Third Party?

Here's one of the better articles I've read about the viability of a third party in America. My favorite quote:

"never underestimate the depth or the power of Boomer selfishness!"

What about plan (ii)?

The secretary of Defense said that the pentagon is in the process of creating a plan for leaving Iraq, and apparently it's a priority. Which I am real glad to hear, at least it shows someone is planning for something somewhere. Granted it's not the first plan that was made- being preceded by shock and awe, get Saddam(mission accomplished), find WMD's, build a big wall, and surge- but it's good just knowing there is a plan for something. The broken record was getting old.

Zoom Happy

Filming a musical only small video showing on the screen in the convention hall at the debates tonight, CNN thought it would be a good idea to zoom out real far so you couldnt read the words in the video. Nice.

How about a seperate feed for the videos so you can see them?



UPDATE: I'm not the only one to have this same compmlaint: WaPo

Tech not so savvy

Bill Richardson calls Touchscreens (voting machines) 'Touchtones'

CNN & Youtube

There are some live debates you can watch on the internet...and its all you would expect from that combination. Small video size, audio problems, no time-shift on the webcast...

Left of what?

In this article, the washington post had a strange caption under Feingold's picture:



"In this photograph provided by "Meet the Press", Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wisc., left, speaks as he is interviewed by moderator Tim Russert during a taping of "Meet the Press" at the NBC studios Sunday, July 22, 2007 in Washington. Feingold said Sunday he wants Congress to censure President Bush for his management of the Iraq war and his "assault" against the Constitution. (AP Photo/Meet the Press, Alex Wong) (Alex Wong - AP)"

Since he is the only one in the picture, why the left qualifier?

If only

We had a DEA for defense contractors.

Great headline, or greatest headline ever?

You be the judge...

Bush butt probed, Cheney in charge

A Cruise for Ed

Edgrimly didn't seem enthused about my suggested vacation resort destinations for him. Maybe he would enjoy this cruise?

O'Reilly joins us....sort of

On Thursday, Bill O'Reilly voiced some concerns, belatedly, about the Iraq occupation. While I would usually be happy to welcome newcomers to the fold, something about this doesn't sit well. How very courageous of Bill to voice what almost everyone in America has already figured out, a long time ago, even many FOX news viewers. Gee, it's not going well over there? Maybe I should say something about it then so I don't look like a buffoon.
It still is Bill O'Reilly though, so there still are many things he said here I'd like to argue with, but I'll save that for another time. Right now I'd just like to be appreciative of how the tide is turning.

As a parting gift, a few O'Reillyisms:

"If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush Administration again, all right?" -March 18, 2003

"You actually have an influence on this presidential election. That is scary...But it is. It's true. I mean, you've got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night, OK, and they can vote." -Sep. 17, 2004


"You can't produce one person who's been tortured by the United States. You cannot produce one. And neither can NBC News and neither can..." -March 20, 2007


Lesbian Gangs

What country are MLB fans from?

I was trying to buy some Brewer's tickets, and needed to create an MLB.com account before I could get tickets. I'm curious what country most people are from who do this. When I got to the part where I had to select my country, *required field, I had to scroll way down near the bottom of the list to select 'United States'. The first two choices were: -- and Afghanistan. Is it that hard to put the country most of the baseball fans are from (hint: if you can read this you're probably in it) at the top of the list?
It's not as if this is the only place that does that. I haven't kept track, but would guess that they haven't done that on at least half the times I have had to choose from a list like that.
Now that I've wasted my time scrolling through the country list, and then more time complaining about it, my tickets have probably been sold in the meantime.

Stick it to the man...

in the van

I would have liked a bridge in there

The picks are mostly good for the new 7 man-made wonders. But I would have liked to have a bridge in the group somewhere, instead of maybe the Chichén Itzá.

My two favorites would be either the Golden Gate














Or the Tsing Ma















They're not the longest in the world, but I think the best looking.

Keg stands 4 global warming

Live Earth has been criticized for it's hypocrisy and lack of booze. As an alternative, how about "keg-stand day"

Every person will have an event site within biking distance (and you'd probably be allowed to take the bus to go to one outside of your range). If you want to go, you can do keg-stands all day. So there's no plastic cups.
You can even listen to your favorite bands on your solar powered satellite radio. Or maybe...all the Live Earth performers could have a live webcast of themselves performing in their home cities, that you can view for free on solar powered i-phones you can rent, all made with bio-plastics of course.

The American drunkfest celebration to raise awareness of the ill-effects of doing things.

As for the Journal review...

"...It's an interesting illustration of the power of art to disengage critical thought. For an encore, Waters did "Another Brick in the Wall." Probably not too many middle-age Pink Floyd fans would endorse Waters' view of public education as an instrument of oppression, but put it in a catchy chorus, and 23,000 people sing along."

Right you are. In much the same way, if you would find yourself at a Sir Mix-a-Lot concert, you might see thousands (OK, couple hundred) of poeple sing "I like big butts and I cannot lie..." who, in actuality, do not like large posteriors.

I like Christian rock, but what's with all the Jesus stuff?

I paid good money to see Jesus'n'Me4Eva, so why do I have to sit through all that Bible thumping?

That's the gist of what this and that reviews had to say about the Roger Waters Summerfest show on Monday Night. At least Rick Esenberg was familiar enough with the performer he paid good money to see to expect some political content at the show.

First off, you're not paying to see a movie, opera, or symphony orchestra. You're seeing a rock concert, a part of which has just about always been the performer saying things to the audience between songs. If you're worried about all the 'music time' you missing out on when the artist is speaking, perhaps you should stay home and put in your Dark Side LP and forgo the live show which might have more than simply back to back song recitals.

Another thing to expect at a rock show: words and images that will get across to a large audience, who are largely under the influence. Again, you're at a rock show, not a debate at the university. I wasn't at this particular Waters show (perhaps due to the large number of people who only know Pink Floyd and Waters by the few Floyd songs they have heard on the radio spending so much of their hard earned money to drive up ticket prices and sell out the show), but I have seen him perform, and I would definitely rank his political content much higher than the 'Boot in your Ass' variety prevalent in today's pop-country (even the giant pig).
His show is not debating the fine points of Bush's foreign policy (there is fine points to it?). It's not doing an in-depth analysis of the Palestinian-Israeli land dispute. It is brushing with broad strokes. One might even say it is more about creating an atmosphere or emotional state more than politically educating. You might even see some non-literal comparisons, made simply to evoke an emotional response.

So write your blog, complain about anything non-conservative being shown in public, take the intellectual cop out and say "I would make a counterargument, but what he said was half-witted/infantile" and show how limited your understanding is of anything that isn't spelled out for you (Oh, wait, it was), but please stay home next time so that the tickets can be used by someone who will enjoy it. If holding hands and pitching woo is your thing, go see Merle Haggard.

Extra

Great Moments in My Smoothness #1

Playing frisbee with a girl on Sunday, I bounded left to catch an errant frisbee headed for the road. What I didn't notice was the tree stump strategically placed between myself and the frisbee. After feeling a pain in my toe caused by hitting the stump, I managed to arch my back and avoid planting my face in the pavement; landing instead on my chest and stomach. It still hurts 3 days later.

Harvesting Range

Has it been increased? Fishing especially?