Monday, October 31, 2005

Are you in the 7 percent?

From the (subscription only) Roll Call:

"there is no evidence that a new partisan realignment is under way, and partly because districts are so gerrymandered that only 30 [. . .] out of 435 [Congressional districts] are competitive."

This is just sad. That is about 7 percent. Seven percent of the people in the United States have a real chance of electing the person that represents them the best, Republican or Democrat. The way it's set up, it's all along the two-party lines. This is sad for both Democrats and Republicans. Make all the districts 50/50 and whoever appeals to more people, wins, whether they have an (R) or a (D) after their name. It's not like Republicans are the only ones that do this. Cook County is gerrymandered in the same way to benefit Democrats.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Um...

This could be not good. From the Chattanoogan:

Zogby Poll: Kurita Outperforms Ford Against Hilleary, Corker
posted October 28, 2005

According to the most recent Zogby Interactive Poll on the Tennessee U.S. Senate race, state Sen. Rosalind Kurita is the strongest Democratic candidate for the general election, the Kurita campaign said.

“This poll proves what we’ve known all along,” Kurita said. “I’m the Democrat with the best chance of winning the general election. We have been running an aggressive grass roots campaign all over the state and our message is resonating. My profile and our campaign’s message will resonate with Tennessee voters.”

The Zogby Poll matched up both Democrats (Kurita and U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.) against three possible Republican nominees. Against both Van Hilleary and Bob Corker, Kurita performed better than Ford. In fact, against Corker – the candidate who has raised the most money to date – Kurita is in a statistical dead heat, the poll said.

The poll showed Ford doing better against Republican Ed Bryant.

It has Kurita down 2 percent to Corker and Ford down 5 percent.

Kurita is down 8 percent to Hilleary and Ford is down 9 percent.

Bryant is 17 percent ahead of Kurita and 11 percent up on Ford.

Can't get around it.

"You're a Republican until it happens to you."

It's all relative...in WV (just kidding)

So according to ESPN.com:
Despite rating so low in comparison to other World Series, the four games of this series were each the highest rated prime-time network programs on their respective nights.
So, in comparison to all other World Series, it wasn't so hot. But each of the four nights people were watching it more than the other stuff on TV. That's what the advertisers care about.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Chicago White Sox, 2005 World Series Champions!

Blue beats Red.

I don't live on the South Side, but I did attend more Sox games (four) than Cubs games (one), and one of the games was Sox vs. Cubs at Wrigley. This was awesome.

The only ironic part was Fox cutting to Jimbo's on the "Southside"... where the only patrons were crazed, cheering, white people. As a friend commented, he could walk for hours on the South Side and not find a white person. Heck, I take the train into town through the West Side and a white person hardly ever gets on. Fox managed to find the white people on the South Side last night...and they were all at Jimbo's.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

I agree with a Republican.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz comments in the Christian Science Monitor:

On House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi:

"This is the most negative, angry, bitter political leader I have seen in years. Truth is, if they had Rahm Emanuel [of Illinois] or Harold Ford [of Tennessee], they would be heading towards, in the direction of, a majority because the two of them understand that you have to stand for something - [that] you cannot win just by being negative."


First off, Emanuel is the Democrats' version of Tom DeLay. Pelosi can't say anything that doesn't sound like whining. I'm going with HFJ.

Tennessee-Illinois Presidential Approval-Disapprove Ratings


For a red state with five Democratic congressmen out of nine (a majority), you would think we would have wisened up sooner. The red is DISAPPROVE, and the blue is APPROVE of the job that President Bush is doing.




(click graphic to view larger)








Ha!

From Al Franken's new book, The Truth (with Jokes):

Moral values: From what I understand, if you cut out all the passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about the poor, about helping out the least among us, you'd have the perfect container to smuggle Rush Limbaugh's drugs in.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Where did you say you wanted this fence?

From FactCheck.org:

According to the 9/11 Commission, none of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and all of them had visas. The first hijacker flew in through LAX on 1/25/00. All others entered through 8 airports on the East Coast.
By virtue of having a visa, it means you are legal, not illegal. Our government gave them a visa. Airports, not the Mexican border, was where they came from. And legally, to boot. There are seven Muslim countries: Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sudan and Syria, that are listed as being countries of "special interest." Lots individuals from these seven countries were caught coming across the Mexican border, including other Muslim countries. A very small portion of non-Mexicans caught crossing the border were from these seven nations, the other non-Mexicans were from other Central American countries (i.e. Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras).

The Border Patrol reported capturing a total of 946 persons from the seven nations attempting to enter illegally. However, only 320 of those were caught at the Mexican border. Nearly twice as many were caught coming in from Canada and other points.
If the purpose is to stop Muslim terrorists from entering the United states, says FactCheck, there is:

a better case for building a fence at the Canadian border than . . . at the Mexican border.



Never.

From a DailyKos diary:

When a mother receives the news that her son or daughter has been killed for lies she never thinks "Oh no, how could this have happened? I am a Democrat (Republican)!"

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

We should let people like this run the country, why?

From MSNBC.com:

Man tries to convert lions to Jesus, gets bitten

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A man leaped into a lion’s den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts.

“Jesus will save you!” shouted the 46-year-old man at two African lions lounging under a tree a few meters away.

“Come bite me!” he said with both hands raised, television footage showed.

One of the lions, a large male with a shaggy mane, bit the man in his right leg before zoo workers drove it off with water hoses and tranquilizer guns.

Newspapers said that the lions had been fed earlier in the day, otherwise the man might have been more seriously hurt ... or worse.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Some truth?

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."
- Jesse Venture

Sunday, October 16, 2005

C'mon...

From CNN.com:
In the standard method of harvesting stem cells, researchers wait five days or so after fertilization until the embryo has become a ball of up to 150 cells. They obtain stem cells from the interior of the ball, which destroys the embryo.


I don't know if I would consider 150 cells a baby. That's compared to the total number of cells in the human body [which] is estimated to be between 75 and 100 trillion .

Friday, October 14, 2005

From a higher power...

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

I am a

Social Liberal
(68% permissive)

and an...

Economic Liberal
(23% permissive)

I am best described as a:

Democrat




Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

You Might Be a Republican...

From Political Friendster:

"You think "proletariat" is a type of cheese.

You've named your kids "Deduction one" and "Deduction two"

You've tried to argue that poverty could be abolished if people were just allowed to keep more of their minimum wage.

You've ever referred to someone as "my (insert racial or ethnic minority here) friend"

You've ever tried to prove Jesus was a capitalist and opposed to welfare.

You're a pro-lifer, but support the death penalty.

You think Huey Newton is a cookie.

The only union you support is the Baseball Players, because heck, they're richer than you.

You think you might remember laughing once as a kid.

You once broke loose at a party and removed your neck tie.

You call mall rent-a-cops "jack-booted thugs."

You've ever referred to the moral fiber of something.

You've ever uttered the phrase, "Why don't we just bomb the sons of bitches."

You've ever said, "I can't wait to get into business school."

You've ever called a secretary or waitress "Tootsie."

You answer to "The Man."

You don't think "The Simpsons" is all that funny, but you watch it because that Flanders fellow makes a lot of sense.

You fax the FBI a list of "Commies in my Neighborhood."

You don't let your kids watch Sesame Street because you accuse Bert and Ernie of "sexual deviance."

You scream "Dit-dit-ditto" while making love.

You've argued that art has a "moral foundation set in Western values."

When people say "Marx," you think "Groucho."

You've ever yelled, "Hey hippie, get a haircut."

You think Birkenstock was that radical rock concert in 1969.

You argue that you need 300 handguns, in case a bear ever attacks your home.

Vietnam made a lot of sense to you.

You point to Hootie and the Blowfish as evidence of the end of racism in America.

You've ever said civil liberties, schmivil schmiberties.

You've ever said "Clean air? Looks clean to me."

You've ever called education a luxury.

You look down through a glass ceiling and chuckle.

You wonder if donations to the Pentagon are tax-deductable.

You came of age in the '60s and don't remember Bob Dylan.

You own a vehicle with an "Ollie North: American Hero" sticker.

You're afraid of the liberal media."

You ever based an argument on the phrase, "Well, tradition dictates...."

You ever told a child that Oscar the Grouch "lives in a trash can because he is lazy and doesn't want to contribute to society."

You've ever urged someone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, when they don't even have shoes.

You confuse Lenin with Lennon."

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Which works?

From the New York Times:

"In 1993, President Bill Clinton raised taxes on upper-income families, the economy boomed and poverty fell for the next seven years.

In 2001, President Bush cut taxes deeply, but even with economic growth, the poverty rate has risen every year since."

Monday, October 10, 2005

That darn two percent.

"Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then . . . we elected them."
- Lily Tomlin

Monday, October 03, 2005

SO messed up.

From the National Journal:

Abramoff used ATR as a conduit in 1999 and 2000, for example, to send some $1.15 million from the Mississippi Choctaws to the Alabama Christian Coalition and to an allied anti-gambling group in the state. The funds were for a campaign spearheaded by Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader-turned-business-consultant, that helped to defeat a proposed gambling venture in Alabama that posed a financial threat to the Mississippi Choctaws' casino enterprises.


So he takes the tribes' cash. Then gives it to the Christian Coalition to defeat the tribes. So f****d up.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Just wait.

You're a Republican until it happens to you.

Ouch.

"Being called partisan and vindictive by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog."
- Ronnie Earl, Travis County Texas District Attorney

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Don't agree with any of this? Why aren't you there?