Michael and the Doodlers

You know those decorative logos that appear on the Google home page on holidays and special occasions? Meet the guys who design them...the Google Doodlers.

Leslie Nielsen, 1926 - 2010

Back from VayCay

I am back home after a week in paradise.  My first trip to Puerto Vallarta was amazing.  The weather was perfect, the food terrific, and the villa was stellar.  A big shout out to Brent, Scott, and Steve.  The week-long get away was much needed.

I have a full week ahead, so excuse the sporadic posts over the next few days.

In the mean time, a few PV photos...


A view down the coast, about 5 miles south of our villa...

Yours truly, zip-lining through Mexico...

Dusk, as viewed from our patio...

Morning view from our villa...

On Vacation

Because the trip is a surprise for a friend of mine, I couldn't say anything leading up to today, but I am off to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a week of sunshine and warm weather. You all have a great Thanksgiving. I'll return to the blogosphere a week from today.

Stuffing Mix, 2010

Fourteen tracks for the coming holiday. The set opens with new material from Mayer Hawthorne before segwaying into autumnal classics from Rusted Root, Tom Jones, the Magic Numbers, Texas, and Steely Dan, among others.

Click play and enjoy...



Playlist:

No Strings (Roller Boogie Remix) - Mayer Hawthorne
Evil Ways - Rusted Root
She's a Lady - Tom Jones
Give the Drummer Some - Nickodemus
Love is Just a Game - The Magic Numbers
Saint - Texas
Thinking of You - Sister Sledge
Peg - Steely Dan
Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band
Dirty Little Secret - 54 Seconds
Maybe Tomorrow - Stereophonics
Such a Shame - Bee Gees
Murder in the City - The Avett Brothers
The Very Thought of You - Nat "King" Cole

Friday Showcase: Aloe Blacc

I discovered Aloe Blacc just this week while working from home and listening to one of Raul Campo's shows on KCRW.com. Blacc's latest CD was released in September and includes this track, an absolutely stellar piece of R&B.

"Politician" by Aloe Blacc

Video of the Week

Rep. Alan Grayson is one of the most admired members of the House of Representatives; honest, intelligent, and always looking out for his constituents and the American people.  Such leadership cost him his seat earlier this month, and he will be replaced in January by a Fascist tea-bagger.  The people of Florida's 8th congressional district will rue the day they dumped Rep. Grayson.



Thank you, Rep. Grayson, for your service. My suggestion: Move to a more solidly Democratic district and run again in 2012. Your nation needs you.

Quote of the Day

Of course, we all had to bite our tongues - more than once - as Tripp's father went on a media tour through Hollywood and New York, spreading untruths and exaggerated rhetoric. It was disgusting to watch as his fifteen minutes of fame were exploited by supposed adults taking advantage of a lost kid.

-Sarah Palin, the half-term half-wit (and front runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination), writing about Levi Johnston in her new book. (Can't you just hear that nails-on-a-chalkboard caterwaul of hers!)

Well, if anyone would know about untruths and exaggerated rhetoric it would be you, wouldn't it?

And, for the record: Levi has been the only grown-up in that horrid little Alaska cabal of yours. That "lost kid" has been doing the lord's work: exposing you for the lame-brain power-hungry bitch you are.

"The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth

We have come close on occasion (Bush/Cheney), and we may yet get there still (I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin); the ability of my fellow Americans to elect a Fascist government should not be underestimated.  (The first African-American president and an unemployment rate stubbornly stuck above 8% come 2012...well...I need not spell it out for you.)

Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" imagines such an outcome in the guise of alternative history.  In this case, the 1940 Republican convention is unable to come up with a nominee to run against President Roosevelt's quest for a third term until Charles Lindbergh arrives at the convention hall and is nominated by acclimation.  As the second world war begins in Europe, the "Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War" campaign of the Nazi sympathizer pilot leads to victory for the Republicans, and a slow march toward isolationism and Fascism for the United States:  A non-aggression pact is signed with Hitler, Britain becomes weaker, and Lindbergh's police-state policies take aim at the United States' Jewish communities.

Roth's revisionist history, told through the eyes of a seven-year-old New Jersey boy whose family are the epitome of 1940 middle class America (working hard and enjoying the fruits of the American economy, only to have their world ripped out from beneath them following the election of "President Lindbergh"), is a cautionary tale about the ability of Americans to vote their fears rather than their hopes.

Alternative histories can be tricky, but "The Plot Against America" is a page-turner, extremely well written, giving the reader a rather palatable sense of dread.  The reader soon realizes how very easy it would be for the United States, under just the right circumstances, to take such a radical turn to the right.

The climax of the story is a bit rushed and over-the-top (Roth uses an extremely outdated and never-used American election law that is no longer in effect to bring things to a close), but that is not enough to keep this book from a strong recommendation.

In this, the day and age of the Fascist-leaning Tea Party movement, I can't think of a better cautionary tale than "The Plot Against America."

What Would Brian Boitano Do?

ABC is set to debut SKATING with the Stars.

I shit you not.

The "stars"? Betheny (from that horrid "Real Wives" series), Sean Young ("Against All Odds"), and some guy billed as a "Disney actor."

What? Was this guy unavailable?

Murkowski in Alaska

I must say, despite my absolute disdain for the Republican Party these past two years, if I were a resident of Alaska, I would have cast a write-in vote for Lisa Murkowski earlier this month. The Democratic candidate wasn't going to win, and the reality of a victory by Joe Miller, the thug who was the official Republican nominee, was too scary to imagine. I would have held my nose and cast a write-in vote for the incumbent (who lost the Republican Senate primary to the Sarah Palin-backed Miller).

Don't get me wrong, Murkowski was always on the right-wing end of the constant filibusters that permeated the Senate in the last congress, and her views on policies near and dear to me are the polar opposite of mine. But in a close race, having her in the Senate is way preferable to a Fascist like Joe Miller.

Apparently the voters of Alaska agreed with me. The vote count if finalized, and Sen. Murkowski won her write-in campaign handily.

The Fiscal Responsibility of the Republican Party

The truth in black and white.  (Well, orange and green.)

For the record, Eisenhower and Nixon championed government spending on highways and cost controls to help tame inflation, respectively.   Today's Fascist-infested Republican Party would never allow those men inside the party's national convention, let alone elected president.

Mid-Week Brain Break

"A Matter of Time"

A Matter Of Time- Pocket Watchscapes Vol. I from The Seventh Movement on Vimeo.

He Could Have Been President

To the 69,456,897 Americans who voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, we thank you.

New GOP Congressman: "Where's My Government Health Care!?"

Well!! Isn't THIS the current Tea-Bagger Republican Party all wrapped up in a nice little package of hypocrisy:

A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in.

Asshat!

"Stupidity Sells"

It seems I wasn't the only one who thought last week's column from Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell was a pile of horse shit.

Dancing Together

The Sunday playlist, a day late. Robyn, Janelle Monáe, Andy Bell, and N'dambi highlight this week's set.

Press play and enjoy...



Tracks:

Clocks (Rhythms del Mundo Remix) - Coldplay
Alphaville - Bryan Ferry
History (Love Mix) - Groove Armada
Dance or Die - Janelle Monáe
Dancing On My Own - Robyn
Say What You Want - Andy Bell
Outa-Space - Billy Preston
Lose That Girl - Saint Etienne
Nobody Jones - N'dambi
Dancing Together - David Byrne & Fat Boy Slim
Give It Away - Zero 7
Stylo - Gorillaz (w/ Mos Def & Bobby Womack)
Make Love In London - Buff Roshi

Sunrise Over San Francisco

The view from my desk, Monday morning, 15 November, 6:19am...

Man's Loyal Friend

A friend shared this video with me last week. Spot's loyalty reinforces my belief that dogs are extremely intelligent and, when treated well, are indeed man's most loyal friend.



More proof to that theory on last week's episode of Nova: "Dogs Decoded"...

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.

2012

Give me a break:

This is a critical moment for the country. From the faltering economy to the burdensome deficit to our foreign policy struggles, America is suffering a widespread sense of crisis and anxiety about the future. Under these circumstances, Obama has the opportunity to seize the high ground and the imagination of the nation once again, and to galvanize the public for the hard decisions that must be made. The only way he can do so, though, is by putting national interests ahead of personal or political ones.

To that end, we believe Obama should announce immediately that he will not be a candidate for reelection in 2012.

-Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen, advisers to previous Democratic presidents, in the Washington Post this past weekend.

Their argument is that Republicans will play nice if they know they don't have to run against Obama in 2012, and that together with the President they'll work together to tackle the major problems of the day.

Two things: 1. The Republicans have no desire to govern responsibly. They have proven this time and again, as evidenced in the recent campaign in which they offered no solid policy positions. 2. Had Barack Obama said during the 2008 campaign that he would limit himself to one term in an effort to make the hard choices needed to get the United States back on track, Americans might have believed him. But to do it now, after losing 64 seats in the House of Representatives, would make him look like a bitter loser and guarantee a Republican White House in 2013.

No, this proposal, in my opinion, is a non-starter. Caddell and Schoen should have their heads examined.

The Log Tea-Baggers

In a letter to the House Republican leader John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, key members of the Log Cabin Republicans (a group of gay Republicans) and the Tea Party movement have asked that the agenda for the new congress, in which the Republicans will have a House majority, not include social issues:

On behalf of limited-government conservatives everywhere, we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement. This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue.

These Log Cabin guys slay me. First and foremost, asking the current incarnation of the Fascist Republican Party to keep social issues off the agenda is like asking the Nazis to leave the Jewish issue off the table in the 1930s. These gay Republicans are living in a fool's paradise if they think the tea-baggers won't eventually turn around and ram through a solidly anti-gay agenda. Second, the "limited government" argument should be a non-starter. Economists from one side of the political spectrum to the other have said in no uncertain terms that without government intervention in 2008 and 2009, the economy would have slipped into a major depression, with banks closed, savings wiped out, and unemployment above 15% on its way to 20%.

As I said two weeks ago, the American people will get what they asked for. Unfortunately, the rest of us will have to live with the resulting catastrophe.

The Bowles-Simpson Deficit Plan

Last week's proposal on debt reduction from Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, chairmen of the President's commission on reducing the national debt, has been met with a huge amount of criticism. In all actuality, it's an excellent plan in need of a just few obvious changes. The fact of the matter is this: As the economy slowly heals from the Great Recession, we need to return to the days of 1999 and 2000, when the federal budget was balanced and in surplus.

Unfortunately, the record, back-breaking annual deficits of the Bush administration have added such mountainous piles to the overall national debt that it will take 15 to 20 years to bring our annual budgets into balance, but only if the government makes the hard choices necessary to do so.

Yes, that includes raising the retirement age. Yes, that includes cuts in benefits to future recipients of Social Security. Yes, that includes raising taxes. Yes, that includes reductions in defense spending.

The hard choices include all of those things and many different, smaller proposals to get our fiscal house in order. Unfortunately, there is too much in the proposal that make it D.O.A. by both Democratic and Republican members of the commission, not to mention both houses of congress. If you think the incoming Republican House majority will be serious about deficit spending, you need only look back to the previous decade when, under a Republican president, a Republican House, and a Republican Senate, the budget surpluses of the Clinton administration immediately gave way to record deficits. The Republican Party is not, and never has been, the party of fiscal responsibility. The Democrats won't be much better, as they have already balked at the proposed cuts to many beloved programs.

The new British government, a coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, last month took a hard line against their deficits. Massive cuts and tax increases were implemented in an effort to regain solid fiscal footing, damn the political consequences.

To my fellow Americans on both the left and right, I ask you this: If not this plan, or something similar, then how would you propose, realistically, we get our fiscal house in order?

Nose to the Grindstone

Sorry for the lack of posts these last few days.  Between work and home, I've been slammed.  In fact, posting through the end of the year may be a bit sporadic.  My apologies in advance.

"Buck up or stay in the truck."

Matt Taibbi spent most of the last year talking with the Fascist-Teabaggers who just put the House of Representatives back in Republican control.

After nearly a year of talking with Tea Party members from Nevada to New Jersey, I can count on one hand the key elements I expect to hear in nearly every interview. One: Every single one of them was that exceptional Republican who did protest the spending in the Bush years, and not one of them is the hypocrite who only took to the streets when a black Democratic president launched an emergency stimulus program. Two: Each and every one of them is the only person in America who has ever read the Constitution or watched Schoolhouse Rock. (Here they have guidance from Armey, who explains that the problem with "people who do not cherish America the way we do" is that "they did not read the Federalist Papers.") Three: They are all furious at the implication that race is a factor in their political views — despite the fact that they blame the financial crisis on poor black homeowners, spend months on end engrossed by reports about how the New Black Panthers want to kill "cracker babies," support politicians who think the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an overreach of government power, tried to enact South African-style immigration laws in Arizona and obsess over Barack Obama's birth certificate. Four: In fact, some of their best friends are black! And five: Everyone who disagrees with them is a radical leftist who hates America.

It seems to me these Fascist fucks are the ones who hate America. This movement is nothing more than the last gasp of a generation of Americans who can't seem to grasp that we are becoming a much more integrated society and that the younger generations are much more progressive on social issues. I could be wrong, but I think this year's elections are just one of only a few minor victories they'll enjoy over the next decade or two of Democratic dominance.

Mid-Week Brain Break

Physical perfection...

Another Smart Phone Victim

Say goodbye to the wrist watch.

True Blue

Two years after giving Barack Obama the largest popular vote margin in a presidential race since 1936, California voters bucked the national trend toward the Republicans last week and voted Democratic in overwhelming numbers. The key? A larger than expected Latino turn out.

The final results in key races...

U.S. Senate:

Barbara Boxer
Democratic
51.7%

Carly Fiorina
Republican
42.8%

Others
5.5%

Governor:

Jerry Brown
Democratic
53.6%

Meg Whitman
Republican
41.3%

Others
5.1%

Lieutenant Governor:

Gavin Newsom
Democratic
50.0%

Abel Maldonado
Republican
39.5%

Others
10.5%

Secretary of State:

Debra Bowen
Democratic
53.1%

Damon Dunn
Republican
38.6%

Others
10.3%

The race for Attorney General is still too close to call, with the Republican candidate leading by the slimmest of margins. Final ballots are still being tabulated, but it may be weeks before we know the true winner in that race.

The Bravado Buzzer

From yesterday's New York Times Magazine, an excellent profile of Debra Winger, the three-time Academy Award nominated actress who is currently appearing in HBO's "In Treatment."

Grab a cup of tea, have a seat, and catch up with "Emma Horton," aka "Wonder Girl," aka "Paula Pokrifki."

The Post-Shellacking Interview

The President sits down with "60 Minutes" for a heart-to-heart.

Part 1...



Part 2...

Olbermann Returns Tuesday

Following public outcries from around the political spectrum - from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on the left, to National Review columnist Bill Kristol on right, not to mention an on-line petition 300,000 signatures strong - MSNBC announced yesterday that "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann will return to his post Tuesday.

Olbermann was "suspended indefinitely" on Friday morning following disclosure of personal donations to three Democratic congressional candidates during the just ended campaign season. Apparently, NBC News policy requires on-air talent to request permission prior to making such donations. According to the NBC News president, Olbermann did not get advanced permission.

This whole episode was a big, giant clusterfuck. The big-whigs at NBC News have Santorum all over their faces.

One of the Reasons I Make California Home

MSNBC Suspends Olbermann Indefinitely

Apparently the "Countdown" host gave $2,400 each to three Democratic congressional candidates without first asking for permission from the NBC News president, as per his contract. According to Greg Sargent, donations to Republican candidates have been made by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan. They have NOT been suspended. My guess is they lived up to their contracts and asked permission.

Ok. Fine. If Olbermann's contract required permission from the boss in order to make political contributions as a private citizen, then he should be slapped on the wrist. But INDEFINITE suspension?? WITHOUT PAY!??? When FOX OOZ is openly giving millions to Republican candidates!!??!!!

If a right wing commentator at MSNBC was indefinitely suspended over this, the tea-baggers would be screaming about free speech and the founding fathers and the Constitution and they would be foaming at the mouth. The Left better step up to the plate here.

Olbermann should be back on the air Monday. Period.

Friday Showcase: N'Dambi

After a stint singing back-up for Erykah Badu, N'Dambi spent most of 2009 holed up inside a Santa Monica recording studio with R&B legend Leon Sylvers to record one of the best R&B albums to come down the pike in a decade or more.

From Billboard's review of "Pink Elephant":

N'Dambi possesses a rich, earthy voice that grabs the listener from the very first note. Coupled with lyrics that keenly observe life's frequent ironies, her vocals add a striking depth to each song.

From that set (released on the venerable Stax label), here was my pick for the best song of last year...

"L.I.E." by "N'Dambi

Will Pelosi Retire?

I live in Nancy Pelosi's district here in San Francisco, and as one of her constituents I am extremely proud of her performance these last two years.  Despite this week's election results, she steered her Democratic House majority in a direction that was right for the country, pushing through legislation that was good for the long term, damn the short term political consequences.

I will understand completely if she decides to retire.  But based purely on San Francisco's needs, I would like to see her finish the two year term she just won and then fold it up if she still wants to call it a day in 2012.

UPDATE: Speaker Pelosi announced this morning that she will stay put AND run for Minority Leader in the 112th congress.

'atta girl!

October Added 159,000 Jobs

But unemployment remains stuck at 9.6%.  And if you think the newly elected House of Representatives has any interest whatsoever in helping the President tackle the jobs problem...well...I have a bridge in Alaska I'd like to sell ya, any-whee, awl-soo.

The Dairy Queen

Heh!

Sparky Anderson, 1934 - 2010

Having lived in Detroit until I was 12, then in Chicago during the big 1984 season, I was hoping beyond hope for a Tigers vs. Cubs World Series that year. Alas, the Cubs lost the NL championship to the San Diego Padres. Still, the '84 season was a great one for the Tigers (one of the best season win-loss records ever and a World Series championship) - a season that my grandmother, a Tigers fan if ever there was one, talked about non-stop for years. RIP Sparky.

Hey Boo!

Meet Boo. Boo decided to dress up as Daphne from "Scooby Doo" for Halloween. Boo's mother thinks that is just fine, thank you very much.

Theirs is truly an American tale of a mother and her son.

Colorado and Washington to the Democrats

Really close Senate races in Colorado and Washington have been called for the Democratic candidates.  Senators Michael Bennett and Patty Murray will retain their seats, keeping the chamber in Democratic hands by a 53 to 47 margin.

She's Running

The Democrats dismiss Palin at their own peril (and America's).  If voters were willing to put the architects of our current economic shit-pile back in power in 2010, I have no doubt they would entertain putting a half-term half-wit like Palin in the White House in 2012, especially if unemployment is still above 8%. And that, my friends, would bring the United States a bit too close to Philip Roth's alternative history for comfort.

"If I were a rich man..."

NPR's Elizabeth Blair celebrates the life of Jerry Bock, the man behind the music of such classics as "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Fiorello!"  He passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

Her essay and the NPR story are here.

The Post-Shellacking Press Conference

The first two questions from AP and NBC really bug me. They wanted to know if, as a result of Tuesday's elections, the President was second-guessing any of his policies these last two years. That would be a legitimate question had the Republicans offered any counter proposals. But they didn't. All we got was "no." Oh, and a budget WITH NO NUMBERS IN IT! The President was the only person stepping up to the plate to tackle the economic emergency. And when asked during this year's campaign what the Republicans would propose if they took control of congress, how did they answer? "We'll answer questions after the election" and some discombobulated bullshit about the "founding fathers" and the Constitution.

President Obama has been the only grown-up at the table for the last two years. If the new House majority is to be taken seriously, they'd better "man up." The press, too, for that matter.

Yesterday's press conference, in full...

Moxie

I stand by my criticism of Harry Reid's leadership of the Democrats' 59-seat Senate majority these last two years. His absolute willingness to let the Republican minority block just about everything that came their way is, in my opinion, largely to blame for the current unemployment numbers. However...

BrooklynBadBoy has a point:

The best campaign this cycle...was run by Senator Harry Reid.

No matter what, the Reid campaign always made Angle some form of "extreme." Crazy. Nutjob. Mental case. You name it. Angle never could get away from it as she tried to turn the subject to the economy and Reid, but Angle's stance on jobs just kept killing her. Time after time after time, Reid was on the attack. It was unrelenting. Instead of making the election about himself or the economy, he made it all about his opponent. His barrage was unrelenting and he really began to hammer her in the final days.

Reid's frontal assault on GOP racism isn't textbook DLC "be like a Republican" stuff or even textbook Obama "let's all get along" stuff. It is old school, hardball, walkin-around money, ward boss "whose side are you on?" kill-the-enemy Democratic politics. I love it. God help me, I love it.

Reid didn't try to play moderate. He went in for the base. He ran on jobs, Social Security and tolerance. He didn't have a weak message of "Angle would be obstructionist, and that's not very nice." He said Angle was FRICKIN CRAZY, MY OPPONENT BELONGS IN BELLEVUE, not the Senate. When he needed Obama...he brought him right in. When he needed the First Lady, he brought her right in. No apologies and no avoiding pictures. Reid was right up in Angle's face the moment she won the primary. I wish other Democrats had run with such moxie.

I can't deny his argument. Reid's will probably go down as the best campaign of the season; and I can't deny the plain and simple fact that had many more Democratic incumbents ran "old school, hardball, ward boss" campaigns, Tuesday's bloodbath might not have been so bad.

These Goons Can't Be Taken Seriously

It seems at least two House Republicans have laid out their agenda for the next two years:

Now - as the expected chairmen of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Judiciary Committee, respectively - [Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) are] the proud new holders of subpoena power, will have a much more robust unit of investigators and will likely be a huge thorn in the side of President Obama and his top cabinet members.

Issa already laid out his agenda... He told reporters in a conference call in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that his responsibility was "very broad...I have a lot of questions that have not been answered," he said.

Yeah, umm, with 9.7% unemployment, I don't think a replay of the psycho-drama of the 1990s is exactly what the American people had in mind when they returned these imbeciles to power in the House of Representatives.

They are the Incompetents...

...and the American people, with their 15-minute attention spans and inability to comprehend anything more complicated than "Jersey Shore," have returned them to power in the House of Representatives, as if their party had nothing to do with our current predicament.



We're fucked!

Rout

With thirteen districts still outstanding, including one here in California where the Democratic incumbent currently trails his Tea-Bagging challenger by less than 100 votes, it looks as though my hell-in-a-handbasket predictions of a 65+ seat pick up for the Republicans came true in yesterday's mid-term elections. Any way you slice it, that is a rout.

Deep in my gut I knew it was coming the night Barack Obama was elected president. With the economy in a tailspin and predictions that it would take several years to repair the damage, and with the Democrats in charge of both houses of congress and the presidency, the outcome of the 2010 midterms was essentially pre-ordained on November 4, 2008. We just had to wait until the votes were counted last night to see how deep the losses would be.

The Republicans are up 61 seats in the House at the moment, and that number could very well rise to 65 or 70. In the Senate, the Democrats will retain control with 51 to 53 seats, depending on the outcome in Colorado and Washington State races. But with Harry Reid unexpectedly reelected and likely to continue as the chamber's leader, and with his proclivity to cave to Republican obstruction with 59 seats let alone 53, retention of a Democratic majority means nothing.

More on what this all means for the Democrats and Barack Obama's presidency throughout the day and week. For now, chin up, spirits high. This was just one election, and the victors have no game plan whatsoever. Governing, they'll find, won't be as easy as campaigning successfully on empty rhetoric about the founding fathers and the Constitution.

In California

Much to my surprise, California stayed true to the blue last night. The entire slate of Democratic candidates seem to have emerged victorious. Jerry Brown will serve a third term as Governor and Gavin Newsom won the Lt. Governor's race in a landslide (50% to 39%). All other state offices were called for the Democrats, save Attorney General. Kamala Harris is leading her Republican opponent by half a percentage point in that contest, but the race hasn't been officially called as of yet.

Full results here.

Election Postmortem, Part 2

If the boy'd been blessed, he'd a been arrested
on a charge of wearing red shoes;
But if your pants are blue you got nothin' to lose
it'll make you a patriot through and through

Election Postmortem

Just when I think the people of the United States have come to their senses, they turn around and prove time and again that they live in a fool's paradise.


THE SYLVERS - FOOLS PARADISE
Uploaded by iameternal. - Explore more music videos.

The Heart Breaks

Feingold loses in Wisconsin. All the polling predicted this outcome, but it still stings. The people of Wisconsin should be ashamed. Feingold represented them with honor, always putting their interests above all else. Ron Johnson is an abhorrent Fascist.



Hey, tea-baggers...THAT is how you concede an election, you classless traitors.

The Surprise of the Night

Despite trailing by three or four points in most pre-election polls for the last month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unexpectedly won another six year term. Mind you, I can't stand the man. I blame him for the slow economic recovery more than anyone. A 59 seat majority and the cuckold rooster of a man let the Republicans walk all over him! That said, he needed to win this. Sharron Angle was not an option.

Grayson Loses In a Landslide

Rep. Alan Grayson lost his House seat in Florida by a whopping 56% to 38% margin!! What I find so ridiculous about this race is that Republicans got their panties in a wad over the fact that the freshman Democrat ran a TV ad calling his Tea-Bagger opponent "Taliban Dan."

The hypocrisy slays me.

Check out this Republican ad from the 2002 Senate race in Georgia.



The Republican, who received student AND medical deferments to avoid fighting in Vietnam, beat the Democratic incumbent, who left three limbs on the battlefield in that conflict.

Americans slay me to no end.

O'Donnell...Well...Goes Down

Ok America...it's safe to masturbate again!



Someone needs to teach that bitch witch how to concede an election. Who the hell is she to tell Chris Coons to do anything!?

Still the Worst President Ever.

Former president George W. Bush on the Iraq War:

I was a dissenting voice.

Pathological fucktard!

The Road Ahead

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."

-Barack Obama, Election Night, 2008, letting Americans know that the problems facing us that night were mountainous compared to what they looked like just two months prior.

Yet, if the 2010 pre-election polls are to believed, Americans, weary of the deepest recession since the 1930s, blinded by the fear that our economy is heading in the wrong direction despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and unable to comprehend that thirty years of Republican irresponsibility cannot be turned around on a dime, seem poised to return to power the very people who brought us the Great Recession.

The Republicans

If the American people think the Republicans of 2010 are at all interested in repairing the current economic mess, they are in for a world of hurt. The last two years are a classic case study in Republican incompetence and adolescent obstruction, and when weighed with the irresponsibility of their eight year pillage of the United States Treasury during the Bush years, it is beyond obvious that the tea-bagging fascists who make up the current GOP should not be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.

Fact: The congressional Republicans have refused, at every turn, to step up to the plate and work with the Obama administration to repair an economy on the verge of collapse. Instead, while the President and his team worked around the clock to prevent a depression, the Republican minorities in the House and Senate threw up road block after road block, playing political games rather than securing the economic security of the American people. Key positions in the Treasury Department remain unfilled two years into the Obama presidency because Senate Republicans have filibustered their nominations. Why? There is one reason and one reason only: As House minority leader John Boehner has said, the key priority of the Republican Party is to make sure Barack Obama is a one-term president.

Think about that for a minute. The Republican Party, responsible for an almost complete economic collapse, have absolutely no concern for your lot in life. They refuse to pitch in and help repair the damage their policies created. Instead, their only concern is a return to power for power's sake. No game plan. No policy proposals. Nothing.

Mark my words, a 2011 Republican majority will not work to right our economy. The proof is in the pudding: Their counter budget proposal, the official document they put up for a vote in the House of Representatives, had no numbers in it. When asked for specifics about where they'd cut spending and raise revenue, their leaders have no answers.  Instead, in a desperate effort to replay the drama of the 1990s, a new crop of Fascist Republicans will spend American taxpayer money trying to overturn the policies that brought our economy back from the brink and, as Rep. Darrell Issa of California has promised, investigating the Obama administration. Not exactly a job creating platform, is it?

The American people, with their 15-minute attention spans, seem to have forgot that the first decade of the 21st century is a testament to the irresponsibility and incompetence of the current Republican Party. Their return to power, even if in just one house of congress, could very well return our great nation to the perilous abyss we were all staring into at the end of the Bush presidency.

Any fair assessment should lead to the conclusion that the modern day Republicans are not serious about governing.  Voters need to remember that as they head to their polling places today.

The Democrats

By all measures, the 111th congress was one of the most productive in decades: Equal pay for women, a comprehensive health care overhaul, tighter tobacco regulations, new financial regulations to help prevent another economic collapse, an economic stimulus that kept us from going over the proverbial cliff, and an education policy that for the first time since the 50s puts American kids on track to compete with the rest of the world.

The disappointment by some on the left is legitimate. Many believe more could have been done these last two years, they feel the policies passed by congress didn't go the distance. But the current Democratic majorities made the political reality such that compromise was the only path to take. Conservative Democrats weren't going to vote for solidly liberal programs.

However, what did get done is nothing less than stellar. Without the policies passed by the current congress, Americans would be deep into a second Great Depression, with unemployment nearing 15% and no end in sight. Banks would have closed and Americans would have found their savings gone. It's that simple. It's that straight forward.

But with unemployment stuck at 9.7% and economic growth anemic, the American public isn't interested in what might have been. They want answers and they want them now. Unfortunately, the Bush financial collapse was so severe and systemic that an immediate fix was never in the cards. As former president Bill Clinton said last week:

I’d like to see any of you get behind a locomotive going straight downhill at 200 miles an hour and stop it in 10 seconds.

President Obama and his Democratic Party did everything they could with the congressional majorities they had. As a result, the economy is no longer staring into the abyss; unemployment, while not ideal by any stretch, is no longer growing at alarming rates; regulations are in place to help keep another collapse from taking place.

It's going to take a while, we still have a long way to go, but only if we keep the current team in place. To put the Republicans back in power would be detrimental to the recovery, throwing the ship of state into reverse so fast that an all out economic catastrophe might well take place.

In today's elections, nothing less than our country's future is at stake. Should the Republicans take one or both houses of congress tonight (and with their candidates calling for violence and revolution should they be denied those majorities), that future will be dark and unforgiving. Mark my words.

In the end, they actually GOVERNED

Like many of you, my aggravation with the 111th congress got the best of me on occasion these past two years. I hold firm in my belief that had Harry Reid had any cajones at all, stronger jobs legislation might have helped the unemployment situation a bit more than what eventually got through the Senate. That said, Rachel Maddow puts it all in perspective.

65 - 70 Seats

I hate to say it, but that's my hell-in-a-handbasket prediction for the GOP pick-up in the House of Representatives tonight.  On the Senate side, the Democrats might keep control with 51 or 52 seats, but if the chamber goes 50-50, then count on Sen. Joe Lieberman (AssHat-CT) to finally join the Republican Party (officially, that is), thus making it 49-51.

The Champs!

On Tuesday

Without comment, my endorsements in tomorrow's elections:

U.S. Senate - Barbara Boxer (D)
U.S. House (CA-8) - Nancy Pelosi (D)
Governor - Jerry Brown (D)
Lt. Governor - Gavin Newsom (D)
Attorney General - Kamala Harris (D)
Secretary of State - Debra Bowen (D)
Treasurer - Bill Lockyer (D)
Controller - John Chiang (D)
Insurance Commissioner - Dave Jones (D)
State Senate (CA-8) - Leland Yee (D)
Judge of the Superior Court - Richard Ulmer

Prop 19 (Legalization of Marijuana) - YES
Prop 20 (Independent Panel to Draw Congressional Districts) - NO
Prop 21 ($10 Increase in Vehicle License Fees) - YES
Prop 23 (Suspends Implementation of Pollution Law) - NO
Prop 25 (Changes Legislature Vote for Budget to Majority from Super-Majority) - YES

Zach Lights Up

SF-Style Catcher-Pitcher Lovin'

Ted Sorenson, 1928 - 2010

Ted Sorenson, adviser and speech-writer to President John Kennedy, died yesterday. He was 82.