6 months ago, I stopped reading Gothamist cold turkey. I was annoyed that Jake Dobkin, the publisher, kept defending graffiti vandals as if they were doing some great community service in defacing people’s property. I also got tired of their agenda-driven reporting on news stories and their rabid left-wingism. Mind you, I’m not the type to ignore a site because I disagree with it, but blind blatant politics with an agenda turn me off. It didn’t last though, mainly because when Gothamist is good, they’re very good, and I’m back to reading albeit with a bunch of me shutting up and pretending not to notice their shortcomings.

Seeing as Gothamist rarely ever interjects any critical thought into their articles, this one really put me over the edge. After showing a warehouse with OBAMA painted on the windows, a sidewalk painted with Obama and Obamawick (a contraction of Obama and Bushwick) and some exploited kids doing a “Bakesale for Obama,” Gothamist concludes as follows…

It’s pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it’s unclear who NYC’s registered Democrats will vote for on primary day – Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator from Illinois has an edge.

It’s unclear? Is it? Really? Now mind you, they do say their “poll” is unscientific, but whether their poll is scientific or not is not at issue. The part about it being unclear who New Yorkers are going to vote for is simply ridiculous to anyone who lives in this city outside of Park Slope, Greenwich Village, and Williamsburg. For anyone who would like to see it, here’s what people who actually use statistical data have to say…

Unclear? I guess if you call having an average lead of 23 points in the polls unclear, then we certainly might need to ask the question of who people want.

Give me a break, Gothamist.

This made me truly laugh. Found it on Woot:

Yep. We got her.

And I did it a little Cloverfield-y.

It never ceases to amaze me the lack of knowledge you find on QVC. I do enjoy watching them sell shit and the products are usually decent (I’ve never felt cheated or burned ordering from them) but they really do need to brush up on their product knowledge a bit…

On the pundit civil wars, Rush Limbaugh declared on the radio this week, “I’m here to tell you, if either of these two guys [Mr. McCain or Mike Huckabee] get the nomination, it’s going to destroy the Republican Party. It’s going to change it forever, be the end of it!”

This is absurd. George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.

Were there other causes? Yes, of course. But there was an immediate and essential cause.

And this needs saying, because if you don’t know what broke the elephant you can’t put it together again. The party cannot re-find itself if it can’t trace back the moment at which it became lost. It cannot heal an illness whose origin is kept obscure.

Anyone got a stuffed tiger? I think someone in the back just yelled Bingo.

Source

Drudge is trying so desperately to dig up dirt on the Clinton campaign it’s laughable. In today’s attempt, he finds a White House photo with Tony Rezko. Who’s Tony Rezko? Well, Wikipedia enlightens us:

Rezko has raised funds for many politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. These include Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich,[3] Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Comptroller Dan Hynes, former Cook County Board President John Stroger, and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.[citation needed] Rezko has also raised money for former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and held a megamillion-dollar fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in 2003.[4]

The indictment of Rezko on federal charges has drawn attention to his relationship with Illinois Senator Barack Obama, and has created problems for Obama’s presidential campaign.[5][6] In November, 2006, Barack Obama drew media scrutiny because he had purchased his house in 2005, on the same day that Antoin Rezko purchased an adjoining empty lot. Obama subsequently bought from Rezko an adjoining strip of land from the empty lot. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama’s purchase of the land from Rezko may have created an increased value to Obama’s property beyond the actual purchase price by making the adjacent Resko property difficult to develop.[7] However, Obama acknowledges that the exchange may have created the appearance of impropriety, and stated “I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it.”[8]

In June, 2007 the Chicago Sun-Times published a story about letters Obama had written in 1997 to city and state officials in support of a low-income senior citizen development project headed by Rezko and partner Allison Davis. The project received more than $14 million in taxpayer funds, including $885,000 in development fees for Rezko and Davis. Before the Sun-Times discovered Obama’s letters in support of Rezko, Sen. Obama had told the Tribune, “I’ve never done any favors for him.” In response, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said “This wasn’t done as a favor for anyone, it was done in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project. I don’t know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter nine years ago. There was a consensus in the community about the positive impact the project would make and Obama supported it because it was going to help people in his district.” Rezko’s attorney responded that “Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project.[9] Obama had told the Sun-Times that Rezko raised “between $50,000 and $60,000″ during Obama’s political career. However, Obama has since donated all campaign contributions from Rezko to charity.[5]

In the South Carolina Democratic Party Presidential Debate on January 21, 2008 Senator Hillary Clinton said that Obama had represented Rezko, who she referred to as a slumlord .[10] Obama responded that he had never represented Rezko and had done work indirectly for Rezko’s firm for an estimated five hours.[11]

The excerpt in this article that stands out is this: “In the South Carolina Democratic Party Presidential Debate on January 21, 2008 Senator Hillary Clinton said that Obama had represented Rezko, who she referred to as a slumlord .[10] Obama responded that he had never represented Rezko and had done work indirectly for Rezko’s firm for an estimated five hours.”

So Barack Obama had a bunch of actual business dealings with Rezko. So what does this have to do with the Clinton campaign?

Turns out our good friend Matt Drudge found a photo of Bill, Hillary, and Tony Rezko…

Here’s the screengrab:

One photo? Her response on Today was textbook, and probably true. Are we now going to ascribe some crazy relationship based on a picture? Do you think people in the public eye like the Clintons who take thousands upon thousands of photos prescreen the people they shoot with before taking a picture?

Face it, it’s not the same as the dealings Obama had with the man, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this picture was “leaked” by the Obama campaign on the sly so they could say “Hey, look, she knew him too!”

UPDATE: Excellent Commentary Right here:

I’m not sure whether to be amused or annoyed at the blatant and poorly done attempt to somehow give political moral equivalence of a picture showing the Clintons with a slum lord to the actions of Obama’s business dealings with same said slum lord. The fact that anyone even thinks these can be counted as equal in nature is laughable.

For example, just because I met, spoke, and had a picture taken with Nursultan Nazerbayev when I was in a student exchange program to the then Soviet Union, doesn’t mean I can now be considered one of now Kazakhstan President Nazerbayev’s aides. Such a claim would be the height of stupidity a rightly scorned.

The fact that the Obama campaign or one of it’s supporters did this indicates to me just how weak Obama’s position is and they know it. So instead they play games to try to get people to ignore the truth of the record of which he claims to be so proud. He may be seen as affable and personable to most people, but if his actions run contrary to his own assertions and claims then he is shown to be just like every other politician. Perhaps even worse, because he lacks the qualifications, experience, and maturity for such high level politics.

Juvenile, even for Obama’s “feel good, ignore the truth” campaign.

Good thing that I support Mr. McCain.

I know I shouldn’t copy entire posts, but that one just really got me. Perfectly put, exactly correct.

Well said, Gray.

Robert Scoble, June 2, 2006:

It is a nutty world we’re all connected to, isn’t it?

To me, I don’t trust someone who’s solely in it for the money. That’s the way lots of companies behave. Heck, I even behave that way sometimes. But my best work is when I’m doing something for fun, or in support of a philosophy, like ‘the world needs better software.’ Blogging lets me communicate with you about when I’m not just thinking about business. Why? Cause there isn’t a business model on my blog. It’s why I’m turning down free stuff now, why I don’t have ads here, etc. Yeah, my audience does give me career power, but that’s not why I started it and it’s not what drives me to share my life with you.

The impression that I get from that paragraph is that he doesn’t run ads on his site because he worries it would taint the communication between he and his readers.

Today, on Tech Crunch, I read that the tainting of the conversation isn’t something Robert cares about anymore…

Robert Scoble, who has long been proud of the fact that his popular blog remains free of advertisements or sponsorships, will soon put ads on his site, he told me yesterday.

The change comes as part of his move to Fast Company, who will sell the ads on his behalf and will also be redesigning the site.

Scoble and Dave Winer have been the main proponents of advertising-free blogs over the years, arguing that it creates conflicts that should be avoided.

Now, understand that I don’t fault people for making money with their blogs. I don’t even fault them completely when they turn their blogs into a link farm for payday loans and office furniture in Zimbabwe. What gets me, though, is that Mr. Naked Conversations himself used to think that the conversation and the communication between he and his readers was the most important thing. Now, it seems, that all the ethical issues he once had are gone, and his blog will now be designed by Fast Company and stocked with ads courtesy of them.

The question of course is obvious.

Did he suddenly have an epiphany about having ads on his site that was ushered in by a few dollar bills waved under his nose?

OR

Does he still think the way he used to and he just doesn’t care anymore about the naked conversation between he and his readers?

One of those questions has to have an answer of “yes” or we wouldn’t be reading about him running ads now after resisting for all this time.

• Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries – Queens/Malba – College Point, NY
  Just wanted to share a few reviews of my favorite burger place on earth.
  (tags: five guys burgers hamburgers burger hamburger food dining)

You have to read this…

You are kidding arent you ?
Are you saying that this linux can run on a computer without windows underneath it, at all ? As in, without a boot disk, without any drivers, and without any services ?

That sounds preposterous to me.

If it were true (and I doubt it), then companies would be selling computers without a windows. This clearly is not happening, so there must be some error in your calculations. I hope you realise that windows is more than just Office ? Its a whole system that runs the computer from start to finish, and that is a very difficult thing to acheive. A lot of people dont realise this.

Microsoft just spent $9 billion and many years to create Vista, so it does not sound reasonable that some new alternative could just snap into existence overnight like that. It would take billions of dollars and a massive effort to achieve. IBM tried, and spent a huge amount of money developing OS/2 but could never keep up with Windows. Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft.

Its just not possible that a freeware like the Linux could be extended to the point where it runs the entire computer fron start to finish, without using some of the more critical parts of windows. Not possible.

I think you need to re-examine your assumptions.
Posted by: jerryleecooper Posted on: 03/14/07

No, he’s not kidding.

Source

I don’t know a whole lot of Muslims who think this way, so I can’t really blame them for this. I blame guilty white people who think everyone has paper thin skin…

A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been turned down from a government agency’s annual awards because the subject matter could offend Muslims. The digital book, re-telling the classic fairy tale, was rejected by judges who warned that “the use of pigs raises cultural issues”. Becta, the government’s educational technology agency, is a leading partner in the annual schools award.

Source

If this moron doesn’t epitomize the kind of vapid idiots that swoon over the clean articulate black candidate (Joe Biden’s words, not mine) I don’t know what does. Gothamist has an interview with Eugene Mirman who, they claim, is a comic. I guess I have no right to argue his occupation, although he’s apparently not a very good one because I’m really into stand up and I’ve never heard of him. Anyway, here are his answers to two questions about the upcoming elections:

Who’s your least favorite Democratic nominee and why? Hillary? I went to a rally of hers in New Hampshire and it was kind of annoying and uninspiring. Though she’s working hard on re-branding herself, so maybe in a month we’ll think we’ve loved her all along?

I’m sure Hillary is smart and would do a pretty good job with policy. I think the problem with her is that when she’s saying what she believes deep down, she feels like she’s lying. But that might be because she’s had to develop a harsh exterior to get to where she has. That’s what Charles Bronson did. However, at least it’s better than Bush, who I’m pretty sure is actually trying to hatch an evil plan. I bet his last words as president will be, “Suckers!” and then he’ll blow up the Statue of Liberty and disappear in a submarine.

Nothing to say except for emtpy rhetorical criticism. But wait, it gets better…

Why Obama? I’d like to apologize in advance for answering this question sincerely. I want two things from a president: 1) an effective, visionary leader with the ability to make America and the world better (i.e. better schools, less enemies, more cash to buy health care and whiskey, etc.) and 2) someone who embodies my ideals (which are great ideals, trust me), and is a gifted, intelligent speaker, who doesn’t seem sneaky and you’re not embarrassed or infuriated when they’re on television.

To me, Obama is those things — he’s smart, inspiring, far less divisive, he compromises to get things done. His opponents (in Illinois) describe him as “reasonable.” I like that. Though he’s passionate, he doesn’t seem ideologically dogmatic, but more a judicious problem solver. He’s fiscally responsible, socially progressive, and a moderate of sorts. Plus, sometimes, he speaks with such force he makes reporters cry. He’s the most inspiring candidate in years. He’s spun as not having enough experience, but he’s actually worked for two decades in public service – regardless, I believe experience is something that is easier gained than wisdom. (George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Ted Nugent being the proof of that). For me, voting for Obama feels like I’m voting for someone, not against another. Ultimately, I guess I like and believe him more than the rest. Maybe he studied with Stanislavski? And Hillary studied kabuki?

Barack Obama is an “effective, visionary leader with the ability to make America and the world better?”

Based on what?

Well, the good news for Eugene is that he’ll never have to explain that because when you say vague flattering things about Obama even if they’re completely sans substance, they’re believed and are not to be questioned. Notice, he has absolutely nothing to say about actual hard policy or experience with regards to Obama. Much like most of his supporters, he buys into the “idea” of Obama and knows nothing about the actual candidate.

At least the primaries and caucuses are proving that people who actually vote aren’t as devoid of thought as the people who talk about who they’re going to vote for.

• Belkin’s Podcast Studio, the self-contained podcast producer – Engadget
  I will be buying one of these the MINUTE it hits stores.
  (tags: belkin podcast producer recorder audio technology gadget gizmo)

The background:

Snow days, kids and school officials have always been a delicate mix.

But a phone call to a Fairfax County public school administrator’s home last week about a snow day — or lack of one — has taken on a life of its own. Through the ubiquity of Facebook and YouTube, the call has become a rallying cry for students’ First Amendment rights, and it shows that the generation gap has become a technological chasm.

It started with Thursday’s snowfall, estimated at about three inches near Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke. On his lunch break, Lake Braddock senior Devraj “Dave” S. Kori, 17, used a listed home phone number to call Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the county system, to ask why he had not closed the schools. Kori left his name and phone number and got a message later in the day from Tistadt’s wife.

The audio:

The money quote:

Candy Tistadt did not return phone messages, but Dean Tistadt credited Kori for having the “courage of his convictions to stand up and be identified.” He also credited him for causing the high volume of crank calls, not to mention considerable grief and embarrassment for his wife.

“This has been horrible for her,” he said, adding that he and his wife both learned a hard lesson about the long reach of the Internet.

via Trish

You gotta wonder if there is anything more to Rudy’s campaign than 9/11?

We get it Rudy. Really.

I hope you don’t run disaster aid in the United States. Judy would have an apartment meant for first responders and Bernard Kerik… Well…

• CrunchGear » Archive » Cloverfield: Sucks or really sucks?
  Great comments on the most God-awful movie I’ve seen in the last 5 years.
  (tags: cloverfield sucks boo bullshit jjabramsmustdie)
• Couple to sue subway over leaked kiss video
  Keep it to yourself next time, guys.
  (tags: china subway pda smooch hug kiss lawsuit dumb)

Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who attracted more attention as a potential presidential candidate than as a real one, quit the race for the White House on Tuesday after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

“I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort,” Thompson said. “Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”

Benefited? From what? A half-assed campaign that lost big in every state?

No one cares, Fred, which is why you’re out.

We’ve heard a lot of chest-thumping Bravado from Saint Senator Barack Obama, mostly focused around how he’ll bring the country together and make those pesky right wingers stop scaring everyone. He’s going to make the tough calls and level with us. Like adults. And he won’t use politics. Like adults.

In yesterday’s debate, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both ripped into the Senator for his use of “present” voting, effectively calling him impotent. The Obama campaign immediately jumped to their site to tell the world, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, that if you criticize the process of voting “present,” you don’t have a good understanding of the process.

Except that apparently, the NY Times and some people cited there don’t “understand” this mystical process either. Here’s one example of the NY Times apparently not understanding the process just like most normal people wouldn’t…

In Illinois, political experts say voting present is a relatively common way for lawmakers to express disapproval of a measure. It can at times help avoid running the risks of voting no, they add.

“If you are worried about your next election, the present vote gives you political cover,” said Kent D. Redfield, a professor of political studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “This is an option that does not exist in every state and reflects Illinois political culture.”

The vote on the juvenile-justice bill appears to be a case when Mr. Obama, who represented a racially mixed district on the South Side of Chicago, faced pressure. It also occurred about six months before he announced an ultimately unsuccessful campaign against a popular black congressman, Bobby L. Rush.

State Senator Christine Radogno, a Republican, was a co-sponsor of the bill to let children as young as 15 be prosecuted as adults if charged with committing a crime with a firearm on or near school grounds.

The measure passed both houses overwhelmingly. In explaining his present vote on the floor of the Senate, Mr. Obama said there was no proof that increasing penalties for young offenders reduced crime, though he acknowledged that the bill had fairly unanimous support.

“Voting present was a way to satisfy those two competing interests,” Ms. Radogno said in a telephone interview.

Thom Mannard, director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, said political calculation could have figured in that vote.

“If he voted a flat-out no,” Mr. Mannard said, “somebody down the road could say Obama took this vote and was soft on crime.”

Mr. Obama’s aides said he was more concerned about whether the bill would be effective rather than with its political consequences. They did not explain why he did not just vote no.

So, in other words, the great candidate of change did exactly what every other politician does… Make a political calculation based on how it would affect him in an election.

That’s exactly the kind of leadership we need in Washington. A guy who votes “I’m here!”

Today is the 35th anniversary of the most saddening decision in Supreme Court history.

Roe v. Wade has done nothing good for this country. It created a cottage industry of “family planners” who are nothing more than abortion factories with cute names and has resulted in the murder of millions of babies in the name of “choice,” family planning, and convenience.

We’ve seen every contortion of the matter from the pro-abortion crowd claiming women should have a right to abort a child because they can’t afford to have one (apparently the choice to abort isn’t concurrent with the choice to not make a baby in their world) to women proudly proclaiming that because of the travesty that is Roe V. Wade, women can now “do what they want with their bodies,” again completely disregarding the fact that a fetus is not “their body” and doing what you want is what got them in that mess to begin with.

You’re going to hear lots of crap today, but there’s one undeniable fact. If you’re reading this now, your parents didn’t abort you. For all the people running around today pounding their chests in the name of feminist reproductive choice, none of them are abortion survivors. Unlike most medical procedures, abortion has a 100% success rate, and you’re 100% dead if one is performed on you in utero.

Just remember that as everyone proudly proclaims how they’re “pro choice” and how this is a great day for women everywhere. Pro choice is a euphemism for pro abortion. You either want abortion to exist or you don’t. It’s fine to be pro abortion if that’s your thing, but please stop laying the bullshit line about choice on me, okay?

Who knows. In another 35 years, maybe we’ll have seen the light and we’ll stop using abortion as birth control, but I reckon that as long as we can’t even face what it is, what it does, and stop using cutesy euphemisms like “choice” and “family planning” for it, it isn’t going anywhere.

Well, at least now we understand why John Kerry endorsed him. They work their campaign the same way…

By the way, this isn’t a flip flop because he changed his mind. You can obviously change your mind in this world. It’s a flip flop because he pretty much abandons his prior opinion and makes out as if he never even had it.

via Prez Vid