Wednesday Open Thread

I'm off to yet another interview this week for Nielsen.

What's on tap for today?

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Leslie?

Is looking for a job?

"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR

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Isn't he dead?

Poor guy.

No, the job is a field tech for Nielsen (the ratings people).  I have a good feeling about this one.  Hopefully I can get this one so I can turn down the one in Dublin.

I have an interview for a state job in Columbus on Monday and yet another one in Indianapolis next Thursday.

And that doesn't even count the possible interview I might have for the Department of Information Technology and Communications in NYC.  I'm a bit apprehensive about living in NYC, but I'm willing to take the train out there if the job is up my alley.

I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...

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NYC is OK..

..this coming from a deep red-state Southerner (Mississippi/Georgia). *Glances at Tlaloc for snark*  ;-)

I really expected it to suck, but there is something for everyone, despite the fact that you may want to get rid of your car. The subway is a way of life here, but it relieves the stress of traffic. Plus there's a bunch of cultural stuff ot get into.

Negatives would be the cost of living, although if you move uptown it's much cheaper. I would also say the weather, but if you're relocating from the Midwest you'd be used to it. In fact, because we're so close to the coast, it may be a little less extreme weather wise.

P.S.>>If you are bringing a family with you, I'd advise against it. I'm getting out of the City once I'm ready to start a family.

http://wealthweekly.blogspot.com
Wii FC:2805-8311-8040-2678
Brawl: 2277-7051-2186

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Thanks for the tip

I grew up in a town of about 7,000.

Dayton was a pretty big culture shock for me, but I adjusted to it.  The real shock was working at an HBCU.  You can count the black people in my hometown without taking off your shoes.

With respect to "uptown" I have no clue what you're talking about.  I know the job is in lower Manhattan, but it "only" pays about $45,000, which, where I'm from, is great, but I know in NYC that isn't all that much.

If I end up with an interview, perhaps I could meet you somewhere for a bite to eat or something.  IIRC, you live either in Queens or The Bronx, so it may take some doing.

I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...

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And...

If I lived in NYC I would cease to be living in a small-town, pro-America part of the country.  I'd be another one of the anti-American coastal elites.

I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...

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Snark? I have nothing

but respect for my fellow americans.

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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Swimming in the Atlantic in the summer is sooo nice.

Out here I have to wear a wet suit to swim in the Pacific or most the rivers here in N. Cal.

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Wuss.

I'm a few hundred miles north of you and I swim 45 miles every day.  Uphill!  Usually I have to break through the top layer of ice just to get to the water thats too cold to freeze below it.  :)

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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I am spoiled. I couldn't swim as much as I liked out

here (off the Bay Area) until I bought a 3/4 2.2 mil & a full 3.2 mil suit.  It makes such a difference.

Back east the water has the Gulf Stream warming it.  it would get into the 60's, maybe more some times.  Out here, it's in the 40's & 50's even in July & August.  About every 10 years the ocean will warm up so you can swim w/o. 

I am a wuss about it.  I admit it.

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Nielson?

In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,

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And here I thought...

that was Mr. Mister all these years!

I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...

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"Yes", it was Nelson who sang that song

Mr. Mister- Take these Broken Wings that's Mr. Mister's only claim to fame afaik.

In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,

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Just for Show?

Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have signed a global code of conduct promising to offer "better" protection for online free speech and against official intrusion.

Quotes added.

In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,

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(question title)?

(snarky comment).

 

 

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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Touche

n/t

In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,

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Another source for my Men Without Hats fix?

MTV Launches Music Video Site...[with] over 16,000 music videos.

Sadly no Men Without Hats yet :(

No New Order either...

But they do have the Presidents of the United States of America

Not any different than anything on the internets, but at least MTV is playing videos again...

In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,

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What an awesome senator?

Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.” ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.


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P-time

In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,

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Hid'in Biden...LOL! He makes Sarah Palin look like Aristotle!

Anyone who has watched Joe Biden over 35 years in the Senate might have a little bit of trouble recognizing the guy who is running to be Barack Obama's Vice President. Oh, yes, he looks like the same fellow. But traveling with Biden during this campaign has sometimes been like reporting on a politician packaged in shrink-wrap. While his windy, off-point pontification was the stuff of legend among his Senate colleagues, Biden is now leashed to a teleprompter even when he is talking in a high school gym that is three-quarters empty. The exposure hound who in recent years appeared more often than any other guest on the Sunday talk shows is a virtual stranger to the small band of reporters on his plane — less accessible than even Sarah Palin is to her traveling pack of bloodhounds. And Biden keeps to a schedule that provides a minimum of off-the-cuff encounters with voters, except across a rope line. See Joe Biden's defining moments here.

Much more here...

Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.” ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.


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Turnout fluctuations

538 has an interesting post about Oregon's early voting being lower than in 2004:

www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/in-oregon-turnout-is-down-but.html

The one factor I think is quite important that he misses though is demographics.  Oregon is one o the whitest states in the nation.  Blacks comprise just 2% of our population, as oppose to 14% of the overall national population.  We have some evidence already that this election is going to see a staggering jump in black voting:

www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/harbinger.html

I suspect Oregon's conservatives are fairly dispirited, in addition we have a pretty brutal senatorial fight (there's a willy horton-esque ad featuring a woman who was raped, for one),and lastly we are not positioned to benefit from the surge in black voting.  All of that combined probably means moderate turn out for us as places like Georgia go through the roof. 

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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On the other hand

Oregon also typically has one of the highest rates of voter participation in the US.  Looking at the VEP (voters participating divided by the number of eligible voters, a better measure than the VAP usually used, which uses total voting age population for the divisor, regardless of if those above 18 are actually eligible by other measures) for 2004 Oregon had a rate of 72%.  The US average was 60%.  That put us at 4th in the nation behind Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Maine.

elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2004G.html

Consequently even if we're seeing dperessed turn out this year that may just put us down to typical turn out rates for the rest of you losers our esteemed coutrymen.

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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On turnout

I think the left-wing blogs are overestimating the support for Obama with respect to looking at early voting numbers.  Rural (Republican) voters almost never have to wait in line to vote, so they aren't too worried about voting early.  Urban (Democratic) voters do often wait in line, so they're trying to get it out of the way.

My grandma said she didn't want to vote early because the polling place was just around the corner and in 2004 she only waited 5 minutes.  When I voted in 2004, I waited about 90 minutes, hence the reason I was worried about voting early.

I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...

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One benefit of my commuting so much this month

I've been reminded how gorgeous the Willamette Valley is.  It really is beautiful, particularly in the fall when the contrast between the changing maples and the consistent evergreens is the greatest (and before the sun disappears behind 6 months of rain).

 

Sumptious.

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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And they grow good hops there, too!

Mmm.... beer.

We are the environment. There is no distinction. What we do to the earth we do to ourselves. —David Suzuki

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Yeah if you like beer

there are a ton of microbreweries here.  Probably close to as many Starbucks, as scary as that is.

I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.

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There's one thing I miss about Michigan.

The beer was fantastic.

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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Anybody here old enough to

Anybody here old enough to remember those hilarious half-hour campaign commercials that wealthy kook Lyndon LaRouche ran nationwide on the TV networks in the 1980s?

I remember watching with my friends in college in 1984, laughing our asses off. The promo below will give you some idea of his ramblings.

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I didn't realize that LaRouche was wealthy

I thought he was just a kook.

But the wealth thing explains his ongoing influence (I'm not old enough for those comercials, but I've run into some of his minions)

"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." --Frederick Douglas

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I'm not sure about the

I'm not sure about the wealthy part. It's been a long time since I learned anything new about the guy, and my reference to him as wealthy is just my recollection from long ago. Anyone interested would have to check into it.

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WSJ has a very scary thought!

One of the great unappreciated stories of the past eight years is how thoroughly Senate Democrats thwarted efforts by President Bush to appoint judges to the lower federal courts.

[Commentary] Chad Crowe

Consider the most important lower federal court in the country: the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In his two terms as president, Ronald Reagan appointed eight judges, an average of one a year, to this court. They included Robert Bork, Antonin Scalia, Kenneth Starr, Larry Silberman, Stephen Williams, James Buckley, Douglas Ginsburg and David Sentelle. In his two terms, George W. Bush was able to name only four: John Roberts, Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas Griffith and Brett Kavanaugh.

Although two seats on this court are vacant, Bush nominee Peter Keisler has been denied even a committee vote for two years. If Barack Obama wins the presidency, he will almost certainly fill those two vacant seats, the seats of two older Clinton appointees who will retire, and most likely the seats of four older Reagan and George H.W. Bush appointees who may retire as well.

The net result is that the legal left will once again have a majority on the nation's most important regulatory court of appeals.

More...

 

Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.” ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.


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why is it important?

Is it important just because it has more access to the washington political/media elite?

Anyway...since 1980 we've had 20 years of Republicans and 8 years of Democrats appointing judges -- it seems like Obama would bring a little balance here.

"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." --Frederick Douglas

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Sounds like great news to me.

Incidentally, the Keisler nomination went into committee when the Republicans still had a majority, and they didn't act on it.  So this hardly seems like a Democratic conspiracy to me, given that the Senate Republicans sat on it, too. 

No other examples are given.  Hmm...  Quite the weak conspiracy indeed.

Ah, and how's this for "vested interest": the author of that article is a cofounder of the Federalist Society, along with - wait for it! - Keisler himself.  So he's galled that a member of his group didn't get through the Senate confirmation process, spins that into a story about Democratic blockage of nominations, but can't actually name another case of this?  Sloppy at best, dishonest at worst.  I love it!

If it makes you feel any better, the ideological makeup of the SCOTUS isn't likely the change despite Calabresi's hand-wrining : the only people gearing up to retire are lefties.  At BEST we'll just keep the court balanced where it is. 

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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Look at the bright side. The most liberal Judge, Souter was

put in by George Bush41.  The straddler, Kennedy was put in by Reagan.

Maybe who ever President Obama puts in to the two or three seat turnover will switch sides too.  I guess I don't need to warn the Obama people about Lieberman's suitability on the Supreme Court....

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Saracuda say's she's all in for 2012. "This isn't for naught!"

crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/palins-2012-plans-leaves-mccain-campa

Here's the video.  Here's CNN's take:

"

BLITZER: And this just coming into the "Situation Room," the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now speaking out openly about her intentions in 2012 if, if she and John McCain were to lose this contest next Tuesday. In an interview with ABC News, Sarah Palin is now saying, she would be interested in remaining a serious national political figure, going ahead to 2012. She was asked what happens in 2012 if you lose on Tuesday, would you simply go back to Alaska? Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News asked her and Palin said this, and I will read it to you verbatim according to an ABC News transcript: "Absolutely not," Sarah Palin says. "I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught," and that is a direct quote from Sarah Palin. Clearly, leaving open the possibility that she would be interested in leading the Republican Party in 2012 if she and John McCain were to lose this presidential contest right now. Let's go to Dana Bash. She has been covering the McCain campaign reaction from the rather blunt statement from Sarah Palin that she would in fact be interested in leading the Republican Party going forward after Tuesday if they lose?

BASH: I just got off of the phone, Wolf, with a senior McCain adviser and I read this person the quote and I think it is fair to say that this person was speechless. There was a long pause and I just heard a "huh" on the other end of the phone. This is certainly not a surprise to anybody who has watched Sarah Palin that she is interested in potentially future national runs, and she is being urged to by a lot of people inside of the Republican Party if they do lose, but it is an "if" and people inside of the McCain campaign do not want any discussion that has an "if" in front of it six days before the election, they don't want any discussion at all, any kind of hypothetical talk about running for the next time around. So certainly, this is not at least initially being received well inside of the McCain campaign."

Gee... I wonder why McCain's people might have a problem with this?  Hmmmm.

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Can you explain this to me?

I've read and reread this quote and the commentaries I've see all over, and I still don't get where people think she's talking about 2012.  "I'm not doing this for naught" seems to me like she's saying you don't give up before the actual vote takes place, because otherwise it's like you were doing it all for nothing. 

Can you explain what people are seeing here?

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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She's projecting her True Grit. She'll fight now or later,

at least that's what I got out of it anyhow.

 

It's a good pitch.

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Kind of hard to parse

It's not exactly the most coherent sentence. But wasn't it specifically a reply to a question about 2012?

We are the environment. There is no distinction. What we do to the earth we do to ourselves. —David Suzuki

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Sort of... Maybe - I just checked the original transcript,

and it's entirely possible that Palin thought the second question is in reference to giving up this time around, because it's a little circuitously approached:

ELIZABETH VARGAS: If it doesn't go your way on Tuesday ... 2012?

GOV SARAH PALIN: I'm just ... thinkin' that it's gonna go our way on Tuesday, November 4. I truly believe that the wisdom of ... of the people will be revealed on that day. As they enter that voting booth, they will understand the stark contrast between the two tickets. ...

VARGAS: But the point being that you haven't been so bruised by some of the double standard, the sexism on the campaign trail, to say, "I've had it. I'm going back to Alaska."

PALIN: Absolutely not. I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught.

I can see why Vargas thinks she's asking a leading question about whether Palin will run in 2012, and I can see why Palin might think the second question was more in reference to throwing her hands up in despair and giving up on this election.  So I think quite a bit more has been read into this than might otherwise be there.

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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This is absolutely vile:

When political "art" goes way too far .

Ugh.  That's about all I can say on that.

Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce

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mimicing a racist nut job

They don't mention this in an article, but it sounds a whole lot like what some racist nut-job recently did (in Ohio, I think) by haning a "ghost" by a noose and sticking an Obama sticker on it.

I don't know if this guy in CA thinks that he's "commenting" on the acts of that racist or what. If he does, I don't know why anyone would want to imitate a racist.

"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." --Frederick Douglas

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Kentucky

There was an effigy of Obama hanging from a tree at UK.

My opinion on the matter is if this means to intimidate Palin, the guy should be arrested.  If it is not, he has his right to display it on his property.

I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...

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This ball game is great!

That out at the plate was exciting.

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The Phillies win it!!

Look at that dog pile.  That's so funny.

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Sweet

They played very well in the post season.

I bet John is pumped.

Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson

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Trivia question:

What two states did Franklin Roosevelt lose all four times he was elected president? 

 

Maine and Vermont

 

Select the white space above to see the hidden answer.

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Obama Media Buy = FLOP!!!

Two leading infomercial stars agree: Barack Obama 's half-hour self-promotion last night was a flop.

"I don't see enough smiling. Doom and gloom totally," said Anthony Sullivan, one of the biggest names in infomercial history.

"I feel depressed right now," added Sullivan, an Englishman famous for his infomercials touting the Swivel Sweeper and Smart Chopper. The only thing saving Obama, Sullivan said, was when the candidate appeared live at the end speaking at a rally in Florida.

"I think it needed it. I was about to throw myself through a window because it was depressing," Sullivan said.

He and AJ Khubani, who has produced infomercials for 25 years, said Obama also fell short of offering solutions to the dire problems he laid out.

"I didn't see a payoff. Classic infomercial is you show the before and you show the after. I didn't see the music or the crashing waves of the Pacific," Sullivan said.

He joked the producer "needs a spanking" for lacking optimism.

Khubani said: "Every infomercial lays out common problems, whether it's a flabby belly or acne, and then it gives a solution. In this case the solution is Obama."

But Obama didn't pitch the product - himself - convincingly enough, he argued.

"We always spend much more time on the solution than the problem and he did the opposite," Khubani added.

 

 

 

Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.” ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.


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Flop because a couple Infomercial hucksters said so? LOL!

Why, we don't even know if Ron Popeil and Billy Mays thought it was a flop, so how can we be sure?

Besides, I bet these infomercial snake oil salesmen want a Republican in office so that they can shipping and handling fees can be deregulated so that they can claim their product is free when it really costs an arm and a leg.  Oh wait... they already do that.

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