The Absurd Attacks on Sarah Palin

John McCain just ruined the holiday weekend for leftists, did he not? They have have been digging rather pathetically for dirt on Sarah Palin and have apparently tossed out just about anything they could find. I am well aware many on the left have no shame. Witness Donald Fowler, former DNC head and professor of political science at my alma mater, the University of South Carolina, on how Hurricane Gustav is proof God is a Democrat. Stay classy, Prof. just like your compatriots who have come up with some gems against Palin.

My favorite thus far is the idea her youngest son, Trig, is actually her daughter’s. palin is just pretending Trig is her son in order to avoid the embarrassment of her daughter having a child out of wedlock. That is an absolutely disgusting smear on an innocent teenage girl. Frankly, it is much worse than the one time Phil Hartman impersonation of Chelsea Clinton on Saturday Night Live which caused such controversy in 1992 that no one ever even tweaked her lightly the remainder of the Clinton Administration.

There are two things I find most disturbing about this meme. First, Palin’s daughter is being singled out. When photos of Jenna Bush’s hard parting surfaced, the press reported it, but did nor carry on with the story. Ditto with Al Gore’s son and his lead foot on the eve of the 2000 election. There has been a certain hands off attitude in place about young children of major politicians, but not here. Second, well, take a look at a very pregnant Sarah Palin.This is not the only photo out there of Palin very much in the family way with trig. To continue the idea the child is not hers is insane.

My second favorite is from AmericaBlog, which critiques Palin for wearing hoop earrings on a visit to Mississippi area endangered by Hurricane Gustav. Check out some of the comments, if you can stomach. They reveal lots about the leftist mindset. The gist of it, if you want to be spared a look for yourself, is that Palin is too white trash to be Veep. I assume the attitude also explains why they are so ready to believe she has tried to cover up her daughter’s “pregnancy.”

This is going to backfire on leftists. I have already written about the Lazio Effect they are risking, but now they may be setting the bar too low for her acceptance. Think back to 2000 when the media was all about how stupid George W. Bush was. It got to the point all Bush had to do was not drool on himself in public and people would think he performed well. Once Al Gore sighed condescendingly at every answer Bush gave at the first debate, his goose was cooked. Not only did voters believe Bush had passed the relatively low threshold set for him, they thought Gore was being an arrogant jerk about it.

I always hate saying accusing anyone of being elitist the same as I hate saying the media has a liberal bias. I do not like who salutes when I run either of those claims up the flagpole. But here, I have to admit it—the attacks on a blatantly elitist, clueless viewpoint. It is not just the left, either. The red on the outside, but blue on the inside pundits at National Review Online are skeptical of her as well. It appears no one understands flyover country very well.

Let me help them with that. It is flyover country that makes Wal-Mart more successful than Macy’s. it is flyover country that made Jeff Foxworthy the biggest selling comedy album artist of all time rather than Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, or even Steve Martin. It is fly over country that elected Bush twice. Flyover country likes to hunt, believes God created the world in seven days, knows abortion is murder, and thinks former beauty queens look just fine in hoop earrings. Do you catch my drift?

Palin just might win this election for McCain. As much as the media is in love with Barack Obama, he has topped out at 49%of the vote, same as John Kerry in 2004. You may recall Bush never rose any higher than 46%, like McCain, until September. The leftists know this. These desperate attacks are indicative of the fear Palin will push McCain over the top.

There is another reason for their desperation. In all this hubbub over Palin, where is Obama? Is he on vacation again?

BlogDay 2008

On August 31st, bloggers are asked to post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting

2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2008

3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs

4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and

5. Add the BlogDay tag.

All right, I will play. Here we go:

1. Plastic Mancunian: This one is a recent discovery. I first noted Mancunian’s post on the travails of taking his cat to the vet. Frankly, it is not often I find a personal diary type blog to be consistently entertaining, but the Plastic Mancunian pulls it off beautifully.

2. By Ken Levine: Ken Levine is an accomplished screenwriter who has written for MASH, Cheers, Frasier, The Simpsons, and many other successful shows. I am fascinated by the subject of writing screenplays and Levine spends much of his time discussing the ends and outs of Hollywood in a humorous manner all while drawing on his long experience in Tinseltown. Levine is also a baseball announcer with experience in color commentary for several MLB teams.

3. A Large Regular: Speaking of baseball, A Large Regular covers the game well, as well as sports in general, and a little politics thrown in for good measure.

4. Idle Mendacity: Jack’s haiku blog has been on my blogroll longer than just about anyone else. His haiku range in all sorts of subject matter, but they are all top notch.

5. Eve Tushnet: If I could nail it down for you, I would. Take my word for it—just check it out. You will find insight on subjects you never thought you needed insight on.

Truth be told, I have a lot of mighty fine blogs on my blogroll that do not cover the same subjects I do or necessarily have the same viewpoints on the subjects we both cover. They are all worth your perusal and choosing a scant five is grossly unfair. Take some time to click on unfamiliar blogs in my roll. It would be time well spent

Technorati
BlogDay 2008

McCain/Palin = Tigh/Roslin?

The Team Maverick/Cylon meme has definitely caught on around the blogosphere. Surprisingly, it is not just among leftists wanting to take jabs, but conservatives like me who do not mind taking a few tweaks out our team. I am further surprised to learn how many conservatives are familiar with Battlestar Galactic. I assume most of them did not know much on television beyond 24 and the O’Reilly Factor.

I keed, I keed.

There is more than just superficial appearances here as far as John McCain and Saul Tigh are concerned. Both are crusty old war veterans. Both were tortured as POWS. Both wound up with younger, blonde women. I do not think Cindy McCain is anywhere near as manipulative as Six, though. Hopefully the analogy does not go that far.

How about Sarah Palin and Laura Roslin? Let us hope the similarities end at appearances. Roslin was a relatively inexperienced Secretary of education who wound upas president after the Cylon attack on Caprica nearly wiped out all of humanity. Think about the surviving humans being hunted down by Cylons like we are being threatened by Al Qeada.

Roslin has a deep spirituality, too. She believes she has a calling from the gods to lead humanity to safety. Palin is a strong Christian, avowed pro life advocate, and a strong believer in creationism. To my knowledge, she does not even use the coded term “Intelligent Design.” Not of this bothers me, of course, other than the whole becoming president after a genocidal attack thingy.

Hopefully, the Cylons are content with the way things are going and will leave us alone.

Reese Witherspoon Speaks Out on Domestic Violence

Reese Witherspoon spent some time in Brazil earlier this week as Avon Global Ambassador of its "Speak Out Against Domestic Violence" campaign. Witherspoon has become a world traveler for Avon's causes, and this time she spoke about abuse affecting all women. While in Brazil, she awarded the Avon charity bracelet to a woman who is a paraplegic as a result of domestic violence.

Not to take anything away from other celebrities who work for good causes, but I am curious why those who hypocritically scold the rest of us over carbon footprints and engage in the fad of adopting third world children get the lion’s share of press while gestures like this are hardly noticed.

The Lazio Effect

I think John McCain has played his hand beautifully in selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate. I say that fully aware most voters do not even know who she is. I spent a great deal of time learning about her yesterday morning myself by scouring Wikipedia and political sites. The real beauty of it is twofold.

The first is in the short term. By choosing Palin, an exciting, but risky choice, he made certain she would be the main focus of the news cycle. Otherwise, pundits would have spent the entire day cooing over Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Had McCain chosen Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty, there would not have been nearly has much time spent on the Veep announcement. Romney is old news and Pawlenty, nice guy though he probably is, is not interesting enough to spark off much chatter among the talking heads.

But that is just the short term. There is a long term advantage. It has been dubbed the Lazio Effect by some pundits, so I will go with that name. It is named after rick Lazio, Hillary Clinton’s opponent during her first run for the Senate in 2000. Lazio was incredibly aggressive, which seemed fine at first since Clinton had the carpetbagger cloud over her head. Lazio was even ahead in the polls until he made a fateful error. During one of their debates, he forcefully demanded Clinton sign a pledge, walked over to her podium, and wagged his finger in her face.

It was the turning point in the campaign. People thought he was being ungentlemenly at best and abusive at worst. Even women who did not like Clinton in particular rushed to support her because that is just not how a man treats a lady. Lazio lost big time and you have not seen much of him since then. It was all because of the shift in mood over the debate incident.

(Digression: Rudy Giuliani would have been Clinton’s opponent had he not dropped out to have his cancer treated. He would have never done such a thing to Clinton. Had he been able to continue running, he would have defeated Clinton as she never had the charisma to defeat the carpetbagger status that RFK had a generationbefore her. We can only imagine how the 2008 would have shaped up with Clinton losing and Giuliani not serving as mayor on 9/11. End of digression.)

Obama and Joe Biden should take note. They are already starting two steps back because of perceived abuses against—ironically enough—Hillary Clinton. I do not believe anyone has forgotten Obama calling a female reporter “sweetie,” either. They are going to have to handle Palin with a high degree of professionalism. A professionalism a gaffe meister like Biden probably cannot handle. Too bad for Team Obama it is mostly going to be Biden’s responsibility. Even voters who are not all that sold on Palin right now will flock to her if they feel she is being bullied.

They might even chalk it up to Obama owing them one for not even going through the motions of considering Clinton for Veep. I do not believe it was just politeness that prompted Clinton to recognize special occasion of a woman being chosen as McCain’s Veep. Would she have said the same about Romney, celebrating his being the first Mormon? I think not. There is a higher connection there, one of gender, that transcends left and right politics. Take too many liberties with Palin and Team Obama will find out just how deep that connection goes.

David Duchovny Addicted to Sex

David Duchovny checked himself into a sex rehab clinic this week to overcome an addiction to sex. Well, that explains a lot. Only someone with a pathological need for nookie would have stayed with Tea Leoni for eleven long years.

I have two questions about the whole situation. One, why could Gillian Anderson not be the sex addict instead? Come on—a petite red head in a power suit? That Dana Scully was something else. Knowing she was a nympho would have made me love the X-Files even more than I did, assuming that is possible.

Second, how do you know a man is addicted to sex? I would think that is normal. Anytime a man encounters something new, he asks himself two questions:

Can I have sex with it?

Can I eat it?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, then we lose all interest. I think that is why so many men cheat on their wives or girlfriends with waitresses. They represent all our interests rolled up into one.

I have not seen Duchovny’s new show, Californication, but by most accounts, he plays himself: a sex addicted writer. It sounds pretty pretentious, but given his reputation for arrogance, I am not surprised. I have only experienced his writing in two episode of the X-Files. they were decent, but nothing to write home about, especially for some with a Masters of English Literature to his name.

He may be in rehab now to end his muse. He may not be a master wordsmith much longer.Duchovny spent nearly nine years beside her and never made the beast with two backs? what kind of sex addict is he?

Caturday

Have you all OD’d on politics yet? If so, hang in there. There is less than seventy days left to go until Election Day! In the meantime, you are going to be hearing a lot about the candidates’ experience or lack thereof. Hence, today’s Caturday photo.

Here is the deal, folks. Sarah Palin may have only twenty months of executive experience in her career, but that is twenty more months of executive experience than Barack Obama, John McCain, and Joe Biden combined. Yes, she has no foreign policy experience. Neither has any governor who has run for president. Such comes with the territory. You will noticehow few Senators with Foreign Relations Committee experience or ambassadors have ever served as president.

Here is the other half of that—Palin is running for Vice President. Obama is running for the big job. He claims his lack of experience does not matter in serving as president, but critiques Palin, who has comparable or better experience, at serving as Veep? The criticism rings hollow. I guess she needed to be a “community organizer” instead of head of the Alaska national Guard. Maybe then she would be better prepared, no?

No matter what, you are still going to hear the two sides spar over who is themost qualified. Hunker down and try to appreciate the hypocrisy.

Sarah Palin and Laura Roslin


I have already hit on the idea John McCain might be a Cylon, but the choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate confirms it. She looks a lot like President Laura Roslin. I am still not convinced Roslin is the fifth and final Cylon,(Six said she was not, but who knows if she is lying?) but there is obviously something special Roslin is destined to be.

I hope McCain's choosing her as his running mate does not spark off a Cylon nuclear attack like Caprica suffered. It might not, since this was recently spotted:Should this be a cause for concern?

On a more serious note, how much money do you think Saturday Night Live is going to throw at Tina Fey to get her to make a few more appearances on the show? She and Palin are both good looking--sare I say it?--MILF potentials.

It is Gov. Sarah Palin!

All signs point to John McCain selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. As one who was fearful McCain might actually choose Joe Lieberman, I am relieved.

I have spent a bit of time this morning looking around for biographical data on Palin. I had heard of her before, but knew next to nothing about her. From what I have read thus far, she sounds great. Young, energetic, pro life, and has a record of fighting corruption even within her own party. I can admire that. She sounds just like McCain, actually.

There are some obvious criticisms. She does not have much experience even though she is current the only one of the four main players in this election to have any whatsoever. It is going to be a tough sell to convince voters a woman who was the mayor of a small Alaskan town just three years ago ought to be a heartbeat away from taking over as Commander-in-Chief. I have even heard some say she is an awful public speaker.

Well, no one is perfect. Every twenty years or so, the Republican candidate makes a revolutionary choice as Veep and everyone scoffs. In 1968, Richard Nixon chose Spiro Agnew and in 1988, George Bush picked dan Quayler. Both tickets won their respective elections. The pattern just might hold here, too. Palin does not have to be a dynamic speaker. She just has to be better than Joe Biden. How hard can that be?

I am more enthusiastic about Palin than I would be the safer choice of Mitt Romney even though Michigan is likely to go to Barak Obama without Romney on the McCain ticket. Somehow, this just all feels right. I am curious how this will affect the Hillary Clinton voters who are considering supporting McCain, the attack lines that Obama lacks experience, and whether pro choice women voters are going to roast Palin alive. It should be fascinating to watch the game change here.

Julia Roberts' Bikini & Women's Body Ideal

Julia Roberts has taken some time off from her acting career in the last couple years. She just turned forty last year after having her third child. One would understand why a woman her age would be apprehensive about wearing a bikini. Surely she would not look as great in one as she has in the past. I think she looks pretty nice in the photo above, with all things considered.

The blogosphere does not agree. Check out the perpetuation of an unrealistic body image for woman Hollywood gossipmongers are engaging in:
Egotastic:

I've never found Julia Roberts to be particularly attractive, and after you see these Julia Roberts bikini pictures, neither will you. All I can say is, she is a Pretty Woman no more. But maybe playing in the pool will do her some good, because she could definitely use a tan. Not that I'm one to talk. I've been sitting at my computer all summer. You could call it a greener shade of pale.

Gossipgirl:

If you had your heart set on finding pictures of Julia Roberts in a bikini, then congratulations, you’re a big weirdo. Why would you do this to yourself?

Celebslam

Wow, Julia Roberts looks like hell. Can we finally end the debate about her being attractive? She’s perfectly average in every sense of the word. I guess it could be a bad angle. A better angle? The camera not facing her.

There are others, but this is a good mix of everything from subtle jabs to outright insults. Am I off the mark in thinking this sort of thing is unfair or am I just a MILF hunter?

Reese Witherspoon Video

I made this over two weeks ago during one of my usual middle of the night, not really awake, but not really asleep spells. If you have seen Fight Club, you will know what I am. Perhaps the somnabulism explains why it is such an odd tribute to the actress who has yet to lift the restraining order even though i have begged. Oh, how I have begged.

This is the first video fro my relaunched YouTube channel. I say relaunched even though I have not touched it beyond this video. An artist cannot be rushed. I used to make slide shows when creating videos with celebs. Now I have graduated to film clips just like I used to do with the television shows I used to make music videos with. For whatever reason, it feels like I put more effort into it that way.

These are clips from some of Witherspoon's recent movies set to "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall.Enjoy.

Obama's Acceptance Speech

I listened to Barack Obama’s acceptance. The sheer length of it brought back memories of Bill Clinton droning on and on the first time he had the national spotlight at the 1988 convention. Both men are madly in love with their own voices and ideas. I was impressed Obama scaled back some of the lofty rhetoric that wowed the Germans a few weeks ago. He has finally learned that voters are not necessarily fans and he has to present substance, not just rhetoric.

Did he accomplish that? Leftist pundits are fawning over his words, but aside from a few biographical points here and there, his speech could have delivered by any Democrat. He hit all the major talking points: the country has gone to hell in a hand basket because of republicans, but he will save us all even though many of the alleged problems are beyond presidential authority. But never mind that. He will tax the evil corporations and some how or another wean the entire country of its regular energy sources. Good luck with all that.

I guess it was the final twenty minutes or so where Obama fell back into visionary mode with talk of unity and reconciliation and healing and change and whatever else that got the leftist crowd fired up. Maybe they do go for empty rhetoric after all. We will find out once polls measuring his bounce or no bounce come out.

Obama the Demigod

It is Barack Obama’s big day, so it is no surprise there are a load of fluff news pieces floating around. Various media sources have interviewed past friends and colleagues. I expected to hear high praise from all sources, but good heavens, the fawning I have heard is ridiculous. No wonder Obama has a god complex. Listen to some of this stuff:
From law school associates:

“I thought of him much more as a colleague” than a student, said Laurence Tribe, a law professor at Harvard for whom Mr. Obama worked. “I didn’t think of him as someone to send out on mechanical tasks of digging out all the cases.” Other students could do that, Professor Tribe added.

Law review colleagues:

Long before the presidential race, some around him seemed to resent his ability to galvanize a following. “Bluebooking is not important for celebrities,” fellow students joked about him in the law review parody, referring to the tedious process of checking citations.

From the New York Times:

Obama has "developed a self-discipline so complete... that he has established dominion over not only what he does but also how he feels."

I would suggest reading that whole article. The NYT is trying to make Obama look cool, but winds up making him look like a sociopath instead.

How about this gem:

When he offers visionary approaches, he does so as a visionary minimalist -- that is, as someone who attempts to accommodate, rather than to repudiate, the defining beliefs of most Americans. His reluctance to challenge people's deepest commitments might turn out to be what makes ambitious plans possible--notwithstanding the hopes of the far left and the cartoons of the far right.

Obama is on another plane of existence, man. He is like a poet-soldier. Or something. I do not know. I have not drunk the Kool Aid like these folks seem to have.

Jo Joyner Returning to Doctor Who?

I have my doubts, but I liked her two episode stint back in the first season of Doctor Who. The word is Jo Joyner is leaving her role as Tanya on the BBC drama Eastenders over dissatisfaction`of her character's development. This was announced the radio this morning, so while there is speculation she may jump to Doctor Who, the rumor has to be so fresh is still still flopping around on the the counter before being thrown into a pot and boiled.

Joyner played Lynda in the first season's "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways" where she survived a futuristic version of Big Brother that kills contestants upon eviction only to be exterminated later by a Dalek. She never got a chance to ride in the TARDIS. Odds are Joyner would play another character like FreemaAgyeman did with Adeola and then Martha Jones and eve Myles, who has played Gwyneth Cooper in the 19th century and Gwen Cooper in the 21st.

I have no clue why Steven Moffat would bring her back specifically, particularly when fans are hoping for the return of Sally Sparrow and river song instead,but I for one liked Linda and thought Joyner was pretty hot to boot. Here is another photo of her in action, first up with a less than thrilled to have her along Rose:Rose did not have to be jealous for long. Lynda had an unfortunate run in with a Dalek:Finally, Jo Joyner has other assets beyond acting talent:The photos can be enlarged should you deem it necessary.

Democrats Officially Nominate Obama

It all appeared to go according to plan at the Democratic National Convention. The roll call vote was rushed through so Hillary Clinton could magnanimously call for it to end and nominate Barack Obama by acclimation. She actually said:

”…in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory, declare Obama the nominee by acclimation. Let's declare with one voice that Barack Obama is our candidate."

I usually find it difficult to sympathize with her, but the poor woman looked like someone was trying to shove a corn cob up her behind as she said it. I wish I could be classier in describing the dejected look on her face, but I cannot.

Nancy Pelosi called for a second and Obama became the first African-American presidential candidate for a major political party. Take a moment to appreciate the historical and social significance. Then join me in helping John McCain send him back to the Senate.

Olivia Munn

It has been a long while since I have played video games, but I am told Olivia Munn is every video game nerd's favorite model. i can see why. she is the co-host of G4's Attack of the Show!, a series about video games and gamer culture. somehow, I suspect she has not got the first clue about video games and is jst there to drag in the young, horny geeks. I can live with that.

Munn has been a model and actress for a while now, but she will make her major film debut later this year in Rob Schneider's Big Star. Yes, I know. It is difficult to believe costarring with Schneider can be considered a major Hollywood role. Civilization is rapidly crumbling.

As a favor to geeks everywhere, Munn once wore the Slave Girl Leia bikini to a Star Wars convention. I appreciated that, too.
All these photos can be enlarged should you deem it necessary.

The Madness of Keith Olbermann

I do not generally tune in to pundit shows except for the ones aired on Sunday morning. Meet the Press and This Week strike me as a better class of shows, although I do miss Tim Russert’s style on the former. The shows that litter the 24 news channel world aim way too much at the lowest common denominator to suit me. They preach to the choir, if you know what I mean. If I do peruse one of them, it is because of how amusing its playing to its specific audience is. While I am a conservative, this goes for shows on the left and right.

I go through spells with particular shows. For a while now, it has been Countdown with Keith Olbermann. I like it because Olbermann is clearly bat guano insane and yet has a growing clout at the network. Olbermann has been able to get his buddy Rachel Maddow her own show, guests banned from the network, and basically turned the entire punditry wing of MSNBC into free public relations for the Obama campaign. All this in spite of consistently third place ratings in his cable news time slot.

I am not completely familiar with Olbermann’s past history, but I am aware he has burnt quite a few bridges in his time as a broadcaster going all the way back to ESPN, where he is no longer allowed in their studios. He refuses to introduce Dan Abrams, who follows him in prime time, over some feud or another. Now Olbermann has openly fought with two other MSNBC pundits on the air.

First up was Joe Scarburough, who Olbermann told on the air to, ‘Get a shovel” because he remarked the McCain campaign was improving in the polls. Allegedly, Olbermann thought the mic was off, but the two still went at it on the air, so he had to know they werestill live. Here is video: Last night, for the second time in two days, Olbermann took a jab at another colleague. This time it was Chris Matthews. To his credit, Matthews was visibly mortified over the Scarborrough incident the night before and appears to have had enough of Olbermann’s crap. Here is the video: This is the sort of thing that happens when a network decides to adopt an up and down ideology. I find it interesting that such incidents are more common on liberal MSNBC than conservative FOX News, however. Although I am willing to conceded FOX might just hide their crazy better than MSNBC. Olbermann is front and center there and apparently behind the scenes, too, if his effort to ban Tom Brokaw from the network is true.

The Temple of Obama

Barack Obama is set to deliver his acceptance speech tomorrow night on a stage built to resemble a Greek temple. the above photo is no joke or Photoshop. you cannot make something like that up. The photo can be greatly enlarged for a better look.

The occasion calls for some Three Dog Night.

Color Schemes

Excuse the rapid changes. I am a mercurial soul when it comes to designing the Eye. It seems this year in particular I have gone through more color changes than I have in the other five years of blogging combined. Well, it has been a restless year in general, so chalk it up to the personal journal aspects of the blog. Hey, even when I do not play up the diary aspects, I am still subtly revealing myself. It is obtuse instead of clever, but I have never claimed to be the latter anyway.

I kind of liked the orange color for the title and links I used for the last few weeks. But it turned out to be one of those things that you like constantly until that one random moment you look at it and say, “Lord, that is gaudy. What the heck was I thinking?” it happened to me a couple nights ago.

It will probably happen again soon. I played around with various shades of red before settling on the one I am currently using. I am still wavering on whether I like it. To be honest—and this will prove I am losing my grip on reality—it reminded me of those raspberry crème filled candies I used to get in Whitman’s samplers. I have not had one in years. These days I have had to cut down on sweets because of my colon, but I used to be 99% sweet tooth, 1% sarcasm. These days, the numbers have reversed. It is no coincidence, either.

It is silly little things like that which remind me of happier times. So, oddly enough, the red is a personal indulgence whether it looks good or not. No one has complained yet, but now that I have opened the door, feel free.

The title font is not entirely new. I discovered it back in 2006 and kept it for a while because it looked old. I thought it went well with The Odyssey theme I have going, which is also a play on my cycloptic status as well. Okay, maybe I do claim to be clever every now and then. I am not sure why I abandoned the font the first time around. It’s pretty cool.

But none of the above can guarantee I will not alter everything by tomorrow morning. That is the way I roll. Flip the switch and see what happens. But at least you all have a heads up about the eye going all Dennis Rodman on you.

The Beckham Blunder

This one has been around a while, but I just find it earlier and thought it was hilarious. David Beckham is blatantly checking out a cheerleader when he gets caught by his wife, Victoria. She becomes visibly furious. D'oh!This photo sequence can be greatly enlarged if you wish to see for yourself if the cheerleader measures up. Oh, and the Beckham's spat, too.

I cannot really blame david, honestly. Victoria was pretty hot back in her Posh Spice days, but has since become some sort of permanently tanned, freakishly skinny, Scientologist weirdo. Under those circumstances, I would scope out the ladies, too, and wonder where it all went wrong.

He still has not convinced Americans to like soccer, either. but he is laughing all the way to thebank with that one.

Hillary Clinton's Night

I have been popping in and out of convention coverage for the last two nights. I had forgotten how these things are as boring as watching grass grow even for a political junkie like me. I will freely admit listening to Democrats talk about policy is excruciatingly painful in the first place. To quote Keith Olbermann from last night when he thought his microphone was off, “Bring a shovel.”

I am not even going to watch Hillary Clinton speak. The curiosity of finding out how her supporters are going to react to applause lines versus how Barack Obama’s will is tempting to watch, but I have already come to the conclusion it matters little in the long run.

Nothing Clinton says will convince her supporters to vote for Obama. In the natural flow of things, I imagine most will come around. There will not be any massive rush by Clintonites to vote for John McCain. Some will, of course. A few will probably go for Ralph Nader. Whatever they decide to do, I doubt the diehards will be any factor.

It was not too long ago the GOP feared the party base would be unenthusiastic about McCain. That has changed. In spite of McCain having less money and being a less skilled campaigner, he is still competitive with the well funded, charismatic Obama. That is due to the party faithful rallying behind him as well as independents liking what they see. A candidate who can get that kind of support wins elections.

No Biden Bounce

According to Gallup Daily, the race is still a statistical dead heat with John McCain at 46% and Barack Obama at 44%.

Enik from the New Land of the Lost

Here is a photo of Enik and Will Ferrell as Marshall from the upcoming Land of the Lost movie.

I had visions--in hindsight, I do not know why--of the Sleestak looking a little more realistic than they did in the '70's television show. But I suppose even with better technology to do something cool with, the new movie is still an homage to the cheesiness of the original show. I am not a baby boomer, so this one probably passed me by.

Nevertheless, Enik here reminds me of the baby from Dinosaurs. Maybe he will hit Marshall over the head for not being his mother.

Obama's Iron Fist

Bullying we can believe in?

“I’m thoroughly disgusted with the Democratic Party… I believe the real magic of Barack Obama was his ability to turn lifelong Democrats like us into McCain supporters overnight.”

So says a Hillary Clinton supporter in regards to a plan by the Democratic Party to curtail the roll call vote between Clinton and Barack Obama. The plan was to allow pledged delegates (even though Clinton has released hers) to cast votes for whichever candidate they so desired up until the New York delegation was to cast its votes. Clinton is to call for party unity at that point and request Obama be nominated by unanimous consent. The roll call vote would end at that point.

By doing so, Clinton looks like a good soldier taking one for the party. But here is the problem: here supporters are not going for it. Diehard Clintonites do not want to vote for Obama. There is that famous 11%--enough for John McCain to make an ad attempting to woo them—who are going to vote for McCain. I thought from the very beginning it was a bad idea to offer up any sort ofplayform for Clinton supporters to voice their support for her after defeat, but it took this long for Obama to realize it is not just loyalty to Clinton, but a strong dislike for him.

But he has done it now. There is no way to quell Clinton’s supporters without looking like an insecure jerk. Heck, we already now a good chunk of the Democratic Party does not wantr him as the nominee. No matter how much the media gushes over him, we also know he has yet to cross the 50% threshold among voters, either, so it is not like a majority of the country wants him, either. But he is going to strong arm the opposition to keep up the self-denial anyway.

This is not an unusual tactic, either. The Obama Camp is threatening television stations that air a Bill Ayers ad. Obama is a classic example of someone who has never had any power before in his life and now does not know what to do with the influence he has suddenly been given. We ought to be worried about more than just his on the job training. We need to be more concerned about the abuses of power he is more than willing to engage in in order to get what he wants.

Jessica Simpson Joins CMA; Nashville Dies a Little

Jessica Simpson is serious about making the jump from no talent pop star to no talent country music star. She just joined the Country Music Association (CMA), which is made up of over 6,000 artists, managers, record company personnel, publicists, musicians, songwriters, full time Country radio staff The CMA membership ranges from legends like Willie Nelson to newcomers like Simpson’s mortal enemy Carrie Underwood.

Does someone like Simpson belong there? I chalk I chalk her joining up to first time as tragedy, second time as farce. You do not have to do anything to join other than have the most tenuous links to the industry. Said links are getting more tenuous by the year.

I grew up listening to country music long before I developed any musical taste of my own. I vaguely remember country going mainstream for a time with Kenny Rogers singing songs written by Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton going Hollywood, and Willie Nelson releasing Stardust. But what I remember best is the mid-80’s when country fans had enough of all that and went back to basics with the likes of George Strait and randy Travis.

That was around about the time I starting listening to my own kind of music rather than following whatever my parents liked. I was into late ‘90’s glam metal, embarrassingly enough, but being from the South, I had to accept the pervasiveness of country music whether I wanted to or not. It is like NASCAR today. You have to at least say you like or else the Inquisition will put you to the rack and then burn you at the stake for the good of your eternal soul.

I will admit country was not that bad then. The class of 1989 included Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and a Garth Brooks who had not yet gone all weirdo on us. There was still a lot of tradition there. But good Lord when the decade turned.

I have talked about this over the years with non Southerners I have met since then. Some have agreed with my observation culture went all schizo in 1990., but particularly with music. Suddenly, rap, dance, and gruge showed up, shoving aside just about everything else. We are not even talking about decent stuff, either. We are talking Vanilla Ice, Paula Abdul, Blind Melon. It was awful. Honestly, outside of Pearl Jam, can you name a musical artist big in the 90’s that still is? Good luck trying.

Country took off again at this point with a lot of non traditional country acts. Garth Brooks and Shania went mainstream and suddenly the flood gates opened with loads of artists who could not fit in with mainstream music converting to country. Billy Ray Cyrus, for one, was no more country in 1992 than his daughter Miley is now. Ditto Shania Twain, who is Shirley McLaine crazy to boot.

This is the era when new artists cited Journey, the eagles, and Elton John as influences and said, “Hank who?” when asked about traditional roots. This is the era of novelty albums when artists made compilations of twangy versions of Beatles, Eagles, and Rolling Stones songs. This is when Bon Jovi and Brett Michaels decided they could not compete with what had become of rock. Country had become rock.

It was actually all right for a while. While I listened to whatever ‘80’s artists managed to survive rock in the ‘90’s and the new country. My high school years were a decent mix of the two. I cannot put my finger on exactly what happened in the mid to late ‘90’s, but it all got intolerable. I am guessing it was a load of one hit wonders and various other lightweights who really did not deserve a shot at the title of country star, but got it anyway.

It became farce for me once Justin Timberlake defeated Johnny Cash for a best video award in 2003 and he subsequently apologized, claiming Cash was a huge influence on his music., I believe the claim is what killed Cash because it nearly killed me out of the sheer stupidity of the statement.

So there you go. Artists like Garth, Shania, and Billie Ray were the first cracks in the country genre. With them, tradition died. Now we have Justin Timberlake and Jessica Simpson claiming country music as their own. The second time around as farce.

Am I being cruel here? I did like some of the not so country country artists, but mainly because I wanted to hear new music but did not enjoy Nirvana, Jennifer Lopez, or Puff Daddy. It is not like country has not embraced rock artists like Elvis and Mike Nesmith in the past, either. But still, if Jessica Simpson is now one of the people steering country music into thefuture, it cannot say much for the health of the industry.

Ali Larter Bikini Photos

I do not often post more than one set of celebrity photos day, but I have to make an exception when I run across photos of the lovely Ali Larter frolicking on a Malibu beach over the weekend. These clickable thumbnails can be enlarged should you deem it necessary.

David Tennant Leaving After Three Specials?

The Daily Mirror has the first real time table for David Tennant's departure as the tenth Doctor--three specials.

With the announcement there are four 2009 specials and the final two will come only days apart between Christmas and Boxing Day, it fits that the Christmas day episode would be a cliffhanger with the regeneration of the Eleventh Doctor. But that is just speculation on my part.

Two points should be noted. British tabloids are notorious for making up rumors to spice up slow news cycles. Second, the article quotes Steven Moffat as saying the Daleks will return soon when he has adamantly insisted they have been overused in recent years. So take the news with a hugegrain of salt.

Born Alive Exposes Obama's Achilles Heel

At the Saddleback Civil Forum a little over a week ago, Rev. Rick Warren asked Barack Obama when he believed an unborn child is granted human rights. His fumbling response was as follows:

“Well, uh, you know, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or, uh, a scientific perspective, uh, answering that question with specificity, uh, you know, is, is, uh, above my pay grade.”

So is the presidency, but I digress.

The above non-answer is becoming more and more the norm as Obama has been forced to pin down his position on the issues. Often I consider the mental gymnastics of both candidates extremely amusing. It is not one’s position on the issues that gets one elected, but how well one can convince the largest number of voters heagrees with them. But there are a few key issues where that is not amusing anymore. Abortion is one of them.

I am a pro lifeer. I think abortion is a barbaric practice. But I do little more about the issue than vote for pro-life candidates. If you have been paying attention for a while here, you will note I was willing to even waffle on that and vote for Rudy Giuliani as president, mainly because he promised to appoint strict constructionist judges (conservative code word for pro-life) and I do not believe Roe v. Wade will ever be overturned anyway. We had our last shot at it in Casey v. Planned Parenthood in 1992 and failed thanks to Ronald Reagan’s biggest mistake, Sandra day O’Connor.

Nevertheless, a politicians’ position on a abortion has been a litmus test for years. For the pro choice crowd, it is a measure of enlightenment. For the pro life crowd, it isa measure ofcharacter. I happen to still agree with the latter. Opposition to abortion isa sign of good character to me whether any changes in the law can be made or not.

Before anyone starts sharpening their knives, ready toss at me, I am well aware John McCain has mused out lous that Roe should probably not be overturned at this point. He has a strong pro-life record regardless and is not claiming the pro choice position is the current campaign. Obama is, the question is to what extent is Obama pro choice. As the above quote shows, good luck figuring that one out.

In recent days, Obama has been accused by hard line pro life activists of near infanticide because of his opposition to ‘born alive” legislation in Illinois when he was a state senator. Long explanation short, born alive legislation requires doctors to tend to infants who survive abortion procedures. Congress unanimously passed federal born alive legislation. Illinois produced a state bill with the same language, but Obama opposed it. Obama has claimed the bill contained different language than the federal bill which would have undermined Roe. He has since recanted as it has been proven such was not the case.

I think it is fair to say Obama does not support infanticide, but his no vote to born alive is certainly an extreme even for the pro choice position. Take a moment to absorb the fact Congress voted unanimously to pass federal born alive law, harsh abortion supporters included. If Obama was trying to hide his yes vote out of embarrassment, he ought to say so. Voters will forgive an honest change of heart, particularly on an issue that involves terminating a human life. But Obama continues to fumble over the issue period, never quite revealing where he draws any lines. It is troublesome to think he is so unprincipled.

Will it be a big problem for him? Not abortion specifically, but the lack of nailing down any general principles might. While pandering is part of the politics game, you have to be good at it. It is the one thing Obama does not seem to be good at. He over thinks issues so much because he is afraid to say the wrong thing to the point he says nothing that makes any sense. That will not endear him to anyone.

Lindy Booth

I have not done a Why is She Not a Bigger Star? post in a while. Today’s subject is Lindy Booth. Booth is a cute little natural redhead who has bounced around from bad television shows to bad movies and back again without ever having a break out role. It is too bad. Booth's most visible television role was as Pizza Girl on October road. She has been on a couple fan favorite science fiction shows like Odyssey 5 and The 4400, which should have cemented her as an object of lust for sci fi geeks everywhere, but again, she appears to have gotten lost somewhere between Amanda Tapping and Allison Mack.

Booth has been featured in a couple horror films, too, like Cry Wolf, the Dawn of the Dead remake, and Wrong Turn in which she had an unfortunate run in with a murderer and razor sharp barbed wire. Ouch.

Perhaps it is her stint in the truly awful Relic Hunter that has guys too embarrassed to admit they like her. If you have not seen Relic Hunter, good for you. It starred Tia Carrera as an intrepid professor and grave robber. Yes, it was a rip off of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider which was in turn a Indiana Jones with boobs. In other words, a copy of a copy of an homage to 1930’s adventure serials. You cannot even quantify the quality degradation.

But I forgive Booth for being in it because…well, let me show you:



These photos can be enlarged should you deem it necessary. in the meantime, come on, Hollywood. cast Lindy Booth in some better roles.

Passed Over

John McCain introduced a new ad last night at 3 AM—a new meme has developed!—critiquing Barack Obama for not choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate. It works on certain levels, but it could backfire on a couple more. I will elaborate after the video. The first problem that pops into mind is Obama has a readymade ad if McCain chooses anyone other than second place finisher in the GOP primaries, Mike Huckabee, as his running mate. Granted, McCain defeated Huckabee by a country mile to the point he is an also ran people remember more for campaigning with Chuck Norris than anything else. In fact, if you asked people to name the GOP runner up off the top of their heads, they would probably say Mitt Romney. But the point still stands that McCain is running a risk here.

He is also flirting close with unifying the Democrats over bringing Clinton into it. He could be perceived as meddling in the other party’s business. I imagine he was trying to gain the affection of the disenchanted Democrats who are angry at Obama and would likely vote for McCain if they cannot have Clinton. But I am not so sure how effectively the ad woos them.

I think I would not have made this ad at all. The definite risks outweigh the potential benefits.

Joe Biden: Gentleman Scholar

Check this out. It is from the first time Joe Biden ran for president back in 1988. He is snapping at a reporter here, but I imagine his attitude applies to pretty much everyone, not just journalists who are aggravating him on the campaign trail. The best part about the tantrum is it is completely false.

Biden did not geta full scholarship to law school. He got a partial one based on financial need. Since he has the lowest net worth of anyone currently in the US Senate, you can chalk that one up to the more things change, the more they stay the same. Further, Biden graduated 76th out of 85 students. No where near the top half.
Nor did he earn three degrees in college. He double majored, but that only gets you one degree. You have to choose between the two majors which you want you bachelor’s degree in. Frankly, double majoring is not a particularly impressive feat, either. Virtually everyone who aspires to earn an advanced degree in a competitive field considers it at one time or another and often goes for it. I have kicked myself over the years realizing I could have claimed a double major if I had declared early enough and taken two more history classes. Alas, I am stuck with a puny history minor.

The ironic part is how unnecessary the whole argument is. At some point in a professional’s life, his academic prowess ought to fall by the wayside in favor of what he has accomplished since graduating. Granted, they may not help Biden much since he is a talker and not a doer. It would make Biden look like an arrogant jerk to brag about his academic accomplishments at that point and in that manner even if they were true. That they are not just makes him look like a lying jerk.

Madonna Kicks Off World Tour

Madonna kicked off her "Sticky & Sweet" world tour last night in Cardiff, Wales. I find it odd her strange look and wild costume changes did not make Torchwood suspicious a new alien had come through the rift and was terrorizing the local teenagers, aging pop fan housewives, and raging queens that usually populate a Madonna concert.

Her tour has been described as quite a doozy:

“The show itself includes eight costume changes, 16 dancers, and $1.85 million worth of Swarovski crystals. It is billed as a musical mishmash of gangsta pimp, Romanian folk, rave, and a nod to the blonde material-girl’s roots in the 80s New York City dance scene."

That mishmash extravaganza still cannot had the fact Madonna turned fifty last week. She does not look bad for someone her age, but after seeing Mick Jagger prancing across the stage shirtless and pale enough to glow in the dark, I would hope Madonna knows it is about time for her to get off the stage before she traumatizes someone. I did not need to see that.

The Reaction to Biden

I gave it enough time for the pundits to chew on Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate before I looked over what pundits have to say about it and the rollout in general. As I suspected after all the anticipation, must everyone was underwhelmed. Why all the hubbub over Biden? The majority of pundits either thought it was going to be him or were not surprised if he turn out to be the one for The One. There is nothing new or exciting about Biden. Primarily, the complaint is Biden is old news who does not fit in with Obama’s promise of change:

Joe Biden, change?? Biden, the sixth-longest-serving and notoriously long-winded senator? Biden, who was named a Face for the Future by Time magazine in his freshman senatorial year -- in 1974, before I was even born? Biden, who withdrew from the 1988 presidential race after speech-plagiarizing and school-grade-exaggerating scandals? Biden, who snagged a whopping 1% of Iowa delegates in January?

says Bridget Johnson in the Rocky Mountain News.

I suppose there is some logic in running with a longtime party man like Biden even if he does undermine the forward looking theme of the Obama campaign. Biden is the most experienced of Obama’s potential Veep choices even if he does not have any executive experience. Plus, as Bridget Johnson pointed out above, he has been around long enough for us to know all his dirty laundry. He is like John McCain in that regard. You have not heard Obama roll out any mentions of Charles Keating, have you? The keating Five was too long ago in McCain’s past for anyone to care.

Ah, but the free speaking Biden is likely to say a whole lot of embarrassing things between now and November. The McCain camp has already hurriedly brought up a couple statements in recent memory to haunt him: but Biden is going to have to have some cameras put in hisface for more of that to happen, so I will wait. In the meantime, I have to question the roll out strategy itself. The rationale baffles me. The campaign waited until 3 AM on a Saturday morning, which I can only figure was giving the finger to Hillary Clinton and her “3 Am’ ad a few months ago. A clever tweak, but childish for a presidential candidate.

Why not announce earlier? The whole rationale behind texting the announcement to all Obama supporters who signed up for it is to do so at a time when they are all at work, surrounding by friends and colleagues, so word of mouth can spread quickly. Sending it at 3 AM when everyone is asleep guarantees they will read the text alone, in their pajamas, over a bowl of Frosted flakes. Not that it matters since the Obama camp was scooped by the media anyway who named Biden as Veep hours before.

There really is not much here for anyone to get excited about.

Torchwood Filming for Children of Earth

Filming for the miniseries Torchwood: Children of Earth began this week in Cardiff, Wales. Two characters have been added. Paul Copley is pictured above with eve Myles as Gwen Cooper. Copley has played a role in the Doctor who audio play, Spare Parts, in the past. Julia Joyce, the little girl who played young Rose Tyler in 2005's "Father's Day" will play one of the mysterious Children of Earth named Holly.

A few photos have leaked from the set. They feature eve Myles again and Kai Owen as Rhys. allegedly, this sequence involves Gwen distracting a guest character while Rhys steals his laptop even though none of that is clear in any photo. But hey, you get to look at Eve Myles, so you cannot complain too much.



These photos can be enlarged should you deem it necessary.