Friday, February 29, 2008
skippy's friday nite music club
eric clapton & mark knopfler - cocaine
mark knopfler, of dire straits, joins eric (among others) on this classic live in 1988.
Labels: skippy's music club
thanks, bitch!
bitchphd celebrates blogroll amnesty day today! good for her...better late than never!
Labels: amnesty day
32 years later
it is 32 years since paddy chayefsky's network was released and it doesn't ring truthy; it rings true:
it is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. that is the natural order of things today. that is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. and you have meddled with the primal forces of nature. and you will atone. Am I getting through to you, mr. beale? you get up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about america, and democracy. there is no america; there is no democracy. there is only ibm, and itt, and at&t, and dupont, dow, union carbide, and exxon. those are the nations of the world today.
i gotcher legacy for ya right here
here's that legacy. and it is chilling.
(reposted from blanton's and ashton's, where we know the difference between a poke in the nose and satire)
(reposted from blanton's and ashton's, where we know the difference between a poke in the nose and satire)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
skippy's thursday nite music club
we don't know which one is corky, but the other two are the juice pigs...
corky & the juice pigs - only gay eskimo
corky & the juice pigs - only gay eskimo
Labels: skippy's music club
hull no
said "saint mccain"
four months after the biggest environmental disaster in u.s. history, mccain voted against requiring double hulled tankers.to this day, exxon is the only oil company that doesn't use double-hulled tankers to ship oil in and out of alaska. - gristmill
dose of environmental reality
'intersex' fish found in rocky mountain national park. trout found in five lakes in rocky mountain national park have both male and female sex organs, says a massive new federal report highlighting the problems that air pollution poses for national parks. - fort collins coloradoan
people drinking well water vulnerable to contaminants. more than 2 million people across the state are living with the prospect that the water they use daily for drinking, cooking and bathing could be tainted with dangerous toxins. -fayetteville observer
china belches, b.c. coughs, you pay. do not be fooled--those toxin-laden clouds of pollution in china are also making their way across the pacific and piling up against the west coast. - asian pacific post
growing food crisis as bio fuel subsidies undermine free markets . the announcement by josette sheeran, executive director of the u.n. world food program, that the globe's main provider of food aid may have to start rationing is not just bad news for countries like afghanistan and ethiopia that depend on its supplies. united press international
people drinking well water vulnerable to contaminants. more than 2 million people across the state are living with the prospect that the water they use daily for drinking, cooking and bathing could be tainted with dangerous toxins. -fayetteville observer
china belches, b.c. coughs, you pay. do not be fooled--those toxin-laden clouds of pollution in china are also making their way across the pacific and piling up against the west coast. - asian pacific post
growing food crisis as bio fuel subsidies undermine free markets . the announcement by josette sheeran, executive director of the u.n. world food program, that the globe's main provider of food aid may have to start rationing is not just bad news for countries like afghanistan and ethiopia that depend on its supplies. united press international
Labels: environment, food supply, pollution, water
tooth and consequences
healthcare tourism. the newest booming business.
...according to healthcare tourism international, a nonprofit accreditation and information organization set up to monitor the medical tourism boom, an estimated 1 million americans will travel abroad this year for some of sort of medical service, up from the national coalition on health care's figure of about 150,000 in 2004. of the procedures sought, 40 percent will be dental related. a recent article in the new york times on the dental tourism phenomenon cited a boom in luxury travel packages designed around dental procedures. a root canal followed by a little fly-fishing in costa rica? why not? the money you save can justify a short vacation. - sf bay guardian
Labels: healthcare, travel
birth canal
is john mclame even eligible for running for president? probably, but we can dream, can't we? nytimes:
mr. mccain’s likely nomination as the republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the panama canal zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.
almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on american soil can be truly natural born. to date, no american to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.
“there are powerful arguments that senator mccain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said sarah h. duggin, an associate professor of law at catholic university who has studied the issue extensively. “it is not a slam-dunk situation.”
mr. mccain was born on a military installation in the canal zone, where his mother and father, a navy officer, were stationed. his campaign advisers say they are comfortable that mr. mccain meets the requirement and note that the question was researched for his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this time around.
we doubt that anybody is seriously considering not letting mclame run. but we do think that "natural born" means no clones or test tube babies will ever be president.almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on american soil can be truly natural born. to date, no american to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.
“there are powerful arguments that senator mccain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said sarah h. duggin, an associate professor of law at catholic university who has studied the issue extensively. “it is not a slam-dunk situation.”
mr. mccain was born on a military installation in the canal zone, where his mother and father, a navy officer, were stationed. his campaign advisers say they are comfortable that mr. mccain meets the requirement and note that the question was researched for his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this time around.
Labels: constitution, mccain, prez campaign
look, senoras and horsemen...
i need to be able to face myself in the mirror each day. i'm doing that. but lately, it hasn't been so easy. and if it reaches the point where i can't do it anymore, then i'm as good as dead, if not in body, then in spirit. i'm getting too old for being a mean-spirited prick. i can't carry on like that anymore. it f&$ked up my life, and i just might have a long way to go before my number comes up.
if the guy who called himself guitanguran is reading this, i just want to say that i am truly sorry for being such a mean-spirited prick to you...
if the guy who called himself guitanguran is reading this, i just want to say that i am truly sorry for being such a mean-spirited prick to you...
Labels: life
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
skippy's wednesday nite music club
for the metalheads...
vinnie moore - meltdown
some mighty fine pickin' on that there gitar!
vinnie moore - meltdown
some mighty fine pickin' on that there gitar!
Labels: skippy's music club
pussy
rip william f. buckley, jr.
the last true conservative has passed at the age of 82. nytimes:
rick perlstein, unabashed liberal, waxes:
addendum: others point out buckley's on-the-record racism. but like senator byrd, he rounced his youthful embracing of hatred in his later years. national post:
mr. buckley suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. he was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “he might have been working on a column,” mr. buckley said.
william buckley, with his winningly capricious personality, his use of ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare to an anteater’s, was the popular host of one of television’s longest-running programs, “firing line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine “national review.”
he also found time to write more than 50 books, ranging from sailing odysseys to spy novels to dissertations on harpsichord fingering to celebrations of his own dashing daily life. he edited at least five more.
we detested mr. buckley's politics but we admired his committment to stay true to his ideals over his need to win an argument, a trait which usually helped him win arguments.william buckley, with his winningly capricious personality, his use of ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare to an anteater’s, was the popular host of one of television’s longest-running programs, “firing line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine “national review.”
he also found time to write more than 50 books, ranging from sailing odysseys to spy novels to dissertations on harpsichord fingering to celebrations of his own dashing daily life. he edited at least five more.
rick perlstein, unabashed liberal, waxes:
why did i love wfb? because he never would have asked such a silly question. the game of politics is to win over american institutions to our way of seeing things using whatever coalition, necessarily temporary, that we can muster to win our majority, however contingent—and if we lose, and we are again in the minority, live to fight another day, even ruthlessly, while respecting our adversaries' legitimacy to govern in the meantime, while never pulling back in offering our strong opinions about their failures, in the meantime. this was buckleyism—even more so than any particular doctrines about "conservatism."
jesse at groupnewsblog said:i didn't agree with william f. buckley's politics, but i admired his spirit. he was a genuine conservative, a person unafraid to disagree with you politically, without needing to attack you personally, threaten your family, or resort to name-calling or insults.
we concur. buckley constantly reverted to using ideas over invective, logic over lambast, and over reason over ridicule. we wish his gentlemanliness had rubbed off on his heir apparents.addendum: others point out buckley's on-the-record racism. but like senator byrd, he rounced his youthful embracing of hatred in his later years. national post:
yet buckley did in fact change and renounce racism by the mid-1960s, in part because of his horror at the terrorist tactics used by white supremacists to fight the civil rights movement; and in part because of the moral witness of friends such as garry wills, who confronted buckley with the amorality of his politics...
there are a host of other issues on which buckley moderated his politics. in the 1980s, he said that if he were a black south african he would probably support the african national congress, a statement that shocked fellow conservatives. this independence of mind continued to the end of his life. not too long ago, he admitted that the iraq war was a ghastly mistake, again annoying his intellectual fellow travellers. he was learning until his last days.
there are a host of other issues on which buckley moderated his politics. in the 1980s, he said that if he were a black south african he would probably support the african national congress, a statement that shocked fellow conservatives. this independence of mind continued to the end of his life. not too long ago, he admitted that the iraq war was a ghastly mistake, again annoying his intellectual fellow travellers. he was learning until his last days.
Labels: conservatives, passings
so do we all have to get egged in the shower now?
one of our favorite scenes in movies is in life of brian, when brian tells the masses gathered outside his window that they are all individuals.
every one of the thousands of people agree in unison: "yes, we are all different."
one lone, feeble voice protests: "i'm not..."
that is how we are feeling these days.
via makethemaccountable, bob somerby over at the daily howler explains how we are all matt drudge now.
the issue, of course, involves drudge’s pronouncement about that photograph of obama. mooing contentedly, [kevin] drum observed that drudge’s post was “ambiguous—who distributed the photo—who did it go to?” indeed, drum’s caveat put matters mildly; as any advanced fifth grader could see, drudge didn’t say that “clinton staffers” had sent the photo in question to him; he simply said that unnamed clinton staffers had “circulated” the photo (where, he didn’t say), and he quoted an accompanying e-mail message—without saying who the e-mail had gone to. do you mind if we draw two simple conclusions—conclusions so simple a child could reach them? first: in all likelihood, no clinton staffer sent the photo to drudge, or the brilliant fellow would have said that they had. second: for all anyone knows, some clinton staffer sent the photo to a friend in obama’s campaign, and the photo and e-mail proceeded from there. is that what happened? we have no idea. but then, no one but drudge has the slightest idea what facts (if any) lay behind his report—which didn’t keep a pair of moo-cows from mooing the drudge story forward.
it would be hard to find words low enough to capture the work of these two cheerful bovines. even as of this morning, drum still hadn’t updated his post to include howard wolfson’s conference call, in which (quoting greg sargent at tpm ), wolfson “strongly denied any official campaign role in pushing the photo of obama.” having mooed his affirmation of drudge, moo-cow kevin withdrew from the scene, failing to comment on wolfson’s statement. and if anything, moo-cow [josh] marshall played things even dumber—as he often does in these latter days. as he so often does now, marshall rushed into print with a premature judgment (the clinton camp surely did it!), then back-pedaled in a rambling, barely-coherent “update” (same link)—a non-clarification clarification of a type he has come to master. incredibly, marshall eventually linked to sargent’s story—while pretending that wolfson’s statement didn’t go beyond what had already been said. not being stable-boys ourselves, we won’t bother to scoop josh’s piles; you can limn his posts for yourself.
we ourselves began our cyber-day last mondy opening our inbox, and finding a buzzflash alert about drudge's big scoop.it would be hard to find words low enough to capture the work of these two cheerful bovines. even as of this morning, drum still hadn’t updated his post to include howard wolfson’s conference call, in which (quoting greg sargent at tpm ), wolfson “strongly denied any official campaign role in pushing the photo of obama.” having mooed his affirmation of drudge, moo-cow kevin withdrew from the scene, failing to comment on wolfson’s statement. and if anything, moo-cow [josh] marshall played things even dumber—as he often does in these latter days. as he so often does now, marshall rushed into print with a premature judgment (the clinton camp surely did it!), then back-pedaled in a rambling, barely-coherent “update” (same link)—a non-clarification clarification of a type he has come to master. incredibly, marshall eventually linked to sargent’s story—while pretending that wolfson’s statement didn’t go beyond what had already been said. not being stable-boys ourselves, we won’t bother to scoop josh’s piles; you can limn his posts for yourself.
we, at first, were perplexed...buzzflash linking to drudge? we then went to memeorandum, where we found a great number of liberal blogs linking to and discussing drudge's allegations.
we read a few posts about the subject, most notably josh marshall's piece, as discussed by somerby above. we were confused, and confused about two things:
firstly, why was everyone assuming that the clinton campaign was behind this email? (assuming there even was an email...we saw no evidence provided; absolutely nobody said "hey, i got this email today." it was all very passive "a friend of a friend..." sort of allegations.)
there was no actual proof, and nothing but denials from the clinton camp; tho, apparently, the clinton campaign didn't deny it stridently enough for some people.
but more importantly in our minds was the second question: why the hell was any lefty blog at all even bothering to type the letters d - r - u - d - g - e when sourcing a story? (and a third question: how could they not vomit on their keyboards as they were doing so?)
readers of this space know how we have bemoaned the breakdown of civility amongst previously respectful blog writers in the wake of the current dem nomination process. we knew things had gotten bad. but for god's sake, award-winning liberal blogs were now quoting matt "i am the eggman" drudge! has it gotten that bad?
we were amazed that such prominent and heretofor logical bloggers would take the pseudo-ball from drudge and run with it. people were engaging in the same logical fallacies and deficient rumor-spreading that they had previously berated the hardly-ever-right wing for doing the last 5 years.
we also amazed that so many people didn't stop to question, publicly and on the record, the lack of evidence that drudge offered. what has happened to blogtopia and yes, we coined that phrase?
we weren't surprised to hear cnn and msnbc wax self-righteous about guesses and rumors; that's what they do. but it's not what we do.
no matter which candidate we (read: you) are supporting or endorsing, the thing that separates us (read: the other lefty bloggers) from the multi-millionaire media and hardly-ever-right wing bloggers (or used to, at least), is our insistance on the truth uber alles. party, agenda, individual politicians, even our own previously-written words would (or should) take a back seat to reality and truth.
and certainly, passing on unsourced maybes and unprovable what-ifs is nowhere close to the truth.
that's why we at skippy are proud that we didn't touch this "story" with our ten-foot poles.
that's why, when bob somerby says that we are all matt drudge now, skippy's feeble voice cries out, "i'm not."
we are saddened by this latest foray into national-inquirer gotcha politics on the part of the lefty blogs.
oh well. we suppose there's only thing we can do...
say hello
to miss c recommends.
Labels: say hello
dupage two, freedom zero
the freeway blogger alerts us to the story of the dupage two in chicago:
the bone-chilling bluster that accompanied chicagoland's latest winter storm did not keep dedicated free speech advocates from exercising the first amendment outside the dupage county criminal court building this morning.
the group of eight demonstrators included members of dupage peace through justice coalition, dupage against war now, and women in black.
some held signs reading, "dissent is patriotic", "resist illegitimate authority", and "this is free speech". others distributed leaflets with information about an ongoing legal battle between dupage county law enforcement officials and local peace activists; jeff zurawski of downers grove and sarah hartfield of naperville, aka "the dupage two", who were arrested weeks after they displayed an impeach bush & cheney banner while standing on a public walkway above interstate 355 in un-incorporated lombard.
news about the dupage two case has been reported in mainstream publications like the the daily herald, chicago suburban news, and the chicago tribune. it’s made its way around the internet, too, at: chicagofreespeechzone, the progressive, crooks & liars, freeway blogger, michaelmoore.com, after downing street, and other sites…
the collins law firm in naperville, il is representing the dupage two pro-bono. attorney julie anderson said today that jeff and sarah will not be put on the stand to testify at the hearing. she also mentioned that the sheriff's deputy who filed the charges is a witness for the prosecutors and the truck driver who called 911 is a witness for the dupage two. hmmmmm?
those who would like to express their opinions regarding the case may wish to contact the dupage county state’s attorney:
joseph birkett, state’s attorney
503 n. county farm rd. wheaton, il 60187
(630) 407-8000
630-407-8151 (fax)
stsattn@dupageco.org
the group of eight demonstrators included members of dupage peace through justice coalition, dupage against war now, and women in black.
some held signs reading, "dissent is patriotic", "resist illegitimate authority", and "this is free speech". others distributed leaflets with information about an ongoing legal battle between dupage county law enforcement officials and local peace activists; jeff zurawski of downers grove and sarah hartfield of naperville, aka "the dupage two", who were arrested weeks after they displayed an impeach bush & cheney banner while standing on a public walkway above interstate 355 in un-incorporated lombard.
news about the dupage two case has been reported in mainstream publications like the the daily herald, chicago suburban news, and the chicago tribune. it’s made its way around the internet, too, at: chicagofreespeechzone, the progressive, crooks & liars, freeway blogger, michaelmoore.com, after downing street, and other sites…
the collins law firm in naperville, il is representing the dupage two pro-bono. attorney julie anderson said today that jeff and sarah will not be put on the stand to testify at the hearing. she also mentioned that the sheriff's deputy who filed the charges is a witness for the prosecutors and the truck driver who called 911 is a witness for the dupage two. hmmmmm?
those who would like to express their opinions regarding the case may wish to contact the dupage county state’s attorney:
joseph birkett, state’s attorney
503 n. county farm rd. wheaton, il 60187
(630) 407-8000
630-407-8151 (fax)
stsattn@dupageco.org
Labels: free speech, freeway blogger
republican call girls
for a bad time, call them.
Labels: gop
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
skippy's tuesday nite music club
giovanni martinelli - celeste aida - from giuseppe verdi's aida
most everyone has heard of the great enrico caruso, but few outside of hard-core opera fans know of giovanni martinelli, who many (including caruso himself) thought to be the heir-apparent to caruso's career. the two, who met at the met (an opera pun) were good friends, and caruso passed on his costume for pagliacci to martinelli.
tho this vitaphone film doesn't have the dolby technology of today's recordings, you can still hear the effortlessness in martinelli's singing, and the great control. as with all great opera singers, martinelli acted with his voice, while also exhibiting great bravura in sustaining his high notes confidently.
in this aria, ramades, preparing for battle, dreams of great victory and also of the slave girl, aida (who is an ethiopian princess captured into slavery) , with whom he is secretly in love. this is considered to be one of the most beautiful arias in verdi's oeuvre.
Labels: skippy's music club
barack and hillary should be so loving
via bunko squad we find stuff white people like.
which reminds us of that old stand-by black people love us!
which reminds us of that old stand-by black people love us!
dear network moderators
i wish you would stop calling them "debates"...they are nothing but talking point advertisements.
how about questions on:
the environment.
anything about the disasterous environmental state of our country (let alone the world). oh, h**l, forget the boxer or brief questions...i want to know "paper, plastic or your own?"
companies shuffling off pensions to the government to handle.
not a freakin' sound coming out of anyone regarding this, especially after their secretive switch to riskier investments to try to shore up a $14bn deficit.
walter reed hospital.
yeah...remember the horrible conditions. changes haven't been made. why not bring that up in discussions of healthcare. especially now since senator byrd has been taken there this evening...but i don't think he'll get the shabby treatement our soldiers are being given. hey, and here's another question...why is the government paying disney $800,000 for a 4-hour seminar to "train" walter reed employees?
how foreclosures are affecting cities.
cities claiming chapter 9 bankruptcy because of disappearing tax base and how that will affect the economy and people's lives.
national security risks at home due to needed equipment in iraq.
what about missing national guard equipment needed by states to deal with emergencies...yeah, natural disasters or terrorist attacks. it's a national security issue. not a peep from the candidates on display tonight.
and so much more. i'm so tired of these gab fests. we need to be asking some seriously tough questions instead of skating on superficial happy talk spin sessions.
how about questions on:
the environment.
anything about the disasterous environmental state of our country (let alone the world). oh, h**l, forget the boxer or brief questions...i want to know "paper, plastic or your own?"
companies shuffling off pensions to the government to handle.
not a freakin' sound coming out of anyone regarding this, especially after their secretive switch to riskier investments to try to shore up a $14bn deficit.
walter reed hospital.
yeah...remember the horrible conditions. changes haven't been made. why not bring that up in discussions of healthcare. especially now since senator byrd has been taken there this evening...but i don't think he'll get the shabby treatement our soldiers are being given. hey, and here's another question...why is the government paying disney $800,000 for a 4-hour seminar to "train" walter reed employees?
how foreclosures are affecting cities.
cities claiming chapter 9 bankruptcy because of disappearing tax base and how that will affect the economy and people's lives.
national security risks at home due to needed equipment in iraq.
what about missing national guard equipment needed by states to deal with emergencies...yeah, natural disasters or terrorist attacks. it's a national security issue. not a peep from the candidates on display tonight.
and so much more. i'm so tired of these gab fests. we need to be asking some seriously tough questions instead of skating on superficial happy talk spin sessions.
Labels: debates, homeland security, national guard, walter reed
the imperial governator
apparently he feels he don't need no stinking legislature....
gov. arnold schwarzenegger may issue an executive order jump-starting a controversial plan to build a canal around the delta, sources familiar with the matter said monday.this is just wrong. it's democratic.doing so would bypass the legislature, which is divided over whether such a canal should be built. - stockton recordnet.com via aquafornia.
Labels: california, governator, water
comcast casting call
they are called "public hearings" because they're supposed to be for the public.
got a problem with comcast? tell "comcast must die"
save the internet!
comcast admitted to paying its employees to sit in at a f.c.c. hearing on net neutrality at the harvard law school today, depriving angry protesters from their right to sit in those folding chairs. despite the venue being filled to over capacity, keeping some people from entering, not everyone inside seemed appreciative of their privilege. one comcast employee admitted on tape, "i'm just getting paid to hold someone's seat, i don't even know what's going on." - the consumeristif they won't even let the public in, how do you think they'll do when confronted with little bloggers and small mom & pop businesses who won't fork out a bazillion bucks to be found on the web.
got a problem with comcast? tell "comcast must die"
save the internet!
Labels: fcc, net neutrality
the wiki room
down the penrose lane
if you ask us, neither candidate is worth bleeding over
as we mentioned yesterday, two men got into a violent fight over democratic candidates, ending in a stabbing.
via the daily background, here's a youtube of the news report:
now, dennis kucinich, maybe.
via the daily background, here's a youtube of the news report:
now, dennis kucinich, maybe.
happy blogiversary
to blondesense!
Labels: blogiversary, blogtopia
Monday, February 25, 2008
skippy's monday nite music club
soon to be senator mcdreamy (nebraska)
is looking for a logo for his senate campaign. if you can't send him a design...toss him some greenstuff.
scott klebb for senate.
"hi, i'm a mac"..."and i'm a defendant..."
via why now?, a class action suit against microsoft for disgruntled vista users has been given the green-light:
the associate press reports that people are starting to object to the con: microsoft class action suit over vista approved
seattle - a federal judge said friday that consumers may go ahead with a class action lawsuit against microsoft corp. over the way it advertised computers loaded with windows xp as capable of running the vista operating system.
the lawsuit said microsoft’s labeling of some pcs as “windows vista capable” was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to run all of vista’s features, including the much-touted “aero” user interface.
the lawsuit said microsoft’s labeling of some pcs as “windows vista capable” was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to run all of vista’s features, including the much-touted “aero” user interface.
Labels: technology
get your track shoes ready
for runs on the banks.
"regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months, with concentrations in rust belt states like michigan and ohio, and the states that are suffering severe housing-market problems like california, florida, and georgia," said jaret seiberg, washington policy analyst for financial-services firm stanford group.- wsj via calculated risk.tip o'kangaroo tail to duncan.
Labels: banking, financial markets
missing.....minnesota "meeses"
are they attending wossamotta u with bullwinkle?
the case of the missing minnesota moose. is it parasites, or climate change, or both, that's killing minnesota's moose?
....something strange is killing the moose of northern minnesota, and wildlife scientists hope moose 294 and others like it can provide some clues as to why. the task is urgent: in the course of a few years, the number of moose in northwestern minnesota has plummeted to near extinction. - minneapolis star tribune
how horrible for an american
to don a traditional piece of clothing of another country when visiting that country.
where was the reich wing outrage when laura bush donned a hijab when visiting the middle east?....oh, i guess it's only unamerican when a democrat does something like that.
Labels: laura bush, middle east
action alert: tell the asspress they are
jane at fdl has an action alert to let the asspress know that it's not ok to question obama's patriotism at the behest of the gop:
it was pretty much world-record speed with which the smears against barack obama's patriotism alley-ooped from the right wing attack machine into the pages of legitimate media, neatly laundered into the ap by nedra pickler. it then quickly leapfrogged onto cnn where a poll inquired as to whether obama had sufficient patriotism to be president.
it's incredible that a news source which purports to be legitimate would embrace and perpetuate this kind of stuff; common sense dictates that it should stay where it was birthed, in the right wing sewer. nevertheless, we're in a rather fluid time, when the boundaries are being established about what is going to be regarded as acceptable for the rest of the race, so it's time to come down hard and set the limits. what pickler did is out of bounds...
the ap probably doesn't care a whole lot about what you think, but it does care what the papers who subscribe to their wire service think. so we've set up a page where you can plug in your zip code and automatically send an email to the papers in your area who syndicate the ap and let them know this is beneath what you expect their coverage to be -- for this election cycle and beyond.
especially if you live in some state that's less likely to get a lot of attention like new york or california, please take time to send an email. we want to blanket the country as broadly as possible and let every paper know that this kind of journalism is unacceptable -- and that you're watching.
send a letter here.
it's incredible that a news source which purports to be legitimate would embrace and perpetuate this kind of stuff; common sense dictates that it should stay where it was birthed, in the right wing sewer. nevertheless, we're in a rather fluid time, when the boundaries are being established about what is going to be regarded as acceptable for the rest of the race, so it's time to come down hard and set the limits. what pickler did is out of bounds...
the ap probably doesn't care a whole lot about what you think, but it does care what the papers who subscribe to their wire service think. so we've set up a page where you can plug in your zip code and automatically send an email to the papers in your area who syndicate the ap and let them know this is beneath what you expect their coverage to be -- for this election cycle and beyond.
especially if you live in some state that's less likely to get a lot of attention like new york or california, please take time to send an email. we want to blanket the country as broadly as possible and let every paper know that this kind of journalism is unacceptable -- and that you're watching.
send a letter here.
Labels: action alert, multi-millionaire media, obama
happy blogiversary
to the carpetbagger report!
steve benen is a good friend to this blog, and he writes one of the least snark-filled sites around. here's to a great 5 years, and 5 years more!
steve benen is a good friend to this blog, and he writes one of the least snark-filled sites around. here's to a great 5 years, and 5 years more!
Labels: blogiversary, blogtopia
too bad she didn't write the scripts for 1, 2 and 3
mad about (or, at least, at) ralph nader
vet vote
view the votevets.org new ad challenging john mclame about his '100 years war':
then donate to votevets.org here.
then donate to votevets.org here.
Labels: action alert, mccain
Sunday, February 24, 2008
skippy's sunday nite music club
nina simone - house of the rising sun and go to hell
the astounding ms. simone gives a sexy, soulful jazz spin on the old standby.
Labels: skippy's music club
who needs repubbblicans when we can fight with ourselves? or, can't we all just get along?
we have said several times before we don't have a dog in the clinton-obama fight.
but we have to say that we are most unsettled by manifestations of that fight that have been creeping more and more into otherwise reasonable people who write here in blogtopia, and yes, we coined that phrase.
we don't mind when bloggers, who have chosen one side or another, point out various insufficiencies and hypocrisies on the part of the opposing candidate; that is, after all, why bloggers blog.
but as of late people whom we admire and respect have begun silly sniping towards each other, simply because of what has been said on blogs about the two dem candidates.
and folks aren't just pointing out bad logic or inconsistent arguments; there are a lot of personal digs being thrust about. things have gotten so bad that it's almost as if we don't even need the hardly-ever-right wing bloggers as targets for our wrath. it seems that we'll all be happy hating other progressives, simply because of whom they endorse for the dem nominee.
the dem daily takes great exception to booman's taking great exception to talkleft:
we have said this before and we'll say it again...neither one of these candidates are progressive! hell, they are barely democrats, at least not democrats in the roosevelt/kennedy definition.
you can make the case that getting a dem into office will be good for the dem party (assuming the dems retain a majority in congress). we can and have argued that that's not going to make a difference, but we won't go into that again here.
what you shouldn't do, if you are a blogger, is start accusing fellow progressive bloggers of such things as manipulation, losing touch w/reality, meglomania, igorance, hatred, and other deadly sins usually reserved for labeling of gop bloggers.
let's remember, we're on the same side here. it doesn't help to burn any bridges that we might have to cross again after denver, when we need to ban together to defeat mclame.
if someone you admire seems to be going over the edge, the best way to handle it, in our opinion, is with a private email. and make sure it's a polite email, and well-thought out, and prefaced with a plethora of your positive opinion of that blogger.
we need each other. we don't need to fight.
we must hang together, as ben franklin said, or we will surely hang separately.
addendum: well, it could be worse:
but we have to say that we are most unsettled by manifestations of that fight that have been creeping more and more into otherwise reasonable people who write here in blogtopia, and yes, we coined that phrase.
we don't mind when bloggers, who have chosen one side or another, point out various insufficiencies and hypocrisies on the part of the opposing candidate; that is, after all, why bloggers blog.
but as of late people whom we admire and respect have begun silly sniping towards each other, simply because of what has been said on blogs about the two dem candidates.
and folks aren't just pointing out bad logic or inconsistent arguments; there are a lot of personal digs being thrust about. things have gotten so bad that it's almost as if we don't even need the hardly-ever-right wing bloggers as targets for our wrath. it seems that we'll all be happy hating other progressives, simply because of whom they endorse for the dem nominee.
the dem daily takes great exception to booman's taking great exception to talkleft:
booman (booman tribune) has apparently taken on the role of netroots police and has deemed that talk left for the clinton leanings probably shouldn’t be trusted after the primaries are over, to “get back on board” for the general election.
t-rex gets even more down and dirty when he starts comparing taylor marsh to michelle malkin:i don’t know why i care what talk left says. i think it is just pride in the artform of blogging. i can’t stand to see analysis so bad that it is indiscernible from straight-up undisclosed shilling. talk left is an insult to the genre of left-wing political blogging. it’s so easy to debunk their crap that it is an beneath most people to even bother.
and it’s impossible that they can just shrug off their performance in the primary and get back on board for the general. they have so little credibility…who would want them as an ally?
what kind of crap is that? booman took offense to jeralyn’s post that included a link to republicans for obama and the quote that i also posted from jeralyn in my post below:and it’s impossible that they can just shrug off their performance in the primary and get back on board for the general. they have so little credibility…who would want them as an ally?
who’s really picking our democratic nominee? if it’s the democratic youth or african american voters, i’m okay with that. that’s fair. if it’s republicans, i’m not. we’ll get trounced in november.without reliable stats to show obama’s support is from those who will for the democrat in november, i’d say the best way to ensure republicans stay out of our race and don’t steal another election from us is for dems to vote for hillary to be the nominee.
i’m curious… will booman start blacklisting all the clinton supporters in the netroots? because there are more than a few of us. the implication that any blog or blogger in the netroots that supports clinton shouldn’t be trusted “get back on board” for the general election is in a word asinine.but, moving right along, marsh really started chewing the scenery today when she freaked out about michelle obama’s offhand comment about being really proud of america for the first time in her adult life, etc. etc.
the thing that really bugs me about this taylor marsh post, though, is how much it stylistically resembles this bit of vintage wingnuttery, michelle malkin’s “john doe manifesto”:
i said earlier that i like and respect taylor. she was a delight in the few minutes we had to converse face to face at ykos, but i think it would be good for her to scootch the chair away from the computer for a couple days, dust off her hands, and maybe go rent a batting cage or take out a wall in her house with a sledgehammer.
hey, folks, let's just take a breath and settle down here...michelle obama does not speak for me
the love i have for this country does not depend on one person, certainly not some politician with a slogan that others have used, which he has re-used.
the love i have for this country does not depend on aiding the winning of someone for president, without a clue what he or she is offering in the guise of one word, “change.”
the love i have for this country does not depend on ignorance of what patriotism requires to serve a personal goal.
my uncle dick certainly didn’t serve his country and get battle fatigue in wwii so people could pick and choose pride in this nation based on personal association to some politician, forgetting the greater glory we all serve through our country’s ideals.
taylor, darlin’, i feel fairly confident that mrs. obama doesn’t want to dig up your uncle dick’s bones, piss on them, and re-bury them upside down. call it a guess, a hunch, even, but that seems to be the level of insult that you’re dealing with here.“for the first time in my adult lifetime i am really proud of my country. and not just because barack has done well, but because i think people are hungry for change.” - michelle obama (video)the love i have for this country does not depend on a political campaign predicated on the notion of “change.”
the love i have for this country does not depend on one person, certainly not some politician with a slogan that others have used, which he has re-used.
the love i have for this country does not depend on aiding the winning of someone for president, without a clue what he or she is offering in the guise of one word, “change.”
the love i have for this country does not depend on ignorance of what patriotism requires to serve a personal goal.
my uncle dick certainly didn’t serve his country and get battle fatigue in wwii so people could pick and choose pride in this nation based on personal association to some politician, forgetting the greater glory we all serve through our country’s ideals.
the thing that really bugs me about this taylor marsh post, though, is how much it stylistically resembles this bit of vintage wingnuttery, michelle malkin’s “john doe manifesto”:
dear muslim terrorist plotter/planner/funder/enabler/apologist,
you do not know me. but i am on the lookout for you. you are my enemy. and i am yours.
i am john doe.
i am traveling on your plane. i am riding on your train. i am at your bus stop. i am on your street. i am in your subway car. i am on your lift.
i am your neighbor. i am your customer. i am your classmate. i am your boss.
i am john doe.
i will never forget the example of the passengers of united airlines flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of islam without a fight.
blah, blah, blah. this species of hot-faced, clench-jawed jeremiad may feel marvelous to write, but a post that feels like a blazing tower of righteousness at the keyboard can have a distinct tendency to read like an unhinged, holier-than-thou diatribe when it pops up on someone else’s monitor. just fyi.you do not know me. but i am on the lookout for you. you are my enemy. and i am yours.
i am john doe.
i am traveling on your plane. i am riding on your train. i am at your bus stop. i am on your street. i am in your subway car. i am on your lift.
i am your neighbor. i am your customer. i am your classmate. i am your boss.
i am john doe.
i will never forget the example of the passengers of united airlines flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of islam without a fight.
i said earlier that i like and respect taylor. she was a delight in the few minutes we had to converse face to face at ykos, but i think it would be good for her to scootch the chair away from the computer for a couple days, dust off her hands, and maybe go rent a batting cage or take out a wall in her house with a sledgehammer.
we have said this before and we'll say it again...neither one of these candidates are progressive! hell, they are barely democrats, at least not democrats in the roosevelt/kennedy definition.
you can make the case that getting a dem into office will be good for the dem party (assuming the dems retain a majority in congress). we can and have argued that that's not going to make a difference, but we won't go into that again here.
what you shouldn't do, if you are a blogger, is start accusing fellow progressive bloggers of such things as manipulation, losing touch w/reality, meglomania, igorance, hatred, and other deadly sins usually reserved for labeling of gop bloggers.
let's remember, we're on the same side here. it doesn't help to burn any bridges that we might have to cross again after denver, when we need to ban together to defeat mclame.
if someone you admire seems to be going over the edge, the best way to handle it, in our opinion, is with a private email. and make sure it's a polite email, and well-thought out, and prefaced with a plethora of your positive opinion of that blogger.
we need each other. we don't need to fight.
we must hang together, as ben franklin said, or we will surely hang separately.
addendum: well, it could be worse:
according to cops, ortiz, 28, stabbed sean shurelds last thursday night in the kitchen of an upper providence township home. according to a criminal complaint, a copy of which you'll find here, the 41-year-old shurelds, an obama supporter, told ortiz that the illinois senator was "trashing" clinton (apparently in regard to recent primary and caucus results). ortiz, a clinton supporter, replied that "obama was not a realist." while not exactly fighting words, the verbal political tiff led to some mutual choking and punching. and, allegedly, a stabbing in the abdomen. ortiz, pictured in the mug shot below, was charged with a felony aggravated assault count and two misdemeanors and jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail. shurelds was flown to hahnemann university hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition.
Labels: blogtopia, hillary, obama, prez campaign
oscar prediction thread
we predict the jokes will be even lamer than usual.
what's your best guess?
update: the jokes weren't as lame as we had feared. but one thing we didn't predict, but are very happy to see, is marion cotillard's win for her turn as edith piaf in la vie en rose.
what's your best guess?
update: the jokes weren't as lame as we had feared. but one thing we didn't predict, but are very happy to see, is marion cotillard's win for her turn as edith piaf in la vie en rose.
Labels: entertainment, hollywood, movies
rovian highschool mocking mentality
coming from a candidate "some would say" is republican light.
"some would say, let's get everybody together, let's get unified. the sky will open. (crowd laughs). the light will come down. celestial choirs will be singing. and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect."
mocking a fellow democratic party presidential candidate after saying that there was honor in being on the same stage as him. mocking americans who choose obama over her. mocking those who hold religious beliefs...on sunday no less. i don't know who is advising the clinton camp...but it seems that they really don't want the woman in the white house.
huffpo has the video up now.
"some would say, let's get everybody together, let's get unified. the sky will open. (crowd laughs). the light will come down. celestial choirs will be singing. and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect."
mocking a fellow democratic party presidential candidate after saying that there was honor in being on the same stage as him. mocking americans who choose obama over her. mocking those who hold religious beliefs...on sunday no less. i don't know who is advising the clinton camp...but it seems that they really don't want the woman in the white house.
huffpo has the video up now.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
skippy's saturday nite music club
two frankies, no waiting!
frankie lymon & the teenagers - why do fools fall in love?
this is their appearance on the frankie lane show from the 50's.
frankie lane? wait, that frankie lane?
yup...rawhide, high noon, mule train...and this little number from the early 70's...
frankie lane - blazing saddles
frankie lymon & the teenagers - why do fools fall in love?
this is their appearance on the frankie lane show from the 50's.
frankie lane? wait, that frankie lane?
yup...rawhide, high noon, mule train...and this little number from the early 70's...
frankie lane - blazing saddles
Labels: skippy's music club
blog headline of the day
hillary clinton for president (of the senate) - zippidy doo da
Labels: clinton, hillary, prez campaign
hey, hillary...here's a novel idea
pay your freakin' bills.
vendor/amount description
All Iowa Agricultural Assoc., -$990.00 Catering/Venue
Cinema Technology Services - $5153.23 Equipment
City Of Peosta, IA - $600.00 Catering/Venue
Dennis Dean Catering - $4250.00 Catering/Venue
Hellenic Orthodox Comm. ... - $800.00 Catering/Venue
Heritage Trust - $630.00 Catering/Venue
Iowa Falls. Comm. Sch.Dist. - $640.00 Catering/Venue
Martha Clara Vinyards - $1027.15 Catering/Venue
Michael Hensley Rental ... - $854.00 Equipment
Mo. Vall. Comm. Sch. Dist. - $900.00 Catering/Venue
Muscatine Comm. Sch. Dist. - $805.81 Catering/Venue
North Iowa Fair Assoc. - $1000.00 Catering/Venue
Sale & Pepe Fine Foods ... - $2492.63 Catering/Venue
Town of Peterborough - $750.00 Catering/Venue
YWCA of Machester - $650.00 Catering/Venue
more here.
vendor/amount description
All Iowa Agricultural Assoc., -$990.00 Catering/Venue
Cinema Technology Services - $5153.23 Equipment
City Of Peosta, IA - $600.00 Catering/Venue
Dennis Dean Catering - $4250.00 Catering/Venue
Hellenic Orthodox Comm. ... - $800.00 Catering/Venue
Heritage Trust - $630.00 Catering/Venue
Iowa Falls. Comm. Sch.Dist. - $640.00 Catering/Venue
Martha Clara Vinyards - $1027.15 Catering/Venue
Michael Hensley Rental ... - $854.00 Equipment
Mo. Vall. Comm. Sch. Dist. - $900.00 Catering/Venue
Muscatine Comm. Sch. Dist. - $805.81 Catering/Venue
North Iowa Fair Assoc. - $1000.00 Catering/Venue
Sale & Pepe Fine Foods ... - $2492.63 Catering/Venue
Town of Peterborough - $750.00 Catering/Venue
YWCA of Machester - $650.00 Catering/Venue
more here.
deep in the heat of texas
this can't make hillary feel good: obama leading clinton in texas:
barack obama has a double digit lead over hillary clinton in texas, according to a statewide survey of 678 registered voters planning to vote in the march 4 democratic primary. the survey was conducted february 20 and 21 by decision analyst, a major national survey research firm. decision analyst projections indicate that if the election were held today obama would win 57% to 43% over clinton. the survey's margin of error is 3 percentage points, plus or minus, at a 90% level of confidence…
“as the second most populous state, texas’ delegate count is large, and an obama win of the magnitude indicated by our survey would most likely propel obama to the democratic nomination,” according to jerry w. thomas, president/ceo of decision analyst. “it is still two weeks to the march 4 election, and many things can happen, but as of today, obama has a commanding lead.”
we're still not convinced that talking to 678 voters is the same as talking to all the democrats in the entire state of texas, but that kind of headline is probably making sen. clinton sorry she ever heard the words "mark penn."“as the second most populous state, texas’ delegate count is large, and an obama win of the magnitude indicated by our survey would most likely propel obama to the democratic nomination,” according to jerry w. thomas, president/ceo of decision analyst. “it is still two weeks to the march 4 election, and many things can happen, but as of today, obama has a commanding lead.”
Labels: clinton, democrats, hillary, obama, polls, prez campaign
how can you spoil a garbage dump?
ralph nader is rumored to be planning yet another run for the presidency...cbs:
readers who follow skippy know that it is our learned opinion that it took more than ralph nader's candidacy to get the country in the mess it's in now. (we also credit a lazy, snide press, a crapload of money from special interests, dem leaders more interested in perserving individual jobs than doing well for the country, a well-financed gop infrastructure at key local positions, a couple of dem prez candidates who refused to respond to coordinated attacks, not to mention a supreme court well-stocked by former gop presidents.)
so calling nader a spoiler in today's climate is like pointing out a rotten banana in a garbage dump. the problems that got us here are far more wide-spread than one ego-maniac gumming up the works.
however, he is just a jerk.
(tip o'the kangaroo tail to make them accountable for the link!)
addendum: joe gandelman of the moderate voice has a round up of national opinion, blog opinion, and his own opinion.
the consumer advocate will appear on nbc's "meet the press" on sunday. nader launched his 2004 presidential run on the show.
a spokesman for nader did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
kevin zeese, who was nader's spokesman during the 2004 presidential race, but is no longer working for him, said friday that nader has been actively talking to "lots of people on all sorts of levels" about the possibility of making another run.
zeese said he could only guess what nader might do, but added: "obviously, i don't think ("meet the press" host) tim russert would have him on for no reason."
we are of mixed emotions about this.a spokesman for nader did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
kevin zeese, who was nader's spokesman during the 2004 presidential race, but is no longer working for him, said friday that nader has been actively talking to "lots of people on all sorts of levels" about the possibility of making another run.
zeese said he could only guess what nader might do, but added: "obviously, i don't think ("meet the press" host) tim russert would have him on for no reason."
readers who follow skippy know that it is our learned opinion that it took more than ralph nader's candidacy to get the country in the mess it's in now. (we also credit a lazy, snide press, a crapload of money from special interests, dem leaders more interested in perserving individual jobs than doing well for the country, a well-financed gop infrastructure at key local positions, a couple of dem prez candidates who refused to respond to coordinated attacks, not to mention a supreme court well-stocked by former gop presidents.)
so calling nader a spoiler in today's climate is like pointing out a rotten banana in a garbage dump. the problems that got us here are far more wide-spread than one ego-maniac gumming up the works.
however, he is just a jerk.
(tip o'the kangaroo tail to make them accountable for the link!)
addendum: joe gandelman of the moderate voice has a round up of national opinion, blog opinion, and his own opinion.
Labels: nader, prez campaign
Friday, February 22, 2008
skippy's friday nite music club
frou frou - must be dreaming
the young lady singing lead is none other than imogen heap before her makeover.
Labels: skippy's music club
insert your own punchline here
mike allen at politico -- bush admin: u.s. has 'lost intelligence'
sometimes they just write themselves, folks.
sometimes they just write themselves, folks.
Labels: aWol
they're not saying "boo," they're saying "hillaryyyyy"
via a commentor on richard adams at the uk guardia (via mahablog), here is the video of obama's response to campbell "mm, mm, good" brown's question about plagiarism at the texas dem debate. also included, clinton's response about "hope you can xerox" ("xerox"? what century is this?), and the audience's response to clinton's response, and it ain't pretty.
as richard says,
skippy is himself a stand-up comic. we can assure you, that if a comic uses a joke from another comic's act without permission, it's plagiarism. but if the comic says to the other comic, "hey, that'a funny, can i use that?" and the other comic says, "go ahead," then you can bet the first comic isn't going to stop his routine in the middle of a show and tell the audience "the previous joke was lent to me by my good friend shecky slapstick." it ruins the rhythm and the impact of the gags.
and clinton's insistence on hammering her point home is ruining the rhythm and impact of her campaign.
and her jokes.
as richard says,
for those who came in late, this was about obama borrowing a phrase from an ally, and not attributing it. it should have been a simple one-day sly dig, of the sort that campaigns toss around on an hourly basis. last night obama rightly dismissed it as silly. but the clinton campaign wanted to make a meal of it - and in the middle of last night's debate, when the subject came up, hillary pulled the trigger, saying: "lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can xerox."
at which point the crowd booed her - the only such display of the night. but instead of cutting her losses and leaving it, she ploughed on, and even told obama to "look at the youtube of these videos". xerox? the youtube of these videos? anyone under the age of, oh, 30 would have found all of that amusing, reminiscent of ted stevens' "series of tubes". it smacked of both confection and confusion, a desperate hunt for a "where's the beef?" moment.
as we have said before, we are of a similar mind. harping on this lifting (or borrowing, depending on which dem you believe) of lines from gov. patrick, obama's national co-chair, smacks of desparaton on the part of the clinton campaign.at which point the crowd booed her - the only such display of the night. but instead of cutting her losses and leaving it, she ploughed on, and even told obama to "look at the youtube of these videos". xerox? the youtube of these videos? anyone under the age of, oh, 30 would have found all of that amusing, reminiscent of ted stevens' "series of tubes". it smacked of both confection and confusion, a desperate hunt for a "where's the beef?" moment.
skippy is himself a stand-up comic. we can assure you, that if a comic uses a joke from another comic's act without permission, it's plagiarism. but if the comic says to the other comic, "hey, that'a funny, can i use that?" and the other comic says, "go ahead," then you can bet the first comic isn't going to stop his routine in the middle of a show and tell the audience "the previous joke was lent to me by my good friend shecky slapstick." it ruins the rhythm and the impact of the gags.
and clinton's insistence on hammering her point home is ruining the rhythm and impact of her campaign.
and her jokes.
Labels: clinton, debates, democrats, obama, prez campaign
we can't bottle it up for future use
lakes mead and powell could run dry by 2021. lake mead and lake powell, which supply water and power to millions in the american southwest, stand a 50 percent chance of running dry by 2021 unless dramatic changes take place in how the region uses water, according to a new study. christian science monitor.
Labels: drought, environment, water
mclame: i'll gladly pay you tuesday for a privately-funded presidential campaign today
lindsay beyerstein tells us that blonde lobbyists are the least of john mccain's worries. the fec is not happy he used the promise of public funds for his campaign to get a loan:
the thing is, mccain seems to have used the prospect of public money to secure private funding:
campaign finance reformer, heal thyself! we agree w/bluegal at crooks&liars;:washington (map, news) - the government's top campaign finance regulator says john mccain can't drop out of the primary election's public financing system until he answers questions about a loan he obtained to kickstart his once faltering presidential campaign.
federal election commission chairman david mason, in a letter to mccain this week, said the all-but-certain republican nominee needs to assure the commission that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure a $4 million line of credit he obtained in november.
in plain english, mccain got the loan by promising a publicly-funded bailout, if anything went wrong. the fec is not amused.federal election commission chairman david mason, in a letter to mccain this week, said the all-but-certain republican nominee needs to assure the commission that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure a $4 million line of credit he obtained in november.
insert campaign finance reform joke here, if there are any. mccain says it’s totally legal, but that’s like my neighbor saying his dog’s poop doesn’t stink and actually makes my lawn look better. he flip-flopped on whether he was going to use the funds, and then used the promise of matching funds as collateral for loans. it simply stinks, senator.
Labels: fec, mccain, prez campaign
set your tivo's
forget part of the oscars...you have watch 60 minutes this sunday.
a former republican campaign worker claims that president bush's top political adviser, karl rove, asked her to find evidence that the democratic governor of alabama at the time was cheating on his wife, according to an upcoming broadcast of "60 minutes." - tpm
..according to simpson's statement, william canary, a senior gop political operative and riley adviser who was on the conference call, said " not to worry about don siegelman" because "'his girls' would take care of" the governor. canary then made clear that " his girls" was a reference to his wife, leura canary, the u.s. attorney for the middle district of alabama, and alice martin, the u.s. attorney for the northern district of alabama. - newsweek story quoted on demcat's diary over at the great orange one's site.and in september, on hbo, another must see
taxi to the dark side, a documentary about an innocent afghan taxi driver tortured to death by u.s. officials at bagram air base, has received wide critical acclaim since its debut in april at the tribeca film festival. the new york times’s a.o. scott said, “if recent american history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential.”
...in a press release on thursday, hbo announced that it has bought the rights to taxi and will show the film in september 2008. - think progress
Labels: attorneygate, teevee
it's like a gorey car accident
we are just honored to be nominated...
the lovely brandy of moue magazine has graced this humble space with the coveted excellent blog award.
we had no idea we were even nominated, but we are quite proud to accept on behalf of everyone here at skippy international.
the rules of the excellent blog award stipulate that once a blog receives it, that blog must then pay it forward to ten other worthy blogs, thus spreading the accolades around blogtopia and yes, we coined that phrase.
brandy herself received the excellent blog award from her bud maryannaville. and so we are proud to award this prestigious prize to (in no particular order):
zaius nation
zen comix
whiskey fire
vidiot speak
vagabond scolar
mike, the mad biologist
the galloping beaver
echidne of the snakes
drinking liberally in new milford
the culture ghost
correntewire
cookies in heaven
cannablog
blue girl, red state
blue gal
badtux, the snarky penguin
these blogs are all excellent, and certainly deserve a cyber graphic as much as we do!
Labels: blogtopia
Thursday, February 21, 2008
skippy's thursday music club
alice smith - dream
alice is a nybased chanteuse getting lots of buzz along the club circuit (we first ran into her talent in the sf club scene), and everyone is predicting that she'll breakthru into the big time this year. she reminds us of alicia keyes with guts (and we'll take her r&b; stylings over amy crackhouse any day).
Labels: skippy's music club
change of address card
morse, who has been blogging over at republic of sestakastan, has once again moved back to his old place, media needle, only media needle is now on wordpress, not blogspot.
and morse is also moving in real life too. so stop by and say hello.
and morse is also moving in real life too. so stop by and say hello.
love flies out the door when money comes innuendo**
matthew yglesias (w/a little help from mark kleiman) ignores the nytimes bucket o'gossip, and goes straight to the asspress piece on johnny "heartthrob" mclame and his blonde bimbo lobbyist, to find why it matters:
**ps: big prize to whoever can name the person who made the quote we used as a headline for this piece (extra points for where it was said).
basically, in exchange for money and freebies, mccain sought to intervene in a federal regulatory process in favor of a company that had provided him with tens of thousands of dollars in cash and services. he could try to plead naiveté, but in light of the hot water he got into with the keating five affair, which had the exactly same structure, he clearly knew what he was doing and knew that it was wrong. now whether or not some guy gets to buy some tv station in pittsburgh or not isn't a big deal as such, but it's an example of how dubious mccain's "straight talk" persona is. what's more, i think we can all agree that the subversion of the basic functioning of the federal government (see, e.g., us attorneys scandal, fema, etc.) has been a major problem during the bush years and we see here that mccain takes a bush-like attitude to the integrity of these processes.
look beyond the stepford sex, please, and see that whatever the reasons, mclame performed favors for dough. not that nobody else ever does that in washington, but the rest of the dc weasels don't then build a reputation on "straight talk" and "campaign reform."**ps: big prize to whoever can name the person who made the quote we used as a headline for this piece (extra points for where it was said).
Labels: gop, lobbyists, mccain, prez campaign, scandals
mushers mushing in mush
they're feeling the heat at the iditarod.the starting line for the sled-dog race is being moved to an alaska town 30 miles north because climate change has left the previous spot without enough snow.
..the competitive start is march 2, a day after the ceremonial start in anchorage, on trucked-in snow. - latte times
Labels: global warming, sports
hillary's xerox moment
which is the "original" and which is the "plagiarised?"
"...what's not at stake are any of us. all of us are going to be just fine no matter what happens in this election. but what's at stake is whether america is going to be fine.?"
"...you know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. you know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. i just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the american people."
tip o'kangaroo tail to politico
"...what's not at stake are any of us. all of us are going to be just fine no matter what happens in this election. but what's at stake is whether america is going to be fine.?"
"...you know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. you know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. i just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the american people."
tip o'kangaroo tail to politico
Labels: clinton, john edwards
yes we do
via cathie from canada, it's the you suck at photoshop tutorial, episode 1.
Labels: snark, technology
bad b.a.d. housekeeping
we are so sorry to be this remiss in keeping up our blogroll, especially after we photoshopped a great blogroll amnesty day banner from some old communist revolution posters (notice everyone except the front blue collar hero guy, the evil capitalist, jon swift and skippy, are chinese).
however, real life concern and recurring flu have kept our maintenance crew from updating those new blogroll additions from our early february blogtopia tantrum.
however, we are pleased as a platypus to welcome to our blogroll these great sites we found in the last blogroll amnesty day celebration:
moue magazine
physioprof
over the cliff, onto the rocks
writechick press
esoterically.net
the great endarkenment
wet machine
daisy's dead air
balls and walnuts
and jonestown.
Labels: amnesty day
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
skippy's wednesday nite music club
he's corny, he's fat, he sings outdated story songs...he's da bomb...
meatloaf - two out of three ain't bad
meatloaf - two out of three ain't bad
Labels: skippy's music club
but diebold was only used in azerbijani
as i please details the election snafus of the pakistan elections: obama sweeps pakistan, clinton campaign calls foul
Labels: clinton, foreign policy, mccain, obama, prez campaign, snark
moooooooove on
congress to investigate food safety process in wake of chino slaughterhouse scandal.conditions at a chino slaughterhouse that prompted the recall of 143 million pounds of meat should lead to greater scrutiny of the federal agency charged with protecting the nation's food supply, lawmakers said tuesday. - riverside press-enterprise
cattle inspections thwarted. slaughterhouse rules are easily sidestepped, according to usda. an agency audit warns of a health threat. - latte times
the humane society has the graphic visuals of what was happening at the plant that was a major supplier of school lunch programs around the u.s. conditions at a chino slaughterhouse that prompted the recall of 143 million pounds of meat should lead to greater scrutiny of the federal agency charged with protecting the nation's food supply, lawmakers said tuesday. - riverside press enterprise.
cattle inspections thwarted. slaughterhouse rules are easily sidestepped, according to usda. an agency audit warns of a health threat. - latte times
the humane society has the graphic visuals of what was happening at the plant that was a major supplier of school lunch programs around the u.s. conditions at a chino slaughterhouse that prompted the recall of 143 million pounds of meat should lead to greater scrutiny of the federal agency charged with protecting the nation's food supply, lawmakers said tuesday. - riverside press enterprise.
Labels: food safety, food supply, usda
things aren't looking good for mclame
a couple of reasons why...
firstly, zogby tells us his polling shows that while mclame would beat clinton at this point, obama would beat mclame 47% to 40%.
worse, tho, jeralyn at talkleft says the nytimes is reporting that mclame has been "tied to" a 40 year old blonde lobbyist:
addendum: marc ambinder sez the lady's name is vicki iseman...
addendum: thomas at blue indiana tells us why he's not scared of john mccain (mainly because the mclame campaign is so incompetent, they haven't met the criteria to get their candidate on indiana's ballot yet).
firstly, zogby tells us his polling shows that while mclame would beat clinton at this point, obama would beat mclame 47% to 40%.
worse, tho, jeralyn at talkleft says the nytimes is reporting that mclame has been "tied to" a 40 year old blonde lobbyist:
msnbc broke into hardball to announce this news that just appeared on the new york times website: john mccain is tied to a 40 year old female lobbyist 8 years ago. both deny an improper relationship. that's not what others suggest.
we don't know if this story has legs, but we bet the lobbyist does! (ba-da-dum! thank you everybody and good night! be sure to tip your waitress!)a female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client’s corporate jet. convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.
when news organizations reported that mr. mccain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.
when news organizations reported that mr. mccain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.
addendum: marc ambinder sez the lady's name is vicki iseman...
addendum: thomas at blue indiana tells us why he's not scared of john mccain (mainly because the mclame campaign is so incompetent, they haven't met the criteria to get their candidate on indiana's ballot yet).
Labels: mccain, prez campaign
the borrowed words of a powerful speech
memphis. april 3. some words were borrowed from exodus. some words borrowed from julia howe.
parke wilde at u.s. food policy reminds us of that memorable speech. reminds us how borrowing words does not diminish the powerful message...doesn't diminish the power and ability of the speaker.
parke wilde at u.s. food policy reminds us of that memorable speech. reminds us how borrowing words does not diminish the powerful message...doesn't diminish the power and ability of the speaker.
Labels: martin luther king
communitistic conservatisim
sean-paul over at the agonist finds yet another example of hardly-ever-right wing hypocrisy. in order to get more conservatives represented on this country's campuses, the chronicle of higher education suggests using socialistic entitlements:
what do you do when there are not enough laissez-fare loving, personal responsibility professing and family values fundies at your university? you make it more socialist:
the research led the woessners to conclude that if higher education wants to attract more conservatives to the professoriate, it should smooth the way financially, offering subsidized health insurance and housing for graduate students, and adopting family-friendly policies for professors.
Labels: conservatives, education, right hypocrisy
just asking
didn't will farrell already make this movie?
not to be snide, but will farrell's range is beginning to make adam sandler look like alec guinness.
oba-maniacs
if you like obama (and have no sense of humor), you might not want to read jonestown.
not that we don't appreciate the traffic
but what the hell were they looking for with this google search?
Labels: blogtopia, snark, technology
immigrating on the nerves
dashiell makes a good point...
if you study the politics of europe for any length of time (say, for an hour) you’ll notice that neo-fascist groups always start out by attacking immigrants. it stands to reason that a hate movement will target “outsider” groups in order to attract frustrated, ignorant people, expressing their powerlessness by raging against someone even more powerless than they are. it’s an extension of the old antisemitic template. there’s an insidious minority threatening your job and your family. attack!
the immigration “issue” operates the same way in america, except that it’s not confined to fringe rightist groups—it’s the mainstream. whenever things start to go sour for the elites—a war not turning out as planned, large-scale theft sending the economy into a spiral, etc.—immigration suddenly pops up again as an issue. while mr. and mrs. average white american are getting royally screwed, the people who own the country start gesticulating towards mexico. those brown people are causing this! and then mr. and mrs. a.w.m., who are patriots and wouldn’t be caught dead protesting the war or questioning the wisdom of corporations, get all hot and bothered over illegal immigration and end up voting for the yelling, pointing, bloviating, anti-immigrant candidate.
that’s how it’s supposed to work. i’m not sure it’s working that well this time. people are still more worried about the war and the economy for some reason. and the latino voters are getting pissed off. if you were wondering why bush’s immigration proposals were moderate compared to the frothing of the rightists (“moderate” meaning in the current political lexicon “slightly less insane”), i can tell you it was not because bush could give a tiny fraction of a damn about immigrants (or anything but his pathetic self and his rich handlers' checkbooks), but simply because karl rove wanted to claim a chunk of the latino vote. the nativists, however, are ruled more by their hate than their desire to win elections. they would have none of rove’s machiavellian strategy, and the result is that the republicans are facing the probable loss of the latino vote, a devastating blow which, if there’s any hope in this world, will flush them down the electoral toilet.
in the meantime, contemplate the wholly artificial nature of immigration as an “issue.” the media talks about it, therefore it’s an issue. if people hear about it often enough, they start to believe that it must be an issue. the losers who listen to am radio are told (ordered) to consider it an issue by the usual gang of insane demagogues, so of course they believe it. lou dobbs yammers about it every night, and i guess that’s good enough for me. let’s build a fucking wall around our country!
every poll we've seen has immigration way down the list of issues important to america. and yet, we're told time and time again that it's a hot-button topic.the immigration “issue” operates the same way in america, except that it’s not confined to fringe rightist groups—it’s the mainstream. whenever things start to go sour for the elites—a war not turning out as planned, large-scale theft sending the economy into a spiral, etc.—immigration suddenly pops up again as an issue. while mr. and mrs. average white american are getting royally screwed, the people who own the country start gesticulating towards mexico. those brown people are causing this! and then mr. and mrs. a.w.m., who are patriots and wouldn’t be caught dead protesting the war or questioning the wisdom of corporations, get all hot and bothered over illegal immigration and end up voting for the yelling, pointing, bloviating, anti-immigrant candidate.
that’s how it’s supposed to work. i’m not sure it’s working that well this time. people are still more worried about the war and the economy for some reason. and the latino voters are getting pissed off. if you were wondering why bush’s immigration proposals were moderate compared to the frothing of the rightists (“moderate” meaning in the current political lexicon “slightly less insane”), i can tell you it was not because bush could give a tiny fraction of a damn about immigrants (or anything but his pathetic self and his rich handlers' checkbooks), but simply because karl rove wanted to claim a chunk of the latino vote. the nativists, however, are ruled more by their hate than their desire to win elections. they would have none of rove’s machiavellian strategy, and the result is that the republicans are facing the probable loss of the latino vote, a devastating blow which, if there’s any hope in this world, will flush them down the electoral toilet.
in the meantime, contemplate the wholly artificial nature of immigration as an “issue.” the media talks about it, therefore it’s an issue. if people hear about it often enough, they start to believe that it must be an issue. the losers who listen to am radio are told (ordered) to consider it an issue by the usual gang of insane demagogues, so of course they believe it. lou dobbs yammers about it every night, and i guess that’s good enough for me. let’s build a fucking wall around our country!
Labels: immigration, latino
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
skippy's tuesday nite music club
who needs peter tork when you've got the man in black?
the monkees - nine times blue, w/johnny cash - everybody loves a nut
the monkees - nine times blue, w/johnny cash - everybody loves a nut
Labels: skippy's music club
our condolences
to spocko of spocko's brain, whose father passed away last night.
Labels: blogtopia
aloha ahiahi! mahalo nui loa
wow...hawai'i is going caucus crazy!
manoa elementary school's cafeteria was packed and the line to sign in wrapped around the outdoor blacktop and playground area as more than 3,200 people lined up an hour before they could vote.
"i'm 60 and this is my first time voting," said manoa resident alysa kealoha.
...clare hanusz, 39, said this was her first caucus anywhere and she decided to do it for the first time "because hawai'i finally matters."
"it's actually exciting to think that my little vote can be part of a collective change," she said. - honolulu advertiser
party officials are expecting a record turnout to exceed 10,000 voters, compared with the roughly 4,000 people who voted in the last caucus in 2004. - honolulu star bulletinour blogging buddy, linkmeister, is in the aloha state and has more.
las vegas mayor to imperial valley farmers....
"go cheney yourselves"
Labels: food supply, water
more gop family values
howie klein at down w/tyranny brings us yet another example of why you don't want to listen to repubbbs when it comes to morals:
unless you're from maryland, you probably never heard of anti-child porn crusader robert mckee, a long-time right-wing member of the house of delegates from rural washington county in the western part of the state. according to today's washington post, mckee, one of the maryland leaders of the romney for president campaign, has abruptly resigned today. easy to guess that mckee, who also resigned as executive director of big brothers big sisters, is a child porn fiend.
as howie says, "you think?"law enforcement authorities, both the fbi and county sheriff's office, who are conducting a child pornography investigation, seized two computers, videotapes and printed materials when they searched the republican's home in hagerstown 2 weeks ago.
"for me, this is deeply embarrassing," mckee said in a statement. "it reflects poorly on my service to the community."
Labels: ethics, right hypocrisy
a wisconsin farmer
has some questions for both senators obama and clinton....
as farmers, we are told we need to compete in the global marketplace. they have both said they want to level the playing field so we can compete fairly with farmers around the world and we will win. no, we won't; we won't win, and neither will farmers anywhere else in the world. clinton has some history with agribusiness corporations monsanto and tyson and the world's largest food retailer, wal-mart. Is it part of their corporate philosophy to let farmers win?...they both support local and regional food systems -- buy fresh, buy local. good, but what will they do to make it work? will they take food out of trade agreements and encourage american farmers to grow food instead of commodities? or will food, like health care, be just another money maker for corporations?
...do they plan to do anything to rein in the power of multinational grain corporations? those corporations now dump our cheap subsidized grain on southern nations, undermining the local economy and, as in mexico, driving farmers off their land and across the border to work in the united states. there's your immigration problem; our corporations created it, and walls and fences won't cure it.
do they know the term food sovereignty? it is a simple concept. it recognizes the right of people, all people, to grow the food of their choice -- food that is nutritious, safe and culturally appropriate. food sovereignty demands that food be healthful, green, fair and affordable. the only problem some might see with this idea is that people would profit, not corporations.
from a guest post over at grist
Labels: corporations, election, farmers, food
obama accuses clinton of plagiarizing mitt romney's approach to winning
just kidding. but obama is still on a roll. abc:
addendum: mrs. skippy adds, for the first time in 26 years, she's proud of this blog.
continuing his winning streak, sen. barack obama, d-ill., has defeated sen. hillary clinton, d-n.y., in the wisconsin democratic primary, with high support among independent voters and eating into her support among key democratic voters…
wisconsin democrats identified obama, not clinton, as most likely to win in november, according to preliminary exit poll results.
yet another primary contest loss was another blow to clinton, who struggled to hold on to the support of some of her core groups -- white women, less-educated and lower-income voters -- while obama enjoyed sweeping support among younger voters, winning whites under 30 by his biggest margin to date, according to exit poll results.
obama is projected to win wisconsin handily, at about 57% to clinton's 42%. on the gop's side, mclame also wins handily, but huckabee hangs in with a respectable (for a loser) 38% of the vote.wisconsin democrats identified obama, not clinton, as most likely to win in november, according to preliminary exit poll results.
yet another primary contest loss was another blow to clinton, who struggled to hold on to the support of some of her core groups -- white women, less-educated and lower-income voters -- while obama enjoyed sweeping support among younger voters, winning whites under 30 by his biggest margin to date, according to exit poll results.
addendum: mrs. skippy adds, for the first time in 26 years, she's proud of this blog.
Labels: clinton, democrats, huckabee, mccain, obama, primaries
happy blogiversary**
say hello
Monday, February 18, 2008
skippy's monday nite music club
words to live by
never settle for less than the life ye want t'be livin' -- cap'n dyke.
Labels: blogtopia
the plagiarism's the thing
just when we're thinking that obama has no substance, the clinton campaign pulls a shallow, stupid stunt like this one: accusing the illinois senator of plagiarism. politico:
even if obama lifted it whole from his bud gov. patrick, the accusation still smacks of desparation on the clinton campaign's part.
it's particularly shallow, especially in light of clinton's continual emphasis on how unsubstantive obama is when it comes to actual policy. if obama is "all hat and no cattle," as sen. clinton recently implied, why pick on what a stupid hat it is? we'd suggest she concentrate on the lack of livestock.
joe gandelman of the moderate voice then points out that wolfson couldn't guarantee that clinton isn't guilty of the same crime, ie, lifting bits from other folks' speeches for her own, but even if she was, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. joe goes on to say:
it all depends on what your definition of "ism" is.
to make matters worse, hillary then pointed out that obama's theme of "the audacity of hope" is a direct lift from jesse jackson's "keep hope alive."
"also, episode four of the star wars saga is known as 'a new hope.' we know that george lucas made that film back in the 70's, way before obama decided to make speeches."
but hillary didn't stop there. "for over 27 years, nbc aired the bob hope christmas specials every holiday season," she said. "in every episode, the word 'hope' was used at least 42 times, if not more."
"he's a plagiarist, for sure. jayson blair told me so."
addendum: it has been pointed out to us that gov. patrick himself plagiarized his speech, lifting words from thomas jefferson, franklin roosevelt, john f. kennedy, and martin luther king, jr. the bastid!
double addendum: don davis, over at the satirical political report, takes a look at the real plagiarism problem.
howard wolfson, the clinton campaign's communications director, today accused sen. barack obama (d-ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in milwaukee on saturday night…
on the call, wolfson said: “sen. obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own"...
obama closely echoed a passage from a speech that deval patrick, now the massachusetts governor, used at a campaign rally when he was running for that office in 2006…
here's patrick at a rally for his gubernatorial campaign on oct. 15, 2006, during the final stretch of his successful campaign against then-massachusetts lt. gov. kerry healey (r):
“but her dismissive point, and i hear it a lot from her staff, is that all i have to offer is words — just words. ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, [applause and cheers] that all men are created equal.’ [sustained applause and cheers.] just words – just words! ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ just words! ‘ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ just words! ‘i have a dream.’ just words!”
here’s obama on saturday night at the democratic party of wisconsin’s founders day gala in milwaukee:
“don’t tell me words don’t matter! ‘i have a dream.’ just words. ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ just words! [applause.] ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ just words — just speeches!”
an obama official said: “they're friends who share similar views and talk and trade good lines all the time.”
obama apparently ad-libbed the remark, which was not in his text.
if it's plagiarism, we think it falls into the george harrison/he's so fine sort of michael bolton/isley brothers unconscious type.on the call, wolfson said: “sen. obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own"...
obama closely echoed a passage from a speech that deval patrick, now the massachusetts governor, used at a campaign rally when he was running for that office in 2006…
here's patrick at a rally for his gubernatorial campaign on oct. 15, 2006, during the final stretch of his successful campaign against then-massachusetts lt. gov. kerry healey (r):
“but her dismissive point, and i hear it a lot from her staff, is that all i have to offer is words — just words. ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, [applause and cheers] that all men are created equal.’ [sustained applause and cheers.] just words – just words! ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ just words! ‘ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ just words! ‘i have a dream.’ just words!”
here’s obama on saturday night at the democratic party of wisconsin’s founders day gala in milwaukee:
“don’t tell me words don’t matter! ‘i have a dream.’ just words. ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ just words! [applause.] ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ just words — just speeches!”
an obama official said: “they're friends who share similar views and talk and trade good lines all the time.”
obama apparently ad-libbed the remark, which was not in his text.
even if obama lifted it whole from his bud gov. patrick, the accusation still smacks of desparation on the clinton campaign's part.
it's particularly shallow, especially in light of clinton's continual emphasis on how unsubstantive obama is when it comes to actual policy. if obama is "all hat and no cattle," as sen. clinton recently implied, why pick on what a stupid hat it is? we'd suggest she concentrate on the lack of livestock.
joe gandelman of the moderate voice then points out that wolfson couldn't guarantee that clinton isn't guilty of the same crime, ie, lifting bits from other folks' speeches for her own, but even if she was, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. joe goes on to say:
but now the clinton campaign is suggesting that the ethical rules they insisted be applied to obama — using as a standard joe biden’s lifting of passages from a speech — don’t apply to mrs. clinton because she isn’t running on rhetoric.
in other words, she could be guilty of plagiarism, but it's not the same as cultism. it all depends on what your definition of "ism" is.
to make matters worse, hillary then pointed out that obama's theme of "the audacity of hope" is a direct lift from jesse jackson's "keep hope alive."
"also, episode four of the star wars saga is known as 'a new hope.' we know that george lucas made that film back in the 70's, way before obama decided to make speeches."
but hillary didn't stop there. "for over 27 years, nbc aired the bob hope christmas specials every holiday season," she said. "in every episode, the word 'hope' was used at least 42 times, if not more."
"he's a plagiarist, for sure. jayson blair told me so."
addendum: it has been pointed out to us that gov. patrick himself plagiarized his speech, lifting words from thomas jefferson, franklin roosevelt, john f. kennedy, and martin luther king, jr. the bastid!
double addendum: don davis, over at the satirical political report, takes a look at the real plagiarism problem.
Labels: hillary, obama, prez campaign
double bubble, toil and trouble
brad blog points out that calif. sec. of state debra bowen (the only candidate ever endorsed by this blog) has asked that the disputed and uncounted "bubble" votes from los angeles during california's primary should be counted:
but, as the brad blog continuously points out, maintaining election integrity is an on-going job.
california sec. of state debra bowen wants los angeles county's acting registrar of voters, dean logan, to check the poll rosters of thousands of precincts in order to help accurately count tens of thousands of currently uncounted ballots cast in the super tuesday democratic primary.
as the brad blog pointed out last week, tens of thousands of currently uncounted ballots cast by non-partisan voters who chose to cross-over and vote in the democratic primary, but who failed to ink in a second bubble meant to instruct voting machines to count the ballot as a democratic vote, can be counted accurately, as per the voter's intent, if logan bothers to check those poll rosters.
bowen, who sent a 3-page letter [pdf] to logan after our article pointed out that he was simply wrong, in his own report [pdf] to the county supervisors, when he claimed that it was "impossible" to determine the intent of the voters on those ballots.
it's not, and bowen clearly seems to understand that, as evidenced by both her letter to logan, and comments she made last friday on northern california national public radio affiliate, kqed where she said she was "shocked" to hear that the debacle had happened in several elections previously...
skippy himself had to deal w/the double bubble, and is distraught, but not amazed, that the county registrar would balk at counting the votes.as the brad blog pointed out last week, tens of thousands of currently uncounted ballots cast by non-partisan voters who chose to cross-over and vote in the democratic primary, but who failed to ink in a second bubble meant to instruct voting machines to count the ballot as a democratic vote, can be counted accurately, as per the voter's intent, if logan bothers to check those poll rosters.
bowen, who sent a 3-page letter [pdf] to logan after our article pointed out that he was simply wrong, in his own report [pdf] to the county supervisors, when he claimed that it was "impossible" to determine the intent of the voters on those ballots.
it's not, and bowen clearly seems to understand that, as evidenced by both her letter to logan, and comments she made last friday on northern california national public radio affiliate, kqed where she said she was "shocked" to hear that the debacle had happened in several elections previously...
but, as the brad blog continuously points out, maintaining election integrity is an on-going job.
Labels: california, election integrity, primaries
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