Kerrying the conversation

Where was this guy in 2004?

I'm with Joe. Bookers won't stop calling Senators. They need 'em. So let's urge politicians to make like Kerry and start using their airtime to swing the conversation around to substance. We may actually have a shot at getting content that matters back on TV.

How novel.

The Signif Weighs In

Via email: When I look at the Wii Fit, I'm not thinking "This will get me fit."

I'm thinking, "The cat will sit on that."

And "It looks like a cooler lid."

But "This will get me fit?"... Not so much.

Note from Jacki: The Wii Fit video's kind of funny, but the concept's not bad. If it helps make our kids less fat, I'm game.

American Idol: Neil Diamond?

Is it just me or are the themes particularly crappy this season? Nothing against the mentors who have been successful in their own right, but if you're looking for the next big pop star, why are you having the contestants sing show tunes and Neil Diamond classics?

Jason Castro #1: Sounds good to me. Melodic. Typical but totally acceptable.

David Cook #1: Oh good. He gets to rock it out. I love the rasp in his voice. Love it!

Brooke #1: I'm tone deaf, but she sounds lousy to me. Flat. And stressed out. I'm no believer anymore. Except in her hair product. Whatever she uses is working.

Archuleta #1: I wouldn't be surprised if he forgot the lyrics on one of his songs tonight. He doesn't look like he's having fun with Sweet Caroline. We'll see how the second pans out. Nothing special for me on the first.

Syesha #1: She's a pretty girl. Oh wait, she's singing. Hang on. Um. Little screechy?

Wow. Paula needs an intervention. She's judging singing that hasn't happened yet. Someone needs to tell her the little voices in her head are not contestants.

Castro #2: I kind of like his voice. I think an album of his soft stuff would sell just fine. The song's eh, but I do like his tone.

Cook #2: Now I'm convinced it's the songs. David's solid. He always is. But the material is really bland and kind of cheesy. If it were actual cheese, it'd be American - the least exciting of all the dairy. I'm glad the judges dug it tho.

Brooke #2: She sounds much better this time around. But maybe that means two songs is too much for her. And what does that say? How can you hold down a concert if you can't remember more than one tune? If you're not lip-syncing, that is.

Archuleta #2: How exactly does one manage to take the edge out of "America?" Seriously. His voice is great, but where's the teenager? He's 17 going on 40.

Syesha #2: She really does look particularly good tonight, but she's off pitch. I know b/c someone who knows just walked in and told me.

So who goes home? Brooke, maybe. Jason's still got the fan base. I'm guessing they're not going to let him leave just yet.

Laying It Out

I've got a bunch of stuff top of mind today so in no particular order:

1. Eliot Spitzer's prostitute is now suing Girls Gone Wild's Joe Francis for more than $10 million claiming illegal use of her name and image:

In the lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Miami, Ashley Alexandra Dupre contends that she was 17 and not old enough to sign a legally binding contract when she appeared partially nude in video footage filmed in 2003 by members of Francis' Mantra Films production company in Miami Beach.

On a spring break vacation at the time, Dupre was also drunk when told to sign a video "release" form, according to the complaint, which seeks damages in excess of $10 million from Francis and his co-defendants.

She was 17, not 12. She reportedly produced a fake I.D. and insisted she was of age. She also allegedly jumped on the bus voluntarily knowing full well what it was and what being on it entailed. And she stayed on said bus for a week. Not one drunken night. A week. Once you've admittedly made a living getting paid for sex, you sort of lose the benefit of the doubt in any scenario where you've signed off on 7 days worth of promiscuous behavior. I've got no sympathy.

2. I'm also sort of bothered by this whole Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair debacle, but not for the obvious reasons. Who reads Vanity Fair? Certainly not Miley Cyrus fans. She's 15 and being marketed much older to an adult audience. Not only did she and her parents know exactly what they were getting into when they agreed to the feature, but they all gave the okay during too:

"Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day," the magazine said. "Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley."

Sorry you didn't think it through and anticipate the backlash of touting your teenager as a sex symbol, but now that you're embarrassed, take some responsibility for your own poor judgment. Blaming the magazine or the photographer is disingenuous and reprehensible.

3. Back to politics for a second. Either hold candidates accountable for everything that anyone they've ever known has ever said (ridiculous, right?) or just stop. You know whom Reverend Wright speaks for? Reverend Wright. Period. No one can control what comes out of his mouth except him, and that's who - and only who - should be to blame if you've got issue with it. I heard North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley used the word "pansy" while introducing Senator Clinton in Raleigh this morning:

The Governor formally expressed his support saying that there was "nothing I love more than a strong powerful woman." Easley concluded his remarks saying Clinton -- "makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy"

Now "pansy" is officially defined as "disparaging and offensive" slang. And yet Clinton - who was there in person - reportedly ignored its use. That's fine by me. Why dignify ignorance with acknowledgment? BUT then her campaign should just stop wasting our time going after Obama for Reverend Wright's thoughts and opinions. They're his. Not Obama's. And if you presume otherwise, then by the Clinton Campaign Transitive Property of Affiliation, Clinton's just condoned the use of the word pansy. You want to go there? Really? I didn't think so.

Her people should stop with the double standards once and for all. Pointing them out is getting downright exhausting.

Straight Talk Express

I thought Florida Governor Charlie Crist was gay. Not openly gay, but everyone kind of knows it gay. In fact, I thought it was so well known that it was the usual reason given as for why Crist wouldn't be McCain's pick for VP.

Well, color me baffled because according to Bloomberg, Crist's not only straight, but married.

p.s. For the record, I have no real info as to Christ's sexual preference nor do I care one way or the other. However, I do find it interesting that a man often rumored to be gay - and recently rumored to be a possible national Republican candidate - is (accidentally?) photographed and captioned as married.

UPDATE: She's Carol Rome. Captions have been corrected.

Don't Buy It

Gas station owners claim they're not price gouging, but it's tough to believe when the numbers keep ticking up seemingly arbitrarily. There is an Exxon station nearby that drives me batty. The guy was the first I've seen in the city to charge more than $4/gallon. The Chevron station less than a block away was still in the high 3's when the Exxon thief took the leap. And before you say perhaps the Exxon supply prices were higher and the station owner had no choice, another Exxon in the city less than a mile away was still under $4. I know because I walked by them both in the same hour on the same day.

Something's surely out of whack all the way through the chain because NPR just told me oil hit is shockingly close to $120/barrel, but when a station owner exacerbates the situation by blatantly inflating prices, he fuels speculation that our current gas crisis is one part supply and demand and two parts pure greed.

Sunday Funny

I crack me up.

We should totally try to make "Private Plane McCain" happen.


Know the flick?
Gretchen: That is so fetch!
Regina: Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen! It's not going to happen!

R.I.P.

"Slideshows are a little much unless someone's dating you, voting for you, or in it with you."

Games We Play

I've been playing around with the site today just to see if I can't change it up a bit. If you hate the little slideshow, tell me and I'll quash it.

Meanwhile. the poem of the week has been updated and is now available for your perusal. Also, don't forget to check out John's Sunday column in the Living section of The Huffington Post.

I'll give you a little teaser (cause I'm in a generous mood). Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never... well, they might...hurt me.

Have a great weekend. I will be filling time sans signif. He has an inexplicable obsession with the NFL draft.

Flickr Friday

Morning. This is really cool. Patrick Ruffini - clever dude and all-around online smartie - has been keeping track of the 2008 presidential campaign websites. They're compiled together in one giant Flickr set. Here's a screenshot of his screenshots (how meta!):

Geek Chic

I am running around today but will certainly try to get some heartier content up here later.

In the meantime, check out a couple of new Americablog contributions here and here. I'm particularly pleased with the second.

Internet dork transformation complete.

image courtesy of Robots-Dreams.com (no, i didn't make that up)

What's Cooking

Like Hamburger Helper. Only meatier.

Speaking of sustenance, I have just been informed that chips are not actually a food group. Who knew?

American Idol: Show tunes!

I guess since so many of 'em end up doing musical theater anyway, it makes sense to give the American Idol pool a national audition. Too bad it was lousy TV for the rest of us.

Don't be shocked if "Broadway Star" pops up on the program schedule next season. AI is losing momentum, and Andrew Lloyd Webber has already got a reality show abroad:

BBC1, this Saturday at 7.05pm: the next live episode of I'd Do Anything, the TV search for stars of a new West End production of Oliver!

He's a musical genius - and charming - so I can see why they wanted to cut a deal and get him out in front of the American public sooner rather than later. However, the one guy who should have been right at home in the genre last night botched it, and the rest just looked downright awkward.

Except Syesha. Drama queen turned it out. Surprised? Me neither.

Archuleta had to do nothing...NOTHING...to any song on the list, and he would have been fine. But I didn't like his adult easy listening version of whatever it was he sang. I know technically it was solid as usual, but entertaining? Not so much.

Carly and Cook were fine. Brooke was a bona fide train wreck. And Jason. Poor Jason. It was bad on its own. Worse in the closing montage. Just awkward.

Why put the poor souls through that? Pop stars don't usually hit Broadway until they've exhausted their options. I don't care if David Cook never turns up on stage in that capacity. In fact, I'd rather he didn't.

When can we start voting the producers off the show?

Change of Plans

My signif's a sicklet so we are now watching PA primary returns from the comfort of my couch.

However, I am still online and keeping track of what everyone else is doing to kill time. Chris and Matt over at Open Left have expanded on Matt's ongoing primary theory that anything annoying that can happen will happen.

They have made videos explaining 6 possible annoying scenarios for tonight. This is by far the winner:

Back in the Mix

I know it's PA primary day, and I've been totally missing in action. Apologies.

I had a zillion errands to run, including getting my stitches out. The good news is the doc did an excellent job, and all should heal well. I'm feeling good about that.

As for tonight, I'll be hanging with the Americablog crew at an undisclosed location. I am sure the urge to weigh in will strike at some point during the eve. Rumor has it there may even be a pod/videocast of some sort in store.

We shall see. I suppose I could be bribed with wine and various salty snacks.

Nothing to C(NN) Here

I don't know Richard Quest personally. We never met. I've got no dog in the fight and no special insight. However, I am curious and truly baffled.

I cannot understand why CNN hasn't said anything yet about Quest's future with the network. As of this evening, his official bio's still online. He's still "one of the most instantly recognizable members of the CNN team." For those of you who need a little reminding, Quest was arrested at 3:40am Friday morning in Central Park with hard drugs on his person, a rope tied around his neck and his genitals, and a sex toy in his shoe. CNN had no comment when Quest was arrested. They declined to comment after he was arraigned. It's been four days since then and still nothing.

Is CNN hoping people will just forget, and it will all just go away? That somehow when Quest shows back up on the air once again as one of the network's "most recognizable" faces, that people won't affiliate him with kinky sex and drug use?

Interesting strategy. This (this?)...is CNN.

Who wears short shorts?

Here's a fun one to brighten the dreary day.

I spent three summers at a camp in PA when I was a kid. Through the power of Facebook, an old bunkmate from 20+ years ago just found me online and invited me to join a group someone created to catch up about camp and post old photos. These are the two I found posted there that I'm willing to share here. The images have been cropped to protect my fellow innocent victims of '80s fashion.

Soggy Monday

I am trying to muster up the incentive to leave the house since it won't stop raining. Just when I think I might be able to venture out, it starts to pour again.

In the meantime, I've got a couple of thoughts up - and coming up - on Americablog.

Me on Display

The overexposed fuzzy figure in this cellphone photo is me.



I'm part of a User-Generated Content exhibit at the Newseum.

Dizzy? Me Too

Let me see if I've got this straight.

Clinton aide Jay Carson writes an email to The Washington Post's Tom Shales. Only he doesn't send it to Shales himself. He sends it to John Harris at the Politico.

Harris gets Carson's permission to send the email to Shales and give it to Ben Smith to post on the Politico site.

Smith posts the note and points out Shales has not written back.

Maybe Shales hasn't responded because the email leads one to believe Carson either didn't read Shales' article or missed the point entirely. Carson's note centers around this argument:

My only complaint is when a different standard exists for each candidate, which is the glaring issue with your piece. It is troubling to me that tough on one candidate is deserving of your outrage, and tough on another candidate is fair game, even “too tame.” I would posit that if one is going to be playing referee with media coverage it is all the more important not to have a double standard.

Shales' article was a critique of ABC's bad journalism. The only mention of bias towards one candidate or another was this small snippet towards the end of the write:

To this observer, ABC's coverage seemed slanted against Obama. The director cut several times to reaction shots of such Clinton supporters as her daughter, Chelsea, who sat in the audience at the Kimmel Theater in Philly's National Constitution Center. Obama supporters did not get equal screen time, giving the impression that there weren't any in the hall.

It seems to me Carson, Smith and Harris are all guilty of a little irresponsibility themselves. Carson for mischaracterizing the Shales review and Smith and Harris for trying to instigate controversy.

Let Carson pick his own fight without your goading him on. He's dead wrong, and you just look ridiculous, manipulated, and misinformed by affiliation.

UPDATE: Smith's post makes it sound like Carson sent the email to Harris and Harris alone, seeing as how Smith says Harris had to get "permission" to print it:

Politico's John Harris sends Clinton aide Jay Carson's e-mail yesterday to Tom Shales, the Washington Post critic who criticized ABC News for a "shoddy" and "despicable" debate this week.

Carson gave Harris permission to print his note to Shales, who so far has not written back.

This excerpt from Howie Kurtz' Friday write looks suspiciously similar to the language in Carson's email:

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson countered that "the press is supposed to ask every candidate tough questions . . . If you can't handle tough questions from a TV anchor, how will you handle the Republicans or a hostile world leader?"

Carson's email as posted on Politico reads:

To be clear, I don’t think it is a bad thing for the press to be tough on presidential candidates (or their staff for that matter). These people are running for president after all, and if you cant handle a tv anchor how should the American people expect you to handle a hostile world leader?

Even more evidence Carson's trying to infuse a talking point that has absolutely no exclusive affiliation with Shales' review of the ABC debate (and might help explain why there is such a disconnect between the two). Is it possible Carson's email wasn't just to Shales? "Clinton spokesman takes aim at Shales" or Harris and Smith take aim at Shales?

On a Quest

Let's play Mad Libs...Public Drug-fueled Gay Sex edition.

CNN reporter Richard Quest was arrested in Central Park at 3:40am on Friday. He had a _______ tied around his ________ and his _______, a ___________ in his boot, and ___________ in his pocket.

While it should have taken CNN about _______ seconds to announce his dismissal, they are currently ___________ instead.

Meanwhile, CNN overnight writer/producer Chez Pazienza got fired for ___________.

Sorbet for the Soul

It's Friday. The weather is nothing short of gorgeous. And I am determined to rid myself of the ickiness left behind by Wednesday's debate.

So here is the poem of the week. It should help cleanse the palate.

And as always, don't forget to stop by the Huffington Post Living section on Sunday and check out John's weekly column.

Have a good one.

Hit? Snooze!

Worst..."show"...ever.

If not, then close. I sat through the pre-roll, got :15 in, and gave up.

Editorial meetings are dull. Editorial meetings edited into a web "series" are a notch below drying paint.

Maybe it picks up, but what does it matter if no one makes it that far?

Rule #1 of web video: Grab me right off the bat or don't bother.

More Less Than Exceptional Acceptable Journalism

Now that the initial anger has subsided, bloggers and blog readers are taking a closer look at the bit players in Wednesday night's debate. Specifically flag pin lady Nash McCabe. Josh and a reader point out just how un-random this woman actually was:

It turns out McCabe was featured in an April 4th story in the Times which begins like this ...

Ask whom she might vote for in the coming presidential primary election and Nash McCabe, 52, seems almost relieved to be able to unpack the dossier she has been collecting in her head.

It is not about whom she likes, but more a bill of particulars about why she cannot vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

"How can I vote for a president who won't wear a flag pin?" Mrs. McCabe, a recently unemployed clerk typist, said in a booth at the Valley Dairy luncheonette in this quiet, small city in western Pennsylvania.

Josh's got more about why he thinks including McCabe was an ethical breach on ABC's part:

Now, as JL noted in his email to TPM, I'm not sure precisely what's any less ethical about finding Nash at random to come on and slam Obama about whether he believes in the flag versus seeing her in the Times and saying, 'Wow, this woman clearly has it in for Obama. Wouldn't that make for great TV giving her a chance to crap on Obama's head in front of a nationwide audience?

I think there's something wrong with it. And part of it is that you usually assume that these citizen questions come from people who are at least partly conflicted about their support if not undecided. But it does reinforce my sense that the disgraceful nature of the debate wasn't just something that came together wrong, some iffy ideas taken to far, but was basically engineered to be crap from the ground up.

Besides giving the impression they planned to stack the debate, here's what else is wrong with what ABC did:

1. They went into their debate prep with a preconceived notion of the topics they wanted to push to the forefront as opposed to taking the pulse of the electorate and prioritizing.

2. They took the lazy way out and copped a source from the NYT. How many registered voters are there in PA? How hard is it to do your own legwork and find someone to talk about the issues that matter to him/her?

and perhaps the most egregious of the errors...

3. They gave Nash McCabe and her stupid question an audience of 10+ million on prime time TV. ABC legitimized the dumb dumb dumb lapel pin discussion by default. If you couldn't find anyone but the exact same lady quoted by the NYT, then maybe that would have been a good indication that skipping the topic altogether was the way to go.

Bad lazy sloppy embarrassing journalism.

Re:Debate

I've already fessed up to having issues with not being able to let stuff go.

More of my take on last night's "debate" is here and here and here.

And DS (thx!) just forwarded me the latest from the PSA peeps:

Start 'Em Young

Of course this comes from Miss Lindsay as another stellar edition of "Seriously Florida, WTF?" It's "the book that helps kids cope with mommy's plastic surgery."

Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a renowned plastic surgeon, wrote My Beautiful Mommy to help patients explain their transformation to their children. The story guides children through Mommy's surgery and healing process in a friendly, nonthreatening way.

PRE-ORDER Today! Books will ship in time for Mother's Day!

I should add that if you spend any time in South Florida these days, you'll notice almost every other commercial on TV is for some form of plastic surgery-related service - payment/consultation/procedure. It's their norm now.

Not Even Debatable

That blew. Hard. Josh is right. Take a look around. Like here. And here. And here.

Joe and I weren't the only ones thinking this was a pathetic display. Big fat F's across the board.

I can't help but wonder if the whole thing was somewhat half-assed because it fell on the same night as the Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner. I know that seems like a stretch, but if you knew how worked up media people got over these fancy parties, you too might suspect the network flew in its C team for the debate and freed up its A players to hit the open bar.

By(e?) George

I haven't decided yet how I feel about George Stephanopoulos co-moderating tonight's debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton even though he propelled himself into the public eye as part of President Clinton's 1992 campaign and subsequent administration.

I do, however, very much mind anyone in the media still pretending it's vital we hide our personal leans for fear it might taint the profession. George has risen to the top, and there's no mystery as to where he started.

If you're looking for me tonight, I've been invited to liveblog with Joe so I'll be weighing in online over there. For the first time in a few years, I will not be here, and that I know for sure is fine by me.

Goooooooo Pope!

Joe posted some video of the Popemobile zipping through DC. It's the screaming teens that really crack me up.

American Idol: "High Profile" Edition

Is it just me or is there an extraordinary amount of boobage on display tonight?

That's actually not a knock against David Archuleta who's up first (though he is wearing leather pants). Consensus here is that he's the best singer, but he's not a rock/pop star. He's Broadway through and through. Or Disney movies. Or Josh Groban-esque. Maybe even Christian rock. But not Billboard rock/pop. Btw, did I mention he's wearing leather pants?

Carly looks pretty, and I enjoy her voice, but there is no nuance to her performance. She stays soft at one level and then gets loud at one level, but there is no variation beyond volume. She may be in trouble. Sadly.

Syesha's got serious pitch problems. I'm tone deaf so she sounds fine to me, but my signif's got the ear, and he says she's off. Plus, I just don't like her so it'd be hard for her to win me over regardless.

Brooke sounds breathless. We're not liking this. We think the piano's distracting her from the singing, and she's just off all around. Not good. On the upside, she does have nice hair. I'll give her that.

KLC went from dead behind the eyes to bad facial expressions and weird arms, but I suppose she sang well. She's another one I have trouble giving the benefit of the doubt no matter what.

David Cook should win. He sounds like a rockstar. He butched up a Mariah Carey song. Game over.

I'm generally pro-Jason Castro. I dig his sound. It's soothing. But tonight I zoned it out. Someone told me recently that if you cut open dreads, they smell all mildewy because they never really dry. I don't know if that's true, but I think about it every time Jason sings.

So there you have it. What's your best guess? Carly? Syesha? I'm hoping the latter, but you never know.

Pale is the New Tan

Now we've got more than just CNN in common.

Forgive me for being MIA today. Had to take a personal for obvious reasons. But all's good now. Just a little lot sore as the numbness wears off.

And as if we need more proof I take great pleasure in the little things, the highlight of my day was getting the plastic surgeon who sewed up the spot under my eye to explain that the "high profile" implants in his cabinet were, in fact, "porn star boobs."

p.s. Wear sunscreen!

A Nose for News

How exactly does one discover he has this talent?

A 13-year-old boy is claiming the world record for blowing balloons with his nose. Using one nostril at a time, Andrew Dahl inflated 213 balloons within an hour Friday in the town's public library. His feat has been submitted for review by Guinness World Records.

The proud parents:

His father, Doug Dahl, measured the balloons to make sure each was at least 20 centimeters, about 8 inches, the minimum diameter, and his mother, Wendy Dahl, kept the tally.

And in case you thought this was just some fleeting fancy, a onetime stunt...:

It was his second try. In February he sent a videotape of himself inflating 184 balloons, only to learn that it didn't count because he handed them to his father to tie. This time he tied them off himself.

Who says we're not raising smart, competitive kids?

Told You So

Now you don't have to just take my word for it.

Chez got a review. A good one.

I'll be offline all morning. Booked to brief some government types on this thing we call the Interwebs.

Happy Monday.

Enough is Enough

I can't be the only one totally fed up with the nitpicking ridiculousness.

We're at war. The economy is in shambles. Healthcare's a disaster. And the Democratic primary's become a battle of twisted semantics?

It all feels terribly juvenile and reeks of fabricated alarmism. Republican strategists play these games. We've come to expect it. But the Clinton campaign isn't wearing faux indignation well.

I'm not buying that a single person on that team - including Clinton herself - honestly believes Obama's elitist and out of touch. It's an absurd argument - especially coming from a candidate who's essentially US political royalty, deeply entrenched in high society.

In fact, I think assuming voters are ignorant enough to buy your phony outrage is elitist and out of touch in and of itself

Culture Corner

Not that Mr. Blog of Note needs my link love, but the poem of the week has been updated. It's actually a preview of Sunday's essay.

Have a great weekend.

Melted Ice

Miss Lindsay helps us usher in Friday with a "Seriously Florida, WTF?" retro 90's edition (although I would argue this is equally a "Seriously? Vanilla Ice? contender too):

Rapper and recent reality TV star Vanilla Ice was arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday night on a charge of simple domestic battery after his wife called deputies to say her husband was hitting and kicking her.
(...)
It's not the first time he has been arrested in South Florida. In 2004, he was booked into the Broward County Jail on a domestic battery charge, records show.

But wait, there's more (emphasis mine):

In addition, a series of driving infractions - including driving with an expired license, driving 74 mph in a 45 mph zone and having illegally tinted car windows - culminated in a warrant for his arrest after he missed a court appearance.

He also was hit with $220 in impounding fees in 2004 when his pet wallaroo and goat escaped in Port St. Lucie and were picked up by animal control officers.

The wallaroo news actually spawned this About.com article profiling the animal. An excerpt:

They are curious and will bond quite nicely to their owners if hand raised and well socialized (and treated well). They can be playful and affectionate, but also mischevious. They can be taught to understand "no" and need firm corrections but physical punishment should never be used.

Facing Facts

Another example of the real world working hard to keep pace with the virtual world. USA Today reports Israeli defense officials are paying attention to soldiers' use of Facebook:

A new list of rules aims to prevent soldiers and Defense Ministry employees from revealing classified information on social networking sites. The officials say some soldiers have uploaded pictures of themselves with classified equipment and inadvertently revealed sensitive information.

The rules were released yesterday but haven't officially been published yet.

It's so smart for military officials to get out in front of these potential hazards. You never want censorship or restriction, but so many out in the field forget the far reach of the web and can accidentally put themselves and their friends in jeopardy.

Ancient History

Via Andrew Sullivan, I found out James Joyner had this to say about an Obama/McCain match-up come the general:

Obama is going to be the nominee, barring some major development. His charisma, youth, and energy is going to be hard to run against, especially with a public tired of eight years of a Republican president, tired of a war with no end in sight, and worried about their ability to make ends meet. McCain’s only real advantage will also be his greatest liability: His decades of experience/he’s older than the hills.

James is preaching to the choir here since I've been saying the same thing to just about anyone who'll listen.

Having studied the power of TV in early elections and knowing the impact of an image both on-air and online (especially since it can be captured and manipulated so easily now), McCain's going to look 1000 years old in comparison to his competitor. Something as simple as a large crowd of young, enthusiastic supporters behind Obama juxtaposed with McCain's visual base of older, sedate white men will inadvertently speak volumes.

So what should McCain do? I don't know. It's going to be a tough obstacle to overcome. I would start by not running ads showing him as a Vietnam era POW. The black and white footage does less to remind us of his service than to remind us of his age. I don't mean to downplay his sacrifice or disrespect his heroism, but showing him younger in archival footage simply feeds the beast.

I had an animated and interesting debate with someone last night who was willing to bet on McCain come November. Not because he supports the candidate by any means but because he fears race and inexperience will work against Obama in the privacy of the voting booth. I could not disagree more. I think once he's been designated the Democratic nominee, much will be done to assure people that he is well-informed and well-advised, and McCain's going to have a tough time convincing a war-weary public that more war is the way to go.

Spring Fever

Going through my closet last night I decided my summer clothes are officially much cuter than my winter clothes and now would be a good time for it to get warm and stay warm.

Website Story Untangled

I'm not big on overlapping content, but considering I covered the Lieberman/Lamont race extensively back in 2006, I think the verdict deserves attention there and here.

I won't bother burying the lead. Turns out Lieberman's campaign sank its own site.

American Idol: I Give Back

Michael Johns, stop trying to make the ascot happen. Plus, that screeching...like a cat in heat. And I know because there's one living behind my house.

Syesha sounded fine tonight. She's a decent singer, sure. But I totally agree with Randy and Simon. Something was missing. Something is always missing for me with her. There's no depth.

Jason Castro. Yes. Very much so. Nice nice job. However, whoever is dressing him should be shot. I'm guessing it's the same person who picked Michael's ascot.

Kristy Lee Cook. I got nothing. Next.

David Cook. Adore him and think he's a rockstar, but tonight wasn't his best. He seemed distracted. And the white jacket was another lousy fashion decision.

Oh, Carly. Paula got it on the mark. Voice was great but there was no connection to the song. I like her though, and she - like DC - gets a pass from me.

David Archuleta is another one with a technically solid voice, but - again - I wasn't feeling the song. Maybe it's me. Okay, the judges all loved it so yup, it's me.

And finally, Brooke, who is totally growing on me, did a good job. I like the song. I liked her rendition. Not bad at all.

I'm warning you now that I have no plans to watch tomorrow night's givebackaganza so you'll have to get your recap of that elsewhere.

Virginia makes learning about Internet safety mandatory

Via Slashdot, I found out Virginia's requiring Internet Safety classes in public schools.

The AP's got a better write, pointing out that other states are following suit in offering classes, but Virginia's the first to make them a must:

Nationally, Texas and Illinois are among states that have since passed their own Internet safety education laws, but unlike Virginia they don't make the courses mandatory.

I think this is an excellent idea, but I'd like to see schools take it one step further and have parents sit in on Internet safety classes with their kids. Clearly you can't make those mandatory, but in my opinion, too many parents either don't know or don't care what their kids are doing online. And on both counts, they should.

Buy This Book

Chez has decided to offer his memoir online through his site. I was lucky to get an early read of the manuscript a while back, and it was a true "page turner." In the wake of A Million Little Pieces, some may hesitate to embrace a story of drug-addiction and resurrection, but it'd be a shame if you took a pass because of someone else's past poor judgment.

Many of us lecture on the power of the Internet and the breakdown of barriers to entry, but Chez has decided to literally put his money where his mouth is and try to make a go of the self-publishing route. It's a bold move, and I respect it.

A couple of days ago I reposted Dr. Randy Pausch's last lecture on achieving your childhood dreams. The best part of that speech was the following (and I paraphrase) : The brick wall's there to keep out those who don't want it badly enough.

Offering Dead Star Twilight online is Chez' way of vaulting that wall. Hopefully with room to spare.

Stuff Americablog Wouldn't Like

In the interest of keeping the content of my personal site unique and separate from the stuff I post on Americablog, I bring you a funny ripped from Buzzfeed (longtime guilty pleasure).

While I never hopped on the Stuff White People Like bandwagon, I could definitely get behind Stuff Nobody Likes.

This is kind of clever too.

Image is a NatalieDee.

Unoriginal Reporting

If it comes up in conversation, I'm not adverse to sharing the little known nugget that CNN gets much of its rundown by ripping off other news outlets.

Case in point, this NYT article ran in Sunday's paper. I know because I posted it over at Americablog yesterday with attribution.

Monday morning, CNN books Perez Hilton to talk about the pressures of professional blogging. Like a good blogger, Perez brings up the NYT article - well aware of why he's been tapped to talk. Kiran's script - however - makes no mention.

Way to take someone else's work and make it your own. It's not like this article on blogging was news. It was clearly an enterprise piece, and all CNN did was read and regurgitate in video form.

image courtesy of The Vox Box

Monday Madness

Miss Lindsay opens up our week with a hot dog of an edition of "Seriously Florida, WTF?"

Wife accused of stabbing husband over hot dogs

Orange County, Florida — An Orange County wife is accused of stabbing her husband after a fight over hot dogs for dinner.

Authorities say 28-year-old Alfreda Van Bladel made hot dogs for her husband, Anton, for dinner.

Apparently he snatched the plate from his wife. Authorities say that's when she stabbed him in the shoulder with a steak knife.

They say he then grabbed a gun and pointed it to her head saying, “I'm going to kill you.”

Both were arrested and face a number of charges.

Note the Blog of Note

Look who's featured on Blogger.com:

Here's the whole page:

And an even closer look:

I'm so proud!

Happy Hour's On Me

Before I wade too far into the deep end of my Friday evening martini, I should pass along the usual nuggets.

The poem of the week has been updated.

And don't forget to check out John's column on Sunday here. I'll give you a little teaser (cause I'm in that kind of mood): Is that a poem in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

I promise it'll make sense come Sunday.

Happy weekend. Have a good one.