Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Congratulations!

To all of this year's recipients of the Indy Citizen Awards, but especially to Amanda Arrington and the Coalition to Unchain Dogs in recognition of their amazing work in getting anti-tethering ordinances approved in both Durham and Orange Counties, and to my friend and fellow blogger Gary Kueber, publisher of the Endangered Durham blog.

Fine work, and thanks to the Independent for recognizing it.

Continue reading Congratulations!

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Highway 64, Manteo, NC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Grocery wars

Recipe found in a Dannon yogurt container.

First, you get a layered Mexican . . .

Continue reading Grocery wars

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Thank you Sarah Palin

From liberals everywhere.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Continue reading Thank you Sarah Palin

Your best entertainment value

The comments section at the New York Daily News

UPDATE: So i was reading the comments at Atrios on this story, and i came across this one:

Imagine being a postal worker during the holiday season. There is no way to keep any joyful spirit at all.They get to deal with the worst in people, like these whackjobs at Walmart for weeks and weeks.

Actually, i had a package to get in the mail on Wednesday. I left work early to hit the Hillsborough PO, figuring there'd be shorter lines. Hillsborough closes at 4:30, which would have been good information to have before i got there.

So i just barely made it to the West Durham PO on Kangaroo Drive (which should have been named Kangaroo Court, but that's a different story) before they closed at 5:00. There were about 8 people in line. One clerk was dealing with a single customer doing some fairly complex transaction apparently involving lots of envelopes going to several different countries. So the other clerk ended up dealing with the rest of us.

And i have to say he was the most cheerful and effervescent postal worker i've ever met. Even considering he was dealing with all of us after the doors were closed.

Continue reading Your best entertainment value

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Drinking Liberally

Tonight, with my friends and family. Hope you are too.

See you next week.

Continue reading Drinking Liberally

Shooting the Bull

While Kevin Davis enjoys the holiday with family, i once again commandeer the airwaves, this time to talk with Peter Donlon, Program Director of Urban Ministries, about how these difficult times are impacting those most in need in our community.

Tonight, 7:30 - 8:00 pm, on WXDU, 88.7 fm locally, or WXDU.org.

Podcast available through the iTunes store. Just search on "Shooting the Bull" and click on "subscribe.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

Parade

You gotta admit, watching Hootie play while standing on top of a 20 foot tall Les Paul with a sunburst finish was teh awesome.

Continue reading Parade

Irony - still fucking dead

Horribly mangled in an accident involving a jet ski, a quart of tequila, and Lindsay Lohan.

From AOL Money, 25 (Unconventional) ways to raise quick cash:

Desperate move #23:
Seek Emergency Assistance


Many charities provide services and items that you would otherwise spend money on, freeing up some dollars to apply to your most pressing needs. Among the most common of these are food banks and open-dining opportunities, help or waiver of utility costs, and clothing and other household essentials.

Desperate move #21:
Rent Out Your 'Spot'



If you own some prime parking real estate, you could put cash in your pocket and get more exercise by renting out your spot and parking further away. If access to your car is less convenient, perhaps you'll even drive less, saving money on gas, too.

Continue reading Irony - still fucking dead

Happy Thanksgiving!

Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving!

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Dinner

So Saturday night, Mrs D and i were talking about going out to dinner. We ended up at Kim Son, on Guess Rd., because it meets most of our dining out criteria: tasty food that we wouldn't make at home at a reasonable price, with decent service. With drinks, dessert, and tip we dropped well under 50 bucks.

The proximity of available parking did not figure into our decision at all. Of course, it would be great to have those kinds of dining options located in a part of town where, after dinner, you could walk to some other place for music, coffee, shopping, you know, the things that a downtown has*. Besides parking decks.

=============

*Brightleaf comes close to fitting that bill. In the summertime, at least. But Mt. Fuji doesn't compare to Kim Son.

Continue reading Dinner

So 20th century

Durham Performing Arts Center:

The Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) is located at 123 Vivian Street, Durham, NC 27701 and is adjacent to the famous Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the award-winning American Tobacco District. American Tobacco is the one of the largest mixed use projects in North Carolina history and is creating a destination like no other in the region. Home to over one million square feet of offices, retail, entertainment venues, residences and a variety of upscale and festive restaurants, this new urban district is reshaping the way people live, work, and play*.

Parking

Convenient parking is easy in three sparkling new decks with almost 3,000 spaces within minutes walking distance of the theater**.

Parking Deck Map

Directions

The Durham Performing Arts Center is located just off the Durham Freeway (Highway 147, Exits 12B or 13), with quick freeway access from all parts of the Triangle via I-40, I-540 and I-85.

What's missing?

*Hint: This new urban district is not reshaping the way people live, work, and play.

**Hint: There are only 2800 seats in the theatre. What the hell, why not bring both cars? We've got the room.

Continue reading So 20th century

I must be in the front row

Commenter at TPM:

So basically the tax payers give money to Citi to get naming rights to a stadium that the tax payers partially built so the Mets can raise ticket prices to a level that your average New Yorker cannot afford. But hey, the Citi execs will still have their luxury boxes!!!

I think everybody who has any sort of account with Citi should get to pick a date on which they get two tickets to a game next season, or the season after, if there aren't enough to go around this year. AFter all, we've paid for them.

Continue reading I must be in the front row

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Bowser!

Kevin has some plumbing advice for our newest returning County Commissioner.

Let's hope he heeds it.

Continue reading Bowser!

Beer

A couple of beer related announcements to pass along.

For starters, the 2nd annual Black Friday Beer Festival (BF2, as the kewl kidz say), is happening this Friday, the 28th, from 3-7 pm at the Triangle Brewery on Pearl St.

Advance tix are $25 at Bull McCabe's and James Joyce. If there are any left, you can get 'em at the door for $30 on Friday, but Andy tells me that there's a strict limit on the number of tickets sold, so do yourself a favor and buy them early.

Sean Wilson, formerly of Pop the Cap (and the guy who started the BF2 thing last year) is pushing ahead with his Fullsteam Brewery project. An invite only party is happening on the 5th of December. Drop Sean a line at Sean AT fullsteam DOT ag if you want an engraved invitation to the event.

Continue reading Beer

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Irony? Yep, still dead

Not only that, but so disfigured that the charred corpse had to be identified by dental charts:

But Ms. Didion might be on to something. A Nexis search found that the incidence of the words “irony,” “ironic” and “ironically” in major American newspapers during the two-week period beginning Nov. 6 slipped 19 percent from the same period last year.

In New York, Ms. Didion’s home city, irony has been steadily disappearing from daily newspapers for a decade, the analysis found. In those same two-week November periods from 2000 to 2008, appearances of “irony” and its cognates tumbled 56 percent. Some of the drop seems to be because of the shrinking of newspapers, but a similar Nexis search with a control word, “went,” showed a drop of only 32 percent, leaving an irony gap of 24 percentage points.

The analysis may have its flaws. For one thing, the search algorithm also, ironically, picked up phrases like “end of irony.” More significantly, no self-respecting ironist actually uses the word “ironic,” except, perhaps, ironically.

Oy.

Continue reading Irony? Yep, still dead

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Erwin Road, Durham, NC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Triangle D?

From the comments:

The mystery of Triangle D's $1.55 is solved.

The owner lost his lease and needs to clear his inventory this week.

Everything in the store must go! Stock up on Tom's peanuts and Little Debbie snacks by buying two for one! Six packs of beer: $4.99!

The gas is gone, though.

Anybody know anything about this? Triangle D occupies some prime real estate in the OND/DCP corridor, and turning that location into something other than a quickie mart has probably been on someone's radar for quite some time, no?

Continue reading Triangle D?

Memo to Sarah

Continue reading Memo to Sarah

Bush signs law extending unemployment insurance

I guess that since he's going to be unemployed himself pretty soon, he's got some vested self-interest in this one.

Continue reading Bush signs law extending unemployment insurance

Vast left wing echo chamber

Me, one week ago:

I think we need a Constitutional amendment for the "move inauguration up to the Monday before Thanksgiving" option.

Josh Marshall, yesterday:

How much would things be different if Barack Obama had been sworn in on November 5th? The question, to some degree, gets at the very different policy perspectives of Bush and Obama. But at least as much, it points to how much things might be different right now if we had an actual president in office -- one who had some legitimacy, some level of public approval and, most importantly, knew he'd be able to see his policies through years rather than weeks into the future.

It's no one's fault, per se. It's written into our constitutional structure. But though our real and fundamental problems are profound, I think we're paying mightily for having no captain at the helm at one of the most perilous points in our recent national history.

I think when Barack Obama said we can only have one president at a time, he was anticipating that we would in fact still have a functioning president.

Continue reading Vast left wing echo chamber

The polite way of saying it

From Jim Wise's interview with City Manager Tom Bonfield, in today's N&O:

"The big picture is that I don't think the city has had a long, even mid-term, financial plan and put the decisions that are made on an annual basis in the context of what [they] mean long-term," he said.

For example, Durham's Capital Improvement Program for 2009-14 has 254 items, ranging from park improvements to making government buildings accessible to the disabled to rehabilitating the water system.

"There's no financing around it," he said of the program. "It has some money available, but nowhere near enough. ... So in essence it's not a six-year capital plan, it's a six-year wish list."

Continue reading The polite way of saying it

Shooting the Bull

Our friend and fellow blogger extraordinaire Phil stops by tonight the Shoot the Bull at 7:30 on WXDU, 88.7 fm. Phil's one of Durham's great conversationalists, and always makes me both laugh and think whenever we get together.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

Right on time

Back in the day, one of my public policy professors opined that a new supervisor's window of opportunity for making significant organizational changes was 90 days. Try to do too much earlier than than, and you risked alienating the people who were going to be implementing your ideas because they would think you didn't know enough about how things really got done. Wait much longer than that, and people would think you didn't care or have any ideas worth carrying out.

Just three months into the job, City Manager Tom Bonfield is putting his brand on Durham.

On Thursday, Bonfield unveiled a reorganization of the city's administration to "promote departments working together."

Bonfield's plan aligns the city's 23 departments into three "teams" or "theme areas," each under a deputy city manager charged with "facilitating" inter-department cooperation.

"It isn't about controlling anything," it's about facilitating," he said.

I'm sure i'll have some uninformed and completely spurious opinion about the significance of these developments soon.

Continue reading Right on time

$1.94 bitches!

At the BP off I-85 at NC 86.

Continue reading $1.94 bitches!

Drinking Liberally - Now with 50% more swag!

That's right. We've got all kinds of DL stuff to give away for the next few weeks, including a couple of T-shirts, key chains, glow-in-the-dark sex toys*, books, and more.

The Broad Street Cafe - 7-9pm tonight.

===============
* - We do no have any glow-in-the-dark sex toys to give away.

Continue reading Drinking Liberally - Now with 50% more swag!

Paging Americans for Prosperity

Maybe you can explain to me how raising vehicle registration fees by a flat amount for everyone is less regressive than a tax on restaurant meals?

Other revenue-raisers the study panel favors including raising the state's vehicle-registration fees in $10 increments in each of the next three years. The move, it said, could raise about $190 million a year.

Members also want the General Assembly to look into charging higher registration fees for the use of heavier vehicles, a practice officials in Florida already use.

Yet another possibility, one urged by state Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, is charging a higher per-gallon fuel tax for diesel than for the use of gasoline. The move would target the trucking industry.

Members favor giving local governments power to levy 1 percent local-option sales-tax surcharges for road or transit work, with voter approval.

The group's most esoteric proposal calls for further study of a "vehicle miles traveled" fee that would collect a penny from motorists for every two or four miles they drive. Officials would collect mileage reports when vehicles come due for inspection.

Members are interested because they expect high fuel prices, federal fuel-efficiency mandates and the growing popularity of alternate fuels and hybrid-drive vehicles to erode collections of the existing gas tax over time.

Actually, i expect everyone and her brother to oppose these new "revenue enhancements." For myself, let's see more of that money going to finance transportation options that don't involve more and bigger roads, and i'll get right n that bandwagon.

Continue reading Paging Americans for Prosperity

Elections have consequences

And it's not just the reaction of the other world leaders. Do you think that CNN would have made a big deal of an incident like this even 6 months ago?

via

Continue reading Elections have consequences

Los Catrachos

With my oldest daughter spending a couple of years in Honduras, i find that i'm paying slightly more attention to CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers than in other years. Anyway, Honduras goes into tonight's game against Mexico with a very good chance of qualifying for the final tournament to select the 3 (or maybe 4) teams from the Federation that will participate in the 2010 World Cup. Explaining how teams qualify for the various tournaments is difficult. See this if you really want to know how it happens.

Anyway, if all the stars align right, i might very well find myself in San Pedro Sula next spring watching a Honduran World Cup Qualifier, maybe against the US or El Salvador. Honduras has only made one appearance in the World Cup final proper, back in 1982. Maybe this will be the return engagement.

Come on, Los Catrachos!

UPDATE: Honduras 1:0 Mexico

Both Honduras and Mexico advance to the next round of qualifying. The draw is Saturday. Other teams in the mix are El Salvador, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, and the US.

Continue reading Los Catrachos

State?

So, who can tell me the last time a former Secretary of State went on to become the President of the United States?

Continue reading State?

Christmas shopping

Lovely lawn ornament available from the American Family Association. Nothing says "Welcome home for the Holidays" like a burning cross.



via

Continue reading Christmas shopping

School closings?

I hear there are snow flurries outside. Do i have enough milk and bread?

Continue reading School closings?

Deep thought

I did more to help elect Barack Obama (and turn North Carolina blue) than Joe Lieberman, and i can't even get a pair of tickets to the inauguration.

Continue reading Deep thought

Democrats

Politico:

Senate Democrats have voted to allow Joseph Lieberman to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee -- despite his support for John McCain and criticism of Barack Obama during the presidential race.

Lieberman's punishment for what many Democrats saw as an unacceptable betrayal: He will lose his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The vote on Lieberman's fate came in a closed-door session in which Lieberman, members of the Democratic Senate leadership and some current and soon-to-be-senators all spoke.

Sources who were inside the meeting said Lieberman did not apologize for supporting McCain during the campaign, but that he did say he was sorry for some of the statements he made about Obama.

You know, if you can't stand up to Joe Lieberman . . .

MORE:

Lieberman was removed from the Environment and Public Works Committee, a largely meaningless punishment, a committee where (unlike Homeland Security) he has no differences with Dems.

Asked about liberal "anger" towards Lieberman, Reid said: "I pretty well understand anger. I would defy anyone to be more angry than I was."

. . .

So, Senate Dems will be allowing Lieberman to keep his plum spot despite the fact that he has been deeply awful in that role, and despite the fact that he endorsed efforts by the GOP to imply that Obama is in league with terrorists, suggested that Obama endangered our troops, and said Obama hasn't always put the country first.

Worse, Reid is echoing an argument he knows is false: That this is only about retribution. Reid and his fellow Senators have made the political decision to leave Lieberman in a job that he was a disaster at, rather than make the good governmental decision to remove him for the good of the country.

Harry? Fuck you.

Continue reading Democrats

Pass the popcorn

Let's hope the new Board of County Commissioners lives up to its potential to become Durham's best entertainment value.

Returning Commissioner Joe Bowser, who served on the board from 1996 to 2004, is also interested in becoming chairman. He chuckled when told of Page's interest in the job.

"I had twice the time as commissioner and twice the time as vice chairman that Michael has," he said.

Bowser wanted to become chairman of the board in 2002 and feels he could have had the job had he not deferred to Reckhow, who had greater time as a board member and vice chairwoman.

According to Bowser, Reckhow promised to support his future bid to become chairman if he supported her in 2002 -- and says now she's reneging. He said "she felt that a number of things had changed" in the intervening years.

"I don't remember the conversation six years ago very well," Reckhow said, "but I would say that given his hiatus from the board, I think it's important for him to gain some experience on our board, on our current board."

Continue reading Pass the popcorn

Tickets

Saw this earlier.

Wondering if that's unique to Duke Performances, ie are they not getting the word out about their shows, or is it an early warning sign about discretionary spending in general.

Earlier this fall, the Carla Bley/Charlie Hayden performance was deeply discounted, and tickets were offered on neighborhood listservs. The Billy Bragg show did alright a couple of weeks back, although it wasn't quite sold out. Didn't hear anything about offering Greg Brown tickets for free last night, which would have been tempting.

Duke's relationship with the greater Durham community may also be a factor. The campus community may hear about these performances, but if you go into the Durham bars, there are almost never any posters or fliers about upcoming on-campus shows. On the other hand, if this is a general trend, Durham sure picked a bad time to open a performing arts center. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks how that's going to work out.

Note to Duke Performances: Why not add DE to your e-mailing list? The address is on the right, and i'm happy to mention shows that i find interesting.

Continue reading Tickets

Chicken shit

So, looks like we're getting legal chickens in Durham.

I put the over/under for the first "My neighbors are keeping roosters" complaints at 3 weeks from the effective legalization date. I also put the over/under for resolving that complaint at 2 years.

Please prove me wrong.

Continue reading Chicken shit

Not funny

Usually, anything involving pirates is good for a laugh. Not this:

Pirates have seized a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean off the Kenyan coast and are steering it towards Somalia, the US Navy reports.

The US-bound tanker was captured on Saturday some 450 nautical miles south-east of the port of Mombasa, and is now approaching the Somali port of Eyl.

The Sirius Star is carrying its full load of 2m barrels - more than one-quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output.

. . .

The capture of the tanker appears to mark a worrying new development, both in terms of the size of the ship and the fact it was attacked so far from the African coast.

Maybe it's time we stopped rattling sabres, and fighting unnecessary wars, and started using that awesome military might of ours for something productive?

Continue reading Not funny

Bushed

Here's video of George Bush, explaining the current economic situation, to an audience of what one assumes are pretty smart people.

What do you think? Does he have a clue what he's talking about? Does he seem to be thinking "Mission Accomplished" when he says "These developments have placed a heavy burden on hard working people around the world" at the 2:24 mark?

The scary thing for me is that, once upon a time, over 90% of the American people thought he was the shit.

His entire pre-political career was littered with the types of failures he's now leaving for the rest of us to pick up over the next couple of decades. Nothing's changed as far as i can tell. He's the same failure now that he was in October, 2000.

Fool me once, shame on you, and all that.

90%.

Continue reading Bushed

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Club Blvd., Durham, NC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Curb cuts to nowhere - part 2

Erwin Rd and Dobbins Drive, Chapel Hill, NC. This is where NCDOT just spent a whole lot of money redesigning the Erwin Rd. - 15/501 intersection. So if you want to make a left from northbound 15/510 onto Erwin to go into Durham, you have to drive a couple of hundred yards up the road and do that u-turn thing now. But at least someone got a nice new concrete wall out of that deal. Anyway, just up the road, maybe 30-40 yards or so, a little side street called Dobbins crosses Erwin. There's a sidewalk on the west side of Erwin in front of the Marriot Suites. There's a couple of curb cuts over there, but, alas, nothing resembling a cross walk either across Dobbins or Erwin. But on the east side of Erwin, there's this beautiful brick crosswalk that goes, well, nowhere. Except into a foot deep puddle.

Proving, i guess, that NCDOT still doesn't understand the concept of pedestrian connectivity.

Meanwhile, a few blocks up 15/501, at the Scarlett Dr. intersection, we've got some more curbcuts, but no crosswalks or pedestrian signals across a very busy intersection. There's a Lowe's hardware there, and Borders Books, and fast food and the typical highway sideshow. I guess there's no need for a crosswalk or pedestrian signals because no one ever actually walks across the street there.

Oh, sorry.

Continue reading Curb cuts to nowhere - part 2

Prop H8

If you're looking to join in one of the nationwide protests against the passage of Proposition 8 in California, the nearest one is in Raleigh, tomorrow. Here's the details:

Raleigh
Time: 1:30pm City Hall: 46 East Lane Street Raleigh, NC 27601
Halifax Mall will be our protest location!

Organizer: Tom Greene or Will Elliott
Contact info: NCagainstH8@gmail.com

Supporting Organizations:
Chapel Hill High GSA
PFLAG
InsideOUT

=====

If i hear on anything in Durham in upcoming days/weeks, i'll be sure to post it.

Continue reading Prop H8

Maybe they can receive posthumous baptism by proxy

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville (South Carolina) that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

Sometimes i can't believe we let these guys run the entirety of western civilization for well over a thousand years. No wonder they're called the Dark Ages.

Continue reading Maybe they can receive posthumous baptism by proxy

On the other hand

Maybe things are going better out on Fomalhaut B?

Photo credit: Paul Kalas/UC Berkeley; STScI

Continue reading On the other hand

Ouch

Sales at retailers suffered a record decline in October, government data on Friday showed, as shoppers reined in spending with home prices falling, although plunging gasoline prices also reduced outlays by consumers.

Sales slumped 2.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted $363.7 billion, the largest decline since the series began in 1992, the U.S. Commerce Department said. This compared with a revised 1.3 percent fall in September, previously reported as a 1.2 percent decrease.

We were chatting with Councilman Mike Woodard on Shooting the Bull last night and learned that, so far, Durham has not seen any decline in sales tax receipts, although everyone expects that to start showing up by the next quarter. Obviously, we won't be alone when that happens. But who can predict what kind of resources are going to be available at the state and local level to help ride this out? Fortunately, we've got strong leadership in the White House:

Bush on Thursday defended his administration's response to the financial crisis, which has included massive amounts of government assistance to banks and outright government takeovers of the country's biggest mortgage finance companies.

"I'm a market-oriented guy, but not when I'm faced with the prospect of a global meltdown," Bush said in a speech in New York.

He put forward a list of modest reform proposals including making accounting rules more transparent but stopped well short of the global market regulator being sought by some European nations.

Oh, wait.

I think we need a Constitutional amendment for the "move inauguration up to the Monday before Thanksgiving" option.

UPDATE: Good to see Josh Marshall is thinking along those lines, too:

It's a question worth considering in very real terms. How much would things be different if Barack Obama had been sworn in on November 5th? The question, to some degree, gets at the very different policy perspectives of Bush and Obama. But at least as much, it points to how much things might be different right now if we had an actual president in office -- one who had some legitimacy, some level of public approval and, most importantly, knew he'd be able to see his policies through years rather than weeks into the future.

It's no one's fault, per se. It's written into our constitutional structure. But though our real and fundamental problems are profound, I think we're paying mightily for having no captain at the helm at one of the most perilous points in our recent national history.

Continue reading Ouch

Drinking Liberally

Tonight at the Broad Street Cafe 7-9 pm. Who's going to the inauguration?

Continue reading Drinking Liberally

Inside joke

for graphic designers and photographers (which i guess includes about half the population these days.)
No idea who did this. The url in the photo links to a software vendor in India. If this is your image, let me know and i'll give you credit or take it down if you want.

Continue reading Inside joke

Bond

There's a new Bond movie coming out? And i can see it tonight at the Carolina Theatre at midnight?

Why am i always the last person to know these things?

Continue reading Bond

Shooting the Bull

Tune in tonight at 7:30 on WXDU 88.7, or listen online here. Kevin and i will analyze the election results to within an inch of their lives and we may even be joined by someone who knows that they're talking about. Or maybe we'll just pick a random stanger at Dunkin' Donuts and invite them on to the show.

Podcast available via iTunes, probably by the weekend.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

The Hoov

And not just because he sucks like a vacuum around Uranus:

Asserting the global financial crisis is "not a failure of the free market," President George W. Bush on Thursday called on the world leaders meeting this weekend to agree on a modest set of reforms aimed at preventing future collapses.

Bush's main message to the leaders about to converge on Washington: Reforms won't help if they overreach by abandoning the free market and restricting trade.

"Government intervention is not a cure-all," Bush was to say in a speech here, according to prepared remarks released in advance by the White House.

Have we ever had an executive s disconnected from reality as Bush? All that's missing here is a plea to lower the capital gains tax, and i wouldn't be surprised if he says that, too.

Continue reading The Hoov

Bureaucracy

Let me start off by saying that my experience in NC with a lot of the typical bureaucracies (Motor vehicle, tax office) have been much easier than any other place i've lived. Biggest problems so far have been with the health insurance industry, and since i work for a medium sized company and deal with health insurer that wants our business, those have been manageable. (The bureaucracy, not the costs. But that's a different story.)

CFNC, on the other hand, has been a whole bunch of madness. I want to say that i hope the woman who called my house last night didn't lose her job as a result of our conversation, but, when i think it through, i really don't care.

Continue reading Bureaucracy

Good news, soccer fans

Barack Obama's election could derail England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup, according to a "high-placed" Fifa official. The unnamed source told Yahoo Sports that Obama's popularity will be "a huge factor" in deciding whether the USA is selected to host either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments.

"How can it not make a difference," said the source. "Now when you think of America, you don't think George W Bush or war, you think of this man, Obama, who has made history and given hope to millions. The men who vote on World Cup hosts are not immune to those same feelings. If the US bid stacks up in terms of infrastructure and organization, then Obama could be a huge factor."

. . .

Fifa president Sepp Blatter is expected to visit Obama at the White House next year. Earlier this year Obama revealed that he had been a West Ham fan since he visited England in 2003. He can often be seen pitch-side at his daughter's soccer games in Chicago.

His election is also believed to be likely to have a galvanizing effect on Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, meaning that, as in the 1990s, the USA could host the two biggest sports tournaments on the planet in the space of two years.

West Ham? Seriously?

Continue reading Good news, soccer fans

Small steps

From the Ticketmaster site for an upcoming Eagles concert at Greensboro Coliseum:

Additional Information:

This is a no-fee event! The price you see is the price you pay. NO convenience fee. NO order processing fee. NO delivery fee if you choose to print tickets at home.

Not sure, but i imagine that the Coliseum is a taxpayer financed venue. As is the Durham Performing Arts Center. Ticketmaster gets a healthy contract fee to sell tickets for shows and events at these venues. There's no reason to tack on an additional 25% or so in "user fees," when it's our money that's making ticketmaster's profits possible in the first place. Let's hope this is a step in the right direction.

Continue reading Small steps

Culture

Had dinner last night with a few friends and fellow bloggers, and at some point one of us (not me) made a reference to threadfall, from Dragonriders of Pern, the science fantasy series by Anne McCaffery.

The sad thing is, all of us got it.

Continue reading Culture

Goliath and David

(For D.C.T., killed at Fricourt, March 1916)
by Robert Graves

Once an earlier David took
Smooth pebbles from a brook:
Out between the lines he went
To that one-sided tournament,
A shepherd boy who stood out fine
And young to fight a Philistine
Clad all in brazen mail. He swears
That he's killed lions, he's killed bears,
And those that scorn the God of Zion
Shall perish so like bear or lion.
But . . . the historian of that fight
Had not the heart to tell it right.

Striding within javelin range
Goliath marvels at this strange
Goodly-faced boy so proud of strength.
David's clear eye measures the length;
With hand thrust back, he cramps one knee,
Poises a moment thoughtfully,
And hurls with a long vengeful swing.
The pebble, humming from the sling
Like a wild bee, flies a sure line
For the forehead of the Philistine;
Then . . . but there comes a brazen clink.
And quicker than a man can think
Goliath's shield parries each cast.
Clang! clang! and clang! was David's last.
Scorn blazes in the Giant's eye,
Towering unhurt six cubit's high.
Says foolish David, 'Damn your shield!
And damn my sling! but I'll not yield.'

He takes his staff of Mamre oak,
A knotted shepherd-staff that's broke
The skull of many a wolf and fox
Come filching lambs from Jesse's flocks.
Loud laughs Goliath, and that laugh
Can scatter chariots like blown chaff
To rout: but David, calm and brave,
Holds his ground, for God will save.
Steel crosses wood, a flash, and oh!
Shame for Beauty's overthrow!
(God's eyes are dim, His ears are shut.)
One cruel backhand sabre cut --
'I'm hit! I'm killed!' young David cries,
Throws blindly foward, chokes . . . and dies.
And look, spike-helmeted, grey, grim,
Goliath straddles over him.

Thanks to all who serve and have served.

Continue reading Goliath and David

Happy happy joy joy!

N&O:

Durham County commissioners gave a warm reception Monday night to a request that the county build a $7.54 million parking deck to support Greenfire's downtown redevelopment projects.

Commissioners took no direct action, but praised the idea as a means of reviving the inner city.

"It looks like a true win-win," Commissioner Lewis Cheek said.

God forbid we should do anything to encourage other means of getting to downtown Durham besides automobiles.

Continue reading Happy happy joy joy!

Is this the funniest thing ever?

I mean, i don't care who you are, that's pretty funny.

Continue reading Is this the funniest thing ever?

More things that i absolutely can't figure out

Posthumous baptism by proxy allows faithful Mormons to have their ancestors baptized into the 178-year-old church, which they believe reunites families in the afterlife.

Using genealogy records, the church also baptizes people who have died from all over the world and from different religions. Mormons stand in as proxies for the person being baptized and immerse themselves in a baptismal pool.

I mean, really? People really believe this? You can baptize someone who's been dead for centuries and save their soul so they can be reunited with their dead descendants who've they've never met?

What if the person was, you know, really, really bad, and never repented of their sins? Can that person's soul still be saved ex post facto, so to speak? I'm really not snarking here.

Although i'm not a believer myself, i can at least understand the concept of faith to the extent that it enables, or even requires, one to do good works in order to either fulfill the will of God on earth, or to achieve passage to the good part of the afterlife when you die. But am i correctly interpreting this doctrine to mean that i can be a total non-believing fuckup and 100 years down the road, one of my great grandkids could marry into the Mormon faith, and one of their kids can "stand in" for me in a baptism by proxy, and my soul will be saved? Is that what's really going on here? Doesn't that give me a few extra outs in the game?

Continue reading More things that i absolutely can't figure out

Please explain

From the comments:
Straight party voting is the worse thing ever.

Most of the democracies in the world are based on political parties. There are very few democracies where one could make this claim and expect to be taken seriously. I have a hard time getting my head around how straight party voting is worse than, say, slavery, or the war in Iraq, to name two top of the head examples.

But assuming that the commenter was merely indulging in some hyperbole and that he believes straight party voting is merely as bad as athlete's foot fungus, or MLB blackout areas, i still don't get it. Please explain the horror of determining which party's platform best expresses your desires for our society, and voting for all of the candidates of that party who are standing for election.

Continue reading Please explain

God bless America!

From the comments over at the Herald Sun article on Libertarian Mike Munger's run for governor:

There just don't seem to be enough people around any more who have the backbone to take a principled stand no matter what the propaganda says or what the cost is. I just refuse to vote if I don't feel like there's a choice. I've already heard the parrots with their arguments about people dying for my right to vote, let your voice be heard, doing your duty, blah, blah, blah. It's all manipulative. I don't care if democracy collapses. I won't vote for any one of these manipulators (but I would have voted for Ron Paul). It's the one thing they can't take from me.

You could always move to China, you know. Or Russia. Sounds like your kind of place.

Continue reading God bless America!

Miriam Makeba 1932 - 2008

More

Continue reading Miriam Makeba 1932 - 2008

Rumors

So what's this i hear that B.J. Lawson's (Republican candidate for congress from the 4th district) paid poll workers were encouraging people to vote Obama, Democratic Party, but switch the congressional vote to Lawson instead of Price? Anybody else experience this?

Continue reading Rumors

Free advice

Take it for what it's worth.

Let's say you work on social justice issues. Maybe anti-poverty work. And you want to encourage other people to join you in this important work. Maybe some of them already volunteer their time for other issues. Let's say, animal cruelty issues.

The best way to encourage them would be to tell them that the work they do is unimportant, since as long as there are people suffering, any time we spend working on animals is wasted. People are more important than animals, anyway, right? How could you be so selfish as to ignore the suffering of people while working to prevent animal cruelty?

Ummm, actually, no, this is probably the worst way to go about doing it.

Just sayin'.

Continue reading Free advice

Curb cuts to nowhere

Just something i noticed this morning while taking a church sign picture. This is the northwest corner of N. Duke and Hudson St., which is the back entrance to Brogden Middle School. Nice curb cuts for wheelchair access to two completely unnavigable, sidewalk free streets. There are no crosswalks painted in on Duke St., either. Not that anyone would want to cross this section of Duke, which is a block north of the hideously designed (from a pedestrian standpoint, at least, although esthetically, it's pretty sucky too) Duke St. - I85 overpass. Curiously, Hudson St., west of Duke is designated as a school zone, 25 mph during certain hours, although it's in fact a 25 mph street all the time. Duke Street itself cannot be designated a school zone since that would actually slow people down, especially during morning school hours which coincide with morning rush hour. Basically, Duke St. from Leon south functions as an I85 on ramp. I'd be real interested in seeing what a traffic count revealed about speeds on that stretch of the road. My money says the 80% number is at least 45 mph.

Priorities, you know. We certainly don't want anyone to think it's safe to let your kids walk to school, do we, NCDOT?

Continue reading Curb cuts to nowhere

Sorry, There Are No Rooms Available For Those Dates

Just try to find a room within 50 miles of DC around January 20, 2009.

Continue reading Sorry, There Are No Rooms Available For Those Dates

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Huh?

Obama win triggers run on guns in many stores
Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama's administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

"The day after the election, I had many more calls than usual from people looking for semi-automatic rifles," said David Greenberg, the owner of the Second Amendment Family Gun Shop, in Bisbee, Arizona, who sold out of AR-15 rifles in recent days.

"There seems to be a fear they will be banned, and it's fairly likely," he added. "Obama and Biden are driven to eliminate firearms from the face of the country."

Read the rest.

A few weeks back, i interviewed Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus, for my radio program. He was in town for an early production of an adaptation of his book that David Fellerath and Katja Hill are working on for ManBites Dog Theater. One of Joe's contentions is that liberals don't know how to talk to a certain portion of the American electorate, namely rural, working class white people (he calls them rednecks), with the consequence being that rednecks often vote against their own economic interests when they should be allies with liberals, whose policies on issues like health care and education will be of benefit.

Here's the deal. I don't recall hearing anyone during the just completed election cycle talking about gun control, restricting gun owners' rights, yadda yadda yadda. It simply wasn't an issue this time around. Even after the Supreme Court struck down the Washington DC ban on handguns. Even after an 8 year old killed himself firing an Uzi at a rifle range. Even after a convicted felon fired 29 rounds through a front door and took out a 12 year old trick-or-treater on Halloween and wounded his father and brother. Obama has spoken about "common sense" actions on guns, but it's clearly not going to be a priority for either his administration or the 111th Congress. So where's the fear and panic coming from? Is there a common sense argument against making automatic weapons available to convicted felons (and apparent paranoid nutcases) like the guy in Sumter who thinks that a kid walking up his steps is a robber who can only be defended against by emptying a clip through a door? Seriously, i'd like to hear how putting in some restrictions preventing this guy from having an Uzi would jeopardize the legitimate 2nd Amendment rights of most other American citizens.

But that's beside the point. Progressives have learned that talking about guns is a losing issue, so they're really not doing it. Why is it that some folks still hear that anyway, even though no one is, you know, actually saying it?

Continue reading Huh?

Puppy update

Question: Everyone wants to know, what kind of dog are you going to buy for your girls?

Obama: With respect to the dog, this is a major issue. I think it's generated more interest on our Web site than just about anything.

We have -- we have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic.

On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So -- so whether we're going to be able to balance those two things I think is a pressing issue on the Obama household.

How can you not like this guy?

Continue reading Puppy update

Thanks!

To my boss for choosing the best day of the year to have new carpet installed on my floor. Think i'll go for another walk and enjoy the light.

Continue reading Thanks!

We were all Georgians

. . . the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.

The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West. But they raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgia’s insistence that its shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, was a precise operation. Georgia has variously defended the shelling as necessary to stop heavy Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages, bring order to the region or counter a Russian invasion.

Just a quick reminder that, in the real world, it's not always so easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

Continue reading We were all Georgians

Things to do in Durham this weekend

Tonight - Drinking Liberally 7-9 pm at the Broad Street Cafe. We've got a little celebratin' to do.

Tonight through Saturday - Troika Music Festival. Kick it off with a free show at Durham Central Park tonight at 5:30. Then catch 65 or so acts at various venues around town between now and Saturday night. Click on the link above for a full schedule.

Saturday night - If live music isn't your cuppa tea, perhaps poker is? Our friends at the Scrap Exchange are having a fundraising Texas Hold-em tournament on Saturday, starting at 7pm.

-No-limit Texas Hold-em is the game of choice.
-Beginner and veteran poker players welcome.
-For every $20 donated to The Scrap Exchange, players will receive $200 in poker chips and a tax deductible receipt.
-No need to pre-register but reserve your space by emailing Kelley at kdennings@gmail.com
-The player at each table with the most chips at the break and end of the night will receive a prize.
-Drinks and snacks provided.

Current prizes include gift certificates from: Carolina Rollergirls, Barnes & Noble, JJill, Drag Bingo, Phydeaux Dog Supplies, Frankie's, Consolidated Theaters, Galaxy Theater, Red Lobster, Nice Price Books, Sarla licensed massage therapist and more added daily.

Remember, bet with your head, not over it. Or something like that.

Continue reading Things to do in Durham this weekend

Outtakes

Continue reading Outtakes

She was only trying to help

Despite reports that Sarah Palin's September shopping spree amounted to "tens of thousands" more than the $150K previously reported, "Among retailers, the luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus reported the deepest drop in sales at stores open at least a year, a crucial indicator also known as same-store sales.

October sales in Neiman’s specialty retail segment, which includes Neiman Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman, were down 27.6 percent, in contrast to an increase of 7.8 percent a year ago."

She tried. She really did.

Continue reading She was only trying to help

Shooting the Bull

Durham County Board of Elections Director Mike Ashe stops by tonight to discuss the election just passed. We'll talk about processes, ballots, "voter fraud" and whatever else comes up. Got a question for Mike? Send an email to ShootingTheBull AT gmail DOT com. Tune in to 88.7, WXDU, at 7:30 pm, or listen online.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

What's the holdup?

It's Thursday morning, Obama's lead in NC is up to 14,000 votes, from 12,000 on Tuesday night, and the state hasn't been called yet?

What's the deal?

UPDATE:

In the unofficial returns, Obama led Republican John McCain by 13,746 votes. Gary Bartlett, the state elections director, said Obama should be considered the unofficial victor. Bartlett said an estimated 40,000 provisional ballots still must be counted, but based on experience, the outcome is not likely to change when the State Board of Elections certifies the results on Nov. 25.

McCain would have to win the provisionals by better than 2-1 (27K - 13K) to overtake Obama. Chalk NC up for Obama.

UPDATE II: It's official!

Continue reading What's the holdup?

God doesn't love me that much

Palin "has built-in national stature and she's beloved by conservative talk radio," Whalen said. But "does she want to be a stay-at-home mom and a stay-at-home governor, or does she want to be a player on the national stage? She has to make a choice."

She has done little to discourage speculation — begun even as McCain's campaign faded — that she could return to the ballot four years from now.

In her hometown of Wasilla in the Anchorage suburbs, "Palin 2012" T-shirts are already for sale.

When she returned to Alaska on Wednesday night after losing the election, she was greeted at the Anchorage airport by chants of "2012! 2012!" Asked by reporters if she might run for president, Palin said, "We'll see what happens then."

Please, please please, please, please. With Mike Huckabee. Please?

Continue reading God doesn't love me that much

Music for our times

Continue reading Music for our times

Straight party ticket voting

A commenter at Kevin's place asks the question: "Interesting that 20% of the county's Democrats did not vote straight ticket -- I'd love an analysis on which races caused democrats to forgo that option."

I'm not sure where the 20% figure comes from. There were just under 58,000 straight party tickets cast for Democrats, and there are about 108,000 registered Democrats in the county. (All figures from PDF files available at the county BoE website.)

So even if you assume that all of the straight party tickets cast for Democrats were cast by Democrats, you're just a little over half. By contrast, there are 27,000 or so registered Republicans, and there were 12,000 straight Republican ballots cast. That makes sense, since local races such as County Commissioner, DA, and some of the state house races had no Republicans running.

For the most part, Democrats in Durham generally picked up around 100,000 votes in races that covered the whole county. Obama, for example, got 102,237 votes. Kay Hagan, 99,382. Tracey Cline, with over 105K votes was actually the leading vote getter in Durham County. Ronnie Ansley and Mary Fant Donnan, the two Democratic Council of State candidates who did not win (Agriculture and Labor, respectively) both got 93K votes in Durham. That was a few thousand below other Democratic CoS candidates.

The real drop off comes in the County Commissioners races. No candidate received more than 85,740 votes, and two candidates (Becky Heron and Ellen Reckhow) received 80,053 and 77,930 respectively. For that we look, i think, to the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black people, which endorsed only the 3 African American candidates for County Commissioner (Joe Bowser, Brenda Howerton, and incumbent Michael Page.) The Committee has volunteers at most of the predominantly African American precincts in the city handing out their endorsements, and as i've seen personally the past two elections, most voters take them and refer to them. Joe Bowser's success, coming after being rejected by the voters 4 years ago after a tempestuous term on the Commission, has to be attributed to both his endorsement by the Committee, and the large turnout of people voting for Obama.

Two things to add here. first, in the interests of disclosure, i'm one of those registered Democrats who didn't vote straight party ticket. And Joe Bowser was the reason why. I thought his actions in his previous term meant that he should not have been invited back to the Commission. So i left him off my ballot. And second, i spent the afternoon handing out Democratic Party literature and voting guides at Antioch Baptist Church, the precinct 18 polling place. 18 is a predominantly African American district, over 81% of its2253 registered voters identify as African American, a number almost exactly congruent with the number of Democrats. When i got there, folks were handing out literature for the Committee, for B.J.Lawson (she didn't stick around very long after i got there) for Judge Kristin Ruth, and in favor of the prepared meals tax. Based on conversation, i'm pretty sure that the Committee folks and myself were the only ones not being paid for our time. I have no way of knowing what happened before i got there, but during the hours i was there, the folks representing the Committee took the time to explain to each voter how to vote straight party, and did not make any special effort to discourage straight party ticket voting, even though they were not endorsing all of the Democratic candidates for County Commission. So, there's that. But i think anyone interested in analyzing voting patterns in Durham this election needs to take that into account.

Continue reading Straight party ticket voting

Name the puppy

Barack Obama promised his daughters, in front of the whole world, a new puppy when they move into the White House in January.

Any ideas for a name?

Continue reading Name the puppy

Schadenfreude

Just a little bit:

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 senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. . . . 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.

A Palin aide said: "Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin."

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

See ya, Sarah!

Continue reading Schadenfreude

Concession speeches, translated

Thank you my friends. Over the past few months, i've said some incredibly nasty things about my opponent. Now that he's kicked my ass up the mountain and down the desert, i need to let everyone know that i didn't really mean them. You know how it goes in the heat of battle.

I was just saying them to try to convince the more moronic of you out there that you shouldn't vote for him. But enough of you did. So shame on those of you who voted for me if you believed that stuff.

So i'm going to say right now that i intend to support my opponent.

And you can believe that every bit as much as you believed it when i called him a socialist.

Continue reading Concession speeches, translated

Making a difference

One thing about an election as closely contested as North Carolina's presidential last night, is that everyone who contributed, whether by phone banking, knocking on doors, driving people to the polls, registering and voting for the first time, or whatever, you'll be able to look at the results and think to yourself, i made a difference.

Continue reading Making a difference

Newspapers react around the world

Great collection of front pages and headlines here.

Love the Hamburg Morning Post, and the Daily Star.

I'm going to call in sick today and go pick up my redistribution check from Joe the Plumber's wealth. Who's in?

Continue reading Newspapers react around the world

NC for Obama?

97 counties reporting - Obama up by 13K votes.

Buncombe, Mecklenburg, and Wilson haven't finished. McCain has to take somewhere around 80% of the uncounted votes to win the state.

Na ga happen.

Continue reading NC for Obama?

Priorities

Puppies!

Continue reading Priorities

President Obama

Fox, MSNBC & CNN call Ohio for Obama. that's 195 EVs

on the West Coast, Obama will take California (55), Washington (11), Oregon (7) and Hawaii (4).

That's 77 EVs. Plus 195 gives him 272.

Hail to the Chief.

Continue reading President Obama

Hello Senator Hagan

Goodbye Senator Asshole!

Continue reading Hello Senator Hagan

"Bugged and 'Chunked

Popped in and out of an Obama staging area today on my way to a shift walking parts of precinct 19 and handing out literature at precinct 18.

Great to see Phil Morrison and Mac McCaughan picking up walk lists and heading out to knock on doors. Thanks guys.


Here's the Precinct 18 crew representing a bunch of different candidates and groups, including the Durham Committee, the pro-meals tax folks, Judge Kristin Ruth, and the Democratic Party. Special thanks to Audell, who came by to vote, and decided that his rain tent would be put to better use keeping volunteers dry than taking up space in his garage.

Time to watch and wait.

Continue reading "Bugged and 'Chunked

Election day

Took a swing by the precinct on Trinity Ave. at around 8 this morning on my way in. If there were any lines, they weren't coming out the door. Early voting has probably helped that a lot. Hopefully the rain is not keeping anyone from their civic responsibilities.

At work, an Orange County co-worker told me she waited in line for almost 90 minutes to vote, most of that outside, and a Guilford County co-worker described his touch screen voting experience. I had thought that all of NC's counties were using paper ballots this year. Guess i was wrong. We'll keep an ey open for any reports of tabulation difficulties in Guilford.

How about your precincts? Any good stories to tell?

Continue reading Election day

Go vote!

I'm at the day job till about noon, and then i'll be shaking out those few slug-a-beds in my precinct who haven't voted yet and driving them to the polling place.

Let's have some fun tonight.

Continue reading Go vote!

Election Day predictions

Or hopes?

Presidential popular vote: Obama 57 - McCain 42 - Other 1

Electoral College: McCain wins Idaho, Utah, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Total - 135 EVs

Obama wins the rest - 403 EVs

Senate - Democrats end up with 58 seats (Pickups in Minnesota, North Carolina, Georgia, Alaska, Oregon, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia.) With Sanders and Lieberman, that makes 60. Lieberman gets dumped from the Democratic caucus and loses his committee chairmanship anyway.

House - Democrats 260 seats, Republicans 175 seats

NC Senate - Hagan
NC Governor - McCrory
NC Council of State - Democratic sweep (I'm gonna miss Cherie K. Berry!)

Local - 4th district - David Price
8th District - Larry Kissell

Prepared meals tax - defeated

Continue reading Election Day predictions

Crushed

Taking a quick step away from tomorrow's election, i discovered that i haven't been focused enough on The Dependables, my fantasy soccer team. Gareth Barry's yellow card and Aston Villa's two goals conceded to Newcastle (Newcastle, ffs!), couple with a Richard Dunne own goal over the weekend really did me in. (At least the Wanderers won the match and climbed out of the cellar). Ten days ago, i was one point out of first place in the Bull City league.

Today?

Fourth place, an even 100 points behind.

Ouch.

I'm hoping to to make up some ground come this weekend, when i can get my priorities straight again.

Continue reading Crushed

Bushed

It's no coincidence President Bush has been out of the public's eye in recent days — that's the way the Republican Party wants it. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Monday the incumbent's invisibility is by design — because "the Republican Party wanted to make this election about John McCain."

The president knows there are people in this country who want change and are looking for something new, Perino said.

"We're realistic about the political environment that we are in," she said. "What keeps him going is knowing that he's done the right thing."

With a 26 percent approval rating, Bush has only appeared in Democratic television ads that regularly tie him to Republican candidates. And that won't change until after Election Day.

Since Bush endorsed McCain in the Rose Garden on March 5, the two have appeared in public only three times for a total of 12 minutes. That's in stark contrast to the scores of fundraisers and rallies Bush did before congressional midterm elections in 2002 and 2006. Perino said the last time Bush and McCain communicated was before the president's Cabinet meeting October 15.

Dana Perino is so hot. I'm going to miss her.

Continue reading Bushed

Political ads

In addition to the truly repulsive ad from Liddy discussed below, there's a few other observations to be made about the ads that i've seen this past 72 hours.

* - Nobody is a Democrat or Republican. Except for the handful of ads in the Congressional races that were paid for by the various party committees, the words Democrat or Republican are simply not a part of this advertising cycle. And even those ads only mention Democrats or Republicans in the small print and the rapidly spoken disclaimer at the end mentioning who paid for the ad and who is responsible for its content. I'm a little surprised by this. I thought Democrats were rebuilding their brand?

* - Pat McCrory in the Governor's race is the only Republican candidate i've seen run any positive ads. Every single ad i've seen from Liddy Dole, Bob Pittenger (Lt. Governor), or Robin Hayes (8th congressional) has been an attack ad. John McCain had a few positive ads in the beginning of the cycle. I didn't see any of them this weekend.

* - The DSCC's ads on behalf of Kay Hagan seemed to have worked. I thought the ads, which i call the Bartles and Jaymes campaign, sucked. What do i know?

* - The Republican "blank check for liberals" ad is truly hysterical, in all senses of the word. Vote for Liddy. She's the last bulwark against a 60 seat Democratic majority in the Senate. Oh, my.

* - Who is left to be persuaded by campaign ads? According to these guys, early voting in North Carolina had already reached 72.5% of the total turnout in the 2004 race at 5am on Saturday. (2.57 million 2008 early votes vs 3.55 million total votes in 2004). And turnout was reported heavy on Saturday.

Continue reading Political ads

He was the Indian of the group

Jimmy Carl Black 1938 - 2008

Continue reading He was the Indian of the group

Liddy Dole - still an asshole

And her husband Bob has squandered whatever integrity he might have had left after the moronic Britney Spears Pepsi ad from a few years ago.

First, Liddy's got a new "godless" ad.


"If godless Americans threw a party in your honor, would you go?"

What the fuck, Liddy? Do you really ask every person you know what kind of faith in the magical sky-being they have before you break bread with them? Does it matter that much to you? Really? Tell you what, then.

Go fuck yourself.

You're running for Senate, not Archbishop. You know, render unto Caesar and all that. No religious test shall ever be applied to an office seeker in the United States of America. Remember that? It's in the Constitution that you swore (on the Bible, if i remember correctly) to uphold.

And Bob?

An adviser for Godless Americans held a fund-raiser at his home for Hagan. The event was not billed as a Godless Americans event, and other hosts included an ambassador and U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Former Sen. Bob Dole says North Carolina voters deserve to know why Hagan went to the event.

"Just answer the question, I've been in this business a long time and when everything else fails, you just have to answer the question. Even if you don't want to answer the question,” he said.

So, Bob? Here's a question you don't want to answer. Can you still get it up for Britney? What a pair of pseudo-moralistic hypocrites.

Continue reading Liddy Dole - still an asshole

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Roxboro St., Durham, NC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Billy Bragg at Duke

Best line of the goes to opening act the Watson Twins. "We spent some time today walking around your lovely campus. It's really quite beautiful. Is the school as good as it looks?"

A lone audience member pipes up, "No," to cheers and applause. The band soldiers on, awkwardly.

Continue reading Billy Bragg at Duke

Nail, coffin

Hammer

A Quebec comedy duo notorious for pulling prank calls on celebrities have struck again. This time, comedian Marc Antoine Audette and Sebastian Trudel Audette, known as the Masked Avengers, tricked Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin into believing that she was speaking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The duo kept Palin on the line for several minutes and discussed politics and hunting, even making a jab at the current Vice-President's infamous 2006 incident where he shot a friend in the face.

Throughout the interview Audette drops hints that he's not who he claims to be. He names popular French singer Johnny Hallyday as his advisor on U.S. affairs and Quebec singer Stef Carse was named as Canada's Prime Minister.

"We have such great respect for you [Sarkozy], John and I," she gushed.

Later in the interview, Audette, jokes that he and Palin shared an interest in common, hunting.

"We should try hunting by helicopter like you did, I never did that," Audette said.

"We could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. Kill two birds with one stone," Palin replied.

Continue reading Nail, coffin

PSA

From Billy Bragg, Saturday in Chapel Hill

Continue reading PSA