The Global Electorate

The Economist is asking: What if the whole world could vote?

Guess what the results are? McCain: 23 'electoral' votes. Obama: 8,571.
In most countries, the contest isn't even close. Tell your McCain/Palin-supporting friends and family members that they have more in common with the citizens of Moldova, Georgia, and Macedonia than they do with their fellow Americans.

The only real surprise in the Economist's numbers is that McCain's pulling 3% in Kenya. WTF? Bet it's just a bunch of disaffected teens trying to piss off their parents.

How to Kill 5 Minutes with Gibberish

Newsweek is "an elitist, liberal magazine" because they didn't retouch a cover photo of Palin.

To quote eurleif on Reddit:

This photo is a clear slap in the face of Sarah Palin. Why? Because it's unretouched.
I am living in The Onion. I. Am. Living. In. The. Fucking. Onion.

I think what I enjoy most about this clip is the fact that two of these women are ostensibly defending Palin, yet make sound as though they regard her as a gruesome, horrid sight to behold.

The Sad, Sad State of the US Electorate, Part 457

You might've assumed that this kind of hateful, ignorant, fat-headed stupidity died with Bush's popularity. That's the trouble with assuming.

NSA Admits to Spying on Americans

Yeah, yeah -- I know what you're saying. "This isn't news, Dave. We've known about the Bush Adminstration's illegal spying for years now!" True. You're right. But the keyword here is "Admits". And yeah, I know Bush admitted the spying already too, but this time it's actual NSA operators admitting to spying on Americans. Illegally. And they knew it was illegal.

hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center

Still -- not exactly news, since the pResident himself admitted to illegal wiretapping (and bragged about it!), but like I said: these are actual NSA operators who actually listened to and transcribed actual calls between GIs and their girlfriends back home.

Maybe you're thinking it's no big deal. I can see that. No harm done, right? What are we talking about, after all, other than a lot of "I love you I miss you kissy kissy kissy" kind of stuff? Well, maybe the trouble isn't so much what they heard. Maybe the trouble is that we have a government that has no regard for the law. No, strike that. For the Law, with a capital L. Aside from the criminal aspect of this story, who would claim that our national interests are well-served by paying spooks to listen to these phone calls? Is there not something productive they could be doing with their time?

See the ABC news report here.

Election Fraud Watch, Issue'08, Vol.2

From the NYTimes:

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

At least this time widespread fraud is unlikely to change the outcome of the election -- at least for the Presidential race.  Still -- it sure would be nice if one day, here in the USA, eligible voters were allowed to vote AND have their votes counted.  Wouldn't that be awesome?  Then we wouldn't sound like such a bunch of assholes when we talk about how great 'democracy' is, and how we want to spread it around as if we had vats of it in reserve.

An Ode to Sean Hannity

An Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity,
oozing with vanity,
plump as a manatee,
faking humanity,
journalistic calamity,
intellectual inanity,
Fox noise insanity.
You're a profanity,
Hannity.

Hannity, Pwned

"All I've Gotta Do is Stay Focused and Stop Wearin' Pants"

Kristol Poops out a Palin 'Interview'

I get three questions out of this Kristol contribution to the NYT, and the first two are typical of any Kristol exposure:
1) Is this what Bill Kristol thinks passes for journalism?
2) Is this what Bill Kristol thinks passes for writing?
3) Does Sarah Palin seriously believe that her shit don't stink?

Check this out:

She described the debate on Thursday night as “liberating,” and she emphasized how much she now looked forward to being out there, “getting to speak directly to the folks.”

and:

I asked at the end of our conversation whether Palin, fresh off her own debate, had any advice for McCain. “I’m going to tell him the same thing he told me.” [...blah blah blah...] She paused, and I was about to thank her for the interview, but she had one more thing to say. “Only maybe I’d add just a couple more words, and that would be: ‘Take the gloves off.’ ”

And maybe I’d add, Hockey Mom knows best.

Setting aside Kristol's supreme douchebaggery, could Palin be more like Bush? Don't they share exactly the same subliterate pseudo-machismo? The same calculated, affected toughness that verbally spackles over the holes of abilities and characters.

Note to Self:

Be careful what you write. Google is kindly hosting your stuff for free.

Stevens "Hopes to Christ it Doesn't Come to That"

This is a fun story about Ted Stevens. I'm sure that you'll find it to be as enjoyable as I did, as it's an inspiring tale of good guys catching and punishing bad guys. We can all agree that it's fun to catch the bad guys, right?

Every once in a while, the FBI is allowed to catch (instead of protect) a bad guy. In this case, they got an oil guy who bought Sen. Stevens to let them eavesdrop on his calls to Stevens.

“They’re not going to shoot us,” Mr. Stevens reassured Mr. Allen on Oct. 18, 2006. “It’s not Iraq.” At worst, he said, “we might have to pay a fine and serve a little time in jail.”

Case closed, right? Good guys win, Stevens goes to jail.

The replacement bad guy had already taken his place. Replacement bad guy is actually female, and she just can't wait to redecorate like crazy. Like a maverick.

Carney confronted Mayor Palin at a City Council hearing, and was shocked by her response.

"I braced her about it," he said. "I told her it was against the law to make such a large expenditure without the council taking a vote. She said, 'I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'"

"I'll never forget it -- it's one of the few times in my life I've been speechless," Carney added. "It would have been easier for her to finesse it. She had the votes on the council by then, she controlled it. But she just pushed forward. That's Sarah. She just has no respect for rules and regulations."

There's more to it, and sadly it lacks material evidence. But check out one of the letters written in response to other letters written in response to the article:

a view from palmer, ak

thank you david talbot for spending so much time here in the matsu valley doing research, and providing articles to a wide audience that alaskans can read and recognize.

for those who are witnessing this spectacle with alarm in the lower 48 (outside), this is a very very small town. the entire state is a small town. rules are different here, and vengeance is a real concern for the people willing to speak to mr talbot and other reporters. whether she wins or loses, sarah will be home, with considerably improved power and skill.

please try to remember that, as you will continue to read articles with nameless sources. get used to it. yeah, i wish it were different, but it isn't.

vote obama!!

Emphasis mine, and probably unnecessary. She's a scary lady. How do her supporters see what they see?

Excerpt of Upcoming Interview with Barbara Bush

RH: Was George always like this, or did he really blast his brains out with alcohol?
BB: Well -- mostly he was always like that...but there's a noticeable amount of the latter in there as well.
RH: Wow.
BB: Yeah. 'Wow.'