Halloween, Quickly

Sisters, apparently. One dressed as a Princess, the other as a scholar in pink graduation gown and mortarboard. Coexisting uncomfortably side by side. What would the two, together look like?

One Darth Vader, struggling with his helmet. Two young Jedi, lean and taut. They seemed less interested in tracking down the Sith Lord than in my basket of Smarties, however.

Remember When?

Do you remember when the silly people were certain that Joe Biden would have "health problems" during October and would step aside in favor of Senator Clinton for VP?

Do you remember when the wise people said it wouldn't happen?

Whatever happened with all of that?

Rough Numbers

Registered Voters in Evansville= 2800 or so

Expected turnout for 2008 Presidential election=65%

Expected voters=1820

Already voted (as of 10/29)= About 400

Call that 22% voting early with three business and 4 mail days to go.

Have you voted yet? Half of this household has.

He Said What?

A Man Of His Convictions

Senator Ted Stevens.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

One For James

Yard signs don't vote. Really big yard signs don't vote either.

Otter could be writing for McCampaign these days.

Dead! Bluto's right.

Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we
could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of
lives.

No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation
absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's
part.

Al's Back

Local Politics 101 is back in action and Al is still The Meeting Coach. I think that makes him the first on my blogroll with two solo blogs.

Deep Thought

Courtesy of my Little Brother.

Rice is what you order when you want to eat a million of something.

It's Becoming Impossible To Mock These People

The truth is, indeed, stranger than our imaginations.

Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s
presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the
homestretch?

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser;
not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, who
was identified by the
Washington Post this week as Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup
artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election
Commission on Thursday night.

Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup
work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for
the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign
categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”

In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist,
got $10,000 for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of
October

There's more if you can stand it.

Taking It To The Terrorists (sic)

From The Independent

Standing in front of her net curtains, a half-eaten pancake on one side
and a bottle of washing-up liquid on the other, no one could possibly confuse
the bespectacled Icelandic lady with Osama bin Laden. But just to ram the point
home, she brandishes a handmade sign: "I'm not a terrorist!"

After Gordon Brown used anti-terror laws to freeze the assets of an
Icelandic bank, the Land of the Midnight Sun is fighting back. Given Iceland
does not have an army, the uprising is less Viking warrior and more citizen's
revolt. Yesterday, more than 35,000 people – a ninth of the population – signed
an online petition to let the world know that Icelanders are not
terrorists.

The Icelanders have shown their violent nature for all the world to see.

A photographer, Thorkell Thorkelsson, has turned his Reykjavik studio into a
protest chamber, inviting people to pose with weapons to show how "dangerous"
Iceland is. One man turned up with a gun made from Lego bricks; another had a
snowball, and Hulda Edelvy, a pensioner, brandished a staple remover and
pliers.

And then they fell back on that greatest bugaboo of all the true-believers, moral relativism.

"It is so unfair, and so ridiculous; using a terrorist law against Iceland
is like using a terrorist law against the Vatican," Mr Thorkelsson told Reuters.
"The difference is there are more weapons in the Vatican."

Shorter Jeff Larson

Not only is he Sarah's clothes mensch. You read about his charitable giving here first.

Oh, those wacky Republicans! Standing up for anything that's smarmy.

One More Weekend

Didja miss Escanaba In Da Moonlight last weekend? You have just three more chances. Click on the poster at right for details.

Can I Get A, "Whoop, Whoop?"

Now that Murdoch's New York Post has had to swallow their overweening pride and issue a retraction of the Michele Obama dining on room service lobster story, when do you suppose we'll see a recognition by the local bloggers who've blown that story up?

I took, "Never" in the pool. When do you think they'll so much as acknowledge that they were telling tales?

I'll offer those bloggers a little biscuit to chew on while they think about their sins. Righty bloggers, feel free to check out the veracity of this.

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to
clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family
since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the
accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue
in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman
Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

-------------------------------------

UPDATED: Fair enough. Fred does the right thing.

I'll Be Voting "Yes" On The Lake

I hope you can all read the chart on the left. It's the one from last night's Gazette showing the total impact on a $100,000 residence of the Lake Leota dredging project over twenty years of the bond.

Now, I know that not very many folks live in that mythical $100,000 house. So let's double the impact, because I think most of us live in a house that's paying taxes on something under $200,000.

In the first year the impact would be $100 or $8.25 per month or $2.07 per week. Something less than 30 cents a day at any rate. But looking at the way the bond is structured, that impact will fall a little each year so that over the 7300 days of the bond the total impact to our mythical $200,000 house would be less than a quarter a day.

Lake Leota is what it is, a scenic millpond in a relatively small city. But it has been the center of civic activity in this city for very nearly 175 years now. It has been the center of controversy before and, most likely, will be again some day. It's just that in a time when our city is struggling to maintain its identity, to be something more than a bedroom for Madison or a feeder for Janesville's industry, we need to hang on to what we have and to make it shine.

I had my wedding in Leonard/Leota Park with the lake as a backdrop. So did my daughter and I know that we weren't the only ones who have done so. The park and its pond have been civic and social gathering places for decades. We shouldn't pass that up for a quarter a day.

"Listen To The Generals," They Said.

A look at Colin Powell's front yard.

Solidarity

Standing up against the disrespectful mobs, I'm posting this flag in solidarity with our downtrodden brothers in Ohio. To the battlements, men and women!

Don't let the banner fall!

Clarification

I know that you've been bartending for a while. I know that people like you and that yours is a popular place for the locals to hang out as an alternative to the place downtown.

All I'm saying is, that if your first instinct when I ask for a bourbon and water is to reach for the Seagram's 7 Crown, you might want to do a little label reading while you're stocking shelves.

K? Thanks

Is It A Bad Thing?

Is it bad when your 401k statement comes and it has a teardrop tattoo?

Booooiiiiiiiiinnngggggg!

Now that's a great spit-take.

Contest Time!

Your chance to compete for glory. Caption this picture from last night's debate.

Lucky Guess? I Think Not

My prediction in the Recess Supervisor's comment thread was something like this.

Grampy is in Waukesha and Wausau today and La Crosse tomorrow. If he
can't get back under the MoE by next weekend there's no sense to running the ads
for the faithful.

McCain is out of Wisconsin on 10/18 at 4 PM.

Today we get this from WisPolitics.

The Republican National Committee hasn’t booked ads for the next week in
Wisconsin TV markets after running a series of spots attacking Barack Obama and
congressional Dems, according to TV sources.

I believe the expression is, "Running down the hawsers."

Do These Suspenders Make Me Look Husky?

From the city's website, a Kelly Gildner photo.

The show opens Friday night. Get your tickets now.

Alert System

You just know that GWB will pull something to ratchet up the anxiety level in the next three weeks but this McCampaign warning system is clever.

Weekend Boxoffice

Body of Lies got beaten by the second weekend of Beverly Hills Chihuahua but it looks as if An American Carol may turn out to be a rare thing, indeed.

Almost all of Ken Hendricks' investments made money.

Get The Scoop On Escanaba In Da Moonlight

Head over to ECT's Homepage.

What's The Plural Of "Doofus?"

And why doesn't Florida get good candidates?

ABC:
Rep. Mahoney (D-FL) Agreed To $121K Payoff For Former
Mistress

'Cause I Can

Lance is right. These things are fun.

Checking In

Will any of the whiners who've been on about "Obama and this school" or "Schools and politics are improper" be saying anything about this?

John McCain Friday 10/10
Lakeville, Minnesota
Lakeville South High School
5:00 pm (CDT)

It's okay. I didn't think so.

The Quote That Defines "Irony"

"Are Americans having an opportunity to ask all the questions and are
we receiving straight answers from our opponent?" Palin asked.

Funny, But True

I'll call it my Quote of the Day. John Stewart about Sarah Palin.

"Have you noticed how [Palin's] rallies have begun to take on the
characteristics of the last days of the Weimar Republic? In Florida, she asked
'Who is Barack Obama?' Hey, lady, we just met YOU five f-ing weeks
ago."

Who Didn't See This Coming?

That big homeowner bailout program McCain sprung on the country from Nashville? Yeah. It's really a payout to his buddies in the banking industry.

Obama Campaign Economic Policy Director Jason Furman said in
the campaign statement opposing McCain's plan: "John McCain wants the
government to massively overpay for mortgages in a plan that would guarantee
taxpayers lose money, and put them at risk of losing even more if home values
don’t recover. The biggest beneficiaries of this plan will be the same financial
institutions that got us into this mess, some of whom even committed fraud."

More maverickiness in action. Someone should ask him about it today in Waukesha or La Crosse.

Checklist

County cop? Check

A Douglas County Sheriff's deputy returned home from the hospital Monday
night after being bitten by a prairie rattlesnake over the weekend in
Parker.

Poor decision making? Check

"He began playing around with the snake with his baton and putting his foot
out trying to see if it would strike, finally he chose to pick it up and it
striked him," said John Eischen

Compounding the problem by driving? Check

Roberson had a severe reaction to the venom while back behind the wheel of
his patrol car. That caused him to drive over an embankment and crash.

Bad result. Double check.

"He must have either lost consciousness or had something so severe happen to
him that he put down the gas pedal and the car drove over an embankment into a
field area and (the car) got high centered," sheriff's spokeswoman Cocha Heyden
said.

Well, hell yeah!

Witnesses said that before Roberson arrived on the scene the snake had
been struck by rocks and was disturbed.

"I think it was really the other people's fault because they were kind
of teasing with it before they were thinking about killing it, so I think the
snake was already really agitated," Eischen said.

Disagreement In Terminology

I'm sorry, Senator Obama, health care is not a right in America.

It is, however, one of the key indicators of how a country values its citizens and, as such, should be a universally provided benefit.

The View From Here

Just Askin'

Does McCampaign use the word, "pivot," way too often?

Comparisons

By now I'm sure that you've all seen this trainwreck but have you seen teh newest?

Snap Reaction

I wasn't overly impressed with either candidate last night. I thought McCain looked unsteady on his feet at times, as if he were very tired from it all. I thought Senator Obama came off as unpolished, even when launching into set-pieces he should have known he'd be using.

Neither scored a knockout punch in my eyes. Obama scored points, I thought, in the by-play around Iran and Pakistan. Neither one convinced me that they had a clue as to how to fix healthcare funding.

Not a great night for America, but at least we get to see our candidates. I'll give the win to Capital D Democracy and wait for the next one.

Checking For Clarity

John McCain doesn't have to be "tied" to or "connected with" the Keating Five. It is an undisputed fact that he was one of the lawmakers who were members of The Keating Five.

That's why they called them that.

Dissing The Umpires

Notice that in this press release Darrin Schmitz never says, "Mike Gableman did not lie." Schmitz never says, "Gabelman's ad was true." Schmitz can't even work up a defense of, "We believed it was true when we said it."

The best Schmitz has got to defend the indefensble is, "The judges are biased and won't let us say whatever we want to say."

What brought all this on?

The state Judicial Commission levied charges today against state Supreme
Court Justice Michael Gableman, alleging he knowingly misrepresented facts in a
campaign ad that helped elect him in April.

If only we'd had some kind of inkling Gabelman was less than honest in his ads. If only someone had spoken out.

The Hunt For McCain's October

Adm. Painter: What's his plan?
Jack Ryan: His plan?
Adm. Painter: Russians don't take a dump, son, without a
plan.

John McCain has launched his last ditch plan for taking over the White House and it includes all the sludge-pumping he can muster.

Captain Davenport: They're pinging away with their
active sonar like they're looking for something, but nobody's listening.
Jack Ryan: What do you mean?
Captain Davenport: Well, they're moving at almost
forty knots. At that speed, they could run right over my daughter's stereo and
not hear it.

McCain and his Mini-maverick are pumping so much chaff into the air that it's nearly impossible to sort out issues from slanders. But that's not the part that worries me. I don't think the American people are going to fall for US Weekly politics in a time of a crashing economy and two, nearly three, wars. What I'm worried about is what McCampaign is trying to incite.

Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful
interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on
reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others
hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial
epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down,
boy."

That's not enough for the Embarracuda, though.

"Boooo!" the crowd repeated.

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

Palin went on to say that "Obama held one of the first meetings of
his political career in Bill Ayers's living room, and they've worked together on
various projects in Chicago." Here, Palin began to connect the dots.

Will that be enough? Will the crowd come to their collective senses after someone gets hurt or killed? How does the Secret Service feel about having to stand in front of crowds that are being exhorted to shouts of, "Treason?"

Admiral Josh Painter: This business will get out of control. It will get out of
control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

McCain is about to learn that the problem with dancig with a bear is that the bear gets to decide when you're done. Truly sad.

"Not Ready To Articulate It"

Hey, look! It's a pony!

A Little Quick Math

An American Carol grossed $3,810,000 over the weekend in 1639 theaters.

That's $2324.59 per theater for three days (Oct 3, 4 & 5)

That is about $775 per theater per day on its opening weekend, even though it's been the talk of the Intertubes for 6 weeks.

Let's be charitable and say that each theater showed it for only four shows a day. That means a gross of $193.72 per show.

Again, let's be charitable and balance the $5 Matinee tickets off against the $8.50 big-city evening shows and call the average price $6 a pop. That means an average of 33 people were interested enough to go see An American Carol.

You'd be hard-pressed to find another commercial flop of that type. Even Expelled did a first weekend of $2,970,848 on 1052 screens. Using the same math as above that would be attendance of nearly 40 per show. So, using only box office data for opening weekends, we can conclude that the passing wind that was Ben Stein's last movie was almost 20% more successful than this attempt at, as one reviewer called it, masochistic revenge fantasy.

Moving Heaven and Hell and Afghanistan

Off-script at last, we can see the real Sarah Palin. She's misplaced a country.

“They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is
hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan,” she told
several hundred supporters at a fundraising event in San Francisco.

And, on a task so simple as reading off a Starbuck's cup, she's managed to misquote Madeleine Albright.

Albright responded to Palin's remarks in a statement to the Huffington Post
on Sunday. "Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a
source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet
another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more
reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which
candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including
women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in
our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden."

Oh, and she's pallin' around with her favorite domestic secessionist.

More Email Funnies

This came in over the Intertubes over the weekend. Enjoy.

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Kansas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President. The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.'

Not being familiar with the term,the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. 'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.

It Ain't What They Are. It's What They Said.

Use strategy, people. Use tactics.

Take three minutes.

Advice Nobody Asked For And A Random Thought

Get your hair out of your face. It makes you look unserious and ditzy. Joe, you too.

A random thought.

Suppose, just suppose that SP turned out to be an unwitting Trojan Horse.

The TV crowd was huge, exceeding the Presidential Debate numbers by 40%. I think it's fair to say those were people tuning in to see Palin, whether to root for or against her they turned out. She did, as my wife said, distressingly well.

But, just as big a surprise was Joe Biden striking hard against, not Palin, but John McCain. The senator took shot after shot that Palin wasn't ready for and didn't refute because she had been coached to deflect criticism of her.

That's oversimplistic of course but it sure looks like it's being borne out by the reaction poll numbers.

Money Quote Of The Morning Shows

Rudy! sez (on CBS Good Morning): "Americans are ready for someone who's not a Washington insider."

Mr 911 seems to forget that we been suffering through Outsider Leadership for nearly 8 years and have had quite enough of neophytes. Thank you very much.

The Overnight Polls

I had rehearsal last night so I missed most of the debate and have to rely on the members of my household who did watch.

My wife said that Palin did, "Fairly well, dammit." I marked her down as being for Biden.

I asked who was the stronger candidate, Palin or Biden. the owl in the fencerow just said, "Who?" I've marked him as Undecided/No Answer.

When I asked who was the stronger debater Miss Mikhaila (she's 3) said, "Shrek." I've marked her as being in the Nader/3rd Party column.

How did you score the debate?

Enough Reality. Let's Dance.

Maybe We Can Buy Her A Friend

Sarah Palin's ratings are falling faster than the Dow lately but Vets for Freedom has an idea. They're gonna pay frat boys to show their support.

The practice of paying volunteers is perfectly legal, and having scores
of rowdy pro-war supporters cheering on the backdrop of TV sets can be an
effective way for Vets for Freedom to disseminate its message.

But keep in mind, some of the people demonstrating outside the VP
debate had a choice to make: take the money from Vets for Freedom or subject
themselves to a night of hazing and binge drinking. On Thursday, we will see how
many chose the former.

This may not be the first time.

Secondly, they will get lots of media attention! My organization did a
similar thing in Mississippi last week and a ton of them were on TV. Meaning,
the guys could wear their [REDACTED] gear while holding up our signs and get
attention for their frat.

What's in it for the Greeks?

Vets for Freedom field staffer Laura Meyer offered a fraternity at the
University of St. Louis a "sizable donation" - plus free lunch - if it could use
their pledges to demonstrate outside the VP debate.

Reached by phone, Meyer said the total amount of cash the frat could
earn was between $200 and $250 for organizing 20-plus members. She also noted
that the program was a success in generating publicity during last Friday's
presidential debate.

I wonder if that explains the college boys standing behind McCain when he was busy blamethrowing on Monday.

It would certainly be cheaper to buy the Governor a puppy.

Oldies, But Goodies

Didja hear about the loan shark from Stoughton?


He loaned out all his money at high interest rates and then skipped town.











Sounds sort of like the whiners blaming poor people for forcing banks to give them loans which they should have known were no good. Huh?

Oh, BTW

The Circus came to town yesterday.

There Is A Hole In Our City Today

Art Phillips touched hundreds of lives in Evansville. As a police officer, a school board member, county Supervisor, and as a genuine, warm-hearted person he made our city a better place.

Godspeed, Art, and thank you.

Elliott- This Is What Creepy Looks Like

Now this is what a Cult Of Personality looks like. Note the shots of both Brezhnev and Mao with the Trickster. Hear the youthful voices raised in praise.




If you look closely at this one I think it's Fraley in the baseball cap.

Where'd He Go

We seem to have lost Al. I hope it's only temporary.

UPDATED: Ask and it shall be given to you. Check out Al's new blog The Meeting Coach.

Earning A New Nickname

Katie interviews Incurious George.

SP can't name a single newspaper? Won't name a single magazine? Doesn't recognize the object of a direct question? Puzzling and troubling all at once. It's Troubuzzling that she just seems to rattle on when asked a direct question that she doesn't have a note for.