Thank you Rush

Apparently, Colin Powell endorsed Obama because he's black. Thank God I have Rush around to tell me these things otherwise I would have thought someone of Powell's stature would actually endorse on merit. Who knew he could be so easily swayed by skin color? Apparently Rush. Evidently he has some real insight into basing things on skin color. Isn't racism fun!?



Thanks to the Colbert Report for uncovering this:

The DOW Jones in ice

An ice sculpture created by two artists was installed in Foley Square in New York. It accurately depicts the current economy. So, when's the bailout kick in? After all our government put in a lot of hard work.

Sounds like fun to observe, but I think I'd prefer watching Tina Fey or playing ad-laced video games.

Obama breaks his pledge

Well, he said he would accept public financing to assure he would work within the limits established for campaigning. He didn't. Now his campaign is the most expensive ever and only about 1/1000th of the monumental bailout. I guess $600 million what it takes to get male voters. Evidently Powell's endorsement wasn't enough.

Wassup!

Who doesn't remember the Wassup Budweiser commercials?



Evidently these guys came up with something better than video games and strippers to get attention for their candidate:

Something more for the Ted Stevens Foundation

He was found guilty. On all charges. We are all reeling from the shock. The real question of the day: Will this information be part of the Ted Stevens Foundation who's only purpose is to "assist in educating and informing the public about the career of Senator Ted Stevens."

Our government at work.

Money, its a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash. That appears to be our government's motto.

Apparently a U.S. contractor training Iraqis about good government lost over $185,000 dollars. The government not only reimbursed it, but paid tens of thousands more in special fees relating to the lost money.

The real question is how well is he training them? Perhaps they will learn to screw over their taxpayers as well as we screw over ours.

A "classic" Colbert clip

Here is a classic Colbert Report clip about Ron Paul: seemingly the only sane voice as it involved the bailout. Enjoy.

We don't wait your stinking bailout!

Well, the bailout occurred, but we don't like it. 56% of us to be exact. 64% of us don't like what Paulson did, and 72% don't like what the president did. And yet they did it.

I'm so glad democracy works.

McCain asks Russia for help

Looks like McCain accidentally solicited campaign contributions from a Russian U.N. envoy. Oops. Moscow's mission to the United Nations had to remind the Republican campaign that they "do not finance political activity in foreign countries."

Who are these 25 percent?

According to a recent poll, 75 percent of people think things are going badly in the US while 25 percent think they are going well. Who are these 25 percent that always seem so stubbornly intent on supporting poor policies and why do they drink so heavily when they take polls?

Fox News: unfair and mentally unbalanced?

I've had Fox News as a daily web news source for quite awhile. I found their coverage to lean toward tabloid journalism with their sensationalism and penchant for running sex-related stories. However, this didn't deter me as I was still able to process their news understanding it was slanted. Eventually, it just concerned me to be one more viewer they could tout to their advertisers to make more money so I no longer go there.

I think this Daily Show clip shows the slant to which I am referring.

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Colin Powell endores Obama

This is a big get for Obama. Apparently this "doesn't come as a surprise" to McCain. (Video from Meet the Press)

She showed

As promised, Governor Palin made a cameo on Saturday Night Live. Honestly, it was a weak premise, but I give her double points, first for showing (smart move) and second for dealing with the very embarrassing banter, which only served to make Alec Baldwin look slightly ogreish. Luckily we can forgive Alec as he is the best part of 30 Rock. Fortunately for Tina she didn't have to be part of that embarrassment, but we all love her impersonation, and we should have seen more.

For those who missed it, thank God for Hulu.

Of course, Mark Wahlberg was the highlight of the intro. To date, his reaction to Adam Sandberg's impression of him ranges from flattered, to unimpressed, to pissed off. Ummm... okay.



Of course even Marky Mark would have had a hard time going toe-to-toe with Amy Poehler whose moose-shooting rap stole the spotlight in the Weekend Update.



So far ratings are up and reviews are flattering, and you can add your opinion to the mix.

It was bound to happen

Let's face it: for the most part this presidential race has been about issues. Okay, maybe not so much, but it hasn't been about gender and race, for which we as a country should be very proud since we have had the possibility for the first woman and first black president.

However, there is always going to be a bad apple in the bunch, and this time around is no exception. Apparently some group sent out a 10 dollar food stamp with a caricature of Barack Obama and several stereotypical African American foods.

The best quote:
Reporter: "Do you think it's racist?"
Person: "No, not exactly"

You might as well just say "yes".

Will the real Palin please stand up?

Well, this weekend, the real Sarah Palin will be on Saturday Night Live. Smart move by all involved. It should be lots of fun so get the Tivos ready! It's tough to say if this will be better than a bunch of stripping Palins, but it should be close.

Something less obscene

Apparently the candidates can be civil. They took an opportunity to attend a dinner in which they only traded wisecracks, not attacks. Here are some quotes:

McCain told the glittering Manhattan crowd at the annual Al Smith dinner, a fundraiser for area Catholic charities named after the four-term former New York governor, that he had an announcement -- he had dismissed all of his campaign advisers.

"All of their positions will now be held by a man named Joe the plumber," McCain said, citing the Ohio small business owner who McCain made an overnight sensation in Wednesday's debate.

The Arizona senator also poked fun at his reference to Obama as "that one" in an earlier debate.

"He doesn't mind at all. In fact he even has a pet name for me: George Bush," McCain said.

...

When Obama took the microphone, he said he needed to correct some misconceptions since McCain had been asking "Who is Barack Obama?"

"I was not born in a manger," he said, adding the name Barack, given by his Kenyan father, was Swahili for "that one." He also had an explanation for his middle name, Hussein.

"I got my middle name from somebody who didn't think I would ever run for president," he said.

Getting young male voters

Well, Obama broke into new territory by being the first political campaign to advertise in a video game venue. This of course is to get that all important young male vote. A smart move and the immediate thought is "point Obama."


Not so fast. Apparently a group of Palin-lookalike strippers are having a pageant for a $10,000 prize. Let's not be naive: video games vs. strippers in the quest for young male voters. Point Palin.

Debate-free zone

Seriously? You're coming here looking for something else on the debate? Please! Entire sections of cyberspace have been wasted for this purpose. Why waste your time and mine? I'll start you off...

The dropping DOW isn't all bad

Well, oil has dropped to nearly half of what it was mid-July. I guess this is the silver lining of not being able to retire. At least I can afford to get to work long enough to put money away for retirement so I can watch it disappear.

Fair and balanced

I've been feeling a little guilty that many of my posts are focusing on one particular side of the fence, but some things are such easy fodder. First of all, I think that it bears pointing out that Fannie Mae's largest contributions went to democratic presidential candidates and also to Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Barney Frank (D-MA). These two congressmen bear a great deal of the responsibility for the financial crisis we are in and yet they were the ones who were spearheading the House bill for the bailout.

But the biggest reason why most of the focus has been on the right is because we already know all the players on the left, and we already know of their gaffes. Of course, selecting a running mate like Biden who suffers from foot-in-mouth disease only makes for more smirks and giggles. I believe the daily show shares my views on this.



So it's simply about timing. It's the new faces that get the face time. Unless of course, Biden speaks.

Palin backlash

It appears there is a little anti-Palin sentiment hitting the airwaves today. First of all John Cleese is stating that his Monty Python cohort, Michael Palin is no longer the funniest Palin, and then he gets a little direct.



Campbell Brown also jumped in with some questions raised by a chief strategist from President Bush's 2004 election campaign.


At least she has foreign policy experience.

Vote for me!

Have fun fooling your closest friends with this site. And while you're at it, vote for me! I don't know who owns this site or how they put this together, but kudos!

Brown lawn = jail time?

Wow! Talk about a hard-as-nails home owner association. Apparently paying your mortgage over watering your grass gets you jail time in Pasco County, Florida.

Okay, to be fair, the guy didn't show up to a court date about his homeowner agreement and he was actually jailed for contempt, but the bottom line is he wound up in jail because his homeowners association took him to court over a lawn. Just one more time where our system went into overdrive when it should have gone in reverse.

Good job doing your job

Well, the bailout passed with more pork than a Golden Corral buffet. At least Jon Stewart and company at the Daily Show always have time to serve up good audio and video clips to put it in perspective.

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Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Bailout Bill Passes
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Fey as Palin

While congress was spending $5,000 per every taxpaying U.S citizen, the rest of us were watching Tina Fey play Gov. Palin on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Of course any SNL parody makes a person a caricature of themselves, and in this case, it may not be all that good for Palin. Regardless, it's hilarious, so much so that viewership for SNL is up nearly 50%, even jumping as much as 25% from week to week. So to all you Joe Six Pack's out there, enjoy:

Privatizing Profit but Socializing Risk

There have been a few times while I was snow skiing down a particularly steep black diamond run when I have found myself face-to-face with a sheet of white, feeling the painful, bone-crushing agony of defeat. In those grueling moments that followed, I mistakenly worked to recover from the pain instead of finding someone onto whom I could transfer my pain so I could ski down the mountain undeterred.

But life only works like this when the government gets involved, putting on its spandex and superhero cape and saving the day. And why not!? This is exactly what the Administration has said all along.

"I have great, great confidence in our capital markets and in our financial institutions. Our financial institutions, banks and investment banks, are strong. Our capital markets are resilient. They're efficient. They're flexible."

-- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, March 16, 2008

"Our policy in this administration -- laws shouldn't bail out lenders, laws shouldn't help speculators."

-- President Bush, May 19, 2008

"Our economy has continued growing, consumers are spending, business are investing, exports continue increasing and American productivity remains strong. We can have confidence in the long-term foundation of our economy...I think the system basically is sound. I truly do."

-- President Bush, July 15, 2008

Er... Okay, not so much.

The truth is that so many people were voicing their opinions in opposition to the bailout that the House of Representatives web site became unavailable. The original bill failed. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) called the bailout a "Cow Patty". Rep. Lloyed Doggett (D-TX) said "I want Wall Street to pay to bail Wall Street out rather than putting the burden on people who had nothing to do with this." Rep. Ron Paul felt strongly enough to write an editorial posted on CNN chiding Congress to avoid this bailout followed by a Q&A with John Roberts. A handful of democrats even came up with an anti-bailout bill.

But in the end, Congress found what they needed swallow this bill: pork. This proposal even included some very specific earmarks:

"This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more," [Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense] wrote.

The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over 10 years, he wrote.

Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and Gordon Smith, a Republican, were the initial sponsors of the arrow provision. According to Bloomberg News, the earmark provision would be worth $200,000 a year to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon.

But good news! Our bailout money has already been put to good use! AIG has been able to spend nearly half a million dollars to give its executives a much needed retreat with golf and spa treatments. And even better news for those executives: they want the government to give them more money! But at least it's working!

Well, regardless, I like that plan. It's like enjoying the exhilaration of skiing down a treacherous mountain pass knowing that any pain will be passed on to those smart enough to ski within their skill level. Privatize the pleasure; socialize the pain.