Ini

The skin on my knuckles wrinkles in the star pattern of a wicker-backed chair.

Explaining So Much

Since stress causes forgetfulness, apparently, I feel like half of my life has been explained in an article.

Okay, at least this part:

"If you're in dangerous conditions it helps to be distractible, to hear every little sound in the woods and react rapidly, instinctually," she said. "It's like getting cut off on the highway. You don't want to be a slow, thoughtful creature…. You want to react and hit brakes."


I would add: every little sound in the city, every little sound in my house, every little sound, and I'm sorry, what did you say?

At the Third Party

I listened to Nader talk for a while today on Brian Lehrer. He snipped and sniped about the Dems not picking up the plans he's offering them on a silver platter. He made what Brian called the "specious" charge that a recent Gallup poll shows that more of his votes are coming from Repubs than Dems. How can it be? Nobody knows and nobody believes. All callers approached him as delusional, and Brian, usually more even-toned, sounded incredulous at Ralph. It's a third party in a fourth dimension on Planet Nader these days.

As Fang just said, "Ralph, you big goober."

Audio Animatronics

Frank Rich with another beauty:

Mr. Kerry may seem like the closest thing this country has ever had to an Audio-Animatronic chief executive, but Mr. Bush's action-hero theatrics may have defined "presidential" down to the point where Audio-Animatronics can pass for gravitas.

- from Frank Rich: Decision 2004: Fear Fatigue vs. Sheer Fatigue

Touched by the Hand of Something

On Tavis Smiley’s “People’s Debate” this morning, a man declared that he was voting for Bush because the president has “the hand of God on him.” He made his case by highlighting the fact that when Bush’s father lost his run for Congress years ago, he was then appointed an ambassadorship: God’s hand. All these blessed events in the Bush family, to this man, make the president, in a way, holy.

I Laughed Out Loud.

Later on the show, Cornell West gave an unintentional rebuttal to this concept:

“If President Bush was a black man,” West said, “he would be running a pawn shop in Texas.”

*

An insidery-on-Kerry’s-campaign-plane story from the Boston Globe today has these nice bits:

''Wake me up if Mike McCurry comes back here with his pants off," quipped one reporter, so tired she didn't care about getting news from Kerry's spokesman.

[and]

Bleary-eyed reporters, for their part, are knocking over laptops, breaking cellphones, and misplacing digital tape recorders. After Kerry's 8 a.m. speech yesterday in Green Bay, a Kerry aide found a notebook left behind by one journalist -- or ''by one of the kids," as she put it.

''Kids?" replied Shanan Guinn, another campaign aide.

''The children -- you know, the reporters. That's what I call them," the aide said.

Money Goes Round the World

I can't help it. I'm excited. My dollar bill has arrived in Allentown, Pa., 69 days after I got it in Brooklyn.

I know this because of a freaky little site called Where's George? You enter in a bill's serial number and wait until someone else gets your bill and does the same. Here's an example (of my newly found bill):

One Dollar Bill, Serial# B2939---8D Series: 2003
This bill has travelled 98 Miles in 179 Days, 12 Hrs, 10 Mins at an average of 0.55 Miles per day.

Oct-26-04 02:28 PM Allentown, PA 69 Days, 3 Hrs, 17 Mins 78 1.1
User's Note Fairly good cond. - some folds, wrinkles, but still somewhat crispy

Aug-18-04 11:11 AM Brooklyn, NY 110 Days, 8 Hrs, 52 Mins 20 0.18
User's Note got it at a bar in brooklyn.
bend on right top corner, otherwise, looking pretty good.

Apr-30-04 02:18 AM Caldwell, NJ Initial Entry n/a n/a
User's Note Part of my tips earlier this week from work at Applebee's on Route 46 in Totowa, New Jersey. This bill is very crisp!


[Makes me want to root for the bills, as if they are little animals. Go, small piece of paper, go! Scurry! Scurry!]

As Good As It Ever Was

Anyone else notice this CNN headline? Clinton pumps base from the stump?

Another reason we wish Clinton were runnning again.

From the story:
"They had to roll Clinton out of the hospital room and onto the campaign trail to help Senator Kerry with his core constituencies, who are so weak," Rove said.

(I don't care if they had to "roll him out," actually. I don't care if they had to stick a hand up his butt and make him move like a puppet. I'm just glad he's rolling around with Kerry finally so that, hopefully, some of his fancy tumbling will propel that man to Bubbalicious victory.

P.S. I highly doubt anyone could make Clinton do anything he didn't want to do.)

Clinton Makes Chicks Swoon

a good little recent IM exchange on The Ulti-Pol:

fab: clinton does look gaunt
mb: he does. but he did before he went in the hospital. he's lost a lot of weight.
fab: i get like a lump in my throat - he just kills me
mb: aw
fab: even though i know in a way he takes advantage of that
mb: which is probably why he's a perfect politician
fab: nice observaccion

Rock On, You Crazy Pool Reporters

More from Mistress Wonkette...

She found this bit in a White House Pool Report by Ron Hutcheson of Knight Ridder. Just goes to show, even reporters like to get a little crazy every once in a while:

"Flight and motorcade uneventful. Bush was accompanied on AF1 by his daughter Barbara, in tight jeans, and by Dan Bartlett and Karl Rove, who were not wearing tight jeans."

The Magic of "The Blue Lagoon" and Insightfully Neurotic Writers

It's Saturday morning-ish, and "The Blue Lagoon" is on television. Boy, those two can't act, but the serious near-underage pornographic nature of the thing is enough to keep one riveted. But I can't be the first to have realized this...

And a good quote from "The Fortress of Solitude" (Jonathan Lethem), read as I fell asleep last night. (The context matters less than the sentiment, which felt powerful to me at 1 a.m. for its almost taunting way of highlighting the ambivalence of anxiety.)

"Fathers, fathers, why so grim? Today you emerged from your houses, your hiding, and were warmly welcomed. Smile, fathers. Relax. Today this world wants you in it."

And The Point Is...

Heard about a new poll today on To the Point:
"72% of the President's supporters think Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction or a program to make them."

What is there to say. The number of Kerry supporters who think there were no wmd etc. is something like 68%.


Spent the morning on a panel of print journalists talking to 300 high school kids. I was inspired and babbled a lot, happily, about the things I do every day. The word "responsibility" kept coming out of my mouth unexpectedly, which was strange, although, I suppose it could have been worse. I could have repeated pointed out the "stress" of being a "reporter," or the "randomness," or the "pigheadedness."

Afterward, I was told I have a "great personality," and a "really nice outfit." Um, it's high school, so...

Oh, Thank You, Frank Rich!

A masterpiece by Mr. Rich today. Bless the very fact that his NYT piece is titled "The O'Reilly Factor for Lesbians," and his lead is:

"IN the annals of election year 2004, Oct. 13 will be remembered as the day it rained lesbians in red America."

Really, truly, I would come by and kiss your feet, Mr. Rich, for giving me this much pleasure. Next time I'm in the building, I will. Truly. Well, maybe. But I'll tell you how much I liked this. That'll do.

(Oh, and while his article has this link to Lynne Cheney's lesbian potboiler, I thought I'd post it here. Don't be rattled by the "whitehouse.org" address. Notice that it is not ".gov" and you will get the joke.)

Working To Fix Things I Know Not How To Fix

While I could apply that statement to so many, many things right now, I refer most specifically to the fact that I know there were a few comments on my previous entry that are not appearing anymore. Who knows how these "Internet" gods work.
Or why we can't smoke indoors anymore.
I would like to fix that, too.
Both feel beyond my reach at the present moment.
My apologies.

Bloggerini

I've been away for a day. It's always in those days that so much happens it feels silly to recap. Let's just say I had a day encountering a dirty old-school new york power player who made me realize--once again--that this city moves and shakes in ways none of us get to see usually. Someday soon these men will all be gone and only the crazy memories we have of them will remain. That and the gazillions of acres of real estate they created, shaping our skyline and tunnelling us through streets in unknown directions.

The Misery of the Media, As Told By Jon Stewart

If you missed Jon Stewart on "Crossfire," as I did, give a read of the transcript.

Here's an excerpt:

STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.

CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?

STEWART: Absolutely.

CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: What is wrong with you?

(APPLAUSE) CARLSON: Well, I'm just saying, there's no reason for you -- when you have this marvelous opportunity not to be the guy's butt boy, to go ahead and be his butt boy. Come on. It's embarrassing.


And then there's this exchange close to my j-school-wandering heart:

STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.

STEWART: You need to go to one.


And, finally, this beauty:

CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.

STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.


The interview ends with Stewart begging Carlson and Begala to not go to commercial break. In the meantime, Tucker has told Stewart that Stewart must be a crappy dinner companion, always calling people on evading their responsibilities. Now, is it just me, or is this a TALK SHOW? People are supposed to TALK. Not eat dinner together. Not just laugh. Not sit around and shoot the shit and not discuss things in depth. In the end, Stewart is left asking, "Why can't we just talk -- please, I beg of you guys, please." Begging talk show hosts to talk is just terribly miserable. Tucker and Carlson have nobody to blame for this entreaty but themselves.

The Art of Not Moving

Harry Shearer, he of writing/acting renown, has a new installation in D.C. (Connor Contemporary Art) of raw feeds--the film that gets sent to satellites before the live feed begins.

Timothy Noah's story about the installation says, "writer David Owen marveled in the Atlantic about a phenomenon he called "network television in its underpants.""

You can see Dick Cheney twitch and Dan Rather sit very, very still. But the real highlight for me was the John Edwards feed, about which Shearer (I think it's Shearer) writes:

"For a guy who's been known derisively to the Bush crowd as the Breck girl," observes Shearer, vice presidential candidate John Edwards seems "way too interested in his hair." He tries to straighten it with his fingers. A makeup technician approaches with a comb, but the senator likes it just so and does the combing himself. He signals he's ready for hair spray by closing his eyes expectantly, like a child. Then Edwards and the technician straighten a little more with their fingers. Please don't tell me that thing in his hand is a compact. Oh, dear. It is.


This link might work, or you can get to it through Slate.

Intense Stoop Sale

There's a sign taped to a pole outside a bank in my hood today that gives a list of what will be offered at a local stoop sale. You know, the everyday things like "Queen-sized bedframe," "Dresser," "Books and CDs," "Small desk."

At the bottom of the list was this:

"Medium-sized boyfriend slightly used."

And the Poli-Sci Majors Say...

From the American Political Science Association (APSA):

POLITICAL SCIENTISTS FORECAST BUSH VICTORY IN 2004:
Six Out of Seven Models Predict Bush Will Win

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Presidential election forecasting models developed by political scientists predict a Bush victory in the hotly contested 2004 presidential election. Nine distinguished and nonpartisan political scientists predict that, when averaging their seven forecasts, President George W. Bush will garner 53.8% of the two-party popular vote in the 2004 presidential election. Six of the seven forecasts predict a Bush victory, while one predicts a narrow Kerry victory. The forecasts will appear in an election-specific symposium in the October issue of PS: Political Science and Politics, a journal of the American Political Science Association (APSA).

The seven forecasts employ a range of empirical and historical data including economic indicators, public opinion polling, and factors reflecting the advantages of incumbency to predict with probabilities ranging from 5097% that President Bush will win reelection over Senator John Kerry. Though each individual forecast considers these common themes, they also differ substantially in terms of their complexity, the time when they forecast their prediction, and the methodology behind their analysis. When viewed together the forecasts’ wide range of comprehensive approaches measure myriad substantive and objective indicators, and provide important insights into understanding national electoral processes.

· In the earliest completed forecast, made in late January 2004, Helmut Norpoth (Stony Brook University) finds that the true determinant of a presidential victory lies in the performance of presidential candidates in primary elections. His model examines candidate support in presidential primaries since 1912, accurately calling the general election winner in every race except in 1960, the century’s closest presidential contest. Norpoth’s forecast makes Bush a 20-1 favorite, predicting a 54.7% to 45.3% Bush victory.

· In late May 2004, Brad Lockerbie (University of Georgia) used two variables that are decided well in advance of the presidential conventions to forecast the presidential election: the amount of time a party has controlled the White House, and voters’ expectations concerning their financial well-being over the course of the next year. Lockerbie predicts that President Bush will garner 57.6% of the two-party popular vote en route to victory in the 2004 presidential election.

[for the rest of the specific analyses, see the site. -mb]

"Each model predicts the share of the national two-party popular vote for the candidates of the major parties," states Campbell, "so their evaluation should be based on their success in predicting the vote."

Yeah, I Bet He Does

From my new favorite perv on the net, Wonkette, in reference to Bill O'Reilly's fancy new sexual harassment lawsuit:

"We were particularly struck by how O'Reilly's "perverted babbling" has the exact same tenor as his talk show babbling (which is perverted in its own way) -- that is to say, it's egomaniacal and masturbatory. We bet he screams "Shut up!" when he comes."


[Itals mine.]

The "Global Test" Debacle Makes Me Want to Vomit

I can't even bare to get into why this idiocy about Kerry's "global test" comment makes me so damn angry, so I'll let William Saletan at Slate do it for me.

Oh, Yes, She Did

One of those articles that come up on the "sent confirmation" page after you send a hotmail message is about what a woman should do to stop "intimidating" men. The Dear Abbyish lady said, well, maybe it's not an intimidation thing that's scaring off the men for this woman, but a snooty thing, which I suppose is always possible. But then the response went on to include things like:

Try to ease men into seeing the “strong” you, the “career” you.
Play down your wardrobe at first (nothing says “I am a Princess” like a fur coat!”).

Don’t “dress for success” on the first date with power suits, expensive jewelry, or flashy clothing and accessories that reinforce your monetary status.

If you live in a more expensive home than he does, don’t invite him over until your relationship is more secure. Don’t let your conversation focus heavily on your accomplishments at work. Rather, focus on mutual interests such as family, films, books or pets (not items that signify success, such as expensive vacations).

[Itals mine.]

--MSN Dating & Personals - Do I intimidate men?

Oh, blech. Is this really still necessary? I mean, should you really talk about dogs instead of your career because men can't handle it? Or should you run, leaving a trail of wavering laughter in your wake?

Today my e-mail brings news of one new baby and one new divorce among my friends. The strange thing is that the divorce is the better news among the two. A new baby with a bad husband is not promising...

Dentes Absurdi

1.5 hours + two cavities = Nerfmouth

Toward the end of it, while Dr. Mensch was polishing things up, he said, "I'm just putting my initials on here."

(Paw haw!)

To which his assistant, Euro-accented Maria, replied, "They are such pretty letters! JW...such nice letters."

So the assistant had some sort of ecstatic moment at the exact moment my lips felt like they had been sandpapered down to some kind of core that should never see daylight.

Odd, to say the least.

(By the way, my lips appear to be intact. Just a little wiggly still.)

Back to work.

Faux News Slammed

The Smoking Gun nails Bill O'Reilly today, with a lawsuit by a woman who says she was repeatedly sexually harassed by the skeeve. The complaint is filled with O'Reilly's fantasies. At one point, he tells the woman that he wants to shower with her and use one of those hand-loofah things to touch her. He then slips up, calling the loofah a "falafel."

It seems the woman recorded some of the conversations--if she didn't, this is some highly imaginative writing on her part.

Have fun.

Some Fine Things From Harper's

"Secret access code to the computer controls of the U.S. nuclear-tipped missile arsenal between 1968 and 1976 : 00000000" [Center for Defense Information (Washington) ]

(Brilliant! Yes!)

Minimum number of Americans who registered to vote at strip clubs since May : 4,000 [Association of Club Executives (Cleveland) ]

--Harper's Index for September 2004

(Excellent! Woo hoo!)


Then there's this old piece, which I've long enjoyed for its venom. Like the letter that ends: "Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood."

("From an exchange of emails in fall 2001 between Judd Apatow, the creator of the sitcoms Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and a successful writer of Hollywood screenplays, and Mark Brazill, the creator of That '70s Show. Topher Grace is one of the stars of That '70s Show. Originally from Harper's Magazine, March 2002.")

I Can't Stop Playing

...the Los Angeles Times' election scorecard game. It lets you change states from red to blue and it tallies up the electoral votes for you. It's addictive. And maddening.

Slate's Election Scorecard has this gem today: "If current polls hold, it's Florida all over again."

Fang tells me she drinks heavily during the debates. I wonder if I'll watch tonight. It seems that I inadvertently make other plans during each debate...I think I'm trying to tell myself something...what could it be...?

It Doesn't Sound Good Over There

A few words from One Man in Baghdad:

"baghdad is the most twisted place i'll probably ever see. twisted
and unfunny are the worst combination and they are here in the
ugliest way."

Benito

There is a mouse in my house.
He is the size of my big toe.
And his name is Benito.
The Mouselini.

On His Back

If you've been following the hulaballoo about Bush's possible mini-backpack/molar phone, here's an interesting blog entry from a guy who calls himself an "insider:"

"As a deep insider myself, I have independent confirmation of President Bush using an earpiece to assist him in communicating intelligently with others," he says...

Also, there's the ever-precient Wonkette, who, in my opinion nailed it in "Bulge" My Ass, when she wrote: "Yes, we've seen the pictures. But we also watched the debate. If Bush was listening to some kind of radio signal, it was between stations."

Cold But Hot, Hot But Cold

This morning, the misery of the Los Angeles Times electoral college game--any which way I play it, Red wins.

And the confusion of fall. A first heavy sweater and corduroys, but then the odd discomfort of sweating while cold.

Not to mention that it's a holiday, which makes everything feel dreamlike because we're at work.

Today is an in-between state. I will strive for...somewhere.

Slap Down!

Taibbi has done a bang-up, if brutal, job on his new search for America's worst campaign journalist in the New York Press.

for example:

BILL HOFFMANN & HEATHER GILMORE
NEW YORK POST
Def.
PIA CATTON
NEW YORK SUN

THE POST AND the Sun both did well to make sure the public was served by a crusading free press investigation of John Kerry's mysteriously lustrous, apparently painted-on, pre-debate tan. But only the Sun's Catton did the job correctly, quoting a former stripper as a tanning authority in her story.

or:

ELISABETH BUMILLER
NEW YORK TIMES
Def.
DEBORAH ORIN
NEW YORK POST

IT'S ALWAYS A LITTLE surprising to remember that the New York Post has a "Washington Bureau Chief" filing ostensibly factual stories from the Hill about the movements of the president and other real, breathing government officials. The effect of reading these touchingly earnest impersonations of credible journalism is a little like watching Koko the gorilla play with a kitten, or punch the "buttons" on a toy telephone. My god, you think. It's so human!

I Cannot Stop Laughing

And I can't even tell you why. Please just have a look.

Also, I wanted to offer this from Dana Stevens, again on Slate. Edwards weirded me out highly during the debate, just for this reason:

"Biggest Nonverbal Mistake: Edwards' frequent sips of water from that black coffee mug. I realize a man needs to wet his whistle now and then, but every time Edwards swallowed, he let his tongue loll outside his mouth for a brief, terrible moment, like a camel ruminating in the desert sun. I came to dread those sips. There is not a politician out there whose tongue I want to see more of. Less political tongue in '04, that's my motto."

Not New, Still Weird

This January Slate piece explains a trivial hoax committed by Laura Bush. She told an audience that George had written her this poem:

Dear Laura,

Roses are red, violets are blue, oh my lump in the bed, how I've missed you.

Roses are redder, bluer am I, seeing you kissed by that charming French guy.

The dogs and the cat they miss you too, Barney's still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe.

The distance my dear has been such a barrier, next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier.


Laura later admitted that no, George didn't write the poem, and why would any believe he had? What seems more relevant is why he or she or anybody else would possibly call her "my lump in the bed". It's just hideous.

. 

Jersey It Is

My father is moving to New Jersey. I'm not going to make any wisecracks about that state here. I'm going to say that the conversation I just had with him leaves me sad. He is a lifelong New Yorker--born in Brooklyn, raised there and Queens, lived in Manhattan, Long Island, Manhatttan again--and that's it. He's a talker. To strangers. So leaving New York is like leaving his own voice behind, even though he says he needs to get away from "the noise, the filth..."

But he told me today he is having mixed feelings and will miss being about to "walk outside and talk to anyone."

There is, to me, little sadder than the sadness of your own parents. Then again, I don't have children yet.

CIA Evolution

Ann Louise Bardach interviewed former spymaster E. Howard Hunt on Slate. She talks to him about the Bay of Pigs and Che. But what I found most interesting was this small exchange:


Slate: What led you to leave the CIA?

Hunt: I found out the CIA was just infested with Democrats. I retired in '70. I got out as soon as I could. I wrote several books immediately thereafter.


I'm not all that familiar with the make-up of the CIA these days, but shall we venture to guess that it's no longer "infested with Democrats?"

WSJ Didn't Kick Her Out

For anyone who's been following the saga of Farnaz Fassihi, WSJ reporter in Baghdad, who sent a personal e-mail to friends that circulated widely, prompting rumors that her upcoming vacation was the WSJ's way of getting her out of the way:

Fassihi says, in a less circulated e-mail:

"It's been very upseting to watch this whole thing unfold, particularly the
speculation and spin about the WSJ's reaction, about my vacation and my
beat. I'm not being  punished, stripped off my beat or being forced to take
a vacation. "

There it is. Now shush.

Check Your Bolts

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A $239 million satellite toppled to a factory floor last year because nobody bothered to check that it was secure before moving it, according to a NASA investigation board's report on the mishap.

- CNN.com - Satellite mishap blamed on human error - Oct 6, 2004

Unbelievable. But terribly believable at the same time.

What's Your Bent?

Once I was asked this by a Boy Scout troop leader.
"What's you bent?" she asked me in front of a gaggle of little boys in our newsroom.
"Uh, what do you mean?" I asked her. "You mean do I have an angle? A bias?"
"Yes, a bias," she said.

Fine. So in front of a crowd of Boy Scouts and their leaders, I attempted to explain how a reporter tries to maintain objectivity. Ahem, ah ha. But some of us do. And some of us just pretend we do. Take, for instance, CNN.com today. Its front page contains these first few lines: "Contradicting the main argument for a war that has cost more than 1,000 American lives, the top U.S. arms inspector reported Wednesday that he found no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991."

Bias, fo sho.
In the everyday way we we puzzle things together, probably even more so than in the more obvious Faux News-style bias, we nearly always reveal a bent. The degree to which you bend is what you need to watch. Anything that requires propping up or head tilting is too much bent. CNN, you are like a sunflower today, and the sun is at 2 o'clock.

Hahahaha

"Does Dick Cheney know that he told voters watching the vice presidential debate to go to GeorgeSoros.com? In response to a series of attacks from John Edwards on Cheney's tenure as CEO of Halliburton, the vice president said that Kerry and Edwards "know the charges are false. They know that if you go, for example, to factcheck.com, an independent Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton." One problem with Cheney's rebuttal: He misspoke. He meant to say "factcheck.org.," rather than ".com." George Soros capitalized on Cheney's error, snatched up the URL, and now if you type "factcheck.com" into your browser, you get redirected to a page titled, "Why we must not re-elect President Bush: a personal message from George Soros.""

- from Slate's Cheney Drops the Ball - The vice president declines to refute Edwards during the debate. By Chris Suellentrop

Blackout on the Split Screen

When it comes to the miserable veep debate last night, the only thing i can add to the discussion, i think, is that at one point when Edwards was talking, Cheney's half of the split screen went black on ABC.

1...2...3...4...

at least for that long.

Fang says it didn't happen on NBC and PBS.

I'm gathering it was something about ABC's signal
that picked up on the underworld factor.

The Mall of New York

As someone who has dropped shiteloads of money at Ikea, I now wonder about the wisdom of dropping a 346,000-square-foot new store in the Brooklyn Navy Yards.

"A Fairway supermarket is under construction near the Ikea site, while Bloomberg administration officials have been formulating a plan that would put a cruise ship terminal nearby and potentially move the Brooklyn Brewery, complete with a beer garden, to a neighboring pier," reads the Times article today.

So gone soon will be the relatively creepy area by the waterfront? Now, is this really a good thing? First a Lowes and a Home Depot, now these big boxes. Urban renewal probably shouldn't equal chain stores.

But even worse, Bloomberg has invited the Country Music Awards to be held at Madison Square Garden--the first time they'll he held outside of Nashville. He says they will bring $30 million to the city. Fine, but country in New York?

The RNC? A football stadium?
Country music?

Explain Please

Can someone--anyone--please explain to me why, despite Kerry's rise in nearly all the polls, Bush's electoral college lead keeps rising on Slate's Election Scorecard?

I mean, really.

And for anyone wondering about Lite Brite Veep Can Edwards, read Suellentrop's Slate article on him today: Edwards' Table Manners - How much advantage will Cheney gain from the debate format?

Sampler: "I was struck by how Edwards, during an interview with Fox News Sunday a few months ago, refused to discuss his consumption of copious amounts of Diet Coke, repeatedly smiling and saying, "We're not going to talk about that." An unimportant moment? Sure, but not a meaningless one."

Oh Blah

So many calls put out, so few returned. Reporting is a game of push and pull and hoping that no one ends up in the mud in the middle. Or maybe you all should. It could be a mud-wrestling party, MC'd by me, your local, non-partisan journo.

Passing Along What Counts

From Daily Kos, where a writer has decided that Tierney's NYT piece adds valuable nuggets to the fray:

"Sandwiched deep in John Tierney's unintentionally but hysterically funny report about Spin Alley, which includes a face-muscle expert talking about brow-knitting and upside-down smiles, is this little gem:"

"I don't want to say somebody is the winner or somebody is the loser tonight," said George P. Bush, the president's nephew, and he went on to set a fairly low bar for his uncle. "I think his main objective, apart from not falling on the ground on the stage, which he didn't do tonight, was to say, look, here are my positions, and talk directly to the voters."

Tentacling

Seems like the last couple of days have brought friends from the past out of the woodwork. (I like the literal reading of that, like little mice who have finally chewed through the baseboards.)

A friend from Europe has asked if I have a web cam. Seems a reasonable request considering I have BLOG, but alas, no. Happily no. (She has just requested that she be named Athena in this entry.)

Upon her question about my ownage of a web cam, here was Athena's reply to my "no":

"good. i hate web cams. i firmly believe there was a good reason video-phones didn't catch on in the 70's. it's because people like being naked, ugly, drunk, themselves really when they talk on the phone or text."

Now we wonder what those Europeans do when nobody's looking.
Apparently, in Italy they use their bidets more than seems humanly comfortable. (I learned this from an Italian directly.) She wondered why we Americans do not use bidets. "But how do you wash yourself?" she asked. In the bath or shower, I told her. "Only once a day?" she marvelled. Uh, yes.

Expert Analysis

Bless the colleague I call Fang:

"See, when I think of Republicans," she said, "I think they try to look all friendly, Joe Schmo, your neighbor...but really they want to eat your heart out."