Sharpton Highlights in S.C. Debate

Well, first of all, I think this is beyond politics. This is about the direction of the party. I fully expect to win primaries in the coming weeks. But I'm going to win because I'm speaking the issues and interests of people that have been ignoring. It's almost contradictory to say, "If you don't win, get out." Did you come in to win, or did you come in to stand up for something -- and make that win? And I think that that's what's wrong. We have become too cheap. We act like we're at a race track betting on horses, rather than dealing with the fact that 75,000 lost their jobs in South Carolina.

later

And, you know, it's absurd to me for people to come and look at the people in South Carolina in the face and say, "It's an honor for your sons and daughters to go abroad and die for others. But it is a burden for rich people to pay their tax at home." I mean, you can't have it both ways. Either all of us...(APPLAUSE) ... should be honored to sacrifice or none of us should. In terms of jobs, I want to address that. We need to create jobs. Not only do we need to rescind NAFTA -- and I think we must rescind it. You can't correct it. It has cost jobs. It has sent jobs from this state to Asia and other places. This president has increased the deficit, has not increased jobs and is embracing the rich at the expense of working class and poor people. And it's double in communities of color. Black unemployment in this state is double. We face class and race. I don't think we can tolerate that four more years.

Mr. Kerry, this is potentially the most important election of our lifetime. And if we're going to be stuck with your bony ass, I sure hope you're taking notes from Rev. Al. This election will only be won by a candidate who is willing to challenge Bush for being the liar, thief, and shameful representative of the republic that he has indeed been. Maybe you've got it in you, but so far I haven't seen it.

transcript

Class today is in a computer lab

Imagine dealing with a pack of problem patrons in the tech lab who need to do complicated things but have no idea how to move a mouse. Now imagine taking a class with these people. That's where I am right now.

This is what I get for using free stuff

Site Meter insists on polluting my statistics page with an ad banner soliciting donations to the Republican National Committee. This is not really a problem, of course, since even if half of my vast audience were inclined to contribute, then they might generate enough money to buy Bush a new bag of pretzels or something. Anyway in the interest of creating a fair and balanced atmosphere, here is a link you can use to donate to the DNC.

Check it out

A lost post from 1/26 has magically reappeared from blogger-space. Rejoice ye!

How Conventions Work

Daisy has been prodding me to explain this process to her. But why bother when CNN does it for you?

Hey I'm...

.. wrong again! Shocked we all are I'm sure. I still say this is not over. Not by a long shot. I look at New Hampshire and I see 13 delegates for Kerry and 9 for Dean. I'm aware that Dean fired Trippi today. I'm also aware that his is not the first campaign to undergo reorganization this year. Clark and Edwards will be greater factors in South Carolina and Oklahoma. Kerry will now have to spend a week as the whipping boy and yes this will take a toll on him. Last week I mentioned my hairbrained fantasy about a split convention. Now atrios has broached the subject as well.... sort of. I admit I am something of a mayhem buff. If things go well next week and the race becomes a little more clouded I may begin to salivate a bit.

Today's Wacky Reference Interview II

Toothless, angry patron: Card catalog.

Me: Oh, hello. Did you need the catalog? It's right over...

Patron: Look, I don't use that... just give me the number for salt.

Me: Ok well....

Patron: I'm looking for something about the medicinal purposes of salt. S-A-L-T.

Me: Ok so maybe we're looking for a book on home remedies or...

Patron: Look, are you trying to have a conversation with me? I asked you for the number, dammit! S-A-L-T.

Directed patron to alternative medicine. Must have been what he was looking for because he didn't bug me anymore but, man am I ready to split now!

Today's Wacky Reference Interview

Somewhat Bewildered Patron unfortunately With Two Young Children In Tow: Umm I'm looking for a book by.... this person..... I can't remember his name right now.... it's ummm... wait a minute... (long pause accentuated by blank stare).. he wrote literature.

Me: Um, you're going to have to be a little more specific

Patron: Well do you have.... it was in the eighteen hundreds.... eighteen..... eighteenth century..... do you know anything about that?

Me (losing hope quickly): Was there a name you are trying to remember?

Patron: Yes..... but I forgot it... do you know any literature?... I'm thinking..... where do you keep the literature..... tell me some people who wrote literature

Me: (trying not to smile or cry then figuring a way out of this) We have some survey textbooks in English and American Lit. Let me show where those are and maybe you can...

Patron: I know I know. Who was that guy before Einstein? (puzzled look from me, patron continues) That guy that kept to himself a lot and people thought he was a homosexual. He came like seven years after Einstein. (tense moment... patron points to the shelf behind me and exclaims) That's a GED book? I can have that?

Me: Ummm sure why don't you....

Patron: (runs to the indicated shelf, fingers a GED book, then begins pulling various reference books and asking about them including Notable Mathematicians) Who is this person.. does that say Gordon?

Me: It says Gregory

Patron: (Brandishing The Bible Throughout History) Where are your books like this?

Patron was referred to 200's and did not return.
Whew!

Today's Exercise in Incorrectness

Or Jeffrey's bold New Hampshire prediction either way you want to look at it. I won't even mention how truly awful I am at predicting anything. Regular readers (God have mercy on your souls) already know the score there. The polls are over at Kos. Check them out but remember New Hampshire is almost always a surprise so the polls are not golden in this case. Dean really needs this.. and I really need this race to remain interesting so I'll give him the damn thing. New Hampshire is traditionally cold to southerners so I expect Edwards' momentum to stall a bit here. He'll be back in South Carolina though. Clark needs a good showing in order to get his campaign going. He won't get it. Lieberman needs to go home.. 'nuff said. Gore Vidal on Kerry: "he looks like Lincoln... after the assassination." Anyone who has read The Smithsonian Institution knows that Vidal actually developed this character a bit. So without further adieu... the numbers:

Dean: 31
Kerry: 28
Clark: 18
Edwards: 17
Lieberman: 5
Other: 1

Tune in Wednesday to gawk once more at my laughable incompetence.

Note: edited once to correct my miserable grammatical errors.

Update: Taegan Goddard's quote of the day from Lieberman's mother, "He's such a good man. I don't know why he didn't catch on."

I'm having problems

posting and editing and whatnot this morning. sorry

Here we go

Howard Kurtz this morning does a good job of summing up the way the press has been piling on Dean this week. I've had my doubts about Dean all along (too moderate/conservative on the things that really count such as trade and health care) but I should say here that this tips things back in his favor for me at least. If this many self-satisfied, snippy SCLM reporters hate him this much, I figure this must be my candidate. It's funny to me that anyone would find this treatment by the press surprising. They've been waiting for an opportuity to jump on him for some time now. He needs to find a way to combat this. Gore had the same problem and tried to ignore it. Dean.... well I don't know if he's ... um... graceful enough to handle it. We'll see.

Update: The night of the Iowa caucus, I received a despondent e-mail from Dad who is deathly afraid that the Dems will nominate a wishy washy candidate (read Kerry) who is too timid to take on the facsists for being exactly that. I responded optimistically by pointing out that 1) it is still early and 2) this is an excellent opportunity for us to see the first split convention in years and how much fun would that be?

Today Dad writes back:
If a split convention is "Hillary" fun, its not fun. But, wow, the notion of a split convention is one even I'm not ready to seriously entertain, and you know I like entertainment. I will happily change my outlook on that proposition, however, if Dean can squeak it out in New Hamshire. You can see, and have said, the establishment has all but buried the doctor. So, I dunno. But I have to say I'm not sanguine. Ralph, or whoever - maybe Dean as independent - where are you?!!!

And you know, "Hillary fun" would be very bad news indeed... but it does seem like a real possibility to me.

Life = Bowl of Cherries

seriously

No Future For You!!

Lydon is a phony... but we knew that already.

Life is a Bowl of Cherries

thought you should know.

Yep

Once again I am wrong wrong and wrong!!!

New prediction: I will not win this week's powerball. Ha! ha! So funny that guy is!

(Oh but I do think Dean will win New Hampshire.. really I do.)

Predictions

AFC:
Colts 24
Patriots 20

NFC:
Eagles 17
Panthers 6

Iowa:
Dean 28
Gephardt 26
Kerry 25
Edwards 21

Caveat: I've metnioned this before but I'm really bad at this sort of thing.

Mmmm Cow's Brains

I wish I could be there

The Chimp himself will be in New Orleans on Thursday to 1) Pander to the GSUS people by touting faith-based initiatives, and 2) Shame the memory of those who died fighting fascism by holding a $2,000 a plate fund raiser at the D-Day museum. Meanwhile, in the free speech zone, some enterprising folks are planning to topple a Bush statue at Lee Circle. Sounds like fun.

Somehow I'm not surprised

Congratulations! You're Sam!


Which Lord of the Rings character and personality problem are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Aaron continues to spread this foolishness.

Is that a catepillar on your face or are you just here to arrest me?

Police in India are receiving bonuses for growing mustaches. Evidently, the whiskers increase their ability to protect and serve.

Jhabua district police chief Mayank Jain told BBC News Online: "The response is growing and in the months ahead we expect to see more moustachioed policemen. "Moustaches are improving the personalities of our constables. They are acquiring an aura of their own. They are creating a positive impression on the local people and getting a lot of respect."

You know when I work Saturdays, I often find that I am too hung over to shave in the morning. I wonder if I can turn this into a bonus of some sort.

Today's Wacky Reference Questions

1) Do you have an internet in here I could look at?

2) Do y'all sell posters?

3) Patron: "My son needs some books on fungus."
Me: "General information on fungi?"
Patron: "I'm sorry no... plagues... he needs to know about plauges and where they come from and what to do if you got the plagues or something."

Oh oh but what if I'm an autumn

Atrios links to this story from CBS news which reports that the Bush administration is pushing the creation of a database on all air travelers which will color code you according to your individual "threat level."

Passengers coded red would be stopped from boarding; yellow would mean additional screening at security checkpoints; and green would mean an only standard level of scrutiny.

Testing begins later this year.

It's still early but...

I'm continuing to get into the spirit this morning with the Krewe du Vieux web site. (hint: this is required reading for people having their first Mardi Gras this year)

"Great and gathering danger"

via pandagon

via tom tomorrow

Today Daisy said, "The other night I got really drunk and went to the library's web site and requested a bunch of books." Daisy is pretty cool.

Also, just in case any of us were planning on taking some time to recover from the holidays, it's already time for this foolishness. I personally witnessed the ride of the Phellows this evening along with Daisy and Susie-the-wonder-baby-pit-bull-whose-name-actually-should-have-been-Stitch. January 6 and I already have a "pair of beads."

By the way, nola has something called a Mardi Gras FAQ Blog going. Might be pretty good for newbies.

Of Almanacs and Sugar Bowls

First, a bit of catharsis. I've begun displaying our almanacs next to a copy of this story, which I could barely pick my jaw up off the floor long enough to comment on last week. Of course it's really hard to keep up as the actions of the US government seem more and more to resemble the action in a Marx Brothers film. For example, it appears that now I am obligated to display our US travel guides next to this. I might throw this book in with them for good measure.

On a related note, I really feel like I should be celebrating the glorious triumph of the National Champions of College Football but this mood is tapered by the strange image of the Quarter during Sugar Bowl weekend. Never in my life have I seen so many cops. There were more cops than one would expect to find in... a big box of cops. All genres of cop as well, up to and including national guardsman.. armed and in uniform (camouflage fatigues presumably to make them less visible to the enemy among the sea of neon and beads and pink feather boas on Bourbon Street.) I expressed my dismay at their presence to Consuela who had this to say, "Yeah well I think they're really hot." Also I would recommend the following to the Louisiana State Troopers should they need advice when time comes to pick out new uniforms: Go with something with more of a slimming effect. Really, you look like a bunch of Weebles out there. And the wide brimmed hats just help to emphasize the ellipse of your waistline. Not a good look.

Really I'm beginning to wonder how many more holiday seasons or special events will be tinged with this kind of paranoia. Maybe Bin-Laden does hate the symbol of American hypocrisy that is the BCS. But even then, how is a terrorist attack on the Sugar Bowl thwarted by dispatching the National Guard to Rick's Cabaret? Besides, we seem to have made it ok through these numerous higher profile events without declaring a state of emergency and I don't feel any worse for wear (well maybe worse for wear.. but due mainly to the booze but you get the idea.) Anyway, let's hope that this is the worst of it, because I plan to really let loose next year when the Tigers repeat.

Update: Obviously, New Orleans isn't the only city under martial law for the holidays. Strange that all this still couldn't help Ray Davies.

Hey you out there. You're looking well.

I'm finding that I'm not quite done with the holidays. I've got a few days left before I have to start thinking about stuff again and I figure I'll just sit back and soak up the bliss. In other words, I haven't felt like writing much lately and that probably isn't going to change for a few days.

There is this one thing though. I cannot express in words my staggering disappointment with the whole mad cow situation. The very day before the news broke, I had acquired from my mother a wonderful way to make roast beef po-boys. You know, the good kind we have down here with all the thick hot gravy that reacts so well when exposed to mayonnaise that it creates the most perfect heart valve balm yet devised by man. Yeah well so now I can't have any.

What's worse is now I don't even think that this is a temporary situation. I had already begun to wonder how long it would take for me to slowly lie myself into believing it was safe enough to eat cows again when I read this:

All is not right at the IBP Inc. plant in Pasco, Washington, one of the nation's biggest slaughterhouses. According to workers, meat at the plant is routinely contaminated with cattle feces because workers on the processing line are not give enough time to wash their hands. Under pressure from aggressive plant managers, meat that falls on the floor, which is often littered with meat byproducts and entrails, is often immediately placed back on the line without being cleansed. Cutting tools and conveyor belts, workers tell CounterPunch, are also regularly coated with pus from abscesses and tumors that haven't been properly cut out of the meat. Meat cutters at the plant also told me that often cows are not rendered unconscious before being sent down the line. Instead, workers say they often hear cows frantically mooing as they are skinned and dismembered alive.

(shudder) Look I'm still not willing to go veggie, unlike some people, but for now I guess it will just have to be gravy and mayonnaise on french for me for a while.