Photograph of Phil Kendall

click to enlarge

I snagged this photo from the In Memory of Phil Kendall blog site. I corrected the brightness, despeckled it, turned the color down and (attempted) to fix the red-eye. I can't be sure, but I bet this photo is from the summer of 1974. He was a great smiler, and friend.
---o0o---

Caution---> Lindsay Lohan behind the wheel

---o0o---

Gingrich: 80/20 The Dems will win

According to an interview Newt Gingrich had with the National Journal, the Republican's goose is cooked. Read the full article in the National Journal here.

Q: You said fairly recently that the Democrats had a very high likelihood of winning the presidency next year.

Gingrich: I think that the country, after the last couple of years, has a bias in favor of change -- I think probably starting with [Hurricane] Katrina and coming through Baghdad and the whole sense of too much spending. And you sense a lack of enthusiasm in the conservative base, and you sense a stunning level of intensity in the anti-war Left. And so you just look at the dynamics and you have to say the odds are probably 80-20 [in the Democrats' favor].
Q: 80-20?

Gingrich: Yeah. That's my guess. Now, it could change. If you had a [Republican] candidate who could break out and who could say, "Obviously, we need to change pretty dramatically, and the party of trial lawyers, public employee unions, [and] left-wing ideologues probably can't change,"


---o0o---

Blogger Play - A new toy from Blogger

Blogger has just released a new toy--Blogger Play. "Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching." It's pretty cool. Go here to view the uploaded pictures of all of us on Blogger. It makes for an interesting screensaver...

---o0o---

New photographs of Jeri Kehn Thompson on the campaign trail (and a couple of her husband Fred too)

Since actor and former Senator Fred Thompson declared his candidacy for President on a television talk show, his wife Jeri Kehn has been making selected appearances on the campaign trail. Here are a handful of new photographs from some September rallies and fundraisers. If you want to see more photos of Mrs. Thompson, here is a roundup of all the photos on All This Is That.

A Jeri Kehn Thompson cameo appearance in a Fred Thompson campaign video, four new Jeri Kehn photographs, and a Mrs. Fred Thompson photo roundup

Three additional photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson a/k/a Jeri Kehn

Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)

One More Jeri Kehn Thompson photo

Jeri Kehn Photos, Part 3: Three more photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson

More Jeri Kehn photos--> A follow-up to "Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos) "
Jeri Kehn
---o0o---

And so it begins: Hillary and Giuliani commence trashing each other

Senator Clinton and the former Mayor of 9/11, Rudolph Giuliani have begun trashing each other in advertisements. . .as if the other dwarfs were no longer even in the race.

Rudy kicked off the war of words with a snarling attack on top Democratic contender, accusing her "spewing venom" at America's commander in Iraq. The former may of 9/11 placed a full page-ad in the New York Times chastising Clinton over her stance of the war. Shortly thereafter, he released an internet advertisement saying Clinton had turned her back on US troops, after first voting to authorize the war in Iraq, and now asking for an end to the occupation of Iraq.

"Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of herself for that," Giuliani said.

Rudy was responding to an ad by MoveOn.org, which ran in the Times earlier this week with a headline of "General Petraeus, or General Betray US?"

Clinton's campaign immediately shot back:

"It's hardly surprising that Mayor Giuliani is running the first negative ad of the '08 campaign, given his inability to justify his unqualified support for president Bush's failed Iraq strategy."

Giuliani supporters rally in Omaha, Nebraska


Giuliani's desperate move into mud-slinging comes just as Fred Thompson is chiseling away at the ex-mayor's lead in the race. Giuliani's hopes to seize the momentum again."He'd love nothing more than for her or members of her campaign to respond in an agitated way to what is clearly at best a very dubious linkage between what Moveon does and what Hillary Clinton says," said David Birdsell, professor at Baruch College.
---o0o---

Hitler Youth: a Halloween Costume?

Jason Larsen sent this picture, found somewhere on the interweb. I don't know if the youth in the picture was in training as a young Nazi, or if this was a Halloween costume. It reminded me a little of the time in South Park where Eric Cartman dressed up as Hitler for Halloween. The principal made him take it off and gave him a ghost costume instead. Of course, the ghost costume looked exactly like a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe...

---o0o---

Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow a/k/a The Posies perform "I Guess You're Right" live

This tune is from their most recent album, "Every Kind of Light." There arent't a lot of high quality videos of these guys out there...especially of their recent work. . .

Senator Chuck Hagel throws in the towel

[I never actually got around to posting this when it happened...earlier this week]

Senator Chuck Hagel (republican, Nebraska) plans to will announce on Monday that he is retiring from the U.S. Senate. He will also announce that he will not run for president next year, after flirting with the idea for many months. Sources close to him leaked the information to the press on Friday.

Normally we would be jubilant that another Republican has thrown in the towel. However, Hagel has earned strong national cred as the most vocal, and most pissed-off GOP critic of the President's folly in Iraq.

His outspokenness on Iraq and other key issues fueled national interest in Hagel as he went back and forth on a possible presidential bid. Until yesterday, everyone was sure he would run.

The upside: his stepping down leaves another GOP Senate seat without an incumbent just as the Republican Party desperately struggles to stem potential losses. They go into this race with more seats up for election that the Dems. The upside for Hagel: he's the first Republican in a while to leave office without a gay sex scandal dogging him.
---o0o----

Poppa John Creach plays "Over The Rainbow."

Poppa John Creach plays "Over The Rainbow." I always loved his fiddle rendition of the tune. Poppa John played for both the Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna in the 70's. This is an audio YouTube, with a slideshow. . .the only way we can put songs up here without a lot of hassle.


---o0o---

Happy Birthday Moochie!!!

Happy Birthday to Claire Curran Brummet a/k/a Moochie, who turns 22 years old today.

---o0o---

Poem: Alkyvision

At Stage One, you see round
Out of one eye
And square out of the other—

It's disquieting, but you shake it off
And pour down an encore,
A crooked smile still plastered

On your ragged visage.
At the next stage, it's double trouble—
You see döppelgangers.

At Stage Three, you see triple.
Closing one eye leaves you still seeing double
And the spinning begins.
---o0o---