[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcVI0-xESCQ[/youtube]
At this point, donations to this are far more effective than donations to the Obama campaign.  More info here.
Month: October 2008 Page 6 of 12
Two things go perfectly together, tonight. First, this interview with Berkeley Breathed, on bringing Opus to an end (killing him?!):
Breathed says it’s the anger that led him to close the book on “Opus,” that the increasingly nasty political climate has made it too difficult to keep his strip from drifting into darkness. Breathed has described his work as a hybrid of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz’s gentle humor and Michael Moore’s crusading social justice. Perhaps losing touch with his inner Charlie Brown, Breathed has said that “a mad penguin, like a mad cartoonist, isn’t very lovable,” and wants Opus to take his final bow before bitterness changes him forever.
And yes, it’s a repeat, but apt:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0G9vDKcdLg[/youtube]
I would never, in a million years, have imagined this possible:
That’s 100,000 people who went through a good amount of time and effort in order to participate in the American political process. It’s also a suggestion that I still have much to learn about this country, and the people in it. And I’m thrilled to be reminded of that like this.
Jacob Weisberg, writing in Slate:
[T]he libertarian apologetics fall wildly short of providing any convincing explanation for what went wrong. The argument as a whole is reminiscent of wearying dorm-room debates that took place circa 1989 about whether the fall of the Soviet bloc demonstrated the failure of communism. Academic Marxists were never going to be convinced that anything that happened in the real world could invalidate their belief system. Utopians of the right, libertarians are just as convinced that their ideas have yet to be tried, and that they would work beautifully if we could only just have a do-over of human history. Like all true ideologues, they find a way to interpret mounting evidence of error as proof that they were right all along.
To which the rest of us can only respond, Haven’t you people done enough harm already?
Heh. Here’s the rest.
(And with that, I’m going back to my libertarian comment system ways, and turning off the moderation. The spam seems to have abated. However, I’m heading off for the day, so if there’s an avalanche of it . . .)
Much like Friday Notes, it’s a mess. Most Weekend Music comes from a theme that’s built over the week, but this is just what’s been in rotation lately.
First, we have my favorite track from the last couple of weeks – Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass. Incredible flow with some thought behind it:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1u43KDiWD0[/youtube]
You might have heard about the Obama radio spot cut by an old bluegrass talent, week before last. His name is Ralph Stanley, and this is him many years ago:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJqULQpGTQ0[/youtube]
And a classic that’s been appealing, lately:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssKtIni9adA[/youtube]
Bonus earworm – Lil Mama’s Lip Gloss:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylSeoUUR3Es[/youtube]
Here’s a political attack that never occurred to me:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown this week accused Democrats of spreading a false rumor that he is a vegetarian in this meat-loving state.
“I am not and have never been a vegetarian,” Brown said.
“I am disgusted by the baseless allegation that I am a vegetarian and that my personal eating habits should somehow be construed as opposed to the economic interests of Montana’s livestock industry.”
Really? I mean, I’m no stranger to people’s reactions to vegetarians. Hell, I might even be able to claim some special familiarity with the Montana political reaction to vegetarians – a couple of years ago, I was at a dinner table next to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT). Some sort of apparently wonderful sirloin steak was the menu for the evening, and when the server brought my plate, I declined and asked for something veg. It brought comment from the rest of the table (who were mostly the sort of folks one might imagine would want to have dinner with Conrad Burns), but he just briefly looked at me sideways, shrugged his shoulders, and kept on eating. He’s not exactly the most tolerant fellow in the world, so I figure if it wasn’t a big deal to him, I can’t imagine it’s a big deal to other Montanans.
Atrios points out the obvious, in response to “there are more voters on the rolls than people in town!” cries:
When people move, most do not bother to contact their local elections board and ask to be removed from the voter rolls. When people die, most do not bother to contact their local elections board and ask to be removed from the voter rolls.
I was probably part of this problem when I was in college. I suspect there was a time in Georgia in which I was listed on the voter rolls of at least three different counties in the Atlanta area. Whenever I moved I just registered in the new county. It never even occured to me that that action didn’t simultaenously remove me from the rolls of the previous county. I’d happily support a plan to put such a system in place, but there are about a dozen more important elections issues that should addressed first.
So I’ve fallen off with the Friday notes the past couple of weeks, which means the inventory of things left unnoted is a bit of a mess. Thus the scattershot approach today:
I’m not really a fan of either journalist involved, but this Matt Taibbi-Byron York conversation about the origin of the financial crisis amused me greatly:
M.T.: No. That is what you call a figure of speech. I’m saying that you’re talking about individual homeowners defaulting. But these massive companies aren’t going under because of individual homeowner defaults. They’re going under because of the myriad derivatives trades that go on in connection with each piece of debt, whether it be a homeowner loan or a corporate bond. I’m still waiting to hear what your idea is of how these trades work. I’m guessing you’ve never even heard of them.
I mean really. You honestly think a company like AIG tanks because a bunch of minorities couldn’t pay off their mortgages?
B.Y.: When you refer to “Phil Gramm’s Commodities Future Modernization Act,” are you referring to S.3283, co-sponsored by Gramm, along with Senators Tom Harkin and Tim Johnson?
M.T.: In point of fact I’m talking about the 262-page amendment Gramm tacked on to that bill that deregulated the trade of credit default swaps.
Tick tick tick. Hilarious sitting here while you frantically search the Internet to learn about the cause of the financial crisis — in the middle of a live chat interview.
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I went through the Houlton, Maine border crossing to get to Canada last week. This is how the process went, as I pulled up in my car next to the booth:
Canada: Hi, folks. What’s the length and purpose of your trip to Canada?
Me: Just a bit of fun. Camping and cycling up around Cape Breton. For a week or so.
Canada: Do you know where you’re going?
Me: I hope so!
Canada:Â Okay, have a good trip.
Me: Thanks! [begins to release the break]
Canada: Oh, wait – you don’t have any weapons or firearms, do you?
Me: Nope! Bye! [and I drive away]
And this? This is what folks heading into the US at that same crossing have to deal with on the American side:
Keene Valley resident Jerilea Zempel was detained at the U.S. border this summer because she had a drawing of a sport-utility vehicle in her sketchbook.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told Zempel they suspected her of copyright infringement.
She was released after more than an hour in custody at the Houlton, Maine, port of entry from New Brunswick, Canada.
Her release came only after she persuaded border guards she was an artist doing a project that involved a crocheted SUV as a statement against America’s dependence on oil and love for big vehicles.
You have to click through to see the “industrial spy” level drawing.
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This dKos post reminds us of something we need to be aware of when considering traditional media characterizations of the state of the presidential race:
Every state in which McCain has a lead, even if it’s just 2.2%, is a “leaning Republican”. Every state in which Obama has the lead, even if it’s over 10 percent, is a “battleground”.
[ . . . ]
They are invested in the horserace for ratings purposes, and they are certainly fearful of being accused of pro-Obama bias. So instead of providing an accurate picture for their readers, they misinform them.
I mean, Washington Post really thinks New Jersey is a battleground state? Really?
Yup.
~
Who didn’t get that “I bet this is a crock of shit” feeling when McCain trotted out the Joe the Plumber claims at the debate? And if you didn’t get it at that moment, I sure hope it came when he was interviewed the next morning. In any event, yes, it’s pretty much as fraudulent as you thought it was.
Semi-related: a well-written response to all the idiots who hopped on the “spread the wealth” line around and yelled “socialism!”
Jeffery Goldberg has spent the past couple of years demonstrating (for himself, apparently) what an utter joke the TSA’s system has become. And I’m not just talking about simple little things – like the small blade I usually carry, or the fact that I’ve decided to just leave the liquids in my bag – but things that would make even me think there might be an actual threat:
During one secondary inspection, at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, I was wearing under my shirt a spectacular, only-in-America device called a “Beerbelly,†a neoprene sling that holds a polyurethane bladder and drinking tube. The Beerbelly, designed originally to sneak alcohol—up to 80 ounces—into football games, can quite obviously be used to sneak up to 80 ounces of liquid through airport security. (The company that manufactures the Beerbelly also makes something called a “Winerack,†a bra that holds up to 25 ounces of booze and is recommended, according to the company’s Web site, for PTA meetings.) My Beerbelly, which fit comfortably over my beer belly, contained two cans’ worth of Bud Light at the time of the inspection. It went undetected. The eight-ounce bottle of water in my carry-on bag, however, was seized by the federal government.
If the Presidential candidates are looking for a budget to cut? Start at the TSA. I don’t need someone spending this amount of money to simply (try to) make me feel better.
Josh Marshall reminds us:
DC Republicans have been aggressively lobbying the DOJ to open an investigation into ACORN in advance of the election. And leaking word of such an investigation (possibly starting the investigation at all) most likely violates DOJ guidelines about DOJ/FBI actions which can end up interfering with or manipulating an election.
But, remember, this is right out of the book of the Bush Justice Department’s efforts to assist in GOP voter suppression efforts in the 2004 and 2006 elections (part and parcel of the US Attorney firing story). This is the same scam US Attorney firing player Bradley Schlozman got in trouble for pulling with ACORN just before the 2006 election. And before he got canned, Gonzales helped revise and soften the departmental prohibition on DOJ announcements, thus making it easier to play these kinds of games.
Kind of early to be scraping the bottom of the barrel, no?