Loving The Onion

Palin Brushing Up On Foreign Policy At Epcot

ORLANDO, FL—Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin sought to silence those who have criticized her lack of foreign affairs experience Tuesday by announcing plans for a weeklong, 10-nation tour of Walt Disney World's Epcot. According to Palin, the trip—her first past Frontierland—will include speaking engagements at Norway's famous Viking ride, sausages at Germany's Kaufhaus, and, time permitting, a fact-finding mission to Future World.

"This ambitious trip should finally demonstrate that I am ready to assume the vice presidency, whether by standing in long lines at Morocco's Tangierine Café or by sitting down face-to-face with Mexico's Three Caballeros," Palin announced during a campaign stop outside a Chinese restaurant in Tulsa, OK.

"All of our neighbors deserve good diplomacy, from the Universe of Energy down to the French pavilion." Palin also promised a visit to the American Adventure exhibit before returning home, adding that she hoped to learn more about her own nation and the diverse peoples within.

Why Palin gets under my skin

McCain could have asked several experienced women to be his running mate; women who share his conservative values but who have more experience, brains, and ability to string a coherent sentence together.

Nominating Palin is a slap in the face to all women - McCain's insistence that she is ready to be President is insulting. Who believes that?

By picking a woman who is essentially George Bush in drag (including lipstick!), he either hopes to hook up with her (Cindy is looking old) or he thinks "any woman will do."

I assume they will lose, but even so: by picking someone so awful, he potentially sends a message suggesting that women, generally, don't have the skills and experience to adequately do the job, which is far from true.

Celebrity Mug Shots

The LA Times is running a short spread of celebrity mug shots over the years.

Ever since someone said that Nick Nolte looked like a wet, angry cat in this mug shot, I can't help but laugh whenever I see it:

"Boundary Issues"

My friend Michele, who I met through my sister (my sister has a Jesus-like tendency to attract cool people into her life), is a cool, funny, and successful author of both fiction and nonfiction books and essays, inspired by and based on her experiences growing up as a Latina surfer/punk rock girl in Southern California.

The Washington Post recently published one of her essays, Boundary Issues, about her recent experience with a therapist who crossed the line.

The essay reminded me of my own experience with a therapist, who really helped me with several issues until the day I had to "break up" with her and things turned nasty...

Therapy is a weird thing and Michele touches on some of those weirdnesses: having to pay someone to let you divulge painful moments and secret fears; how they might be spending your hard-earned cash; and, what kind of relationship are they forming with you when it's supposed to be a professional relationship...

Michele's experience really devolved into the surreal (don't want to give away the gems) and her essay is a great read, especially for those of you who have ever gone through therapy!

Palin/Fey

As many have noticed, Fey keeps getting it right with her Palin impression.

Here's what Palin actually said in the Couric interview, followed by the SNL skit:

That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

WTF?

This is why I'm not a registered Democrat - both parties are failing us:

Senate sends big spending bill to Bush to sign

Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.

The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.

The measure is needed to keep the government operating beyond the current budget year, which ends Tuesday. As a result, the legislation is one of the few bills this election year that simply must pass. Bush's signature would mean Congress could avoid a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the bill "stands as a reminder of the failure of the Democratic Congress to fund the government in regular order." But, he said, it "puts the United States one step closer to ending our dependence on foreign sources of energy" by lifting the offshore drilling ban and opening up huge reserves of oil shale in the West.

The Pentagon is in line for a record budget. In addition to $70 billion approved this summer for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department would receive $488 billion, a 6 percent increase. The spending bill also offers aid to victims of flooding in the Midwest and recent hurricanes across the Gulf Coast.

Such a huge bill usually would dominate the end-of-session agenda on Capitol Hill. But it went below the radar screen because attention focused on the congressional bailout of Wall Street.

The measure settles dozens of battles that have brewed for months between the Democrats who run Congress and the White House and its GOP allies.

The administration won approval of the defense budget. Democrats wrested concessions from the White House on $23 billion for disaster-ravaged states, a doubling of low-income heating subsidies, and smaller spending items such as $24 million more for food shipments to the elderly.

The loan package for automakers would reward them with $25 billion in below-market loans, costing taxpayers $7.5 billion to subsidize the retooling of plants and development of technologies to help U.S. carmakers to build cleaner, more fuel efficient cars. Companies would not have to begin repaying the loans for five years, drawing objections from Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who predicted they would return for more help when the money is due.

Republicans made ending the coastal drilling ban a central campaign issue this summer as $4-plus per gallon gasoline stoked voter anger and turned public opinion in favor of more exploration.

The action does not mean drilling is imminent and still leaves the oil-rich eastern Gulf of Mexico off limits. But it could set the stage for the government to offer leases in some Atlantic federal waters as early as 2011.

Also in the bill is money to avert a shortfall in Pell college aid grants and solve problems in the Women, Infants and Children program delivering healthy foods to the poor.

In addition to the Pentagon's budget, there is $40 billion for the Homeland Security Department and $73 billion for veterans' programs and military base construction projects. Combined with the Defense Department's spending, that amounts to about 60 percent of the budget work Congress must pass each year.

Democrats came under criticism from the GOP for short-circuiting the normal process for a spending bill after it became clear that Republicans would force difficult votes on the drilling ban.

Democrats also wanted to avoid an election-year clash with Bush that would have played in his favor. They are willing to take their chances that Democrat Barack Obama will be elected president in November and permit increases for scores of programs squeezed by Bush each year.

Bush had threatened to veto bills that did not cut the number and cost of pet projects in half or cause agency operating budgets to exceed his request. Democrats ignored the edict as they drafted the plan and the White House has apparently backed down.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, discovered 2,322 pet projects totaling $6.6 billion. That included 2,025 in the defense portion alone that cost a total of $4.9 billion. Critics of such "earmarks" promise to scrutinize them in coming weeks and months for links to lobbyists and campaign contributions.

Inspiring

With all the talk about the economy, and a woman who could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, I thought I would mention a woman who is a true inspiration: Dorothea Lange.

More of that Palin interview

Her foreign policy credentials:

"Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran"

I hope the McCain campaign is in the midst of an implosion. The stunt he pulled this week, suspending the campaign so that he could get to Washington to address the crisis has been criticized as grandstanding.

CNN doesn't hold back:



Daily Show (whole episode is good):



And, from YouTube:

Frightening, disturbing, ridiculous

Palin can't even get the talking points down and she makes even Katie Couric look like a smart, hard-hitting journalist.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Looking past the rhetoric of the $700 billion bailout

Those fear-based arguments are back in full swing as Bushis saying that we will find ourselves in another Great Depression unless Congress passes his proposed bailout, no questions asked, no concessions given.

What is not often mentioned - but what NPR reported this week - is that the $700B bailout would be one of, if not the largest transfer of power from Congress to the Executive branch in our nation's history - even bigger than the Patriot Act.

The Secretary of the Treasury would have exclusive control over the $700B and how its used. The bailout includes a provision that immunizes him and the actions he takes from legal scrutiny:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

It's unlikely such a provision would be upheld if challenged in the courts (despite this language, someone can still sue! I love the law...), but with a conservative U.S. Supreme Court that believes in expanding the power of the Executive branch, who knows. What's scary is that the Secretary is appointed by the President, answerable only to the President and his interests under this scheme.

While getting the economy back on track is an absolute necessity, if they were serious about reforming the system why would they be hiring the same banks that perpetuated the financial crisis to help fix our economy?

I like Seinfeld and all, but WTF?

Did you know that the corporate moguls behind Seinfeld are on a campus tour? I'm sorry, is it 1994?

Today the Seinfeld Campus Tour is at ASU. There a chance to win prizes but not see any of the actors (of course not, because no one in their right mind would be willing to be at an outdoors event from 1pm to 5pm in Tempe in September (102 degrees today!) if they didn't have to, nevermind a wealthy celebrity).

You can get your picture taken with a 90s-era cardboard cutout of Jerry, Elaine, George, or Kramer though!

What the eff. I really don't understand this.

What's wrong with his face

Is it just me or does Clay Gaykin look like a middle-aged woman?

Good clip

Great piece by Tim Wise

The entire piece is worth reading and can be found here.

Some excerpts:

THIS IS YOUR NATION ON WHITE PRIVILEGE

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


"Worst Crisis Since the 1930s"

"This has been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. There is no question about it," said Mark Gertler, a New York University economist who worked with fellow academic Ben Bernanke, now the Federal Reserve chairman, to explain how financial turmoil can infect the overall economy. "But at the same time we have the policy mechanisms in place fighting it, which is something we didn't have during the Great Depression."

Read more here.

But don't worry! John McCain says the economy is strong - except when he says it isn't.

And here's Obama - you can read about his economic plan here.

In case you've been under a rock...

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton:

John Oliver

When Rob Corddry left The Daily Show, my heart was broken. But it's on the mend with John Oliver. He is effing hilarious.

Pet Peeve #592...

...Talking on your cell phone whilst peeing in a public restroom.

Now, I get that sometimes you are on a marathon phone call and nature calls and there's nothing you can do. But hopefully you are in the privacy of your own home and there's something more legit about it.

What I don't get is why the F anyone needs to initiate a phone call when they are in a public restroom, surrounded by sounds of flushing toilets and other things I won't mention.

What is so effing urgent that you can't wait until you are done? Is this a Generation Z thing? (By the way, are we on Generation Z now? I've lost track).

iTunes... now even more Genius

Apple announced a bevy of new products, including new pretty little nanos, but most relevant to me was their new version of iTunes (v.8).

They added the coolest feature ever, which they call Genius. The concept is similar to what Pandora's been doing: helping you find new music based on the music you already have.

When you click on a track in iTunes, you get at least 20 suggestions of other tracks you might like by that artist and other artists. This means that your iTunes library information is being shared with Apple (oh no!) but it also means that the more people use it the better the recommendations will get over time (at least that's what they say).

I like it so far and I'm sure it means I'll be spending even more money on iTunes now.

Another reason to vote for Obama

We need to strengthen the value of the dollar so that VW will release it's new hybrid in the US.

It's slated to release in the UK next year, with no plans to bring to America yet because of the weak dollar. Damnit! I want this car!

Read the article here.

"Not maverick... just more of the same."

Nice.

Fringe premieres tonight!

Almost forgot!

It does seem like they are shamelessly pulling from X-Files, but I know Abrams and his team are huge X-Files fans, so I remain hopeful and excited.

Rage Against the Machine at the RNC

Daily Show does it again

"It's over."

Even conservative pundits like Peggy Noonan know that selecting Palin was a mistake (watch through to the end):

GOP lies and exaggerations

From the Associated Press:

Attacks, praise stretch truth

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

NOTE: She lied again during her RNC speech, saying she never supported the "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

NOTE: The GOP like to talk about all the taxes Obama will raise, but never point out that he's restoring taxes on wealthy families, not the average middle class or working class family.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

Eddie Izzard on Computers

Was needing an Izzard fix, and stumbled across this one. Enjoy!

New Thievery Corporation LP releasing 9/23

I just heard a new track off the new LP, Radio Retaliation, courtesy of Dave's Lounge and I loved it!

I can't wait to hear the rest! The band is pre-releasing the album on iTunes on 9/9. Yay!

Discovering and Re-discovering music

The lovely peeps at SomaFM are helping me through another semester of law school.

Sometimes I need complete silence when studying, other times the silence is deafening. SomaFM's "Groove Salad" provides the perfect white noise to keep me going...

... and it leads me to new tracks, such as:

"Rez" by Underworld (used in an episode of Alias)
"Slowly" by Max Sedgely
"When it Falls" by Zero 7
"The Weight of My Words" (instrumental) by Kings of Convenience
"Dayvan Cowboy" by Boards of Canada

90s Flashback

The local alternative rock station is having a "90s weekend" and they played a Dave Matthews Band song I hadn't heard in a zillion years ("So Much To Say").

I remembered going to their concert in May 1998 and seeing Chelsea Clinton (she was a Stanford student at the time) and her secret service agents (wearing backpacks and casual clothes to look less conspicuous) with Amby, Bub, Mark, Jess, Seth, and Dawn.

That was more than 10 years ago. Holy Eff.