Laughable

Seriously, I just wanted to throw up a couple recent favorites from Wonkette. Here goes:

• On Tuesday they had a fun and exciting post about one of John McCain's most prominent Democratic supporters. Am I talking about our jowly and pugnacious senior senator from CT, Ole' Joe Lieberman? Nope, I'm of course talking about almost Governor of West Virginia Icky Frye. Don't know who he is? Check it out.
• Yesterday they, like many blogs, covered the new cover from New York Magazine, which prominently features a terrorist fist-jab between John McCain and Barack Obama. Are you wondering to yourself, "Terrorist Fist-wha???" No worrries, I got background for ya right here.
  

Tom Waits Ol' 55

Tom Waits week continues with a classic cut from his 1973 debut, Closing Time, "Ol' 55"



All Music Guide says, "The lyrics are terrific – “Well my time went so quickly/I went lickedly spitly/Out to my ol’ 55” is the song’s opening, and it progresses into a most moving account of a man and his car as one can possibly imagine."

I'll Go All Leviticus On Ya!

So James Dobson has begun trying to convince evangelicals not to vote for Barack Obama, and the Daily Show, as usual, has brilliant coverage of Dobson's comments. They do this funny thing that helps you see some of the irony in what Mr. Dobson has to say, they use what the kids are calling, "context."

Brilliant!

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Can we call it Tom Waits week? Ok, let's! Here's a brilliant video from I Don't Wanna Grow Up off 1992's Bone Machine.

I Know it Hurts But...

$4 a gallon gas, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Ok... maybe not. Nice piece over at the Atlantic today from Megan McArdle about how the pressures of $4 and possibly soon-to-be $5 a gallon gas are having an impact on supply chain management nationwide.

"The good news is that we have information technology that people in the 1975 couldn't even have dreamt of, which is grinding away at the problem of making our economy incrementally more efficient. If the price of oil does come down, we'll emerge from this substantially more productive--good for us, good for our descendants, good for the planet."

While high gas prices and the state of the economy are justifiably going to be a campaign issue this fall, and while I know they're causing a good bit of pain to many Americans. It's nice to see some documentation of the upside, part of which involves people thinking about how to do the things they do more efficiently. It would be lovely if people just worried about that all the time, but when gas is supercheap, people don't so much think about whether they need to drive from here to there. Apparently also large corporations don't think about whether they can consolidate shipments of this or that, etc.

hat tip: Andrew Sullivan

Pehdtsckjmba

Last week my brother tipped me off to this wonderful little tidbit from Tom Waits, who many folks may not know, but he's an incredible and unique musician. This year I've been particularly taken with two tracks of his, "Old 55," a song from his incredibly debut album, Closing Time, and "Hoist That Rag" from the more recent an haunting 2004 release Real Gone. He's come out with a new one, and below you can check out the press conference for his upcoming tour. You'll get not only a brief introduction to Tom and his enjoyable antics, but also a fun new vocab word!

R.I.P. Russ

How often do you see headlines that you just don't really believe? Yesterday when I saw the first headline float across my computer screen regarding Tim Russert's death, I simply thought it wasn't true. My father was about a year older than Russert when he passed away unexpectedly and pretty suddenly a few years back. I hope that in this difficult time his immediate family can take some solace in the fact that they spent some of Tim's last days together on a family vacation. Again, I see a similarity in that my own father was actually on vacation and had just seen my brother, met my brother's wife for the first time. These sorts of things can take a tragedy and soften the edges a bit (perhaps only a very little bit).

I like many have a leery eye for the mainstream media in America these days, whether I'm worried about consolidation of power among a few mega media corporations, or the oversimplification of sound-bite politics blended through the 24-hour cable news echo chamber. Russert, while imperfect like us all, truly was one of those voices who really managed to shake out of the talking points, the sound bites, and the oversimplification to bring us some meaningful news about the politics of our nation. I think he certainly presented the type of model political junkies and journalists alike should aspire to, being well informed and hard working, seeking understanding and meaning out of the bizarre circus that circles the mall down in Washington D.C. Sure he had what seemed like some gotcha moments, but over the years he offered great insight to many situations and had the sort of work ethic that gets you to the top of your game, where he certainly was this week when he left us.

I think anyone would agree, especially those of us who have lost someone around Tim Russert's age, that he has left us too soon. I hope that his family and friends will have the opportunity over the days to come to gather and celebrate a great man's life, and I truly wish them the best as they figure out how to come to terms with their loss.

Rest in Peace, L'il Russ.

The Aftermath

Looking for a distraction now that the Democratic Primaries are over? I know I'm a little at a loss for what to post about these days, and you can go any number of directions with that. Visiting Andrew Sullivan over at the Atlantic today I found two, One being a deep breath and a visit to some lighter fair, like the ReelGeezers, whose review of the Superbad is below (I just rewatched Superbad last week!).



Another direction one can go is into the deeper issues of the day. I already tossed up a quick post earlier about the SCOTUS' big decision on habeas corpus, but here's another fascinating post over at Sullivan's blog with some nice back and forth around the question of whether "Empire" is the right metaphor for understanding America's presence in Iraq. Either way you want to go, nice to know there's still lots of fun distractions out there in the world.

Oh, and here's one more, check out Purple State's post about (among other things) a Canadian school child's awesome science fair project that looked into a bacterial solution to decomposing plastics. If you don't know why this is an issue, check out a film on plastic in the oceans.

How 'Bout Them Checks and Balances?

Sweet news today as the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay have a right to pursue habeas challenges to their detention. When congress took this right away a few years ago, it was seen by many (myself included) as a huge power grab by the administration as well as a direct affront to a basic and central piece of the rights Americans fought for in seeking our independence back in the way back. A nice quick post on the ruling is available here, and I hope my soon-to-be lawyer friend Matt will soon weigh in with his own thinking on this lovely little verdict.

I'm pretty scared of this court and the decisions they will hand down over the years to come with Roberts and Alito behind the bench, but it's nice when even a group like this comes down on what seems like the site of good sense.

A Proud Moment in Baseball

I grew up a huge fan of the Philadelphia Phillies and baseball in general, but as I got to be a teenager and started playing the game myself one player dominated and I can't think of anyone of my peers who wasn't a fan. This evening Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 600th HR, and while injuries have shortened many of his seasons since 2000, it's still a remarkable milestone. Espn's Tim Kirkjian put together a nice write-up here. A couple excerpts stood out to me:

On the early years:
" 'When he came to camp in 1989, he had no chance to make the team,' [former teammate Scott] Bradley said. 'But he got a lot of at-bats early that spring because a lot of veterans don't like to play a lot early. After 20 games, he wasn't just the best player on our team, he was the best player in the league that spring. The Mariners basically said, 'We don't want this to happen, we don't want to rush him, we don't want him to make the team.' So they started running him out there against every elite pitcher, against all the nastiest left-handers they could find in hopes that he would stop hitting, and they could send him out. It never happened.'
He made the club as a 19-year-old, the youngest player on an Opening Day roster that season. In his first at-bat at the Seattle Kingdome, he hit a home run on the first pitch he saw from the White Sox's Eric King. Griffey went on to hit 16 home runs that season -- in baseball history, only Tony Conigliaro and Mel Ott hit more homers as teenagers."

On the 90's and his development as a hitter
"Griffey had the amazing ability for a young hitter to see, react and hit the breaking ball if it stayed in the strike zone for too long. As he grew as a hitter by developing his opposite field power and still maintaining his pull power, the huge home run seasons came. He was then the youngest player to reach 300, 350, 400 and 450 home runs. He was named to the All-Century team when he was 29 and he was named the Player of the Decade for the 1990s."


Kurkjian closes by saying that while we could look back now and talk about all that might have been without his injuries, it's much more fun to admire what an amazing athlete and all around player Griffey has been over the years. It's also fair to look forward and realize the kid still has quite a few homeruns ahead of him.

Zakaria on Obama and the World

I've been busy studying for the bar and so this is my first post for a while. I saw this interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN while checking baseball scores. It's vintage Zakaria: thoughtful, fair and internationally orientated. It helps, I admit, that I agree with him. Electing Obama to the Presidency would help the US's image abroad, but that this boost will fade fast if Obama follows through on the anti-market rhetoric that he's used on the campaign trail. In a nutshell:

"Most people around the world want the United States to keep this open-world economy going, and they care much more about that than whether the United States is multilateral in the United Nations Human Rights Convention.

The core issue for a Kenyan farmer, for a Brazilian businessman, for an Indian entrepreneur is, will the United States help keep markets open?"

It’s a very brief piece but well worth reading. Now back to the books!

Zombie Army, Here I Come!

Awesome piece over at Slate today about the press (and bloggers') inability to find the right wording to describe Barack and Michelle exchanging a quick fist pound before his speech last night. I saw a post about this moment that evening (over at the Jed Report) and about how charming it was, but honestly I didn't pick up on it as it happened. Now I wish I had! I'm not going to lie, saying much nay anything about the cool factor related to things like this is exactly what feeds right wing talk about a zombie Obamaniac army full of people who simply drool over how amazing their candidate is and blah blah blah blah blah.

I'm sorry, I guess I just don't care. These two, Barack and Michelle, are two smart, poised, incredibly successful people, and I believe they will both provide remarkable leadership to our country in the years to come. Not only that, but they seem like genuinely cool folks, whether it jumps out in moments like Michelle's conversation with people in Indiana about her difficult choice to work and pay off student loans while worrying about this choice and her desire to be the absolute best mother to her two daughters or in a momentary fist pound during a well deserved moment of celebration. Last night was a remarkable night, and while I don't support Obama because I think that he and his wife are cool people, I do think it's fun to see someone succeed in this level of politics and still actually come across as normal, even cool.


Previous indicator that I'm an Obama zombie: my excitement to see him brush the dirt off his shoulders, Jay-Z style.