Sarah Palin's got electrolytes - it's what plants crave

The Nation on Sara Palin:

Mr. McCain has based his campaign on the idea that this is a dangerous world -- and that Barack Obama is too inexperienced to deal with it. He has also acknowledged that his advanced age -- he celebrated his 72nd birthday on August 29th -- makes his choice of vice-president unusually important. Now he has chosen as his running mate, on the basis of the most cursory vetting, a first-term governor of Alaska.
...
The political calculations behind Mr. McCain’s choice hardly look robust. Mrs. Palin is not quite the pork-busting reformer that her supporters claim. She may have become famous as the governor who finally killed the infamous “bridge to nowhere” -- the $220m bridge to the sparsely inhabited island of Gravina, Alaska. But she was in favour of the bridge before she was against it (and told local residents that they weren’t “nowhere to her”). As mayor of Wasilla, a metropolis of 9,000 people, she initiated annual trips to Washington, DC, to ask for more earmarks from the state’s congressional delegation, and employed Washington lobbyists to press for more funds for her town.
...
The moose in the room, of course, is her lack of experience. When Geraldine Ferraro was picked as Walter Mondale’s running-mate, she had served in the House for three terms. Even the hapless Dan Quayle, George Bush senior’s sidekick, had served in the House and Senate for 12 years. Mrs Palin, who has been the governor of a state with a population of 670,000 for less than two years, is the most inexperienced candidate for a mainstream party in modern history.

Inexperienced and Bush-level incurious. She has no record of interest in foreign policy, let alone expertise. She once told an Alaskan magazine: “I’ve been so focused on state government; I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq.” She obtained an American passport only last summer to visit Alaskan troops in Germany and Kuwait. This not only blunts Mr McCain’s most powerful criticism of Mr Obama. It also raises serious questions about the way he makes decisions.

Then again, what would you expect from... wait... that column appeared in The Economist. Sorry.

quote of the week

"Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay..."
-- Sarah Palin's teleprompter

Is the John McCain campaign and future White House smarter than a 6th grader?

No.

Sixth-grader Joshua Popue offered the explanation most commonly being floated Friday both at the Irvine Avenue campus and in political circles: Somebody in the McCain campaign mistook Walter Reed Middle School for the military's troubled Walter Reed Army Medical Center when preparing the Republicans' high-tech video background wall.

"McCain messed up. He was talking about Walter Reed hospital, and he used our picture by mistake," said 11-year-old Joshua.

. . .

School officials were not amused, however.

Principal Donna Tobin declined to comment because she was too busy with the first week of instruction, aides said. Later, however, she issued a statement declaring that "permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school's picture an endorsement of any party or view."

Speaking of running off and doing s#i+ without permission...

"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."

I can read

The WSJ's Laura Meckler: At one point, crowd signs blocked the TelePrompTer altogether, one official said, prompting [Palin] to ad lib one of her best lines of the night: “You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

At first I thought Ms. Meckler was being fed a line by the Republican "official", but then I came across this photo below, which shows conclusively that Sen. McCain encountered the same trouble during his speech:

Stand up, stand up, stand up... for change

Oddly I found that I was quite moved by the closing of John McCain's speech last night. While he hasn't entirely "lost it", he's clearly lost a couple steps (in the sense that aging athletes lose steps)...which I think makes me feel that he is being used to some extent, and that is really awful to consider. I think I was moved because he sort of represented elderly people in general and there is a real pain involved in turning away from them as leaders and ultimately as active participants in society...you might have a great deal of respect for them as people, great appreciation for what they did to build society, but as they begin to lose their powers (imperceptible though the loss may be to them) you are forced at some point to deny them things they may seek. This feels terrible.

But I can't put Sen. McCain, or anyone who's reached that point, in the incredibly taxing role of a reformist President. I don't believe McCain still has the enormous powers required to put an active hand to the tiller of the huge ship of the federal government -- and thus to elect him is to allow the status quo to continue. Change and reform above all else require energy, they require persistence and followthrough. If McCain was the leader of a movement committed to reform, I'd feel differently -- but as far as his team is concerned the "reform" theme is about a week old. Barack Obama's massive organization is well-aligned with his message; he has many partners who actively seek the same results he does. Meanwhile, McCain is a maverick in his own organization: his inner circle has been selling his "experience" for months, and the outer circles of the GOP establishment aren't into cleaning themselves up (whatever that would involve). McCain just seems too weakened to do it for real all by himself. Once elected I imagine his advisers constantly giving him the slip, fooling him into signing off on things, or simply failing ("sure, Mr. President, we'll get that picture of the Walter Reed building for you...") because attention to detail requires more energy than perhaps anything else imaginable. This would leave unelected functionaries all across Washington (the same Republican ones manipulating the current figurehead) running the show themselves -- and since they aren't about the "reform", it won't happen.

The only change would come with Obama: the one who hasn't been in Washington too long, the one with the deep intellect and knowledge, the energy of a man in his prime, and the committed team of like-minded workers and advisors he built with that energy -- not to mention the internal drive and belief that drove him to weather the slings and arrows in seeking this office. If you believe in a democracy where the elected official himself is the one who's really in charge, you want Obama, as painful as it may be to turn away from a hero like McCain. If you're comfortable with the status quo -- that is, rule by the neoconservatives behind the W curtain -- you can indulge yourself by voting to see one more smile on the old veteran's face.

more liberal nitpicking - the kind of thing only an America-hating smarty-pants elitist would notice

The McCain Tech Policy In Action!

"...this latest gaff, running a picture of Walter Reed Middle School on the green screen behind McCain instead of Walter Reed Hospital because they screwed up a Google images search, has certainly cemented not merely McCain, but the McCain campaign, as being in the ranks of the terminally clueless on matters technical."

American logic (cont'd), or, poll results scientific (but sublimely idiotic)

Six in 10 of all voters surveyed say they approve of Sen. John McCain's selection of the Alaska governor as his running mate. And some voters, 25 percent, say the pick makes them more likely to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket in November.

Yet, only 42 percent think that Palin, a first-term governor and former mayor of Wasilla, think the running mate has what it takes to serve as president should something happen to an elected McCain.

How is K-Mad to blame? (cont)

Sox slugger Carlos Quentin to have wrist surgery

they make it so easy...

Republican Whitey Mulls Run For Governor

News item: Illinois Chamber of Commerce president Doug Whitley is mulling a run for governor.

Oh, Whitley. I thought you said... never mind...

liberal media: finally getting it

Why the media should apologize

"...we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: 'Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body... Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.'

Why go there? What trees does that plant?"

While we're on the subject, it seems tasteless to point this out:

"You know what i enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay -- made a profit," he said, introducing Palin.

Well, no. And the state sold it at a loss of half a million dollars.

Also claims to have never heard the word 'nigger'...

Georgia GOP congressman calls Obamas `uppity'
By BEN EVANS, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 15 minutes ago
A Republican congressman from Georgia who referred to Barack and Michelle Obama as "uppity" says he wasn't aware of the term's racial overtones and did not intend to insult anyone.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, Ga., described the Obamas as members of an "elitist-class ... that thinks that they're uppity," according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
Asked if he intended to use the word, he said, "Yeah, uppity."
In a statement Friday, Westmoreland — who was born in 1950 and raised in the segregated South — said he didn't know that "uppity" was commonly used as a derogatory term for blacks seeking equal treatment. Instead, he referred to the dictionary definition of the word as describing someone who is haughty, snobbish or has inflated self-esteem.
"He stands by that characterization and thinks it accurately describes the Democratic nominee," said Brian Robinson, Westmoreland's spokesman. "He was unaware that the word had racial overtones, and he had absolutely no intention of using a word that can be considered offensive."
The Obama campaign had no immediate response.
Westmoreland is one of the most conservative members of Congress. He has drawn criticism from civil rights advocates on a number of issues, including last year when he led opposition to renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He also was one of two House members last year who opposed giving the Justice Department more money to crack unsolved civil rights killings.
~

mixed reviews

The huge video screen that usually offered generic red, white and blue backdrops to speakers cut at one point to the odd sight of a large house behind a great, green lawn. "You thought it could have been one of the McCain mansions," said Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace. (Smithers - fire that man... Ed.)

McCain never seemed truly comfortable with the TelePrompter (Damn this new technology! Ed.), and his physical moves were stiff and awkward due to his war injuries. He would smile broadly at odd junctures (Like when his handlers' admonition popped into mind - "Remember to smiiile!" Ed.).

More Zimbabwe Sports Glory

And beating the former colonial masters and the great Satan to do it? Teaming up with a former colony and cricket playing nation as well? Christmas in September, dat's what this is. It feels like it out there too...

Cara Black, Leander Paes win US Open mixed doubles championship
By Associated Press
1:48 PM CDT, September 4, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) _ Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Leander Paes of India won their first U.S. Open mixed doubles title by beating Liezel Huber of the United States and Jamie Murray of Britain 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the final Thursday.

Paes has won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, and Black has won three — but this was the first for each at Flushing Meadows and the first for them as a team.

They were seeded fifth at the U.S. Open. Huber and Murray were unseeded.

time to keep a closer eye on dem up deres

News item — The U.S. unemployment rate has risen to match Canadian levels for the first time in more than 26 years...

Daddy!

I don't think that paternalism is the right word, but it was scarry to me to hear the constant lulling reminder of how strong McCain is and how he will keep this country safe from all the people who want to hurt us. What a view of the world.

And I liked how Chris Matthews used the term "communitarian" to refer to Democrats. So true, and yet still ringing with the slur-filled promise of "communi(s)t."

That's the ticket.

My wife and I have decided that we can always use the tax cuts from the McCain/Palin administration to fly to Europe for a vacation/abortion for our son's girlfriends.

Why isn't this @ss#ole in jail? He is? Oh... good...

Although Abramoff expressed remorse Thursday, he also has spent his time in prison cooperating with a book that portrays him much differently: as a victim of Washington politics.

SHOCKING

Joe Gibbs speaking at the Rethuglican Convention tonight. Yes, that Joe Gibbs: ex-coach of the Redskins (racist? HELL YES, and Joe was the coach--it's a match! see also: prick George Allen) and recently fined by NASCAR for cheating. Someone at the NFL should be checking the Washingtons' game film for Belichick-like exploits.
~

The Sliming of Osama in Venn Diagram Format, If You're Having Trouble Visualizing It... I Mean Obama

I wonder where the "uppity" bubble should go.

The absolute pinnacle of brain-dead congressmen

Not even trying to hide their racism anymore, I see.
The Hill:
Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday. Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama. “Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.
Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”
From the C&L vault: Westmoreland co-sponsors bill on the Ten Commandments and can’t even name them
~

Proving Evolution (cont)

Or, K-Mad & Smiff have been drinking again...

Ravinia Festival turf war, food fight hospitalizes Arlington Heights man, cops say
By Bob Channick Special to the Chicago Tribune
12:36 PM CDT, September 4, 2008

A dispute over lawn space erupted into a turf war that sent one man to the hospital before a sold-out Donna Summer concert Saturday at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, police said.

After setting up their blankets, chairs and a tarp, a group of concertgoers from Arlington Heights left for a restaurant. Returning an hour later, they found their belongings displaced by a Chicago group, which they confronted.

A woman in the Chicago group tried to attack a woman from the returning group, police said. A 40-year-old Chicago man then punched a 49-year-old Arlington Heights man, prompting a wine-and-cheese splattering melee, police said.

The Arlington Heights man was taken by ambulance to Highland Park Hospital, where he received 15 stitches, while the Chicago man was charged with battery.

Flick? Flick who??

Only one mention of President Bush during last night’s RNC.
Last night, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, and Gov. Sarah Palin addressed the Republican National Convention. Between the four of them, there was only one reference to President Bush - in Romney’s pre-prime-time speech…
~

shhhhhh... people are starting to notice that God has been acting kinda "funny" lately...

God ditches the GOP
This just in: Even the Lord has abandoned the desperate, shameful Right

video treats

Here and here.

Palin on WILSH (Wolves I'd Like to Shoot from a Helicopter)

Probably quite delicious with a few french fries...

Palin offered a $150 bounty for wolves to entice hunters to kill more wolves in certain parts of the state, with hunters having to present a wolf's foreleg to collect the bounty.

Also heavily into drilling.
~

No soup for you.

Should have seen this earlier, but I didn't hear about this 8/18 case until yesterday. Physicians refused to perform an artificial insemination procedure on a patient because she was a lesbian, arguing that it was against their religious beliefs. Nice. They lost, with the court arguing that you can't pick and choose which laws you want to follow based on your religious beliefs. Their are laws against discrimination in for-profit businesses. Physicians argued that if it wasn't jeopardizing public safety or licentious, they should be able to argue their religion prevented them from a a certain procedure.

The best part is that after the whole thing started to unravel on them, they argued that they were discriminating against the woman because she was unmarried, not based on their religious beliefs. Stay classy, San Diego.

Why even have the public safety provision. I aspire one day to be a doctor, who looks deeply into the eyes of my patients and merely tells them "this is God's will." I won't even need to go to med school.

I drank what?

Maybe I'm just to pessimistic. I think that from the perspective of the average voter, the Republicans have been delivering good speechs and getting some good hits on the Democrats. Do I disagree with most of their attacks, yes. Do I think their policies are destroying and will destroy several of the people who are lining up to vote for them - yes.

But then there is the evil side of me. Another Republican administration will likely mean more massive tax cuts for my family which is earning enough not to be included in Obama's tax cuts. Of course, I normally think we should be paying more in taxes, because we are making so damn much money, but I seem always in a minority of one on that topic.

And then there is the even more evil side of me. I think a McCain administration means we will be going to war with Iran. I think a McCain administration means I will not oppose a war in Iran. I presume thousands of American lives will be lost in a war which may ensure that Iran doesn't have nukes, but will ensure that a dozen other countries will agressively pursue nuclear armament and countries like China and Russia will be more likely to provide them. How can I be concerned about the loss of American lives when a war hero tells me different? If you read Jain's, you know that Iran is not going to be a pushover. More cities than just Tehran will be lost.

And we will fight the war on terror like there is a terrorist under every rock. Perhaps soon there will be. Especially when you identify everything under a rock as a terrorist. The fight will not be won until we have eliminated evil from the universe. Good luck with that. Let me know when I have to buy a gun and metal detector for my house.

And though my years of having kids are over, I can rest assured that lots of abstinance-educated kids will be having kids of their own, and because they are not all governor's daughters, that they will be sinking further into poverty, thus making me more comparatively wealthy. Maybe I can pay some of them $3 or $4 an hour to clean my toilet. Meanwhile I'll be telling my kid to cover up and take advantage of these repressed rebellious girls.

I suppose the only thing that can really trip me up is the religion thing. But after all, I can lie about that. There isn't really a test to see if you believe whatever bullshit you are willing to spew about religion. And thats a good thing, because if there was, I would guess that a lot of Republicans would be shown the door. So I guess I can chalk up all my good fortune to Christ. (Don't ask him though). By the time anyone is the wiser, I'll be burning for all eternity I suppose, but at least I'll be with my cats.

I think a McCain administration will hasten the end, and right now I'm not sure that is a bad thing. It's like the philosopher's gambit in bizarro world. If McCain is elected, and things go well for me, that is good. If McCain is elected and the country goes to hell in a handbasket, also good. If Obama is elected and things go well, that is the best of all possible worlds, but if he fails, it is the worst.

what this guy said

I Guess Republicans Think Community Organizing Is Funny

"Of all the things that both Gulliani and Palin could have fixed on as a line of attack, the idea of community organizing as work for pussies is not what I would have expected, and Lord knows my expectations after Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are prety low. But what amazed me was how many folks on the floor of the RNC Convention actually laughed and whooped it up at the very mention of being a community organizer, before even getting to the supposed punchline about how it doesn't give you any “real” experience."

Free Dating Advice

DVRs Save Relationships: Study

And So It Begins

Five losses in a row and...

Rich Harden, who isn't scheduled to start again until next Wednesday, admitted to some arm discomfort. "I’ve been feeling pretty good, but I guess I’ve had a little bit of discomfort you could call it. But nothing serious," he said. It's always serious when it comes to Harden. He'll go 11 days without pitching before attempting to return to the mound next week.

Carlos Zambrano didn't undergo the MRI scheduled for Wednesday for an undisclosed reason. "He was supposed to take an MRI today," manager Lou Piniella said. "It was available to him and he didn’t take it today. That’s it. And that’s what I get from our medical people." Zambrano was examined, but the Cubs didn't release any further details about that. They have ruled him out for his scheduled start Sunday. Sean Marshall will get the nod then.

~

You have been warned.

Smiff is looking at invading Chicago over Oct. 16-21. Going to look into a ticket soon. Be deres or be squares.
~

Exactly.

Sarah Palin and Issues of Pregnancy, Abortion, Abstinence, HIV.
By: bluegal @ 4:20 PM - PDT
This blog deliberately did not cover the internet rumors that have absorbed so many this weekend. None of the children of any political candidate should be held under vicious and unfounded media scrutiny.
That Sarah Palin’s campaign blamed liberal bloggers for “forcing her” to announce the pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter is another atrocious lie following her “bridge to nowhere” funding flip-flop. The rumor that Palin’s fifth pregnancy was “well-disguised” came directly from a fellow Alaska Republican, State Senate President Lyda Green.
A great many young people in our country become pregnant or worse, contract a sexually transmitted disease, every day. We have nothing to say about the young Palin and her unfortunate situation.
We have a great deal to say about the Republican Party and its POLICIES regarding sex education, reproductive choice, HIV prevention, and let’s not forget their complete hypocrisy regarding homosexuality and civil rights. Sarah Palin’s stands on these ISSUES are contrary to feminism, the health of our young people, and everyday common sense.
Is it a surprise to anyone that Sarah Palin is an advocate of abstinence-only programs, and opposed sex education in Alaska’s schools?
The New Republic reports that earlier this year Palin “used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.”
Again, this is not about Sarah Palin’s daughter. Although it would be if she were homeless, Governor.
It is about a government that has failed to make responsible decisions regarding public health policy, and the completely irresponsible positions the Republican Party takes on those issues.
Sarah Palin should be ashamed, because she is a Republican.
~

No, that's gross...

Have You Hugged a Republican Today?

When did the Republican Party become the Pity Party?
What has surprised me this week in St. Paul is the sense of grievance that Republicans feel, or pretend to feel, at the cruel forces that are treating them in such a beastly manner. The news media are the principal villains. Having rallied around Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, Republicans are outraged that anyone would ask whether a first-term Alaska governor, whose only other political experience was as a small-town mayor, is the right person for the job. Having announced that Sarah Palin’s unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the McCain campaign is irate that anyone would write about this circumstance, much less ask further questions about it.
“Why hound the Palin family over such a private matter?” the campaign protests. Uh, maybe because you put out a press release?
Anyone who questions Palin’s qualifications, or points out that she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it, is being sexist. Anyone who mentions that McCain is 72, which would make him the oldest man to be elected president, is being ageist. Who knew the Republican Party was so keenly attuned to delicate matters of political correctness? It’s hard to square the image of the party that Fred Thompson tried to project Tuesday night -- tough, muscular to the point of being martial, unafraid and uncompromising, able to skin a moose -- with all the exquisite sensitivity, all the wailing and the lamentation and the gnashing of teeth, on display in St. Paul. This is a party that seems to want reassurance, validation, and maybe a hug.
It all reminds me of those old Saturday morning cartoons in which an elephant would jump up on a stool and tremble in fear at the sight of a mouse.
By Eugene Robinson September 3, 2008; 3:43 PM ET
~

I'm sure neither of these is anything to worry about, or, perpetrators of biggest hoax ever going to ever more elaborate lengths to perpetrate hoax

Arctic becomes an island as ice melts

The North Pole has become an island for the first time in human history as climate change has made it possible to circumnavigate the Arctic ice cap.

19-square-mile chunk of ice breaks loose from Arctic ice shelf in Canada's far north

A 19-square-mile ice shelf in Canada's northern Arctic has broken away from Ellesmere Island, surprising scientists who say the floating ice shelf is another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier.

First things First

When one is about to run for President, or VP, it's very, very important that you fix their wiki entry. That way, the first thing you read about someone you've never heard of is what you want them to read. Except some pesky guy will go and ruin all the good work you did talking someone up. But, at least for those first million visitors, you'll get the message thru...

Questions? We don't want no stinkin' questions!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

"You're doin' a heckuva job Speedy..."

News item: Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales told investigators that he could not recall whether he took home notes regarding the government's most sensitive national security program and that he did not know they contained classified information, despite his own markings that they were "top secret -- eyes only," according to a Justice Department report released yesterday.

Gonzales improperly carried notes about the warrantless wiretapping program in an unlocked briefcase and failed to keep them in a safe at his Northern Virginia home three years ago because he "could not remember the combination," the department's inspector general reported.

A tribute

Film trailer voice-over king dies



Ode to movie announcer guy



In a world where movies are king
He was their greatest cheerleader
He told you why to watch a movie
"It has that guy you like from that other movie"
"This actor won some sort of award you should respect"
"This actress was nominated for some sort of award you should respect"
"These are the same guys that brought you that other movie you liked"
We listened to him patiently
But never saw his face
Never knew his name
Now (record scratch)
He's gone forever
And the movies will never be the same

Movie announcer guy - the obituary

Now playing in all media



The movies will truly never be the same.

Corporal Urges Republicans to Get Their Heads out of Their Asses

Lieberman Urges Dems to Cross Party Lines

Joe Lieberman

Thompson first

Fred Thompson tonight at the RNC:

John McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders. (ed.: True!)

He cannot salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much.

Sen. McCain may not be able to salute the flag, Fred, but he does salute you:

she's folksy - I would like to sit up to my ass in seal blubber with seal blood smeared on my face eating raw seal with her

Don't know much about history

Sarah Palin regarding the Pledge of Allegiance, which was written in 1892, and why it should include the phrase "under God," which was added in 1955:

"If it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me."

just when you think you have explored every dark, hidden, bat-shit encrusted cove in their labyrinth of stupidity...

...you find a whole new unexplored cave of yawning moron you never knew about.

A large plurality of National Journal's Republican Political Insiders say they have more respect for John McCain's judgment because he tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Forty-six percent said they now respect McCain's judgment "much more" or "a little more"; 25 percent said they now respect it "much less" or "a little less"; and 29 percent said his VP choice didn't change their assessment....

More than 70 percent of right-of-center bloggers responding to the same question said the pick boosted their respect for McCain's judgment. One called the Palin pick "the most riveting thing in politics since 'Tear down this wall.'" ("I can't feed myself," he added... Ed.)

Comment on da home run widget title

Methinks what will be more important is who will CATCH home run #250,000. Dat person may make a boatload...the schmuck who hits it (let's go with, why not? Rick Ankiel) will be but a footnote in history. Who hit #100,000? 200,000?

Solar cooling obviously caused by humans

I blame our emissions of bulls#i+...

DailyTech.com: According to data from Mount Wilson Observatory, UCLA, more than an entire month has passed without a spot. The last time such an event occurred was June of 1913. Sunspot data has been collected since 1749.

When the sun is active, it's not uncommon to see sunspot numbers of 100 or more in a single month. Every 11 years, activity slows, and numbers briefly drop to near-zero. Normally sunspots return very quickly, as a new cycle begins.

But this year -- which corresponds to the start of Solar Cycle 24 -- has been extraordinarily long and quiet, with the first seven months averaging a sunspot number of only 3. August followed with none at all. The astonishing rapid drop of the past year has defied predictions, and caught nearly all astronomers by surprise.

Dis would never happen in Cricket

Brewers to protest hit in Sabathia 1-hitter

I didn't see the play, but I don't care. What would make us see the play different now than we did before?

In case you missed it...

Honorary Hot Chick with Douchebag of the Month: McCain/Palin

Issue #1: Would you be less inclinded to vote for Barrack Hussein Obama if you knew that he has an illegitimate white baby?

McCain Sells His Soul: Hires Man Who Sunk His 2000 Campaign
By: Bill W. @ 11:00 AM - PDT

John McCain has claimed that he believes “there is a special place in hell” for Tucker Eskew and the others who were behind the push-poll that implanted the idea in S.C. voters’ minds in 2000 that he had fathered an illegitimate black child, but that sure didn’t stop him from hiring Eskew to help prepare Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Jake Tapper: McCain Hires GOP Operative Who Helped Smear Him in South Carolina in 2000
Former officials of Sen. John McCain’s 2000 campaign expressed shock and disbelief Monday to learn than the GOP presidential nominee had hired South Carolina political consultant Tucker Eskew.
Eskew, along with Warren Tompkins and Neal Rhodes, were key members of then-Gov. George W. Bush’s South Carolina team during the 2000 primaries. McCain and his team long held Bush, Tompkins, Rhodes and Eskew responsible for the various smears against McCain and his family in the Palmetto state during that contentious contest. […]
Asked if the McCain campaign would have a comment about hiring one of the South Carolina strategists the senator and his 2000 campaign team once held responsible for smears against him, McCain 2008 spokesman Brian Rogers emailed, “No.”

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise after McCain hired Rove’s protegé two months ago and began running the negative campaign he pledged not to. There’s apparently no depth of depravity that McCain won’t stoop to and no issue he won’t flip-flop on in an attempt to win this election.

Trib tackles the tough questions

Is it OK to wear jerseys of players who are no longer on the team?
Yes (956 responses) 70.2%
No (405 responses) 29.8%
1361 total responses (Results not scientific, but gargantuanly inane)

how to suck at invoking the wrath of God

Only missed by about four days and 1000 miles...

Morning in America (cont'd)

An overwhelming majority of National Journal's Republican Political Insiders were eager for much of the GOP convention to be spent attacking the Democrats.

Asked how much of the Republican convention's program should be "devoted to tearing down Barack Obama and the Democratic brand," 55 percent of Insiders said "about half" and 16 percent said "more than half"
. . .

Another remarked, "There's no rebuilding the GOP™ brand between now and Election Day. We need to bring [Democrats] down to our level."

we'll have to content ourselves with the memories (and the ongoing s#i+-blowing-up)

Campaign For America's Future: "Thanks For The Memories!"

tough times for plutocrats (cont'd)

Summer: The living wasn't so easy
Crain's, Sept. 1, 2008

He and his wife are empty-nesters wanting to sell their newly remodeled, $1.2-million River Forest home and move into a downtown condo. They first listed their house in June 2007, then took it off the market two months later to make some improvements. In May, they listed the house again and prepared for a sale. They're still waiting.

"When we relisted the house in the spring, I figured that by Labor Day we'd be downtown when the fall season of social events takes place... It would be great to go home and change for an event without having to drive back and forth."

The constant showings, too, made for a wearying summer. "The frustration level of dealing with buyers who've been back six times just wears you down," he says. "My wife says if they come back a seventh time, we're not making the bed."

North Shore real estate agent and avid sailor ....., 46, also has had to scale back. Her son ...., 17, a junior at New Trier High School in Winnetka, and daughter ...., 19, a sophomore at Connecticut College, both sail competitively. It's a pricey sport: Competing internationally can cost from $30,000 to $100,000 a year, including entry fees, travel, accommodations, boat charters, coaching and equipment, she says.

Though Ms. .... and her husband, ...., also a broker, are working harder than ever for every sale, they were unwilling to cut back on the number of trials their children compete in. So they're still traveling, but not in the style they're accustomed to.

"You know those dingy motels off the interstate with the hurricane fence around the pool?" Ms. .... says, referring to her family's frequent trips to Florida for competitions. "I used to think, who would stay there? Well, that's me now, sitting there on the concrete patio with my laptop and cell phone."

More accustomed to the Four Seasons, Ms. .... now takes along a suitcase filled with pressed table linens to wrap the mattresses in. "You can't be too careful," she says.
. . .

There was another perk in being the rare American in a European city for ...., 31, a special events coordinator at Loyola University Chicago. A flea market vendor in Florence, Italy, sold her a leather purse at half his asking price because he felt sorry for her. "I just pleaded and pleaded with this guy," she says. "Finally he said, 'OK. You Americans don't have it easy, I know.'"

no squirrel for her

Photo: Palin poses with caribou she shot

you go through life with the brain you have

I wonder how hard we'd have to pray to help her "overcome" brain-deadness...

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.
. . .

At the 11:15 am Sunday service, hundreds sit in folding chairs, sing along with alt-rock praise songs, and listen to a 20-minute sermon about the book of Malachi. The only sign of culture warring in the whole production is an insert in the day's program advertising an upcoming Focus on the Family conference on homosexuality in Anchorage called Love Won Out. The group promises to teach attendees how to "respond to misinformation in our culture" and help them "overcome" homosexuality.

this is probably nothing to worry about (cont'd)

Arctic icemelt a rising danger
Disintegrating Greenland glaciers an accelerating coastal threat

One of the world’s largest masses of ice could melt much faster than predicted, says a new study that warns the steady loss of the Greenland ice sheet could raise sea levels three times higher than estimated.
. . .

Carlson says that if the Greenland sheet completely disappeared, it would raise sea levels by seven metres, adding that even the slightest increases could threaten hundreds of millions of people in coastal communities.

"The word ’glacial’ used to imply that something was very slow," co-author Allegra LeGrande of the New York-based NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies wrote in the report. "This new evidence . . . indicates that ’glacial’ is anything but slow.

You go to the convention with the nominee you have

L.A. Times: One Republican strategist with close ties to the campaign described the candidate's closest supporters as "keeping their fingers crossed" in hopes that additional information does not force McCain to revisit the decision. According to this Republican, who would discuss internal campaign strategizing only on condition of anonymity, the McCain team used little more than a Google Internet search as part of a rushed effort to review Palin's potential pitfalls. Just over a week ago, Palin was not on McCain's short list of potential running mates, the Republican said.

roids are a terrible thing to waste on Clemensez brainz

Koby Clemens was among three Single-A players arrested Saturday night following an apparent bar fight. Clemens and Mark Ori were charged with disorderly conduct, while Jimmy Goethals was charged with assault and battery. All three players were benched for Salem's game Sunday and the team's season comes to a close Monday. A 21-year-old catcher, Clemens has hit .268/.369/.423 with seven homers and a 99/61 K/BB ratio in 109 games at Single-A.
~

Oppo drop?

Intrade's NEW.REP.VP.PALIN contract is now trading at 96, down from 98 earlier in the day. Did some traders think news from the last 12 hours (her daughter's pregnancy, her Alaska Independence Party membership) might derail her nomination...or was it fear about what might come out over the next 36 hours?

Eggs, heads cracked open in related pranks

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus teenager who was throwing eggs at cars as part of a late-night prank was fatally shot, police said Sunday.

Police said 16-year-old Garrett Burton was with at least one other teenage boy Saturday in the backyard of a home when someone shot him in the head just before 3 a.m. Police have no suspects...

Another Columbus teen was killed in an egging incident in December 2006. Fourteen-year-old Danny Crawford was shot after a group of boys he was with threw an egg at a car. No one has been charged in that case.

Hate Week begins for McCain's Republicans

Thanks to the nomination of Sarah Palin, we already know how it will end...

On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters, the films, the waxworks, the rolling of drums and squealing of trumpets, the tramp of marching feet, the grinding of the caterpillars of tanks, the roar of massed planes, the booming of guns - after six days of this, when the great orgasm was quivering to its climax and the general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up into such delirium that if the crowd could have got their hands on the 2,000 Eurasian war-criminals who were to be publicly hanged on the last day of the proceedings, they would unquestionably have torn them to pieces - at just this moment it had been announced that Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally.

There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy.

The candidate who has repeatedly attacked his opponent for lack of experience is choosing a running mate with similarly little experience.

The candidate who has claimed that the overriding issue of this election is the threat of international terrorism -- and that his opponent is, because of a lack of experience, ill-suited to face down that threat -- is choosing a running mate who literally appears not to have formulated an opinion on the country's ongoing wars.

The candidate who has derided his opponent for not providing details on the "change" he would bring (despite that candidate's thorough public documentation of his specific differences with the policies of the current administration) is now preparing to stake his claim to the Presidency on the entirely vague notion that he (an ardent supporter of the current administration and longtime member of Congress) will bring "reform" to Washington.

Almost all of this candidate's partisan supporters are sure to accept this instantaneous, complete reversal at the end of their upcoming weeklong celebration, which will be punctuated by the moment the candidate becomes the nominee. Together they will stand, cheering, buried in confetti and balloons, never having been at war with Eurasia.

It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work!