The Big Game

While Virginia Tech has not had a marvelous season this year (boy is that an understatement), a victory over Virginia today puts us in the ACC championship game. That plus my visceral dislike of all things Cavalier makes this game the biggest of the year. Go Hokies!

Today is going to be a good day

I knew that today was going to be alright when I saw this headline on HuffPo:

Ann Coulter's Jaw Wired Shut: Report

Cue Nelson Muntz and let me just say that any well of sympathy I might have had for that soulless waif of a harpie evaporated about the same time as her sense of decency and restraint. Have fun with the blender Ann!

Today’s required reading

Thomas Friedman is fired up today, delivering a very good and very pissed off column on how we got into this financial mess. Here is a hint: no one should ever again refer to the Wall Street titans that created this disaster as “the smartest guys in the room”. Ever. Period.

Save Wall Street, screw Main Street

Paulson once again helps out his buddies and the bailout follies roll on.

As the Cabinet turns

Not that my opinion counts for anything, but I have been impressed by the quality of Obama’s Cabinet picks. Clinton to State, Governors Richardson and Napolitano to Commerce and Homeland Security respectively, Eric Holder to Justice, and New York Federal Reserve president Geithner to Treasury – this is a list of very talented, very smart people rather than a bunch of ideological soul mates (see Rumsfeld, Donald) or hack political operatives (Michael “Heckuva job” Brown) that have plagued the Executive Branch of late. BTW, I say Alberto Gonzales had a clown shoe firmly planted on both sides of that divide.

As the Bush years have pretty much ruined everything, it is good to see that some adults will be in charge for a change. We are going to need it.

Development of a sort

Given the news out of Somalia recently, this is not really all that surprising or if one is Somali, unwelcome.

Last weekend's spectacular capture of a Saudi Arabian supertanker loaded with oil worth $100 million has jacked up the stakes in what is probably the only growth industry in the failed Horn of Africa state.

Massive ransoms have brought rapid development to former fishing villages that now thrive with business and boast new beachside hotels, patronized by cash-rich buccaneers who have become local celebrities virtually overnight.

Investors have been attracted from around Somalia.

[Snip]

As the profits from the crime wave draw in businessmen from around the country, residents in the pirate's coastal bases -- and some inland towns -- have seen development in recent months that is unprecedented in their anarchic nation.

Abdiqadir Yusuf Ow Muse, the Eyl chairman, said his village had existed since 1927, but had long been only a tiny fishing community. This year, he told Reuters, all that had changed.

"Now it's a district with almost all facilities you would expect, because of the convergence of rich pirates," he said.

Do not want

John Cole at Balloon Juice finds the single most ridiculous/offensive Christmas decoration in living memory. Seriously, what’s next, Santa in Klansman drag?

Exceeding expectations?

Just listened the title track to Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” (here) and damn if it wasn’t really, really good. With Axl tinkering with this album for over a dozen years, I kind of figured that it would suck but after hearing this one track, I am encouraged.

Not getting better

The latest job numbers are not good at all.

WASHINGTON - New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to a 16-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market expected to get even worse next year.

The government said new applications for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 542,000 from a downwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week. That’s much higher than Wall Street economists’ expectations of 505,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

That is also the highest level of claims since July 1992, the department said, when the U.S. economy was coming out of a recession.

Numbers like this reinforce the idea that the faltering economy needs a big boost in government spending to stimulate demand. Coincidentally, the nation faces a humongous backlog of infrastructure repairs and improvements. Two birds, one stone – let’s hope that a new President and Congress will recognize the opportunity to do some real good rather than just piss the money away on Bridges to Nowhere and the like.

Down goes Stevens! Down goes Stevens!

Ted Stevens, Alaska icon and the longest serving Republican Senator in the history of the body, has lost his reelection fight. I guess the corruption conviction didn’t help.

Upcoming Awesomeness Alert

Alan Moore’s The Watchmen is one of the greatest graphic novels ever conceived and as far as hyper-violent, vengeful vigilante stories go, The Watchmen is about an 11 on the Badass Meter. Seriously, the body count is the book was so high one needs an advanced degree in higher math to keep track. That it is finally being made into a movie has me thrilled and judging from this trailer, it looks like Warner Brothers may have done it justice.

Lame

So the Democratic Caucus, apparently at the urging of Barack Obama, voted to allow turncoat Joe Lieberman to retain his Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Unless Obama et al were able to extract some sort of promise that Lieberman is going to shut his cryhole in perpetuity, this was a very dumb play.

GYWO

Because dammit people, we need some comedy around here.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Just how bad is the economy, anyway?

The answer is really freaking bad.

Dragged down by plummeting automobile sales, retail sales fell by a record amount in October, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.

[Snip]

Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of total economic activity and weakness in this area was the major factor dragging down overall economic growth in the July-September quarter. The gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent at an annual rate during the third quarter, the strongest signal yet that the country has fallen into a recession.

Many economists believe the G.D.P will drop by an even bigger amount in the current October-December period and will continue falling through the first two quarters of next year. They are expecting that the financial crisis, the worst in seven decades, will produce the country’s worst recession since the 1981-1982 downturn.

The government reported last week that the unemployment rate shot up to 6.5 percent in October, and many economists believe it will top 8 percent before the economy starts to mount a sustained rebound.

And as bad as it is here, there is lots of pain to go around.

PARIS -- The economy of the euro zone slipped into recession for the first time during the third quarter, the European Union’s statistics agency confirmed Friday, as the financial crisis continued to depress manufacturing activity and consumer demand.

Gross domestic product declined 0.2 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months in both the euro zone, which comprises the 15 countries that use the euro as their currency, and the European Union as a whole, according to an initial estimate published by the agency Eurostat. The weakness in the third quarter was particularly marked in Germany and Italy, both of which have technically entered a recession with G.D.P. contractions of 0.5 percent from the previous quarter after a similar decline in the second period.

Paul Krugman says that it is time to get on the Keynesian horse and ride it for all it is worth.

To pull us out of this downward spiral, the federal government will have to provide economic stimulus in the form of higher spending and greater aid to those in distress — and the stimulus plan won’t come soon enough or be strong enough unless politicians and economic officials are able to transcend several conventional prejudices.

I agree, as it is generally a bad idea to argue economics with a Nobel prize winning economist but I wonder if Congress has the stomach for the kind of massive deficit spending that such programs require. Infrastructure building, while yielding all kinds of longer term benefits, is really, really expensive. After blowing hundreds of billions on the financial sector, this may be a tough sell.

AIG

If stabilizing the economy demands that we pump more money in AIG, we ought to just buy the damn thing and fire the executive leadership. I have had it with those assholes.

I don’t know how they do it but…

… the Onion is indeed America’s finest news source.

Kobe Bryant Scores 25 In Holy Shit We Elected A Black President

LOS ANGELES—Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant had a typically solid performance from the field last night, scoring 25 points to propel his team to a holy shit, it's hard to believe these words are even gracing this page, but on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, the American people elected a black man to the office of the President of the United States.

Words really can't describe how…or what, or…. Wow.

Bryant, who got off to a slow start early, but managed to find his touch late in the third, incredible. A black president for a nation whose entire history has been haunted by the specter of slavery and plagued by racism since before its inception. That this happened in our lifetime is remarkable; that it happened within 50 years of a time when segregation was still considered an acceptable institution is astonishing. Absolutely astonishing. This is an achievement on par with the moon landing.

Bryant closed out the fourth quarter with eight points in five minutes.

Connecticut OKs gay marriage

You know, one day in the not too distant future, discussions of gay marriage will be limited to areas pertaining to contract law rather than morality. That will be a very good day. Good for Connecticut getting there sooner.

Things that make my head hurt

A hangover, anything by Journey, and this AP headline from the front page of Yahoo:

Fewer lead-tainted toys recalled this year

Awesome.

Change we can believe in

This cannot happen fast enough.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

[Snip]

According to three advisers participating in the process, Obama is expected to propose a new court system, appointing a committee to decide how such a court would operate. Some detainees likely would be returned to the countries where they were first captured for further detention or rehabilitation. The rest could probably be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts, one adviser said. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks, which have been private.

Obama has a long, long way to go to correct all of the abuses and crimes (let’s call a spade a spade here people) of the current Administration but this one can and should be at the top of the list.

The Emanuel pick

I gotta say I like the choice of Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff for a few reasons. First, Emanuel comes from the House and has mostly good relations there. That crowd knows him and has worked with him before. Indeed, a good many House members have Emanuel to thank for their seats, as he was the man that engineered the Dems 2006 takeover of the House so there is a fair amount of goodwill built into that relationship. Second, the dude is a very effective, hardnosed Chicago politician that will throw some elbows and step on toes if necessary. And in the climate into which President-elect Obama will take office, he will need someone that can crack some skulls in order to get legistation passed. Last but not least, it will irritate the hell out of GOP House members that cannot stand Rahm for reasons 1 and 2.

Time to toss him

So y’all know that I am no fan of turncoat guttersnipe and all around self-serving douchebag Joe Lieberman. After his disgraceful showing at the Republican Convention, it was pretty clear that he was hitching his wagon to McCain’s star. Now that the Obama has prevailed and the Democrats no longer need Lieberman to form a majority, that whiny little bitch is begging for national unity and to retain his Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. To which I say, time for payback. I am not necessarily in favor of booting him from the caucus, but damn, if you disparage your party’s nominee, there should be hell to pay, the price of which is that Chairmanship. He made his bed, time to lay in it. Mike Luckovich sums the situation up nicely:

Get Your War On

This is some funny shit...

A change in attitude

From The Times of London:

The world has been fascinated and profoundly moved by this election most of all because of what America is — a nation founded on universal aspirations, and thus a mirror to humanity. For two centuries that mirror has seemed irreparably cracked by the legacy of slavery and segregation, a pernicious and enduring racism that remains a factor in the blighted lives of so many of the poor blacks among whom Mr Obama launched his political career. He is not the last role model they will ever need, but he is the most powerful proof his country has produced that it is ready to judge them by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin.

[Snip]

Yesterday President Bush called this election “a triumph of the American story”. It has been exactly that. America may have faltered in its efforts to export democracy, but this time, at home, it has delivered a masterclass in the real thing.

If nothing else, the election of Barack Obama has reminded the world that this great country of ours is capable of redemption. We still have a long way to go (Guantanamo?) but it is going to be really nice when the rest of the world doesn’t hate us anymore.

The Crybaby wing of the Republican Party

There are an infinite number of source from which one can divine the general tenor of the wingnutosphere but in reading the Editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, one figuratively has their finger on the whackjob pulse. And according to the WSJ, Americans are a bunch of meanies for not appreciating the awesome fucking leadership of George W. Bush (wwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!).

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Look dickhead, on Bush’s watch we have sustained the worst terrorist attack in our history and failed to capture the man responsible, blundered two wars, New Orleans was destroyed, as was habeus corpus, the Fourth Amendment, and America’s good name. With a record like that, a little rough treatment is damn well warranted. Hell, he is lucky to have not been tarred and feathered, so quit bitching.

I guess she never heard of Rand-McNally

I would never expect a candidate to be an expert on world geography but this really is a bit much.

However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself."

That is a frightening level of ignorance for someone wishing to be a world leader.

The kids are alright

From CNN:

Vote by Age
Total Obama McCain Other/No Answer
18-29 (18%) 66% 32% 2%
30-44 (29%) 52% 46% 2%
45-64 (37%) 50% 49% 1%
65 and Older (16%) 45% 53% 2%

Advertisers focus heavily on the under 30 demographic because they know that brand choices made in that age group tend to be the brand choices consumers stick with throughout life. In that demo, you choose the beer, laundry detergent, and political party that you are likely to stick with for the rest of your life. If you are a Republican strategist plotting your party’s comeback, these numbers should make you yearn for a drink, presumably hemlock. Indeed, the two to one split to the Democrats portends a GOP exile that could last for years.

Kinda brings a tear to my eye

Tony Auth.

Shark Jumped

CNN’s ridiculous hologram thingy last night was one of the lamest uses of technology I have ever witnessed.

It is not all hope and joy out there

One of the bigger disappointments from yesterday was that California’s Prop 8 passed, halting gay marriage and casting into doubt the validity of thousands of existing unions. So while the nation took a giant leap forward on the race issue, Cali took a big step back on the gay rights front and that really sucks.

Didn’t think it would happen

Glenn Nye appears to have defeated Thelma Drake in VA-02. This is a huge upset given that ALL of the polling prior to the race has Drake well ahead. Good on you Glenn!

Krugman on what Obama's victory means

We threw the bums out.

The monster years

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists.

Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.
And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

Friedman gets it just right

Amen brother.

This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King’s I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America’s white majority actually elected an African-American as president.

That is what happened Tuesday night and that is why we awake this morning to a different country. The struggle for equal rights is far from over, but we start afresh now from a whole new baseline. Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America.

We saw some history made last night people. This is special moment in American life - relish it.

The Speech

Pure genius.

Oh Hell Yeah

Obama.

Yes we did.

My prediction

I think Obama gets 361 Electoral votes (the Kerry states plus Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada) and a popular vote win of 53 to 45%. That represents a healthy thumping by any estimation. Furthermore, we should be able to get a good idea of how things are going to go early. Specifically, if Obama wins Virginia, he wins the election. If he gets NC, he is going to whip McCain thoroughly. If he gets Georgia, pop the champagne folks - we are talking an epic blowout.

Considering that Obama has more or less salted this thing away, the real drama is whether the Democrats can deliver to President Obama a 60 seat super-majority in the Senate. That is going to be a very tough trick but it is within sight. My guess is that the Dems picked up seats in Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Minnesota (that’s right people – say hello to Senator Franken), and Alaska. That gets us to 58 with possible upsets in McConnell in Kentucky and Chambliss in Georgia (two odious motherfuckers right there) that could get us to 60 but I am not counting on either of those.

In the House, I think the Democrats net 20 seats, bring the total to 255 – 180. My House guess is really just that, a guess. I really haven’t been following these races very closely because the Democrats are going to add to their already substantial margin there but my gut tells me that the GOP pulls a few more out than expected.

Voted

Lo, J. and I got to the polls at 10 before six and were out by eight. J. was a rockstar - waited two hours, most of it in the rain, and was so well behaved that the folks in line with us commented on how good he was. And we got to do our part to drive a stake in the heart of the Reagan Revolution - that was pretty awesome as well.

Today is going to be very good day.

Only in America

One of the more annoying aspects of being a citizen of the USA is the ever-present sense of American Exceptionalism; that we are somehow “better” than anyone or anywhere else. It is an attitude of jingoism and braggadocio that contends that we are so good that we cannot learn anything from others and equally off-putting, that others must emulate us. Let’s face it, having someone constantly tell you how great they are and how much you should be like them is really fucking irritating. This goes double when George Fucking Bush blunders about, merrily shooting the bird to friend and foe alike, further promulgating this “America the Arrogant” image.

That said, the fact that this nation stands poised to elect as President a self-made black man from a broken home speaks volumes as to just how exceptional the American system truly is. Think about that for a moment. Barack Obama is a man to which nothing was given. His success is by and large a product of his own hard work, determination, ability and ambition. But those qualities are rarely enough to allow one to flourish elsewhere as he has here. In much of the world, race, class, religion, clan, etc. represent an insurmountable obstacle to those that aspire to something beyond their immediate circumstance and while the American system is by no means unique, it has few peers in that regard.

Yes, our system has its problems. Race, class, et al. make the path to success here more difficult than it need be but really, I cannot think of another place I would rather make a go of it. We may not be perfect but by God, we strive to be better, fairer, more decent and tomorrow, we will make the unlikeliest of candidates the most powerful man on the planet. Perhaps nothing more could draw a better illustration of what is achievable in this place and in our time.