The bailout plan that was voted down in the House today was a miserable bill, but I think we're in deep trouble unless the government steps in to stabilize the markets. (Look at what Sweden and Japan did under similar circumstances to get themselves out of trouble).
If you live in the US, here's a tool to help you find out who your representative is. Find them and tell them how you feel about the plan. Most Congresspeople will also post on their websites how they voted. This could be important.
Are you registered to vote? Are you sure?
Due to new voter fraud rules in some states, a lot of people risk being wiped from voter registration lists if, for example, the name on their voter registration doesn't match the name on their driver's license or other governmental records ("Laura Palmer" vs. "L. Palmer").
So even if you think you're registered, I suggest going to this site and confirming that you are actually registered as an active voter. I just did it and it takes three minutes.
The site is built by the Obama campaign but no matter who you support, I think it's important that everyone's vote is counted.
Listen to this panel of lecturers on the U Channel if you're frustrated with the millimeter-thin analysis of the banking crisis that we've gotten so far from CNN and the presidential debate. Good stuff if you want to blow an hour on solid in-depth descriptions of the underlying issues.
The biggest and most pleasant surprise about the first presidential debate last night was that it was actually mostly about issues, and not just a bunch of trash talking and bad mouthing between the two candidates. (No lipstick, no pigs). The level of detail on the economy was thin, but when they got to the foreign policy section of the debate, both candidates were able to go pretty deep.
I'd score the debate as tactically a draw but strategically a minor win for Obama. I don't think either candidate came out as a winner on the discussion of the economy. Part of the problem is that the banking crisis is so severe and so unprecedented, that no one in the country, even Paulson and Bernanke, can say with any certainty whether the bailout plans being discussed are going to work.
It's in the foreign policy part that I think Obama won a slight strategic victory. That's an odd thing to say because he was mostly on the defensive, and agreed with a lot of things that McCain was saying throughout that part of the debate.
The thing is, McCain really owns this issue and he should have been able to crush Obama here. There's no doubt that McCain has dramatically more experience in foreign affairs and he knows a lot of the major international players personally. The fact that Obama was able to hold his own, not get rattled by the master, and debate as an equal on McCain's own turf means that McCain is in a little bit of trouble. McCain has spent his best bullet, and Obama was not wounded.
There were two points that I wish did get a little more discussion. First, when McCain kept talking about Russian aggression in Georgia, I wish Obama (or somebody) had reminded everyone that the war actually began when Georgian troops moved into South Ossetia after pounding Tskhinvali with artillery and air power. Only then did Russian forces cross the border and come down on Georgia like a ton of bricks.
Second, Obama got a huge opening when McCain called Iran's elite troops the "Republican Guard." The Republican Guard was Saddam Hussein's elite force which was wiped out in the opening stage of the Iraq War in 2003. The Iranian force is called the Revolutionary Guard. Just when I thought Obama was going to correct him and score some serious cred, he also referred to the Iranian force as the Republican Guard. Oh well.
Next up is the VP debate. Everyone I talk to is expecting Biden to annihilate Palin, but if I had to put money on it, I would honestly put my ten beans on Palin. She's not as knowledgeable but she's clever and charismatic, and I think she'll be wicked in a knife fight.
Biden also has to be mindful that he can't just talk down to Palin from the height of his vast experience or try to bully her and squash her like a bug. There's no point winning the debate if you piss off the electorate and end up throwing the election.
Let the games continue!
Check out http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/ - a site that compiles campaign ads for all the US presidential campaigns going back to 1952. Your best bet is to click on the "Curator's Choice" link, which lists the most important ad of each campaign from '52 on. There's also a playlist from John Dickerson, of Slate Magazine and the Slate political gabfest.
Special mention goes out to Johnson's 1964 "Daisy" ad (scary as hell), Nixon's acid-trippy "Convention" ad from 1968, the groovy '70s music behind Ford's 1976 "Children" ad, and Johnson's surreal "Confessions of a Republican" ad.
It's international "Talk like a pirate" day again. How the time flies... Arrrgh! Avast! etc.
I notice that especially cops love it when you talk to them like a pirate.
This is a real conversation I had at work today:
(co-worker, typing an email)- Ya know, I always have a problem typing the word "pursue." I always end up spelling it wrong.
(me) - Yeah, I always have a problem spelling "Zbigniew Brzezinski," President Carter's national security advisor.
- Uh, well I guess it's no wonder you'd have a problem spelling that...
- You know what's odd? As soon as I said that to you, I had a feeling that I'd needed to spell "Zbigniew Brzezinski" pretty recently. But for the life of me I can't imagine when. I wonder if I just had a dream about it?
- You had a dream about Zbigniew Brzezinski? You must have some pretty ****ed up dreams.
- Man, you don't even want to know...
Hey Deborah - responding to your comment on my view that the media should leave Sarah Palin and her pregnant teenage daughter alone. You wrote:
Pete, the Palin family keeps thrusting her and her suddenly-fiancé into the media's face, with statements, photo ops and whatnot.
I can't recall a single comment I've read that has really laid any of this at Bristol's feet; I think it is fair to question her mother's motivation for playing it this way and continuing to trot the entire family out for the cameras, and to question whether the mother's point of view re: abstinence-only sex-education in schools may change in the circumstances.
The whole hypocrisy angle is also a fair one in my opinion, given the sudden attitude shift amongst conservative pundits, who have loudly decried celebrity pregnancies such as Jamie-Lynn (sp?) Spears' as evidencing a lack of parental oversight, while the Palin family's situation is just a "private family matter."
Teen pregnancies are now to be celebrated. Who knew?
I don't envy Bristol one little bit though.
That's a totally valid point of view, and especially from a hypocrisy angle, I think the media can make a logical argument that the pregnancy topic is "in bounds" for news coverage.
I guess I'm responding to my disappointment that this whole election season was seeming to be veering off the rails for a few weeks there, between the Bristol Palin pregnancy, Sarah Palin's own birth of her special-needs child, and this latest ridiculousness around Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment.
I've watched McCain's and Biden's careers for a while, and I’ve been very excited about Obama’s potential and the ideas he’s pulling into public debate. Based on the caliber of those three people, I had high hopes for this election. And though I disagree with her and McCain on just about everything, I think the symbolism of Palin’s VP candidacy is a good thing for the Republican party and probably for the country as a whole.
So I’m just really disappointed at the personalization of the race – I wish Palin and everyone else would stop putting their families and this other trivia front and center so all of us can get a clear look at how they plan to deal with the economy, the war and all the other things they’re going to need to do to dig us out of the deep pit that Bush threw us all into.
I know how naïve that position is. I just have a hard time imagining the mindset of some of these independent voters that will vote on the basis of someone’s personality or charisma even if that person will enact policies that are the complete opposite of what’s in those voters’ interests.
Gotta hand it to the Republicans though, they are damned good at framing the debate in the way that suits them. Every day we're talking about this nonsense is a day people are distracted from the war and the collapsing economy.
Cecilie and I met some friends for the Delerium show last night - the first live show I've seen since the Three Imaginary Girls' tribute to Liz Phair back in June. I've listened to them as mood music or "working" music since the mid-'90s, and I wasn't expecting much more than an hour or so of moody new-age pop, but it was actually pretty uptempo and a lot more fun than I expected.
The coolest part was when we were walking to the club, and this guy dressed in some kind of trucker outfit asked us if we had tickets already. I figured he was a scalper, but when I said no, he said he had just been called in to work that night and we could have his ticket - didn't even want us to pay him till I called him back and gave him a few beans.
I've done that before - a couple of times when I'd gotten tickets in advance and Cecilie couldn't make it, I've given the extra ticket to the person in line behind me. I never really wanted to be a scalper and take money for it, it would just feel wrong somehow.
Anyway, all good vibes and sunshine out to the fella that gave us the tiks.
Sara just sent this delightful letter to her circle of friends. It's typical Sara and one of the many things I love about her - equal parts science and misanthropy...
I am sure you guys by now have caught the news about CERN and the Large Hadron Collider coming online.
There are a lot of people freaking out - out there. They are concerned that black holes are going to eat their reality.
Really… in a world where you can get beaten to death with a hammer on a train load of people and no one does anything, or you can microwave your baby to death, would it really be that fucking bad?
God damn I hate humans. But for those 37 of you out there I do care about check out this really interesting website that gives you constant updates so you don’t have to worry.
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
I've been trying to make sense of the political impact of Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy. I'm an outlier when it comes to family planning and most "value" issues since my views are pretty far outside the American mainstream, so it's been difficult for me to understand or predict how this is likely to shake out across the political landscape.
But at the end of the day, I have to strongly agree with what the candidates - both McCain and Obama - have said publicly about it. This is a personal and private matter between the unfortunate 17-year-old, the poor father, whoever he is, and the families involved. It's cynical and inhuman to drag Palin's daughter into the national spotlight, in the middle of what must already be an incredibly traumatic experience. She didn't ask to be a public figure, and beyond that, will her private torment really affect people's willingness or unwillingness to vote for McCain for President?
It's none of our business, and the media should give it a rest.