More Weird

I am not making this up:

Orion Samuelson is on WGN-AM and says that the IL-GOP has approached him to run for the Senate seat.

He said he is gonna think about it.

"Bush Straight Talk"

via Political Wire:

Former Saturday Night Live star Will Ferrell re-emerges as George W. Bush in a commercial for America Coming Together.

At least it didn't say South Carolina.

Am I the only one that thinks that CNN should know that Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle is from South Dakota -- not North Dakota, as CNN repeatedly misidentified him last night?

Probably.

I know I felt proud last night.

Kos gives me -- and probably you -- an attaboy for nominating Barack Obama for Senate:

But it's important to remember that it was Illinois Democrats who made him possible -- propelling him to victory in a crowded primary field, hopelessly outspent by his wealthier opponents.

Now that he's pointed it out, we do kick ass!

Can't wait until 8:45pm CDT?

USA Today has video (scroll down) of Barack Obama in which he discusses tonight's speech.

Update: Keynote Address Sneak Preview

Bad news for OneMan

Wonkette confirms

Bloggers are hot on the man who is becoming the HOT HOT HOT story of the 2004 Democratic National Convention: Once you go Barack, you never go back!

Update: Wonkette reports: Barack Obama Exclusive! His Secret Shame!

Lessig v. O'Reilly

Larry Lessig has written a long open letter to Bill O'Reilly that should be interesting to anyone who has seen Outfoxed or others interested just in the truth

"You have declared a 'war' on the New York Times. That's good for you, good for them, and good for our democracy: Strong opinions deserve strong spokesmen. Your battle will help sharpen a debate about matters important to the Republic." Lessig then proceeds to take O'Reilly to task, point-by-point for an ongoing campaign of pathological libel agaist Jeremy Glick, the son of a 9/11 victim who spoke out against the Bush Presidency and the war. Glick appears in Outfoxed, a new documentary that criticises O'Reilly and his network, and in answering the charges raised in Outfoxed, O'Reilly has chosen Glick as a symbol of what he hates, and in order to make his point, he has been lying repeatedly about what Glick said and did. Lessig's point is that attacking a giant media organisation is one thing, but using your on-camera bully pulpit to repeatedly slander someone who has already lost so much is unconscionable.

via boing-boing

A Travishamockery?

My brother noticed that Barbara and Jenna Bush made their election-trail debut only after Miller Beer began its latest ad campaign. 

After considering their family's extensive and complicated relationship with alcohol, my brother now wonders, "Are the Bush twins campaigning under the mistaken belief that their father is running for 'President of Beers?'"

Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good

kos explains Stephanie Herseth's vote for a (patently unconstitutional) bill that would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over gay marriage issues:

Herseth is pro-choice in a fiercely anti-abortion state. You can only take so many contrarian stands before you become unviable. And being pro-choice and pro-gay marriage is a non starter in states like South Dakota. Or Oklahoma. Or Utah. You get the idea.

The reason to support Herseth or Democrats like her have nothing to do with supporting candidates who agree with you on all the issues. There is just one vote that matters -- that for Speaker Pelosi or a Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate.

We get that Democrat in charge of either house of Congress, and you won't see anti-gay marriage legislation coming up for a vote. Herseth is one more vote for Speaker Pelosi, and that's all that matters. How they vote after that is irrelevant.

Let's not forget, she is still pretty damn liberal for South Dakota which voted for Bush 60-38 in the 2000 election.

"Only in America."

Who better to represent the GOP vision for minorities in America, than a man who is infamous for separating black men from tens of millions of their hard-earned dollars?*

Don King with Ed Gillespie, Republican chairman, and Sidney Charles, chairman of a Haitian-American group supporting the president.

via New York Times

*King also served three and-a-half years in prison for stomping and pistol whipping Sam Garrett to death and he was indicted on multiple federal charges including tax fraud and racketeering.

Mortgaging America's future? Bring it on!

Apparently unaware that the mission was accomplished, today's New York Times has stories featuring some of the ways that we borrowing against our future to pay for the continuing war in Iraq. 

Army to Call Up Recruits Earlier

In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October.

As a result, recruiters will enter the new year without the usual cushion of incoming soldiers, making it that much harder to make their quotas for 2005. Instead of knowing the names of nearly half the coming year's expected arrivals in October, as the Army did last year, or even the names of around one in three, as is the normal goal, this October the recruiting command will have identified only about one of five of the boot camp class of 2005 in advance.

***

[T]apping into the bank of recruits is a telling sign that the Army is having problems filling its ranks to meet the deployments of more than 120,000 soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

***

"Guys the mission is at risk!" Col. Peter M. Vangjel, a deputy commander of the Army Recruiting Command, wrote to battalion commanders and top enlisted soldiers in an April 21 e-mail message. "We can NOT miss this mission. I need your full support."

War Costs Exceed Budget, Watchdog Panel Says

Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are running $12.3 billion over budget this year, and Pentagon officials are trying to make up for the shortfall by transferring money from other accounts and delaying refurbishment of worn-out equipment in Iraq, the General Accountability Office said Wednesday.

***

[T]he Army was running about $9.4 billion short of what had been budgeted. By putting off other kinds of spending until next year, the military is likely to run up higher costs in future

***

Administration officials have acknowledged that costs in Iraq are running higher than the $65 billion that Congress approved for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the administration's urging, Congress is expected to pass an appropriations bill this week that contains $25 billion in funds for Iraq that can be used immediately.

***

The G.A.O. estimate on military spending in Iraq is almost the exact opposite of the budget outlook for reconstruction. Congress approved $18.7 billion for reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of that for Iraq, but only a few billion have actually been spent.
Much of the delay stems from the insecurity confronting foreign contractors in Iraq, the same factor that has caused American commanders to keep troop levels at much higher levels than expected.

And let us never forget those who have paid their all for this war.

Delivery Confirmation Number: 03040370000109310672

In my effort to help the Illinois blogosphere help Jack Ryan withdraw as a candidate for United States Senate, I have mailed a copy of the form -- identified by Mr. Zorn and filled out by Mr. Trigg -- to Mr. Ryan. 

You can follow the postal progress of the "Withdrawal of Candidacy" form here.

UPDATE:  Current Status

Your item was delivered at 12:17 pm on July 22, 2004 in WILMETTE, IL 60091.

Depression-era anti-Bush movie

This is the reason you have high-speed internet access. 
But if you are stuck with dial-up, be sure to check out the slide show.
via boing-boing

Originally planned to be only a couple minutes long, the full length version is now a seven minute look at the hard times living under Bush's economy. The completed short is an appropriate juxtaposition of Bush's economy with a depression-era style that I think is appropriate when describing the first presidency since Hoover to preside over a job loss." This is an amazing piece of work.

Evidence for Hersh's claims of child sexual abuse at Abu Ghraib?

This is not good.
 
 
 
via boing-boing

Another potential Republican candidate thwarted?

The Incredible Hulk's pursuit of a sequel may stymie the effort to draft him as the Republican Senate candidate.

X2 come out last year. Spider-Man 2 come out last month. Both great sequels to great movies about Hulk friends. Hulk love great action movies about friends! People buy tickets. Make money for theaters, make money for movie company. Movie company make more movies with money. Already, they working on X-Men 3. Hulk movie come out last year. It success. It big popcorn movie with heart. So why no one want make Hulk 2? It make Hulk mad!
 
Hulk know what people say. Original movie no good, people say. Hulk movie Hulk-sized bomb, people say. That not true! Hulk more successful than people think. Make $132 million in U.S. alone, only cost $120 million. That not small potatoes. Add international box-office receipts and DVD sales and it add up to big money. Big! Oh, and did Hulk forget merchandising tie-ins? First Hulk movie really forge Hulk brand identity. Make people aware of Hulk. Hulk now poised to build on success of first Hulk movie. Hulk 2 smash box-office records!

via the Onion.

Ebert gets it

from the Suntimes:

"The Corporation" is not a film my dinner companion would enjoy. It begins with the unsettling information that, under the law, a corporation is not a thing but a person. The U.S. Supreme Court so ruled, in a decision based, bizarrely, on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. That was the one that guaranteed former slaves equal rights. The court ruling meant corporations were given the rights of individuals in our society. They are free at last.

If Monsanto and WorldCom and Enron are indeed people, what kind of people are they? The movie asks Robert Hare, a consultant who helps the FBI profile its suspects. His diagnosis: Corporations by definition have a personality disorder and can be categorized as psychopathic. That is because they single-mindedly pursue their own wills and desires without any consideration for other people (or corporations) and without reference to conventional morality. They don't act that way to be evil; it's just, as the scorpion explained to the frog, that it's in their nature.

Having more or less avoided the corporate world by living in my little movie critic corner, I've been struck by the way classmates and friends identify with their corporations. They are loyal to an entity that exists only to perpetuate itself. Any job that requires you to wear a corporate lapel pin is taking more precious things from you than display space. Although I was greatly cheered to see Ken Lay in handcuffs, I can believe he thinks he's innocent. In corporate terms, he is: He was only doing his job in reflecting Enron's psychopathic nature.

“You heard it here first.”

Dave Addiis of The Virginian-Pilot weighs in on Illinois Senate Race:

By saying no, ''Da Coach'' avoids a bear of a rival
 
[W]hat likely scared Ditka off was a peek across the line of scrimmage at his opponent: a cool, tested, whip-smart black state legislator named Barack Obama.

Wednesday, on my favorite sports show, ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” host Tony Kornheiser of The Washington Post was having fun at Ditka’s expense, chiding him for not running.

“Who’s gonna vote for a guy named Obama?” he laughed, certain that voters would confuse Ditka’s opponent with a guy named Osama. Even Kornheiser’s co-host, the well-tuned and Afro-centric columnist Mike Wilbon, showed no sign of knowing who Barack Obama is. And Wilbon is from Chicago.

But Republican politicos know who Obama is. They have an edgy eye on him, even as he rises from Chicago precinct politics to take his first steps on the national stage.
 
***
 
All those AM-radio mouth-breathers and Internet conspiracy geeks keep harping that Hillary Clinton is the threat that the GOP will face on future ballots. But Republicans whose brains are larger than their tongues, the serious players out there, understand that their real threat is likely to be somebody like Obama.

Notice that the Democrats gave Obama the premier convention speakers’ slot. Hillary got bupkis.

“Who’s gonna vote for a guy named Obama?” Kornheiser asked. The answer is that a lot of us might well face that option eight to 12 years from now, when that name shows up as a candidate for vice-president or president.

As Kornheiser himself likes to say, “You heard it here first.”

 

Could Ditka have made it a race?

Via Kos (who says "Obama may be the luckiest candidate this cycle")

Survey USA (PDF). 7/13-14. MoE 3.6%. (No trend lines)

Obama (D) 51

Ditka (R) 44

Feder's column reinforces my thinking that Ditka was just playing the GOP and the media to raise his profile and income:

Look for Mike Ditka to be filibustering on Channel 2 instead of the floor of the U.S. Senate. Moments after the former Bears coach confirmed that he wouldn't be a Republican candidate for senator, the CBS-owned station announced his signing as sports contributor.

via Suntimes

Red or Blue—Which Are You?

Take the Slate quiz.

Instinctual knowledge is what this quiz intends to judge, not how smart you are about the other side. And there are many people who are purple—neither red nor blue, or both red and blue.

Do they still have the number for Herr Oberweiss?

Via Glenn Brown:

Inquiry accused Senate prospect of 'lewd' behavior

A potential Republican candidate for the Senate seat from Illinois -- where the party's nominee withdrew over sex club allegations -- engaged in "lewd and abusive behavior'' while she served as a top official in the White House drug policy office, an internal inquiry found last year.

In front of her staff, Andrea Grubb Barthwell made repeated comments about the sexual orientation of a staff member and used a kaleidoscope to make sexually offensive gestures, according to the findings of a March 19, 2003, "hostile workplace memorandum'' prepared by drug policy office staff. The Associated Press obtained the memorandum.

In an interview Wednesday with the AP, Barthwell said the memorandum overstates what happened, but she said she was wrong for participating in ``inappropriate banter'' at a staff birthday party.

"As the senior person there it was my job to stop it before it got started and I didn't. I in fact joined in,'' she said.

***

The lewd and abusive behavior finding stemmed from a Dec. 19, 2002, staff gathering. Barthwell made comments about a staff member's sexual orientation after the staff member misspoke in an earlier conversation, the memorandum said.

"Dr. Barthwell made reference to this staff member sitting on men's laps. A kaleidoscope pointed upward was placed on a chair by Dr. Barthwell as the staff member was about to sit down,'' it said.

"Dr. Barthwell suggested that the staff member would want to cut the cake available for the gathering because the knife was 'long and hard' and he might 'enjoy handling it.' When the cake was cut, Dr. Barthwell referred to the pieces as 'most' or 'beefy' and she said to the staff member, 'I know you like it big and meaty.'''

Obama on Today Tomorrow

The Obama campaign says that Mr. Obama will appear LIVE on
NBC's Today Show Thursday morning, July 15, 7 a.m.

Update: Thanks to Rick Klau and the ObamaBlog, you can now watch the video in either Quicktime or Windows Media formats (the files are about 3 megabytes).

Draft Hulk!

Good News for the GOP -- The Incredible Hulk has not ruled out a run for the Senate:

Some people ask Hulk why Hulk not run for president.

Hulk have simple answer.

Hulk not smart enough to be president and Hulk knows it, unlike stupid puny human Bush in office now. Only saving grace of puny human Bush is his face looks like MONKEY.

HELLO MONKEY!!!!

Keep in mind: the Hulk has great name recognition and should be taken at least as seriously as the gum-thrower.

Don't Let A Computer Eat Your Vote

Back when I first started voting in DuPage County, after I asked for a Democratic primary ballot, I was told, "I don't think we have any Democratic ballots."

Eventually a competent person found the Democratic ballots, but I shudder to think of the electoral damage that election judge could do with computerized votes, e.g., "My grandson always says you should restart the computer when you run into problems."

Today is the US nationwide "Computer Ate My Vote Day," with rallies across the country to raise awareness of the dangers of paperless electronic voting and the need for election integrity. Click below to find out what you can do to protect your vote.

That's a lotta ultras...

Mike Ditka in an interview on FOX News in the Morning:

You talk about banning smoking. Okay, why don't we ban abortion? Let's talk about things that are really important. You know you talk about, well, you think one thing can harm your health, the other one takes a life.

Come on here, you know you're talking to a guy that is ultra-ultra-ultra conservative. So you know people who don't like that, you won't like me one bit.

The Leader provides a transcript.

Paper, Rock, Saddam

1-2-3-Go!

Does ArchPundit Hate America?

I have not posted for over a week because I have been celebrating our nation's birth -- as anyone who truly loves America would have.