Monday, November 03, 2008
When Worlds Collide
The campaign is reaching its final feverish pitch and my worlds are colliding as Jimmy Rollins and several other of your World Champion Philadelphia Phillies are going to be at a rally with Joe and Jill Biden this evening. I'm getting butterflies...
Video Mess For Thursday... er Monday!
Ok, so many thanks to Venice who yet again picked up the slack in the last two days posting while I lapsed a bit! I greatly appreciate it, my newly employed friend. I hope that your move has gone as well as it has gone swiftly. Meanwhile, it's apparently the week for employment news at The Best Way, because a big piece of my reasons behind not posting over the past couple days was the fact that my own stint of unemployment came to an end on Friday!
We'll aim to keep bringing you high quality content, even if posting becomes more concentrated in the evening and/or weekend hours over the weeks and months to come. That disclaimer said, here's a video intensive update I meant to post last Thursday... then we'll get back to your regularly scheduled semi-relevant and non-stale content:
Last week Tina Fey visited Conan Obrien and hilarity insued. If you missed their conversations, including talk about Tina quizzing her young daughter to see if she can tell her own mother apart from Sarah Palin, then please check it out.
Seriously... perhaps I should just ditch this post. Um... yeah, moving on
Wait! This makes the staleness worthwile! Last week Wonkette posted the following um... just incredible video that illustrates an incredibly strong reason why everyone should vote: the person voting before or after you just might be insane. Seriously folks, have you met someone who says they just don't vote because they can't keep up with it all? Did they seem at least somewhat able to think coherently? Next time this happens, encourage them to vote... because of that one crazy glue sniffer out there whose vote they can cancel out.
In other happenings last week that are insanely important, John McCain went to an Ohio rally expecting to be joined by his buddy Joe the Plumber, but guess who didn't show up? Yup... um... Joe, you know... Joe, the Plumber. Oops.
Oh, and the Phillies WON it ALL!!!!!!!
We'll aim to keep bringing you high quality content, even if posting becomes more concentrated in the evening and/or weekend hours over the weeks and months to come. That disclaimer said, here's a video intensive update I meant to post last Thursday... then we'll get back to your regularly scheduled semi-relevant and non-stale content:
Last week Tina Fey visited Conan Obrien and hilarity insued. If you missed their conversations, including talk about Tina quizzing her young daughter to see if she can tell her own mother apart from Sarah Palin, then please check it out.
Seriously... perhaps I should just ditch this post. Um... yeah, moving on
Wait! This makes the staleness worthwile! Last week Wonkette posted the following um... just incredible video that illustrates an incredibly strong reason why everyone should vote: the person voting before or after you just might be insane. Seriously folks, have you met someone who says they just don't vote because they can't keep up with it all? Did they seem at least somewhat able to think coherently? Next time this happens, encourage them to vote... because of that one crazy glue sniffer out there whose vote they can cancel out.
In other happenings last week that are insanely important, John McCain went to an Ohio rally expecting to be joined by his buddy Joe the Plumber, but guess who didn't show up? Yup... um... Joe, you know... Joe, the Plumber. Oops.
Oh, and the Phillies WON it ALL!!!!!!!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
John McCain endorses Barack Obama for President of the United States
Just kidding, of course, but the way things are going out there I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, I will probably be blogging lightly or not at all this week, even on Election Day. I will try to sound in at some point though. Although it's fun to think of an Obama blowout, I have a suspicious feeling that the race will actually be closer than conventional wisdom says. I admit there isn't much evidence for this. Even if you took out presidential polls, there is reason for Obamafans to be optimistic. He's raised insane cash from a record number of donors. He's dominated advertising and, by all accounts, has a superior ground game. Congressional Democrats look poised to sweep their Republican rivals. All these things point to an Obama victory, so the presidential polls showing him ahead are really only icing on the cake. However, I honestly thought that Kerry and Gore would win too (arguably Gore did win, but let's not get into that). So all I can feel now is cautious optimism. In any case, I feel this election is going to be a win-win for this country. No matter what happens, we're coming out of a long dark W.-inter.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Stay Tuned!
I'm having a crazy day today, but just to give a little heads-up to regular readers, I'm prepping a fun little video barrage for this evening complete with drugs, Tina Fey, Baseball, strange campaign gaffes and um... did I mention videos about drugs and weird other scary stuff like that?I know, I know... this post is a tease, and while I was typing it I totally could have just fed you at least one of the videos I'm vaguely describing, but if you wait, they'll all come in one glorious post sometime later tonight. I swear. Like, really.
Until then, here's a picture of me celebrating the Phillies' win in the World Series! YEAH PHILLIES!!!!!! Kim doesn't look too scared by my craziness, right? Ok, if so it's kinda understandable. I was um... a little excited. Just a bit. Ok, no really, I was out of my mind with excitement.
Last time the Phillies won a world series I was... what? Oh, that's right not quite 6mo old!
Politics Is Local: Questions about CT Question #1
Connecticut has recently become the latest state thrust into the gay marriage spotlight, when the CT Supreme Court ruled that laws setting out marriage for straight folks and civil unions for gay folks were an example of a "separate but equal" approach to the law. This ruling and judgment on their part, strikes me as eminently logical, clear-cut, and very admirable. I know the marriage question can be difficult for some people, even very tolerant people, but there are common sense aspects to this whole debate, and the analogy to "separate but equal" is, in my eyes, one of the clearest available.
The result of this decision? A new push to introduce ballot initiatives into law in CT via Question #1 which is not a ballot initiative itself. Question #1 is a once-in-twenty years chance for CT voters to say yes or no on the idea of the state holding a convention to review and revise the CT constitution. This question is not legislative, and was last on the ballot in 1986 when voters decided no such convention was necessary.
The predominance of opinion seems to hold that the supporters of Question #1 and a convention want to use this forum to enact ballot initiatives into law, whereby they will almost certainly then move swiftly to introduce an anti-gay marriage initiative onto the next possible ballot.
Now, Ballot initiatives are not a new thing, and here in America they have made some of the biggest splashes out in Califorina, where famous initiatives include:
Advocates claim that ballot initiatives will help the people participate more directly in CT's government, and that they will help fight corruption and lack of action on issues close to CT voters' hearts. Opponents, including the Attorney General (aka the highest ranking lawyer in the state) of CT, believe ballot initiatives would give special interests and lobbyists a new tool, and would not benefit the people.
So, what to do? Is it a good or bad idea to let the people of our lovely nutmeggy state gain the wonderful new ability to petition for and then exercise a new right to basically legislate via popular vote?
I would strongly encourage people to vote "no." While I like the idea of ballot initiatives in theory, I don't necessarily see them as a huge positive in practice. I also am someone whose personal beliefs are pretty far left, so I feel like rules legislated by popular opinion (it is suggested that along with anti-gay marriage initiatives, we would likely also see mandatory sentencing or "three strikes and your out" initiatives introduced on ballots right away) are likely to be at least a significant distance further to the right than where I sit.
Bottom line here, as I see it, is that the people pushing for Question #1 to get yes votes are not being forthcoming about their motives, and I find that reason enough to give it a thumbs-down.
Read More:
The result of this decision? A new push to introduce ballot initiatives into law in CT via Question #1 which is not a ballot initiative itself. Question #1 is a once-in-twenty years chance for CT voters to say yes or no on the idea of the state holding a convention to review and revise the CT constitution. This question is not legislative, and was last on the ballot in 1986 when voters decided no such convention was necessary.
The predominance of opinion seems to hold that the supporters of Question #1 and a convention want to use this forum to enact ballot initiatives into law, whereby they will almost certainly then move swiftly to introduce an anti-gay marriage initiative onto the next possible ballot.
Now, Ballot initiatives are not a new thing, and here in America they have made some of the biggest splashes out in Califorina, where famous initiatives include:
- Proposition 187, which was designed to deny illegal immigrants social services, health care, and public education (passed with 58.8% of the vote in 1994, and was subsequently overturned by a federal court).
- Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act which passed in 1996 with 55.6% of the vote. The proposition allows patients with a valid doctor's recommendation, and the patient's designated Primary Caregivers, to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal medical use, and has since been expanded to protect a growing system of collective and cooperative distribution.
Advocates claim that ballot initiatives will help the people participate more directly in CT's government, and that they will help fight corruption and lack of action on issues close to CT voters' hearts. Opponents, including the Attorney General (aka the highest ranking lawyer in the state) of CT, believe ballot initiatives would give special interests and lobbyists a new tool, and would not benefit the people.
So, what to do? Is it a good or bad idea to let the people of our lovely nutmeggy state gain the wonderful new ability to petition for and then exercise a new right to basically legislate via popular vote?
I would strongly encourage people to vote "no." While I like the idea of ballot initiatives in theory, I don't necessarily see them as a huge positive in practice. I also am someone whose personal beliefs are pretty far left, so I feel like rules legislated by popular opinion (it is suggested that along with anti-gay marriage initiatives, we would likely also see mandatory sentencing or "three strikes and your out" initiatives introduced on ballots right away) are likely to be at least a significant distance further to the right than where I sit.
Bottom line here, as I see it, is that the people pushing for Question #1 to get yes votes are not being forthcoming about their motives, and I find that reason enough to give it a thumbs-down.
Read More:
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Comic Relief: FAIL
Just cause... you know... The Price is Right is still on TV. That's reason enough to enjoy this video:
Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama, Warning: This WILL Get Stuck in Your Head
It's stuck in mine. I only wish I could understand more of their lyrics. Thanks to Wonkette for bringing us this wonderful video!!! These kids should be in the cabinet, whoever gets elected... wait... no, maybe that's a bad idea, but regardless this video is kinda fun, even if you get the song stuck in your head, like I did!
Favorite lyric, "Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama"
Favorite lyric, "Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama"
Franken Update! Washed-Up Stars Hate Al!
The video below even stars Bridgeport, CT (and Cheers') own John Razenberger among a 4-person parade of Hollywood almost elites basing Al Franken. Somehow I can't quite imagine this making a huge splash for Norm Coleman... but... yeah.
Ouch, This Hurts Me Right in the Soul
Damn, West Virginia. Why? Why must you disappoint so deeply. Below please watch and join me in being concerned by a demonstration of how voting machines in WV function just... um... great. Great, if when you vote a "straight Democratic" ticket you end up voting John McCain for president! Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap, this is just, well, scary.
Round Mound of Rebound to Lead Alabama to Bright New Future???
In the year Two Thousand (and fourteen) Charles Barkley will run Alabama... I wonder if there are any Alabama residents who comment on this blog and might have thoughts on this idea!?!? For more on what motivated Barkley's thoughts of running:
"I plan on it in 2014," Barkley told CNN's Campbell Brown on Monday. When asked if he was serious, the former Philadelphia 76er said, "I am, I can't screw up Alabama." He added that his native state could only improve. "We are number 48 in everything and Arkansas and Mississippi aren't going anywhere," Barkley said.Read More.
Journalistic Integrity, Political Flack/Hackery and Media Bias, an Essay in 3 Parts (with Video!!!!)
Part 1: Campbell Brown on Campaign Journalism, BS, Pregnancy, and Callin' it Like it Is
Campbell Brown visited the Daily Show yesterday and among other things discussed CNN's goals with regards to campaign coverage. She nicely summed up her goals, saying, "If one candidate is saying it's raining and the other says it's sunny we should be able to look outside and say, 'it's sunny.' Which means one guy is wrong!" It's a simple concept, but one so easily lost in the world of debate-style match-ups of talking heads from "each side" of an issue and demands that equal time go to each side, or that fairness or balanc-ed-ness is measured in the number of minutes given to each "side" while the other often has the opportunity to blabber over them as much as they can manage.
Part 2: Taking Flack Poster Child Tucker Bounds to School
I've got a growing list of campaign flacks I hate, and I think anyone who watches cable news with any regularity likely does as well. While I've been an Obama fan for awhile, I don't think John McCain has helped himself by having Nancy Pfotenhauer and TuckerCarlson Bounds out there spewing idiocy on his behalf. How bad is Mr. Bounds? Apparently at least 3 cable news outlets have more or less taken him to school. Check out the video (I couldn't embed this one) by following the link.
Part 3: Bill Burton Won't Back Down
The left has talked about Fox News' bias for quite some time now, and that bias has been documented in various ways (but honestly, what progressive who has watched Faux News for more than 5 minutes even feels like documentation is actually necessary?). Anyway, the Obama campaign has recently gone after Faux News head-on with the candidate himself even taking some digs here or there. Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman, recently released a statement about Fox picking up and distributing a story no other major news network has touched after the Drudge Report started the rumor mill churning a day before. Fox had him on to get a spanking, but Bill Burton would not take his licks quietly, no no. Instead, what they got is the combative exchange you see below. Nice.
Campbell Brown visited the Daily Show yesterday and among other things discussed CNN's goals with regards to campaign coverage. She nicely summed up her goals, saying, "If one candidate is saying it's raining and the other says it's sunny we should be able to look outside and say, 'it's sunny.' Which means one guy is wrong!" It's a simple concept, but one so easily lost in the world of debate-style match-ups of talking heads from "each side" of an issue and demands that equal time go to each side, or that fairness or balanc-ed-ness is measured in the number of minutes given to each "side" while the other often has the opportunity to blabber over them as much as they can manage.
Part 2: Taking Flack Poster Child Tucker Bounds to School
I've got a growing list of campaign flacks I hate, and I think anyone who watches cable news with any regularity likely does as well. While I've been an Obama fan for awhile, I don't think John McCain has helped himself by having Nancy Pfotenhauer and Tucker
Part 3: Bill Burton Won't Back Down
The left has talked about Fox News' bias for quite some time now, and that bias has been documented in various ways (but honestly, what progressive who has watched Faux News for more than 5 minutes even feels like documentation is actually necessary?). Anyway, the Obama campaign has recently gone after Faux News head-on with the candidate himself even taking some digs here or there. Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman, recently released a statement about Fox picking up and distributing a story no other major news network has touched after the Drudge Report started the rumor mill churning a day before. Fox had him on to get a spanking, but Bill Burton would not take his licks quietly, no no. Instead, what they got is the combative exchange you see below. Nice.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Who's up for getting INSPIRED on a Tuesday morning?
Ok, so yesterday I had a somewhat infuriating clip of some crazy lady in Florida "interviewing" Joe Biden by basically parroting GOP talking points and then acting like they were questions. Today, the Biden clips continue, but they give you a completely different piece of the political landscape, namely one of many reasons Joe Biden is a ridiculously cool guy. Below is a story about one woman's struggle with domestic violence and how Biden's work to pass the Violence Against Women act had a direct impact on her life. Inspiring stuff! Enjoy.
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