Video: Paris in Motion

Fun and cool.


Paris In Motion (Part I) from Mayeul Akpovi on Vimeo. Read the rest of this post...

Your mental health break

You have to chat online to appreciate this one. Basically, it's referring to when you're in a conversation online with someone and they respond to something you just wrote by writing "k," meaning "okay." But by itself, no other words, and only with one letter - it kind of suggests a blow off, like they're not interested in continuing the conversation, and they're kind of rude (totally depends on context, sometimes "k" is fine). Read the rest of this post...

For CNN, "bland" isn't a bug - it's an advantage

Interesting analysis from Andrew Tyndall in the Hollywood Reporter about why CNN should strive to be blande:

In that context, global ubiquity is a greater asset than domestic popularity. Unlike Fox News or MSNBC, CNN cannot afford to be perceived as too American, too opinionated, too partisan, too idiosyncratic. Its ambition is to be the background channel that is always on everywhere around the world: in airport terminals, in business hotels, in barrooms and boardrooms. Bland is not a bug; it's an advantage. CNN's target audience is not individual viewers but operators and managers who are alienated by anything that is not wallpaper. They are looking for McDonald's and are fearful of Chick-fil-A.

It is an interesting argument. I've often lamented that CNN just doesn't pack the visual punch that Fox mastered years ago (and it's not just Fox's fetish for blonde chicks - Fox's sets are a wonderfully warm red, white, blue and parlor brown, and their hosts ooze personality, even if it's a personality many of us can't stand).

But it probably is true that CNN is the Canada of news networks (the affable cousin-country that people sometimes forget, but love). And that may very well help CNN maintain, or attain, a lucrative global dominance. Read the rest of this post...

Romney says his business experience and taxes are off-limits

Huh? Romney's business experience is the central component of his entire campaign. But now Romney wants Obama to promise that he won't run any ads criticizing Romney's business experience?

Sure, so long as Romney agrees that Obama's presidential experience is off limits too.

Someone is seriously hurting.  More from Politico:

Talking about candidates' personal finances is hardly novel, nor is it irrelevant — how candidates make their money, however much or how little they've earned over the years, is not only fair game but a legitimate line of inquiry. The question of tax returns is also not new (to that end, Romney has said he would also release his 2011 taxes, but has yet to do so, with less than three months to go in the race). 

What is surprising is hearing a candidate say, essentially, "stop hitting me." As the folks at First Read note, this would seem to be something of a concession that the negatives are bothering the candidate, whom a round of new national polls shows running at a deficit that exceeds the margin of error. Some of the attacks have indeed gone rather far over the line (the ad that yokes a man's loss of his job due to Bain Capital to his wife's death was at minimum factually off and at most suggests a pretty ugly thing about the candidate).

The Obama campaign put together a nice video about a month ago of Romney making all sorts of personal attacks. And now he's asking President Obama to pledge not to make personal attack? Romney has spent months suggesting that the President is a socialist, among other things. And who can forget Romney's staffer, who still hasn't been fired, who said that Obama doesn't understand America's Anglo-Saxon heritage, presumably because he's black, and black people don't get "America" - at least not in Romney-land.

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Pope no longer opposed to condoms, kind of

Good, but at the same time, whatever. Telegraph:

After decades of fierce opposition to the use of all contraception, the Pontiff has ended the Church’s absolute ban on the use of condoms.

He said it was acceptable to use a prophylactic when the sole intention was to “reduce the risk of infection” from Aids.

While he restated the Catholic Church’s staunch objections to contraception because it believes that it interferes with the creation of life, he argued that using a condom to preserve life and avoid death could be a responsible act – even outside marriage.

This part was a bit odd:

“There may be justified individual cases, for example when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be … a first bit of responsibility, to redevelop the understanding that not everything is permitted and that one may not do everything one wishes.

“But it is not the proper way to deal with the horror of HIV infection.”

The one concrete example is a male prostitute?  Uh ok. Read the rest of this post...

Trump continues birther rant (and can't even write proper English)

I only really posted this for the second tweet. Trump is wrong, it's "fewer people," not "less people." You'd think an Amurika-firster would at least hire a ghost-tweeter who speaks proper English.

Trump is referring to his appearance in this new pro-Obama ad.

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Gun nuts say the darndest things

An American cop writes of a death-defying visit he and his wife recently paid to a public park in Canada.

I recently visited Calgary from Michigan. As a police officer for 20 years, it feels strange not to carry my off-duty hand-gun. Many would say I have no need to carry one in Canada.

Yet the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be al-lowed to protect himself if the need arises. The need arose in a theatre in Aurora, Colo., as well as a college campus in Canada.

Recently, while out for a walk in Nose Hill Park, in broad daylight on a paved trail, two young men approached my wife and me. The men stepped in front of us, then said in a very aggressive tone: "Been to the Stampede yet?"

We ignored them. The two moved closer, repeating: "Hey, you been to the Stampede yet?"

I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, "Gentle-men, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye." They looked bewildered, and we then walked past them.

An American writer in Canada weighs in:

And so, Americans, unaware of just how sick their handgun mentality is, continue to fight like crazy to prevent any kind of handgun-control legislation from being implemented. A 9 mm handgun, purchased legally, was the weapon of choice in Oak Creek, Wis., on Sunday when six people were killed and three more wounded by a white supremacist at a Sikh temple. One might argue that if the worshippers had carried guns, they could have killed the guy first. But sitting in a temple armed to the teeth while listening to a sermon about brotherhood and peace is ridiculous.

“Many would say I have no need to carry (a handgun) in Canada,” Wawra wrote. “Yet I have a unique perspective based on years of police experience. The perspective (is that) the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be allowed to protect himself if the need arises... My perspective proved true a few days ago for my wife and I.”

It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Wawra that the need didn’t arise in Calgary, and that if he’d been carrying a handgun, two people might now be dead because they asked him if he’d been to the Stampede.

As an American who is also a Canadian citizen, all I can say is, thank God I live in Canada.

Read the rest of this post...

Corporations are turning against Obama; support for Romney increases

This is from Bloomberg. Their headline is:

Goldman Sachs Leads Split With Obama, as GE Jilts Him Too

There are many stories in this Bloomberg piece. Here's two of them (my emphasis and paragraphing):

Four years ago, employees of New York-based Goldman gave three-fourths of their campaign donations to Democratic candidates and committees, including presidential nominee Barack Obama.

This time, they’re showering 70 percent of their contributions on Republicans.

So, two sentences, two stories:

First, if Goldman is a proxy for Wall Street money, Obama was seriously bought by the banks in 2008. The payback — zero banking prosecutions, including for billionaire thief (and Obama fundraiser) Jon Corzine, who will never see a courtroom or handcuffs.

It's the way it works, folks. Obama is employed, a wage-slave, just like you and me. Meet his paymasters.

Second, the banks are now abandoning Democrats and financing Republicans (again, if Goldman is a proxy). All you need to know? The calculation is obvious — Obama will never turn against them if he wins; and the payback if Romney wins is huge. By backing one, they own both.

Doubt me? Care to bet that Obama stays bought if he wins in 2012, even without major bankster "backing"? (I know, sucker bet. Sorry.)

That takes you through the first two sentences of this fascinating piece. The next paragraphs establish that yes, Goldman is indeed a proxy for Wall Street, though a front-runner in the running-from-Democrats derby.

This, a little further down, teaches a different lesson:

Dallas-based AT&T; Inc. (T) employees, who divided their contributions evenly between the parties in 2008, are now giving almost two-thirds of them to Republicans.

Chairman Randall Stephenson gave $30,800 to the Republican National Committee in February -- his biggest donation in more than two decades -- six weeks after the Obama administration rejected a proposed merger with T-Mobile USA Inc.

If the first two points were the carrot, this is the stick. This is exactly why you can't have nice politicians; the people with the money have bought them all up.

There's a lot more in the article — GE, for example, 49%–owner of MSNBC, has turned against Team What, we weren't nice enough? as well:

Employees of General Electric Co. (GE) are giving 63 percent of their contributions to Republicans this year, almost a mirror image of their distribution in 2008 when Democrats received 66 percent of their donations.

"Employees" — this means corporate bigs, the kids with golden bonuses and bathroom keys. How do I know? 'Cause in a modern corporation that's where the money is. The corporate littles couldn't finance a dog-catcher race.

I can stop here. The article really is a good read, and there's more in it.

My goal is more modest, to bring you just what I brought you. I owe lunch to Wall Street and Bloomberg for making my job so easy. Thanks, fellas.

GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
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Obama still ahead of Romney, even in Fox poll

It's not an overwhelming lead, but still, President Obama has maintained a consistent 2 point or more lead in national polls for a good year now.  From Pollster.com/HuffPo:

Click image to see larger version.

And the Fox poll is even worse, it has Obama ahead by 9.  And CNN gives Obama a 7 point lead.

But keep in mind that McCain had just pulled ahead of Obama in September when Sarah Palin got selected and Wall Street, and the economy, crashed - both pretty much turning things around for Obama.  My point: There's still time for things to change.

Here's July 2009 until election day, McCain vs Obama:

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Heartwarming photo of the day

A wonderful photo over on Facebook - here's the description:

This 19 year old Shep being cradled in his father's arms last night in Lake Superior. Shep falls asleep every night when he is carried into the lake. The buoyancy of the water soothes his arthritic bones. Lake Superior is very warm right now, so the temp of the water is perfect.

I was so happy I got to capture this moment for John. By the way, John rescued Shep as an 8 month old puppy, and he's been by his side through many adventures :).

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