Welcome back Friedman!

And what a way to come back - Friedman kicks some serious tail all 'round with a great column on climate change and government policy. Read it!

We all know someone like this.

Badly Injured Man Not Done Partying Yet

BATON ROUGE, LA—Veteran partier Adam Girard was seen pedaling down the street on a neighbor's bicycle, yelling that he going swimming and that his collarbone was fine.

Lou Ruvo Brain Institute in Las Vegas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Ruvo_Alzheimer

So cool.

WTF?

My Beautiful Mommy will no doubt lead to a generation of even more image-obsessed women - why on earth are bookstores allowing this monstrosity? Please, please, PLEASE no one buy this.

Defining Obama

Dylan Loewe does a great job with this examination of the recent lackluster quality of the Obama campaign. The suggestions he provides, I believe, are exactly what Obama needs.

Such a great idea.

So I popped a few of Blood, Sweat and Tears' greatest hits on my iPod. I'm notorious for planting musical boobytraps in my library since I'm such a fan of the shuffle. Anyway, whenever one of the BS&T songs comes on = instant smile because they are just hilarious. "And When I Die" has been a particularly stand-out track.

If it's peace you find in dying,
And if dying time is here,
Just bundle up my coffin'
Cause it's cold way down there.



Just bundle up my coffin...genius. Ha!

GREAT quote

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
-Abraham Lincoln


So true.

Hyphy

There are some Bay Area things I will most likely never understand.

Update: As a follow-up, when ghost riding goes wrong...

Slate imagines how Hillary could turn Springsteen's endorsement against Obama

So I'm a little late on this one, but still, found it funny enough to share post-primary.

Song To Bobby

Cat Power's ode to Dylan - beautiful, definitely the best track off of Jukebox. Get it.

Too cool

Earth's Hum Sounds More Mysterious Than Ever

I think the fact that the planet makes music speaks more eloquently to the absolute necessity of that art form than anything I've ever heard of.

Mark Morford provides an amusing commentary on the phenomenon.

PA Primary Thoughts

Thank you Steve Kornacki. I was very disappointed with David Brooks (as many of you are) for turning on Obama and Kornacki puts him in his place. Regarding the PA Clinton win - we all knew it was coming. As much faith as I have (had?) in my fellow Pennsylvanians - that was a ROUGH primary for Obama - between horrible debates, misspoken words, Hil-dog downing a shot of Crown Royal... definitely not the best set-up. But the good news is that he was projected to lose by a much larger percentage just a month or two ago, and the race was closer than many predicted.

“When Obama goes to a church infused with James Cone-style liberation theology, when he makes ill-informed comments about working-class voters, when he bowls a 37 for crying out loud, voters are going to wonder if he’s one of them,” wrote Mr. Brooks, a onetime Obama enthusiast, in a column titled “How Obama Fell to Earth.”

Add to that indictment Mr. Obama’s status as the “most liberal” member of the Senate (as determined, using questionable criteria, by the National Journal) and—voilà—the G.O.P. has its caricature: Barack Obama, the arrogant liberal elitist.

“A few months ago,” Mr. Brooks concluded, “Mr. Obama was riding his talents. … Now, Democrats are deeply worried their nominee will lose in November.”

Eh, not really. That logic fixates on all of the ammunition that Republicans have at their disposal against Mr. Obama. But it ignores the more basic question of whether voters, upon being exposed to the caricature, will actually buy into it.


As I have mentioned before - I think the voters JUST DON'T CARE. Plus, Hillary really is taking all the fun out of attacking Obama for the GOP. When she's done, all they can do is pick over the scraps. Obama hasn't taken nearly as many pot shots as Clinton - and boy are the Republicans going to have a field day if she turns out to be their opponent. Really, I just don't get the whole "electability" argument against Obama. Please come up with a fresh, preferably logical, argument Mrs. Clinton, or get out of the way already.

Update: Maureen Dowd actually manages to not embarass my gender today with her political commentary - here's an excerpt:

The very fact that he can’t shake her off has become her best argument against him. “Why can’t he close the deal?” Hillary taunted at a polling place on Tuesday.

She’s been running ads about it, suggesting he doesn’t have “what it takes” to run the country. Her message is unapologetically emasculating: If he does not have the gumption to put me in my place, when superdelegates are deserting me, money is drying up, he’s outspending me 2-to-1 on TV ads, my husband’s going crackers and party leaders are sick of me, how can he be trusted to totally obliterate Iran and stop Osama?

Bikers for Obama piece on Bill Maher

Hilarious.

Vanity Fair on Bob Dylan

http://www.vanityfair.com/ontheweb/blogs/daily/2008/04/dylan.html

Pretty cool feature examining the tastes of Bob Dylan based on his XM radio show. I was surprised (and also very not surprised) about a lot of the artists on there. Nice visual too. I enjoyed the quotes they pulled from Dylan, as well - here are a few of my favorites:

Re: Leadbelly – “One of the few ex-cons who recorded a popular children’s album.”

“Some people call Bob [Seger] the poor man’s Bruce Springsteen, but personally, I always thought Bruce was the rich man’s Bob Seger. Love ‘em both, though.”

“Willie Nelson’s tour bus runs on cooking oil….I’ve toured with Willie…sometimes late at night you can see us, I’m filling up my tank at the gas station and he’s filling his up at Denny’s.”

Re: Howlin’ Wolf—“This next song is entirely without flaw and meets all the supreme standards of excellence.”
*personal side note - I've become obsessed with Howlin' Wolf - get some!

“The Harmonica is the world’s best-selling musical instrument. You’re welcome.”

“Lipstick traces on cigarettes can get you in trouble or remind you of the wonders of the night before.”

BMW-sponsored photography

Despite corporate sponsorship, I enjoyed these photographs of the Flavorpill cities. John Curley does the ones of San Francisco - I enjoyed the shot of the bridge in the bay and the reflection of different buildings in the windows. I wanted to post the pictures on here, but blogger isn't allowing me to upload images right now, so a link will have to do.

Ten Things to Remember on Tuesday Night

Great Huffington Post commentary - here's an excerpt: "Hillbots will rejoice, Obamabots will panic, and McCainbots will watch Murder She Wrote and go to bed at six-thirty." This is going to be a fun election.

WWE Raw: Candidates Steps Into The Ring

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/21/candidates-to-appear-on-monday-night-raw/

Thanks to Kate for this one. I haven't watched the videos yet, but wow.

John Edwards on Colbert Report

I never knew he was so funny! Please consider VP, John...



This episode was fantastic (and all of them were filmed at UPenn's Annenberg Center this week). Other highlights: Barack Obama puts "distractions" on notice and Hillary Clinton fixes a screen.

Colbert on the last debate

"What Clinton Wishes She Could Say" - My Response

This commentary was fraught with misconceptions from the get-go. I'll try and keep this an concise as possible.

[Hillary] and Bill Clinton both devoutly believe that Obama’s likely victory is a disaster-in-waiting. Naive Democrats just don’t see it. And a timid, pro-Obama press corps, in their view, won’t tell the story.

Great start - labeling all Obama supporters as "naive Democrats" - does that really seem likely? We're naive - not the candidate running against Obama's all-but-insurmountable lead in delegates (as well as the popular vote, mind you)?

Republicans will also ruthlessly exploit openings that Clinton — in the genteel confines of an intraparty contest — never could. Top targets: Obama’s radioactive personal associations, his liberal ideology, his exotic life story, his coolly academic and elitist style.

Ha! I mean, seriously? Hillary hasn't targeted them? She's hit them all (and more!) and Americans (American Democrats plus Independents and even some Republicans, if we're to believe exit polls) have made it clear that THEY DON'T CARE. These are hardly policy-altering traits and when one weighs Obama's pros (a.k.a. his policies, ideas, composure, intellect, unwillingness to engage in political nastiness, sound judgment in the past, etc. etc. etc.) against "his coolly academic and elitist style" - well, let's just say I'm starting to have more faith in the reasoning skills of the American people again (following Bush's eight-year-long vacuum of intelligence - how did that ever happen!?).

But there is reason to question whether he would be able to perform at average levels with other main pillars of the traditional Democratic coalition: blue-collar whites, Jews and Hispanics. He has run decently among these groups in some places, but in general he’s run well behind her.

Finally, a fair assumption - he has had trouble with those demographic groups. So I decided to look up voting statistics by race from 2004 and see how it all pans out. Here's what I found (since the author is dealing in extremes, I decided to as well) - let's assume McCain gets the entire Hispanic vote and Obama gets the entire black vote. Wanting to make this a safe assumption, I decided to give McCain 51% of the white vote and split the Asians evenly (though from my own personal experience, they seem to support Barack Obama above Hillary Clinton and certainly above a Republican). But this is basically a sensitivity analysis, so I wanted to underestimate my team's chances of winning. Based on the total # voting in 2004 - here's what happened:

That would mean Barack would win 51.6% to 48.4%. Now you can say that my assumptions are out-of-whack (I did just pull them out of my behind) - but I think that if anything, I gave McCain too much. As I'm sure you all know, the Democrats have a HUGE advantage this year and McCain hasn't really done much to show he'll be a strong candidate. I mean, check out this research from the Pew Center. Plus, the author was right - Obama will likely inspire record turn-outs in black and youth voters. I don't see McCain doing the same. Nor Hillary for that matter. But yes, I'm completely and utterly biased.

The article continues with a number of arguments over what the Republican party can and/or will bring up about Obama (all speculation, of course). But the evidence thus far shows that Americans don't care about that petty little stuff anymore. And that Obama is TOUGH (do you think anyone else could have turned the Wright controversy into a political bonus?), tougher than everyone thinks. We have a nation striving to get away from the policies of the past eight years - and it begins with the election. Bush made it quite clear how he used religion and fear to win the election (well, possibly win...). America doesn't want to get fooled again. But here's the bottom line:

That is why some friends describe Clinton as seeing herself on a mission to save Democrats from themselves. Her candidacy may be a long shot, but no one should expect she will end it unless or until every last door has been shut.

Once again, I'm forced to bring up the fact that Hillary ambitiously believes she can "save" the Democratic Party (while simultaneously attempting to destroy their most likely nominee), but she can't even run a campaign that was known from the beginning as "inevitable." I just don't buy it.

Time to feel nostalgic whilst reading The Daily Pennsylvanian

http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/04/16/Opinion/Barack.Obama.Its.Time.For.Change-3328031.shtml

Barack Obama writes a guest column in ye olde DP.

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!

Bruce Springsteen Endorses Obama!!!






First of all, as an Obama-supporting Jersey girl - I love this. But more importantly, this comes at the perfect time for Obama. After the "bitter" comment uproar, he needed an endorsement from someone that the working man can relate to - and nobody understands and embodies both the troubles and the glories of the Mid-Atlantic region like the Boss. Fantastic news.


p.s. Bruce's influence in this region may be under-estimated by pundits, or not, but as for me, I think Obama's got the Pennsylvania primary on lockdown. I mean, does it get more patriotic than this:


I don't think so.

High-Def San Francisco

This site is phenomenal. Here is one of my favorites, though the entire "Best of" section is spectacular.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA!

Move over, Ozzfest: Motley Crue announces Crue Fest (AP)

Up-and-coming bands I'm digging

Expect to see (hear?) good things from:

She & Him

The pair of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel has a lovely, lovely sound.

David Ford

An indie anglophile's dream boy.

Daily Show coverage of the "bitter" gaffe

Jon Stewart uses the one defense that makes so much sense, I never expected to hear it - I want my president to be better than I am!

Nutter and Clinton pair up

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/politics/14penn.html?ref=us

This article definitely had some embedded greatness in that it both gave voice to the difficulty of Americans trying to discuss race without being racist or saying anything that could possibly be construed as racist (1) and allowed for some humor about stereotypes of political endorsement (2).

1
Vivian McCabe, a grandmother, neighborhood block captain and supporter of both Mr. Nutter and Mr. Obama, expressed the frustration in a sidewalk interview the other day. “I was shocked,” she said, referring to Mr. Nutter’s endorsement of Mrs. Clinton. “Not because he’s black, but — I was just looking at him to...” She paused. “What words should I use?” she said. She could not come up with any.


2
“He’s a really nice guy who’s talking about really important issues,” Mr. Nutter said last week while sitting over a late dinner of grilled cheese and chocolate milk at his favorite diner, Little Pete’s, “and I am aware that he is African-American.” Mr. Nutter’s wit is dry almost to the point of brittle.

Barack Obama and economic elitism

Jane Smiley gets pissed off at the HuffPost over the Clinton backlash against Obama's SF remarks (the stage really was set for something like this, was it not?). Meanwhile, Nico Pitney remembers another snazzy politician saying something similar once.

"The reason (George H. W. Bush's tactic) works so well now is that you have all these economically insecure white people who are scared to death," Clinton was quoted saying by the Los Angeles Times in September 1991.

My personal opinion is that Obama misspoke (or more accurately, he phrased his ideas in a way that is a little too dangerous taken out of context) but did not mean to be condescending. It was reminiscent of Bob Dylan's song Only a Pawn in Their Game - the over-arching theme of which, like most timeless music, fits really well in our current situation, as well as his. "...[T]he poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool..." Clinton at least is doing her darndest to ratify that line.

And actually, I think this little summary from Robert Shrum really points out the absurdity of all the fuss:

The political question here, of course, is whether the Clinton and McCain campaigns can exploit Obama's remarks to tag him as an "elitist" -- a label, their focus groups probably tell them, that can really hurt. Ironically, Obama's the one raised by a single mother. He's the one who only recently finished paying off his student loans. He doesn't know what it's like to have $100 million. The opponents who are attacking him are the ones who inhabit that financial neighborhood.

Zing!

Really interesting political piece highlighting PA vs. CA

Obama: No Surprise That Hard-Pressed Pennsylvanians Turn Bitter

Brooks column on memory loss

The Great Forgetting

Best line: "It is especially painful when narcissists suffer memory loss because they are losing parts of the person they love most."


*I realize that Alzheimer's etc. is not funny - but I think Brooks treated the subject with respectful levity and managed to see the bright side of a potentially tragic nationwide epidemic: "shorter memoirs."

"Right here, buddy!"

C'mon, we've all been there.

Area Man Makes It Through Day

SCHAUMBURG, IL—Besieged on all sides by such opponents as suburban conformity, inner emptiness, and virus laden spam e-mail, Adam Blume managed to survive another 24 hours.

"Man, what a day," Blume said regarding his 16-hour battle with everything from public transportation to profound spiritual alienation.

Street Installations

http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com/outside.html

Seriously?

Aspiring Politican Changes Name To Pro-Life

That's right. And it will appear on the ballot that way. Sham, much?

Taxes!

I know it's everyone's favorite subject, particularly at this time of year. Thanks to Evan for pointing me to this well-done tax matrix for the presidential candidates. I had a decent understanding (and support) of Obama's tax policies, and this reinforced my views.

You've GOT to be kidding me!

Builders, Banks Could Get Tax Breaks

Here is the problem with what the American economy has become. After hearing about one too many fairy tales of entering the stock market at the right time, making millions, then getting out before the big bust - every investor now believes they can do it. When the logical course of events shows that they cannot, well, now they have the Super Fed around to save all the... poor helpless investment bankers. Basically, you have financial players purposefully creating bubbles, in hopes of profiting short-term, rather than investing with a more healthy, long-term approach. This strategy works, because even when it doesn't, the big banks have a big ol' government safety net - which creates moral hazard in terms of risk-reward assessment. Mark my words, if this sort of government action is allowed to continue, our booms and busts will continue to get closer and closer together, until the economy fluctuates like the seasons. And with that kind of instability, you can say goodbye to any sort of progress, any gains in our quality of life. With that kind of instability, America will one day be the world's Bear Stearns, and lord knows what country will play the role of JPMorgan (although China is looking increasingly likely...).

Side note: This Slate commentary focuses more on the bad economics of this policy than the bad principles - also a good read.

Garfield minus Garfield

**Thanks to Chris for this

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

^It's exactly what it sounds like, but the results are more surprising than you'd think.

Understanding the Subprime Crisis

A good (and amusing) primer.

Polling

81% in Poll Say Nation Is on the Wrong Track

These results don't surprise me at all. What does, however, is the poor phrasing of the poll's choices.

81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.

I believe your other choice is "generally going in the right direction". Are all those qualifiers necessary? Must we be so timid in our polling? Why wasn't it: America is heading in the ______ direction - check "right" or "wrong". Sometimes simpler is so much better. Instead, we have things that have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track. Ugh.

Yes, that's it!

Morford clarifies why I've been feeling so good about the whole Obama campaign. Hint: It's not [just] him, it's me, and you, and you....

Another great thing about California

BevMo, oh BevMo - how will I ever live without thee? This burst of poetry could have only stemmed from BevMo's cherished 5-cent wine sale - which I took gleeful advantage of and managed to walk away with 12 pretty decent bottles for $60 (clearly I'm no connoisseur, but I do my best with my budget). Now it's dinner party time!

Great column on U.S. v. Europe

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/opinion/03cohen.html?th&emc=th

More commentary later, but for now - just read it.

Willpower

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02aamodt.html?em&ex=1207368000&en=389b01b889cd3fb2&ei=5087%0A

Just a lot of interesting observations about will power and what may be ahead in these hard economic times.

10th Anniversary of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

...and these guys made videos. Check 'em out.

http://www.tomatoes-radiowire.com/

"How could a love this sexy end? After many long nights in my round circular bed wondering..."

Smoove Is Waiting

Girl, there comes a time when even a strong, well-dressed man must admit defeat. It has been a long time since we broke up and you left...