Friday, September 12, 2008

Thursday, September 11, 2008

George Jones' 77th birthday commemorative heater

WFMU's beware of the blog reprinted a copy of this advertisement today, honoring the country legend's 77th birthday. And, even better, they have two downloads of George songs: Wino The Clown, and Relief is just a swallow away. Jump here to download the tunes.




click the ad to enlarge
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

On the road to California



After my travel over the last two years--around 140 flights--I've been pretty landlocked since returning from Asia and Europe, aside from one quick trip to Oregon. Six weeks on the ground! You may recall how at the beginning of all this traveling, I was still needing extremely heavy medication to even approach a plane. I made B.A. Barackus looks like a seasoned traveller. These days I start getting restless when I am planted on the ground too long! Today, I am once again off to San Francisco/Berkeley, and will probably hit Southern California, Boston, and maybe even England and India, in the next short while. Quick trips like this are nice. You can go pretty much alpine style. [Editor's note: Three days later, we read the article/post and the first thing that struck us is Jack Brummet's laughable claim he was going alpine style, as he carried a spare pair of contact lenses, an Apple iPod Nano, Nintendo DS and dozens of games, a Blackberry Curve telephone/palmtop computer, and a real computer (laptop) with a satellite connection, about five different wall chargers and USB cables, two books, art supplies, a change of clothes--and extra clothes even!!!]

My bag will include
  • Contact lens stuff (along with a spare pair) and a pair of glasses (just in case everything goes wrong), a toothbrush and paste, floss, and medicine.
  • Two pairs of socks and drawers.
  • Some pants a/k/a trousers.
  • A button down shirt.
  • A swimsuit and goggles.
  • A quarter zip sweatshirt.
  • One t-shirt.
  • One iPod Nano.
  • One Nintendo DS, five games, and a CyclopsDS cart filled with games.
  • One Dell ultralight laptop, parts, and accessories.
  • One BlackBerry curve 8130.
  • A translation of Grimm's Fairy Tales and High Crimes, an Everest expedition book.
  • Sunglasses, pens, pencils, a poetry and sketching notebook
And to make it all even sweeter, I was upgraded to first class on both legs of the trip.

It's always great to get back to the East Bay, although I rarely stay long enough to spend any time in my old Berkeley stomping grounds. I always want to go up into the Berkeley Hills to visit where Claire, Keelin, and I first lived together, in the UC married student's housing, just above the deaf school, nestled in Eucalyptus, and sitting directly on the Hayward fault. We used to feel little tremors and earthquakes daily there. Deer walked down the hills into our yard, and we had a view of the Golden Gate from our window.

Maybe this is no politics Wednesday. It's been a political orgy lately, and today it still feels a little like we've had a surfeit of political news. But that could change any minute. . .
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Monday, September 08, 2008

Weekend surprise visit to Afghanistan: Candidate Palin pilots a bomber and bombs Taliban cave hideouts in Tora Bora


...Click to enlarge...

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

The McCain campaign (quite likely rightly) decided they did not want VP nominiee Sarah Palin appearing solo on the rounds of Sunday talk shows, going head to head with the pundits and tastemakers; not this week anyway. So, they did the next best thing. They put her on a jet to Afghanistan, where she arrived Saturday morning and hooked up with the military heavies on arrival--two Majors and a Brigadier General were new Pail fans, as it turned out. The three commanders convinced the Governor to come along on a bombing mission over a potential Al Qaeda target holding at least a couple of the Al Qaeda high command.

The self-described "pitbull in lipstick" readily agreed to the ride-along. Nine minutes into the flight, Major John Newton, urged Palin to take the controls. She piloted the bomber for 17 minutes, until they were nearing the "hot zone." As they arrived at the targets, Newton again sought Palin's participation, and the Governor pushed the button on six SmartBombs
® as the attack planes neared their targets.
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Painting: The Endorsement


Click the image to enlarge.

We are entering the season of endorsements, most of which are not worth the oxygen or ink used to emit them.

On the other hand, it's always to nice to know what your local newspaper or alderman or labor union is thinking.

The NRA in particular, finally has an excellent poster-child in Governor Palin. I don't think John Kerry's quail hunting ever really rang their bells. They undoubtedly liked Dick Cheney, but then when he shot his hunting partner, that had to have cooled their ardor somewhat (Dick Cheney incidentally is under extremely deep cover this election season...the kind into which they wish they could slip George Bush).
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Saturday, September 06, 2008

Oprah is not telling the truth about the Sarah Palin-Oprah controversy





Oprah Winfrey has come out and attempted to refute recent articles (which leftists are calling Republican propaganda): "The item in today's Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over."



Lie One: "I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates." Obama appeared on her program just before he announced his candidacy, and once prior to that--when we all knew he would be running. In his 2007 appearance, Oprah Winfrey asked him if he would announce a presidential bid on her program."I don't think I could say no to you," Obama replied. "Oprah, you're my girl." She offered his show for the announcement; he chose to make it elsewhere.


Lie Two: "There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show."

An Oprah show insider said that "Half of her staff really wants Sarah Palin on. Oprah's website is getting tons of requests to put her on, but Oprah and a couple of her top people are adamantly against it because of Obama."

Does that really sound like "absolutely no discussion" to you? I'm pretty sure that Sarah Palin would just sit on the couch, Oprah, not jump on it like Tom Cruise.

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Republican convention was most-watched convention on television--ever


Closing night of the GOP convention - click to enlarge


By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor



Party unity, a TV ratings bonanza, an "energized base," and the Democrats on the run have resurrected what might have been a moribund convention. A few months ago, John McCain almost dropped out of the race, and the party was in shambles. The Republicans leave Minnesota with a new lease on life and the stunned Democratic Party once again playing catch-up.


According to Rasmussen Reports polls, the choice of Sarah Palin as VP candidate is only slightly more popular that Obama's choice of Joe Biden. However, the buzz seems to belie that, when coming off the convention Obama/Biden seem--for the moment--to be little more than a footnote, and an irritating presence to disposed of later in the fall.


The Rasmussen Reports now say that Palin’s favorable ratings are .a point higher than either man at the top of the ticket. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.


Senator Obama, however, vowed yesterday to fight back: "We're not going to be bullied, we're not going to be smeared, we're not going to be lied about," Obama said. "I don't believe in coming in second."


Unlike McCain, Obama is still madly fundraising. Last night, Obama attended a $2,300-per-person party at the .home of party fundraiser Phil Murphy. About 200 people, including the Bon Jovis and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, attended.


Republican nominee John McCain can raise no more campaign money because he accepted about $84 million in public funding and the restrictions that go with it. Obama turned down the public funding (and broke an earlier pledge to the voters), in hopes he can raise and spend more on his own.


This next eight weeks promise some excellent political theatre.
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Friday, September 05, 2008

Oprah Winfrey refuses to have Sarah Palin on her show. Sarah: Give All This Is That a call!



That self-important battleaxe Oprah refuses to have Sarah Palin on her show. She HAS had any number of celebrities, felons, junkies, and liars on, but somehow the Republican VP candidate doesn't make the cut. Come on, Oprah! Aren't you a little bigger than that? Yeah, your man Obama is starting to sweat bullets. . .but you acting like this just plays into the hands of what the Republicans were saying all week. We've at least got to act bi-partisan!


Dear Governor Palin:

Consider yourself lucky to avoid The Oprah Show. We may disagree with you on just about everything, but we'd love to have you here for a chat.

Yours,


The Editors
All This Is That
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