fountains of angst

Happy Xmas

2008-12-25T09:23:00.002-06:00

War is over.

If you want it.

I will learn this song in 2009. I promise.

YouTube Wednesday

2008-12-17T22:00:00.001-06:00

Vinyl Monday begets YouTube Wednesday.

via clusterflock

New Feature

2008-12-07T20:38:00.004-06:00

A new feature from your from the Editor/Writer/Purveyor of Shrill:

Fox Personality That Makes Me Drop The F-bomb Today

First recipient: Bill O'Reilly.

What is wrong with these people? I'd like to have a word with his man on the street. Seriously, I know Obama's all about civility but these Fox people REALLY make it difficult, because they're well such....arrogant assholes.

What Atrios Said

2008-12-04T23:44:00.001-06:00

Genius.

Lyrics of the Day

2008-12-04T22:45:00.001-06:00

Some things you lose.
Some things you give away.

-Good Things, Sleater-Kinney

Ankle Breaker

2008-12-03T23:16:00.002-06:00

In case you missed this sick crossover dribble by D. Rose, a sure cure for Chicago sport mediocrity.

via Chris Hayes

What Kanye Said.

2008-12-03T22:57:00.002-06:00

Sia.

Love the music, album artwork, and album title. If her voice sounds familiar, Sia was part of Zero 7 which had a song on the Garden State soundtrack.

Have to find a spot for this on my best of 2008 mix.

Lyrics of the Day

2008-11-25T01:06:00.003-06:00

See this needle...a see my hand...
Drop, drop, dropping it down...oh, so gently...
Well here it comes...I touch the plane...
Turn me up...won't turn you away...

Spin, spin...spin the black circle
Spin, spin...spin the black, spin the black...
Spin, spin...spin the black circle
Spin, spin...whoa...

Pull it out...a paper sleeve...
Oh, my joy...only you deserve conceit...
I'm so big...a-my whole world...
I'd rather you...rather you...than her...

You're so warm...oh, the ritual...when I lay down your crooked arm...

-Spin the Black Circle, Pearl Jam

Ummm, what about Thanksgiving?

2008-11-25T01:01:00.002-06:00

Isn't it nice when someone can express exactly how you're (in this case, me) feeling?

Thank you, Andrew.

Makes you feel a little less disconnected.

6 Words I Never Want to Say

2008-11-23T21:37:00.001-06:00

I felt my eyeball pop out.

The most frightening injury came in 2003, during a game against Brazil. McBride dove over the top of a defender hoping to head a corner kick into the net. The defender threw his head back and caught McBride flush on the left cheek.

"I knew it was a hard hit. I ran with the trainer into the locker room." After some hasty repairs, the coach and the medical staff were ready to send McBride back into battle. And McBride was ready to go until he sneezed.

"I felt my eyeball pop out," he recalls. "I'm not saying it popped out like you see in a cartoon, but I could feel it move forward. So I told coach this might be serious." It was another fractured orbital floor. In all, McBride's still-handsome face contains seven titanium plates and the fading scars of more stitches than he can count. The injuries have deadened the feeling in his face, so much so that he says he scarcely felt the famous elbow in the Italy game.

Despite these injuries, McBride never shows fear or hesitation in going after balls with his oft-damaged skull. "He was, and still is, incredibly brave playing with the injuries he's had," said Moyes, the Everton manager.

In the U.S., soccer is viewed as a kids' game, a tame, mild-mannered sport. MLS thinks McBride can change the image.

"Hopefully, they'll see Brian and they'll see it's a sport for rough-tough competitive athletes," says Don Garber, a former NFL executive who is now the MLS commissioner. "In Chicago, people think of Dick Butkus and Mike Ditka and Mike Singletary when they think of tough guys. But those guys had helmets and shoulder pads. Brian is out there, same as them, in a very physical sport, but he has no protection. He's a true warrior."

A Million Little Pieces

2008-11-21T13:53:00.002-06:00

All I can say is, thank you modernity:

If conservatism is to recover as a force in the modern world, the theocons and Christianists have to understand that their concept of a unified polis with a telos guiding all of us to a theologically-understood social good is a non-starter. Modernity has smashed it into a million little pieces. Women will never return in their consciousness to the child-bearing subservience of the not-so-distant past. Gay people will never again internalize a sense of their own "objective disorder" to acquiesce to a civil regime where they are willingly second-class citizens. Straight men and women are never again going to avoid divorce to the degree our parents did. Nor are they going to have kids because contraception is illicit. The only way to force all these genies back into the bottle would require the kind of oppressive police state Rod would not want to live under.

But how do those who are ready to live in this modern world coexist with those who still believe that it is not only misguided but evil? And, of course, vice-versa? There is only one way.

That way is to agree that our civil order will mean less; that it will be a weaker set of more procedural agreements that try to avoid as much as possible deep statements about human nature. And that has a clear import for our current moment. The reason the marriage debate is so intense is because neither side seems able to accept that the word "marriage" requires a certain looseness of meaning if it is to remain as a universal, civil institution. This is not that new. Catholics, for example, accept the word marriage to describe civil marriages that are second marriages, even though their own faith teaches them that those marriages don't actually exist as such. But most Catholics are able to set theological beliefs to one side and accept a theological untruth as a civil fact. After all, a core, undebatable Catholic doctrine is that marriage is for life. Divorce is not the end of that marriage in the eyes of God. And yet Catholics can tolerate fellow citizens who are not Catholic calling their non-marriages marriages - because Catholics have already accepted a civil-religious distinction. They can wear both hats in the public square.

Harry Reid Hearts Ted Stevens

2008-11-21T13:28:00.001-06:00

Not change I can believe in.

Why Conservatives Lose

2008-11-21T13:14:00.003-06:00

As Nate brilliantly observes, they could care less about persuading anyone.

It is not that conservatism generally permits less nuance than liberalism (in terms of political messaging, that is probably one of conservatism's strengths). Rather, the key lies in the second passage that I highlighted. There are a certain segment of conservatives who literally cannot believe that anybody would see the world differently than the way they do. They have not just forgotten how to persuade; they have forgotten about the necessity of persuasion.

They are right. You are wrong. You are stupid. They are smart.

Wonder why no one likes them?

Visual evidence.

YouTube via Chris Hayes

Lyrics of the Day

2008-11-19T23:19:00.003-06:00

Reality is the new fiction these days
Truth is truer these days
Truth is man-made

-Sleater-Kinney, Entertain

P.S. Carrie has a blog here.

Lying Liars

2008-11-19T23:04:00.001-06:00

Surprise.

It's O'Reilly!

via Atrios

Too Bad

2008-11-19T23:02:00.000-06:00

Stephen Baldwin's staying.

Funny Guy

2008-11-19T22:58:00.001-06:00

Thankfully, most Tennesseans weren't amused by this columnist/principal/racist idiot.

The Bush Era in a Nutshell

2008-11-19T22:55:00.001-06:00

Nobody could have predicted...blah, blah, blah.

It's either that or everything is Clinton's fault.

The Obama Effect

2008-11-19T22:25:00.002-06:00

Al Qaeda is forced to resort to racist attacks.

That's exactly right. It's easy to forget how much of the world personalizes foreign policy. (Americans, of course, are no exception.) With an American president as loathed as George W. Bush around the world, it's easy for Al Qaeda to portray the U.S. as venal and stupid and brutish as he's proven. Obama complicates the narrative significantly: the very color of his skin, precisely what Al Qaeda mocks, symbolizes America's willingness to change. That's exactly what Al Qaeda fears most.

That's why I kind of disagree with my friend Eric Martin of Obsidian Wings when he writes, "for no apparent reason, Zawahiri leads al-Qaeda directly into that headwind with a racial insult that serves little ideological purpose." The racial epithet is a botched way of advancing a deep ideological necessity for Al Qaeda: to keep its narrative going, Zawahiri has to define Obama as not authentically American. As guest-poster RockRichard puts it, "It flies in the face of their portrayal of an evil zionist empire."

Good Night

2008-11-18T22:57:00.002-06:00

From The Decemberists...

via Atrios, who always seems to share the best late night music videos

Newt!

2008-11-18T22:45:00.003-06:00

The gift that keeps on giving.

Don't ever change! America needs visionary patriots like you.

No Drama

2008-11-18T21:08:00.002-06:00

President-elect Obama is so much better than me.

This, incidentally, is the other side of No Drama Obama: Part of avoiding drama is refusing to make decisions based on your own drama. You're seeing it with Lieberman and you're seeing it with Clinton. Whatever the objective strategic merits of these moves, Obama is building out his administration with little heed to the resentments and hurt feelings of the campaign. He's letting the campaign drama die so that his agenda may live.

I'd take away Lieberman's chairmanship in a heartbeat.

This temperament is exactly why he will get things accomplished as President.

(By the way, I like saying President-elect Obama.)

Why I Can't Be Catholic, Pt. 3

2008-11-18T21:04:00.002-06:00

Homosexuality = Psychic Disturbance

Dempster's Back

2008-11-18T20:45:00.002-06:00

If you needed any other reason to be happy about this other than his 17-6 season and a 2.96 ERA, here you go.

Maybe I'll go get that blank Cubs jersey updated this offseason.

Bumpersticker of the Day

2008-11-17T22:05:00.003-06:00

Made especially for Hannity and friends.

What Yglesias Said

2008-11-16T22:22:00.002-06:00

Solidarity forever.

Maddow rules.

Full disclosure: This post was not written in a basement nor was I wearing pajamas. I was however, eating Cheez-Its. Yum.

Why I Can't Be Catholic, Pt. 2

2008-11-16T21:58:00.002-06:00

I'm sure they would deny me communion if I already didn't do them that favor, because I believe that women should be able to be priests, that what women do with their reproductive parts are nobody's business but their own, and that love should not be discriminated against.

It appears that the offending priest has been scolded, but he feel like he's getting mixed signals after this.

Your Liberal Media

2008-11-16T21:56:00.000-06:00

Still not liberal.

via Atrios.

Memories

2008-11-16T21:50:00.002-06:00

I saw this movie when I was 6. Let's just say Tina Turner left an impression. (Anyone who's seen the movie will know what I'm talking about.)

Explains alot.

[YouTube via Atrios.]

Chicago Stands Up Against H8

2008-11-16T21:38:00.002-06:00

Report from Prop 8 protest on Saturday.

See Andrew Sullivan's blog for reports from all over the United States.

Dance Biscuits

2008-11-16T21:31:00.002-06:00

Didn't watch SNL last night, but this had to be a highlight.

Justin Timberlake & Beyonce - Parodie "Single Ladies" SNL
by Rock_You_Justin

via Jezebel

Happy Belated Birthday

2008-11-15T19:00:00.004-06:00

Corin Tucker.

You should know that I'm saving my Sleater-Kinney shirts for my 2-1/2 year old daughter, Kate.

I'll never forget my first Sleater-Kinney show at The Metro in Chicago. I've been in love ever since.

Update: A memento

Not my first show, still need to scan that one.

Burnin' For You

2008-11-15T18:02:00.002-06:00

The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers covered this last night. Awesome.

Your Liberal Media

2008-11-15T17:58:00.000-06:00

Some data.

Why I Can't Be Catholic

2008-11-13T23:25:00.003-06:00

Why?

The leaders of the church. Sanctimonious hypocrites, so above politics, these cardinals and bishops. (They remind me of Sen. Lieberman)

"Any one of us here would consider it a privilege to die tomorrow—die tomorrow!—to bring about the end of abortion," said Auxiliary Bishop Robert Hermann of St. Louis.

[...]

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pa., vice president-elect Joe Biden's hometown, called on his brother bishops to be more punitive against Catholic officials who are "stridently anti-life."

"I cannot have the vice president coming to Scranton and saying he learned his values there when those values are utterly against those of the Catholic Church," Martino said.

Stridently "anti-life" if you believe a woman has the right to control her own uterus?

It's amazing how the bishops couldn't even wait until President-Elect Obama was inaugurated to start attacking? They must have been shocked that their flock didn't vote for MORE WAR and POVERTY and INCOME REDISTRIBUTION UPWARDS.

Is it possible for these leaders of the Catholic church to be more punitive?

How about promoting sex education and birth control to reduce abortions?
Nah, abstinence education. That works really well.

How about some "legal protections" for the children (former unborn) molested by the priests you protect?
Pro-life from conception to birth. After that you're on your own, especially if you're a woman or a child.

How about losing your tax-exempt status?
How about losing my offering? Maybe I'll just tithe to Obama.
Got your attention?

The Questionnaire

2008-11-13T21:57:00.005-06:00

Unlike Sarah, I know my limitations.

All they have to do is look at my blog.

Definitely things here that might embarrass the President-Elect.

Thank You Veterans

2008-11-11T07:53:00.003-06:00

We admire and honor your courage, sacrifice, and service, as well as the sacrifice of your families.

What can we do outside of words?

Some ideas:

Make a donation to the USO.

Read this.

While it is fitting that our nation reserves a special day to honor the sacrifice and commitment of our warriors, it also serves to highlight how we, as a country, have fallen short of caring for our veterans, reintegrating them back into our communities, and demanding that our military be used responsibly and only as a last resort. Over 1.7 million men and women of the U.S. military have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of them now struggle to cope with physical and emotional injuries, with family relationships strained because of prolonged separation, and with finding employment during an economic recession.

Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War know that in order to truly honor our veterans, we must listen to them, not just on Veterans Day, but on the other 364 days as well. It is for each other, our military brothers and sisters, and for our country that IVAW works every day to share our experiences, to challenge the predominant narrative of war as heroic and glorious, and to expose people to the brutal reality and true human costs of modern warfare.

Volunteer at a Veterans Hospital.

Buy this DVD.

Wingnut of the Day

2008-11-11T07:50:00.001-06:00

It really is a stunning alternate universe they have crafted for themselves.

My New Favorite T-shirt

2008-11-09T23:27:00.004-06:00

Available here.

Be sure to check out their other shirts here.

I absolutely need more t-shirts.

link via Kanye

Instant Karma!

2008-11-09T22:56:00.001-06:00

Too bad.

What To Do About Joe

2008-11-09T22:51:00.003-06:00

You'll get nothing.

And the simple fact is the Democrats don't need Joe Lieberman. He's not in a position to call anything 'unacceptable'. The Democrats didn't get to 60 votes or at least it now seems highly unlikely -- which was his only hope to have any continued relevance or position to bargain from. And the truth is that filibuster-busting votes are often made on an ad-hoc basis rather than on a party line. In any case, there'd be no more reason to trust he'd be there as a 60th vote as a Democrat than as a Republican.

Sen. Reid should take a cue from the one his fictional predecessor once heard in telling Lieberman how it's going to be: "My offer is this. Nothing."

Works for me.

Hell Yeah

2008-11-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

I love this.

GYWO

2008-11-09T20:52:00.001-06:00

The election edition.

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

via Andrew Sullivan

Beautiful Day

2008-11-04T22:11:00.002-06:00

Change is coming to America.

Public Service Announcement

2008-11-04T09:42:00.005-06:00

If you don't know where your polling place is, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or use Google Maps Voter Info.

If lines are long and you need a refreshment, don't hesitate to give me a call/email/text.

Change is coming. I can feel it.

Blue Virginia

2008-11-03T22:58:00.002-06:00

Here's why.

Tribute to Madelyn Dunham

2008-11-03T22:52:00.003-06:00

Your Liberal Media, Pt. 2

2008-11-03T22:36:00.003-06:00

Still not liberal.

Not the most trusted name in news either.

Teh Stupids

2008-11-03T22:14:00.002-06:00

The Sarah and Joe Show.

Got it, Sarah? No one would complain if you were just looking at Obama’s plan or record and saying he is too liberal or has the wrong ideas. But when you and your buddies run around smearing him as a traitor, a friend of terrorists, or not sufficiently loyal, then you cross the line. This woman is either incredibly stupid, incredibly dishonest, or a toxic combination of both. John McCain’s career should be forever marred for his having elevated her to the national platform.

Shame on you Sen. McCain. Joe and Sarah are idiots, but you should know better.

Sleazy Sarah

2008-11-03T22:05:00.000-06:00

Democrats love terrorists!

Your Liberal Media

2008-11-03T21:57:00.001-06:00

Not.

Genius

2008-11-03T21:53:00.002-06:00

All parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents will appreciate this innovation.

The people who design children's toy packaging are sadists.

Thank you Jeff Bezos.

Your Republican Party

2008-11-03T21:52:00.000-06:00

Classy to the end.

SuperBarack

2008-11-03T21:50:00.001-06:00

I agree with Oliver. This could possible be the best web video ever.

Tomorrow's Shocker

2008-11-03T21:43:00.001-06:00

Blue Georgia?

Republican Idiot of the Day

2008-11-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

Hank Williams Jr.

(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) - At a Sarah Palin rally here tonight, country music star Hank Williams, Jr. took the stage to sing the national anthem, as he has done at Palin events across the country for weeks. But this time, the singer decided to share his personal views about Barack Obama with the crowd.

“You know, I’m usually at ‘Monday Night Football' tonight, but Colorado, this is a lot more important tonight,” Williams, Jr. said. “Join me now in our national—you know, that song that, uh, Mr. Obama’s not real crazy about, we’re singing it right now.”

F**k you Hank. You've soiled your dad's name, uh, just like the current President your so, uh, fond of.

link via Marc Ambinder

Vote For Change

2008-11-01T21:11:00.003-05:00

The tour. 2004. We tried our best but fell short.

Part 1 is now online.

2008 is going to be different. I can feel it.

Can you?

Studs Terkel

2008-11-01T11:11:00.004-05:00

Great tribute by Rick Kogan in the Chicago Tribune.

My favorite excerpts:

1. Talking about meeting his wife.

"The first time I saw her she was wearing a maroon dress," Terkel once recalled. "She made a lot more money than I did. It was like dating a CEO. I borrowed 20 bucks from her for our first date. I never paid her back."

2. Talking about his wife's death

"It's hard. It's very hard," he said the day she died. "She was seven days older than me, and I would always joke that I married an older woman. That's the thing: Who's gonna laugh at my jokes? At those jokes I've told a million times? That's the thing ... ... Who's gonna be there to laugh?"

3. Talking about his epitaph and death.

He was in that living room last year when he said with zest that when he "checked out"--as a "hotel kid" he rarely used the word "dying," preferring the euphemism "checking out" and its variants--he wanted to be cremated. He wanted his ashes mixed with those of his wife, which sat in an urn in the living room of his house, near the bed in which he slept and dreamed.

"My epitaph? My epitaph will be, 'Curiosity did not kill this cat,'." he said.

He then said that he wanted his and Ida's ashes to be scattered in Bughouse Square, that patch of green park that so informed his first years in his adopted city.

"Scatter us there," he said, a gleeful grin on his face. "It's against the law. Let 'em sue us."

Your Republican Party

2008-11-01T10:28:00.002-05:00

Brain dead acolytes.

Look- the intellectual wing of the Republican party is dead. What is left are brain-dead acolytes spreading meaningless and simplistic anecdotes, trite stories, and distilled nonsense passed on that has a more fitting home in AM radio. The McCain campaign, once again, is just a symptom of the real problem- an intellectually incurious and lazy movement in the final ugly spasms of death. The McCain campaign is now, in their interviews with the press, spreading what we can all recognize as wingnut email chains.

RIP, Republicans.

I believe this is what Cheney referred to as "the last throes."

The Past Talking

2008-11-01T10:15:00.002-05:00

While choking on its own bile.

End this creep's term Georgia.

Long Lines in Atlanta

2008-11-01T10:11:00.001-05:00

This must be more great news for McCain.

Organized Crime

2008-11-01T10:07:00.002-05:00

Bush-McCain Syndicate style.

Good News for McCain!

2008-11-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

Arizona is a toss up.

Wilco The Song

2008-11-01T09:52:00.003-05:00

Sort of like "Joe The Plumber", but intelligent and entertaining.

Full episode here.

Lyric of the Day

2008-10-31T23:44:00.002-05:00

If all men were truly brothers, why then can't we love another?
With love and peace from ocean to ocean
Somebody please second my emotion.
All men we're born to be free, yeah.
What about you?
What about me?

Election Night Prep

2008-10-31T23:18:00.002-05:00

Ezra points you to an article that can make you look smart at your preferred Election Night venue.

Quote of the Day (or a couple days ago)

2008-10-31T22:54:00.002-05:00

Nate:

It's not a Cubs' World Championship, but most Illinoisans will take it; what kind of odds could you have gotten in 1908 that a black dude would get elected president before the Cubs won the Series again?

Truth

2008-10-27T23:13:00.002-05:00

Judging by who he wrote for, I doubt I would have agreed with anything Dean Barnett said, but this tribute is well worth the read, especially in this heated political climate. (Be sure to Spencer Ackerman's post as well.)

But that is neither here nor there. What matters is that he is dead, and life is too short. Not a day passes when I do not ponder my own mortality, and not a day passes without me wondering how I will continue without my parents and the people who mean everything to me. A very selfish part of me hopes that I die before them.

Life is too damned short, and right now Dean Barnett’s family and friends are going through hell. I hope they are able to cope, and I am going to call my parents and tell them I love them and then hug my cat. I suggest you do the same thing with the ones you love. This whole racket is just way too short, and at times is a cruel hoax. Forty-one is just way too damned young.

Dear Fox News/Drudge/McCain-Palin

2008-10-27T22:45:00.002-05:00

Supporting a progressive income tax is not socialism.

If you think so, then we've been a socialist country since the institution of the income tax, and Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower were raging socialists.

We're not all morons.

Love,

steve

Conservatives For Obama

2008-10-27T22:40:00.003-05:00

They exist.

Share it with anyone you think might be voting for McCain-Palin. This election is too important.

Where We Are

2008-10-27T22:02:00.004-05:00

The Ashleys explain.

Not A Socialist

2008-10-27T21:46:00.003-05:00

Most of the time.

via Andrew Sullivan

Is This A Joke?

2008-10-27T21:25:00.003-05:00

Where do they find people like this woman who interviewed Joe Biden? Seriously. I don't know how Joe didn't lose it. The ignorance is just mind-numbing.

As Socialist As America Gets

2008-10-27T21:00:00.002-05:00

Sarah Palin's Alaska

But the truth is, Sarah Palin's Alaska is about as close to socialism as America gets. As Yglesias recently noted, "You have collective ownership of valuable natural resources that generates lots of revenue for the state, and then the government makes 'spreading the wealth around' through the Permanent Fund, etc. its main priority."

The point isn't that there's anything especially wrong with Palin-style socialism; there isn't. The point is, if McCain and Palin want to whine incessantly about socialism, redistribution of wealth, and "welfare," they ought to a) learn what they're talking about; and b) take a good look in the mirror.

Learn what they're talking about? That's for anti-American elitists!

Poor Joe

2008-10-26T22:00:00.002-05:00

He gambled, and we don't have short memories.

via Atrios

LOLshley Of The Day

2008-10-26T21:20:00.003-05:00

I don't know who came up with the term, but this is genius.

Wassssssup?

2008-10-26T21:06:00.002-05:00

2008 style.

via Gawker

Words Have Meaning

2008-10-26T20:13:00.002-05:00

New concept to Republicans.

Look: socialism is a word that has a meaning. It means public control of the means of production. It does not mean taxing the top bracket at 39%. Likewise, "collective ownership" has a meaning, and it does not mean the situation that obtains when the government can repeal tax cuts for the top 5% of the population.

Teach them, my friends.

My Future Home

2008-10-26T20:11:00.002-05:00

Colorado.

Your Republican Party

2008-10-26T20:06:00.001-05:00

Systematic organization of hatreds.

Sounds right.

Picture of the Day

2008-10-26T19:56:00.002-05:00

via Ezra

Apple

2008-10-24T16:19:00.002-05:00

Especially proud to be an iMac/iPod/iPhone owner and Apple fan today.

Most corporations wouldn't have the guts.

Dave

2008-10-17T07:47:00.004-05:00

I love the part where he asks about his association with G. Gordon Liddy.

All You Need to Know About ACORN

2008-10-14T20:54:00.004-05:00

1. The Republicans know John McCain is going to lose.
2. They know the media isn't smart enough to distinguish between voter REGISTRATION fraud and voter fraud. People who register as Mickey Mouse are not showing up at the polls.
3. They know they must delegitimize Obama's victory, so they blame ACORN, who is actually flagging the fraudulent registrations before turning them in, and who, by law can't destroy any that they know to be fraudulent, lest they destroy some poor young Republican's legitimate voter registration form.

Key links for you:

Josh.
More Josh.
Fun Q&A with Gawker.

Please use this information when your crazy relatives, friends, or co-workers start talking about how they were robbed by ACORN (even before we've actually voted).

Gawker sums it up well.

What we're dealing with so far is minor voter registration fraud. The questionable registrations number in the double digits in most states, and most of them have been flagged and caught by either ACORN themselves or election officials. Furthermore in many places the false registrations are required by law to be submitted anyway, so that ACORN isn't guilty of, say, tossing out the forms of Republicans they sign up. They do try to flag the fake ones as fake, but regardless, the fake ones are still being caught. Also: voter registration fraud does not coherently lead to voter fraud, because if you register one man 75 times, how will he vote 75 times, exactly?

More importantly, the election can't be stolen if it hasn't happened yet, and voter registration fraud does not explain in any way a double digit lead for a candidate in national tracking polls. Like, wtf, how are you making this argument, are you slow? ACORN registering Mickey Mouse is why Barack Obama is up 12 in Pennsylvania? Ok, sure, whatever you say.

Let me repeat. The questionable registration numbers in the DOUBLE DIGITS in most states. Desperation anyone?

If that doesn't shut the crazies up, show them this.

October Surprise

2008-10-14T20:45:00.002-05:00

via Ta-Nehisi Coates

Got Something to Say, John?

2008-10-09T20:54:00.002-05:00

Say it to my face.

Biden agrees.

"In my neighborhood, when you've got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him."

Let's Talk About Race, Pt. 2

2008-10-09T20:48:00.001-05:00

Donna Brazile.

via clusterflock.

Let's Talk About Race, Pt. 1

2008-10-09T20:45:00.001-05:00

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO

via Andrew Sullivan

John McCain Has A Table

2008-10-08T22:43:00.002-05:00

That's it.

Look, I know it's nice to think well-intentioned people can sit down in a room and resolve complex problems through discussion and negotiation. But this is just an intellectually lazy way of approaching policy challenges.

Iraq? McCain wants to sit Sunnis and Shiites down at a table. Social Security? McCain wants to sit Democrats and Republicans down at a table. The moral of the story is, if you've got a problem, John McCain has a table.

Drama Queen

2008-09-26T12:27:00.002-05:00

McCain's version of leadership.

That's what I call real leadership: parachute in after other people have been in complicated negotiations for days, trailing the entire national press corps behind you, on the grounds that you are urgently needed, in person -- and then undermine the deal behind the scenes without being willing to publicly take any position at all.

Good Night

2008-09-23T22:33:00.001-05:00

Why Can't They Just Say It?

2008-09-23T21:01:00.001-05:00

McCain lied.

Again.

Undercuts? How very polite.

Attention Congress!

2008-09-23T20:53:00.003-05:00

Bad things happen when the Bush Administration rushes you into things.

Need a graphic?

McCain = Experience

2008-09-23T20:46:00.005-05:00

Not the good kind.

"[Y]ou remember the Keating Five scandal that he was a part of, which, by the way, it's crazy but there's been very little about it in the press in the last few weeks," Alter said. "And McCain thinks he's getting a hard time, he's really getting a free ride on the fact that he was in the middle of the last great financial scandal in our country. But his reaction to that, you would have thought, would have been more regulation of the financial services industry. Instead he moved forward on campaign finance reform after being caught in that scandal, but did nothing -- nothing -- to try to prevent another savings and loan crisis from happening down the road. He was missing in action when it came to even learning the basic lessons of a scandal that he said taught him all kinds of things that he would never forget."

[...]

As Josh Marshall concluded, "Let's face it. On major economy-imperiling financial scandals brought about by lax regulation and help from lobbyist-encrusted politicians, McCain really is the candidate of experience."

Bailout Madness

2008-09-23T20:44:00.000-05:00

Why this is a bad deal.

Thank you, Ezra.

Attention President Clinton!

2008-09-23T20:42:00.001-05:00

Chris Rock has a message for you.

Picture of the Day

2008-09-23T20:39:00.001-05:00

Epic.

All The Way (again)

2008-09-20T17:57:00.003-05:00

I obsessively listened and updated the lyrics.

Don't let anyone say that it's just a game.
For I've seen other teams and it's never the same.
When you're born in Chicago, you're blessed and you're healed,
The first time you walk into Wrigley Field.

Our heroes wear pinstripes, heroes in blue,
Give us the chance to feel like heroes too.
But whether we win and if we should lose,
We know someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

We are one with the Cubs, with the Cubs we're in love.
Yeah hold our head high as the underdogs.
We are not fairweather, but foul weather fans.
Like brothers in arms, in the streets and the stands.
There's magic in the ivy and the old scoreboard.
The same one I stared at as a kid keeping score.
In a world full of greed, I could never want more.

Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

And here's to the men and the legends we've known.
Teaching us faith and giving us hope.
United we stand and united we'll fall
Down to our knees the day we win it all.
Yeah Ernie Banks said, "oh, let's play two".
Did he mean two hundred years?
In the same ballpark, our diamond, our jewel.
The home of our joy and our tears.
Keeping traditions, and wishes made new,
A place where our grandfathers' fathers they grew.
A spiritual feeling if I ever knew.
And if you ain't been, I am sorry for you.
And when the day comes for that last winning run,
and I'm crying and covered in beer.
I look to the sky and know I was right to think,

Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

I'll be playing this loud in the garage tonight.

All The Way

2008-09-19T08:26:00.006-05:00

A song to celebrate games like yesterday's, available now.

Lyrics here:

Don't let anyone say that it's just a game.
For I've seen other teams and it's never the same.
When you're born in Chicago, you're blessed and you're healed,
The first time you walk into Wrigley Field.

Our heroes wear pinstripes, heroes in blue,
Give us the chance to feel like heroes too.
Forever we'll win and if we should lose,
We know someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

We are one with the Cubs, with the Cubs we're in love.
Yeah hold our head high as the underdogs.
We are not fairweather, but foul weather fans.
Like brothers in arms, in the streets and the stands.
There's magic in the ivy and the old scoreboard.
The same one I stared at as a kid keeping score.
In a world full of greed, I could never want more.

Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

And here's to the men and the legends we've known.
Teaching us faith and giving us hope.
United we stand and united we'll fall
Down to our knees the day we win it all.
Yeah Ernie Banks said, "oh, let's play two".
Did he mean two hundred years?
In the same ballpark, our diamond, our jewel.
The home of our joy and our tears.
Keeping traditions, and wishes made new,
A place where our grandfathers' fathers they grew.
A spiritual feeling if I ever knew.
And if you ain't been, I am sorry for you.
And when the day comes for that last winning run,
and I'm crying and covered in beer.
I look to the sky and know I was right to think,

Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

UPDATE: Updated the lyrics. Song available now.

David Foster Wallace

2008-09-15T21:41:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Chris Hayes for sharing his tribute to an author I sadly didn't become aware of until his death over the weekend.

You must read this commencement address he gave. I can only think of one other piece of prose, by Dave Eggers on the topic of selling out, that spoke to me this way.

It's one of those pieces I print out and keep close to me because it connected with me on a personal level, just the way my favorite lyrics do. It tapped into something inside me that makes me want to be better, to live with intention, and to act in accordance with the ideals that these words awakened in me. Every. Single. Day.

It's also one of those pieces I have an evangelical need to share with my friends.

It's one of those pieces that I can't wait to share with my kids when they get older.

It's that good. It reminds me of the power of the written word to move people and affect how they look at the world.

Please read it.

I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about.