• Politics, Schmolitics

    Made My Day

    I gave Media Matters some money, a few minutes ago. They’ve made my day. In fact, I’m so cheered up generally that I’ll actually talk about something other than politics for a minute: the proposed film of Pattern Recognition. One of these days (I’m shooting for November 3rd or 4th, you know) I’ll get back to nattering on about something other than my nascent interest in politics. I’m pretty cheered up generally by a lot of the things linked at Media Matters, a site I’ve run across before. So I added them to my Bloglines list. They’re probably a little…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Reality-Based: Me Too!

    It’s been interesting tracking citations of the Ron Suskind article; that paragraph about how reporters and other people who think about the issues are part of the “reality-based community” has been making the rounds. And now Joey, soon to be known as Engaged Guy, has created a handy graphic. I can’t wait to see this mutate into buttons, shirts, web banners, and so on. So far, it’s showed up in a bunch of articles gathered at The Smirking Chimp (natch), plus lots of other commentators at major news sites, plus blogs, yadda yadda. Apparently we’re all shocked and awed that…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Vote

    People ask how we do the job we do, and there’s another answer, too: because of you. We fight, and you hope. The act of taking up that banner links everyone together, even if you never take up a weapon. Freedom doesn’t mean isolation; it means connection, and admittance to a club with a wide-open membership. We have a common desire, it’s just the execution that’s different. People ask how they can support us. It’s very simple. Vote. I don’t care who you vote for, I just care that you do. Our deaths, our injuries, our sacrifices, are all payment…

  • Photos and Shutterblogs

    Soon, My Darleeng, You Weel Be Mine

    Oh, yes, I’ve been wanting one of these for a while now. David has one, and his photos always come out with much more depth and richness than my current camera can give. In the May road trip album, all the pictures I took in Moab of rock art came out pretty “meh” because of the glare, and the fact that I couldn’t change focus (much) on my camara – it has digital zoom, which I found did not work very well on pictures I took for the England trip. David’s, meanwhile, came out much better, though a stepladder might…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    On The Other Hand – Kerry

    Kerry, we acknowledge, stands to the left of this newspaper on many issues. To restore fiscal order and responsibility, he must leave behind some of the social programs he favors. As a practical matter, a check on his more liberal instincts might be provided by a Congress that is likely to remain in Republican hands – although this Congress has aided and abetted the Bush administration’s building of record deficits. My God! The Daily Herald, a conservative suburban newspaper with a distinctly faith-based, family-oriented slant (Holy Moly advertises in it occasionally) endorses a Democrat challenger over a Republican incumbent. It’s…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Chicago Tribune: La La La

    The Chicago Tribune has endorsed George W. Bush for President. Apparently the editorial was written by a journalist who, in spite of the many proven omissions, prevarications, contextual elisions and flat-out lies put out by the administration, spouts the same tired “strong leader, working hard” party line. It’s particularly shocking given that they have endorsed Bean over Crane, Obama over Keyes. Perhaps the Trib is merely attempting to preserve the appearance of non-partisanship, because the editorial is thoughtfully and carefully written. However, the arguments for retaining Bush and rejecting Kerry smack a little too much of shopworn Republican talking points.…

  • Clan: McTiVo

    Amazing Race 6

    And so it begins – the next season of TAR features a good sister/bad sister team from Utah, and the “bad” sister is a former stripper, while the “good” sister is a devout member of the Charch. Now maybe I can get my sisters hooked on this highly addictive show. To eeeeevil! *clink*

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Bill O’Reilly Willing To Go Down

    During an appearance to promote his children’s book on “Live with Regis and Kelly,” O’Reilly said he’d been repeatedly threatened with lawsuits and bodily harm over the past few years. He said he knew that by filing his lawsuit, he could perhaps ruin his career. “If I have to go down, I’m willing to do it,” he said. “I’m going to take a stand. I’m a big mouth on the air and I’m a big mouth off the air.” That’s very generous; but sorry, not interested. Sorry about the Salon quote – if you want to read the full article,…