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April 22nd, 2009
10:26 am - Happy Birthday, Ginny
 Today is Virginia Heinlein's birthday. That's her, with her husband. You may have heard of him.
If the world was a fairer place, Mrs. Heinlein would be 93, today, and in good health. A very nice woman.
Which reminds me of a story. ( Read more... )
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November 12th, 2008
09:18 am - Need a room for the Inaugural?
Craigslist ad: (h/t getrich)
Room for Rent -- Inauguration Day/ObamaCon 2009 (map)
Reply to: hous-914613135@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-11-11, 11:48AM EST
In a search of a room in DC so that you can spend Jan. 20 standing in the bitter winter cold with thousands of like-minded souls watching the historic transfer of power from one Harvard grad to another? Look no further. Me: Heartless, greedy right-wing oppressive type looking to make a buck. You: Obama's election was Christmas/your first kiss/May Day all wrapped into one. You dutifully wore his button -- which you have yet to remove -- contributed money to his campaign from your non-profit job and chanted "yes we can" as if it were the 11th commandment. A strange void now exists in your life and -- like an old hippie looking to recapture the spirit of Woodstock -- you are undertaking a pilgrammage to Washington for one last gulp of the Kool-Aid. ( Read more... )
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08:56 am - Well, there's change for you
Obama's no-lobbyist commitments have, well, changed.
During the campaign: "I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House." Well, the first one was a fib, as even the HuffPo noted. And the second statement is, well, no longer operative.
No question: that's change. Is that the sort of thing his supporters hope for?
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November 11th, 2008
11:44 am - ODS Watch: All the Other Kids Are Doing It
Over at Windypundit, Mark's posted his first roundup of Obama Derangement Syndrome news. A fair number of conservative/libertarian folks have. Seems that some, well, nutcases have been pointing to evil symbolism in Michele Obama's dress, for example.
Okay, I'll play, too. Some rightwing nutcases are talking about how some Obamamaniacs are already promoting a national holiday for The One. Sheesh. As though.
Oops. Nevermind:
Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20. "Yes We Can" planning rallies will be at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every Tuesday at the downtown McDonald's restaurant, 1100 Kansas Ave., until Jan. 13. The goals are to secure a national holiday in Obama's honor...
Let me try again. Gotta put down this ODS stuff. Now, this is rich -- this woman rants about how on January 20, Obama will "take power and begin to rule." [My emphasis.] Sheesh. Don't these rightwing nutcases --
Ooops. Nevermind.
Not a rightwing nutcase. Turns out to be Valerie Jarrett, co-chair of the Obamatransition team, and a leading Obamatron.
I'll get it, though. I'm chasing down a nutty rightwing rumor that Obama accepted the Democratic nomination on a stage made up to look like some sort of Greek Temple O'Bama...
Vero possumus.
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10:03 am - Not to worry
Omri Ceren points to reassurances to the nutroots not to worry, that, when it comes to Israel, Rahm Emanuel is one of those tame House Jews; I guess, after the DNC's disgracing itself, it was important to hand out some scorecards; gotta be sure that the nutroots know that he's not part of the Jewish cabal that so bothers the Democrats, eh?
I don't make this stuff up, you know. Or, for that matter, this.
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November 10th, 2008
08:20 am - Nothing to see, move along now . . .
. . . it's just a guy being arrested for wearing a McCain t-shirt. I hope that kind of thing will change.
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November 6th, 2008
02:57 pm - Listening to Juan Williams . . .
. . . on MPR, this afternoon. He was, understandably, still kind of moist about the Obama victory, which wasn't a surprise. Me, I was thrilled to hear that Jack Markell was elected governor of Delaware, becoming the first Jewish governor there, and I only know a little less about Markell* than I think many Obama's supporters know about Obama's policies**.
What got my attention, though, was his take on the lack of the "Bradley Effect," where he said something very much to the effect of how we now knew that white people wouldn't "sneak" into the voting booth and vote against a black candidate that they said that they'd vote for.
I thought that kind of got it backward. I think the lack of the Bradley Effect shows that, by and large, white folks who are willing to vote against a black candidate -- or, at least, this black candidate -- or for a person of pallor running against a black candidate -- or, at least, this black candidate -- are willing to say that they are to an anonymous interviewer.
How far we've come.
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* I think Markell is a guy; I'm sure he's a Democrat and Jewish, and lives in Delaware.
** "Are you more for Obama's policy because he's pro-life? Or because he thinks [we] should stay in Iraq and finish this war?"
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10:58 am - Something struck a nerve
I just clicked back on the
"I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker
story.
It looks like it struck a nerve:
Note: The comments tool has been disabled for this story. It is WTHR.com's policy to approve all comments before they are posted because we aim to maintain a civil dialogue on our site. However, because of the large volume of comments generated by this story, we do not have the time to approve them - therefore they have been turned off. We are sorry for any inconvenience. While our goal is to encourage interactivity on our site, in this case, we simply do not have the staff to devote the time to approving comments.
I can see why. On the specifics, it's a sad thing. The folks who were working for ten bucks an hour were almost certainly people who needed the money; wealthy Obamamaniacs who pounded the pavement (and I'm sure that there were at least some of those) almost certainly would have done it for free, or less.
But I think I can see why it caught on.
"I worked nine hours a day for 4 days and got paid half of what I should have earned," said Randall Waldon.
With the tax hikes coming, I think that'll have a lot of resonance for a lot of folks.
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10:49 am - Make that "a Cornish Game Hen" in some pots.
Let's see . . . first we have the biggest post-election drop, well, ever; then we find out that McCain's campaign wasn't really so dishonorable, that Obama's supporters should lower their expectations, including those who want to get paid . . .
I hope nobody tells Peggy Joseph.
Or Andy Young.
“Nothing would have more impact on the economy and the price of oil than his election as president,” Young said. “There would be a boost of 1,000 points on the stock market the first week after he’s elected. This would be better than a chicken in every pot.”
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November 5th, 2008
11:11 am - SSM defeated in CA
Which sucks.
This is, err, not exactly my favorite election. Even the few races that seem to have gone my way aren't a lot of fun.
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November 4th, 2008
08:12 pm - Pretty much over
 While the popular vote is very close, at this point, it'd take a miracle for McCain to win.
Pity. About the only good thing about it is that this puts an end to any reasonable discussion about anti-black racism in the US. The country is so anti-racist, on balance, that it apparently will put an inexperienced, corrupt, arrogant Chicago machine politician in the White House largely because he's black.
ETA: lots of the talking heads are suggesting that Obama is going to try to govern from the center, but . . .
. . . but I think that they're whistling in the dark.
Definitely time to gird your loins.
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04:25 pm - Election Guide for Dummies
Very good, from Rick Moran, over at Pajamas.
A rule of thumb in these scenarios is the candidate who needs a lot of “ifs” and “buts” in their scenario is probably toast. So when I say “If McCain can win OH, FL, and PA but lose VA and CO, he can win the presidency,” you know that the Republican is in a world of hurt. Conversely, if I were to say “Obama only needs to hold on to the states he’s leading in the polls now to win in a landslide,” you realize to your horror that the odds are very good that we will probably elect a president who is on a first name basis with 1) an unrepentant terrorist 2) a conspiracy mongering, bigoted preacher and 3) an incredibly corrupt Chicago political fixer convicted of fraud. That’s what I call “hope and change” as in “I sure hope something changes before election night is over.”
Me, too. That said, I think it's about one in ten, right now. I'd rather be on the other side of those odds, but if you watch the World Series of Poker, you do know that inside straights do come in; we've still got some outs.
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03:31 pm - No News is Good News
Over at NRO, they're not hearing about any leaked exit poll numbers.
Which means, I think, that the exit polls, so far, look better than expected for McCain. Not that the exit polls mean much; they're very unreliable.
But if the narrative was he can't win; there's no point in going to the polls, we'd be hearing it.
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01:21 pm - Electioneering at the polls...
... isn't just uncool, but also illegal in Minnesota. (I'm not sure how that squares with the First Amendment, but . . . ) Visible campaign buttons, clothing, bumper stickers -- not allowed within 100 feet of the polling place.
So I wasn't at all surprised that there were some Obama Youth wearing Obama t-shirts, who had to turn them inside out. (And resented it, of course; the rules aren't for supporters of The One. Kudos to the election judges, who followed the rules.)
But I'm not sure what to make of the women who were wearing the PUMA gear . . . except that I smiled at one, and she smiled at me, and I don't think her choice in jacket was coincidental.
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11:14 am - Well, yeah
As Lileks points out, they really do look like a divorced couple reconciling at the kid's wedding.
That said, consider the text:
As the father of three daughters, I owe Senator Clinton a debt for inspiring them and millions of other women to believe nothing in this great country is beyond their reach. . . I share Senator Clinton’s goal of promoting women to more important roles throughout our government. By the end of my first term, I promise you will see a dramatic increase in the presence of women in every part of the government. You have my word on it. John McCain.
"You have my word on it." Which means, of course, that if we get a miracle and McCain manages to pull it off, it will happen. Obama picking up Peggy Joseph's mortgage payment and gas bill? Not so much. (Granted, he didn't actually say that he would . . . )
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10:24 am - I voted.
I think that there's a chance that enough folks will have come to their senses and to the polls today that McCain will win, but not much of one.
Minnesota? Nah. While I didn't get into a discussion of candidates, it was pretty clear to me that the two hunters I was in line with this morning are voting for Obama. Which is sort of like black folks voting for David Duke because they heard that there's really better seating at the back of the bus...
So what? Vote anyway. And, if you haven't, yet, read this, please, and think about it.
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November 3rd, 2008
04:50 pm - Bethke nails . . .
. . . the "Fairness" Doctrine.
All I got to say is, "well, yeah." Orwellian, indeed.
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October 30th, 2008
11:28 am - Racists for Obama
An interesting set of endorsements, all in all. (h/t Glenn)
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