John Daly Suspended

This is sad but kind of awesome.

Asked why he was suspended, Daly pointed to four incidents during the year.

. . .

While promoting a golf course in Missouri, Daly did a regional television interview wearing only blue jeans — no shirt, no shoes — while showing how to play one of the holes.

Nice! Here's the video.

I feel like this guy could still do a total makeover of his image. Celebrity Fit Club, Dancing with the Stars, etc. That agent better get on it.

Obama is Magic

Here's the LA Times article that led to the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro," which led to a current controversy that will surely hurt the GOP in the long run.

Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.

Ugh. What nonsense.

But what *idiocy* to make a parody song out of the article's title, easily taken out of context, add questionable race-baiting content, and then distribute it. Seriously?

Happy Birthday Everyone

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Cao Applies to the Congressional Black Caucus

This will be an interesting story over the next few weeks.

Michael Fauntroy, a political scientist at George Mason University whose uncle, Walter, formerly belonged to the Congressional Black Caucus as the longtime delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia, said he felt Cao's bid for caucus membership was "a very smart move on his part."

"It sends a message to black voters in his district that, even though he's a Republican, he is doing more than just paying lip service to the history of the district, " said Fauntroy. "I don't expect it to work out, but if it doesn't, to me the caucus will look bad on this."

No one expects it to happen. What does that say about the CBC?

Shrewd Obama, Part 1 Billion

Per Ben Smith:

Gay leaders are outraged that Obama chose Rick Warren to deliver in the invocation, and now pro-lifers are mad at Warren for doing it.

The optics of which are probably more or less what Obama wants.

Obama v. People Who Hate Putting Their Differences Aside to Come Together.

Who are you rooting for?

Rachel Maddow Talks Like She's Always Suppressing Laughter

Is anyone else totally annoyed by Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show already?

She speaks like she's always suppressing laughter at either her own jokes, or waiting until the end of her excessively sarcastic statements before she lets it out. Even when she makes a decent argument, it is SO. ANNOYING.

Here's a good example.

Ack. I can't watch her anymore.

Worthless SNL Bit

There are lots of reasons not to like a comedy bit. But one of the easiest reasons is because it's not funny. But unfunny bits that have the added effect of also being offensive? Terrible combination.

What about an offensive, unfunny bit that also takes place during the farewell message of one of the most talented and clever members of the comedy group? Seems like a triple threat of badness.

But that's what happened with this sketch last weekend parodying Governor David Patterson's blindness by making har har jokes about how blind people can't see. Groups for the blind are understandbly upset.

Here's the online video. I recommend you not waste your time with it, and just lament that the time wasn't filled with an extra Noonies sketch or something.

It's OK, You Can Say It. They Know.

Apparently Caroline Kennedy is on track to become the next Junior Senator of New York, replacing Hillary. That means she'll have a special election in 2010, and another election in 2012, in order to keep the seat. Two tough re-election battles.

I liked this reaction to the appointment at The New Republic.

[I]t's a little difficult to take someone seriously if they complained about Sarah Palin's qualifications but are now embracing Kennedy. Now, obviously, Palin was running for vice president (and was therefore a possible future president) while Kennedy is up for a Senate seat.

On the other hand -- and I'd never thought I'd write this sentence -- Palin is vastly more qualified than Kennedy. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Kennedy is less qualified for the Senate than Palin was for the presidency.

Burn.

PS: Where is the title of this post from?

Bailout Song

This is really old, but so catchy that I got it in my head today:


Find more videos like this on The Activity Pit

"Contact"

Does this count?

Barack Obama had begun thinking about his Senate successor even before the presidential election, and dispatched Rahm Emanuel days after the vote to contact aides of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to begin talking up Mr. Obama's preferred candidates, associates of Mr. Emanuel said this weekend.

The word "dispatch[]" is really bad for Obama. I think it's disingenuous to say that it didn't count as "contact" because Obama instructed Emanuel to do it for him. And at the very least, I'd suggest this counts as indirect contact with the Governor's office.

It's not the crime; it's the cover up.

The Lame Duck

Above, President Bush ducks a shoe thrown at him at his last press conference, during his last visit, to the country he liberated.

Obama's Sixth Sense

Have we ever had such a shrewd, yet inspirational, President?

"Few people I've ever known have as good a sense about who might end up getting you in trouble," said Denny Jacobs, a retired Illinois politician from East Moline who befriended Obama when they both served in the state Senate. "It's like a sixth sense. Chicago's a mess, and he was surrounded by it. But he knew the people that could drag you down and tarnish your image."

The article mentions that everyone and their sister got an invitation to speak at the Democratic convention, except for Blagojevich. That wasn't an accident.

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

A Less Ambigous Obama

Yesterday's statement was jumped on for it's ambiguity and lack of content.

But this is a much clearer statement:

Q: Have you ever spoken to [Illinois] Gov. [Rod R.] Blagojevich about the Senate seat?

O: I have not discussed the Senate seat with the governor at any time. My strong belief is that it needed to be filled by somebody who is going to represent the people of Illinois and fight for them. And beyond that, I was focused on the transition.

Q: And that was before and after the election?

O: Yes.

Wow. That is actually dangerously *unambiguous,* such that it leaves Obama almost no wiggle room, and seems to rule out at least two hypotheticals from my earlier post. (no casual comments or pre-election discussions between the two men).

Can that really be true? *NO* discussion of the Senate seat, ever, before or after the 2008 election? Well, why not? Obama would have been perfectly within his rights to suggest Valerie Jarrett to Blago.

Maybe Obama knew Blago was bad news, and wanted nothing to do with him. If so, that appears to have been a very wise move on Obama's part.

Obama Calls for Blago's Resignation

Omission no more.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president-elect agrees with other prominent politicians in Illinois and elsewhere that "under the current circumstances, it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois."

It should have come yesterday, but I suppose better late than never.

Biggest Loser finale: Ed or Heba?

Vicky (boo) and Michelle (yay) made it to the finale episode, with Michelle losing more than 5%(!) of her body weight last week.

There's one more spot in the finals, to be selected by America and occupied either by husband Ed or his wife, Heba. But since the fans' most and least favorite are already in the finals, it makes the America-votes process that much less exciting.

Nevertheless, who should I (and you) vote for? A couple considerations:

(1) who would I rather see win?

(2) who would pose the weakest challenge to Michelle?

My answers to these questions are Ed and Heba, respectively.

The comments on the message boards seem to place emphasis on Factor 1, and are voting for Ed to stay over Heba.

I understand that impulse, but will be voting for Heba to stay, and for Ed to go.

First, the difference between Ed and Heba winning is minimal. They are married. It doesn't really send a message to Heba to get her attitude together if America votes for her husband.

Second, Bob the trainer indicated he felt that Ed was sabotaging his weight loss this week, i.e. water loading. If that's true, then Ed has a *huge* head start (probably 5-9 lbs) against Michelle, who obviously did not do that (but could have, if she had wanted, since America would have voted her into the finale anyway).

Third, Factor 2 is really important to me. Heba has substantially less weight to lose, loses it slower, and has had a pretty consistent tally of 5-8 lbs a week while at the ranch. I'm much less worried about Heba having a miracle weight loss period than I am Ed.

I think Ed has a lot of weight to lose, and is very dedicated. Also, he asked America to vote for Heba, so while he's waiting to see if America votes for him anyway, he's probably feeling a sense of duty to win for both of them.

Here is Ed's original "Where are they now" video, which was apparently filmed after Ed came *back* to the show a few weeks ago. He clearly has a track record of being able to lose weight at home, which is key for the finale.

Note: Ed and Heba are, interestingly, the only couple who can win BOTH the 250k for being the Biggest Loser AND the 100k consolation prize for losing the most weight, regardless of elimination. Had they not both been below the yellow line tonight, this scenario would not have played out.

Was that the plan? Was that the reason Ed was water loading? If so, that seems like an incredibly risky move. It removes one opportunity to win the 250k for being the biggest loser, and puts Ed in competition with ever other competitor, including Phil and Coleen, who have lost a bunch of weight, for the 100k consolation prize.

A Chance at 43?

Here comes the GOP roaring back to potentially get 43 Senate seats this term.

Who Talked To Blagojevich About Jarrett?

Blagojevich says Obama would only give him "appreciation" in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett, Obama's preferred Senate candidate, and Senate Candidate 1 in the Blago indictment.

[Edit: A reader e-mailed me to ask whether I meant to imply that "appreciation" was code for something sinister that Obama was offering. That was definitely not my intention; I mean to simply quote the indictment, but can't think of a better way to do that than quotation marks.]

Questions:

Who offered "appreciation"?

What did this person or these people do once it was clear Blago was trying to extort Obama for the Senate seat?

Rahm Emanuel acknowledges that he didn't tip off the feds. Well, uh, guys. Did anyone?

Conspicuous Omission

Obama doesn't call on Blagojevich to resign.

Pat Quinn, Lt. Governor and the direct beneficiary of such a resignation, suggests that Blagojevich should resign.

Interesting Bartering Possibilities

Here.

Are your kids driving you crazy?
Are you in need of some relief?

Are you handy with an edger or some trimming shears?

Let's trade!

I'll bawl out your unruly tribe. In return, you can help with some light yard work.

Can you bring the kids over to the house for them to be yelled at, or are these events separate in time?

Milk Gets Oscar Buzz

Interesting article about Prop 8's passage leading to additional Oscar buzz for Milk.

Ok, I suppose I see the connection. But it sort of does a disservice to the movie to say that it's getting more critically positive attention because of a hostile outside political event.

It is a very powerful movie, and may be the film that deserves the Best Picture Oscar, regardless of Prop 8's passage.

Obama Already Caught Misleading Public

Obama claimed today that he has never had any contact, whatsoever, with the Blagojevich Administration in Illinois:

Obama was asked: "Were you aware at all about what was happening with your Senate seat?" He responded: "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

Wow. Obama has never had contact with the governor or his office? Really?

No, not really, of course. In reality, Obama has had plenty of contact.

Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.

It must have been very difficult for Obama to have been Blagojevich's top adviser without ever having any contact with him. Charitably, I suppose Obama's comment could be taken to mean that once Blagojevich won in 2002, that was the end of their contact.

But even that isn't true.

Mr. Obama said, "If the governor asks me to work on his behalf, I'll be happy to do it."

Apparently the governor did. At the Illinois State Fair in August 2006, Obama spoke on Blagojevich's behalf.

"We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois," Obama told the crowd.

In January 2007, Blagojevich's office reserved the Old State Capitol for Mr. Obama's presidential announcement at Obama's request.

Not recent enough? How about this photo of them together last week at the National Governors Association?

Red handed.

Now, clearly Obama didn't mean what he said. He has had contact with Blagojevich, and the record is clear on that. Obama probably meant to say that he hasn't had contact with Blagojevich regarding his replacement.

But when you speak in imprecise and misleading language (and make false statements), so as to distance yourself from a brewing political scandal, over and over and over again, it's hard to think it's not intentional.

UPDATE: The point of the post is not to say Obama's statement is subject to only one interpretation. I mean, instead, to say that a literal interpretation of the statement is false, such that it (1) tricks people who don't know the background of the relationship; (2) creates intentional ambiguity with the people who do.

Reposted from the comments, with a few edits:

Ok, a couple arguments, and I'll probably post an update to the post.

1. Obama's statement that he "had no contact" with Blagojevich is subject to multiple meanings.

2. One permissible interpretation of his words, taken literally, is that he's *never* had contact with Blagojevich.

3. The permissible interpretation in (2) is so far off the mark from reality that anyone with basic knowledge of the Obama/Blagojevich relationship will know it, and will of course discount the possibility that he meant that interpretation.

4. Obama's statement is therefore practically meaningless. Obviously, he has had contact with Blagojevich. The question is what type. Fill in the blank.

The question Obama was asked regarded "what was happening" with the Senate seat. Suppose it came out that last week, at the National Governors Association meeting, Blago casually said to Obama "You've got big shoes to fill."

Is that relevant contact about the Senate seat? I think so, but it's a coin toss as to whether Obama has definitely said no such statement was made.

What about a conversation two years ago, where Obama and Blagojevich discussed the possibility of Obama running for President, and Obama said he hoped his successor would be similar to him in ideology? Did Obama's statement yesterday rule that out as well? I have no idea.

What about a long phone conversation last week between the two men where, near the end, Blagojevich began to talk about the Senate seat but was called away before Obama could give any response? Does that count or not?

Obama's statement is so ambiguous as to be allow him plenty of room to squirm out of these situations, or other similar ones.

5. Your argument about the second part of his statement is a really good point in support of his intent to be ambiguous. See this article.

6. Obama has a reputation for intentional ambiguity, see the original post.

7. The ambiguity here allows him to (a) imply to the public that lacks knowledge of the Obama/Blago relationship that there has been no contact, ever, between the men; (b) imply to the press corps that all recent contact has not been related to a vague notion of "what was happening" with the Senate seat; (c) left him broad possibilities to escape his words if any further contact comes to light.

8. This kind of ambiguity is intentional and strategic.

The Most Popular Guy in the GOP Right Now

Let's give a big welcome to Anh "Joseph" Cao (pronounced "Gow"), the first Vietnamese member of the House of Representatives. And for today, the most popular member of the GOP.

Mr. Cao was a refugee from Vietnam at age 8, a former Jesuit seminarian, a philosophy student with a penchant for Camus and Dostoyevsky, an unknown activist lawyer for one of the least visible immigrant communities here and a Republican in a heavily Democratic district.

Congressman Cao defeated a politically tarnished and corrupt Democrat named William Jefferson, famous for getting busted with thousands of dollars in his freezer.

The Logical Conclusion to Dick in a Box

Cameos by models and Justin Timberlake, this is the next datapoint on the Digital Short trajectory (after Chronicles of Narnia, Dick in a Box, and Space Olympics).

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Bonds's Lawyers Ain't too Shabby

They originally got several counts dismissed; but the judge let the federal prosecutors amend the faulty indictment. But apparently it was still faulty, and what was once 14 charges is now down to ten, with no charges of perjury.

Federal prosecutors dropped four counts of lying to a grand jury against Barry Bonds, leaving him to face trial next year on 10 counts of making false statements plus an addition obstruction of justice charge.

Bonds faces the same potential sentence range -- probation to roughly two years in prison -- if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin March 2.

Thursday's indictment, the third against the home-run king, came in response to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston's decision last week ordering prosecutors to again rewrite the technically faulty indictment.

Yay lawyers.

"No Mob Veto" Petition

Regarding the violent anti-Prop 8 protesters I mentioned here, this petition is being circulated.

Some of the statements are pretty uncontroversial.

"[W]e're united in this: The violence and intimidation being directed against the LDS or "Mormon" Church, and other religious organizations - and even against individual believers - simply because they supported Proposition 8 is an outrage that must be stopped.

Therefore, despite our fundamental disagreements with one another, we announce today that we will stand shoulder to shoulder to defend any house of worship -- Jewish, Christian, Hindu, whatever -- from violence, regardless of the cause that violence seeks to serve."

Sign if you're so inclined.

Final Four at the Biggest Loser

ET and I are addicted to Biggest Loser: Families Edition.

But one of the contestants, Vicky, is totally ruining the good spirit of the game, and instead turning it into an antagonistic team competition. She is also completely repulsive.

Even Vicky's alliance pal Ed warned cameras that if you cross her "she'll claw your eyes out." When Amy C. voted Brady off two weeks ago, Vicky totally lost it. She cursed about Amy during her confessionals, posted a "revenge" sign on her bedroom door, ignored Amy altogether, and vowed to knock her out of the competition. And Amy was Vicky's teammate!

Then when Amy saved Vicky from elimination the next week (because she felt so guilty about Brady), Vicky returned the favor by sending Amy packing the moment Amy was on the chopping block. Apparently Vicky is a 37-year-old woman with the mentality of a mean 13-year-old girl.

Fan reactions are universally negative. And Vicki's MySpace blog is dedicated mostly to saying she's being misrepresented by the editing choices of the Biggest Loser producers.

Obama's Chief Speechwriter Makes Basic Facebook Mistake

So dumb.



Regardless of how Hillary reacts -- and early reports are that she's taking it well -- how poorly does this reflect on this guy? Groping a cutout of the Secretary of State? Posing for a picture? Hoping no one ever sees this? Really, really dumb

Man Tries to Pay Utility Bill With Spider Drawing

OMG! No way! This is probably the funniest thing the internet has ever produced.

Wait, explain the premise again? A utility bill. Ok. And a man trying to pay it with a drawing of the spider? And then the utility company says no? AWESOME.

Wait, again. Sorry, I don't see why that's funny.

Also, the last part doesn't make any sense:

"It was silly of me to assume I could provide you with something of completely no value whatsoever, waste your time and then attach such a large amount to it."

Ah, the whole project is ironic. And actually, it might be funny if it were a cable bill, say, since the author could be saying that cable is worthless and yet is so expensive.

But utilities? Aren't those actually super valuable? And in any event, cable or utilities, didn't the author agree to pay for those services?

So this is a far cry from the telemarketing joke where you ask the telemarketer if you can call them back at a later time, and ask for their *home number,* hoping they say "no, I don't want to be called at home." And you say "gotcha." Now that's kind of funny.

Barney Frank Has Some Good Lines

Re Obama's comment that he will defer to Bush until his inauguration because there is only "one President at a time."

“I’m a great fan of the president-elect, but I think it’s probably the case that he’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” Frank said, addressing the Consumer Federation of America’s annual financial services conference.

“And I know what he says is ‘Well, we only have one president at a time. My problem is, at a time of great crisis and [massive] mortgage foreclosures. ... I am afraid that overstates the number of presidents.”

Zing.

Update: Ugh, apparently everyone is singing Franks' comedic praises.

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