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.

Creating a virtual 51st state

What do you all think of this?

American citizens living in Canada will be able to use the Internet to vote in the U.S. presidential primaries for the first time in 2008, but only if they're Democrats.

Democrats Abroad, an organization representing more than seven million Americans living outside the U.S., is holding its first "global primary," allowing American ex-pats in Canada and around the world to vote online as part of a virtual 51st state.

Unlike Republicans Abroad, whose members must still vote by absentee ballot in their home states, Democrats Abroad is recognized as an official branch of the Democratic National Committee, and will send 22 delegates to the party's convention in August, putting its influence on par with states like Idaho (23) and North Dakota (21).

In previous elections, these delegates were selected in caucuses held around the globe, requiring American citizens to actually show up at polling centres. In 2004, a group of just 80 Americans gathered in Toronto's Metro Hall to showcase their support for John Kerry or Howard Dean.

But in next year's primary, Democrats across Canada can vote through the mail or on the Internet, and organizers hope to dramatically increase voter involvement...

Does this really constitute the equivalent of a 51st state, or is the headline deliberately provocative?

Presidential Ads, Take-Five

How about a little blog time for the more mainstream candidates? Of that group, John Edwards is perhaps the left edge of the ballot. But who thought they'd ever hear a Democrat, nevermind a liberal Democrat, slam their own party the way Edwards has done? Good for him.

I guess the conservatives aren't afraid of Edwards. Being a decent enough God-fearing person isn't enough to trump being a trial attorney, and the Repub's certainly made enough hay of that last time around. They conveniently always forget to mention that all their candidates, except for Ron Paul, are lawyers and professional politicians too. Need a translation? Professional politician = wealthy lying scumbag.

Presidential Ads, Take-Four

Dennis Kucinich may be the most 'hip' candidate running for President. He's a vegan, married to a British redhead with a pierced tongue. He has a MySpace page. He has a YouTube page. He's making extensive use of the internet, more than anyone else I've seen. He may not win, but he's out there swinging and talking about issues that are, or should be, important to everyone. You've got to appreciate that, if nothing else.

I'm not sure Sean Penn's endorsement is going to help Dennis any more than Oprah will help Obama, but it might get him some publicity, and we all know that bad publicity is better than none.

Nothing could stop the forest fire...