the state seizing control of private corporations in the interests of the people. This is the state giving itself to private corporations in the interest of the corporations.

Then Siegel suggests that we haven't seen anything like this since Jackson. Oh yes. This is exactly like the US Bank. The government being responsible for the direction of capital growth in this country through control of the vast portion of capital in the country, and the government tuning over large chunks of the people's capital to privately held banks. Practically the same thing.

Sweet jeebus. This is about as far way from Sweden as you can get. All those earning more than $250,000 can calm the fuck down. We're not seizing your wealth. We're giving you ours.

It's at moments like this that I regret being in the liberal elite.

EW Letter of the Week

Most blogs wouldn't have the courage to make fun of a desperate plea on behalf of a sick woman. This blog has no such qualms.

I think it is the presumption in the first sentence. Or maybe it is the fact I am asked to imagine someone in my heart, which is not generally considered the locus of most imaginings. It probably has something to do with the notion that getting your kid to realize their owies don't actually hurt all that much is equated with "healing." What ever the cause, I want to punch these people in the face blog about how disgusted I am with them.

A PRAYER FOR ANDREA

Whether you believe in God or you simply trust the universe, we all have seen the healing power of our prayers, wishes and love.

As parents, we hold our kids in our arms when they hurt. We whisper words of love, we hold them against our heart, and we make them feel better.

A month ago, our dear friend Andrea contracted a virus that attacked her heart. In only a few days, this strong woman, who took care of everyone as a mother and a physical therapist, almost lost her life as her heart lost its function. She is now at OHSU, fighting for her life.

There is not much we can do for Andrea’s medical condition, but there is much we can do to help her heal. Imagine Andrea in your heart (a tall, fit, gorgeous blond woman). Imagine her as healthy and full of life as she always is, and wish her everything you would wish to your child or your friend when they hurt. Trust your faith, trust the universe and trust the healing power you carry in your heart, as it all conveys the same: Andrea, we love you and we want you back home healthier then ever.

The more people we have sending these positive healing thoughts to Andrea, the more the impossible can happen. You may not know Andrea, but your positive thoughts will help create the healing energy she needs. Her story, just like her life, touches us all.

Ronit Cohen, James Cloutier, Eugene

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Two things tonight:

Hockey season starts tonight and the defending NHL champion Detroit Red Wings are taking on the hated Toronto Maple Leafs. As a side note, anybody know anybody that would want an XL Pavel Datsuk jersey? I got one I don't need.

Life on Mars premiers tonight on ABC at 10 pm. Ginger and I are watching the British version and it's really good. Hopefully it won't be Americanized too much. Or should I say that I hope it is Americanized well. The early criticism of The Office was that they copied the British version exactly and the actors were basically trying to act like other actors. I want Harvey Keitel and Micael Imperioli to act in the badass way they do. There have also been reports that the New York of 1973 on the show is not as gritty as the real 1973, which is a shame. In many ways, the tension on the show derives from the 1973 cops behaving in a way that is about to coming crashing down on them. The audience knows that there is about to be a backlash against everything they do, but they have no idea and proceed as if they have no other choice. The tension also comes from the fact that our hero knows that the way the cops behave is wrong, but he is tempted by the ease of the shortcuts and violence. The hero is forced to ask which is more important "rights" or "justice" and if the two can be seperated. A good show and I'm hoping it comes off, as I only have nine more episodes of the British version left to watch.

Prance Around the Horn

1. i am an unkempt, cave-dwelling Dungeons and Dragons character at this point, in case you were wondering. you were, right? srsly?
   
2. Bill Sizemore - Oregon's very own ballot initiative villain - is spending NV Foundation money on braces for his daughter?
   
3. Thomas Pynchon is rolling out a pulp-y detective novel?
4. All this MLA talk about blogs and academic publishing makes me wonder if anybody's figured out how to export citations from blogs into already-existing bibliographic software.
   
5. Listen, we all love Astral Weeks. But this sounds like a bad idea, Van.
6. This clip of the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka speaking to the Steelworkers re: Obama, race and industrial unionism (?!?) is emblematic of labor's moving, pro-Obama spirit at the DNC. It's worth the five minutes of your time.
7. There's too much anti-Acorn-hate-porn to count, these days, but here's an awesome, hilarious, drafty exposition about Saul Alinsky and the ACORN and godless socialism, etc., courtesy of the always-alert NW Republican.
   
8. Philosopher Bill Martin writes an honest account of attempting to bridge the gap between intellectuals and the US Far Left, which in this case includes collaborations with Zizek and RCP Charismatic Figure Bob Avakian. Some of my favorite reading of the last month.
9. I would love to hear some Michigan-type-people's opinions on the $25 Billion Detroit bailout, by the way. Is this what "The Treaty of Detroit" looks like in the neoliberal era: 1950 as tragedy, 2008 as farce?
   

Night Shift Fodder

1) "The last few years have been marked by an inverted millenarianism in which the premonitions of the future, catastrophic or redemptive, have been replaced by senses of the end of this or that." -F. Jameson

2) Doug Henwood's latest radio broadcast features two political economists from York University - Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin discussing the possibility that this last financial crisis may, in fact, be, the "one" that precipitates a new style of capitalism: a restructuring in the relations of production, you know? So what comes after neoliberalism? There is no reason to be dumbly optimistic about it, whatever it is, as Henwood concludes in a powerful editorial in the new Nation:

Although we're hearing a lot now about how the Reagan era is over and the era of big government is back, an expanded government isn't likely to do much more than rescue a failing financial system (in addition to the more familiar pursuits of waging war and jailing people). Nothing more humane will be pursued without a far more energized populace than we have.

Henwood's is the most timely commentary on the bailout and its long/short-term stakes that I have heard/read. Apparently this is one area where I fall out with Pete De Fazio and Dean Baker, and fall in with Paul Krugman and Barney Frank. Weird. 'Makes me uncomfortable, but so does the ongoing financial collapse, and so do the prospects of the restructuring of the US fiscal/labor/monetary policies that are about to go down under either BHO or the Maverick. I think the consequences of moves made around this bailout and the subsequent restructuring of global finance will be decisive for the long-term prospects of the "working class" at home and "globalization's discontents" abroad, moreso even than election outcomes this year. But obviously the two variables are fatefuly related to one another.

3) Libertarian stalwart and initiative also-ran Howard "Howie" Rich returns to the scene in South Carolina?!?!?

Doctoral Candidacy - Boarding the Lorry!

I dunno how much or how little I'm going to be posting for a few days more, because it's time to close the deal with this crazy proposed doctoral research blah-blah. In the interim my advice to one and all is, watch out for the flame.

He's got questions - very angry questions

Andy McCarthy:

Now, as the night went along, did you get the impression that Obama comes from the radical Left? Did you sense that he funded Leftist causes to the tune of tens of millions of dollars? Would you have guessed that he's pals with a guy who brags about bombing the Pentagon? Would you have guessed that he helped underwrite raging anti-Semites? Would you come away thinking, "Gee, he's proposing to transfer nearly a trillion dollars of wealth to third-world dictators through the UN"?

My responses to McCarthy's questions in the order in which they were delivered:
1)No.
2)Are you confusing Obama with George Soros?
3)Are y'all really still trying to ride this Ayers thing?
4)Wha?
5)[head explodes]

Difficult Ipod Transitions

Minor Threat's Guilty Of Being White to Foreigner's Dirty White Boy.

Last debate open thread

Second Debate Thread

I reiterate my calling out of Lex.

Debate Open Thread

Let's get this party started right!

The Following Makes Perfect Sense to Some People

I want to get this right, so help me out when I go astray.

The fundamentals of the economy are strong. Although there does seem to be a credit crunch on. But this is largely a crisis of confidence. Brought about, in part, because Wall Street is terrified of an Obama presidency. Things would get better if people had more confidence in the economy. So it is important not to blow things out of proportion. But it is also important that we give Wall Street $700 billion now. Immediately. At least, according to the Bush administration. Which has had a hand in guiding the economy for the last eight years, based on the same principles that have largely governed American economic policy for the last 28 years. But this administration and these policies are not responsible for the current crisis, which again, is largely a crisis based on the fear of an Obama presidency. And, possibly, because of the last remnants of the old economy. Almost certainly because some people had false expectations of home ownership. And banks were forced to give home loans to blacks. We do know that the best way to avert a crisis is to not support Obama, which will make Wall Street feel better. In the end, vote McCain and avert economic crisis.

Does that about sum it up?

A Pre-Warning Warning

Don't forget to join us for some hot, hot debate commenting on this very blog. Tonight.

AM/PM, FM Hits (for Him)

Insomnia is the mother of invention. Like this morning before sunrise, when I realized how easy it is to sing "I hate my fucking life" to the tune of the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why."

Today's gonna be good.

Woulda coulda shoulda

Shorter Pat Boone: Democrats really would've made history had they nominated a black anti-affirmative action Republican.

Wherein I am named as a "known associate" of Barack Hussein Obama

Maybe you've heard that the ongoing collapse of the contemporary global finance regime was caused by greedy brown people buying sweet cribs they couldn't afford with a sub-prime mortgage. But did you know that this was all part of a plot to completely destroy capitalism, and Obama is right in the thick of it? Kinda?

At how many different points can you work yourself into the vast left-wing conspiracy that in thirty short days will usher in the dawn of the Soviet Socialist Republic of America? I'm betraying America at least five times, according to the chart.