Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!

Gah! Cuteness overload


more animals

Holy Zombie Jesus!

Oh, this is just too good. What better way to turn a figure of reverence into irrelevance. Fucking love it.

Telling the Big Lie

I'm shocked, shocked (well, not that shocked) to find that Sen. McCain has been lying about his tax proposals as well as Sen. Obama's tax plans. Unsurprisingly, Sen. McCain's unwillingness to raise taxes while seriously cutting spending is a bit of a lark, as Joe Klein writes. Speaking through Michael Scherer and Matt Miller is Sen. McCain's economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who admits that the basic math of the federal budget will require any president to raise taxes in the future or face bankrupting the U.S. government. The natural growth of the federal budget, Holtz-Eakin claims, will require an overall tax increase of some seven percent by 2020 to keep up with budget inflation. And it's not surprising that such an increase of the federal budget will happen since we have a military to rebuild along with our ever increasing interest on federal debt.
So what we have here is an instance, as Holtz-Eakin describes, of the math being at odds with Sen. McCain's campaign slogans. Perhaps Sen. McCain simple hasn't been told this yet or perhaps he just doesn't care. His apparent willingness to blatently lie during this election makes the latter far more likely. Klein finishes off with the mention that Holtz-Eakin acknowledges that Sen. Obama's tax plan would actually reduce net taxes over a ten year period. How that will square with the programs Sen. Obama proposes I'm not sure. But at least people within the McCain camp realize that the sloganeering is a lot of empty rhetoric.

Reason is the Mode of Transportation

For once, Erza Klein makes a good point in the pedestrian-cyclist vs. driver argument. One of the major inhibitors to walking in a city like Dallas is that everything is too spread out. This isn't to say the city completely lacks walkable areas (Lower Greenville, Uptown, Downtown) but that most of the city planning has gone into building a road infrastructure that inclines people to drive versus walking. The bus system here is a lovely mess; although the growing light rail lines are making things easier for some. But when you have a two mile stretch of river crisscrossed by two and three lane bridges for vehicle traffic and only two rail bridges (one of which is for commercial traffic) then obviously the city planners did not have a rail system in mind. As I said, Dallas is walkable to a degree, but even then you still need a car to enjoy going to the better places in Dallas and not settling for what's within foot-distance. Cities like Irivine, CA are much the same as walking isn't sensible. This isn't about being good or bad to the environment, but about what's the more reasonable way to travel.
I'm now going to hit myself for saying that Klein has a good point.

Pussy-Lovin'

My cat is loving on everything right now and has been since Saturday. She's a fluff-ball of pure joy.

Lifting Up

I believe that it has almost been a week since I last even looked at this blog. Moving into a new apartment with your sister takes a lot out of you. All the while I've seen the stupidity of the McCain campaign ramble on, a strange ad by an oil interest group pointing out the untapped offshore reserves (all of which are in hurricane-prone areas) and Sen. Obama stir like a sleeping dragon. Oh, and I now understand what all the hype over HD TV is about.
The apartment is shaping up, after it shaped us up; I have bruises all up and down my arms. Still, my left ear is ringing and I haven't put my desktop back together so I don't have access to all my music. The comic boxes are all in place; still need to unpack my book boxes. The kitchen is stocked and soon enough the liquor cabinet will too.
For the moment, as you can imagine, new blog posts will come at a slow pace. The election is heating up though and I have two series of posts to map out about modern masculinity and consumer culture in America. The last two require a bit of research from me and I haven't read all of the material I need to yet. Plus I feel like stretching my wings a bit and being more random in what I post about. So stay tuned as vague promises of untold riches await your future.

Jockin' Jay-Z

Man charged over Gallagher attack - BBC News

You know, when I first heard about this I thought, 'Aw shit, they nabbed Jay-Z for nothing again."

Aural Explorations

So I ruptured my eardrum Saturday night (don't ask, it's too great of a story). Now I'm in this sort of aural isolation because the other ear didn't work so well before. Plus I get to wear these lovely orange foam ear protectors. But it got me thinking about a program coming on the Science Channel soon about isolation experiments and Grant Morrison's current story arc on Batman. Morrison has woven a tale of Batman's early years and his attempts to push his body and mind to their limit through a ten-day isolation experiment along with Bruce Wayne's time spent in the midst of a forty-nine day mediative isolation that supposedly puts you through the whole process of dying and being reborn. That story goes so far as to roll a rock in front of the cave Wayne mediates in.
Isolation is a strange idea. We've all heard how the blind seem to have extraordinary senses as compensation for their lack of sight. Our senses are our windows to the physical world. Without them we would do nothing but bang ourselves into things with no understanding that we've stopped nor where to move next. We would have quickly lost the evolutionary race. Isolation experiments show what happens when you selectively take away a sense and the frustration and madness that follows. We are beings meant to have sensory stimulation. Our brains devote large portions of itself to the receiving and interpreting of sensory data. Take away your senses and your brain will end up using those neurons for something else, or even fake sensation to keep itself occupied.
This is why sensory deprivation experiments are both so fascinating and so dangerous. The mind can only take so much loss of sense before it creates to sense. Stick someone in isolation for ten days or forty-nine days and you might not get the same person back out. That is the crux of Morrison's story in Batman right now. Push the mind to such an extreme and what kind of madness follows? Moreover, for a character like Batman, someone who plans for everything, what does one gain from complete sensory isolation? Morrison suggests that Batman allows himself to create secondary personae, a sort of back-up person to take over if the mind of Bruce Wayne were ever broken.
But for me, I just have a busted ear drum. The ringing in my ear isn't so bad now and I think it's healing nicely, but still I have to remain cautious as to what environments I subject myself to. It's a pain in the ass but what else can I do? Two weeks to two months is the time span I'm looking at. Luckily I already had a doctor's visit scheduled for next week.

Desperate Ads

I'll provide the link but I won't post the video that was played at the Republican National Convention this year. I'm not surprised that the current incarnation of the GOP would stoop so low. That doesn't make it acceptable though. The 9/11 video aired was another clear element of the politics of fear many Republicans currently practice. I don't like it. 9/11 was a terrible even for every American, not just the Republicans. And fighting against terrorism is a fight every American is invested in. The only thing I can conclude from the usage of 9/11 video in a campaign ad is the desperation on the part of the campaign airing it. It may be that I eventually decide to not vote for Sen. Obama but I do know that I can never bring myself to vote for Sen. McCain now. His campaign crossed a line with me that they can't call a mulligan on.

Double Mint

John Ridley over at The Huffington Post has a amusing little piece on the double standard applied to Sen. Obama and Gov. Palin. Apparently Ridley is collecting what he calls "Palinisms" as a way to highlight said double standard. This is volume two of what he promises as a series of future columns:

"Before we start, I'd like to note that I intimated in Vol. 1 that English is a Latin based language. Hondorf was among a few others who pointed out that English is "primarily German based, yes, but it is really a hybrid of Germanic and Romantic languages . . . by the way, I am a redneck."

Clearly, none of us should judge a neck by its color.

A reminder, we're collecting Palinisms here, and over at That Minority Thing.com. If you've got 'em, send 'em.

Ready? Let's begin!

If you get 18 million people to vote for you in a national presidential primary, you're a "phoney." Get 100,000+ people to vote you governor of the 47th most populous state in the Union, you're "well loved."

SoyAA says: If you are biracial and born in a state not connected to the lower 48, America needs darn near 2 years and 3 major speeches to "get to know you." If you're white and from a state not connected to the lower 48, America needs 36 minutes and 38 seconds worth of an acceptance speech to know you're "one of us."

If you give your wife a dap on stage, it's actually a "terrorist fist jab." If your daughter licks her palm so that she can slick down your youngest child's hair on national TV it's an "adorable moment." (Seriously, forget about abstinence only, teach these folks some grooming skills).

DTD SAYS: If your pastor rails against inequality in the United States of America, you're an "extremist." If your pastor welcomes a sermon by a member of Jews for Jesus who preaches that the killing of Jews by terrorists is a lesson to Jews that they must convert to Christianity, you're a "fundamentalist."

If you're a black man and you use a scholarship to get into college, then work your way up to being the president of the Harvard Law Review, you're "uppity." If you're a conservative and your parents pay your way to Hawaii Pacific University . . . you only have four more schools to attend over the next five years before you somehow manage to graduate (it might be five more schools over the next five years. No one has yet verified whether or not Palin was actually ever registered at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. But, you know how shady people are who ever attended any kind of school in Hawaii).

SeanOcali says: If you're 18, white, and get a 16 year old girl pregnant "life happens." If you're 18, black, and impregnate a 16 year old girl, you're a "registered sex offender."

If you spend 18 months building a campaign around the theme of "Change," it's just "empty rhetoric." If one week before your party's national convention you SUDDENLY make your candidacy about "Change," that's "red meat."

And your last lesson for the day:

If you are a Democrat, an Independent, or even a moderate Republican, if you're female, male, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, bi-racial, multi-ethnic, or GLBT, if you're a Jew, Gentile, Muslim, agnostic or atheist -- "Yes, we can!"

If you're a pitbull with lipstick from Alaska, "Yup, yup"

Stalin Palin

Palin's Problem - Charles Krauthammer @ Washington Post

I knew from the moment that Gov. Palin was chosen for Sen. McCain's VP slot that the blue-blood neo-cons would throw a fit. Krauthammer in particular is one who won't stand for a politician so close to the Presidency who doesn't have the foreign policy chops. This is not to say that Krauthammer would offer praise for Sen. Obama or Sen. Biden after the Palin decision, but it does put Krauthammer in a hard spot. Gov. Palin isn't a neo-con by anyone's definition and if you take a look at the churches Gov. Palin has attended you'll find a gospel of anti-Semitism and general hatred of the Jews.
What Sen. McCain did when he chose Gov. Palin was decide that he didn't need the backing of the neo-conservatives but did need the social conservatives. Problem is, if all you are doing is trying to rally your supposed base then your campaign is in serious trouble. Maybe Gov. Palin will appeal to more than just the social conservatives? Then again, she may turn just as many people away from Sen. McCain. There's nine weeks of campaigning left and one has to wonder whether Sen. McCain's gamble will pay off or break the house.

Live Blogging: John McCain

Was the bio clip selling McCain or coins, because it sounded exactly like one of those commemorative coin adverts.

9:21PM - I feel like I'm stuck in a slow-motion lecture. When McCain pauses for more than a few seconds the crowd goes into chant mode.

9:24PM - Is security that fucked up?

9:25PM - Can the crowd do anything else but chant U.S.A.?

9:29PM - So far, nothing. I'm bored. Where are the pills?

9:31PM - So McCain doesn't know the difference between strategy and tactics. Wonderful.

9:32PM - Vietnam mention: take a shot.

9:36PM - Vague promise of fixing the energy problem. Oh, and back to basics? What the fuck does that mean?

9:38PM - More "no more legislating from the bench" tripe.

9:39PM - Running down the line of rhetorics with no presentation of alternative ideas or how to achieve them.

9:42PM - Education is the civil rights movement of this century? More empty rhetoric. I haven't heard a single specific policy proposal yet.

9:46PM - Attacking Obama on not wanting to drill. Has McCain listened to T. Boone Pickens lately?

9:50PM - Oh God, he's invoking World War II. What next? The Civil War?

9:52PM - Partisan rancor? And who started that again? Pap, pap, and more pap. Oh, and another Vietnam reference: take a shot.

9:55PM - Two Vietnam references: take two shots.

9:58PM - Alright, just start downing your bottles please.

9:59PM - Finally he mentions that "enhanced interrogation" broke him. Keep drinking you bastards.

10:04PM - Now he keeps yelling at people to stand up. And that's that. I'm hitting the bottle again. Must find more pills.

Sarah Palin is the Last Starfighter

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin
I Ain't Nothing But Tired - Spencer Ackerman

Oh, I think we finally have achieve critical mass on hilarity in this campaign cycle. Any more and the McCain campaign will explode into a comedy worthy of Kafka. Now is the time when things go from mildly amusing to outright joke.

Women Should Be Seen And Not Heard

Jason Zengerle: a small man with a small sense of rhetoric. The speech was great and went a long way to blunting both the PUMAs and the Republicans. So grow up Zengerle and get over your mommy issues.

Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty

The Great White Debate has begun anew with the start of the Democratic convention. As a reader from Andrew Sullivan's site has noted, Sen. Obama doesn't fit into any of the preconceived categories white people have created for blacks. Moreover, the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) folk represent that side of the party that cares nothing for advancing the Democratic agenda. It's one thing when a member of the Republican party expresses fear of a black president, it's quite another when members of the party that's supposed to support Sen. Obama won't because he beat their favored candidate in the primaries. It's really stunning to see so much hatred thrown at a man who has done everything he can to unite people. But of course, he's black so we can't trust him.

Gun, Meet Foot

McCain Would Consider Reinstating The Draft - Colby @ Truemors

Now considering Sen. McCain's past of saying one thing in public only to have his handlers tell the press something completely different, I'm not going to lose any sleep over these statements. Until reinstating the draft becomes written policy for McCain's campaign then it's just words. However, if Sen. McCain were to make the draft part of his platform then he better make sure his GOTV efforts for the elderly are running superbly. That's because nearly ever person under thirty is going to vote for Sen. Obama. Even making passing comments about reinstating the draft for a war that the public has seriously soured on is like taking close aim at your foot with a very large gun. Moreover, during the week of the Democratic convention, you don't make stupid statements like this. Sen. McCain should know better that the Democrats will easily make his comments part of their campaigns and speeches this week.

Playing Well With Others

Something to tide me over. No, not you, you don't read me.


more cat pictures

Quick Hits

A quick run-down of recent campaign items that I don't have time to expand on:
1) McCain is burning through what little money he has for the general election on campaign ads in swing states: note that I didn't say he was building a ground game for those states, just running ads.
2) Obama comes back from vacation swinging attacking McCain for false accusations of patriotism.
3) McCain's "cross in the sand" ad is attracting way too much attention from the blogosphere to stand up for much longer.
4) For all of McCain's bluster of the past month, the national polls only show a marginal change with Obama still beating McCain in many important states.
5) McCain has started talking up a new cold war with Russia after the Georgian invasion and the Russian overreaction. Lovely. When is Obama going to stand up and say this is exactly the reason why we need strong international institutions?

That's all for now. My work on counter-culture continues.

Movin' Nicely

The dining room is full of boxes and odd and ends. It's starting to spread to the living room with boxes of books and comics to sell. I should take pictures, but I'd rather wait until serious parts of the bedrooms start coming apart. The move-in date is less than a month away. Still trying to scrounge up some labor hands to help; might have to actually pay money for that part. I'm not too keen on carrying nine short boxes of comics and two long boxes up three flights of stairs, let alone all the books Lindsy and I have between us. At least we're holding off on major furniture purchases until after we move in. And then there's the cats who have taken to playing in and around the boxes. It's like a huge playground with built-in napping boards.
Despite all of this, I'm still excited about moving. Sure it's only a couple of miles away from home, but we siblings have had the itch to get out of the house for quite some time now. It'll work, but it's fast becoming a marathon. Here's to the first stage of moving out.

Quote of Yesterday

Murkasey: Law-breaking is Not a Crime - Matt Yglesias

Quoth our dear Justice League Attorney General: “not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.” Which, of course, reminds me of the old saying, "It's only a crime if you get caught." Christ, I can't wait until these jokers are out of office and can't hide behind their desks so much. This is predicated though on Sen. Obama winning the presidency; my gut still tells me yes, but we aren't voting today.