John Roberts Channels Sally Struthers

John Roberts thinks that judges make too little. That paragon of conservative judicial activism, the very same one whose party wants the rest of us to make less, whose party that hates all public employees, thinks federal judges need substantial raises. Maybe we should take up a collection.

...and Dirt is Brown

From the my-goodness-that's-a-surprise department:

Virginity pledges don't mean much, study says

According to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, pledge takers are as likely to have sex before marriage as other teens who are also religious, but don't take the pledge. However, pledge takers are less likely than other religious or conservative teens to use condoms or birth control when they do start having sex.

These kids took a virginity pledge, and have sex anyway...might that be construed as bearing false witness? So in the epic battle between The Bible and The Libido, guess who wins...

It's Official: Blagojevich is an Idiot...

Rod Blagojevich is going to name a successor to President-Elect Obama's Senate seat today. Talk about stupid. The Senate, if they have any sense, won't seat this guy. And if the people of Illinois have any integrity, they won't elect him in a subsequent election. Yet Blago continues to push his version of political theater, damaging the emerging progressive movement for his own personal gain. Absurd.

Thou Art Cursed, O Bristol Palin

Right wingers and the press are smitten Jesus-style with the birth of Sarah Palin's first grandaughter:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol has given birth to a son, People magazine reported on Monday.
...
"The baby is fine and Bristol is doing well. Everyone is excited," Jones told the magazine. The couple have said they plan to marry.

Wait...they're not married yet? According to The Bible, that's a sin...and it's punishable by a 10 generation expulsion from the church:

23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Sorry, Bristol...looks like your son won't be able to attend the Wasilla Assembly of God™ to listen to grandma talk about people and dinosaurs coexisting and bleating on about how our soldiers are doing God™'s work in I-rak. You'll just have to go to a sensible church, where they don't interpret the Bible with selective literalism.

Da Bears...Da Cal Bears

My Cal Bears won a bowl game yesterday. It was way too much of a squeaker, but I'll take it. The Bears have won 5 bowl games (and lost one) since 2003, making me a happy man. But the big one's still elusive...I want to see my Bears play in the Rose Bowl.

Adventures in Food Processing

Anne's parents really spoiled us at Christmas, and it was a decidedly food-themed spoiling. We are now the proud owners of a 14-cup top-of-the-line stainless steel Cuisinart MP-14N food processor...with all the accessories you can possibly dream up. We also got a couple of cookbooks, and some various other kitchen goodies. You can imagine the damage we're going to do with this thing, alongside our KitchenAid stand mixer. I almost feel obligated to bake, make pesto, or hummus on a daily basis.

Bush Channels Nixon

From the "I am not a crook" files:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081228/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_legacy

WASHINGTON – First Lady Laura Bush disagrees with critics who call the presidency of George W. Bush a failure.

"I know it's not, and so I don't really feel like I need to respond to people that view it that way," Mrs. Bush said in an interview that aired Sunday. "I think history will judge and we'll see later."

I think history has already judged him...and so have the American people.

Happy Birthday Dear Jesus(TM)

I WILL find a way to make this into a talking Christmas Card...

5-Foot-9...I Didn't Know They Stacked Shit That High

Sheer fackin' hillarity....

Merry Christmas!

Religion's Influence on the Wane

67% of Americans believe that religion is losing influence in America. That's a good thing, if it's true. There's nothing like massive unemployment and the worst economic environment in 3 generations to make people in the madrasas throw down their prayer books, notice the pangs of hunger and the lack of a roof over their heads, and cast superstition to the wind. Now if we can just get them to take the next logical step...rioting in the streets...

Chuck E Cheese...Worse Than a Biker Bar

From http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/cityarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=15819667&page=print

Officers have been called to break up 12 fights, some of them physical, at the child-oriented pizza parlor since January 2007. The biggest melee broke out in April, when an uninvited adult disrupted a child's birthday party. Seven officers arrived and found as many as 40 people knocking over chairs and yelling in front of the restaurant's music stage, where a robotic singing chicken and the chain's namesake mouse perform.
...

"The biggest problem is you have a bunch of adults acting like juveniles," says Town of Brookfield Police Capt. Timothy Imler. "There's a biker bar down the street, and we rarely get calls there."

Personally, I know that igning buzzard always threw me into uncontrollable rage...

Frustration, Thy Name is Travel

I just found out that my Cal Bears are playing in a bowl game, in San Francisco, on December 27th. And I don't fly back from New York until the 28th. Damnit. I've never been able to go to a bowl game to see Cal play. I almost made it to the Insight Bowl in 2003, but travel got in the way. I was planning on going to the Holiday Bowl in 2006, but things didn't pan out. Now, with my Bears playing a bowl game less than 2 miles from my house, I'll be 3000 miles away. I'm tempted to come home a couple of days early. But no, that'd cost me money, and I need the time off. I guess I'll wish the Bears well and watch it on TV.

Christmas Comes Early

She knew exactly what I wanted...nothing too fancy, nothing expensive, but something that will hold my attention for more than a few seconds. And 220hp prototype motorcycles that go over 200mph definitely hold my attention...especially when one of them is Ducati red. Anne gave me an early present at the dinner table last night. I felt bad because her only gift from me is already in New York, ready to be delivered by Santa (Satan) Claus. Like a kid on Christmas morning, I ripped it open, ran to the console, and had a lap around Mugello...as Valentino Rossi, of course.

MotoGP 08 is an incremental evolution from the MotoGP 07 version. The biggest difference is that you can now race the 250cc and 125cc two-strokes as well as the 800cc four-stroke machinery. They've also updated the circuits to match this season, adding Indianapolis and subtracting Istanbul. They even try to match the class schedule, since the game won't let you race the two-strokes at Laguna Seca. That's too bad...I always wanted to watch Alvaro Bautista take people out in the Corkscrew.

All in all, a good game. The graphics are a bit improved from last year, and the bikes ride a bit differently. And adding the two strokes is something people have always wanted. I'll be spending more than a few hours on this.

Blaming the Unions

We all know the Republicans and their sponsors in the corporate supremacy movement are out to destroy organized labor. It's part of their ideology, and they've been chipping away at the unions for years. And now they have the biggest private sector prize of all in their sights: the UAW. Senate Republicans circulating a memo encouraging their members to mount an assault on the UAW as part of the proposed bailout for auto companies. The GOP and their allies in the corporate media then spent a great deal of airtime blaming the UAW for Detroit's problems. And the media has played right along, citing an utterly false assertion that GM workers earn an average wage of $70 or more per hour, compared to US-based workers in Japanese auto companies who supposedly earn much less. That number is completely off base, as it was calculated by taking into account the benefits paid to retirees, as well as other figures designed to inflate the number. But it hasn't stopped the media outlets from parroting the $70+ figure right, left, and center.

The real cash wage for these workers in 2006 was $39.68. According to GM:

TOTAL COMPENSATION
The total of both cash compensation and benefits provided to GM hourly workers in 2006 amounted to approximately $73.26 per active hour worked. This total is made of two main components: cash compensation ($39.68) and benefit/government required programs ($33.58).
The average annual cash compensation for hourly employees in 2006 was $39.68 per hour. Included in average earnings are straight-time pay, Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), night-shift premiums, overtime premiums, holiday and vacation pay. In 2003, GM workers logged 41,363 (hours in 000's) in overtime hours for an average of 371 hours per worker; in 2004, 39,409 overtime hours for an average of 374 hours per worker; in 2005, 33,555 overtime hours for an average of 337 hours per worker; and in 2006, 27,265 overtime hours for an average of 315 hours per worker.

Benefit/government required programs in 2006 added an additional $33.58 for each active hour worked. These costs include: group life insurance, disability benefits, and Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB), Job Security (JOBS), pensions, unemployment compensation, Social Security taxes, and hospital, surgical, prescription drug, dental, and vision care benefits.

So these supposedly rich, profligate union auto workers are averaging around $39 per hour in cash pay. And that's before taxes. And this graphic (from the New York Times) makes it clear that much of the auto makers' labor costs come from "legacy costs" or what they promised to retirees:



Much of those legacy costs, including health care for retirees, have been foisted onto the UAW itself beyond 2010.

The real problem in Detroit has more to do with the credit crisis (which was engineered by the free marketeers' allies on Wall Street) as well as the auto manufacturers' insistence on making SUVs instead of high-quality economical vehicles. The Republicans, factually off-base as usual, are once again scapegoating working people for the nation's problems.

December...and I'm Still Riding

Sunday dawned cold and relatively clear. We did a great 2-up group ride around Marin. Anne braved the elements with me, and we had a great ride, ending with lunch at Picco and a wheelie/stoppie clinic at the Presidio. Anne took some videos, which I plan to post soon.

A good weekend!

Dumb Hipsters: The Greatest Gift of All

I was having a difficult day. Well, make that a hard week. A disgruntled customer at work, accusatory meetings, dire economic news, massive job losses in the US, an impending deadline for a massive document, and an unwanted trip to Sacramento, the unhappiest place on Earth. Then, today, I realized that I needed an oil change on the Supersport to go on the Cupcake Ride tomorrow.

Wrenching on the bike on a Friday afternoon after a hard week is not my idea of fun. And I didn't have any crush washers, nor enough 20W-50 oil. Damn. And the only available option is Munroe Motors. It's only two blocks away, but it's overpriced. Of course, I'm not going to get Ducati crush washers from Scuderia or Cycle Gear. And as much as I love Desmoto, Darren kind of looks at me funny when I ask him to get me parts. So Munroe it is.

I rode my bicycle over there, wanting to get the parts quickly and get the job done. The parts guys were pleasant to deal with, but I still cringe at the idea of spending money there...especially with the prices they charge for oil (it's still $40+ for 4 quarts of synthetic?) As I was buying the oil, I saw a dumb hipster fly by in the Valencia St. bike lane on a moped...a hipster on a moped: how original.


I left Munroe and started riding home on Valencia. Mid-block between 14th and 15th, just outside Four Barrel Coffee, an SFPD motorcycle cop had the hipster pulled over. He had his helmet off, with his faux-hawk waving in all its idiotic glory. I slowed down so I could listen. The cop had stopped the hipster for riding in the bike lane like an idiot. And he was citing him for not having even an M2 endorsement on his license. I rode by, was tempted to laugh out loud at the trust fund baby, but just decided to smile and enjoy the moment ;D

Alabama County Declares Obama Holiday

Talk about a giant middle finger...this is great.

The rural county, which overwhelmingly supported Obama in last month's presidential election, has approved the second Monday in November as "The Barack Obama Day." Commissioners passed a measure that would close county offices for the new annual holiday and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid day off.

...

Perry County has 12,000 residents, most of them black. Voters there backed Obama by over 70 percent in a state that gave 60 percent of the overall vote to Republican John McCain based largely on strong support from white voters.

Classic: a rural Alabama county honors the first black man elected President. I can see the burning crosses already...

MOB Sign Fund

Sally Struthers would be proud...

(donations now closed...thanks to all!)

The Body in the Elevator Shaft

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11119257

This was my office building...I came down the stairs to go home yesterday and found the lobby full of cops and medical examiners, investigating the elevator shaft. Someone apparently fell down the shaft from the 6th or 7th floor last week. The body had been there for over a week before being discovered by elevator maintenance folks.

I'll be taking the stairs from now on...

The Onion: Blue Angels Hold First-Ever Open Tryouts

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/blue_angels_hold_first_ever_open

Blue Angels Hold First-Ever Open Tryouts
87 Dead, 243 Injured in Day 1 of Weeklong Event

PENSACOLA, FL—Harold Enderby's friends say that when he first saw the Navy's televised announcement that the Flight Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Blue Angels, would be holding open tryouts for the first time in its history, the lifelong aviation buff turned to his fellow sanitation workers at Doug's Dugout Bar-N-Grill and said, "Mark my words—I'm going to be a Blue Angel if it's the last thing I do."

...

Friggin hillarious.

A Modern Parable

Got this from someone at work...

A Modern Parable.

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.

The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly, the End.

Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US The last quarter's results: TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses...

Sad but true...

D-Link: Possibly the Worst Customer Experience Ever

I recently bought a D-Link 323 network-attached storage bay. I was psyched to get network storage...no more annoying USB cables, and I can access the drive from any computer. I ordered the unit, bought two 500GB drives, and set everything up per instructions. With the drives formatted, I was able to push 350GB of my data onto the drive. So far, so good. Until I tried to log in to the admin utility and get an ugly message:


"The hard drives have been installed incorrectly. Please power off and swap the hard drive locations."

OK, seems simple enough. I tried swapping the drives, but no dice. I got the same message. So I decided to open a ticket on D-Link's support site. Simple enough...I fill out the form, submit, and wait for an answer. Two days later, I get a reply:

This problem is better diagnosed over the phone. Please call our support center and reference ticket number XXXXXXXXXX to work through the issue with one of our specialists.

So far I'm calm...I nuderstand that some issues are better-diagnosed over the phone, with live interaction. So on Friday the 28th I dialed D-Link. What follows is a basic transcript of the call:

Minutes 1-8: On hold, waiting for a product specialist, listening ot a constant stream of advertisements for D-Link products. Yeah...I really want to hear about your products when I'm on hold, waiting to resolve an issue with one of them.

Minutes 8-13: Speaking with a first-line tech support person with a thick accent I couldn't place. She couldn't find the ticket I filed online. It took her 3 minutes and four explanations just to understand what was going on with the device. She put me on hold for another minute, then decided to transfer me to another support office.

Minutes 14-25: Holding for another support office, again listening to advertising.

Minutes 26-35: Speaking with a second-line support person. I again had to explain the issue 3 times. We eventually get to the firmware version and hardware version I'm using. He put me on hold while "researching" the issue.

Minutes 36-43: On hold, again listening ot advertisements, while the second-line tech was "researching."

Minutes 44-46: Tech 2 spends a minute and a half explaining to me that he needs to transfer me to D-Link's "business" support office. I reluctantly agree, and he transfers me.

Minutes 46-47: The answering machine for the "business" level support office explains that they're away for the holiday, and to please call back during business hours.

Minutes: 48-48.5: I throw the phone across the room in a rage, wondering why I spent part of my day off doing this.

I poked around D-Link's website a bit, and discovered that they have forums! Why, the community might help me out here! I posted a question, with full details and even a screenshot. Someone in the community offered up the idea to reformat my drive...but that requires getting into the very admin utility that's giving me the error. I may eventually resolve the issue, but I shouldn't have to. And the level of support should be much, much higher.

Tell me: if any of us ran a business that way, how long would we last? How is it that modern corporations can treat people this way and still sell enough product to stay afloat?

Some Cafe Press Classics

Sure, the election is over...but there are some classic shirt designs still out there:



And my favorite:

Hipster Olympics

Fackin Hillarious:

Yes! Finally, Someone Gets It

From mirkgard:

I fucking hate hipsters

The Economics of Tivo

I've been saying this for years...Tivo saves me money. Since I got the infernal box back in 2002, I've skipped countless ads, saved countless hours, and had a better quality of life. Good thing I got the box with a lifetime subscription... Now I'm a bit worried that the thing won't work after the digital conversion in 2009. If the box does become worthless, I'm thinking about either hacking it to install a network card and an HD receiver, or simply buying Beyond TV and putting it on a beefed up PC.

The Troll Under the Stairs - Finale

I finally managed to finish the storage space under the stairs today. After several weekends, lots of sweat and pain, a ton of framing, drywalling, and painting, it's finally done. I took this weekend to paint, lay down flooring, and install baseboards. A few pics:

Romer to Head CEA

Barack Obama has chosen Cal Professor Christina Romer to head his Council of Economic Advisers. This selection hits close to home for me...Romer's husband was my favorite professor at Cal.

Civics 101

Take the quiz, and test your knowledge of civics and American civics, economics, and history:
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

You may be smarter than your local elected official. They averaged just 44% on the quiz. I made two mistakes out of 33, missing questions 13 and 26...I didn't read them too closely. But that's still nearly 94%...average score of everyone in November was 78%.

Stuck in San Diego

I hate United Airlines. They're even more terrible than all the other crappy US carriers. I'm sitting at SAN, waiting for a flight that's now been delayed by 3 hours. And all the signage for all the flights are wrong...they all show this flight as on-time. Worse yet, the signage for all the other delayed flights still reads as on-time. And United finally texted me, 10 minutes after I was supposed to leave, to tell me that my flight is delayed.

If you're going to screw up your customers' entire day, at least give them accurate information so they can deal with the situation.

Is the Polish Coming Off?

I'm a little concerned. Obama seems to be putting a disproportionate number of former Clintonites in his cabinet. He's apparently tapped Eric Holder to be Attorney General, and he may be looking at Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. This was supposed to be an election about change. These people do not represent change.

How Christian Fundamentalist Bigots "Think"

I'll start this one by saying that Phyllis Schlafly is a fucking idiot. I repeat: Phyllis Schlafly is a fucking idiot. We all know that. She's a fundamentalist troglodyte who'd like to see adulterers stoned to death in public, and non-Christians executed for their views. But I can't help reading her occasionally for a laugh. Her "analysis" of the 2008 election borders on lunatic fringe:

...The women who cast off husbands look to Big Brother Government to support them. They vote for the party that promises more benefits from the Welfare State...

...the feminists achieved unilateral divorce on demand from state legislatures, unilateral abortion on demand from the courts, and unilateral control over children in the welfare class by taxpayer handouts to women that made husbands and fathers unnecessary.

The feminists have continued their campaign against marriage through Joe Biden's favorite legislation, the Violence Against Women Act, which provides a billion dollars a year to feminist centers to promote divorce and oppose reconciliation.

Is Phyllis smoking crack? I'm serious: has she developed a drug problem? Or is she just tying a rubber hose around her common sense and shooting up with Jesus™?

The GOP's Version of Free Speech

It apparently involves raising and spending unlimited amounts of money in coordination with Rethugnican campaigns:

Less than two weeks after John McCain failed to keep the White House in Republican hands, the Republican National Committee filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

I know the troglodytes believe in one-dollar-one-vote, but this is absurd. Money is not free speech.

America's Ugly Side Comes Out

Barack Obama's victory last week was certainly historic. As much as most of America is lauding the first black man elected President, this cathartic election has brought out some very ugly incidents:

In Midland, Mich., a man dressed in full Ku Klux Klan regalia walked around toting a handgun and waving an American flag. Initially denying it, the man eventually admitted to police that the display was a reaction to the Obama victory. “[The man] had a concealed weapon permit and was walking up and down the sidewalk in front of a vehicle dealership while some motorists shouted obscenities at him and others shouted accolades," police told The Saginaw News.

Ugly indeed...and a black mark for the advocates of conceal-carry permits. Those KKK robes hide firearms quite well. More from the cracker files:

One North Carolina man who flew his flag upside-down claimed that voters were racist, electing Obama because of his skin color, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. “The flag is stretched upside-down between two poles in a field, with a black X running from end to end. The X is a reference to the Confederate flag, said flag-owner Tony Heath. It reflects his belief that the Confederate flag has been unfairly targeted for protest by people trying to be politically correct,” the Journal reported.

It's disturbing that these two incidents are coming from two states Obama won. Then again, racism isn't limited by geography.

Nicky's First Desmosedici...The Video

Just plain cool...

Blood Orgies in the Park

The First Ammendment to the Constitution reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Pretty clear, huh? That means permanent religious displays should be verbotten on public property. That's simple, and easy to understand...even to judicial conservatives who claim to stick to the framers' original intent. So why is the Supreme Court taking a case involving duelling religious displays in a public park?

The Aphorisms are the guiding principles of Summum, a religious organization that operates from a pyramid in Salt Lake City and practices mummification. They are so important to Summum that the group's founder, Summum "Corky" Ra, asked that they be displayed in a public park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, near a Ten Commandments monument.

Summum wants a religious display in a public park...a park where there's already the Ten Commandments display. To anyone with any sense, the answer is clear: the Constitution prohibits any religious display on public property. To allow any religious display is to respect the establishment of a religion. Why does it matter whether Summum should be allowed to engage in free speech? Free speech would involve Summum people standing in the park holding signs...a permanent display is different. The Constitutional answer is unambiguous: remove all the religious displays from the park. Let's see whether the Bush Supreme Court, and its recently-installed evangelicals and idealogues respect the framers' intent or twist logic to suit their ends.

Another Parting Gift from the Bushies

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has quietly given US banks a tax cut windfall of $140 billion:

The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

The ruling, which is arguably illegal, is focused on whether banks are allowed to buy other banks in order to claim their losses for tax purposes:

Section 382 of the tax code was created by Congress in 1986 to end what it considered an abuse of the tax system: companies sheltering their profits from taxation by acquiring shell companies whose only real value was the losses on their books. The firms would then use the acquired company's losses to offset their gains and avoid paying taxes.

Lawmakers decried the tax shelters as a scam and created a formula to strictly limit the use of those purchased losses for tax purposes.

But from the beginning, some conservative economists and Republican administration officials criticized the new law as unwieldy and unnecessary meddling by the government in the business world.

Yet another gift to the corporate world from the most corrupt and criminal administration in our nation's history. Let's hope President-Elect Obama orders his Treasury Secretary to reverse this ruling. Our national trasure has already been bled dry by tax-cheating corporations and the rich who control them. This kind of crap has to stop.

In related news, the Bushies are refusing to disclose which banks have sought financial aid. That's your government in action: more graft, less disclosure.

The Change Begins

President-Elect Obama is quietly planning to close the US gulag at Guantanamo Bay:

During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American history" and has said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to handle the detainees. But he has offered few details on what he planned to do once the facility is closed.

Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts.

A third group of detainees — the ones whose cases are most entangled in highly classified information — might have to go before a new court designed especially to handle sensitive national security cases, according to advisers and Democrats involved in the talks. Advisers participating directly in the planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not final.

I'm not too crazy about any alternate system of "justice" but this is a refreshing start. Guantanamo is but one of the blemishes on the face of US democracy we've developed over the past 8 years. For sure, this is a baby step. I'd like to see the entire base closed, as it's arguably not a strategic asset and it raises the ire of Cubans. We're clearly not welcome there, and it behooves the US to be a good neighbor. But I'll welcome the closure of the prison any day. Now, who wants to start taking wagers on whether Obama will close the School of the Americas?

The Troll Under the Stairs

I spent the better part of the weekend building otu a storage area under our front entry stairs. If you've ever been to my house, you probably noticed that storage is in short supply. There are only so many places in a 4-unit house with 8 people living in it to store stuff. The area under the front stairs, previously only open from the garbage room, was wasted space. We've been talking about opening this area up to the garage since we moved in, as it would provide easy access for loading and unloading items.

Now that Anne has moved in, we need additional space to store gardening tools and the other items used on a daily basis. So after consulting with our in-house architect, I set about framing the underside of the stairs for an opening to the garage, building in a floor, and putting in drywall. The area in question has an exposed dirt floor, bare studs, and a cieling consisting of mortar and masonry. There was also a capped sewer pipe sticking out, and sitting above the level of the proposed floor.

Saturday was the day for getting materials. I took the truck to DBS and picked up 5 sheets of 5/8" type X drywall, a sheet of 3/4" CDX plywood, and 2"x4" materials for framing. I had to load all of this by myself...ouch. The task for the day was to frame in a 4"x6" header to carry a load across the top of the opening. The door eliminated two studs that run the height of the building, and are tied together by the old siding that used to be exposed in the garage. I was concerned that cutting those studs would result in settling, but that turned out OK. I had a bit of a time getting the header in place, and then sistering the 4"x4" wood that holds the header. But Simpson Strong Drive ties came in handy there. Two more trips to DBS added to the madness. By the end of the day I had the framing 90% done. I also had an aching back.

Sunday dawned and it was time to open up the hole to the garage. But another trip to DBS was in order to get items to shore up the framing. I was the master with the Sawzall, and by 11AM the hole was open. I then realized that I needed materials to frame in the floor, so I made another trip to DBS...this time carrying a stack of 2"x6"x10" on a skateboard...just like old times. By the end of the day, the framing was almost done. I'll have to pick this up next Friday...time to put in the floor, shore up the cieling framing, and start the drywall. And I only have next Saturday to work.

Trotting Out a Classic

Joe the Plumber, er, Welfare King and Tax Cheat

Joe the Plumber was on welfare as a kid...twice. I've stopped being surprised by these types of revelations about Republicans. I mentioned before that they have a mysterious power to create their own reality...even if it bears no resemblance to actual reality. But this one raises my ire. Here we have a skinheaded lower-middle-class white male, whose tax burden would go up under John McCain and down under Barack Obama, a man who owes back taxes, was on welfare as a child, and who would likely be disqualified from voting under Ohio's draconian Republican-, imposed registration laws, spouting the hate-filled talking points of a party whose ideology and approach to governing has largely been discredited. If nothing else, it's at least entertaining.

More on Suitgate

Those Wasilla Hillbillies sure know how to blow money. Most of us spend, what, a couple of thousand dollars a year on clothing? Well, apparently $20,000-$25,000 for a 3-month clothing budget just wasn't enough for Sarah Palin and her husband. That's the amount they were originally budgeted by the RNC for clothing during the campaign. But Palin went on a shopping spree, sticking a Republican donor with a $150,000 clothing bill.


A Republican donor who agreed to foot a majority of the expenses was stunned when he received the bill, Newsweek reported. Both the Times and Newsweek report that the budget for the clothing was expected to be between $20,000 and $25,000. Instead, the amount reported by the Republican National Committee was $150,000.


$150,000 for clothing? Even $20,000 for clothing is ridiculous...most people in America spend less than $20,000 on housing...in a year. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country and I spend only marginally more than that on housing. Then we have Cindy McCain calling Barack Obama an elitist...while wearing a $250,000 outfit. I wonder if she has one expensive outfit for each of her seven houses? The rest of us, who didn't have the good sense to be born into a wealthy family, will have to make do with our cheap, made-in-Sri-Lanka wardrobes while we work for a living. Oh, and we'll also have to make do with a President with a first-class intellect and no upper class pretensions...a President who watches Sportscenter and shoots hoops...a President any one of us would be proud to have a beer with.

Nothing Fails Like Prayer

And now, we turn to the negative. To all of you biblical sheep out there...all of you who prayed for a McCain victory...to all you wingnuts out there who equated an Obama victory with armageddon or the triumph of Satan..to anyone who devolved into speaking in tongues while conducting "spiritual warfare" on Obama...to all of you who truly believe that the dark forces of African witchcraft (no, Africa is not a country Sarah) are casting spells on McCain-Palin...to all of you overly religious, troglodyte sheep, I say this:

NOTHING FAILS LIKE PRAYER

But don't despair, fundamentalists...God™ has a plan for all of us. Yours apparently involves humiliation and being laughed at by sane people.

Cathartic...

That's the only way to describe how I felt today. All day. Sure, we've elected the first black man to be President. We've repudiated 8 years of a failed and stolen presidency, and 30+ years of failed economic policy and its driving ideology. But we've also shown that a grassroots, bottom-up candidacy, driven by loose associations of motivated and smart people, can wrest power away from the monied elites and start turning the ship of state towards change. And we did it not with the divisive and dismissive style that the Lee Atwater Republicans of the world have come to rely on, but with an inclusive campaign that emphasizes the common while still acknowledging and respecting our differences.

I walked the streets this morning and everything seemed more alive. There was a spring in peoples' steps...even though many of them were hung over and tired from last night's spontaneous street parties celebrating Obama's victory. The guys digging up the street for the DPW all had smiles on their faces. The meter maid had a spring in her step as she wrote parking citations. The folks behind the counter at the coffee shop moved around as if they floated on air. And it wasn't just because we finally see the end of eight long years of a terrible presidency. No, these folks seemed like they were enjoying life more because once again they had hope.

If America can elect a black man, a man from humble beginnings, a man who's articulate and intelligent, a man who has unquestionable integrity and an appetite for change...if America can finally, FINALLY make the right and obvious choice...then we may well come through these turbulent times intact. Gone is the idea of America as a third world nation. Gone is the idea that it's OK to torture people and invade countries for their oil. Gone are the crass political calculations driven by the idea that might makes right. Gone are the cynical politics of self-destruction, division and culture war, displaced at last by the politics of positive change and the identification of ourselves as Americans...not as baptists, pentecostals, latte liberals, rednecks, midwesterners, or America-haters, but as Americans. We're at the beginning...not the end. We can be the new Greatest Generation. Yes, we can.

Looting Wasilla Hillbillies

An absolutely classic quote, courtesy of Matt T. Newsweek has discovered that the extent of Sarah Palin's clothing shopping spree is much greater than originally reported:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy.

...

One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

Wasilla Hillbillies. That could be the name of a new Palin-based reality show. I guess the name fits...a pregnant teenage daughter, moose hunting from helicopters, and a whole passel-o-kids in tow.

Photos From Last Night

What a night! The pagan forces of Evil(TM) gathered at my place to celebrate an impending victory by the Islamo-Fascist-Baby-Killing-Gay-Marrying-Arugula-Growing-on-forced-Communal-Organic-Vegetable-Plot candidate for President (and yes, I'm once again spelling that with a capital P). Anne and I made some strategic alterations to the place. Visitors were greeted at our door with the Obam-O-Lantern:

Then, when folks went to the bathroom they got a few laughs from our favorite shit shoveler:

We had 11 people over, and it was an absolute blast!

Not ALL Happy News

It appears that Prop 8 is narrowly passing. Sad to say that bigotry and hatred is still alive and well in the most progressive state in the nation.

Morning in America

Keep That Outfit, Tina

Sarah Palin wants Tina Fey to keep that outfit:

"And a little advice for Tina. We wanted to make sure she's holding on to that Sarah outfit, because she's going to need it for the next four years."

Keep that outfit Tina...you won't need to do another Palin skit after tomorrow night, but hell...it's probably worth $150,000 and was paid for by the Republican National Committee.

Twenty-Four-Twenty-Four Hours to Go...

...and I wanna be sedated. I've been waiting for tomorrow for eight long, anguishing, pain-filled years. I'm on pins & needles...can't concentrate. The time has come to change this country, and it can't happen fast enough. If you had told me eight years ago that in 2008 I'd cast my vote for a Democrat running for President, I'd have told you to get the sedatives and a straightjacket. But, contrary to my expectations, the Democrats stepped up and nominated someone who wasn't corrupt, too conservative, and untrustworthy as they have in past. This time, it was a young, courageous junior Senator from Illinois...someone who built his campaign from the grassroots up. And tomorrow, we elect him President. Now get your arse out there and VOTE!

Another Great Quote...

Saying the Iraq "Surge" worked is like saying Thelma & Louise had a flying car.
- JML9999, at KOS

Stevens Creates His Own Reality

Ted Stevens, after being convicted of 7 felony counts earlier this week, is insisting that it didn't happen:

"I have not been convicted of anything," he maintained during a Thursday night debate in Anchorage, only days before Tuesday's election.

Like other prominent Republicans, it appears that Stevens is trying to create his own reality. Nevermind the 12 people who convicted him. Nevermind the solid case against him. The Senate's longest serving Republican thikns he hasn't been convicted of anything at all.

If the people of Alaska re-elect this man I may lose my faith in the goodness of humanity.

UPDATE
It looks like reality is giving Stevens a bit of an ulcer. He's losing his re-election bid:

Stevens (R) 36 (46)
Begich (D) 58 (48)

Have fun in prison, Ted. And remember: spit's the best lube around.

Geezer-Dingbat '08

Quote of the Week - 27 Oct 2008

"Senator Stevens, if you do end up in prison, try sneaking out through the Internet. After all, it really is just a series of tubes."

- Stephen Colbert, 28 Oct 2009

Quote of the Week - 27 Oct 2008

"Senator Stevens, if you do end up in prison, try sneaking out through the Internet. After all, it really is just a series of tubes."

- Stephen Colbert, 28 Oct 2009

More Jim Crow-Style Voting Shenanigans in the South

We know all about the Republicans' above-ground attempts to suppress voting by "unfavorable" constituencies (like black folks, poor people, or Democrats). Terms like caging lists and voter purges flow freely through the national press and the blogosphere. But occasionally we see some even more underhanded and disgusting things...like this:

A phony State Board of Elections flier advising Republicans to vote on Nov. 4 and Democrats on Nov. 5 is being circulated in several Hampton Roads localities, according to state elections officials.

I guess someone thinks that people in the "fake" Virginia are stupid.

The Dumb Cracker Files: Lee Harvey Trailer Trash

We know there are some really dumb people out there. Unfortunately, a lot of them have guns. These two are exemplar. Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman are two neo-nazi thugs from rural Tennessee...very rural:

In a rural Tennessee county where you can't buy alcohol or even find a Wal-Mart, residents of tiny Bells stopped each other to ask if anyone knew the pale-skinned young local accused of plotting to kill dozens of black people, including Barack Obama.

Bells, TN...where alcohol ain't on sale, there are more churches than schools, and where all the children are apparently below average. While it may not surprise many people that this kind of idiocy can come out of rural Tennessee, it apparently comes as a big surprise to the salt-of-the-earth folks who live there:

The town surrounded by fertile cotton fields is safe and certainly not known for breeding neo-Nazis, they agreed.

"If we had any skinheads in this county I wasn't aware of it. We hardly know what they are," said Sam Lewis, who lives across the street from the mother of suspect Daniel Cowart. Cowart, he said, grew up in the comfortable, well-maintained neighborhood and wasn't known as a troublemaker.

Cotton fields? In the South? Skinheads and racism? In rural Tennessee? This sounds eerily familiar in a historical context. Remember the good salt-of-the-earth German citizens who claimed they knew nothing about the concentration camps in their midst? OK, maybe it's not on that scale. But the belief that your community/President/party/religion/God(TM)/kin can do no wrong is often the first step in a long journey toward fascism. Sam Lewis might not think his town is capable of producing such idiocy, but I bet he steps into the voting booth next month and punches the chad for John McCain and Mitch McConnell. And Lord(TM) help us if a Muslim moved into the area. Wake up, folks. The rural south is exactly where this kind of crap takes seed, gets fertilized, and blooms into a gigantic turd blossom. These two morons got caught because they stepped over the line and made actual plans. How many more are out there with only general notions?

Stevens Convicted

It's the perfect political storm. Today a court convicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens of ethics violations. The Republican Senator had a oil services firm pay for major renovations to his home, and failed to disclose them. Note that he didn't get convicted of taking bribes, but was instead convicted of failing to report them. These convictions are federal felonies.

Sedaris on Undecided Voters

“I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

- Author David Sedaris, on undecided voters

Absentee Ballots Collected, then Disappear

I mentioned some actual voter fraud by a GOP-connected firm in the past. To date, this is the only instance of voter registration fraud I've seen charged in the US. Now comes a report that operatives connected to a Florida Republican House Member facing a tough re-election fight collected absentee ballots from Democratic voters and dumped them in the trash.

Three Hialeah voters say they had an unusual visitor at their homes last week: a man who called himself Juan, offering to help them fill out their absentee ballots and deliver them to the elections office.

The voters, all supporters of Democratic congressional candidate Raul Martinez, said they gave their ballots to the man after he told them he worked for Martinez. But the Martinez campaign said he doesn't work for them.

Juan ''told me not to worry, that they normally collected all the ballots and waited until they had a stack big enough to hand-deliver to the elections department,'' said voter Jesus Hernandez, 73. 'He said, `Don't worry. This is not going to pass through the mail to get lost.' ''

Sounds a lot like snake oil to me...

Wazuuuuuuuuuuuup!

A hillarious video from the Budweiser guys:

Anchorage Daily News Endorses Obama

Sarah Palin's home state may love her, but Anchorage's largest daily paper doesn't. The Anchorage Daily News has endorsed Barack Obama for president. This is a trend: editorial boards across the country are endorsing Obama, as the failure of 30 years of neoconservative economic and social policy is exposed daily in our financial markets and in the larger economy. This is part of a growing consensus across the nation that it's time for a drastic change in government, and that Obama is the candidate with the best potential to lead that change.

No Pay Cuts for Wall Street Execs

American financial services firms may have had their worst year since the Great Depression, but you could never tell that by looking at how they're compensating their executives. Many of the biggest banks are preparing to pay their execs as much as they did in 2007 or more. Citigroup has cut 23,000 jobs, paid out over $25 billion in 2009. And they're getting almost a trillion dollars of our money. Ridiculous.

Even The Fundies Agree...

A new survey from The Barna Group shows Barack Obama making significant inroads among born-again Christians. Yes, you heard correctly. A pro-choice black Democrat from Hawaii by way of Illinois is garnering roughly 43% of the fundamentalist vote...roughly even with John McCain. I guess they've figured out exactly who's been picking their pocketbook these past 8 years.

Bush Lies Again...on Guantanamo

George Bush lied again. Several months ago, the government announced that it was closing the illegal detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Now they've reversed course and said they're not going to close it.

"This president and the next president will come in and realise how complicated this issue is," she said.

Too complicated? You mean all those people who you shouldn't be holding without trial can't be moved? Oh yeah...I forgot...George W Bush is retarded and can't handle such decisions. Maybe Sarah Palin could help figure it out?

Hotel TVs...WTF?

If you travel at all, you've probably encountered the LodgeNet Remote. It's a TV remote that many hotel chains use to add pay-per-view movies and games to their TVs. And it's an absolute piece of shit that needs to die an agonizing death. It's clunky, it doesn't work right, and it slows down the TV. Tell me this: should a remote take 3-4 seconds to change a channel? Should it require you to wait a full second between pushing successive buttons (like when switching to a double-digit channel)? And most of all, shouldn't a TV remember the last channel you were on instead of resetting back to the annoying hotel ad channel? Yeah. I thought so.

I'm stuck at a Hilton in Austin, TX and the LodgeNet remote has been pissing me off. So has the ungodly slow internet access that requires me to log in via proxy every 30 minutes. All of this idiocy just so that Paris Hilton can make a lame sex tape and spend money she didn't earn...if ever we needed more evidence that the inheritance tax is a good thing.

So Ronery...Part I

On my other blog, I introduced a periodic feature called The Redneck Files, which featured dumb people from red states doing dumb things. I figured I should start something like that here, but with a twist. So starting now, I'm going to make an effort to track complete butcherings of the English language...bonus points if it's by people who should know better. Here's our mascot:

In tribute to our favorite North Korean Dicatator caricature from Team America, here's an appropriate first entry:
Thought: shouldn't they require a literacy test before allowing someone to have a gun? Speak Engrish or die, commie.

Some Actual Voter Fraud

Well, they finally caught and arrested someone for voter fraud. And he's not part of ACORN...he's the owner of a Republican voter registration firm:

California and local investigators charge that Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California home, but doesn't live there any longer. They allege he registered fraudulently so he could meet the requirement that signature gatherers be registered in California, the Times said.

An absolute classic. Committing voter fraud so that you can register voters into a party that claims massive voter fraud is a problem in national elections.

Obama's Tax Cut Calculator

Sure, it's a partisan ploy. Sure, it's just a preliminary plan, one which will probably change once it hits the desk of your local Congresscritter. But Barack Obama has a Tax Cut Calculator on his site, and he's made it available as a widget. Here goes:



I appreciate any presidential candidate who understands Javascript widgets and Web 2.0.

America - WTF?

It's a quandary. America's economy is faltering in a way not seen in generations. We've got simultaneous wars in the middle east draining our public coffers. We're torturing people now, with the blessing of our so-called leaders. Many people weren't saving at all, and those who are saving have seen those savings dwindle significantly as the bears take over on Wall Street. The middle class has seen stagnating wages for nearly 30 years, while the total amount they pay in taxes, fees, and other charges, while the rich have seen greater returns and lower taxes. Health insurance premiums have risen many times faster than wages under our privatized health care system. And I'm out of coffee.

How is it that we came to this point? How did the empire come so close to falling? How has the most productive, innovative, and charitable nation in the world get to this point? How could we have elected a series of "leaders" who brought us to this juncture? Our political system is broken. That, in turn, has broken our economic system. We've voted for greed, corruption, xenophobia, and against the public good for over 30 years. We've treated America not as a society, but as a market. We all want to be Paris Hilton, even though that's not likely. We're living in a state of denial.

How do we get all of this? Electing Barack Obama is a fair first step, but it won't solve anything by itself. Giving Obama a strong mandate for change will help too. But we won't start doing better until we get down to the real work: reform elections, encourage savings, provide health care to all Americans, quell the pain of losing a job, stop spending money on unnecessary wars, stop locking people up for minor crimes, and focus government help on all of society...not just the rich.

Endorsing Torture

The Bush Administration rushed in 2003 and 2004 to cover the CIA's ass after it started torturing people. The memos indicate that White House policymakers directly endorsed "controversial interrogation methods" including waterboarding:

It came up in the daily meetings. We heard it from our field officers," said a former senior intelligence official familiar with the events. "We were already worried that we" were going to be blamed.

This is just more fuel on the fire. The most criminal, wreckless, and blatantly avaristic administration in US history hasn't surprised me much, so throw this on the pile.

McCain's "New" Economic Plan...WTF?

What would you think if the person who raped you later hit on you in a bar? I know, I know...that's a harsh analogy. But it aptly describes some of the drivel John McCain is trying to recycle and shovel down our throats. A cut in the capital gains tax? Please...That's a retread and a non-starter. Regular people are hurting. Regular people don't usually pay capital gains taxes, but the rich sometimes do. And as Barack Obama so elegantly put it, nobody really has capital gains right now. Giving yet another tax break to the wealthiest Americans, the very people who got us into this mess, is not appropriate. Reaganomics caused our current economic woes. It's time to stop practicing them in government.

Along the same theme, I heard a fairly refreshing interview with Ralph Nader today. I'm not supporting him this year, but it was great to hear some of his ideas. Among the ones that caught my ear:

Adopting a securities speculation tax
Nader's claims of this tax generating $500 billion may be a bit high, but it's a worthy proposal on just the merits. If the miscreants on Wall Street are profiting on our misery, let's at least make them pay for part of their bailout.

Fair Trade
It's time to stop offshoring jobs and production just because it's cheaper. America's prosperity begins with production at home.

Fair Taxation
The rich have skipped out on paying their fair share for a generation or more. It's time we brought back fair taxation. That, for me, means a heavily progressive income tax...and it means taxing real work at lower rates than simply moving money around. Our system does exactly the opposite right now.

Hey Barack...you'd do well to read some of these. It's time for a fundamental change in how we do economic policy, and you're going to win the presidency. Fixing this is your job, and you'd better listen to the brightest minds in our society.

One Thing YOU Can Do to Stem the Panic

Signed, sealed, delivered. To the mailbox, anyway. I just sent off my absentee ballot. On it is a mark that connects the arrow for change in America...a vote to regulate the profiteers on Wall Street...a vote for national healthcare and against privatization...a vote for Barack Obama.

One month from now, we'll see an electoral landslide rivaling any seen in history. People are hurting, and they know it's the fault of the Republicans who've run our economic policy for 30 years. On January 20 it will again be Morning in America.

Play That Fiddle, Nero, Redux

Rome is burning. Wall Street panics, our retirement savings are gone, the national debt is growing, our home values are falling, and people are losing jobs. And George W. Bush and his cronies...the very people who started this mess...are playing the fiddle. When will people start calling him The New Hoover?

In 7 days many people have seen more than half of their retirement savings disappear. Gone. They've gone from the prospect of a comfortable retirement in their homes to the prospect of living out their golden years in the streets begging for change. This is the collective legacy of 30 years of laissez-faire policies and market fundamentalism gone awry. Speculative bubbles...financial derivatives whose value is based not on actual value, but on market psychology...greater downside risk. It's beginning to look a lot like 1929...now if we could just get stockbrokers to start jumping out windows.

Thanks a Lot, Repugs

We're in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Equity markets are in turmoil. Creditors aren't lending. Retirement savings have disappeared overnight. And the pain is going to hit the poor and middle class hardest. This, my friends, is the legacy of deregulation and market findamentalism that started in the Reagan era, continued through Clinton, and has finally come to a head during the worst presidency in our nation's history.

It's time for this nation to stop trusting the bought-and-paid-for politicians who pushed us into this mess. Anybody preaching a market "solution" to our current problems should be thrown out of the public square, tarred and feathered, and ignored ever more. Their credibility is now nil. In short, it's time for a return to rational thought.

Election 2008 - My Picks

2008 is a pivotal year in American civil life. Our economy is imploding, America is conducting two wars, and the world seems to be on edge. And Americans are ready for change. Here's what my ballot will look like:

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PRESIDENT

---

Barack Obama

For the first time in my adult life, I'll vote for the Democratic nominee for president. And I'll do it proudly, with no reservations. Barack Obama is the best candidate the Democrats have put forward in a generation. He's astute, intelligent, holds many core progressive values, and he hasn't been around Washington long enough to have been truly corrupted. While past Democratic nominees have been too corrupt for me to hold my nose and vote for, Obama has no such issues for me.

Obama isn't perfect: his late reversals on offshore drilling and on the Bush Administration's illegal wiretaps bothered me. And I don't put too much faith in the office of the President to change things. One high-stakes winner-take-all election every four years isn't the right way to run a country. And our electoral system favors rural states and big money. Those are problems we'll have to overcome with grassroots action. Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are fine candidates but for this election, America has a real chance to embrace positive change and send a message to Washington that the neoliberal economic policies of the past 30 years have failed, and that it's time for a new New Deal. Vote for Obama.

---

United States Representative; District 8

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Cindy Sheehan

Nancy Pelosi is a disgrace. She "represents" the most progressive district in America, yet she continually votes for war and has taken impeachment off the table. She also voted to give Wall Street hundreds of billions in taxpayer money with few strings. Cindy Sheehan presents a clear, well-known alternative. It's time for Pelosi to go.

---

State Senator; District 3

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Mark Leno
After a bruising and unnecessary primary challenge against Carole Migden, Leno has emerged as the candidate of choice for the local state senate seat. Leno is somewhat progressive, but often sides with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on important issues...and that's often the wrong side. Still, Leno is by far the best choice in this race.

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Member of the State Assembly; District 13

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Tom Ammiano
Tom's the best choice here to take over Mark Leno's empty seat. He'll win easily, and he'll be a very good representative.

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Superior Court Judge; San Francisco County; Seat 12

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Gerardo Sandoval
Sandoval has been mercilessly targeted by regressive forces in San Francisco. He's been somewhat controversial on teh Board of Supervisors, but he's been a good progressive. And he's far better than Mellon.

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Board Member; San Francisco Unified School District

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Sandra Lee Fewer
Barbara Lopez
Norman Yee
A progressive slate for the nation's most progressive school board.

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Board Member; San Francisco Community College District

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NO ENDORSEMENT
City College of SF is a mess. Bond money is misspent, money is spent on athletics instead of academics, and the college refuses to comply with sunshine laws. Unfortunately, the candidates on the ballot won't change anything. I can't endorse any of them.

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Board of Directors; San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District; District 9

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Tom Radulovich
Tom is a strong progressive voice on the BART board. He's been a great transit advocate, and should get another term.

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CA Ballot Propositions

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• 1A: High Speed Passenger Train Bonds
  
  YES
  It's time to modernize California's transportation system. Air travel wastes a tremendous amount of energy for short trips, and a rail infrastructure would create thousands of jobs in our state.



• 2: Standards for Confining Farm Animals

YES
California is a pioneer for many things, and it's time to add treatment of farm animals to that list. Opponents have trotted out the tired old argument that this measure will make California farms less competitive, but that hasn't held water on anything else. In fact, changes in California law often lead national thinking. Vote yes.



• 3: Children's Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program

YES
I generally hate bonds, but this outlay is worthwhile.


• 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy

NO NO NO!
Anti-choice zealots try this every election cycle. Their goal is to slowly eat away at womens' right to choose. Vote NO!



• 5: Nonviolent Drug Offenses, Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation
  
  YES
  Expand treatment and rehabilitation for drug offenses, and reduce expenditures? Absolutely.



• 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws

NO NO NO!
The "tough-on-crime" water carriers for cop unions are pandering for bigger budgets again. It's time to put a stop to draconian law enforcement measures.



• 7: Pickens' Personal Renewable Plan
  
  NO
  T Boone Pickens is not a force for good in our nation. He speculated in Oil, funded Repugnican politicians for generations, and he funded the Swift Boaters in 2004. Now he's dumped a lot of his money into natural gas and wind, and he wants your vote to ensure that he makes a profit. Proposition 7 would divert funding and mandates away from other more viable renewable energy sources towards Pickens' own investments. Vote NO!
  



• 8: Bigoted Discrimination in Marriage
  
  NO NO NO!
  California stepped past its bigoted history this year when the state Supreme Court voided the Knight initiative banning gay marriage on constitutional grounds. Now the bigots are back with a constitutional ammendment designed to re-implement discrimination in marriage. This initiative is poisonous and divisive. Let's keep the fundamentalist churches out of our personal lives. Vote NO!
  



• 9: Draconian Sentencing
  
  NO NO NO!
  The law-and-order crowd managed to get two props on this ballot. Le't just say no to the reactionaries and reject this one too.



• 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Bonds
  
  NO
  Bonds are a terrible way to finance things. You get less than half the money you borrow, and the profits and fees go to the richest people in America. We need to tax the rich to get the funds we need. And the proceeds for this one are questionable too. Vote NO.



• 11: Redistricting

No
I'm of a couple minds on redistricting. The best way to make elections more competitive is to implement ranked choice voting and multi-seat districts with proportional representation. Redistricting, whether it's in the hands of politicians or judges, will always be subjective and prone to partisan bias. Vote no.



• 12: Veteran's Bond Act of 2008
  
  NO
  Again, bonds are bad. Though it's a laudable goal to spend money on veterans, bond financing is the wrong way to do it.

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San Francisco Country Ballot Measures

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• A: General Hospital and Trauma Center Earthquake Safety Bonds
  
  YES
  SF General is the last bastion of public health in the city, and is the cornerstone of the Healthy SF plan. Vote Yes.



• B: Affordable Housing Fund
  
  YES YES YES
  San Francisco's number one problem is housing. Vote Yes.



• C: Prohibiting City Employees from Serving on Charter Boards and Commissions
  
  Yes
A good-government reform that may keep mayoral cronies and patrons from influencing commission decisions.


• D: Pier 70 Waterfront District Development Plan
  
  NO
  I'm disinclined to approve a waterfront plan that includes too much commercial development. And when this measure is pushed by the anti-progressives like Alioto-Pier, that poisons it for me. Vote NO.



• E: Changing the Number of Signatures Required to Recall City Officials
  
  YES
  The failed recall of Supervisor McGoldrick was ridiculous, and now is the time to change this law. A 10% threshold is ridiculously low.



• F: Holding All Scheduled City Elections Only in Even- Numbered Years
  
  NO
  The odd-numbered years provide a good forum to focus on city elections. We never would have had Gonzalez-v-Newsom in an even-numbered year. Vote No.



• G: Allowing Retirement System Credit for Unpaid Parental Leave
  
  YES
This one boils down to common sense.


• H: Clean Energy Deadlines
  
  YES YES YES
  It's time to drag PG&E into the 21st century. They may kick and scream about generating energy via renewable means, but that's just too bad. Vote YES!



• I: Office of an Independent Rate Payer Advocate

NO
This one is PG&E's canard to draw attention away from measure H. Vote NO!



• J: Historic Preservation Commission
  
  NO
  Not another commission....



• K: Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution
  
  YES
  I'm a bit torn. But in general I favor decriminalizing prostitution. Vote Yes.



• L: Community Justice Center
  
  NO NO NO
  A meaningless feel-good waste of taxpayer dollars for Newsom's pet program. Vote No.



• M: Residential Rent Ordinance
  
  YES
  Prohibits landlords from harassing tenants.



• N: Real Property Transfer Tax Rates

YES
Disclosure: I'm potentially subject to this tax. And I support it. The city needs money, and real estate speculators have gotten away with not paying their fair share for years. Vote Yes.



• O: Replacing the Emergency Response Fee
  
  YES
  This makes the 911 tax a bit fairer. Vote Yes.



• P: County Transportation Authority Board
  
  NO NO NO
  A blatant power grab by Newsom's minions to control MUNI. Vote No!



• Q: Payroll Expense Tax
  
  YES
  The payroll tax has been an impediment to job creation in San Francisco. This is a chance to reform it a bit. Vote Yes.



• R: Renaming the Oceanside Water Treatment Plant
  
  YES YES YES
  This is the type of ballot measure that reminds me of the many reasons I love this city. What better tribute to 8 years of Bush Administration ineptitude, corruption, and malice toward liberty than to name our sewage treatment plant after George W. Bush? Vote yes!
  



• S: Budget Set-Asides and Identification of Replacement Funds
  
  NO
  A budget play by anti-progressive forces. Vote NO.



• T: Low-Cost Substance Abuse Treatment Programs

YES
One of the key gaps in city services in recent years.



• U: Policy Against Funding the Deployment of Armed Forces in Iraq
  
  YES YES YES!
  This is another chance to express our city's dismay at the illegal and immoral war on Iraq. Vote Yes!



• V: JROTC
  
  NO NO NO!
  JROTC is a military recruitment and war propaganda tool right in the midst of our high schools. This past year the Board of Education voted to eliminate funding for it. Let's allow our high school students to mature on their own, then make a decision as to whether a military career is for them. Vote NO!

Visiting Sirhan Sirhan

There are just some things I can't quite explain. This is one of them. Congresscritter Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) was already a bit loony. He frequently claims to have ties to the CIA, and is a rabid right-wingnut. But this takes the cake...Rohrabacher apparently dressed in drag while visiting Sirhan Sirhan in Corcoran State Prison. He's pretty keen on solving what he believes is a conspiracy:

According to a September 25, 2008, Pasadena Weekly article by Carl Kozlowski, Rohrabacher believes that the Los Angeles Police Department has for 40 years hidden the fact that Sirhan Sirhan, the lone man convicted of shooting Kennedy, worked as part of a "real conspiracy" of Arabs.

Why? Well, Rohrabacher--a rabid right-wing Republican who has bragged to me and other reporters about his, uh, longtime personal ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)--claims he was in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles for a party at the same time Kennedy was murdered in the kitchen.

I'm almost speechless.

Hoo-Sain

I've been meaning to blog this, but Joe P sent me an example of the finest salt-of-the-earth folks humanity has to offer:



She got a real purty mouth, ain't she?

Mad Dash for Midway

The trip to Lincoln's Birthplace was harrowing, the stay stressful, and the return hectic. But somehow it worked. My original itinerary had me flying SFO-ORD-SPI on Monday, SPI-ORD-SFO on Tuesday evening. We got into Springfield and things weren't going so well. I wasn't prepared for the work I had come to do, and stayed up half the night worrying. A crappy hotel didn't help matters. But we woke up, did the work we came to do, came out of it well, and had some time to kill.

My boss and I decided to hit the Abe Lincoln presidential library and museum in downtown Springfield to see what it was about. The tour was interesting, with several good wax figure displays and narrations. The boss and I took off for the airport after about an hour.

Normally, United notifies you by text message when a flight is delayed. I got no such message, and arrived at the airport to find the flight delayed well past 7. That would have put me at ORD with too little time to connect to my SFO flight. Damn...I didn't want to spend the night in SPringfield or Chicago, since I have to travel again Thursday. Other airlines didn't pan out, so I told my boss that we shoudl drive. Screw it...into another rental car, one way to ORD. Then we realized we couldn't make it. So we spent time on the phone with our travel agent, trying to arrange flights out of MDW...and return the rental car there....all of this at 90+mph while watching for law enforcement types... We were sweating the arrival time: it was going to be very close. More than once, the boss commented that we weren't going to make it.

Needless to say, the travel agent came through, got us both booked onto flights...the boss to Providence, and me to OAK. I screeched to a stop at the MDW rental car return with 15 minutes till departure, ran to get my boarding pass, ran to security, ran to the gate, and made the flight with a few minutes to spare...plus I got home much earlier than I would have otherwise.

My routing looked like this. It was one of the more interesting logistical adventures I ever had.

Fey Skewers Palin

Thanks to Matt T for a link to this future classic: