10. June 2008 by admin.

So, it’s not like I follow a regular schedule anyway, but I do try to post Sunday-Thursday (Friday/Saturday is my weekend, and I’m rarely able to get close to a computer).  But at the moment I’m trying to convert Ontheblob.net & Paperbagninja.com to a straight HTML format so I’m not trapped in the template restrictions I’m currently using.  Since I don’t know HTML, this means I’m learning as I go, and is of necessity slow.  My goal is to post four days a week, and if something interesting happens, or I get a thought I want to pass along I’ll certainly post more.  But if I’m not as regular as usual, gentle readers, please don’t think I’ve forgotten you.  I’m hoping having the sites more standardized will allow me more time to do things like write and blog for your reading pleasure!

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10. June 2008 by admin.

Trust Dennis Kucinich to inject some humor into the staid political arena, and to do so in the worst way possible.  Rep. Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced numerous articles of impeachment against Bush, most having to do with the administration’s justifications on starting the Iraq war.  And while I see no reason to let Pres. Bush sit on his laurels (if he can find any) for the last few months of his presidency, if Rep. Kucinich is successful it will be disasterous for several reasons:

1) PRESIDENT CHENEY.  This sends a shiver down the spine of even my most ardent Republican friends.

2) It’s a major distraction.  We finally nailed down who’s running for president; we should be concentrating on who’s going to be the next POTUS, instead of a pollyannaish rehashing of the (egregious) mistakes of a lame duck.

3) It would remove one of Obama’s strongest electoral arguments.   Pres. Bush is associated with the faults and failures of his administration, while Cheney is associated with being the Prince of Darkness hiding in his secure location.  While that sounds good for the Dems at first blush, the electorate is interested in removing Bush from office.  If this happens prior to the election, it could remove the impetus to vote against a Republican, for some people, this is all Obama has going for him (or needs, for that matter).

I’m ignoring the conspiracy theories that Cheney would refuse to relinquish power, or would engineer an attack or disaster in order to suspend the election or transfer of the presidency; I have faith that our system is more resilient than that.  I also believe VP Cheney is a smart man who understands that the American public expects a new president to be sworn in and any shenanigans interfering with that process would have disasterous long term effects on the Republican Party.  And even if Cheney was willing to risk it, I think the rest of the Republican establishment would nip any political coup in the bud.  After all, Cheney is set to ride off into a future of drunken gunfoolery (does anyone know what he’s actually planning to do after he leaves office?) but the Rep. members of Congress and the RNC will still need to work for a living, and that’s difficult to do if people spit when they speak your name.

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5. June 2008 by admin.

Hillary is going to suspend, but not shut down, her campaign.  It should happen this Saturday, and will allow her to a) continue fundraising to pay down the massive debt she incurred during the last few months of the campaign, and b) she will retain control of the delegates she won in the primaries so she can try to play kingmaker.  Although at this point he doesn’t really need her, she has enough clout, and her supporters can make enough noise, to cause trouble in Denver.

MSNBC reported that Hillary is leaving open the possibility of having her name nominated at the convention, and news reports say Hillary only agreed (she didn’t ‘decide’) to end her active run after being pressured by Democratic leaders and having discussions with them on her future within the party.  Look for her to come out of this, if not with the Veep position, with some nice spot (SCOTUS?) from which to influence policy.

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4. June 2008 by admin.

I tried, I really did.

I’ve opened this blog repeatedly over the last three days, and tried to write something pithy and relevant, but every time I reviewed what I had, I realized I could have taken any number of earlier posts, changed the names of the states holding the primaries, and it would have been hard to tell the difference.

I almost did that to see if anyone noticed.

But now, after five months (has it only been five, and months?) of posturing and politicking, Barak Obama has made history by becoming the first openly Blackish candidate on a major party ticket. This is an incredible accomplishment, and he deserves the kudos and congratulations that are being heaped upon him.

So, Hillary, having fulfilled her promise to stay in until everyone in America has been given a chance to vote, bowed out gracefully last night and pledged to work to restore party unity and help Candidate Obama win the White House and undue the ravages of eight years of Bushology.

What? She didn’t? Surprised? Nope, neither am I.

If you inhale deeply, you can smell the whiff of sulphur from the match Hillary lit to warn the Dems of her willingness to engage in scorched earth politics if she is not given a position of power in the party, most likely the Veep slot on the ticket. Hillary seems to believe she is entitled, nay, even destined, to lead America to a bright and shining future. Of everything we’ve seen this election cycle, or even for the last 10 years of election cycles, her almost religious zealotry toward this idea scares me. If she became president, what would she do to achieve her goals? What would she feel justified to do to those who stood in her way?

New subject: in a Politics/Geek crossover, this young lady here:

http://users.livejournal.com/_allecto_/34718.html?page=1

posits a three post discussion on how the tv show Firefly is a misogynistic racist sexist rapefest which demeans and depowers women. I thought I was putting up a blog that was poorly researched, bigoted, and distorted my subject matter. Man, do I have a long way to go.

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31. May 2008 by admin.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting today to decide what to do with the delegates from the errant states of Michigan and Florida.  Conventional wisdom is they will be Solomonic and divide the delegates in twain, either by allowing only 1/2 of the delegates to be seated or giving each only half a vote (note to the DNC: do the latter.  The delegates are going to be a lot angrier about being kept away from the convention than not given a full vote.  They’re going to Denver to PARTY, and 1/2 a vote justifies their attendance.)

This will end nothing.

Sen. Carl Levin has already said he will appeal any ruling that doesn’t result in the entirety of Michigan’s delegates being seated with full voting rights.

This has taken on a life of its own.  Democratic voters in both states are threatening to cross party lines and vote Republican in November; both Democratic leaders in Congress are leaning on uncommited Superdelegates (do they have their undies outside of their longjohns and wear pansy red booties?) to finally get off the damn fence; and the Speaker of the House using the term “scorched earth” to describe any future Clintonian attempts to take the fight to the convention.  I think Nancy is wrong.

Let the fight go to the convention.  It would make for great theatre, and would draw attention to the convention like nothing has in YEARS.   Incorporate mud wrestling bouts between Obamaites and Clintonings as side shows/reality t.v. spinoffs.  Let the whole thing be settled in a death match with wild tigers a la Gladiator.  Let the victor eat the losers spouse and children.  After all the whetting our appitites have gotten for blood throughout the nominating process, it would be a terrible disappointment to see all of this get settled in a dry meeting of lawyers.

Unless afterwards they were all defenestrated into a pit of alligators.  That would be cool.

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30. May 2008 by admin.

I won’t often get a chance to say this, but the presidential candidates have been trumped by naked red people with bows and arrows.

According to Survival International, they discovered an “uncontacted” tribe in the backcountry of the Amazon in Brazil.  If true, this is very cool.  But I wonder how they know the tribes have not had contact with the outside world?

The website (http://www.survival-international.org/) has some cool pictures showing thatched huts with women and children.  In my favorite photo, a pair of red skinned males attempt to shoot the airplane taking the pictures.  I wonder what they would have done if they had managed to bring it down?.

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29. May 2008 by admin.

When I heard that the DNC was thinking of seating 1/2 of the delegates from Florida and Michigan I got the vision of them being chopped in twain.  I guess they’ll half to do it horizontally, so they can get the keisters on the seats.  Also a good symbolism for how much of a pain in the ass this has been.

Hillary is now talking about appealing the delegate ruling to whatever committee has oversight, and is still threatening to make this a divided convention.  I think this is counterproductive for her at this point.  If she’d conceded gracefully when the delegate count had turned against her, I think she would have been seen as a grand stateswoman and would have built positive support for a later run, or perhaps a higher position (Veep, or Supreme Court Justice).  At this point though she seems to be coming across as a desperate whiner who doesn’t know when to quit.  If she creates havoc at the convention, I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a pariah within the party.

Non-political: US Air has just announced it’s joining the other airlines in boosting prices by about $60.  No surprise there.  But now they’ve announced they’re no longer offering peanuts or other in-flight snacks.  Hmm, increasing prices and cutting services, yeah, that’s worked in the past .  How about bumping the prices up $70 but then offering real food and full cans of soda (or other beverages)?  People will pay more if they perceive a corresponding increase in their return.  But by adding a bevy of additional fees while removing amenities, the airlines are decreasing the incentive to fly in a time when they need to be driving as much business as possible.

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28. May 2008 by admin.

Not really. Except that last part.

Scott McClellen seems to have decided he’s not interested in working in a McCain administration with his defenestration of President Bush and his administration. Allegations of lies internally, deceit externally, lambasting Iraq & the Katrina response, and trash talking fellow administration peers will not endear him to many in the Republican/conservative job market. And his ability to play nice and keep his mouth shut won’t win him any points in a Democratic administration or campaign either. I hope he got a large advance for his book, it looks like he might need to live off of it for a while.

I was especially touched about his description of at their first meeting after it was decided Scott would go. Describing President Bush: “tears were streaming down both his cheeks.” Wasn’t that one of the Hillary’s detractors arguments against electing a woman, that she’d be too emotional?

Obama evidently didn’t listen to his family discuss their history very closely, mistaking which Nazi death camp his uncle helped liberate. I’m not sure which is more amusing, Obama accidently giving himself a quasi-Godwin or the Republican attempts to use it as fodder against him.

And from the “You Know It’s Over” file: the ONLY mention I could find of Hillary on the Washington Post’s, NY Times, or Fark.com was a NYT article on Hillary’s new campaign t-shirts.

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26. May 2008 by admin.

The important thing first: if you haven’t bowed your head and said thanks to those who died defending your nation, whatever nation that may be, do it now.

Much less important:  I finally opened a store at Ontheblob.net and Paperbagninja.com.  Right now it’s only T-shirts, but as I have time to be creative I’ll branch out.  If there are story quotes or comics people are interested in buying, email me at customer_service@ontheblob.net and I’ll get them made for you.

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