Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

Are you ready for Super Sunday? 

[END OF THREAD]

Comments

[bad]

TWO parties to hit tomorrow. I only have to take food to one of them.

[DrJ]

One for me today, bad. We bring wine and hard rolls (my wife's are wonderful).

I'm posting this from a Windows 7 beta version. After some initial hardware diddling, so far so good.

[Topsecretk9]

So with their stimulus vote, and screaming about Wall Street bonuses, Democrats gave themselves a $93,000 raise.

no joke, blood boil link here

[peter (us, not uk)]

I am rooting for the Cardinals. The Steelers' owner is a big supporter of Obama.

[Rick Ballard]

What's the difference between Randall Bradley Jones, Timothy Geithner and Tom Daschle?

Obama hasn't announced the appointment of Jones to his cabinet yet.

[Danube of Thought]

I've got the Cardinals and 7 for a hundred. The Super Bowl is too important to be watched at a party; one must be able to hear all of the commentary.

There will be a 90-second commercial for some flick called Monsters vs. Aliens, which my Hollywood niece produced. It's in 3-D, so pick up your glasses at the 7-11. Or not.

[bad]

Free enterprise Rick. Gotta love it...

He sounds perfect for the Obama White House.

[sbwaters]

Hey, Bad... it took me the longest time to slog through Typepad to find out what everyone was high-fiving you for. Finally found it. It was worth the search. Congratulations!

[bad]

Thanks sbw!!

Go Cards!!

[clarice]

We are staying home..My husband has a lot of work to do. I am making lamb shanks with wine and balsamic vinegar sauce. ASnd I'm listening to music and knitting. I don't care who wins but woo woo to DoT's niece.

[sbwaters]

The way Obama is going, the first 100 days are going to set a new record for culture of corruption, self-serving propaganda, gutting government, making payoffs, and general all around sleaze. What president in history will have achieved so much so soon.

Even Andrew Jackson, known for his populist inaugural ball and problems in his cabinet, took years to set up his spoils system to reward his favorites.

[jimmyk]

screaming about Wall Street bonuses

And those "bonuses" are really most of their compensation, so in reality they took huge (like 30 percent) pay cuts. As they should. But Obama is just demagoguing it.

Somehow I missed where Obama said it was "shameful" that the UAW workers failed to take more than 30 percent pay cuts.

[kim]

The Cardinals and the Bears are the only two original NFL franchises left, and both from Chicago.

All this hullaballoo and no mention of the 'Cardiac Cardinals' of yore.
==============================

[glenda]

Bad- left you a note on previous thread XO

DrJ-please post your wife's hard roll recipe-I can't remember mine and what's online do not seem up to snuff. Also, yesterday you were into "pc or mac" talk.
What is the best laptop under 1,000? And it seemed you think going from pc to macs isn't the end-all of home computing. Would appreciate the help!

Narciso-will there be cameras at Sarah's speech tonight?

[bad]

Sounds like a lovely evening Clarice. And great food...

[Ranger]

And those "bonuses" are really most of their compensation, so in reality they took huge (like 30 percent) pay cuts. As they should. But Obama is just demagoguing it.

Somehow I missed where Obama said it was "shameful" that the UAW workers failed to take more than 30 percent pay cuts.

Posted by: jimmyk | January 31, 2009 at 04:57 PM

And on top of that, wasn't the NY State comptroller whining that the bad year on Wall Street was going to blow a $200 Mil hole in the budget because they rely so heavily on taxes on bonuses, and the bonuses were going to be cut drastically this year?

[bad]

DoT, give a shout out to JOM when you waltz down the red carpet with your niece at an awards event.

[bad]

Thanks Glenda!!

[DrJ]

Glenda, I get the hard roll recipe and post, but that may be tomorrow.

Laptops are really hard to buy -- it depends on what is important to you. Do you want a desktop replacement? Something with which to travel? Something to throw in the purse? What do you want to do with it?

If I were to buy one now, I'd go for a Lenovo X300, but that is for my traveling needs. And I'd buy a refurbished one, so that the price is about $1K.

In general I like Lenovo; look at the T400, or the X series if you want something very light. These may not be in your budget, though. I do think that their general ruggedness makes them worth the premium. Of course they have lower-price models, but you give up something: CPU power, weight, ruggedness, battery life, features, or what not.

[clarice]

bad, I never made this one before but it does look good.

[bad]

I'm never into the game but I like the commercials and watching my friends getting into it.

And there is always someone else there who would rather talk politics-- with brief commercial watching interruptions.

[Boatbuilder]

Either Randall Bradley Jones is a Republican or his donation check to the Obama campaign bounced.

The WSJ said today that the average bonus in the "irresponsible" bonus pool was $112,000, that such bonuses typically make up most of an employees salary on Wall St, and that the pool declined 44% from last year. But explaining that would be too "nuanced" for our new Demagogue-in-Chief, who apparently thinks that the firms who paid the bonuses should have donated the money to his campaign instead.

[sbwaters]

Glenda, before you buy, go visit your nearest Apple Store and sign up for a free "Getting Started" session. No need to buy, but you should be familiar with the difference between Windows and MacOS.

You should run toward any computer you buy, not just settle for what you have always had.

White Macbooks are $999 with iWorks - Apple's simple Word/Spreadsheet program adding $49.

[Rick Ballard]

Boatbuilder,

If the judge in Mr. Jone's case approaches sentencing in a constructive maaner he will assign Mr. Jones to community service in the White House personnel office. Although it would be a humiliating step down in the quality of people with whom Mr. Jones normally associates I'm sure that he would be able to apply his personal experience in improving overall productivity. White House personnel would also benefit from exposure to a person of remarkably higher standards and quality than those to whom they are currently exposed.

[clarice]

THWACK,Rick.But it is funny.

[Elliott]

Big day tomorrow. First time Federer and Nadal clash in a grand slam hard court final.

[Elliott]

I understand there is also some provincial sporting competition.

[Pagar]

TS9,
I heard that $93,000 was just an increase in PETTY CASH, because they needed it to do more for their enablers.

[Pagar]

Bad, I'm so happy for your good news.

[Old Lurker]

"Big day tomorrow. First time Federer and Nadal clash in a grand slam hard court final."

And none of those silly commercials to put up with either like on that other thing.

[Pagar]

From HillBuzz---This one wishes Daddy and all those that might be affected Good Luck:

If there’s anyone who can successfully stare down a volcano and win, it’s Governor Sarah Palin.

[cathyf]

I just wrote a long rant about typepad, to be presented with a captcha check and then spam filtered out. So I'm going to post it paragraph by paragraph

[cathyf]

Ok, I'm going to take an open thread as a place where a typo pad rant is on topic.

The problem with the Recent Comments links is that when the morons at sixapart "upgraded" type pad to have pagination, they did not change the code that constructs the links in the Recent Comments section. Right now, as I begin this comment, the penultimate Recent Comment is clarice on Now Its Tom Daschle, Tax Chiseler The link under clarice's name is http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/now-its-tom-daschle-tax-chiseler.html#comment-146842360, which is the format for the direct link to a comment under the OLD typepad format (not paginated.) If I go to the comment, and look under the date "January 31, 2009 at 04:25 PM" that has exactly the same form as under Recent Comments.

[cathyf]

That comment is on the 4th page of that thread, so the ACTUAL link to the comment is not: http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/now-its-tom-daschle-tax-chiseler.html#comment-146842360

but instead: http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/now-its-tom-daschle-tax-chiseler/comments/page/4/#comment-146842360

[cathyf]

This is simply amazing -- ok, I can see that the unclosed tags thing is kind of obscure. I can see them going to "upgrade" the code to construct the links to the new paginated regime, and messing up the update. I can see them fixing one of the two places where the direct links appear, and forgetting the other one. But they clearly just forgot that comment pages have direct links to the comments, and that they need to change that code.

[cathyf]

Next piece of rant -- nacisolator seems to be broken now. I didn't notice it at first, because narciso now only puts in extra line breaks when he gets excited. (narciso, you know we love you, sweetie, right?)

I haven't figured out if trollblocker is broken yet.

[cathyf]

Firefox sucks. The only reason I migrated to it is because of trollblocker, and if that's broken, I'm going back to opera. After reading JOM threads for awhile, firefox goes out to lunch and never comes back. Clicking on links does nothing. I put things manually in the url field, hit return, nothing happens. I click on "Quit" and nothing. I hit splat-Q, and it quits without offering to save my session, and it doesn't save my session. (It takes like 5 minutes to reload all of my JOM tabs when I relaunch.) I'm about ready to go back to opera -- it autosaves my sessions, so if I crash or have to force-quit the browser I can find my way back to more or less where I was.

I don't know whether this is typepad's fault or firefox. (I suspect that there are multiple bugs in the typepad code which eventually exhaust firefox's abilities to recover.) And, of course there is the unclosed tags problem that we have already all seen. Again, not sure whether this is firefox, typepad, or both.

JMH -- do you want to open a new ticket explaining how they have screwed up the individual comment links, and how to fix it?

[clarice]

Bless you,cathyf.

[MikeS]

I've just been reading about Kentucky calling up its National Guard to help people deal with the weather. Eleven people have died in Kentucky, 42 in total due to freezing weather. Apparently FEMA is not doing anything. Obama needs to get off his ass a do something, and somebody should tell him to turn that damn thermostat down!

[Porchlight]

MikeS, I read about that too. So glad our precious Orchid is thriving in the Oval Greenhouse while people are freezing to death in Kentucky.

[Danube of Thought]

It'll be a cold day in hell, so to speak, before the networks utter a word about the failure of Mr. Obama's FEMA in Kentucky. By the way, anybody know the director now?

Pro football really hasn't been the same since the Pottstown Firebirds folded.

[Jane]

I'm hosting tomorrow - about 20 people, and they will all bring something so it's easy. I set up the bar today and tomorrow I'll do the rest. I'm not even cooking - I wanted it to be a tail gate party (with a foot of snow outside) and someone gave me a gift certificate to a Super Bowl party thingy that gives me 2 - 3 ft subs, a ginormous pizza and chicken wings. And for contrast I've got chicken and leeks in puff pastry, tenderloin and bacon on something and veggie satay - whatever that means.

I have to root for the Steelers because they gave someone near and dear to me a bunch of business in hard times. But I don't really care.

[Thomas Collins]

My two favorite weeks of the NFL season (the conference championship games and the divisional playoff games) have passed. I have trouble taking seriously any game in which the halftime is extended so the likes of Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson and Bruce Springsteen can bounce around and screech into a microphone. My ideal for a game between the conference champions would be one taking place one week after the conference championships at Lambeau Field with no news conferences during the week, regular commercial breaks and a regular halftime. I will watch and hope that Kurt Warner finally gets his due as one of the best big game quarterbacks ever to have played the game (keep in mind that in five conference championships and Super Bowls, in the only one of the five in which Warner's team lost, he brought his team back from a 17-3 deficit caused not by Warner's bad play, but by an inferior game plan by Mike Martz).

[Porchlight]

Super Bowl thoughts - being a Vikings fan, I despise the Steelers. I usually root for the underdog in the Super Bowl anyway, and this year I would like the team from the red state to win. (Payback for McCain, I guess.)

To top it off, I like Kurt Warner and I love comeback stories.

Go Cards!

[Danube of Thought]

Vaclav Havel trashes Al Gore and the global warming baloney. Huzzay for the man! LUN

[Rick Ballard]

Vaclav Klaus. Havel is a googoo.

[MikeS]

I'm still pissed about Kentucky.
Where the hell is Shepard Smith? Why isn't he down there demanding to know where the hell FEMA is?
What about Sean Penn? Where is that clown??

[clarice]

We may all have to move to Eastern Europe soon--they do seem to understand science AND democracy.

[glenda]

Thank you DrJ and sbw--It's mainly for travel, or x-tra when everyone wants to get online. Looking for comparable 3-4GB/250 with dual intel--middle road graphics card, i.e. grandson is not gamer, has PSP for that. I guess 15 inch range, lightweight, long battery life. I wanted macbook but worry about transfer to dos, etc.
They have been pushing smaller, lighter "netbooks" (dell,HP,lenovo)@750, 10-12inches--that might be too fragile for fantastic grandson, who by the way made a one-handed basket(local Upward Basketball league). I tell you, those coaches need a 60 minutes special..they work so patiently and with determination to make sure Colin is treated like the kiddoes without NOS Autism. My boy's smile is 100 miles wide at the games! Sideboast--Colin made all A Honor Roll and Excellent Citizenship for the first semester 2nd grade. Only 8 students out of 135 achieved this award.
He had a little "No" spat with his music teacher so he didn't win the trifecta!
Thanks for letting me rant!

[PD]

I don't know whether this is typepad's fault or firefox.

Probably FireFox. JOM doesn't do that to Safari.

[PD]

Pro football really hasn't been the same since the Pottstown Firebirds folded.

That's spelled "Pottsville Maroons" :-)

[Stephanie]

cathyf

I'm having the same problems in FF and it didn't start til the "end of thread" started being used. I think typhus is having problems in their indexing of the comments and where to put the page breaks due to the workaround we are using. If you post a comment after going to "end of thread," it doesn't appear to be able to reload the comments sequentially to put it there so when you post it doesn't automatically appear. You have to exit the website and reenter then hit "end of thread" to get to the true end of thread (and then see your comment) because the index needs to reset... or so it seems.

[Extraneus]

I think that tag-closing thing is a FF bug, too. I tried it on both FF and IE7 on the same thread the other day, and only IE was able to handle the closing tag being outside the comment's .

[Caro]

I have to root for the Steelers because they gave someone near and dear to me a bunch of business in hard times. But I don't really care.

Oh, Jane, I grew up in Pittsburgh and you cut me deep!

[Extraneus]

[div]

(I guess TP doesn't like & lt ; and & gt ; html characters anymore, either, although they show up ok in preview.)

[narciso]

If Typepad didn't have this infuriating tiny box to put the comments, same for Haloscan, I wouldn't be doing all these extra line breaks CathyF. Mozilla's almost as bad as SixApart,I thought it was just me, with my primitive computer skills. I took some MIS courses in business school, and they were quite useless, for actual applications, and I really didn't think about this until recently. Seeing how "John of Arabia" and others slipped through,both trollblocker and the narcisolator seems to
been like the "Maginot Line".

Yes Pagar, she told the glaciers to stop retreating and they did. I have no proof of this, but it's a story too good to check. A Bunyanesque anecdote. Glenda, my
understanding is there are no reporters, although I have read of accounts from said events, I'm going to be on the Conservatives
for Palin chat room, and I'll bring any details I glean from there to light. A
little sad isn't it. She also had a luncheon
at the very establishment,very Saudi funded
(from what Steve Emerson was able to glean back in 1983)thinktank CSIS, which
whitewashed reports of complicity with AQ in the early days of the war, and was pretty scathing on all aspects of the Iraq intervention. I'm sure if she said something
memorable, or even if they didn't, they'd find someway to leak things to the
appropriate parties.

[Danube of Thought]

Sorry about that, Rick et al. You seen one Vaclav, you seen 'em all. Except Klaus is a genuine hero.

[peter]

Anyone have any recommendations for a TV? I'm in the market for a 42-46 inch. No idea whether Plasma or LCD is better; I do want to keep the electrical consumption down. I mainly watch old movies, so I don't really need to have super high def-- looking for value and quality

[Danube of Thought]

"That's spelled 'Pottsville Maroons.'"

My brother-in-law from Pottstown would take offense. But the nearby Pottisville Maroons have their own proud history. That region used to be really hard-core football country.

[Dave]

Danube & MikeS:
Øbama doesn't care about white people.

[glenda]

peter-samsung lcd's-just bought new one for the bedroom and have one in den--best picture in store, comparably..Have sound system in den, not in BR, yet. Really don't think I need ..it's an 18x18 room and set is 32"...light and thin as can be!

[sbwaters]

Peter, LCD has lower power consumption than Plasma TV. We have several Samsung and are very happy. Because it will last for a while, 1080p is a better resolution to get than the lower res.

[PD]

DoT: I have to admit I would know nothing about the Maroons except that my sweetie hails from Pottsville. There still lives there a desire to have the NFL give them back their stolen championship from back in the 1920's.

[boris]

Check the DLP projection TVs too. For LCD TVs the Samsung LED Smart lighting technology, known as “local dimming" looks like a good bet for picture quality and energy saving.

[MikeS]

Dave,
I'm not sure I read that right. Did FEMA say they would deliver some generators when the ice melts off the roads?

[davod]

Storm-Struck Ky. Calls Up Entire National Guard

This account does not say whether Governor Beshear has asked for any help. Remember - he has to ask. Its the law. As the Governor belongs to the party of change we will not hear if he blundered or the Federales messed up.

[Danube of Thought]

Ditto what others have said. We've got a 50" plasma and a 50" Samsung LCD, and I can't tell any difference between the pictures but the LCD is definitely preferable for us. (It's the newer of the two sets by 3-4 years.)

[Extraneus]

Peter, here's a post from Instapundit today referencing the latest Consumer Reports take on TVs.

[narciso]

I'm in the previous/next limbo again, only worse, for the preview gives no gist of the thread

[Rick Ballard]

DoT,

Klaus is definitely a hero. (same report, different reporter)

Here's a nice piece on California's "crap on trade" regulations. They're really working! Economic activity is dropping like a shot in CA due to "Going Green". (That's the color of really rotten flesh, isn't it?)

Just think of all the CO2 being sequestered through high unemployment. It's enough to make you want to run out and hug a whale.

[clarice]

Heh,Rick!

Well.PUK. How's that Hug A Whale charity coming along, dear. We are getting a bit behind on our little projects, aren't we? Is it the lack of fuel there or has NHS teamed up with the greens to deny folks over a certain age, oxygen?

[Pagar]

How long have we known this?

The letter, written under the bold-faced title, "BEWARE OF CAIR," was signed by Reps. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., co-chair of the Anti-Terrorism Caucus; Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.; Trent Franks, R-Ariz.; Paul Broun, R-Ga.; and John Shadegg, R-Ariz.

I'm really surprised to see this:

The letter, signed by five Republicans, including the head of the House Anti-Terrorism/Jihad Caucus, is attached to an article by IPT News, a counter-terrorism news service. It notes that FBI field offices have sent letters to CAIR chapters explaining they can no longer pursue an outreach relationship, because of concerns about the CAIR national office in Washington.

I would have thought with the current mood in Washington that CAIR was riding high. I'm marking these five Republicans down as being on our side.

[Stephanie]

This is the TV we have... it is last year's (substantially marked down) model, but Amazon still has it. It is also NOT the glossy screen (that causes issues depending on overhead light placement). Samsung, 120Hz, 1080p, 20,000:1 LCD. This is the one that Insty was recommmending when he was looking at TVs.

It also comes in other sizes 40, 46, just search for Samsung LNT 69 and all sizes will show up.

It has excellent reviews on Amazon, too.

LUN

[mel]

bad-

phenomenal news! i will stay in lower case today in your honor.

old lurker-

you asked what a "broom" was?

sos hillary's transport, of course (lun) (great photo folks, i had to do it)

[Stephanie]

Also, LCD's don't have as many burn in issues and are supposed to last longer than plasma, FWIW.

[mel]

bad-

and that little wine "issue"? i'll try not to drink your share all at once.

consider yourself "covered".

[mel]

stephanie-

have you checked out the "ruko" system yet?

that sucker is going to be a nasty little habit for us, when i drop it on the spousal unit.

[Pagar]

I think the next election campaign has moved in to high gear. From the people who gave us Obama:

Can you chip in to pass Obama’s economic recovery plan?

If we don’t raise the heat on swing-vote Republican senators, then the plan is likely to fail—or get gutted.

Why, if Organizing for America was formed to help drive home PSBHO’s agenda using his mega list of campaign contacts, is it necessary for MoveOn.org to be emailing its list begging for dollars?

[boris]

The Samsung LN-T4681F 46" has LED backlight.

[Old Lurker]

Mel...that's great!

[narciso]

This is going to be one of those, ranting moments, probably complete with page breaks; which is said because it comes from someone I have a lot of respect for, the Brit Hume of the print press, Michael Barone, I got if a link from Tammie Bruce, and it's not from his usual US News column or even Real Clear Politics;

The debate among Republicans is whether to go after downscale or upscale voters. Those who argue for going downscale usually have a 2012 candidate in mind: Sarah Palin. She has an undoubted appeal to such voters and revved up part of the Republican base -- cultural conservatives, and rural and small-town voters -- throughout the campaign. Despite the scorn the media heaped on her, she has excellent political instincts and seems capable of developing the knowledge base that would make her a credible presidential candidate in the future.

But my examination of the exit poll results and county-by-county election returns has led me to conclude tentatively that going upscale is the right move. As David Frum has pointed out, we're going to have more well-educated and millennial-generation voters in the future and fewer less-educated and Baby Boomers (among whom McCain ran even).

Going upscale also means downplaying the cultural issues that were an important reason for Republican victories from 1980 to 2004.

No, I don't have a candidate in mind, and I don't think Republicans can abandon cultural conservatives altogether. But upscale seems to me to be the way to go.

Mind you, I don't disagree with all of it, but the tone of it, rubs me the wrong way, and of course will be picked up and
championed by all the wrong people. I read it as one of those carefully placed stilettos that the establishment has tried to stab her in the back. I'm not anti-intellectual,farthest thing from it, seeing the baroque or byzantine style of my conjectures, but the supposedly upscale voters which decided this election, were abysmally misinformed or disinformed; about the war on terror, energy issues, general
constitutional principles, et al.
Surprisingly it was us 'bitter clingers' who were more informed on the general issues. When we saw the likes of Frum, Buckley, Noonan, Parker, Kmiec, Adelman, young Conor F.,sell out the conservative
platform for popularities sake. McCain ran the conscientous 'good government reform' campaign against a corrupt charlatan and
a mountebank, and what did it get him, well he nearly lost the nomination before hand, ended up broke and at the mercy of some
unscrupulous lobbyists, at least indirectly
tied to the current crisis. Who drove the momentum in this fiasco of an effort, the 'downscale' candidate, who really had spoken truth to power, who skipped a gubernatorial debate, because she had to see a troop deployment off. Who exemplified
the pro-life cause, not by hollow words but by deed, which won her a share of contempt.
Who has a real and personal stake in the war on terror, endangered by the inane policies of this administration. To say that she only appealed to 'downscale' voters, really is a disservice and beneath
Michael Barone's capable gifts.

[cathyf]

If you post a comment after going to "end of thread," it doesn't appear to be able to reload the comments sequentially to put it there so when you post it doesn't automatically appear. You have to exit the website and reenter then hit "end of thread" to get to the true end of thread (and then see your comment) because the index needs to reset... or so it seems.

That's because when you post, the last thing that the posting function does is to construct the url that is the perma-link to your comment, and send you there. But it's the same WRONG! url as gets used in the Recent Comments list and under the timestamp that follows the comment!

These folk are idiots!

Also, I don't leave the website. I go back to the page where I composed the comment (the one that ends with /page/N/#comments) and hit refresh. This has the advantage that it leaves me at the last post before I started composing the comment. In a fast-moving thread, and if you write long-winded comments (who, me?) then doing that leaves you where you left off, rather than at the end of the thread which could be page(s) past that.

[Danube of Thought]

My secret hope is that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the subject of a recall campaign. Why that addleheaded buffoon calls himself a Republican is beyond my ken. It would take a madman to move to this state, let alone try to set up a business here, and that fool bears a lot of the responsibility.

[narciso]

See that wasn't so much of a rant at him, anyways just the premise he was stating. Seriously, Pawlenty couldn't even explain his Sam's Club Republicans idea effectivelty when
pressed.Crist, let me count the ways in which he has been useless, Jindal despite being a Rhode Scholar wunderkind expert, was savaged back in 2003, with all sorts of ridiculous
charges. Romney, was attacked despite his Venture Capital experience, sometimes because of it

[Rick Ballard]

"As David Frum has pointed out, we're going to have more well-educated and millennial-generation voters in the future and fewer less-educated and Baby Boomers (among whom McCain ran even)."

The shorter term is "credentialed morons".

I believe that Barone is addressing the problem of "people who think that they think", Narciso. If you put "well-indoctrinated" in place of "well-educated" and add a double side order of tossed situational ethics/relative morality salad you'll have the 'target market'.

He's way early and overshooting by a bit but I admit that he has a point - look at the fools in MO who voted for the 'crap on trade' power idiocy. That's the best indicator that I've seen to date as to the drop in thinking ability among the millenials (not to mention the standard lefty Boomer dolts). I believe Frum to be an excellent voice for the credentialed moron community but I believe I'll keep my powder dry for a bit longer.

[Stephanie]

Nar... in this economy, the upscale voter is an ever shrinking number and are probably gonna be reeducated more than they know. I'd go toward the lowerscale, for that reason alone. So you should keep the upscale in the evil-demon spawn category, I think. Those that are expecting to migrate upwards aren't gonna be happy with those that are already there or move there and leave them behind. (OH and truth be damned it's what's marketable, afterall)

Mel... looking at it, but I'm not unhappy with OD on Comcast for those I don't already own. I don't watch movies as much as live sports.

I'm thinking I can live with the limits of OD and save the fees. Plus, I have bluray and anything action/adventure I buy on BRDVD other stuff I still buy on reg HD. And I have about 400 regular DVDs already. The ones I'm gonna buy I tend to hit Walmart on the Tues they come out as they are reduced the first 3 days. If I don't buy immediately, I wait til they hit the cheap stacks.

I never go to the movies. (except Johnny Depp in eyeliner)

[PD]

narciso:

What are the definitions of "upscale" and "downscale" supposed to be based on? Economic status? Education?

[PD]

Jindal despite being a Rhode Scholar wunderkind expert, was savaged back in 2003, with all sorts of ridiculous
charges.

narciso,

That's not an argument against him. If it is, it's also an argument against America's Sweetheart. I refuse to drop my Palinista outlook just because people played dirty against her -- and I must think the same is true of you.

[cathyf]

If Typepad didn't have this infuriating tiny box to put the comments, same for Haloscan, I wouldn't be doing all these extra line breaks CathyF

You shouldn't ever hit return just one time, narciso. Hit return twice at the end of each paragraph. Other than that, you shouldn't ever touch it. Just make sure you put spaces between words and whatever you type will wrap automatically.

[clarice]

I think a lot of the negative "upscale" reaction to Palin can be resolved very easily. She needs some voice lessons. What she expresses is well-thought out and defensible ideas, but there is a certain level of snobbery in the media and in those who make their decisions on idiotic externals and that acent gets them. I know that may seem silly but it's no sillier that good haircuts or decent makeup.

[PD]

If Typepad didn't have this infuriating tiny box to put the comments

For those who use Safari, you can click and drag the lower-right-hand corner of the text box to make it bigger. That's what those two diagonal lines signify.

[PD]

re: The $93,000 increase in petty cash for members of Congress, I'm given to understand that the justification is so that they can do more on behalf of their constituents.

That rather begs the question of whether Congress is doing something for its constituents now.

Alternatively, if they think they are doing something for us, e.g., with these bailouts and such, that seems sufficient argument that the petty cash allowance to be reset to $0.

[PD]

Why, if Organizing for America was formed to help drive home PSBHO’s agenda using his mega list of campaign contacts, is it necessary for MoveOn.org to be emailing its list begging for dollars?

If we send them a check for a negative amount, does that suck the cash backward out of their coffers to us?

[PD]

A few years ago, there was a Hewlett-Packard commercial in which an HP engineer was in the shower, when while he was thinking, inspiration struck about a project he was working on.

I find that to be true about "showering with JOM": The thought-provoking things I read from you folks here give me ideas about the issues of the day.

What a rare and special place this is.

A little less special since pagination, but still. :-)

[sbwaters]

Upscale/downscale means nothing to me. There are ideas of substance that people can rally around if they are made accessible. Making ideas accessible is not the habit of the press, who prefer to ask candidates the unanswerable -- an attempt to putdown.

Likewise, there are ideas to be avoided because they are not the central concern of everyone, or, in some cases, of no one's interest except those involved.

[PD]

America’s war on terror takes a... strange turn, as the new
administration insists that killing or maiming terrorists in
residential air strikes is entirely acceptable, while water-
boarding them for two minutes is completely “inhumane."

TheReligionOfPeace.com

[clarice]

It's like putting the power of the presidency in the hands of your average college sophomore, isn't it?

[E. Nigma]

"I believe Frum to be an excellent voice for the credentialed moron community but I believe I'll keep my powder dry for a bit longer."

Mr. Ballard, would you be spending time reading Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manner. That is, by the way, a pretty funny way of describing the Egregious Frum.

[Rocco]

Obamunism

4.1 Billion to ACORN for neighborhood stablization. That's a whole lotta cigarettes!

[Danube of Thought]

She really is tough to listen to, Clarice. It's not just the accent--which is not as bad as that of Chicago, and in fact not that different from it--but it's also the pitch. I love the lady, but I think there's no way she ever gets elected president.