You know, Count Orlok.

Enough with this Hillary nonsense.

We all know what Obama's real problems are versus McCain:

Age.

Experience.

Sheer calculating evil, without the capacity for feeling mercy for man or beast.

Obama's choice is going to be Nosferatu.  Trust me.  You know it.  I know it.  Vegetable lasagna knows it (has that reference become "obscure" yet?).

So let's stop fucking around and plan for keeping the blood banks open 24/7 in Denver.

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Well, I didn't say what American I was referring to...pedantic asshole that I am.  Perhaps not unlike the spoil sports constantly reminding everyone that December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000 was not, in fact, a millenial moment.

Anyway, I digress.  I thought I'd update the ol' Daily Kos with some heartening international news of our neighbors in the western hemisphere.  After 60 years of rule by the often brutal Colorado Party, Paraguay has new center-left president, an ex-bishop named Fernando Lugo.

This is wonderful news, and hopefully continues to move the western hemisphere (or those parts of it south of Brownsville, Texas, anyway) away from the darkness and brutality of the 20th century, a brutality that, sadly, our own country sometimes played a vigorous--if often covert--role.

There was a very important diary posted here last night through much of today on the death of Hiu Lui Ng.  It was by Gorette, and if you missed it: http://www.dailykos.com/...

You should also check out the original New York Times article on this incident, which is one of the most horrific stories of human cruelty I've heard in a long time: http://www.nytimes.com/...

Keith Olbermann addressed this awhile ago on his show, and his words--dripping with anger--summed up how I felt about this last night.  Here is my original comment in that diary: http://www.dailykos.com/...

I don't usually do diaries like this (I don't do too many to begin with), but I can't help it today because of what I'm currently watching.

You're allowed to list a Fox News anchor or correspondent if you'd like, but it's sort of unfair.  The results will be pretty obvious before we even begin.

Anyway, full disclosure: I'm easily annoyed.  I get irked by as little as harmless mannerisms if I'm in the wrong mood.  I usually keep it to myself.  

But there is one thing that gets to me a little deeper under the skin: fucking idiots. (more)

Recently, I've been back on a punk rock kick.  My dedication to the genre waxes and wanes over time.  I'm 28 now, which may not be exactly old, but in many ways, punk rock is the province of 15 year olds.  It was for me. But occassionally, more complicated and respectable music loses its luster, and much like Joey Ramone & the gang, I have to take it back to basics.

Why do I introduce this diary with that tangent?  The Ramones 4th album--in the estimation of some, their last "real" one--was entitled Road to Ruin.

After coming across Texas 1st District Republican Congressman Louis Gohmert's contribution to our national discourse, I can't help but feel that 1978 album title saw it all coming.
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Some stories just shock you enough to have to mention something about them, to think they're more indicative of something than the singular tragedy for one family.  What I just read on Boston.com is one of those stories.

A 53 year old woman, a wife and mother, from Taunton, Massachusetts, faxed her mortgage company at 2:30 PM yesterday saying before the 5 PM auction of her home began she would be dead.  When the company received the fax they called police within an hour.  When the police got to the home, she was already dead, 1 1/2 hours before the auction would have started.

http://www.boston.com/...
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Breaking news as of 3PM, and perhaps a bigger news item in the dear ol' Commonwealth than the nation at large, but nonetheless.

http://www.boston.com/...

As this has the support of Governor Deval Patrick, this vote may clear the way for gay couples from other states to have marriages performed in Massachusetts that are legally recognized by the Commonwealth, which I imagine will have interesting repercussions when couples head back to Maine, or Arkansas, or Tennessee, or wherever else, and perhaps add another element to the debate.
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An alternate title of this diary could have been: Why I've given up on the media, polling companies, and America, possibly New Mexico, most of Planet Earth and Some of Those Damned Star Trek Alien Species--Y'Know, the Ones That Look More Human Or Whatever.

While its moment has passed, for most of this morning on the Boston.com website affiliated with the supposedly decent Boston Globe newspaper (or as I prefer to call it, the New York Times, but with a couple articles about Dorchester thrown into the classifieds), had the following AP story:

http://www.boston.com/...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

He was 71.  Apparently, it was an existing heart condition and he was in the hospital most of the day where he passed away.

Say what you will of his comedy (I, personally, had other favorites...I think I'm a bit too young to have identified with him the way many do), but he was one of those rare personalities that really wasn't going to listen to any bullshit from anyone.

On that count, he was truly rare and will be missed.  You don't often run across people who simply won't let you lie to them.

QUICK UPDATE:  A little sampling of Carlin's voice in one recent ridiculous episode of right wing "social conservatism."  

Enjoy: http://youtube.com/...

I have not yet read his book.  I can't say that I will.  I have not spent many hours since he left the job in 2006 thinking about Scott McClellan.  Other than for the current news cycle, I can't say that I will spend much more.

But Scott McClellan is the current human representation of an issue that comes up from time to time, especially in the waning days of the Bush Administrations, when more than a few rats jump the ship.  They either jump to another, "less tainted" faction of the Republican Party, and some jump off the bandwagon altogether.  Maybe hoping for a job in the media, maybe hoping, as cynical careerists, that as the wind starts to blow in the Democratic direction they can get aboard as long as it's helpful to their ambition, or maybe they're just hoping to save their souls.

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This may not warrant a diary, but I felt like discussing it anyway, as it made an impression on me.

This story is not remarkable, not jaw dropping, maybe not worth mentioning.  Things like this happen every day and are quickly forgotten.  It doesn't warrant a letter writing campaign, there's no law to be passed as a result, there's really nothing to talk about.  It was a minor, minor incident of one person being rude to another for about 30 seconds.

I got cut off in traffic two days ago, and I don't diary about that.  Someone else has had an insurance rep or a paralegal treat them like they were children the other day, and there's no diary about that.

To live in a modern society is to build up defenses against its rough edges, especially when it comes to the little things, without crying about it.  Yes, I agree.  However, I just thought I'd tell a very small story.  (more)

Wow, this place is aggressive recently.  Kucinich fans bashing Gravel, Gravel fans bashing Gravel, Obama fans bashing Edwards, OClintonwards fans bashing Edhillama, and Ron Paul fans getting troll rated.

Personally, at times like this, I think it's best for me to take a break from research into the anti-Samoan biases of Hillary Clinton during her privateering days in the South Seas (not to mention the anti-privateering biases of John Edwards from his Samoan days), and to find a less nasty way to get out my aggression.  Sure, I like Candidate X & you like Candidate Y, and if my guy wins you're going to vote for Nader and if mine wins I'm going to vote for Mike Huckleberry or start a write-in campaign for Francois Mitterand's corpse.  

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Forgive me if this particular issue has already been delved into by other diarists, and feel free to add links to those diaries in the comments if they're out there.

I have just finished reading a story by the Associated Press as printed on the Boston.com website (affiliated with the Boston Globe).

There has been a study recently completed on the battlefield ethics of American soldiers in Iraq.  It is troubling to say the least.  However, I approach this issue cautiously, and add this diary more as a vehicle for discussion than to forward an agenda.  While the results of this study make me queasy, I am not a member of the Armed Forces.  Nor have I ever been.  I do not come from a military family.  Nor do I personally know any military servicepeople well.  (more)

Rap music must be destroyed.  I suppose it's alright with me, I don't really care much for rap.  I've bought two rap records in my life, with a small scattering of other songs downloaded.  So I won't miss it that much, personally.

But rap music must be destroyed.  You see, recently, there was a big news story I've decided not to repeat for the 6 thousandth time.  But this news story consisted of a certain radio personality saying something very nasty.  The response to this nasty statement was, by many, for some reason, "rap music must be detroyed."  Sure that nasty man said a nasty thing--seemingly the subject at hand.  Nope.  I was wrong.  The real subject was "rap music must be destroyed."  You see, this incident, though having nothing at all do with this musical style in any conceivable way, was in fact our Trojan Horse into the deepest caves of hip hop, to destroy it.  Because that, in the end, is the issue.  (more)

Welcome to the 4th Installation in Daily Kos's most headscratching series.  Most have appeared at about 3 AM, but I'm switching it up this afternoon.

First, there was The Replacements Have Something To Tell You About Politics

Next, there was McCain: Blair Witch 2 Has Something To Tell You About Politics.

Finally, there was Romney: Tegan & Sara Have Something To Tell You About Politics.

Now, I turn my scatterbrained, stretched-to-the-point-of-puke-inducing-absurdity (pop) cultural analogies to Newt Gingrich.

Don't worry, Giuliani.  I'm comin' fer ya.  Sooner or later. (more)

There's a war inside of me
Do I cause new heartbreak
to write a new broken song?
Do I push it down
or let it run me right into the ground?
I, I feel like I wouldn't like me if I met me

I'm from the America's finest Commonwealth, Massachusetts.  Take that, Kentucky.  I know a little something about Mitt Romney.  He was my governor for 4 years.  Hell, I even drove through Belmont on Route 2 several times, so we're practically bossom buddies.

But I went to university in Canada (hint: Grandescunt Aucta Labore, and yes, I would like more sauce with my poutine & pâté chinois).

So I know something about the Calgarian lesbian identical twin sister indie-folkie duo known as Tegan & Sara as well.  Because I came to like a lot of Canadian music.  Most of the best bands on planet earth, if you have indie tastes, are either from Canada or Sweden (Peter, Bjorn & John, I'm looking in your direction). (more)

Note: Thanks for the Rescue, kraant!

In a world where George W. Bush is The Blair Witch Project, Mr. McCain, you are clearly Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.

Before you consider taking my keys away from me and having my license suspended, allow me a moment to explain what I'm talking about.  The phrasing of this diary title may sound vaguely familiar to those who read my diary last night: The Replacements Have Something To Tell You About Politics.  Hey, I need to find some way to hold my scattershot mind together, and painfully stretched cultural references to make political points just works for me.

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Note: Thanks for the rescue, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse!

Recently, as the 2008 elections apparently draw near (note: they ain't that near), the same old story and debates over how to approach undecided and even conservative voters disaffected with this President are flaring up.  Not only on a site such as this one, but in conversations with people in my life, and certainly with the Talking Head Class.

I try to be pragmatic.  I certainly would not chase away any voters who've been led astray--or led themselves astray, no matter how long--who have had a genuine epiphany.  This is why I appreciate David Brock, for example, although others will never accept the work he now does.  If you've voted Republican in the last 5 presidential elections, but just can't take it any more and see what you want in the Democratic Party--whether it was the war, Katrina, anti-lower/middle class policies that turned you off the GOP--welcome aboard.

So, that's pragmatism for you.

But when you're "attracting" new voters, regardless of their past, and you've been selling Coke the whole time, you don't freak out and start selling Sprite.  (more)