Welcome to the loyal opposition: Glad to have you

All I can say is: the president gave a speech he could have given at any point in the last three years. No one in that room could disagree with any of the things he said. I sure don't (with the exception of the hate crimes hooey). And he said it well and movingly. Like we didn't know he could do that.

But the point of electing a president who pledged to actually do things is to hold him to account, and to see if he is willing to take any risk of any kind to actually do something. I had a few prior tests of his seriousness or signs that he gets it, a few ways to judge if this speech had anything new or specific or clear. He failed every test.

via andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

It does not please me to see the President's support base question his ability to deliver on his promises, or his will to do so. I feel no victory, no compulsion to shout "I told you so".

God knows Obama has plenty on his plate. Around about the time the banks started failing, he must have looked at his campaign advisors and said, "Somebody remind me why I wanted this job." I would think that Gay Rights would be rather low on his priorities just now. But Andrew Sullivan is surely right to be disappointed that even Joe Solmonese (chair of the Human Rights Campaign) does not intend to hold the President's feet to the fire on the subject.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Chock full of awesome

via youtube.com

Okay, here are the raw facts:
UQAM: University of Quebec at Montreal.
Soundtrack: Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling."
Cast: 172 communications majors.
Takes: ONE.

PLUS: Six more one-take wonders, including That Honda Commercial.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

G20 protest

via thedw.us

Anyone we know?

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

"Don't trust anyone you meet online. You could regret it."

via wilwheaton.typepad.com

I'iaaa! Cthulu fatagn!

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Precision

via comics.com

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

A letter to someone

Look, I'm just going to delete the Japanese / Korean / whatever-the-heck-they-are comments on old posts. If I can't tell they're not spam, out they go. And since I have comment approval enabled, no one but me will ever see them anyway. So just give up.

The lost city of Atlantis-- er, Atlanta

via facebook.com

I've been trying to place this intersection more precisely than "downtown connector", without success. Can anyone tell me where this is?

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

So, it actually radiates darkness?

via tacit.livejournal.com

 

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Ziggy, September 18, 2009 — UCLICK GoComics.com

via gocomics.com

I'm sure all my ARTC friends know, but why would Ziggy expect his parrot to know?

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Harlan Ellison's Dramatic Reading of the Seussified "I Will Not Read Your F*g Script"

via blogs.villagevoice.com

 

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

ARTC at DragonCon 2009, continued

via flickr.com

This is ARTC's Sunday night show at DragonCon 2009. This is "Rory Rammer: Enemies Within" and "Omnilingual", in the Hyatt Regency's Regency Ballroom. (No, I don't stutter.) Again, we did not FILL the ballroom, but the house wasn't much smaller than Saturday's show. We appreciate that even more, since due to a communications snafu many of our attendees were expecting "Call of Cthulhu".

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

ARTC at DragonCon 2009

via flickr.com

This is a slightly color- and exposure-corrected shot of ARTC's Saturday night show at DragonCon 2009. This is "Call of Cthulhu", in the Marriott Marquis' Atrium Ballroom. We did not FILL the ballroom, but I'd estimate at least 500 in attendance, and we appreciate every one of them.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Weddings are supposed to be joyful

via break.com

This is what nerves do to otherwise calm and confident people.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Atlanta schools soft on cheats?

By Heather Vogell

Keylina Clark was puzzled when her son told her shortly after taking state standardized tests last year that he knew he’d passed.

Dequayvious struggled mightily in school. His Blalock Elementary report cards said he was below grade level in reading and math. Then the second-grader explained his confidence: A test proctor gave him answers, he said. Clark believed him.

Atlanta Public Schools, however, apparently did not. Though two other students supported the boy’s claim, the district marked the complaint unsubstantiated.

Considering the hundreds of thousands of test-takers each year, formal complaints about test cheats are relatively rare.

The Atlanta district, however, has received more such claims given its size than any of the five other large metro districts, an AJC investigation shows. The newspaper also found the district’s handling of 20 cheating complaints in three school years raises questions about how it polices its educators.

Atlanta’s investigations differed from those of its metro peers in key ways, the AJC found. Investigators sometimes left allegations unresolved, turning up fresh questions about suspected irregularities but never scrutinizing them. The district was more likely to mark complaints unsubstantiated. Fewer teachers stepped forward to help investigators and more complaints were anonymous, making eye-witnesses harder to find.

And in three years, records show, just two teachers left after the district found cheating. Departures were more frequent in Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb.

more via ajc.com

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

APS cheating questions fall on Superintendent Beverly Hall

AJC investigative reporter Heather Vogell’s story in the weekend AJC raises troubling questions about the response of Atlanta Public Schools to CRCT cheating complaints. Vogell compares Atlanta’s responses and protocols to those of other districts.

APS does not fare well in the comparison.

For instance, Atlanta logged 20 internal complaints of testing misconduct over the past three school years.

Compared to other metro systems, Atlanta sometimes left allegations unresolved, turning up fresh questions about suspected irregularities but never scrutinizing them, according to Vogell’s report.

The district was more likely to mark complaints unsubstantiated. Fewer teachers stepped forward to help investigators and more complaints were anonymous, making eyewitnesses harder to find.

Over three years, Vogell found that the district began termination proceedings against just two teachers after cheating was found. Departures were more common in Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb.

In Cobb County, educators appeared quick to report potential problems with testing protocol. When the district determined a serious breach was committed, the outcome was often severe: Five teachers resigned over the three years.

DeKalb and Fulton reported fewer complaints, but also stiff consequences for serious misconduct. Seven educators left as a result of 17 investigations in the two counties. Gwinnett had one resignation. Clayton reported few complaints and no departures.

In Atlanta, one of the teachers who left after after an investigation had been disciplined for an earlier testing rule offense.

CRCT cheating is in the news because of a state probe suggesting cheating occurred in schools in four districts, including one APS school. APS Superintendent Beverly Hall has challenged the state Board of Education’s decision to discard results from last summer’s fifth-grade CRCT math retests at Atlanta’s Deerwood Academy.

The state school board ruled against Deerwood and three other Georgia schools after an audit by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement found evidence of an abnormal number of erasures on the tests. The state investigation followed an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in December about improbably steep gains at some schools on tests taken first in spring and then in summer.

Hall defended Deerwood and hired her own investigator who concluded that “irregularities” in the school’s testing process stemmed from negligent record keeping, laziness and not following the rules rather than deliberate cheating.

Hall’s reaction raised questions about whether APS is willing to honestly confront CRCT cheating complaints. Vogell’s story is likely to prompt more questions.

via blogs.ajc.com

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Four strings good, six strings bad

Ukulele
Originally uploaded by
pingmeetspong

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | My Prom debut... on the ukulele: "Musician Jim Simmons signed up to join a chorus of 1,000 ukulele players at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms. But how did it sound?"

"It probably wasn't the most beautiful noise ever to have come out of the proms but it was a joyful experience."

It is difficult to play the ukulele without breaking into a grin. Certainly I've never managed it.

The BBC story also has a link to an audio of the 1,000-ukulele rendition of "Ode to Joy."

By the way:

• If you want to sing out, sing out
• One Note Samba

CSI: Enterprise

Animated GIF of the Day:

[via.]

Worst Line Reading Ever

via youtube.com

Ryan O'Neal in "Tough Guys Don't Dance". Do we blame the writer, the actor, or the director?

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Remember the NCIS cameo?

via woot.com

If you're a-hankerin' for something to keep the dust down, Woot!'s deal today is a Roomba for $129.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

xkcd - Tech Support Cheat Sheet

via xkcd.com

Yes, it's true.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Newton and Leibniz

Which TV stars are coming to DragonCon?

AJC: Which TV stars are coming to DragonCon? Leonard Nimoy, John Schneider, Malcolm McDowell, Lou Ferrigno, Patrick Stewart.

Well. okay. But which radio stars are coming? Eh? Eh?

That's why you should see the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, whose big shows will be on Saturday (in the Marriott) and Sunday (in the Hyatt). We'll also do a relatively low-key reading on Friday (in the Marriott). Frankly, I suggest you bring your DVR, plug it into your room TV, and record the convention video channel (which will have a much better view of the Masquerade, Dawn Look-Alike contest, and key panels than you could possibly have in person), then come see ARTC (who apparently don't rate coverage on the convention video channel).

Bitter? Me? Naah.

Why I "friended" Sarah Palin

(Sorry, can't be embedded. Picture links to YouTube, where the video is hosted.)

I can address this thing a couple of ways.

1: Katie Couric asks Sarah Palin a stupid question.

"What newspapers and magazines did you read, before you were tapped for this, to stay informed...?" I expect better questions of Weekly Reader, never mind the editor in chief of the CBS Evening News. What kind of answer could Palin possibly give that wouldn't sound moronic?

Well, the one she gave. "All of them." She did her best to turn it into a sensible answer without discarding the question entirely. When Couric insisted on following up, asking for specific journals, Palin responded to the preconceptions that could lead a respected reporter to ask such a question. "Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kinda suggested," and you can see Couric lose interest in the topic here, "it seems like 'Wow, how can you keep in touch with what... Washington DC may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?' "

Seems to me Palin deserves a little credit for saying "it's kinda suggested" instead of "you're suggesting".

2: Who deserves to be laid out by "Terry Tate, Office Linebacker"?

Nobody. The Reebok commercials are amusing because, as in all cartoon violence, nobody really looks hurt, just inconvenienced. But "Palin" (a double by this point, I'm sure) goes down hard and stays down. This is funny? This is legitimate political debate?

I love Horatio Caine jokes

CSI Notre Dame: "Now you're gonna get it."

Everything Old is New

AJC: School uniforms: The look of change in ’09:

When the new school year started last week, students at Gwinnett County’s Simonton Elementary had a new look - a uniform look.

Hannah Montana T-shirts, blue jeans and sandals were out, replaced by collared shirts in black, yellow and white with coordinating shorts, skirts and slacks and closed-toe shoes.

Miles away in Clayton County, the trend toward uniform dress, which was already in the elementary and middle schools, became the countywide standard as it moved into the high schools.

My son, a senior in hgh school, has been wearing uniforms since sixth grade. I guess it's only news when it hits suburban schools.

Raw Video: Demolition in Turkey Goes Wrong

via youtube.com

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Actually, it was Virus X

 

No, man, Kryptonian appendixes (appendices?) don't get appendicitis. They have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal appendices.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Solar traffic control, fender-bender at Saturn

What the hell punched through Saturn's f-ring?

They don't know yet. Hubble was down for maintenance, but they quickly pointed a camera at Saturn to try to get some idea what's going on.

Maybe it's V'ger. Or the Enterprise screaming through, trying to beat it to Earth. (Sorry, thirty year old jokes are the best I can do. Still haven't seen Wall-E.)

Boy, the solar system is falling apart lately. First that scar on Jupiter's butt, now this.

And never mind that Chairface business...

Is this me?

Can't be. I don't speak French.

Oh, and I don't drink beer, either.

Crisis on Infinite Blogs

Obviously, I owe you an apology for having been so inactive here. At any given moment, 30% of bloggers are beginning a post with the same apology. (Data courtesy of PNOOAH[tm]. If I need a statistic, I just Pull Numbers Out Of A Hat.)

So now I go through the same navel-gazing everyone else does. (It's a state law, I think.) Do I Really Need a Journal? Or a Blog? Or a Twitter? Or a Tumblr? In fact, I have three personal pages, six blogs, two livejournals, two twitters, and a tumblr, plus two flickr photostreams and two facebook pages, plus six more miscellaneous social network pages--and therein lies the problem.

If I don't have time to follow me, how can I possibly expect anyone else to do it?

I just don't have that much to say. And the things I do want to say, I'm not sure who I want to say them to.

'Way back when I only had one blog, I said whatever I had to say there. Then, those who advise other bloggers agreed that a blog should have a subject, a focus, in order to attract readers. When I started these boatanchors, I had a plan for each of them. Comic book stuff over here, politics over there, sex over yonder, pictures over thataway, you know. Folks can find what they're interested in and not be bored or offended by the rest. A place for everything and everything in its place.

But now I have too many places and not enough things.

If I figure out what to do about this, you'll be the first to know.

Bobby McFerrin and the Pentatonic Scale

I had no idea there was such a thing as a World Science Festival.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Prince Charming's lesser known brother, Prince Creepy

So, has anyone read "Snow. Glass. Apples." by Neil Gaiman?

Ignorant or apathetic?

Bwah hah hah!

we don't belong down here, originally uploaded by lunchbreath.

D-Day was 65 years ago today

The order from General Dwight D. Eisenhower:

Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied expeditionary force: You are about to embark upon a great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving peoples everywhere march with you.

You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your children and neighbors thank you for this priceless service.

Breathtaking

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Il Pianeta Proibito

forbiddenplanet_italian.JPG
Originally uploaded by waffyjon

Isn't Anne Francis just so... adorable?
Isn't Leslie Nielsen just so... Leslie Nielsen?
Doesn't the Italian title sound so... provocative?

(More posters at Jon's Random Acts of Geekery.)

Cheerleaders falling down

From Dumb as a Blog.

Very clever

Fantasies are healthy, right?

ADDENDUM: Well, actually, in Superman v2 #130, there was this Halloween party...

What'd he say?

I thought I knew this song...

There is nothing like it

What kind of mirror is this?

International Talk Like William Shatner Day

Lessons from Maurice LaMarche.



Extra credit: Practice along with "Rocket Man".

Oh, no, not another conspiracy

modern perspective Originally uploaded by Mr. Mark

Yes, I saw that a goodly fraction of the blogosphere has leapt upon this report from Politico:

For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.

As I say, I saw that report. I've seen an ever-increasing number of bloggers spreading the word.

I've even read Ezra Klein's description of what JournoList is. He's the founder and organizer, if that's not too strong a word to use for a listserv mailing list. (In my own experience moderating mailing lists, I "organize" them only in the sense that the person who cleans out a litter box "organizes" it.)

Having read and digested this...Well, actually, I'm thinking I shouldn't use the word "digested" so soon after talking about a litter box. But I believe I've arrived at a reasoned, reasonable reaction: So what?

Klein said:

The idea, then as now, was to foster a safe space where policy experts, academics, and journalists could freely talk through issues, bringing up the questions they considered urgent and the information they thought important, with the result being a more informed commentariat. It's been of immense value to me, and through that, of value to my readers.

As for sinister implications, is it "secret?" No. Is it off-the-record? Yes. The point is to create a space where experts feel comfortable offering informal analysis and testing out ideas.

This all sounds eminently reasonable. It's the 21st century equivalent of going out to the corner bar after work, granted more importance than it deserves because it's On The Internet.

(Oh: The photo has nothing to do with this story. I just thought it was purty.)

Our newspapers is still failing

newspaper blackout poem
Originally uploaded by Precious Roy

On March 2, RealClearPolitics ran with its list of the Top Ten newspapers in trouble. By the time the list appeared, one of the newspapers on it, the Rocky Mountain News, was already gone. 

This week, Time magazine has weighed in with its Top Ten "tim-berrrrr" list. The odds are pretty good that by the time the next issue hits the stands, one of those will be gone. Let's compare:

	RealClearPolitics	Time
1	Seattle Post-Intelligencer	Philadelphia Daily News
2	Rocky Mountain News	Minneapolis Star Tribune
3	Philadelphia Daily News	Miami Herald
4	Miami Herald	Detroit News
5	San Francisco Chronicle	Boston Globe
6	Detroit News	San Francisco Chronicle
7	Chicago Sun-Times	Chicago Sun-Times
8	St. Paul Pioneer Press	New York Daily News
9	Los Angeles Times	Fort Worth Star-Telegram
10	New York Daily News	Cleveland Plain Dealer

Hm. Two lists, twenty slots, but only fourteen newspapers named. It can't have been an easy story to write for either publication: It's not unlike openly speculating which of your aunts and uncles will die first.

I, in my amateur opinion, suspect the next to actually go will be the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, since Hearst is now openly weighing whether to close it outright or go online-only. It can't be a good sign that one of the links on their home page right now is a "tell us about your favorite P-I memories" solicitation. The Detroit News could surprise me and fold tomorrow, or they might be able to hang on for a few more weeks now that they only publish four days a week. 

If I were the average big-time blogger, I would be a lot more worried about this than they appear to be. Instead of congratulating myself for being right that Old Media didn't know how to make the transition to New, I would be wondering where the stories I link to tomorrow will come from.

All these newspapers are in trouble because... Well, they each have unique problems, but they all share two really big ones: (1) A whopper of an economic downturn kicked them in the gonads; and (2) they never really believed that the traditional daily newspaper could go away. The Business Insider is onto something when they calculate that for the New York Times, giving each of its subscribers a Kindle would cost half as much as publishing an actual newsprint daily. I'm hoping the all new, online Christian Science Monitor can show everyone how it's done.

C'mon, guys, it ain't whether to go digital, it's when and how. Change or die.

A final reminder

I have a small but crucial role, so come see. Er, hear. Oh, just be there, OK?

My wife...I think I'll keep her

Do you know anyone who doesn't remember when Cracked was a magazine? Sure you do. The circulation was pretty low when it finally folded. I'm thinking a lot of people didn't remember Cracked was a magazine when it still was a magazine.

Anyway, they've remade themselves as a website best known as the home of some really lame lists... and some really funny ones. My current favorite is 8 TV Ads That Hate Women, although I'm a little disappointed that the one that inspired the title of this post isn't among them.

More:

15 Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

15 MORE Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

Where's the Bridge? The 7 Biggest Things Ever Stolen

Cheap technology + ingenuity = ...

Pure awesome.

Overwhelming support

Daily Kos ! President Obama addresses the nation
As we (eagerly!) await President Obama's first address to the nation, take a look at how the clown pundits (mostly conservatives, but even a few from the MSM) tried to spin the speech. Fortunately, nobody seems to agree with them -- the American public overwhelmingly supports the Obama Administration's economic recovery efforts.

Dear Daily Kos:

52 to 48 is not "overwhelming support". It is a majority barely larger than the margin of error. Please try to keep that in mind. God knows you didn't have any trouble remembering it in 2000 and 2004.

Hugs and kisses,
Folks who can still add

Don't forget...!

Counterfeit trash bags

Those are words I never thought anyone would have an opportunity to use together. What a country!

Yahoo News - Mass. city misspells 'offcial' to catch bag cheats

GLOUCESTER, Mass. – No, managers with Gloucester's Public Works Department aren't idiots. They're just trying to catch cheats. When the Massachusetts city unveiled its new $2 purple trash bags that all residents must use when disposing of household waste, the word 'official' was deliberately spelled 'offcial.'

Recycling coordinator Kathy Middleton tells The Gloucester Daily Times the intentional misspelling is supposed to make it easier to catch people who try to counterfeit bags. Middleton says counterfeiting has been a problem in the past.

I'm pretty sure I shouldn't look this up and find out why Gloucester, Mass requires its subjects to use $2 trash bags. Or why they're even worried about counterfeit trash bags. But I did. And now I know. That's how they pay their trash collection fees.

I guess it's a good thing every city doesn't do this. Then Glad and Hefty would be getting in line for a government bail-out.

Bwah hah hah hah!

Sometimes you see disaster coming, and sometimes you don't.

Is Our Newspapers Failing?

Washington Post | Are Too Many Newspaper Comic Polls a Sham?
It's the ugly little secret that, within the newspaper comics industry and among avid comics followers, is nobody's secret at all:

Namely, that the frequently used Newspaper Comics Reader Poll might be long-standing, but it is hardly upstanding. It has walked on the wrong side of the statistical tracks far too often, stirring so much scorn, skepticism and controversy that it might as well wear a scarlet "A" -- for "adulterated accuracy."

The writer, Michael Cavana, goes on to quote Stephan Pastis, creator of "Pearls Before Swine", which I hear is a comic strip of some kind:

And that cheating appears to have pervaded not only the voting, but in the comments newspapers solicit about comic strips on their site. This would all be 'fun and games' but for the fact that many editors actually rely on these polls, and therefore, it determines our living.

As if to highlight the importance of this, Cavana later talks to Frank Rizzo, the comics editor at the local fishwrapper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As readers know, the AJC "recently polled readers online because it was trying to eliminate a half-page of comics." And they did. Now they publish an economical single page of comics at postage-stamp size.

It has always puzzled me that newspapers, while moaning about bad business and low readership, are so eager to stop doing things that no other medium does. 

I dreamed I was an Obama girl

From Friday's New York Times, by Judith Warner:

As we all know, in journalism, two anecdotes are just one short of a national trend. I figured that my friend and I couldn’t possibly be the only ones dreaming, brooding or otherwise obsessing about the Obamas. Were other people, I wondered, being possessed by our new first family?

Ms Warner: Have you not read any newspapers in the last year and a half?

"the only way to take Rush Limbaugh down"

So, having successfully taken the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives (all of which will enable the taking of the Supreme Court), the Progressive front perceives itself to be sitting pretty. I get that.

And the Republican party having apparently forgotten what it's about, the most influential conservatives in the country may well be Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. I get that too.

So, the Daily Kos' FreeSociety now suggests:

It is clear that Limbaugh is going to give Obama the "Clinton treatment" for the next 8* years, and worse, the GOP will in lockstep follow this same agenda and play the role of obstructionist to the core. It is clear that Obama counter-attacking Limbaugh, while helpful for his "base", will have no meaningful effect on this. It is clear that Democratic Party members counter-attacking Limbaugh, while evidence of "a pulse", will have no meaningful effect on this.

But one thing will: Humor/satire

Recall that the one time when Limbaugh faced a little dip in his popularity, and the Democrats unexpectedly averted losing more seats in 1996, and 1998, came after Al Franken's book "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot" had gained significant public attention.

Recall, also that Obama had indeed fallen behind John McCain in the polls, once Sarah Palin was picked, and that she was initially very popular. The Corporate Media could have easily overlooked and ignored her poor performance in a couple of interviews (as they had also happily done on behalf of Bush Jr., Cheney, and McCain himself), had it not been for the totally unexpected phenomena of Tina Fey's brilliant satire that then became the story, like a runaway train and impossible to stop.

A significant percentage of voters were unable to tell the difference between Tina Fey's caricature and the actual Sarah Palin. (Quotes attributed to Palin were actually uttered by Tina Fey, among them the infamous "I can see Russia from my house.") I'm not sure if that's due to "brilliant satire", wishful thinking, or just dumb luck, but OK. Let that go.

I have to say, though, that this explains a lot of what I heard on Air America. Six hours of airtime were devoted to two comedians (Janeane Garofalo and Al Franken) who weren't trying to be funny.

* Optimist.

When in doubt, kittens

...on a Roomba.

Plagio

This is fun! Well done, Neil!

Plagio ("Plagiarism")


I see "lobotomized monkeys" is on its way to becoming a recurring motif...

Couldn't let it go, could you?

Originally uploaded by craparu

Inaugural Attendees Chant 'Hey, Hey, Goodbye' to Bush Chopper [NewsBusters]
[Article links to video from MSNBC. Below is a reader comment from the same page.]
Libs who keep whining about why conservies aren't accepting Obama, they need to stop and think about this.

After eight years of full-blown hate toward the president, saying he killed black people in New Orleans, accusing Republicans of stealing an election, accusing our military of genocide, making movies that fantacize the president being killed, wishing Dick Cheney had died in Iraq, showing up in Denver screaming "kill Michelle Malkin," hanging Sarah Palin in effigy, throwing projectiles at Ann Coulter, banning the military from public soil, and invading the House to approach Condi Rice with blood on your hands....

All the sudden that's all in the past and we're supposed to be friends.

Excuse us for being a bit skittish, but we have reason to fear the left and have no desire to lump ourselves together.

See also:
Sorry, Everybody (2004)
Apologies Accepted (2004)
Hello, Everybody (2008)
From 52 to 48 with Love (2008)

What's my point? In every aspect of politics -- which is to say, throughout human society -- there will exist people who cannot see that they have become what they profess to hate.

I am encouraged by my inability to find any video of this disgraceful behavior from any source other than MSNBC. I strongly suspect it was a relatively small percentage of attendees who couldn't stop themselves from breaking out in song (and booing the outgoing President when he appeared). But, I mean, good for Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann for expressing disapproval -- but you still aired it, dudes.

Congratulations and good luck, President Obama.
Thank you, President Bush.

Is it just me...?

Is it excessively disrespectful to the office to depict the sitting President in this manner?

(Perhaps, given the room in which we might find this if it were functional, "sitting President" might not be my best choice of words.)

I depend on my friends to tell me when I'm mistaken, and I honestly want to know: Have those who disagree politically with the President and the party to which he belongs crossed a line here?

I was just asking myself...

...whatever happened to Olivia Newton-John?

And presto, hither cometh the Daily Mail to tell me.

Go ahead, click on the picture. The original image is pretty big. There are a few faint laugh lines around her eyes, but all things considered she looks pretty good for being 60 years old.

Obamicon yourself

...like I did.

Go to http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/ for the simple-as-hope-and-change directions.

I have to admit it is a very striking, one might almost say iconic, representation.

LATER: I think it may take a much more handsome person than me to look good this way.

What day is it?

Bwah hah hah hah!

Extremely belated disclaimer

Having only just now read Dave Barry's description of his own colonscopy (published last February, well before my own), I have some reactions:

1. I really did only just now read it, so any similarities of my account to his are wholly coincidental, save that there are only so many things one can say about "HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BUTT!"
2. Okay, the tube is actually about two meters long. I started to say "only two meters", but there is no such thing as "only two meters" when it's going... where it's going.
3. Nobody told me you could spike the nuclear laxative with vodka. I don't drink, but I might have been tempted to start had I known.
4. I think my favorite sentence must be this: "And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet."

"I was at first nauseated, then realized it was an opportunity"

The words above were spoken by the woman pictured to the left. Her name is Deborah Lawrence, "a collage artist [who] frequently combines politics and satire in her work." The object in her hands is a Christmas ornament commissioned by "a local arts organization" selected by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA).

First Lady Laura Bush asked members of Congress to pick local artists to create ornaments representing their districts for display on the Christmas tree at the White House. It sounds like a pretty neat idea to me.

So why is McDermott's office denying that it, or he, "had [any] role in the design of the ornament"? Because this is the only one of the 370-some ornaments that was rejected. Why was it rejected? Because it is a pro-impeachment ornament.

Lawrence...told The Washington Post she saw the ornament as a perfect way "to highlight Jim McDermott because he's a hero of mine."

"I was at first nauseated, then realized it was an opportunity," she said.

An opportunity. To personally insult the outgoing President. She couldn't put politics aside, even for Christmas, even for what is ultimately a trivial gesture intended as a little positive PR for Washington state's 7th district.

I was at first nauseated, too. But I still am.

(USA Today | White House rejects impeachment ornament)

Walmadness

A WalMart Sunset
Originally uploaded by ryanbooth

Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede [Daily News]

A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.

The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

I'm speechless.

And if you want to be really horrified, check the readers' comments on the original story.

UPDATE:

2 killed inside Toys R Us in Palm Desert [KABC 7]

Two people were shot to death in a crowded toy store Friday in a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said.

The violence erupted on Black Friday, the traditional post-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping surge, but accounts of what occurred inside the store were fragmentary or second hand and it was not clear whether it involved any shopping frenzy.

Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other and that there were 25 witnesses. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was a dispute over a toy or whether it was gang-related. He said police told him they were not going to release further details until the next of kin were contacted.

"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys 'R' Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."

Maybe that isn't such a bad idea.

National holiday?

Not satisfied with the nation of Kenya having declared a national holiday to commemorate the election of Barack Obama (who wasn't born there, wasn't raised there, and never lived there), the downtown Topeka McDonald's will be hosting "Yes We Can" rallies on Tuesdays through the Corona- er, inauguration, to promote an American national holiday for Barack Obama as well.

Isn't that, you know, premature? Shouldn't we wait, oh, I don't know, until he actually does something?

Okay, I do realize that many people are still in the grip of obamamania and shouldn't be held responsible for anything they say until at least after inauguration day.

What landslide?

Well, what could be more unbiased than that?

From Eject! Eject! Eject!:

On Tuesday, the Left – armed with the most attractive, eloquent, young, hip and charismatic candidate I have seen with my adult eyes, a candidate shielded by a media so overtly that it can never be such a shield again, who appeared after eight years of a historically unpopular President, in the midst of two undefended wars and at the time of the worst financial crisis since the Depression and whose praises were sung by every movie, television and musical icon without pause or challenge for 20 months… who ran against the oldest nominee in the country’s history, against a campaign rent with internal disarray and determined not to attack in the one area where attack could have succeeded and who was out-spent no less than seven-to-one in a cycle where not a single debate question was unfavorable to his opponent – that historic victory, that perfect storm of opportunity…

Yielded a result of 53%.

Folks, we are going to lick these people out of their boots.

The Republican party had eight years under President Bush to identify a suitable standard-bearer to carry their message into the 21st century. And they found John McCain?

Coolness in Technology

APTOPIX NEWS CORP DOW JONES
Originally uploaded by photo240779

The "Zipper" has become an iconic image of New York since its introduction eighty years ago Thursday at 1 Times Square, which was then the home of the New York Times. It was given a complete face lift when it was acquired by Dow Jones in 1999, but it retains the all-amber look familiar to locals and tourists (although nowadays it's generated by LEDs, not light bulbs).

Palate cleanser

What's wrong with this picture?

1. Nothing, if you're Long John Silver.
2. You should see the other guy.
3. I have nothing against her left leg.
4. It's a Hallowe'en party. She's dressed as Thanksgiving leftovers. (Two breasts, a busted wing, and one thigh.)
   

I can't even figure what they were going for.
From Photoshop Disasters.

Congratulations and Good Luck

Best wishes to President-elect Barack Obama.

Mr Obama will inherit numerous problems large and small, most of which his party has ascribed to his predecessor. This tactic may prove to bite them all in the ass, if (as I strongly suspect) the president really doesn't have the power to have done everything he's blamed for.

With a solidly Democratic House and a near-filibuster-proof Senate, who will Kos and the Democratic Underground (overground?) blame when things go wrong?

President Obama will be on the spot to turn everything around. He's my president too. Have hope and don't expect overnight miracles.

What a country!

Frank Zappa for Luden's Cough Drops

In honor of the day...

Buh-bye, Circuit City

I can't say this surprises me, but according to a PDF available from Circuit City themselves, the 155 stores that they're closing no later than the end of the year include all of the Atlanta area stores. The closest store staying open -- for now, I guess I should add -- is in Rome.

I seem to recall that some culling of the home-electronics herd was expected this Christmas, due to widespread availability of HD televisions at a much lower price point than expected.

I'm very tired

Elective Sunset Super-Wide, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I'm voting for McCain.

I could tapdance around saying it, but I can't make the points I'm about to try to make until you know that.

So. In an effort to be as fair-minded as I possibly can -- and because I'm really not looking forward to voting for McCain, and was hoping someone would make a compelling case not to -- most of my current-events reading has been by progressive pundits, most notably by those writing for, and quoted by, the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post.

As a result, I've seen countless accusations of wrongdoing and non-specific fugg-headedness leveled at Republicans in general and McCain, Palin and Bush in particular over the course of this very long election season. I started to say I've seen all of them, but of course I have no way of knowing that I have. I'm only human, I've doubtless missed something.

One thing I've missed, for example, is any proof or confirmation that any of it is actually true. The news cycle on each incident starts with an accusation and, despite progressively (no joke intended) more intense name-calling, never really moves beyond it.

But then, the progressive intelligencia never really responds to accusations from the conservative side, either. They ignore the question, dismiss it as irrelevant, or question the motives of the accuser. Sometimes all three.

The so-called debates were no help. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the issues facing America today are far too complex to be boiled down to a 90-second answer. So, of course, that's what both major-party presidential candidates were asked to do. The Lincoln-Douglas debates took all day.

I should add that conservates are not innocent of the disinformative failings I've observed in progressives. But, in general, conservatives address issues, while progressives talk about feelings.

More importantly, conservatives speak of winning the war, whereas the most progressives will commit to is ending it, consequences to Iraq, Afghanistan and America's international standing be damned.

Okay, that's not quite true. Progressives are gearing up to fight a war that is much more important to them: The one that is going to engender riots in America and make the streets run red with blood.

I'm speaking, of course, of the impending doom and second American Civil War that will ensue if Barack Obama does not win next Tuesday.

I'm so weary.

But, of course, remember how disoriented progressives were four years ago? They cannot be counted upon to do the rational thing if they again succumb to that state of despair.

A key plank in the Democratic platform is gun control. If it were to come to a left-right civil war, who has all the weapons?

Is it "hate speech" for me to point that out?

Are Obama and McCain the best we can do?