Politics
gregladen | September 26, 2008It was fourteen years ago today that New Gingrich, then Leader of the Republican Delegation to the United States House of Represented initiated the absurd stunt known as the Contract on America (or something close to that, anyway). The Contract was originally circulated as a joke internet meme that was accidentally picked up by congressional staffers and converted into policy.
Well, that's not really true, but that is what it looked like. Those of you who are not Americans, were not Americans at the time or who are too young, and thus have no memory of this travesty: Don't let this into…
gregladen | September 26, 2008I want to officially complain about T. Boone Pickens. What an offensive dit. I am tired of his commercials (the most recent having just been aired ... the post debate commercial) telling us that we need to become energy independent, and blaming the very same politicians that he has been buying off and paying off for decades as the cause of our oil dependence.
If Pickens really wanted energy independence, why did he spend so much money to ensure that George Dub Bush got elected two times in a row? Is this thing he is doing now penance?
Since 1980, Pickens has made over $5 million in…
gregladen | September 26, 2008
This is McCain's preferred debating weapon:
And this is what he looked like during the debate:
While at the end, this is how Obama looked:
But McCain got a hug in the end...
gregladen | September 26, 2008From Kathleen Parker of the National Review:
If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream -- away from Sarah Palin.
Oh what fun. Parker, a very conservative columnist writing for a very conservative outlet, is calling for Palin to step aside. To reduce the bleeding.
No, I say, Sarah, don't you dare step aside, girl! We (Democrats) love you! You are a pox on your party! What could be better!
At least stick around long enough to be eviscerated by Joe Biden.
By the way, you can't see…
clock | September 26, 2008C-Span's Debate Hub is better than twitter, or so they say.
I'll watch it on TV at a neighbor's house, then come back and see what the folks on FriendFeed and around the blogs say as well.
gregladen | September 26, 2008Don't forget to watch the debates tonight. In watching the pre-debate coverage, we learn that Ted Kennedy has been brought to the hospital. For a man with brain cancer, this may be a not uncommon thing, and there are no details. Stay tuned (to the TV/Radio, not me. What do I look like, AP????) UPDATE: Ted is back home, preparing to watch the debate.
In the mean time, enjoy this photo essay from MSNBC depicting a lot of people experience a lot of stress over what is going on right now with the economy.
And remember ... after the debates ... kick some ass.
tsmith | September 26, 2008Well, you certainly can't fault Obama for aiming high. Via satellite, Obama announced at yesterday's Clinton Global Initiative forum that he would provide support to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015--a lofty goal, but is it even close to attainable?
Obama provided the basics of his plan here, laying out why he feels this is such an important goal:
Malaria needlessly kills 900,000 people each year. In Africa, a child dies from a mosquito bite every thirty seconds. Beyond this devastating human toll, malaria undermines the economic potential of local economies and overwhelms public…
gregladen | September 26, 2008And YOU are invited. Click here to find out where your nearest Barack Obama Kicks Ass in the Debate Party is and crash it! Seriously!
Oh, and here's Michelle:
And this.... seriously ... do this. After the debate, click Here to send a message by sending Obama ten bucks or so.
And even if Obama wasn't your first choice ... like if you wanted Hillary Clinton or PZ Myers or somebody to be the nominee, send Barack ten bucks anyway. That is the cheapest you'll ever pay to slap that bitch John McCain straight across the face.
terrasig | September 26, 2008I received this tip earlier in the week from a former PharmD student and Pharmboy lab alum who now lives in the SF Bay area. In saving it for The Friday Fermentable, I am now just another of the literally hundreds of media outlets covering the story.
If you haven't heard, there is a Chilean organic winery called Palin (but pronounced, 'pay-LEEN') that makes an organic Syrah, a lovely french wine grape.
I want to give credit (since the rest of the media hasn't) to San Francisco wine industry veteran, Amy Monroe, a marketing and sales associate at Ridge Vineyards, one of my favorite but now…
sa smith | September 26, 2008A few years ago, I went to see 'Good Night, and Good Luck' with some friends. Afterwards we loled at the fact that in order to see reporters kicking ass and taking names, we had to watch a movie.
I am loling no longer. Campbell Brown is on a friggin roll!!! Remember the RNC, when she asked 'Tucker' to give one example of Sarah Palins activities as 'commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard'?
The McCain campaign chastised Campbell for being 'too aggressive' and canceled McCains appearance on Larry King because of it. Campbell was being a 'Mean Girl', so to speak.
Luckily, Campbell…
drorzel | September 26, 2008At the time of this writing, it's still not clear whether the scheduled presidential debate will take place this evening. If you'd like to be prepared, just in case, here are a couple of links that might help you get through it:
FreePress.net is offering a "Rate the Debates" service, where you can sign up to express your opinion of the debate and the debate coverage, and have your opinion conveyed to the media.
If that's too serious, Mother Jones (the new home of Kevin Drum) is offering a bingo card/ drinking game for download on their fundraising page. A few beers might help make the whole…
oracknows | September 26, 2008It figures.
I know, I like to start posts with "it figures," and maybe I do it too often, but this time it really fits. For a moment I thought I was going to have a lot of egg on my face over this, but just for a moment. Yesterday, I wrote a rather extensive post about how some left wing bloggers are going into fits of paranoid conspiracy-mongering frenzy, claiming that John McCain's melanoma was more extensive than advertised and that he is supposedly dying of recurrent melanoma and hiding it from everyone. I spent a lot of effort, not to mention verbiage, explaining why that scenario is…
jstemwedel | September 25, 2008One of the big things philosopher-types like to do with their students is work on extracting arguments from a piece of text and reconstructing them. This can be useful in locating sources of disagreement, whether they be specific premises or inferences.
But some chunks of text that seem like they ought to have arguments that can be extracted and reconstructed end up being ... opaque.
For example, this question and answer between Katie Couric and Sarah Palin (transcript by way of Shakesville):
Couric [on tape]: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class…
gregladen | September 25, 2008This is fake, right?
Hell bent, Charlie. Don't you get it? Hell. Bent.
Let's analyze this a little more closely.....
grrlscientist | September 25, 2008tags: Palin-Couric interview, Sarah Palin, Katie Couric, Palin Foreign Policy experience, streaming video
Apparently, during an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin made a mockery of herself as a vice presidential candidate, as a governor of the state of Alaska, and as a woman. I have a video (below the fold) of part of this interview with Katie, along with the transcripts of part of that interview where Sarah describes her foreign policy experience.
Hey Sarah, what do Alaska and Russia trade? Polar Bears??
There is NO WAY this moron is qualified to do anything at all. I have potted…
sa smith | September 25, 200861 votes from 61 American Nobel Prize winners, 1960-2007.
Yes, scientists are pissed about the money (the lack of money) in scientific research right now... but its not just about the money. Its about the fact that Obama has stated time and time again that he is interested in The Science. Not how he can spin the science to appease oil men, radical Christians, car manufacturers, or anyone else.
gregladen | September 25, 2008
When she licked her finger, I threw up a little in my mouth.
And then there's this (not for the kiddies):
That monkey is an ape.
