At the train station yesterday, a nice looking yound man handed me this leaflet.
I was about to throw it out, but after I read it I realized that it was a parody. At least I'm pretty sure it's a parody, a very well-done one. It's so well done that it actually looks like real Bush campaign literature.
I'm not sure what's more disturbing, that BushCo thinks we're stupid enough that this literature actually looks like it comes from them, or that people actually are stupid enough that they'll sign this thing.
So we're watching Olympic women's diving, and there's Guo Jingjing of China.
Now, it's actually pronounced "Wah Jing-Jing." She's been competing since the Atlanta 1996 Games. We know this because, at the time, the song "Wah-Beep beep" (or whatever it's actually called) was popular, and The Wife and I were living in Chicago, and we used to walk around singing "Waaaaaaaah--Jinjing!"
Not only that, but our apartment was god-awful hot and not air conditioned, yet we sat there and watched every minute of the olympics. And every time Guo Jingjing or one of the other Chinese would dive, the announcer would tell us that her dive exemplified the "Chinese Way," whatever that is. And there was that really annoying commercial with the high-pitched "Georgia on my Mind."
Yes, my name is Gobo and I'm an olympigeek.
OK, we're watching the Olympics, and it's time for diving. Bob Costas trustily informs us that China's Bo Peng is the favorite. Then, the segment begins, underscored by the theme music from Iron Chef.
Yes, I said the theme music from Iron Chef. Dude isn't even Japanese! I think this is offensive, but really it's just funny. I wonder if Bo Peng is replacing Chen Kenichi as Iron Chef Chinese.
BTW, I called that I get to blog this. The Wife started to, but I called it, so I made her take hers down. Nyahhh!
This thread over at Daily Kos discusses how the whole slow response to the Swift Boat crap may be deliberate on Kerry's part, and raises my hopes just a little bit. There's some good stuff in there and some analysis based on kerry's past campaigns.
So I feel a little better, but we'll have to see what happens.
After the Democratic Convention 3 weeks ago, I was really excited about Kerry and the possibility that he would actually win. The feeling held up pretty well until today.
Now I've got a sinking feeling that I can't actually explain, but it tells me not to get my hopes up. I hate that. I can't make a cogent argument either way, but the process of going from hope to dread in a span of a few days is a humungous bummer.
I'm sure I'll be up and down on Kerry's prospects several times over the next few months, so it probably doesn't mean anything. But still. Bleh.
I usually don't do this, but it looks like fun. Courtesy of The Wife by way of TJ and Zoot:
01) Uptown or downtown? Downtown. Or, as they say in the Burgh, dahntahn.
02) Country or rock and roll? Rock and Roll.
03) Extrovert or introvert? I have to go with both. I can be very outgoing and talkative, but I also need to be by myself for some amount of time on a regular basis.
04) Top or bottom? I'll go with...What's your pleasure?
05) Timid or brazen? medium to brazen. I pick my spots carefully, but when I jump in I go nuts.
06) Slow and drawn out or fast and furious? Easiest question on the board. Fast and furious. I prefer periods of intense stress followed by periods of total nothingness to steady, moderate busy-ness.
07) Pitcher or catcher? I'm assuming since we already had the "Top or Bottom" question that this is not about butt-burglary. Given that, I'll go with catcher. He calls the game but makes the pitcher do the hard work.
08) Lefty-loosey or righty-tighty? Lefty-loosey. I'm a lefty, I do everything Lefty.
09) Into singin' in the rain or feelin' no pain? huh? Singin' in the Rain, I guess..
10) Prone to bark or meow? Depends on my mood.
11) Spider-Man or Wolverine? Spider-Man.
12) Crazy genius or starving artist? Crazy Genius, no question.
13) Alpha or omega? More Alpha..
14) Good time charlie or the third little pig who built his house out of bricks? I'm stickin' with the pig!
15) A cool cucumber or a hot pepper? Cucumber on the outside, pepper on the inside.
16) A bowler or a golfer? more of a bowler
17) Chocolate or vanilla? There is no flavor but chocolate.
18) Meat and potatoes or haute cuisine? both. You put it in front of me, I'll eat it.
19) Livin' large or laughin' easy? laughin' easy. All else is secondary.
20) Catch of the day or house specialty? Catch of the day.
The Baseball hall of Fame is going to have an event honoring Jewish ballplayers.
I don't really have much to say about this, other than that it's cool. And I didn't know Kevin Youkilis was Jewish.
TJ had an interesting post last night asking for whom people were voting and why. In order to avoid writing a 20-page dissertation, I had to really sit down and think of the fundamental (not fundamentalist) reason why I'm voting for Kerry and not Bush. I really liked my response, so I'm cross-posting it here.
There are about 8 million specific reasons why I'm voting for Kerry over Bush, but I can pretty much boil it down to a simple explanation. I want to be led by someone who not only is intelligent but also values intelligence, who is intellectually curious and intellectually flexible. There are plenty of reasons I am embarrassed that Bush is my president, but the main one is that he treats information as an unimportant nuisance.
This is not only a reason to vote against Bush, but a reason to vote for Kerry. Whatever Kerry's faults, I have complete confidence that a President Kerry would never make a decision based on an incomplete investigation of the facts.
I didn't have time to blog this on Friday, but that afternoon I scored 410,524 on the Gold Miner game. I got to level 151.
Just after lunch, I figured I'd play a quick game, and all of a sudden I just couldn't lose. Playing between work tasks, it was time to leave and I had the aforementioned score and was nowhere close to losing. I probably could have played for another hour or so had I not had to leave the office. I was, dare I say, en fuego.
Julia Child died today at the age of 91.
In May, The Wife and I were on vacation in California, and we pulled into Santa Barbara to get some lunch on our way to LA. I looked in our guidebook and saw that La Super Rica was Julia Child's favorite Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara, so we headed there. It was a dive, but the food was worthy of Julia's recommendation.
While eating, The Wife and I had a debate over whether Julia was still alive. I insisted that she was, and The Wife insisted that she had passed. Luckily, I had my Treo with me and used Dead Or Alive to confirm that Julia Child was indeed still alive.
And now she is not. A few months ago I probably would not have cared much. But now I am sad in that strange celebrity-you-liked kind of way. So thanks, Julia, for the restaurant recommendation, and for sticking around long enough to win me an argument.
My Governor, Jim McGreevey, just resigned, proclaiming that he is gay and admitting an extramarital affair with another man who was his aide. I didn't see the speech, but posters over at Kos are calling it courageous, one of the most forceful statements of personal responsibility they have ever seen.
I'm not sure what to think right now.
The Wife is pissed off that he had to resign because he was gay. I would be too if that was the reason, but I don't really think that's all that is at play here.
(1) Rumor has it that the aide was about to sue him for sexual harrassment. In McGreevey's speech, he said the affair was consensual. It's possible that he was resigning because of the harrassment and not just because of the coming out.
(2) Mcgreevey is extremely unpopular in NJ right now, a little bit because of politics, and a lot because of various corruption scandals that have plagued those around him and were getting closer to McGreevey himself. It is possible he resigned using his sexuality as the reason in order to eclipse the corruption that would have eventually brought down the administration anyway. Now, he looks like a martyr to many, and because the scandal is in his personal life rather than in his professional life, he may not be ruined as a politician forever. He is pretty young for a governor (under 50).
(3) In light of (1) and (2), he may have decided that he could not win reelection in 2005 even if he didn't resign, and is taking one for the team (Democrats) by getting out now and being as far away from the next election as possible. Because his resignation is not effective until November, there will be no special election and the State Senate President, Richard Codey (Democrat), will take over until the next regularly scheduled election next year.
So I don't think it's true that McGreevey resigned "because he was gay," although it may be spun that way. I'm not upset about the resignation except in the context of any damage it might do to state and national Democrats this year. Hopefully it will just be tied to McGreevey himself, but it is possible that the Bush team could try to take this and make it an issue for Kerry using some kind of general "morality" bullshit. The NJ state elections are still a year away so it's too early to tell about that.
So I guess my point is that I have no point, just some ramblings, but there is definitely more than "I'm gay and therefore unfit to hold office" at play here. NJ just voted to establish legal domestic partnerships, so I don't think homosexuality alone would disqualify a governor here. And on a substantive note, I'm quite glad that McGreevey came out and I hope he manages to create a happy life out of all of this.
I just realized that's been three days and I haven't written about Greg Maddux, who won his 300th career game on Saturday. Tom Verducci has a great piece about what it is that made Maddux so special from an observational (subjective) standpoint, and Jayson Stark counters with some great statistical minutiae as always.
I love Greg Maddux. Everyone knows how great a pitcher he is, but I always have a special soft spot for great athletes who are not superior physical specimens, but get by on intelligence, heart, competitiveness etc. Maddux was exactly that guy. He would never win a speed-pitching contest with Clemens or the Big Unit or Nolan Ryan, but he pitches a beautiful game because he understands the game better than just about anyone. And when he's on, even now that he's past his prime, it's just mind-boggling to watch him.
Also, from a fantasy standpoint, there was no pitcher in the '90s more reliable than Greg Maddux. He never had an off-year from 1991 until 1999, and even then his off-year was better than most pitchers' good years.
It's easy to root for him now that he's a Cub, but I even liked Maddux when he was a hated Brave and I rooted against the rest of the team.
So Mad Props to you, Mr. Maddux. There will probably never be another one like you.
So I was shopping at BJ's Wholesale Club last night, and came upon the following package of candy:
Yes, it says "Nerds R-O-pe," but that's not what I thought it said at first.
I came upon This Article in USA Today detailing how completely scripted and closed to opponents and undecideds Bush's "Town Hall" meetings are (Thanks to The Note for the link). It's a great article, but one of the first I've seen in a mainstream paper that truly tries to expose Bush for what he is.
And to think I saw it in USA Today, traditionally the most dumbed-down newspaper in the country. I have also been reading comments on Kos recently giving credit to McNews for actually leading the way toward more hard-hitting coverage of the White House.
So Mad Props (haven't done that in a while) to USA Today today. I never thought I'd say that.
This is not even a joke.
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,” Bush said. “They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
It's amazing that some people think this kind of stupidity is acceptable, even endearing, in a leader.
I think the Kerry campaign should tap into some of that xenophbic anxiety and encourage people to vote for Kerry because we need a president who can speak English.