Timshel

tired...

2008-09-27T23:22:00.004-05:00

working between 50 & 60 hours a week since the hurricanes hit us, so blogging is not easy until part of my cohort returns from maternity leave. Anyway, this is my quote of the week. Liberal Oasis is fantastic.

Sarah Palin has become painful to watch. This is worse that [sic] watching a train wreck. This is like that scene in the movie Misery where James Caan gets his ankles broken, it is that painful.

Green Screen!!

2008-09-04T22:50:00.002-05:00

Granted that I'm a committed Democrat, but I didn't think much of John McCain's speech. The substance isn't important, but really, throughout this convention--visually--all speakers have more or less been thrown in front of a black screen. In the case of John McCain's speech, they threw him in front of a green and then a blue screen. I can't wait to see what Colbert does with this...

Whew

2008-09-01T18:47:00.003-05:00

Goodby Gustav. That's been a very tense week. I hate the lead time on these things now. You sit around waiting, growing ulcers, and listening to Ray Nagin, and you just get freaked out.

Happily enjoying the propane generating power at my office right now. It's still a little gusty here in Lafayette, but I'll be going home tomorrow before curfew.

The situation south and east of here was not so good...

Did everyone go to bed?

2008-08-26T00:46:00.004-05:00

Michelle Obama was OUT OF THIS WORLD tonight. No one is talking about it online.

I only vaguely remember the 1992 DNC. Fleetwood Mac was memorable, but that's about it. My recollections of Hilary Clinton over the last several years are not particularly enamoring. Meanwhile, Michelle Obama displayed herself as the embodiment of the liberal dream for women, African-Americans, and the middle class. She and her family are the absolute picture of what works in our flawed country. I hope somebody watched besides me...

[update 105 am]...didn't they credential all these fudging bloggers to shape the discourse? This kind of pisses me off. At least I tuned to Fox News later in the evening and found that the worst they could find to do was once again compare Barack Obama to the "American Idol Candidate."

Video please...

2008-08-22T23:45:00.002-05:00

Really, the next time someone says something about a "latte-drinking liberal," I hope that this is dramatized somewhere...

The six-car caravan (two silver minivans, two tan SUVs and two white 15-passenger vans for the press) left his cabin retreat at just before eight in the morning. Eleven minutes later, the caravan pulled into the parking lot of a Safeway, where a sign proclaimed the presence of a Starbucks.

Cindy McCain, clad in a light pink shirt, khaki shorts and flip flops, paced in front of the Safeway, talking on her phone for a few minutes, her hair pulled into a pony tail. A bit later, she went inside the Safeway and emerged with a coffee cup in hand. A staffer was seen coming out of the Safeway with two cups of coffee and some drycleaning.

H/T to Matthew Yglesias, among MANY others...

Olympic Minutiae

2008-08-20T23:04:00.002-05:00

By all realistic comparisons of success in their respective sports, Misty May-Treanor has done considerably more in her career than Jason Kidd.

Why isn't he the one sporting a tattoo of her on his back?

That's a tough lede

2008-08-20T21:33:00.004-05:00

The AP on Bush's visit to New Orleans:

Deborah Harris didn't get to meet President Bush on Wednesday and she didn't care. His visit to this city, not far from where she's living in a trailer in the hurricane-devastated Lower 9th Ward, didn't help her in any way, as far as she could tell.

"So what if the president's here?" she said from the shell of a house she's struggling to build nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina left the neighborhood in ruins. "Where's the stores? Where are the schools for our children? Where are our homes?

The most positive quote AP reporter Becky Bohrer could gather was, "I guess he's trying."

Makes you think a conference on New Orleans recovery might be a good idea, doesn't it?

Can Katrina recovery please become a political issue? If only polling in this state were as close as it is in, say, Ohio.

Head for the hills...

2008-08-15T20:06:00.002-05:00

Maybe there's something to that talk of Obama as Antichrist after all. He's releasing his demons to the world.

First Chupacabra

Then Bigfoot

I'm terrified.

Time-Killing Game of the Olympics

2008-08-14T23:08:00.003-05:00

If you visited this blog years ago, you've probably seen this before. It doesn't change the fact that I love it.

(sorry for the advertisements.)

Wow

2008-08-14T22:48:00.002-05:00

McCain's stance on this issue shows him to be close to certifiable [my emphasis] -- not only on specific policy points but also in what I guess I would call affect.

...

[H]e really has gone considerably beyond what's ever been considered appropriate or acceptable for a presidential candidate. He's worked at fairly evident cross-purposes with the president of his own party. He's been in several times a day phone contact with one of the key players in the drama. He's dispatching his own faux diplomatic delegations to the scene.

Josh Marshall goes on to say that he doesn't necessarily think most voters are really paying attention to this, and I agree with him, but really, wow. This is a helluva statement from the generally staid Talking Points Memo. Just ask Bob Somerby what he thinks about the TPM's teeth.

In the meantime...

I really have been staying up too late watching the Olympics lately. These swimming events have been out of this world. And I have no connection to the sport at all. I'm mostly amazed at the endurance of it all...

AhQuoi? Still looking for some help here, champ.

(non-insider) Predictions

2008-08-10T22:01:00.002-05:00

Campaign emails suggest a Veep pick for the Democratic nominee is coming soon.

Let's hope he goes "wild-card" and selects Jim Traficant.

Nah. I'm still hoping for Wes Clark. Mostly because he has ZERO qualms about going after John McCain. He ~~can be~~ likes the role of attack dog. I don't care about his military experience.

"I made a very serious mistake"

2008-08-09T00:32:00.002-05:00

I am fucking tired of this shit. It doesn't matter the party affiliation. Clinton shouldn't have had apologists. David Vitter should be hoisted, as they say, and John Edwards is a bitch.

It's not a "partisan" issue. Promises people make to their wives and loved ones are more serious than any "political" positions they take in public, regardless of the number of people they affect as public figures. This is a bad person, and whatever money people have contributed to the PAC that has been paying off his mistress should be returned by his ridiculously well-off bank account.

Preseason

2008-08-07T22:23:00.004-05:00

I'm anxiously awaiting the yellow blog's take on this game, but in the meantime I have a few thoughts:

Drew Brees is awesome.

The Saints starting line doesn't block for the run very well.

Our secondary doesn't seem much improved.

Robert Meachem has a gimpy gait, but given the touchdown reception he contrived out of nothing in tonight's contest, that limp may have something to do with the fact that he's wearing Joe Horn's number.

Our first round draft pick has a nose for the ball, but in his first professional competition he seems slow off the snap of the ball.

Skyler Green may have potential.

Less Grammatica, more left-footed drafted kickers (were those squibs designed or awful kickoffs?).

I think our coach may be using "Just for Men".

Tyler Palko has butter fingers.

That Hamilton guy is the new Pierre Thomas.

What do you think?

[update]It's actually Adrian Arrington who has the gimpy gait and wears Joe Horn's number, both he and Meachem have potential. Sorry for the confusion. Drinking beer on weekdays is bad for your memory.

Strategery

2008-08-05T19:01:00.002-05:00

Two days before his much publicized Hawaiian respite, Obama should introduce his Vice Presidential pick.

This candidate should spend Obama's week off relentless attacking McCain in every way imaginable. When Obama comes back he can act like he didn't know it was happening. Maybe even kick him/her off the ticket in a high-profile press conference from Maui half-way through his vacation...

Somerby

2008-08-04T22:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks.

AhQuoi, I need help.

Urgh

2008-08-04T19:47:00.003-05:00

I can't tell you how upset it makes me that Shell and Chevron gas stations both position their premium gas on the far left of the pump. Just like 99% of all the other English-readers in the world, I read left to right. The cheapest gas should be all the way on the left, just like it was the first time I ever pulled up to pump my own gas.

McCain & Obama

2008-07-31T20:05:00.003-05:00

This is why we're in the second Presidential election in a row that reminds me of this:

At least there won't be any oil spills. . .

2008-07-25T22:04:00.004-05:00

In a story about a survey that found as many as 17% of coastal residents in Louisiana wouldn't "evacuate if the government said they had to because another major hurricane was headed toward the state," I found this quote worth noting.

“People come up with every possible excuse they can think of to stay — like something will happen to their house if they leave,” Sneed said. “We try and answer each and every one of those issues. When they worry about vandalism, we say we’ll provide extra security.”

“I don’t know why they’re so reluctant,” he added. “It’s as if they don’t trust anybody.”

I can't imagine why our citizens wouldn't trust anyone, can you?

What has clout gotten us?

2008-07-24T20:16:00.002-05:00

J. Neely Kennedy's best line of defense to Mary Landrieu's experience was heard on entertaining-in-a-makes-me-cringe-kind-of-way local radio station KVOL in an interview with one of Lafayette's many resident radio idiots, Todd C. Elliott.

He was responding to a question posed by Portia Evans, the equally-doltish liberally-minded news reporter and (sort of) co-host to their morning show. It went something along the lines of, "Mary Landrieu's extensive Senate experience has her in a position of great seniority and clout in Congress. How do you respond to that?"

Kennedy sounded fired up by this question. "What has clout gotten us? Has it gotten us our recovery money? Has it kept our college grads in the state? Has clout made our schools perform better? Has clout gotten our levees rebuilt" He went on with several other "has clout" questions, all damaging to Mary Landrieu's argument for experience and seniority over new blood.

In his response, Kennedy actually seemed a bit like the man Oyster described who showed up at the river to campaign for John Kerry.

Of course Mary Landrieu not being on with him and two poorly prepared radio "personalities" couldn't respond to said question. Kennedy going around Louisiana staying on this message will need to be considered by the Landrieu media team, though.

PBJ for VeeP!

2008-07-21T21:04:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned to AhQuoi via text message today, "I'm praying for this"

Let it be Bobby J!

Make no mistake, I don't think this is NECESSARILY in the works; rather, I think it's political theater to distract from the amazement that is Europe's reaction to Barack Obama. It does bring me to consider the possibilities:

Best Case for the Democrats:

Bobby J. makes McCain look like an out of touch old codger. After national media scrutiny Bobby J. looks to the press like an out of touch religious extremist. They pile on. Barack Obama wins.

Next to Worst Case for the Republicans:

Bobby J. as Vice President makes McCain look like an out of touch old codger. National media scrutiny of Bobby J. is fawning. Barack Obama wins, but entrenched economic and geopolitical circumstances leave him as a one-term disappointment and Bobby J. wins a landslide in 2012 (Is this what our governor really wants? Who knows? Ask my special lady.)

Bad case for Democrats:

See above

Worst case for Democrats:

What, me worry? I don't see a scenario that Bobby Jindal being on the ticket helps anyone except Bobby Jindal. The Obama campaign has nothing to worry about this guy.

However, there is a worst case for Bobby Jindal (and for people who care about this country):

McCain manages to win. Economic and geopolitical circumstances do not improve over the next four years due to a number of reasons: poor Republican leadership and an appropriately obstructionist Democratic Congress trying to undo the damage of the last eight years of an increasingly authoritative executive. The Republicans are thrown out of office and Bobby Jindal goes down as hip-to-be-square Dan Quayle. If I didn't hate the idea of having to endure a McCain/Jindal executiveship over the next four years, I'd kind of be rooting for this scenario to play out.

New Links

2008-07-21T20:56:00.002-05:00

I mean it, a blogroll update is in the works.

In the meantime, I've been pleasantly surprised to find a couple of extended family members with lefty leanings operating out of their own little corners of the blogosphere. I'll be keeping up with them, maybe you guys would like to as well.

What Powderfinger Said . . .

and

Trench Warfare.

Welcome to our humble little family.

B-tails

2008-07-16T23:53:00.003-05:00

Quotes from the Details profile of Bobby J.

[Bobby Jindal] is out to reinvent the Republican Party in his own slick, telegenic image. And if that means purging the GOP of its Dubya-era demons (emphasis mine), no matter—he likes a good exorcism, too.

[snip]

[The Lower Ninth's] few remaining residents—easily outnumbered by the hordes of National Guardsmen and political aides and the reporters sequestered in the flatbeds of two National Guard trucks—are out on their porches [can someone confirm this depiction? I don't live there...]

[snip]

"Governor Jindal is one of the great governors of the United States," McCain says. "I'm honored to have his friendship, and I will rely on Governor Jindal for many, many things in the future, when I am president."[Dear God!]

[snip]

[Jindal] speaks with a pure southern accent, humid and twangy. [WTF??!!??]

[snip]

Effort . . . is something Jindal has never failed to give. [S]ays Mary Lee Guillot, his principal at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. "What you see now is what you saw then—focused, feet on the ground, always knew where he was going." [to the Presidency?]

[snip]

"I was raised in a strong Hindu culture, attended weekly pujas, or ceremonial rites, and read the Vedic scriptures," Jindal wrote in a 1993 article in America, a Jesuit magazine, one of many religious essays [my emphasis, again, WHAT???? "a little more on those religious essays, please...] he published in the early nineties.

[snip]

Jindal entered Brown University [okay, finally] at the age of 17, . . . and it was there in Providence, Rhode Island, that he was baptized. While at Brown, a friend of Jindal's . . . confided to him that . . . [she] was plagued by the sulfurous odors traditionally associated with demons.

Ugh, I can't read anymore.

Umm, no.

2008-07-16T00:39:00.003-05:00

From Slate:

The magazine has a history of controversial satire, so why should it stop for Barack Obama? Some critics have suggested the illustrator secretly wanted to paint Obama as the uppity black man by pursing his lips and giving him some sort of evil eye of doom. Meanwhile Michelle is presented as a "war-like creature" that basks in her husband's "evil genius."

So, what about the Rolling Stone cover that features an illustration of Obama so high in the clouds he could have handed God a voter registration card. When illustrating Obama, should we now only encourage artists to deify him? What good would that do? For the Bubbas of the world that will come across TheNew Yorker cover while browsing for the Enquirer and say, "I knew he was Osama's kin!" they weren't going to vote for him anyway. The same can be said for their like-minded brethren at Fox News and The Weekly Standard.

The New Yorker cover simply fails at its satirical objective. Liberals should stop calling them racist, and then everyone else should stop equating this cover to past covers.

Don't get me wrong, I think they hit relatively close to "the funny", but they don't make it. Especially considering the sh*t I hear around Lafayette, Louisiana about him. You CAN'T satirize it. This cover is a literal depiction of what people say about the Obamas in Lafayette. That's why it's not funny. It's just kind of sickening and leaves me depressed about the state of the small world I live in.

Coming Soon

2008-07-15T23:11:00.004-05:00

Don't miss out on this event.

b-i NGO, b-i NGO, and Jindal was his Name-O!

2008-07-14T21:58:00.003-05:00

It's hard work going through the list of Jindal's line-item cuts, but a few things are clear from my reading:

The Boys and Girls club are going to be short on funding this year.

And jeebus, how long has the McKinley High School Alumni Association been pulling in this much state money before Jindal applied his pen to these NGO iteams?

This amendment provides $20,000 to the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $50,000 to the McKinley School Alumni Association, Inc.
...
This amendment provides $300,000 for the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $20,000 to the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $50,000 to the McKinley School Alumni Association, Inc.
...
This amendment provides $300,000 for the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $20,000 to the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $50,000 to the McKinley School Alumni Association, Inc.
...
This amendment provides $300,000 for the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $20,000 to the McKinley High School Alumni Association.
...
This amendment provides $50,000 to the McKinley School Alumni Association, Inc.
...
This amendment provides $300,000 for the McKinley High School Alumni Association.

Do you get the point yet?

Maybe not, the point is that this whole document seems to have been incorrectly cut & pasted from the document that the Governor's office released. It's the same organizations over and over again, same pages listed as well. I don't get it.

Staring at and pooling through this, then cutting and pasting, then reading again made me a bit mad at spending so much time on this post. This is why I need help from my friend AhQuoi.

Actual cuts to the McKinley Alumni Association appears to be $370,000.