Holiday break

This is a busy season and while I have a few tv commercials in my thoughts, I’m just not in the mood to write it all up. I will sometime.

The economy sucks, as most of us have known for a couple years, but finally the Bushies are using the R word — yes, we are officially in a recession, as of LAST DECEMBER. No shit. Over half a million jobs were lost in November 2008 alone, and the statistics aren’t even telling the whole story.

The big three auto companies are crying for help, as their CEO’s fly to DC in their separate private jets with tin cups outstretched. I say let ’em fail or merge. Chrysler paid back their big loan last time, but none of the big companies in the US have a Lee Iacocca at the helm now. They aren’t even asking for loans, they want bailouts with no strings attached. Chrysler isn’t even a publicly owned company anymore, why should the taxpayers give them one red cent? The top of the food chain is populated by selfish wastrels who don’t give a crap about anyone but themselves.

Now we wait to see how it is all Bill Clinton’s fault.

Over it

I am so sick of Sarah Palin.



A week from now this will probably piss me off no end, but for now, it's hitting my funny bone.

57 States

Not that the people who keep bringing this up will read, or accept, this, but here is a little remedial exposition, not courtesy of Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. Their candidate lost, largely due to the failing economy the Bushites handed all of us, but in no small part thanks to the dim bulb he was saddled with as a way of getting the religious right's support. I suppose it's understandable, if sad, that they need to keep hammering on any single point they can dredge up.

It shouldn't surprise me that Obama isn't allowed a simple and obvious mis-statement, saying 57 instead of 47, but the uber-conservative spunky Sarah Palin can make all kinds of mistakes, or just not answer questions at all because she doesn't know the answers, and still get votes. I guess she has an excuse - she's the victim of a piss-poor liberal educational system, right? Conservatives of all stripes and mouth sizes can say anything and get a retraction the next day. Bush can shred the Constitution, but he's a conservative so it's ok, we should just trust him and go along.

I wonder if the people who are making their ignorant digs now will be prepared to eat crow if the country doesn't become a black Muslim socialist state annexed to Syria and Saudi Arabia in the next four years. Mind you, I'm using the word “conservative” liberally, if you will excuse the expression. Hell, Rush Limbaugh couldn't define conservatism if you held a gun to his head - he can only parrot back what he was told by the very smart people who run things (like Karl Rove, who knows exactly what conservatism is). If the poor schmucks in the US ever figured out that conservatism is really about establishing and maintaining a small ruling class who control all and have most of the money, maybe they'd stop voting for the people to whom they have ceded their obligation to think. All anyone has to do is take a good look at who has the money and gets all the breaks in the US right now. Could it be any clearer? Wake up, Kansas, the neo-cons don't give a rat's ass about you, never did and never will, except during the next election. Then they'll be lookin' to buy y'all a can of Bud.

Carving the turkeys

The long knives are out. Hard to believe that Sarah Palin didn't understand that South Africa is a country on the continent of Africa, not a district in the country of Africa. She isn't so much younger than me that basic geography should have escaped her education. She couldn't name the countries in NAFTA, or those in North America?? WTF??



It's sad to see Bill O'Reilly almost tripping over himself to come to Palin's defense &mdash do you suppose he'd be as generous if a Democrat didn't know these things, would he say they could be “tutored” and brought up to speed on something they should have learned by the time they were in junior high? Reid Buckley has already paved that road.

Newsweek has been embedding reporters in campaigns for several election cycles now, with the promise that none of the revelations would be published until after the election. I'm thinking maybe that shouldn't happen when they have clear evidence that the person who will be second in charge of this country can't name the other two countries that share our continent. The GOP should be embarrassed and ashamed. They won't be; they'll blame the “liberal media” that has protected Shrub for eight years, or they'll somehow blame Clinton, but they won't accept responsibility for nominating a nincompoop to the second highest public office in the country.

Folks whose only news source is Fox will be stunned to see these reports, but they'll find a way to discount every one. Folks whose only news source is Rush Limbaugh won't have a thing to worry about, because they'll never hear about these reports, except in Limbaugh's twisted retelling. Too bad.

I have the audiobook of The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi (of Helter Skelter fame). He makes a convincing case. The citizens of this country were lied to after 9/11, and swallowed the lies whole, in no small part because the press failed to do its job. At the time, the news was filtered to such an extent that very few people really knew what was going on. He goes a long way in exposing the media coverup for what it was and still is, along with the major players.

Whether you like John Kerry or not, and I'm not a fan, you have to be a complete GOP stooge to claim he flip-flopped on his Iraq war vote. He, like most others in Congress, chose to trust what turned out to be an untrustworthy administration. When he found out he had been lied to, he said had he known the truth, his vote would have been different. How that is a flip-flop instead of an indictment of the administration is something I never understood. I'm sure a Limburger could explain it to me. Or maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it, maybe it takes a special kind of intelligence, like Palin's, to understand why conservatives are always right. Personally, I think they should pull their collective heads out of Karl Rove's ass — I wonder if Palin knows who that is.

Guess who's coming to the White House?

Barack Obama is the President-elect and on January 20, 2009, will become the US's 44th President.

OMG, run for your lives! The scary black people are taking over, white women will be rounded up and forced to have abortions, five-year-olds will be sold as sex slaves, we're going to be bombed back into the stone ages by terrorists, you will be forced to have socialized medicine and your taxes are going to wipe you out!!

Seriously, only the most brainwashed conservatives really believe this country is going to be destroyed. If Shrub couldn't do it, it cannot be done. Period.

Remember how the conservatives were screaming that they had a mandate four years ago? Think they'll recognize one when they see it? I don't.

Speaking of Shrub, let's not forget he's still got a couple months to screw us over. Remember the brouhaha over Bill Clinton's pardons? Let's see what GWB has up his sleeve. He still has time to take away even more of our Constitutional rights, decimate environmental policy and pass tax breaks for his already wealthy friends. I hope Obama has somebody keeping track of the details.

Election Day

It's going to be an historic election, regardless of who wins (and I'm really hoping that the McPalin ticket loses). I have the luxury of being able to continue voting third party, since I live in a foregone-conclusion state. If I were still in PA, or maybe in FL, I might have to vote in an effort to push the conservatives out. This group has overstayed their welcome.

Fox News is reporting about voter intimidation in Philadelphia. If true, it is inexcusable. Anyone intimidating voters should go directly to jail for the next four-eight years, depending, and forfeit their right to participate in this election and maybe the next. If the Black Panthers, or the Klan, or anyone else, are stupid enough to be there intimidating anyone, poll workers, voters, whoever, they need to be thrown in jail pronto, and anyone who was so intimidated that they left needs to file a complaint and be allowed to vote, tomorrow if necessary. Seriously, they are in Philadelphia — have these morons forgotten MOVE? And no bullshit about how a guy in a para-military outfit holding a billy club isn't meant to be intimidating — would the same be said if he was in a white sheet and hood holding that same billy club?

I just read the David Brooks Op-Ed in the NY Times. What a jackass. Maybe if a masochistic mood strikes, I'll elaborate more fully. Suffice to say he continues with the lame conservative diatribe of whining about how Obama is a child of privilege, one of the dreaded “upscale educated class” ill-suited to be President, while McCain is “an old warrior with a record of making hard decisions and absorbing the blows that ensue.” He leaves out the parts about philandering and gambling. McCain is to be revered, Obama is to be feared.

Brooks writes that this country is coming to the end of a “long boom” economically, which tells me he is one of the feared upper-class richie riches, completely clueless how the majority of people in this country have lived over the last thirty years.

Perhaps he has made an inadvertent point, however. Early in the article, when he is describing the perfect storm of ending eras in which we find ourselves, he writes, “Politically, it probably marks the end of conservative dominance, which began in 1980.” He concludes with

We’re probably entering a period, in other words, in which smart young liberals meet a stone-cold scarcity that they do not seem to recognize or have a plan for.

In an age of transition, the children are left to grapple with the burdens of their elders.

And who's fault is that?

Yes We Can

The Tano Sokolow remix of Lee Dorsey's version of Alain Toussaint's Yes We Can is making the rounds as Obama's unofficial campaign song, but the version I remember is the Pointer Sisters cover, their first big hit:


Pointer Sisters With Gaylord Birch

Like, Socialism

From The New Yorker:

…The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.

Umm, what is the definition of Socialism again?

Palin's "Straight Talk"

Blogger Anil Dash has an interesting post about Sarah Palin and the linguistic choices she makes. I think it is fair to say the choices are hers, because her run-on sentences and semi-coherent ramblings can't possibly be the work of any speechwriter who is on the Republican payroll.

…I don't usually write about politics here; I leave the ugliness to those who seem to revel in it. But I think a lot about language, usually in a more lighthearted context like talking about yo mama jokes or lolcats. What's striking to me this election season, though, is that Sarah Palin has chosen to abuse her command of language so obviously without suffering any serious criticism for it thus far.

The crux of the issue is simple:

1. Sarah Palin has unequivocally associated Barack Obama with the idea of terrorism and specifically with "terrorists".
2. Republican President George Bush has defined in our National Security Strategy, and the Republican Party's platform affirms, that we may identify and strike at terrorists before they have committed any defined acts of aggression against American citizens.
3. George Bush has made clear, by stating before a joint session of Congress that "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
4. Palin has used deliberate choice of language to avoid these connections being highlighted by the media, while increasing the likelihood that the target audience for her message will be incited by her statements.

Through these arguments, it becomes clear that Sarah Palin's assertions are designed not to prove that Obama is unqualified for the office of the Presidency of the United States. Rather, she appears to be attempting to convince a substantial portion of her supporters that Obama supports terrorism against the United States and thus should be, at the very least, incarcerated as an enemy combatant (which we are doing to American citizens already) or at worst, assassinated for supporting terror…

Dash makes some interesting points and he gives Palin credit for being intelligent enough to know exactly what she is doing, which is something too many Democrats have failed to do.

What I find fascinating about this election cycle is this: take anything Sarah Palin has said about Obama, and change her name to Joe Biden and Obama's to McCain, then try to imagine that the so-called liberal press wouldn't be taken to task by the biggest fascist mouths around. You'll spot them easily — they are the ones who call themselves conservatives, aka real Americans. You know, the multi-millionaire elitists who claim they are not elitists.

Bud Light

It's time for a little comic relief.



This is a few years old, but still funny. Let's hope that the new ownership doesn't change whatever advertising firm the old ownership used.

Palin's wardrobe malfunction

With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign…

Hey Republican Party, welcome to your karma.

Some aides to Sen. John McCain say they weren't happy that running mate Sarah Palin went off script Sunday and turned attention back to the controversy over her wardrobe.

The Alaska governor on Sunday brought up the recent reports regarding the Republican National Committee's $150,000 spending spree on clothing and accessories for the Palin family.

Palin denounced talks of her wardrobe as "ridiculous" and declared emphatically: "Those clothes, they are not my property."

"Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me," she said at a rally in Tampa, Florida.

A senior McCain adviser told CNN that those comments "were not the remarks we sent to her plane." Palin did not discuss the wardrobe story at her rally in Kissimmee, Florida, later in the day…

And I'll just bet she returns all the clothes. Sure she will. Just like she returned the money for that bridge to nowhere.

As the conservative turns

Colin Powell's endorsement is one thing, but when Ken Adelman says he's voting for Obama, you have to think McCain has screwed the pooch.

Why so, since my views align a lot more with McCain’s than with Obama’s? And since I truly dread the notion of a Democratic president, Democratic House, and hugely Democratic Senate?

Primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment…

Even James Joyner, a conservative blogger, thinks Adelman's endorsement matters:

While Colin Powell, Lincoln Chaffee, Susan Eisenhower, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Jim Leach, Richard Riordan, Bill Ruckelshaus, and others can be dismissed as outside the conservative movement, Adelman can not…

At least McCain has the uber-conservative Christians in lockstep.

So sad

It really is sad that I can find a new video like this one pretty much every day.

Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day '08 and the topic is Poverty. The idea is for everyone who blogs to write something about poverty to raise awareness of the many forms that poverty takes.

I've been very lucky. While I am now as poor as I've ever been, I've never been what could be called poor. Our family wasn't well off, but as kids we had everything we needed and a bit more. Our clothes were clean, we had a place to live and we never went to bed hungry. We were at best middle-class, if only the lower end of middle-class, and the credit for our lifestyle was due solely to my mother's ability to manage the family finances. She gave up a lot for our family. She still does.

When she sold Avon years ago, she would stock up on free samples. I don't think they were free for her, but she stocked up anyway, and at Christmas we'd go to the local nursing home and pass them out. You can't imagine how grateful people were.

There are lots of ways to help other folks without much, if any, expense on your part. One of the sidebar links goes to The Animal Rescue site. They have a sister site called The Hunger Site. All you need to do is click on the large button and you will help sponsor food for someone. I've made the Animal Rescue site one of my homepages, so when I open a browser window, that's the page that comes up. I click and carry on. Couldn't be easier.

One of the more creative and successful groups is Heifer.org, who subscribe to the principle that it is better to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish. Their success stories are inspiring.

Don't just throw out your old clothes, take them to a local Salvation Army or Goodwill store. All you need do is drop off a bag or box, just like you would if you were going to the dump. We've all got closets full of things we never wear for one reason or another. Give it to someone who will. And for crying out loud, make sure the clothes are clean — giving away your dirty laundry is just lazy and ignorant.

You can go to many malls at Christmas and find a tree full of names of children or the elderly for whom Christmas is just another day. Many businesses have these trees also. Pick a name, or a family, and buy something for them. Get your friends or children to sponsor someone.

Results.org has loads of resource information available, for anyone willing to put in a bit of effort.

So there are plenty of ways to help. A little can go a long way.

Lies and damned lies

Reality vs. parody

from Today's Big Thing

Wow. I think this is more sad than funny, although it is pretty funny. And now, as expected, the blame for that interview is being placed squarely on Katie Couric's shoulders, although she did everything she could to make it easy for Palin. No wonder the GOP won't let Palin go on the Sunday morning talk shows.

Vice-Presidential Debate

And the “debate” didn't change a thing. Palin delivered the talking points she has memorized with her usual ah-shucks manner, but failed to impress me with any sense that she actually knows anything. Biden wasn't particularly impressive either, but he kept his cool and did not look like he was beating up on the little lady, which is what I'd bet the Rovians were hoping for.

I will never understand why so many voters want a President and Vice-President who are just like them. I want people who know more than I do, who are smarter than I am, who are better managers than I am — why are conservatives so intimidated by intelligence and so easily fooled by an act? GWB is no more a cowboy or a good ole boy than I am, but the entire middle of the country fell for the act. TWICE. Sarah Palin is acting. As the Shrub himself once said, “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”



I uploaded this image to ImageShack so I wouldn't help crash poor Aden Nak's server, but know that this is his image, all rights/credits/copyrights etc. belong to him. Check him out.

Interview Palin

Q: What is the role of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan?

A: Afghanistan will lead to war and it doesn't have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help shore up our economy and putting it back on the table. I think that the example that you can't blink. So, I didn't blink then even, when asked to run as his running mate. We got to have nuclear weapons, what can we do about it. No way, not Americans. We do not believe in American ideals. And they attacked us. And now we are a free-thinking society. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the solution to the terrorists and stopping them over there


This bit of Palinesque wisdom is brought to you by InterviewPalin.com.

Palin facts?

She didn’t say “no thanks” to the “Bridge to Nowhere” until after Congress had already abandoned it but given Alaska a blank check for $223 million in taxpayers’ money anyway. Far from rejecting federal pork, she hired lobbyists to secure her town a disproportionate share of earmarks ($1,000 per resident in 2002, 20 times the per capita average in other states). Though McCain claimed “she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” she has never issued a single command as head of the Alaska National Guard. As for her “executive experience” as mayor, she told her hometown paper in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, the year of her election: “It’s not rocket science. It’s $6 million and 53 employees.” Her much-advertised crusade against officials abusing their office is compromised by a bipartisan ethics investigation into charges that she did the same.

Religulous

Anhaga, I swear to god you are going to have to bite the bullet and start posting this stuff yourself!

I can't wait to see this movie!

Bill Maher rules.

Gay, or God's Plan?

Pregnant teens? Obviously God's Plan.

Now we wait to hear how Clinton is responsible for the meltdown of the economy. While we're waiting, let's remember that it was Nixon who took us off the gold standard, and Reagan who gave us trickle-down economics and deregulation…

But it must all be Clinton's fault, and Barney Frank's fault, and Obama's fault, those dirty socialist liberals. When will they understand that socialism is only good for multi-billion dollar corporate bailouts? Why don't they understand that national health care is a very bad idea, except for Iraqi citizens and members of Congress? Sheesh.

Clearing up the confusion

• If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
• If you grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers and shooting wolves from airplanes, you are a quintessential American story.

• If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
• If you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

• If you graduate from Harvard Law School, you are elitist and untrustworthy.
• Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating with a degree in sports journalism, you're well rounded.

• If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
• If while your first (wealthy) wife was in the hospital and disfigured, you cheated on her with a rich heiress, then left her to marry the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

• If you want to teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
• If you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, your principles are of the highest moral fiber.

• If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
• If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

• If you spend 3 years as a dedicated community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
• If your resume reads: local weather girl, runner-up state beauty queen, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, head of that same state's National Guard (without ever giving an order), and you finally got a passport last year, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

Clearer now?

Thanks Anhaga!

Sarah Palin

Found:

CCNL, CCNL, CCNL,

I'm assuming you are familiar with what follows and know that it has been authenticated by no less (or more) than CNN, not that that counts for much. However, its has been confirmed by other sources, quite publicly. But don't despair. You can disabuse her of her "flawed" understanding when you visit her in Alaska, where, ideally, she will remain. Dream on, dear CCNL....


Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

Thanks,
Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT
•"Hockey mom": true for a few years
•"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
•"NRA supporter": absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
•"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
•"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.

Anne K

How refreshing to see someone actually take responsibility for an email (I'm taking her last name out, since this is a website). None of the conservative emails I've seen list the real names of their authors, nor their relationship to the candidate (because they haven't got one, I guess — in their case hearsay is a good thing).

If I had any doubts about voting for McCain, his choice of Sarah Palin has cemented my resolve. There is no way I would ever vote for her, and that he allowed himself to be controlled by the religious right shows me that he is not able to make a leap of imagination. How is letting the US be taken over by religious conservatives any different from what is going on in, say, Iran? Or Afghanistan? Or any number of countries currently controlled by a religious group?

I really hope the women who supported Hillary Clinton are smart enough to choose a candidate based on their political positions and not on whether or not they have ovaries.

Why Can't I Own a Canadian?

Making the email rounds (thanks Anhaga!) — from October 2002

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Christians

Ah, Christians, what lovely people, they really understand the word of their god.

Thank you, Richard Dawkins, you made my day. If you ever publish a book of your hate mail, I'll buy it.

Ignorant people

I have very little tolerance for the ignorant. I suppose truly stupid people should be excused, they are simply incapable of learning and can't be expected to know any better, but the ignorant drive me up a wall. Ignorance is nothing more than intellectual laziness and selfishness.

I was looking for a barking bulldog animation for a job I'm working on — yes, I could make one, but if I can find one, it will save me some time. In my travels around the web, I came across this site about RV Campground Reviews. I suppose I should create yet another login name and password and reply to the bozo "Big Ben", but the discussion is already months old and I'm betting Ben can't keep a thought in his skull for more than a day.

Ben claims to be a dog lover, then after slamming certain large breeds (and can you really identify a pit bull just by looking at a dog?), he starts mentioning insurance companies and owners in denial. Here's a newflash, Ben: people, specifically breeders and owners, *are* the problem. While it is unlikely that a Beagle can kill you, millions of dollars are spent on dog bite injuries, and statistically, they can't all be pinned on the bad breeds of dogs. Pound for pound, the most dangerous breed is the Chihuahua, and I speak from a lot of personal experience. I've met exactly one mean Doberman, and he was trained to be mean when his owner was away. When his owner was there, you could drop-kick that dog and he wouldn't so much as bat an eye. Read up on that loser Michael Vick's court case. The reason he was hanging and electrocuting dogs, mostly pitbulls and Rottweilers, was because they would not fight. Get it? Bad dogs are abused, inbred, and trained to be bad. Who's fault is that? I'll spell it out for you, Ben, since I'm convinced you couldn't get a spark by rubbing two brain cells together. PEOPLE ruin dogs. And despite doing our worst, Vick proves that even bad breeding and abuse won't always make a dog mean. Dogs are far better beings than people.

There are about 75 million dogs in the US. Careful statistics are kept regarding maiming and fatal attacks, but the actual number of dog bites in general must be estimated. Roughly 1,000 Americans per day are treated in emergency rooms as a result of dog bites. In 2007 there were 32 fatal dog attacks in the USA. Most of the victims who receive medical attention are children, half of whom are bitten in the face. Dog bite losses exceed $1 billion per year, with over $300 million paid by homeowners insurance...

The insurance companies can't be expected to be happy about dogs that are capable of killing or seriously maiming a person, and that takes a big breed dog, but *any* dog that is having a bad moment can bite you. And before the insurance companies get on their high horse about dogs, they should take a look at health care, or car accidents caused by senior citizens, or having matches and children in the same house, or the pernicious threat posed by old men who wear hats while driving.

In 1994, the most recent year for which published data are available, an estimated 4.7 million dog bites occurred in the United States, and approximately 799,700 persons required medical care (1). Of an estimated 333,700 patients treated for dog bites in emergency departments (EDs) in 1994 (2), approximately 6,000 (1.8%) were hospitalized (3). To estimate the number of nonfatal dog bite--related injuries treated in U.S. hospital EDs, CDC analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP). This report summarizes the results of the analysis, which indicate that in 2001, an estimated 368,245 persons were treated in U.S. hospital EDs for nonfatal dog bite--related injuries. Injury rates were highest among children aged 5--9 years. To reduce the number of dog bite--related injuries, adults and children should be educated about bite prevention, and persons with canine pets should practice responsible pet ownership...

btw, "BIG Ben", I'm betting you should pay more attention to those male enhancement infomercials.

Cell phone commercials

Is this the most insipid commercial on tv right now? My teeth hurt every time this stupid cloying crap is on. I really dislike commercials that show women, even unseen women, as clinging or needy or vapid. We have enough negative stereotypes to deal with; it would be so nice if some of these advertising firms would hire a few women to vet this kind of malarky.

And it isn't only women who are made out to be stereotypes - men often come out looking just as stupid. Are we to believe that men are dogs who cannot control their impulses? AT&T seems to think so; they also evidently think women should just tolerate it, because boys will be boys.



Maybe this one is funny if you watch "The Hills, but if you don't, it is yet another example of boys making commercials for themselves. Either that or they want to prove the adage that guys prefer pretty women to brainy ones, because guys see better than they think.

Hey, this should have been Lorena Bobbitt's defense all along - if boys will be boys works, why shouldn't PMS is a bitch? PMS is something that makes a woman act once a month like a man acts every day, right?

btw, if you talk to anyone who has one of these LG Shine phones, they will tell you that the mirror-like quality portrayed in the commercial is far from accurate.

STOP

I have to agree with one of the commenters; this looks a lot like a training video. Great satire!

I don't get it

MIAMI -- Police have arrested an 18-year-old man accused of stealing at least three county buses and driving them on their routes.

James L. Harris is charged with three counts each of third-degree grand theft and burglary of an occupied conveyance, WPLG-TV reported.

The most recent theft occurred Tuesday, when he was arrested and charged.

According to Miami-Dade police, Harris would take the buses from several Miami-Dade Transit bus depots in the county and drive the buses on their routes, picking up and dropping off passengers along the way. He would then return the buses at the end of the day...

Is it me? I understand that he shouldn't be driving the bus route unless he is an employee, but really, what exactly is it that he stole?? Can't he be charged with, oh, I don't know, criminal mischief? And where did he get the keys?

Here's an idea...if the buses he stole ran on time, I say give the kid a job.

It's contagious, too. Across the pond, little old ladies cannot photograph empty wading pools for fear that they might be pedophiles. How many little old ladies have to be arrested before someone comes to their senses?

An amateur photographer was told she could not take snaps of an empty paddling pool because she might be a paedophile.

Betty Robinson was ordered to put away her camera by a council worker when she began snapping the outdoor pool...

Chi Chi's

Does anyone else find this series of commercials really stupid? The cyclops ad is no better than this p.o.s. I don't understand how a robot or a cyclops will sell salsa.

Anheuser-Busch has agreed to sell itself to the Belgian brewer InBev for about $52 billion. I hope InBev is smart enough not to change the Clydesdale ads.

Happy Independance day

I had a thought about Karl Rove today. You know how you always think of stuff when you are in the shower or driving? I was driving and something occurred to me. The Karl Rove theorem is many layers deep, because he is undeniably an intelligent though duplicitous and manipulative person, but the bottom line is that a lie repeated over and over again becomes true. Not necessarily factual, but true. It doesn't matter whether or not the facts back up the lie, because Rove believes (and has pretty much proven) that the average person wants to be told what to think, and we know from sociology, childhood experience, and Pavlov that repetition is the key. Anything repeated often enough will become true; anything heard often enough must be true. Rush Limbaugh laughs his way to the bank on just that strategy.

That's old news. What came to me was that Rovian political strategy is very similar to religious dogma in that it requires faith above all else. You must believe without question, because I say so. Look, I can even write it down and show it to you, so it must be true (just ignore the nasty "liberal" press). How else can one explain the hoards of "Republicans" who vote against their own best interests, and indeed against what was once the party platform, to elect the fascists that have been in charge these past several years?

Perhaps it is me who has misunderstood Republicanism. I always thought the Republican party was for small government, individual rights and secularism. A distinction must be made between Republicans and conservatives, because our current government cannot realistically be called Republicans. We have huge, pork-fed, inflated government bloat dedicated to the welfare of a tiny percent of the wealthiest citizens and corporations and a distinct lack of individual freedom for the rest of us. We have no national health care, but our health care is among the most expensive in the world. We have become a nation run by selfish bullies.

How can a party claiming to be about individual rights be anti-choice? Let us remember that conservatives lean heavily in favor of capital punishment. So much for the sanctity of life. Don't give me any crap about how abortion kills innocent children. If you are against abortion, shouldn't you be against all abortion? If the child is the product of a rape, that is not the child's fault. If the mother's life is in danger, well, so be it, let nature and science take their course, but do not sacrifice the child's life for that of the host. Mind you, once those children are born, the conservatives want nothing to do with them and have done everything possible to curtail any effective programs for their benefit. Welfare reform may have come under Clinton in 1996, but the ditto-heads can claim credit for that; it's another short-sighted, politically motivated bill pushed through by a conservative goose-stepping Congress. Sorry, this one is strictly a religious argument that blows individual rights and secularism right out the window.

As for small government, has there ever been such a group of wastrels in charge? Tax cuts are given to multi-billion-dollar corporations, the largest of which really don't pay their fair share of taxes anyway, and to the wealthiest 1/2 of 1%. People who can more than afford to pay taxes get all the write-offs. Don't believe me? Take a good look at the FSA deduction. If you work for a company that has enough employees, you can elect to have a certain amount of money deducted from your pay and set aside for medical expenses not covered by health insurance. You can use it for anything from co-pays to buying Kleenex, and it is completely tax-free; it is deducted from your *gross* salary, before taxes are figured. It's a sly tax cut. Unfortunately, if you are self-employed, or work for any number of small businesses (who employ half of the people working in this country), you can't take advantage of this program. You get to keep paying taxes on the all money you pay for medical/health supplies, drugs and co-pays. You can afford it, right? It's more important to continue to subsidize your betters.

Shrub has only very recently come around to supporting any kind of renewed GI Bill for those returning from his incredibly expensive oil company conceived campaign in Iraq, and I mean recently as in within the last 60 days. Even John McCain, who of all people should know better, was against this until his boss came around, so there must be some political advantage in it for Halliburton or some other connected company.

And now the oil companies are clamoring for drilling rights in all the offshore sites they don't already have tied up. They haven't even scratched the surface of exploration where they could be looking for oil, but they want to have exclusive offshore rights to everything else available. Is anyone really thick enough to think they mean to explore for oil in these places? Or could it be that they want the rights so they can tie up the offshore sites and lease them back to, say, wind energy companies at some grossly inflated price? Hmmmmmmm.

Where did all this come from? As I was driving, I saw a man putting up signs for the fourth of July with a flag image and the text "Proud to be an American". And I got to thinking, as lucky as I feel to be here, am I proud of what this country has become these past few years? A supposedly free country where if you are not in lockstep agreement with a band of thugs and thieves, where if you dare to challenge them (which I always thought was pretty much required of all free-thinking Americans), you are branded a traitor? A country where the religious right dictates state policy? Where freedom really only applies to you if you are fortunate enough to be able to afford it? A country where we have to prove we can be trusted, where if you dare utter the word bomb on the phone your calls can be monitored without question for an indeterminant amount of time? I wonder how many tweens are being monitored on that word alone. If you think this is all good, by all means vote Republican, and kiss your Constitutional rights goodbye. Except #2, of course; at least for now. Once the conservatives in charge figure out how to couch the words, they'll be the only ones with gun rights, and the suckers who elected them will find themselves once again financing rights they no longer have.

And where the hell is that tape of Michelle Obama saying "whitey" at the Reverend Whackjob's church? Yeah, the one that will be released "right before the election". The one that doesn't actually exist...but you got your Karl Rove memo, right?

Hotels.com

Hotels.com has a few pretty good commercials about how hotels get good ratings because of their website. Some even feature well-known actors. This one definitely takes the cake. Absolutely brilliant and you just have to love the guy getting the abs paint-job. Perfect.

Live news and farm animals

/ video no longer available /

Maybe it's late and I shouldn't have had that short martini, but I damn near peed myself watching this. News anchors should take a cue from actors, never work with children or animals.

I'm pretty sure it won't be so funny tomorrow.

edit: since that one disappeared, here's another one along similar lines:



See if that reporter ever says any birds are an infestation…

Kermit has the blues

Not a half bad version of Radiohead's Creep, once you get past hearing Kermit sing the F word.

Not a naked woman...

...just Dick's rod in his hand. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

American Express

No video that I can find, but this commercial has been around for a while and I'm certain you will recognize it. It's all about how to use your Gold Points.

It is in three parts. The first part starts off with a young man from AmEx saying, "I love this one..." He goes on to describe a man trying to buy his fiancée an engagement ring, only to be humiliated when his credit card is rejected. Then his fiancée tells him to get an AmEx card. But the AmEx employee loves this one? Huh?

Part two is ok, a man uses his points to get advance tickets to the concert of the year. Fine.

Part three isn't as blatantly ignorant as part one, but it isn't very good. Is it really so romantic to fly to Italy just to order tiramisu, a very ordinary dessert that can be had at most Italian restaurants in the US?

I guess AmEx is now shooting for a part of the Visa/MC crowd, those folks who never could qualify for an AmEx card in the past. I wonder how deeply invested AmEx is in foreclosing on people's homes...

NOYB

If anyone in Washington had the balls Chelsea Clinton has, I'd vote for them.

The question as asked wasn't very good and wasn't well worded. Let's assume the questioner was talking about the "vast right-wing conspiracy" comment. In fact, let's revisit a few moments of that whole mess. Was Bill cheating? I'd say yes, but at the time, I decided to do an informal poll and was astonished that most, maybe 75-80%, of the people I asked did not consider oral sex as cheating. Only ONE guy thought it even counted as sex, and therefore cheating. Funny how nobody on the Republican side of the aisle jumped up and down with moral outrage when Ahnuld publicly proclaimed "eatin' ain't cheatin'". And by my small sample, most people agree with him - oral sex is not intercourse, so it isn't really having sex. Then there are the Spitzerites that think as long as it's sex with a prostitute and there is no emotional involvement, it isn't cheating. I wonder how many married/attached men rationalize their behavior with that same, ahem, reasoning. So, with that in mind, did Bill Clinton actually lie under oath? I'd bet if his name was Scooter Libby or George W. Bush, the answer would be NO. Actually, in that case, the question would never have been asked.

Back to Hillary. At the time she made the "vast right-wing conspiracy" comment, she didn't know about Bill's infidelity. He did not have sex with that woman; that was his story and he was sticking to it. So Hillary, like lord only knows how many wives before and since, chose to believe him, then chose to defend him. And for this her credibility is damaged? Was that the question?

Leads me to think that the questioner is just another conservative prick who expects a wife to put out and shut up.

Cars.com - Plan B

A funny series of commercials is beginning for Cars.com, where a guy gets a great price on a car because he did his research on Cars.com. He explains to the salesman that he is happy he didn't have to go to Plan B, which is a variety of things, like having a witch doctor shrink the salesman's head, or having the salesman eat brownies laced with horse laxative, or having the salesman fight Glondor inside a stone circle. Funny and clever.

Monster.com

This is my current favorite commercial. There's a perfect job for everyone. This is a perfect commercial. Monster.com has done several very good commercials, including Don't Fight Monday, Find Your Own Path and When I Grow Up, but this one, imo, is brilliant.

Revenge of the birds

I bet this guy won't be spending any time under trees for a while.

Holiday Inn

I like this commercial. In fact, there is a whole series starring Jerry Lambert as Ted. Check out the Humpback Whale, the Pillow Menu, and the Race Suit commercials.

Rounding up every cent you have...

NH Primary

Chalk one up for Hillary Clinton, she won the NH Primary over Obama by a margin of roughly 8000 votes, 39% to Obama's 34%. She needed this win badly, her campaign was being poorly managed and needs an overhaul. But can we stop talking about her tearing up? I read a comment by someone in the NY Times, which sums up my thoughts nicely; all these candidates cry from time to time, with the possible exception of Mitt Romney, who no doubt hires very convincing people to cry for him.

Obama will survive. John Edwards is in a tougher position, having received 17% of the vote. If he doesn't win South Carolina, I don't see how he can stay in the race. He has clung to his principles of not taking PAC money, but that leaves him financially out of the game.

As expected, John McCain won NH for the Republicans. He won it by a larger margin than expected, whupping Romney 37% - 32%, in Romney's home state. Unfortunately, Romney isn't going away any time soon, he has a lot of money to spend.

Ron Paul got 8% of the vote in NH, but I'm disappointed to say that Rudy Giuliani got 9%. What are people thinking? He was fine as mayor, but I have no confidence in his ability to be even a competent President. I like him only marginally more than I like Romney, who I don't like at all.

Iowa caucases

Finally, a candidate who is inspiring enough to get the young voters up off their sofas and out to the polls.

There are a few things about Barack Obama that must be admired by anyone with two brain cells to rub together. He is clearly intelligent. He looks Presidential. And when was the last time you saw a candidate stand up and speak for thirteen minutes without stopping every third or fourth word to check his notes. This man can deliver a speech. He may well be an idealist, but isn't that better than being a cynic? Maybe he really can get people to work together. He sure can get people excited and inspired.

John Edwards will have to come out hard against Obama now, and that's a shame. Actually, they'd make a great team, imho, and Edwards is young enough to be around to be elected President in eight years. So is Hillary, as far as that goes, and she'd be effective as the big stick to Obama's walk softly. Unfortunately, the Democrats are known for making their strengths look like positives for the Republicans. Let's hope they don't screw the pooch this time.

As for Obama's inexperience, we've seen what eight years of ignorant inexperience can do. I'm willing to take a chance on some intelligent inexperience.

Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have dropped out, and no doubt Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich will drop out next, as they got 0 votes between them. Bill Richardson got some votes, but not enough to be viable much longer.

Mike Huckabee won big for the Republicans, although he was outspent between 17-20 to 1 by the weaselly Mitt Romney. He's not doing nearly so well in NH, where I'm hoping John McCain will open a can of whupass on Romney.

What isn't getting any air time, so far, is that our man Ron Paul got 10% of the votes. Rudy Giuliani got 3% and should do about that well in NH, where he is pretty much universally disliked.

FreeCreditReport.com

It's been a while since I've bitched about a tv commercial, and this one just recently started to piss me off. Bearing in mind that I'm recently divorced from a selfish lying pos, this commercial just bugs me no end. At first I thought it was funny, but the more I see it, the more insidious it becomes.

He married his dream girl and he's whining because they can't go out and buy a house, so her family is putting a roof over his head. Um, has he looked at the prices of houses lately? What the hell is his idea of a dream girl, a sexy, rich, hard-working breeder/doormat who will support his and put up with his selfishness? She's doing laundry while he hangs with his homeboys and is in her way, and he wishes he was still a bachelor? So stfu and move out already! What a loser. And what a crappy message to send: I wasn't smart enough to really think things through before getting married, and she didn't either, so it's all HER fault??!?

There is an equally stupid ad with the guy driving around in a beat up AMC Gremlin (remember those?). In that one, he has no one but himself to blame for his bad credit, but it's still a poor commercial. He didn't know his credit was whack? How do you suppose you get bad credit, the bad credit fairy? Even the tune in this one isn't good.

Luckily, the pirate waiter commercial is able to be funny and make the point that you might want to keep an eye on your credit report without resorting to stereotyping or inanity.