History (the good kind)

So . . . anything else delightful happen tonight?

D.

Election eve prediction

All of the undecideds will break for the Republicans, thereby handing the Presidency to John Sidney McCain III.

McCain will retire to his bed Tuesday evening a contented man, having at last obtained the jewel in the crown of his political career. Unfortunately, all of the oxygen atoms in his bedroom will, as a statistical fluke, rush to the foot of the bed, and Sarah Louise Heath Palin will be the 44th President of the United States of America.

Dick Morris is such a tool.

D.

Updated to add . . .

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This goes way beyond cultural relativism

If you’ll excuse a serious post once in a while, THIS is reprehensible:

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses.

The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

She looked 23. Like that excuses anything? As best I can tell from the news media, this girl was raped by three men, then had the temerity to report the crime. In retribution, she was accused of adultery, then buried up to her neck and stoned to death.

In case you’re thinking this is Western media seizing and perhaps inflating a story that will fuel anti-Islamic sentiment, Al Jazeera also reported the story without any significant variation in detail.

Duhulow was stoned to death on October 27 by dozens of men in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses.

It takes a lot to shock me. This shocked me.

I can’t see how this is anything but a hideous injustice. And, yes, I know horrific crap like this (and worse) has been going on for a long time . . . but this one touched me for some reason.

Donate to Amnesty International. I don’t know what else to do, save appeal to our government — once we have a sane government.

D.

Too good not to blog.

I grew up with these characters. Glad to know we’re all on the same side, eh?

Remember to vote, dammit!

D.

Post-debate musings

At first, my gut reaction was “tie.” I’m still in the tank for Obama, of course, but I thought McCain did a little better than I expected him to do. Of course, he’s been screwing up so badly lately that he would have had to piss himself to NOT beat my expectations. As far as I could tell, he did not piss himself.

(more…)

Scary!

“As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska.” — Sarah Palin.

From Impolitical.

(more…)

Weekend update

Twenty-plus phone calls later, we’ve seen two rentals today. TWO. Fortunately, they’re both acceptable (they have AC and they take cats). The place in Windsor is pricier and has a longer commute time; the place in Rohnert Park is less expensive but it’s a two story. Maybe we’ll find something tomorrow which has it all, but for the time being, I think it’s gonna be Rohnert Park.

We had an exhausting day, though. Lots of driving around and some walking. Right now we’re resting up in the Holiday Inn Express and maybe later we’ll get some dinner.

Nothing on the news right now but John Edwards and his affair. Why the big deal? I figure this is between John, Elizabeth, and The Other Woman. And The Other Woman’s kid, too, if indeed he’s John’s kid. I’m not saying the media should avoid this story, but it’s wrong to obsess about it, too. Not like the guy is a presidential candidate any more.

Check out Elizabeth Edwards’s post on this topic over at Daily Kos. John told her about this back in ’06 when it happened, so for the Edwards family, this is not news. So what we have here is a feeding frenzy, nothing more. Again, if Edwards were still a candidate, you could argue for relevance — which is why I’m sure we’ll soon see more coverage of John McCain’s creepy personal life, you know, the fact that he dumped his first wife because she’d been in a car accident and wasn’t attractive anymore, but before he dumped Wife #1 he cheated on her with soon-to-be Wife #2.

Right.

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks says it well:

So, I want every pundit who condemns John Edwards today to tell me what the difference between him and McCain is and why John McCain shouldn’t also be run out of politics for his adulterous affairs and what he did to his first wife.

Word.

D.

¿Quién es Más Macho?

You decide.

Not that I mind some good ol’ patriotic man-love.

D.